Month: June 2005

PENTAGON ELABORATES PLAN ON SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH
CONFLICT: AMERICAN POLITOLOGIST
YEREVAN, JUNE 18. ARMINFO. The US Military Command in Europe
has elaborated a plan on settlement of Karabakh conflict on the
instruction of Pentagon. According to the “Kavkazskiy Uzel,” Chairman
of the American Center for Strategic Research Marco Pren made this
statement to the newspaper Express. According to the source, the
document provides for attraction of mobile forces for the problem’s
resolution, which may be dislocated in the territory of the South
Caucasus. In connection with the plan, during the last two months,
military experts held a number of negotiations in Baku. He says that
one of the scenarios of using the mobile forces of the USA in the
South Caucasus is their involvement into the conflict’s settlement.
Although Marco Pren has no information of the authors of the plan,
he hopes that the initiative belongs to more mature representatives of
Pentagon. Thus, execution of the new plan is the duty of the military
forces of the USA in Europe.
Alongside with this, referring to the sources in Pentagon, Marco
Pren says that the USA’s desire is to dislocate mobile force in the
territory of the South Caucasus by all means possible. Pentagon
does not support dramatization of the issue and does not aspire
for creation of any base in the territory of the given region.
predetermination of the mission and the mandate of the named forces
is important. However, the press-service of the Azerbaijani Defense
Ministry considers impossible attraction of mobile forces of the
USA for settlement of the conflict. At the same time, Deputy Foreign
Minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov says that at the definite stage of
the conflict’s settlement, attraction of foreign troops is inevitable.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Karabakh speaker appointed securities commission head in Armenia
Arminfo
18 Jun 05
Yerevan, 18 June: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan signed a decree
on 17 June appointing Oleg Yesayan to the post of chairman of the
Armenian Securities Commission. The presidential press service has
confirmed the report.
Oleg Yesayan used to be speaker of the Nagornyy Karabakh parliament.
By another decree, President Kocharyan appointed Yesayan’s predecessor
in this post, Eduard Muradyan, to the post of chairman of the Armenian
Economic Court.

NKR HOLDS PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS SUNDAY
STEPANAKERT, JUNE 18. ARMINFO. The Nagorno Karabakh Republic is
holding elections into 4th parliament Sunday.
274 electoral commission will act in 22 electoral districts. 89,576
people will vote on parties, 87,578 on single mandate candidates –
the difference is due to servicemen who are allowed to vote on parties.
Over 120 international and journalist mission will observe the
elections.
107 people will run for 22 single mandate seats. For party seats
running are Free Fatherland, Democratic Party of Artsakh, Moral
Revival (opposition), Communist Party, Our HOme – Armenia, Social
Justice and ARFD – Movement 88. The favorite is DPA led by NKR Prime
Minister Anoushavan Daniyelyan.
NKR president Arkady Ghoukassyan has promised that the elections will
be fair and transparent

RESOLUTION ON GERMAN BUNDESTAG’S RECOGNIZING ARMENIAN
GENOCIDE INFURIATED POLITICAL FIGURES OF TURKEY
BODY:
YEREVAN, JUNE 18. ARMINFO. German parliament’s Armenian bill draws
Turkish ire. The CHP said that the bill was a fiasco on the behalf of
the government’s foreign relations policy.
As the Turkish NTV reports, the German parliament’s passing of a
motion recognizing claims that the Ottoman Empire had massacred many
of its Armenian community some 90 years ago will cast a shadow over
Turkish-German relations, the speaker of the Turkish parliament said
Friday. Parliamentary speaker Bulent Arinc has sent a letter to his
German counterpart saying that the bill, which also calls on Turkey
to acknowledge the allegations that Armenians were massacred in 1915,
was neither based on common sense or on facts. Also on Friday, Kemal
Anadol, the leader of the parliamentary group of the main opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP), said that history and politics were
two terms that should not come together and slammed various
parliaments for passing resolutions without knowledge or
understanding of the facts. The leader of opposition True Path Party
(DYP), Mehmet Agir, was another to react to the bill, saying that by
this decision Germany had covered the head of history with a sack.

Over 100 foreign observers to monitor polls in Karabakh
Mediamax news agency
18 Jun 05
Yerevan, 18 June: Over 100 international observers will monitor the
19 June parliamentary elections in Nagornyy Karabakh.
Observers from Russia, the United States, France, Britain, Israel,
Iran, the Czech Republic, Greece, Serbia-Montenegro and other countries
have already arrived in Stepanakert [Xankandi], the central electoral
commission of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic has told Mediamax.

Karabakh leader vows “fair and transparent” elections
Mediamax news agency
18 Jun 05
Yerevan, 18 June: The president of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic
(NKR), Arkadiy Gukasyan, has addressed the nation in connection with
the forthcoming 19 June parliamentary elections.
Gukasyan said the election campaign “has been positive as a whole
and is another step towards the further democratization of our state
and society”.
“However, I have to admit with regret that some candidates, who ignore
basic ethic norms, have set themselves only one goal- to discredit
the authorities and their rivals at all costs in the election
struggle. But they failed to come up with their own programmes of
legislative activity,” he said.
“What causes special concern here is that the election campaign has
seen some insinuations and slander as well. Specifically, there have
been false rumours that the government is putting pressure on the
electorate, intimidating people and banning voters from meeting their
candidates. I can assure you with full responsibility that there has
not been and cannot be anything of this kind,” Gukasyan said.
The NKR president also said that during the election campaign “we
heard some statements which might cause a split in our society and
inflict irreparable damage on the security interests of the Nagornyy
Karabakh republic”.
Gukasyan said that the 19 June parliamentary elections “will definitely
be fair and transparent”. “I guarantee this as the president. I can
assure you that anyone’s attempts to break the law and destabilize
the post-election situation will be assessed appropriately. Those who
initiate and execute this will be punished to the fullest extent of
the law,” he said.
“The forthcoming elections are of international importance to Nagornyy
Karabakh. Our attitude towards the elections has to demonstrate to
the world that democratic reforms are irreversible in the country and
secure the international recognition of the NKR. If the forthcoming
parliamentary elections do not meet European standards, this will
have a negative impact on the reputation and name of our state in the
world, which might negatively affect the peace process of settling
our conflict with Azerbaijan. In other words, at stake is the fate
of Artsakh [Karabakh] and our achievements,” Gukasyan said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Thousands of opposition supporters rally in Azerbaijan’s capital
AIDA SULTANOVA
AP Worldstream; Jun 18, 2005
About 20,000 opposition protesters chanting “Freedom!” marched
across Azerbaijan’s capital Saturday, pushing for free parliamentary
elections this year and urging the government to step down in the
biggest protest in years.
The demonstration, the second such rally in as many weeks, was
organized by three leading opposition parties which formed the Azadlig
(Freedom) bloc to run for parliamentary elections set for November.
Tension has been building steadily in this oil-rich Caspian Sea nation
in the run-up to the elections, leading some observers to predict
that Azerbaijan could see a massive uprising similar to those that
toppled unpopular regimes in other ex-Soviet nations of Georgia,
Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan during the past 18 months.
Supporters of the Musavat party, the People’s Front of Azerbaijan
and the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan chanted “Freedom!” and “Free
Elections!” and carried pictures of U.S. President George W. Bush
with the words: “We want freedom!”
The opposition bloc has chosen orange as its campaign color _ the
color used by the Ukrainian opposition during mass protests dubbed
the “Orange Revolution” that helped pave way for the victory of a
Western-backed presidential candidate over a Russia-backed rival. Many
participants in Saturday’s rally wore orange T-shirts and baseball
caps and carried orange flags.
Several hundred followers of Ilgar Ibragimoglu, a dissident imam who
was evicted by the authorities from a mosque in the capital, joined
in the protest Saturday after reading a prayer.
The opposition demands election law reforms and access to
state-controlled television. The opposition parties have accused
authorities of rigging the October 2003 presidential election when
President Ilham Aliev succeeded his late father, Geidar Aliev, and
are demanding changes to prevent fraud in the parliamentary vote.
“People won’t tolerate election fraud,” Ali Kerimli, the leader of
the People’s Front of Azerbaijan, told the rally.
He and other speakers said a change in government is necessary to win
back control over Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed enclave that has been
under the control of Armenian separatists since the early 1990s.
“We are fighting against corruption and for the restoration of our
country’s territorial integrity,” said Arif Hajili, a Musavat party
leader.
The October 2003 election triggered clashes between police and
opposition demonstrators protesting vote-rigging, in which one person
died and nearly 200 were injured.
About 200 police in full riot gear stood guard Saturday around a
central square where protesters gathered. Brief scuffles erupted when
demonstrators tried to push police cordons away from the square and
officers fought back with truncheons.
Last month, police beat back opposition protesters who tried to hold
a banned rally in Baku and detained dozens of people.
Azerbaijan, a mostly Muslim country of 8.3 million, is the starting
point of the key pipeline that Washington says will reduce the United
States’ dependence on oil from the Middle East.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri election body condemns parliamentary polls in separatist Karabakh
ANS TV, Baku
18 Jun 05
[Presenter] The Central Electoral Commission [CEC] today made a
statement in connection with the parliamentary elections to be held
by the so-called Nagornyy Karabakh regime. The statement reads that
the new election game in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories is contrary
to the norms of international law and the Azerbaijani constitution.
[CEC chairman Mazahir Panahov] In general, elections in occupied
territories in any place of the world are illegal. Time after time,
Nagornyy Karabakh, which has proclaimed itself as a republic and
which has not been recognized by any country, carries out this kind
of measure in this territory.
I think the Azerbaijani public understands correctly that these kinds
of measures are only aimed at irritating the Azerbaijani side. The UN,
Council of Europe and the world’s great powers should finally make
some changes to their position on this issue.

Erdogan kritisiert Bundestagsbeschluss zu Armeniern als “hässlich”
Agence France Presse — Deutsche
Freitag, 17. Juni 2005
Istanbul, 17. Juni — Der türkische Ministerpräsident Recep Tayyip
Erdogan hat den Bundestagsbeschluss zur Armenierfrage als “falsch
und hässlich” kritisiert. Nach der Rückkehr von einem Besuch im
Libanon äußerte sich Erdogan am Donnerstagabend besonders enttäuscht
von Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder (SPD), wie türkische Medien am
Freitag meldeten.
Bei seinem kürzlichen Besuch in der Türkei habe sich der Kanzler
noch der türkischen Haltung in der Armenierfrage angeschlossen, sagte
Erdogan laut der Zeitung “Hürriyet”. Vor dem Bundestagsbeschluss hätte
der Kanzler seine Haltung erneut klarmachen müssen, sagte Erdogan. Das
habe Schröder jedoch nicht getan. “Ich schätze eher Politiker mit
Rückgrat”, sagte der Ministerpräsident.
Der Bundestag hatte am Donnerstag mit den Stimmen aller Fraktionen eine
Entschließung zum Gedenken an die türkischen Massaker an den Armeniern
im Jahr 1915 verabschiedet. In der Resolution selbst ist nicht von
“Völkermord” die Rede, wohl aber in der Antragsbegründung. Die Türkei
drohte mit Konsequenzen für die deutsch-türkischen Beziehungen. Die
türkische Zeitung “Vatan” meldete, Ankara werde aus Protest gegen
den Bundestagsbeschluss möglicherweise ihren Botschafter in Berlin
zu Konsultationen in die Türkei zurückrufen.
–Boundary_(ID_Bv5Vyx2cAHSvlYKCCyRaeA)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Bundesregierung weist türkische Kritik an Armenien-Beschluss zurück
Agence France Presse — Deutsche
Freitag, 17. Juni 2005
Berlin. 17. Juni
Die Bundesregierung hat die Kritik des türkischen Ministerpräsidenten
Recep Tayyip Erdogan am Armenien-Beschluss des Bundestages
zurückgewiesen. Die Behauptung Erdogans, der Beschluss sei “falsch
und hässlich”, sei “unzutreffend”, sagte der stellvertretende
Regierungssprecher Thomas Steg dem Berliner “Tagesspiegel”
(Samstagsausgabe): “Es ist eine ausgewogene Resolution.”
Steg wies auch die Behauptung Erdogans zurück, Bundeskanzler Gerhard
Schröder (SPD) habe sich vor dem Bundestagsbeschluss zunächst der
türkischen Haltung in der Armenienfrage angeschlossen gehabt.
Schröder habe immer seine eigene Position deutlich gemacht, sagte der
Sprecher. “Insofern ist die Enttäuschung über diese Resolution
unverständlich.”
Gerade die Deutschen wüssten, dass die Aufarbeitung historischer
Schuld und die Bereitschaft zur Versöhnung und zum Verzeihen
unverzichtbar seien, betonte Steg. Dies sei die Voraussetzung, “um
eine gute und friedliche Zukunft der Völker zu gestalten”. Vor der
deutschen Botschaft in Ankara protestierten am Freitag zwischen 50
und 100 Mitglieder einer nationalistisch geprägten Gewerkschaft gegen
die Bundestagsresolution.
In der am Donnerstag verabschiedeten Resolution fordert der Bundestag
die Bundesregierung auf, “dabei mitzuhelfen, dass zwischen Türken und
Armeniern ein Ausgleich durch Aufarbeitung, Versöhnen und Verzeihen
historischer Schuld erreicht wird”. Bei den zwischen 1915 und 1917
verübten Massakern und durch Todesmärsche starben zwischen 300.000
und 1,5 Millionen Menschen. Ein Großteil der internationalen
Öffentlichkeit stuft die Verbrechen als Völkermord ein. Aus Sicht der
Türkei handelte es sich bei den Ereignissen dagegen um die tragischen
Folgen einer Zwangsumsiedlung, die wegen des Krieges erforderlich
gewesen sei.
–Boundary_(ID_gcUcR0aec0ipRtzvuCeWuA)–