Month: June 2005

‘KARABAKH BECAME AN OBJECT OF TERRITORIAL DISPUTE’
AZG Armenian Daily #099, 01/06/2005
Karabakh issue
Recent public opinion polls conducted in Armenia reveal that
Armenians see Nagorno Karabakh issue as 6th or 7th vital issue for
the nation. But, as sociologist Aharon Adibekian notes, in past the
issue used to occupy one of the first places as a key one.
The sociologist suggests two explanations to this recession in society:
on one hand Armenian society is losing alertness, on the other it is
content with the post-war situation. Adibekian thinks that the public
does not receive sufficient information on Karabakh resolution process.
The Institute of Human Rights and Democracy (IHRD) highlights the
Karabakh issue and the struggle for self-determination. In this view,
the IHRD accents organization of public discussions in order to bring
the issue out of narrow academic and political surroundings and expose
it to many-sided analysis.
In a civil debate organized by the IHRD on May 30, Armenian and
Artsakhi officials, historians, political scientists and sociologists
discussed the Karabakh Issue, the right of national self-determination
and issues of strengthening the statehood.
Representative of All-Armenian Movement, Aram Manukian, thinks
that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is a very important political
factor for the present stage of conflict resolution. Manukian said
that Armenia has lost such serious partners as USA, Russia, France
and Iran after the volte-face in 1998. The most serious breakdown
is that Nagorno Karabakh has turned from a subject into an object,
“NK became an object of territorial dispute”.
Manukian noted that the resolution of Karabakh issue is not beneficial
neither for today’s Armenian nor Azeri authorities. He thinks the
resolution is not beneficial for Russia too, as only in case of
unsettled conflicts Russia can maintain its influence in the Caucasus.
The adviser of NKR minister thinks that Artsakh issue has different
meanings for Armenia and Azerbaijan. “The Artsakhi people has to try
to make the world recognize its independence”, Manvel Sargsian said.
The representative of RA Foreign Ministry, Varuzhan Nersisian, reminded
3 criteria of the ruling authorities: status of NKR out of Azerbaijan’s
borders, a safe corridor between Armenia and NKR and international
guarantees of safety. He did not agree that Karabakh has dropped out of
talk process but “the format of talks has simply changed”. He reminded
that the Lisbon talks offered Nagorno Karabakh wide autonomy in the
structure of Azerbaijan but since 1998 the new Armenian leadership
excludes Karabakh’s inclusion in Azerbaijan regardless any status.
By Tatoul Hakobian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN OMBUDSPERSON: OFFICERS OF NATIONAL SECURITY SERVICE OF ARMENIA KEEP DISCREDITING THE STATE
Pan Armenian News
31.05.2005 08:02
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ At 10:30 a.m. today officers of the National Security
Service (NSS) of Armenia came to a limited company engaged in legal
counseling and introduced themselves as if they were officers of the
Ombudsperson’s staff, Armenian Ombudsperson Larisa Alaverdian stated
in the course of an on-line interview with OpenArmenia.com. Then,
in her words, by means illegal methods, including attempts to use
coercion, they tried to frighten the staff of the company with a
“document” not having legal force “to invite” the head and the staff
of the company to the NSS “for a conversation”. Getting a competent
and worthy response and not having managed to explain the attempt to
get information on the complaints of persons, who have addressed both
the company and the Ombudsperson, by deception and fraud in any way,
they insensibly disappeared. At that they did not take the statement
of the company head on the happening, though it was already sent
via mail, being addressed to the NSS head. “The fact evidences that
the information that was kept in the processor, withdrawn from the
Office of the Ombudsperson, was available to the NSS and is already
being used for pressure upon other subjects of the society, including
commercial ones,” she stated. “Thus, it is not ruled out that the
information will be used for pressure upon citizens also in the
future,” the Ombudsperson proved. As of the incident of withdrawal
of the processor, letters to the Armenian Prime Minister, President,
National Assembly Chairman are prepared: these describe and qualify
the occurrence and propose taking respective measures at the state
level to prevent similar incidents in the future. At that she noted
that such actions have a least negative impact upon the activities
of the human rights institution.

ARMIN WEGNER AND ARMENIAN GENOCIDE EXHIBITION OPENS IN MOSCOW
Pan Armenian News
31.05.2005 09:04
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armin Wegner and the Armenian Genocide exhibition,
organized by the Russian Cultural Fund, opens in Moscow Tuesday. The
exposition, dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,
is based on the documentary materials of A Cry form Ararat: Armin
Wegner and the Armenian Genocide,” book by Giovanni Guaita. Three
out of twenty-five large exhibits, decorated uniquely, depict German
military officer Wegner, an eyewitness of the Genocide. Three others
present the chronology of the Armenian Genocide under Abdul Hamid,
Young Turks and Kemal. High-ranking Russian officials, public figures
and artists are expected to attend the opening ceremony. A concert
of Armenian classical and spiritual music is expected to be performed
by Moscow Chamber Choir, the Yerkir newspaper reported.

ISSUE OF GERMANY RECOGNIZING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO BE SOLVED BEFORE ELECTION
Pan Armenian News
31.05.2005 08:35
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In case the Christian Democratic Union-Christian
Social Union (CSU/CSU) bloc comes to power in Germany, more favorable
conditions will be formed for Germany to recognize the 1915 Armenian
Genocide, stated Armenian Ambassador to Germany Karine Ghazinian. The
Bundestag was expected to pass a resolution recognizing the Armenian
Genocide before the dissolution. However, internal political processes
made MPs engage in pre-electoral problems. “In spite of that I was
made sure that the issue will be solved before the pre-term election,”
the Ambassador noted. In her words, the resolution will use the term
“genocide”, Armenpress reported.

Startup of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline: Turkey’s Energy Role
By Soner Cagaptay and Nazli Gencsoy
Washington Institute for Near East Policy
May 27, 2005
On May 25, the presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Turkey
inaugurated the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC), a major artery linking
oil fields in the Caspian Sea region to the Mediterranean Sea and Western
markets beyond. It will take several months for oil pumped from Baku,
Azerbaijan, to pass through Tbilisi, Georgia, and reach the Turkish coast at
Ceyhan. Eventually, BTC will carry up to 1 million barrels per day (bbl/d)
of crude oil to the Mediterranean. With growing concern over Western
dependence on Middle Eastern oil and rising global oil prices, Turkey is
emerging as a key country in providing Caspian oil to the Western world.
Background: A Pipeline Born of U.S.-Turkish Cooperation
According to British Petroleum’s Statistical Review of World Energy, proven
oil reserves in the Caspian Basin total 16.5 billion barrels, comparable to
the reserves of Canada, Mexico, or the OPEC member state Qatar.
President Bill Clinton and Turkish President Suleyman Demirel settled heated
debate in the mid-1990s over how best to bring Caspian oil to world markets
by throwing their weight behind the BTC. Washington and Ankara saw the BTC
as a key east-west corridor that would ensure the independence and economic
viability of the newly independent states in the Caspian Basin. The BTC also
made strategic sense to the United States and Turkey because it would bypass
politically unstable places like Iran, the northern Caucasus (including
Chechnya), and Armenian-occupied parts of Azerbaijan.
Further, the BTC was seen as useful to easing the burdens on the Turkish
Straits of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. Today, more than 5,000 tankers
cross the Turkish Straits each year, carrying Caspian oil from the Black Sea
to the Mediterranean. The sea traffic through the narrow, zigzagging straits
carries grave risks, especially since any accident could cause an
environmental catastrophe in downtown Istanbul, which sits along the
Bosporus.
When others questioned the project’s feasibility, Clinton appointed a
special envoy for Caspian energy affairs and Demirel visited Georgia and
Azerbaijan to push for the project. The unprecedented level of U.S.-Turkish
cooperation, as well as successful coordination by both countries’
diplomats, made the seemingly impossible pipeline possible.
Building the BTC
In 1997, Western oil companies started to explore the commercial viability
of the BTC project. An international consortium of eleven partners —
Britain’s BP; Azerbaijan’s SOCAR; Norway’s Statoil; U.S. based Unocal,
Amerada Hess, and ConocoPhillips; Turkey’s TPAO; Italy’s Eni; Japan’s INPEX
and Itochu; and France’s TotalFinaElf — began construction of the pipeline
in May 2003. With a 30 percent share in the project, BP is the largest
stakeholder, and served as acting leader for the project’s design and
construction phases.
The BTC, which cost an estimated $3.7 billion for construction, financing,
and line-fill, has received limited public funding. The European Bank of
Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corporation,
the World Bank’s private-sector arm, pledged $250 million in loans. Although
a small amount compared to the project’s total funding, World Bank
participation acted as a catalyst to bring foreign direct investors to the
project.
Because it traverses 176 widely varied and sensitive terrains while crossing
the politically unstable Caucasus region, the BTC was bedeviled by worries
about its security and environmental risks. Accordingly, the U.S. military’s
Special Forces trained 1,500-2,000 Georgian soldiers in anti-terrorism
techniques under a $64 million program aimed at protecting the pipeline
against saboteurs. In addition, a BP-led consortium granted an additional
$25 million to local non-governmental organizations to manage environmental
programs.
The entire length of the 1,094-mile BTC, the longest oil-export pipeline in
the world, is buried. Once the pipeline becomes fully operational,
Azerbaijan will be the main beneficiary of the sale of its oil in
international markets, collecting (at current prices) about $29 billion per
year in oil revenues, while Georgia and Turkey will respectively collect
transit fees of $600 million and $1.5 billion per year.
Ceyhan Becomes a Nexus of Global Energy Lines
With BTC, Ceyhan will emerge as a major energy supplier to the world.
Ceyhan’s port, Yumurtalik, is already the terminus of Kirkuk-Ceyhan
pipeline, which has the capacity to bring about 1.5 million bbl/d oil to the
Mediterranean from northern Iraq (though it is presently closed due to
continuing attacks by Iraqi insurgents). Another pipeline is now under
consideration to bring Caspian gas from Baku, via Tbilisi, to Erzurum in
eastern Turkey from where it would be transported to Ceyhan. There are other
new projects designed to make Ceyhan into an even bigger hub of energy
supply: Samsun-Ceyhan gas/ oil lines and terminal. Turkey intends to enlarge its
natural-gas transmission by extending the Blue Stream pipeline, which
connects Russia with Ankara through the Black Sea, through an
Ankara-to-Ceyhan extension. After a liquid-natural-gas export terminal is
built in Ceyhan, this plan would enable Turkey to re-export Russian gas.
Turkey also wants to build a cross-Anatolian oil line, from Samsun on the
Black Sea to Ceyhan on the Mediterranean, to further decrease traffic
through the Turkish Straits.
Kazakhstan Extension. In March 2005, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan agreed to
build the Aktau-Baku pipeline, connecting the Kashagan offshore oil fields
near Aktau in Kazakhstan to the BTC in Baku via a sub-Caspian in 2008. The
Kashagan field is expected to produce 1.2 million bbl/d by 2016, when
600,000 bbl/d of its production is to be shipped across the Caspian Sea to
be fed into the BTC line.
Ceyhan-Haifa Pipeline. This project, first discussed during Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s May 2005 visit to Israel, aims to bring BTC
oil to Israel via a sub-Mediterranean pipeline through Cyprus. There are
also plans for parallel pipelines to carry water, gas, and electricity, and
perhaps fiber-optic lines, to Israel, as well as to Northern Cyprus, Jordan,
and the Palestinian territories, bringing the latter closer to Turkey and
Israel economically and politically.
Implications of Turkey’s Emergence as an Energy Entrepot
Turkey’s new position as a way-station for energy distribution could be a
useful asset in its relations with both the European Union and the United
States. Turkish membership would give the EU a direct route to Caspian
energy resources that does not cross Russia; as a major energy producer;
Russia has not been very helpful getting Caspian energy to outside markets.
In the post-Iraq War period, the energy issue should also strengthen
U.S.-Turkish relations. Turkey’s strategic value sometimes comes under
doubt. But Turkey is an important route for the export of oil from northern
Iraq. By binding the Caucasus region with the West through the BTC, Turkey
is now a key country in accessing the energy sources of the landlocked
Caspian Basin. And the BTC has significantly limited the share of Caspian
oil that must be transported through Iran. Tehran currently transports a
mere 35,000 bbl/d Caspian oil, which it buys from Turkmenistan and
Kazakhstan through a swapping agreement. The BTC and other projects
involving Turkey should remind Americans and Turks alike that as members of
the Western world, they have shared interests that can be promoted through
cooperation.
Soner Cagaptay is a senior fellow and director of the Turkish Research
Program at The Washington Institute. Nazli Gencsoy, a Dr. Marcia
Robbins-Wilf young scholar, is a research assistant at the Institute.

ARMENIAN FORCES FIRE AT AZERBAIJANI POSITIONS WHILE OSCE PLANS MONITORING
2005-05-31 14:43
Azerbaijan News Service
May 31 2005
According to information from press service of defense ministry armed
forces of Armenia in occupied Tagibayli village of Aghdam region
fired from machine and sub-machine guns at positions of the armed
forces of Azerbaijan in the opposite direction at 9.50 PM on May
31 as well as occupants forces in Mazamli village of Qazakh region
shot at Azerbaijani positions in the same area. As a result of the
ceasefire violation a resident of Mazamli village was wounded. The
enemy was put down with an answering fire. Meanwhile in accordance
with mandate of OSCE chairman in-office monitoring will be held
on June 1 in Qarabayli village of Fizuli region in contact line of
the troops. Personal representative of the OSCE chairman in-office
ambassador Anzhey Kaspirshik and his field commanders will be present
in the opposite site of the contact line, the area acknowledged as
Azerbaijan’s territory internationally.

ARMENIAN DEPUTY DEFENSE MINISTER IN KOSOVO
Pan Armenian News
31.05.2005 08:49
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Deputy Defense Minister, Lieutenant General
Artur Aghabekian is in Kosovo to inspect the Armenian peacekeepers,
who serve within the Greek battalion. In the course of the visit to
Kosovo, A. Aghabekian met with representatives of the American command
of the East international battalion located in Kosovo and the Greek
battalion command. It should be noted that Artur Aghabekian is the
first representative of the Armenian Armed Forces visiting Kosovo,
where Armenian peacekeepers serve since 2004, Mediamax reported.

SPANISH AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA PRESENTED CREDENTIALS TO ARMENIAN FM
Pan Armenian News
31.05.2005 08:29
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today newly appointed Ambassador of the Kingdom
of Spain to Armenia Francisco Javier Elorza Cavengt (residence in
Moscow) presented credential to Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian, reported
the Press Service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry. In the course of
the meeting the Armenian FM positively assessed the Armenian-Spanish
political relations, noted the unused potential in commercial, economic
and cultural cooperation. Within that context the parties noted the
importance of forming the treaty and legal framework between the two
countries. Besides, the interlocutors exchanged opinions over the EU
developments, EU-Turkey prospects, dynamics of the Armenian-Turkish
relations, as well as the EU New Neighborhood Policy and Program of
Actions within Armenia’s participation in that initiative.

Russia to use transport aviation for troops pullout from Georgia
By Alexander Konovalov
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 31, 2005 Tuesday
MOSCOW, May 31 — Russia will certainly use its military transport
aviation to pull out troops from Georgia, commander of the 61st army of
Russia’s Air Force, Lieutenant-General Viktor Denisov said on Tuesday.
“We used it to withdraw our military bases from Germany, the Czech
Republic and Hungary. Of course, we cannot do without it during the
troops pullout from Georgia,” Denisov said.
He pointed out that all the airfields in Transcaucasia will be used
for the withdrawal of Russian bases after coordination with Georgia.
“We’ll be using in the first place the airfields to which we fly now,
foremost Gyumri in Armenia,” Denisov said.

The Washington Post
May 31, 2005 Tuesday
Final Edition
Russian Troops To Leave Georgia;
Deal Struck on Pullout by 2008
by Peter Finn, Washington Post Foreign Service
MOSCOW May 30
After years of contentious negotiations that appeared to break down
several times, Russia agreed Monday to a timetable for the withdrawal
of its forces from two military bases in Georgia, the foreign
ministers of both countries said at a news conference here.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country would
complete the phased withdrawal of 3,000 troops by 2008. The
announcement closed out one of several issues straining relations
between the Kremlin and Georgia’s pro-Western government, which has
said that it wants to join NATO.
The two countries had hoped to complete an agreement before
celebrations held in Moscow on May 9 to mark the 60th anniversary of
the end of World War II in Europe, but a deal collapsed at the last
minute when Russia said it needed more than three years to pull out.
President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia then boycotted the
celebrations and parliament threatened a blockade of the two bases,
one of which is located near the border with Turkey and the other
near the border with Armenia. The Georgian government also threatened
to prevent Russian military forces from crossing Georgian territory,
either by land or air, as they do routinely to resupply troops in
Armenia.
“We have taken an important and constructive step,” Georgian Foreign
Minister Salome Zourabichvili said. “We have achieved our goal.”
Lavrov said the agreement would “help further develop our relations.”
He also said that the withdrawal, expected to begin next year, would
not cause “any kind of discomfort for the soldiers.”
Georgia has offered to house any soldier who wishes to remain behind;
a number of Russian troops have been in the country for a long time
and have ties to the local community, Georgian officials said.
Officials in Moscow have said they do not want soldiers to experience
the hardship Russian troops endured in the early 1990s, when Russia
was unprepared for their return from Germany and Eastern Europe after
the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Saakashvili also said recently that Georgia would not allow any
foreign bases on its territory, a statement apparently designed to
ease Russian fears that the United States or NATO would be permitted
to station forces permanently in a country that was part of the
Soviet Union and where Russia has had a presence for nearly 200
years.
The two foreign ministers also said they had agreed to delimit the
Georgian-Russian border, which runs through the Caucasus Mountains
and has been a source of tension since the breakup of the Soviet
Union.
Relations between the two countries have been strained most severely
by separatist conflicts in the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions of
Georgia, where local leaders have received support from Moscow.
Lavrov said Russia would do everything it could to help find a
peaceful solution to the conflicts.