Month: June 2005

Head of Russian presidential administration starts visit to Armenia
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
30 May 05
[Presenter] The head of the Russian presidential administration,
Dmitriy Medvedev, has arrived in Yerevan. Talking to reporters at
Yerevan’s Erebuni airport, Medvedev said that the further development
of Armenian-Russian relations would be discussed during the visit.
Medvedev will hold meetings with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan,
Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan, his Armenian counterpart [Artashes
Tumanyan] and other high-ranking officials on 31 May.
He also answered questions concerning the possible redeployment
of Russian military equipment from Georgia to Armenia and the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.
[Dmitriy Medvedev, captioned, in Russian with Armenian voice-over]
You know that is a difficult question and first of all it must be
discussed between Russia and Georgia. But there are aspects which
are worth discussing with our other neighbours as well. Energy issues
will also be discussed.
We normally accepted the launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan. Let it
work and may God make it economically profitable.

KHALAFOV: BAKU CAN AGREE WITH ARMENIA BEING PROVIDED WITH ADDITIONAL ARMS IN NO WAY
Pan Armenian News
31.05.2005 03:12
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ When commenting on statements over transferring to
Armenia the Russian arms, being withdrawn from Georgia, Deputy Foreign
Minister of Azerbaijan Khalaf Khalafov stated, “While Armenia pursues
an aggressive policy against Azerbaijan and occupies part of our
territory, providing still more arming of the aggressor country will
have a negative impact on the peace process and on the strengthening
of security and stability in the region on the whole. Azerbaijan can
agree with it in no way.” Having accentuated that the South Caucasus
refers to a region, on which the treaty on Conventional Armed Forces
in Europe spreads, Khalaf Khalafov urged all countries of region to
refrain from actions threatening the security and stability, Regnum
news agency reported.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BUSH: ARMENIA AND US TIED OWING TO EXCLUSIVE HISTORY
Pan Armenian News
31.05.2005 04:02
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Ambassador to the US Tatul Margarian
presented credentials to US President George W. Bush. In the course
of the ceremony the traditional exchange of views over the current
state and prospects of the Armenian-American relations took place. In
his speech the Armenian Ambassador appreciated the present level of
the bilateral relations, noting that the common interests of the two
countries underlie this. Having thanked for the assistance since the
independence T. Margarian noted the importance of the Armenian-American
political, military, commercial and economic cooperation. President
Bush appreciated the friendship between the US and Armenia,
noting the two countries are tied owing to an exclusive history.
“After Armenia becoming independent in 1991 we jointly worked to form
democratic institutions and economy for Armenia to be able to rebuild
and eliminate the consequences of the earthquake in 1988, collapse
of the USSR and the destructive war in Azerbaijan over the Nagorno
Karabakh issue,” the Bush message says. It was also mentioned that
within the past 15 years Armenia has made much progress and was thus
included in the Millenium Challenges Account. “I highly appreciate
Armenia’s contribution to the fight against international terrorism,
as well as the sending of forces to Iraq for establishment of stability
and democracy in the country,” Bush said. The White House head again
confirmed the readiness of the US to promote settlement of the Karabakh
conflict and normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations, Regnum
news agency reported.

Armenian general inspects peacekeepers in Kosovo
Mediamax news agency
31 May 05
Yerevan, 31 May: Armenian Deputy Defence Minister Lt-Gen Artur
Agabekyan is in Kosovo on a mission to inspect Armenian peacekeepers
serving within the Greek battalion.
During his visit to Kosovo, Agabekyan will hold meetings with the US
command of the Multinational Brigade East deployed in Kosovo and the
command of the Greek battalion.
Agabekyan has become the first representative of the Armenian military
leadership to visit Kosovo where Armenian peacekeepers have been
serving since February 2004.

COLOR REVOLUTIONS AND GREATER EUROPE
RIA Novosti
May 31 2005
MOSCOW (Alexei Arbatov for RIA Novosti) – The West clearly demands
that Belarus should be freed of what it calls the last dictatorship
in Europe.
I am afraid that Russia-West confrontation in this area could end in
a head-on clash.
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko is not former Ukrainian
leader Leonid Kuchma: He will suppress the slightest sign of protest,
especially by young people. The West may intervene by providing help to
the protesters, forcing Lukashenko to seek assistance from Russia, and
the Kremlin will be hard put to deny it. After the defeat in Ukraine,
Belarus has become doubly important to it for communications, defense
and access to the Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad. Belarus is very
nearly the last ally of Russia in the former Soviet Union.
I do not think that Russia will send in troops. But there are
special operations units and internal troops. Moscow may intervene
if Lukashenko appeals for help and it is clear that his downfall will
send Belarus in Ukraine’s footsteps toward NATO without Russia.
This will mean NATO will be along the entire Russian border,
complicating the Kaliningrad situation and putting enormous pressure on
Vladimir Putin. He will have to think about how to maintain political
stability. Losing Belarus after Ukraine would be a new, serious blow
to his authority at home.
If Belarus falls, or if developments there provoke a Russia-West
confrontation, the domestic situation in Russia will be affected
immediately. The country will be unable to develop a market economy
and democracy if it is involved in a confrontation with the West.
The West will most probably not intervene in Belarus and the republic
will remain allied to Russia. In this case, the West will take its
“revenge” in Ukraine, the Baltic states and Georgia, and try to win
over Azerbaijan and Armenia. Russia and Belarus will be completely
surrounded by NATO countries.
NATO is neither an adversary nor a friend for Russia; it is a partner
and, although the two sides disagree on some points, they also have
many areas of interaction. But they will have to forget about it if
Belarus is hit by a “color revolution.”
If Russia develops relations with the opposition leaders of Belarus in
good time (and some of them are living overseas), a choice between
“Belarus with Lukashenko and with Russia” and “Belarus without
Lukashenko and without Russia” will not figure on the agenda. But
this would mean skating on very thin ice, because Lukashenko has
actually outlawed the opposition. To develop contacts with it would
mean acting against Lukashenko as the incumbent president. This would
be difficult .
Revolutions, even such bloodless ones as recent color revolutions in
former Soviet republics, cannot develop without a breeding ground.
They need an ineffective and unpopular regime that is not supported
by the vast majority of the people. For example, Ukraine was almost
split by the time of its “orange revolution.”
When half of the population does not support the regime, this is
an alarming sign. It is a dangerous moment when external forces can
influence the situation. Opinion polls show that the majority of the
population and the political elite in Russia are more pro-etatist
than the president. And no liberal revolution can happen here. On the
contrary, nationalists and the radical Left might take to the streets,
but not the rightwing forces.
Besides, we must not forget history: In the 1990s the rightwing
liberals, who held ranking posts in the Russian power structure,
if not directly ruled it, failed to carry through the reforms. This
left people disillusioned. There was nothing of the kind in Ukraine
or Belarus.
Russia must decide with whom it will work. In my opinion, it should
work with the West and above all Greater Europe. Its relations with
NATO should be promoted to a stage where Russia will not fear the
accession of its close neighbors to the bloc. In other words, NATO
should cease to become a hostile organization for Russia, but this
depends both on NATO and Russia.
Their relations are crawling rather than moving, largely because
of Russian ministries, including defense ministry, but also because
of the West’s unclear approach to Russia. The West does not want to
outline unambiguous and lasting relations for NATO and the EU with
Russia. Better and deeper relations may be not a goal but a process.
Yet every process should have a goal, otherwise current policy will
be reduced to tactical steps that completely overshadow strategy.
Alexei Arbatov is a non-voting member of the Russian Academy of
Sciences, and head of the International Security Center at the IMEMO
Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the RAS
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and
may not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial board.

BREAKING NEWS: ASU President Announced
Martirosyan Elected ASU President – Again
By LaGina Phillips
Valley Star, CA (Los Angeles Valley College)
May 31 2005
After more than a month of turmoil, Nelli Martirosyan won the ASU’s
2005-2006 presidency in last week’s hastily-organized supplemental
election.
The controversy swirling around the disqualification of candidates in
the initial election may have helped turnout in last week’s race, with
765 students participating – a greater turnout than any in ASU’s recent
history. Martirosyan earned 54 percent of the votes (about 414 votes),
beating the vigorously campaigning Adam Park by only 79 tallies.
Park earned 44 percent (about 335 votes) and Olivia Njuki, who did
not confirm her repeat candidacy until the day before the election,
received only 2 percent (16 votes).
Martirosyan won the first election in late April but was disqualified
along with runner-up Theresa Chavez after the Election Committee
found them guilty of violating provisions of the ASU’s election code.
After Martirosyan appealed the committee’s decision, ASU Adviser
Sherri Rodriguez and Tino Manzano, acting co-vice president of Student
Services, called for a new election. Martirosyan also appealed that
decision, saying that she rightfully won the first election, so a
second should not be necessary.
The Election Committee did not agree with the administration’s decision
to impose a second election on the ASU, saying that that power should
not have been taken out of the Committee’s hands.
The conflict between the Election Committee and the adviser led to the
resignation of members Jason Henderson and interim President Jessie
Salas. Henderson’s eleventh-hour return made a quorum, enabling the
election to take place. The committee now consists of Henderson,
Julie Cuna and Chair Ron Cabrera.
Chavez, a current member of the Executive Committee, decided not to
run in the second election.
Tuesday, during the first day of the two-day election, student
Joenaphan Jones filed a complaint against Martirosyan after finding one
of her campaign fliers on his car in Lot E, a violation of Election
Code Section 7, Article N. However, the Election Committee has said
it will not disqualify the president-elect because the evidence filed
with the complaint, including photos of the fliers on several cars,
does not prove that the candidate herself was involved in any illegal
distribution of campaign materials.
Martirosyan speculated that the incident was an attempt at sabotage.
“It could have been anybody who does not want me to be president,”
she said.
The presidential results give the ASU an almost-completely Armenian
Executive Council after a handful of complaints last year that
since-ousted president Levon Bagramian had been elected only on the
strength of his Armenian heritage. Many Valley students, including
Bagramian’s opponent in that election, ASU veteran Igor Kagan, have
vocally protested those complaints, often in the Opinion page of
this newspaper.
The four candidates in the first election were: Martirosyan, who
finished first with 322 votes; Chavez (171 votes); Park (78), who
was briefly appointed president and Njuki, who received fewer than
30 votes.
Watch the summer online edition of The Valley Star for interviews
with the new ASU Executive Committee.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GHUKASIAN: PLACING PEACEKEEPERS IN KARABAKH OUT OF QUESTION
Pan Armenian News
31.05.2005 03:58
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Placing peacekeepers in Nagorno Karabakh is
out of question today. The cease-fire is being preserved there for
over 11 years,” President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Arkady
Ghukasian stated when commenting on the reports of a number of media
sources that Ukraine is ready to send peacekeeping contingent to the
Karabakh conflict zone. “The talks represent a complex process and
one cannot unambiguously say which phase there are on today. There
are no positive changes, as Azerbaijan holds a non-constructive stand:
to get everything without ceding anything,” the NKR President stated,
reported the Yerkir newspaper.

Dialogue Eurasia Symposium on ‘Search of Ethics for Terrorism’
By Zaman
Zaman, Turkey
May 31 2005
Published: Tuesday 31, 2005
zaman.com
The Dialogue Eurasia (DE) Platform organizes an international
symposium titled, “From Terrorism to Universal Ethics: Religions
and Peace”. Intellectuals, bureaucrats, and religious leaders from
38 countries will participate in the symposium that will be held on
June 7-8 in Moscow.
DE Secretary-General Erkam Tufan Aytay reported that the need for
international ethics for terrorism will be emphasized and the message
of peace will be sent to the world at the symposium. At the conference
to be held at the President Hotel, “it will be emphasized that the
belief values, which in essence aim for peace, are used as excuses for
some conflicts and even for terrorist acts from time to time today,
just as they were in the past.” It is planned that discussions will be
held on two important points during the conference, which is organized
with the cooperation of the Russian Science Academy Oriental Studies
Institute and PIAR Association:
1. Will different religions and cultures be able to co-exist in a
continually global world by showing tolerance and sympathy towards
one another?
2. Will religions be represented by those who indulge in terrorist
acts and incite hatred under the name of religious faith or by those
who support love and tolerance under the name of faith?
Participants from Europe, the Far East, and the US will attend to these
activities as part of the DE Platform, which has arranged activities
for Turkey and countries from the Middle East have attended before. The
names attracting attention among the participants announced to attend
the conference are: Sri Ravi Shankar from India, the mother of Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili Giuli Alasinaia, the Chief Rabbi Ishak
Haleva, Armenian Patriarch Mesrob Mutafian, Indonesian Former President
Abdurrahman Vahid, Chief of Caucasian Muslims Allahsukur Pashazade,
Husamettin Cindoruk, one of Taiwan Buddhists leaders Master Hsin Tao,
the Leader of Mohammediye Society Professor Abdul Munir Mulkhan.

Council of Europe Slams Kocharian~Rs Constitutional Reform
Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep
May 31 2005
31/05/2005 10:52
President Robert Kocharian and his leading allies were meeting
late Monday to discuss harsh criticism of their draft amendments
to Armenia’s constitution which has been voiced by a key Council of
Europe body.
The so-called Venice Commission, which monitors legislative reform in
the human rights organization’s member states, expressed on Friday its
“deep dissatisfaction” with the latest version of those amendments. It
warned that the Armenian authorities should put more significant
curbs on Kocharian’s sweeping powers if they want to forge closer
links with Europe.
“The members of the Venice Commission’s Working Group on constitutional
reform in Armenia expressed their deep dissatisfaction with this
text, as most of the Commission’s comments have not been taken into
consideration,” the commission said in a statement.
The statement quoted one of the members of the group, Kaarlo Tuori,
as saying: “The draft constitutional amendments need to be drastically
revised before they undergo the second reading.”
The constitutional package was approved by the Armenian parliament,
dominated by Kocharian’s loyalists, in the first reading on May 11.
It is a slightly revised version of the draft amendments that were
unveiled by Kocharian and his three-party governing coalition last
November.
In a report last December, Venice Commission experts said “more
significant amendments” are needed for putting in place an effective
system of checks and balances between the government branches in
Armenia.
Their recommendations would in particular give more powers to the
National Assembly, seriously limit the president’s controversial
authority to appoint and sack virtually all judges and make the mayor
of Yerevan an elected official. The Armenian authorities have so far
been reluctant to embrace such changes.
The Venice Commission warned that if their recommendations are not
“fully” accepted by the authorities “the whole constitutional reform
process would fail to bring Armenia closer to European values and
attain the aim of further European integration.”
The issue apparently topped the agenda Kocharian’s meeting on Monday
with leaders of the three parties represented in his government. One of
them, deputy parliament speaker Tigran Torosian, strongly criticized
the Council of Europe body. “While accepting their questioning,
I think that their reaction is not adequate,” he told RFE/RL before
the meeting.
Torosian argued that Venice Commission experts should have reserved
judgment on the issue until after their visit to Yerevan which is
scheduled to start on Thursday. He said the parliament has yet to
debate the amendments in the second and final reading and could change
them as a result.
Torosian, who has personally dealt with the Venice Commission, went
on to accuse the Council of Europe of trying to “equate” Armenia
with Azerbaijan. “I am certain that this statement can be used for
political aims by other organizations,” he said without elaborating.
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian was far more cautious in his reaction
to the embarrassing criticism. “I think a lot has been that in that
direction,” he told reporters, referring to constitutional reform. “We
are still not where the Europeans would like us to be. That is why
we have to work.”
Constitutional reform was one of the conditions for Armenia’s hard-won
accession to the Council of Europe in January 2001. In a resolution
adopted last September, the organization’s Parliamentary Assembly
(PACE) gave Yerevan until June to hold the repeatedly delayed
constitutional referendum. Armenian officials reportedly told PACE
leaders in April that the vote will likely take place in late July
or early August.

FRENCHMEN SAID «NO» TO TURKEY FIRST OF ALL
Pan Armenian News
31.05.2005 05:29
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “The French were the ones to resist to Turkey’s
membership in the EU and liberalization of services in the EU most,”
Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said, reported the Yerkir
newspaper. The Finnish FM said that by their “no” to the European
Constitution the French first of all rejected Turkey. The returns of
the referendum in France were a step back in coming to accord over
the EU Constitution, Tuomioja added.
–Boundary_(ID_fp9AETUfbNgUaqpSpzfnpg)–