ASBAREZ Online [09-20-2005]

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09/20/2005
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) Cyprus Threatens to Veto EU's Draft Text on Turkey 2) Sharjah Ruler Commemorates Armenian Genocide Victims 3) Youth Activists in Azerbaijan Say They Are Being Targeted By Government 4) Azeri Shots Force OSCE Mission to End Monitoring 5) Catholicos Aram I to Visit Los Angeles Armenian Evangelical Community 1) Cyprus Threatens to Veto EU's Draft Text on Turkey (Bloomberg)--The Cypriot government threatened to veto a European Union (EU) declaration on ties with Turkey, imperiling EU plans to start Turkish membership talks on October 3. The last-minute threat prevented European governments today from agreeing on a response to Turkey's diplomatic boycott of EU member Cyprus and may force the 25-nation bloc to hold an emergency meeting. The UK, current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, brokered an accord among diplomats yesterday and expected routine approval today. "There is no agreement yet," Stavros Papagianneas, a spokesman for the Cypriot mission to the EU, said by telephone in Brussels today. "There is a proposal by the UK presidency which is being studied by us." The month-long debate over the declaration has sidetracked the EU, holding up the passage of a negotiating plan for Turkey that needs the backing of all member nations. The plan covers 35 areas from customs and public procurement to energy and fisheries where Turkey would have to meet the bloc's regulatory standards. The Turkish government said in July that its signature of a protocol extending a European trade accord to Cyprus wasn't tantamount to recognizing the Mediterranean island, whose northern tier Turkey has occupied since 1974. Signing the protocol was a condition the EU set in December for starting decade-long membership talks. RECOGNITION The declaration agreed on yesterday by EU government representatives urges Turkey to ensure free trade with Cyprus while moving toward normal political ties "as soon as possible.'" The EU will review progress in 2006, the statement says. "There was approval at ambassadorial level but not ministerial level," Jonathan Allen, a British government spokesman, said by telephone today in Brussels. He said EU diplomats would return to the issue tomorrow and did not exclude the possibility of a special meeting of EU foreign ministers on September 26. "We don't want to drag foreign ministers to Brussels, but if we he have to, we will," Allen said. Papagianneas declined to say when the Cypriot government would decide on its final position and what the government's remaining concerns might be. Cypriot government demands for tougher warnings against Turkey over trade obstacles and non-recognition helped scuttle four attempts to agree on the declaration this month until yesterday's breakthrough among diplomats. The trade curbs include a ban on Cypriot ships unloading goods in Turkish ports and Cypriot planes landing at Turkish airports. Turkey, a nation of 72 million people, is counting on the accession talks to attract record foreign investment to its $300 billion economy. It would be one of the two most populous EU nations along with Germany, become the bloc's first mainly Muslim member and widen the EU's borders to Iraq. 2) Sharjah Ruler Commemorates Armenian Genocide Victims YEREVAN (Armenpress)--The Ruler of Emirate of Sharjah, HH Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, paid his respects, on Tuesday, to the victims of Armenian genocide by visiting Yerevan's Genocide Memorial and a nearby genocide museum. The Sheikh, who is on an official visit to Armenia to open the Days of Arab Culture there, initially met with the head of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences to review scientific cooperation, specifically joint research projects in the near future. "We are happy that, despite the burden of pressing problems, Armenia opens its doors to Sharjah. We respect that, along with the determination to expand our relationship," said the Arab leader. He said that cooperation with Armenia developed after President Robert Kocharian's visit to the United Arab Emirates in April 2002. The Sheikh also met with Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markarian to evaluate implementation of projects in recent years, and the various cooperation agreements the two countries have in place. They spoke of developing economic cooperation, and noted the need to expand their collaboration in the areas education, science, culture, tourism, and the exporting of agricultural products. The prime minister the Sheikh's visit and the celebration of cultural days of Sharjah in Armenia will give new impetus to their relationship. Margarian stressed the importance of establishing an Arab cultural center in Armenia and thanked the Sheikh for readiness to provide financial support. 3) Youth Activists in Azerbaijan Say They Are Being Targeted By Government (Eurasianet.org)--As Azerbaijan's November 6 parliamentary elections draw closer, opposition and youth organization representatives say they are feeling increased pressure from the government. Their concerns have been fueled by the recent arrests of youth activists, one of them a Ukrainian citizen. On September 12, Yeni Fikir Deputy chair Said Nuri was detained for 48 hours on suspicion of conspiring to stage a coup against the Azeri government. While attending a training session in Poland that was sponsored by the National Democratic Institute, Nuri allegedly received instruction on organizing anti-government protests with the aim of overthrowing the established order, Azerbaijani officials contend. Nuri had assumed responsibility for running Yeni Fikir, a youth group loosely aligned with the opposition Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, shortly after the August arrest of Ruslan Bashirli, the group's leader. Bashirli was charged with conspiring with Armenian special services to foment unrest in Azerbaijan. The same day as Nuri's detention, Ramin Tagiyev, another Yeni Fikir deputy chairperson, was sentenced to a three-month prison term for his role in a supposed coup plot. The US State Department has sharply criticized Nuri's arrest. In a September 15 interview broadcast by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Azeri Service, Terry Davidson, a US State Department official, expressed concern that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's administration was trying to squelch legitimate domestic political opposition. "The US government is concerned [by] the arrest of youth leaders in Azerbaijan as well as the campaign against the Popular Front Party," Davidson said. `We urge the Azeri government to provide basic civil liberties in preparation for the parliamentary elections, including freedom of assembly, equal access to the media and not being a subject of pressure." In an interview with EurasiaNet, Popular Front Party Chairman Ali Kerimli stated that the arrests were motivated by the authorities' fear of Yeni Fikir's increasing popularity and the related need to reduce youth activism in Azerbaijan. "They [authorities] think that the only way to make these young people stop the struggle is to isolate them," Kerimli said "However, the opposition's rallies demonstrate that, more and more, orange-clad youth have joined the nationwide struggle against dictatorship." The scandals surrounding Yeni Fikir show no signs of abating. On September 15, organization members reportedly discovered three hand grenades and a cartridge of TNT in the group's main office in Baku. Media reported that the police officer called to the scene to investigate refused to remove the explosives. The building also houses the offices of the opposition newspaper Azadliq and the Popular Front. Azadliq Editor Ganimat Zahidov, reportedly accompanied by foreign and local journalists, eventually took a bag with the explosives to the local police station. Zahidov claimed that the explosives were deliberately planted by authorities to provide justification for another Yeni Fikir arrest, and to search the organization's headquarters. Zahidov has since ordered all individuals entering the building to be checked. Police pledged to conduct a thorough investigation of the incident, but have not issued any updates. Some human rights activists believe that the arrests of Yeni Fikir members are designed to reduce the potential for an election-related protest in Baku akin to those that occurred in Georgia and Ukraine in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Those protests resulted in regime-change in Tbilisi and Kyiv. Georgian and Ukrainian youth groups played key roles in organizing those demonstrations. "The former leaderships of Georgia and Ukraine never took such tough action against youth leaders," said Saida Gojamanli, director of the Bureau of Human Rights and Law Observance. The arrest of a representative of the Ukrainian youth group Pora in Baku has helped fuel speculation that the government plans to discourage such organizations from playing any role in Azerbaijan's parliamentary elections. Azerbaijani authorities detained Sergei Yevtushenko--an advisor to the Ukrainian foreign minister, and a Pora leader--at Baku airport on September 15. Two days later, he was forcibly returned to Ukraine. Yevtushenko had traveled to Azerbaijan at the invitation of the opposition election bloc Azadliq to attend a conference on democratization in Azerbaijan and Belarus. No official reason was given for Yevtushenko's detention. The Ukrainian consul was allowed to meet with Yevtushenko only after the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry lodged a formal diplomatic protest. In a September 16 interview with Trend news agency, the country's ambassador to Baku, Igor Kizima stated that Azerbaijani officials had violated international agreements by making the Ukrainian consul wait five hours before seeing Yevtushenko. Ukrainian officials also accused Azerbaijan of violating bilateral agreements that provide for a no-visa entry to Azerbaijan for Ukrainian citizens. 4) Azeri Shots Force OSCE Mission to End Monitoring YEREVAN (Armenpress)--An OSCE team had to cut short its routine monitoring of the line of contact between Armenian troops of Mountainous Karabagh and Azeri troops near a village in Fizuli region on Tuesday. At the very start of the monitoring, a single shot in the direction of the Mission was fired from Azeri positions. Andrzej Kasprzyk, the special envoy of the OSCE chairman-in-office supervising the monitoring, reported the observation was ceased for security reasons. Representatives of the Mountainous Karabagh Republic's Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministries were accompanying the OSCE mission. 5) Catholicos Aram I to Visit Los Angeles Armenian Evangelical Community The Armenian Evangelical Union of North America has announced that His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia has accepted the Church's invitation to visit the Evangelical community of Southern California, during His upcoming Pontifical visit to the Western Prelacy, October 5-19. The Evangelical Church will welcome the Catholicos on Friday, October 7, 3PM at the United Armenian Congregational Church located at 3480 Cahuenga Blvd. West, in Los Angeles. A reception will follow at the adjoining Ayvazian Hall. 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. 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