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05/09/2005
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) Liberation of Shushi, End of WWII Cause for Celebrations in Armenia 2) Catholicos Aram I Calls on Germany Church to Back Genocide Recognition Efforts 3) Army Head Warns Azerbaijan 4) Armenian-Azeri Summit 'Could Break Karabagh Impasse' 5) Bush Arrives in Georgia to Support Pro-West Drive 1. Liberation of Shushi, End of WWII Cause for Celebrations in Armenia YEREVAN (RFE/RL, Armenpress)--Armenia officially marked on Monday the 60th anniversary of the end of the World War II, honoring and remembering hundreds of thousands of its citizens that contributed to the Allied victory over Nazi Germany. In two-day official celebrations, Armenia also marked the 13th anniversary of Mountainous Karabagh's ancient city of Shushi from Azerbaijan. `I think that if the Shushi operations had failed the Azerbaijanis would have easily occupied Karabagh,' Defense Minister Serj Sarkisian said on Monday, after visiting Yerevan's Yerablur military cemetery with other senior government officials and the top brass of Armenia's Armed Forces. The fall of Shushi was one of Azerbaijan's most serious military setbacks and proved vital for Armenian victory in the 1991-94 war. The anniversary was marked as a day of mourning in Baku. President Robert Kocharian issued a written address to the nation in connection to both victories: `In 1992, the Armenian people achieved a new victory after liberating the town of Shushi in Karabagh. In the war imposed on us we again proved that we are always ready to protect our people's right for peaceful life. Again congratulating all of us on the great date I wish all us peace. Our devotion to the fatherland should be displayed in the raising of the new generation and the building of a new state.' For Victory Day celebration, hundreds of gray-haired war veterans wearing wartime medals were joined by senior government officials as they paid tribute to their fallen comrades at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Yerevan's Victory Park. Thousands of younger Armenians laid flowers by its eternal fire throughout the day. The nationwide celebrations began with a military parade and ended with a concert and fireworks show at the WWII memorial in Yerevan. Separate wreath-laying ceremonies were also held by the statutes of the two most prominent and high-level Armenian participants of the war: Marshal Ivan Baghramian and Admiral Ivan Isakov. Praising the bravery of Armenian soldiers during WWII, President Kocharian told the nation, `Armenia's revival was made possible by that victory and [ensued] peace,' he said. `Armenians showed unique examples of bravery and sacrifice within the ranks of the Soviet army.' Kocharian issued the statement ahead of his departure to Moscow at the weekend. He was among nearly 60 heads of state and government and other international dignitaries who arrived in Russia to take part in the anniversary celebrations. Some 600,000 citizens of Soviet Armenia took part in what many people in the former USSR call the Great Patriotic War. Nearly half of them lost their lives--a catastrophic death toll for what was then a republic of less than two million inhabitants. Just over 19,000 war veterans remained alive as of May 2000. 2. Catholicos Aram I Calls on Germany Church to Back Genocide Recognition Efforts ANTELIAS--In letter to the Chairman of the Evangelical Church in Germany, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I asked Germany's churches to support Armenian genocide recognition efforts, so as to `restore the rights of the Armenian people, which have been held captive.' `We are deeply satisfied that in German political and academic circles, there is renewed interest and vigor in advancing the issue of the Armenian genocide,' His Holiness Aram I writes to Bishop Wolfgang Huber. The Catholicos praises all parties in the German parliament, which recently agreed to a resolution telling Turkey to "take historic responsibility" for the 1915 Armenian genocide. He also praised German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder for reminding the leadership of Turkey, during a recent visit there, that it must come to terms with the issue of the Armenian genocide in order to join the European Union. Bishop Huber and Catholicos Aram I enjoy a lengthy professional relationship and personal friendship, including their work together on the World Council of Churches. Meanwhile the Conference of European Churches (CEC) on April 23 called on Turkey to recognize that it committed genocide against Armenians and urged reconciliation between Ankara and Yerevan. The CEC Presidium urged the Turkish government to initiate a process of reconciliation between the Turkish and the Armenian peoples, including as integral elements, `the recognition of guilt and the proclamation of the truth.' 3. Army Head Warns Azerbaijan YEREVAN (Combined Sources)--The chief of the Armenian army staff, Colonel-General Mikael Harutiunian, said on Monday that there exist no tensions on the contact line established by the 1994 ceasefire agreement in the Mountainous Karabagh war, saying that hostilities have come only in the form of announcements by Azerbaijan's president, head of parliament, as well as defense minister. He stressed, however, that if Azerbaijan is bent on resuming the war, then they will pay dearly, and risk losing vast territories. Speaking during Victory Day celebrations and ceremonies marking the 13th anniversary of the liberation of the Shushi from Azerbaijan, Harutiunian said, `I would advise Azerbaijan's leadership to be reserved with their aggressive militaristic announcements, which adversely and mechanically affect servicemen and the military leadership, and heighten tensions. He also denied Azeri claims that dozens of Armenian soldiers have been killed there in recent weeks. `They wish we had lost many soldiers,' Harutiunian told RFE/RL. `There have indeed been a few cases of our soldiers dying or getting wounded. `But the figures cited by them are mere propaganda and blackmail.' Harutiunian also reiterated Armenian claims that Azerbaijani troops have been moving closer to Karabagh Armenian positions. `We see no point in moving our positions because we already control the main heights which we took ten years ago,' he said. `They probably need to do that because they had left their weapons behind and run away [during the war]. They probably felt that they need to improve their positions. In any case, we are taking adequate measures in response.' Meanwhile, three Azerbaijani soldiers that were captured the Armenians in northeastern Karabagh last February, after crossing the frontline, were handed back to the Azerbaijani military on Saturday. Azerbaijani media quoted officials in Baku as saying that they were not harmed during their detention. 4. Armenian-Azeri Summit 'Could Break Karabagh Impasse' YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--The upcoming meeting between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan could prove decisive for the success of the latest international push to resolve the Mountainous Karabagh conflict, Defense Minister Serj Sarkisian said on Monday. `I look forward to that meeting just as you do, because a lot depends on it,' Sarkisian told reporters. `We can probably say after that meeting whether the peace process is continuing or has entered a deadlock.' President Robert Kocharian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of a Council of Europe summit in Warsaw next week. The two leaders will try to build on progress reportedly made by their foreign ministers during a series of internationally mediated talks over the past year. French, Russian and U.S. diplomats spearheading the peace process announced last month that the conflicting parties are close to making a `first step towards an agreement.' Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said last week that further progress in the long and painful peace talks depends on the results of the Armenian-Azerbaijani summit. `The foreign ministers have done all they could possibly do and that the next step has to be taken by the presidents,' Oskanian said. He again insisted that no formal peace agreements will be signed at Warsaw. Aliyev and Kocharian could have come face to face in Moscow at the weekend on the fringes of a summit of former Soviet republics. However, Aliyev chose to boycott the summit on the grounds that it coincided with the 13th anniversary of the capture by Karabagh Armenian forces of the strategically important town of Shushi. 5. Bush Arrives in Georgia to Support Pro-West Drive TBILISI (Reuters)--President Bush flew to the small ex-Soviet republic of Georgia on Monday for a visit being hailed as a pointed show of Washington's support for democratic freedoms in Russia's backyard. Bush, making the first visit to Georgia by a U.S. president, arrived aboard Air Force One from Moscow, where he took part in celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. At Tbilisi airport, decorated with Stars and Stripes flags, he was greeted by President Mikhail Saakashvili, the pro-Western leader catapulted to power 18 months ago in a "Rose Revolution" who has since been trying to shake off the Kremlin's influence. Saakashvili boycotted the Moscow festivities because the Kremlin refused to bow to his demands for the immediate withdrawal of two Russian military bases on Georgian soil. Moscow has about 3,000 troops in the Soviet-era bases, which Saakashvili has likened to an "occupation" of his country. The United States has dozens of military trainers in Georgia. Georgia is in the turbulent Caucasus region, scene of a clutch of local conflicts that grew from the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is also on the route for a U.S.-backed pipeline linking the oilfields of the Caspian Sea to world markets. "This visit means a lot," Giga Bokeria, a Georgian parliamentarian and close Saakashvili associate, told Reuters. "It is a message that we are not alone in our struggle to become a decent democracy ... a sovereign country on which no one can impose their will. I am talking about Russia here," he said. SPEECH IN SQUARE The highlight of the 24-hour visit will be on Tuesday, when Bush addresses the Georgian people on Tbilisi's Liberty Square beneath a massive banner that reads: "Celebrating Democracy and Freedom." It was from that square in November 2003 that crowds of people marched on Georgia's parliament, forcing the resignation of veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze. Georgia's peaceful revolution created the template for fellow ex-Soviet republics Ukraine and Moldova to turn their backs on Moscow and pursue integration with the West. The Bush administration has indicated it would be happy to see power change hands elsewhere in the former Soviet Union with Belarus--described by Washington as central Europe's last dictatorship--at the top of its list. In Georgia, a state of 5 million that saw its economy implode after independence in 1991, most people were eagerly awaiting the Bush visit. The new leadership is tackling corruption but economic reforms are proving painful. Tbilisi was soaked by rain on Monday but officials say if the weather improves more than 50,000 people will come to hear Bush speak on Tuesday. Lamp-posts along the city's main streets were decorated with Georgian and U.S. flags while crews have worked round the clock to repair the potholed roads. Policemen in fluorescent rain capes lined the streets in what locals said was the biggest security operation they could remember. "We are very pleased that such an important person is visiting us. The United States is Georgia's main partner and we hope America will help us solve our problems with Russia," said Lali Khestsuriani, a 42-year-old doctor. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2005 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets.