Month: October 2006

ARMENIAN MP: "RUSSIA DISCARDED ARMENIA’S INTERESTS IN SORTING OUT ITS RELATIONS WITH GEORGIA"

Today, Azerbaijan
Oct 3 2006

Introducing economic sanctions against Georgia will hardly affect
Armenia, Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Vahan Hovhannisian has told
reporters.

"Unfortunately, it’s been not the first time when sorting out relations
with Georgia, Russia discards Armenia’s interests. They expect us,
probably, to treat this issue with understanding, but I personally do
not have such understanding, as it turns out that our strategic ally,
wishes it or not, joins the blockade of Armenia," he says.

Vahan Hovhannisyan expresses hope that after Russian officers are
released the positions will alleviate. "The matter is, how the Georgian
side reacts to it: it can well try to gain revenge in other front. It
is rather difficult to predict today," Armenia’s deputy parliamentary
speaker says.

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UNEASE GRIPS GEORGIANS IN RUSSIA

BBC World News, UK
Oct 3 2006

Khatuna and her husband now talk about selling up and moving away
Khatuna Dadiani is one of the estimated half a million Georgians
living in Russia, who send money home to support family members.

As of today she faces two new problems – how to wire money to Tbilisi,
and how to get to Georgia if she wants or needs to visit.

But Russia’s economic sanctions against Georgia strike her as more
ridiculous than anything else.

"Of course there will be ways round them," she says.

"The worrying thing is that attitudes towards Georgians are changing
so fast here – it’s getting worse and worse."

Money and travel

Khatuna’s husband, who has his own construction company, is
investigating the possibility of sending money to Georgia via foreign
banks in Moscow, rather than Russian banks.

The people to whom we send money, live on that money

Khatuna Dadiani The solution to the travel problem would be to fly
via Ukraine or Armenia – a minor inconvenience.

It might also be possible to go by road through the Russian republic
of North Ossetia, though Khatuna says this would involve dealing with
bribe-hungry border guards.

Khatuna is originally from the Georgian autonomous region of Abkhazia,
and her relatives in Georgia are mainly refugees, forced out during
the 1992-93 war in the region.

Some have found their feet in the Georgian capital, others have not.

"The people to whom we send money, live on that money," she says.

"They have big families to feed."

In the current war of words between Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Khatuna is 100% behind
Mr Saakashvili.

She was deeply offended by Mr Putin’s account of the arrest of Russian
officers in Georgia on spying charges as part of the legacy of the
Stalin-era secret police chief, Lavrentiy Beria – a Georgian, like
Stalin himself.

Changing attitudes

But what worries her most is what she perceives as a changing attitude
towards Georgians in Russian society as a whole. It is getting worse
"exponentially", she says.

She worries for the safety of her daughter, who travels on public
transport every day to an institute, where she studies modern
languages.

"Georgians in Russia are quietly selling their businesses and going
away," she says.

Her husband, who has lived in Russia most of his life, used to laugh
at the idea, but he has now begun to consider it, she adds.

In an ideal world they would return to Abkhazia but, that being
impossible, they have discussed going further afield, to Spain or
Italy perhaps.

"[The comedian, Mikhail] Zhvanetsky said on television recently that
the biggest achievement of Russian democracy is that anyone can go
away," says Khatuna.

"He is absolutely right."

RETURN TO HIS ROOTS BROUGHT DAVID TO TEARS
Ian Wylie

Manchester Evening News, UK
Oct 3 2006

EMOTIONAL JOURNEY: David DickinsonTEARS flow as antiques expert
and TV presenter David Dickinson embarks on a poignant and touching
personal journey.

"Most people will have their mother and father and will know their
roots and will never question them. In my case, there’s always been
a question," he explains.

Stockport-raised David’s voyage of discovery takes him from Manchester
to Istanbul via Jersey and provides Who Do You Think You Are? (BBC1,
October 4, 9pm) with one of the best editions in the current series.

He was born in 1941, the illegitimate son of an Armenian woman
called Eugenie Gulessarian, the result of an affair she had with a
married man.

In the moral climate of that time, his mother could not keep David.

He was adopted by Jim and Joyce Dickinson when he was just a few
months old, and brought up in Cheadle Heath.

"I always felt a little different," he recalls.

At the outset of his TV research, David adds, "I’m excited about the
thought of tracing my grandfather’s origins, because I think that’s
what I’m about. I think I’m really east meets west, in a way."

Now 65, David didn’t discover he was adopted until he was 11, finding
his birth and adoption certificates in his granny’s desk. That’s when
the questions began. "Where have I come from? What kind of people
were they? Why did they have me adopted?"

He was 28 when he traced his birth mother Eugenie – known as Jenny.

They exchanged letters for two decades. But when she died in 1989,
they had never met face to face.

Jenny met and married another man called Bert, some two years after
giving David up for adoption. They had a son called Ken and moved to
Jersey, deciding never to tell anyone about David’s birth.

Jersey

Whenever David offered to visit his mother, she refused. Having
landed in Jersey with the TV team, he says: "I could have got on a
plane at any time and come over here. I had all the confidence in the
world and I could have just walked up to the door, but I considered,
‘Why should I do that? Why should I enter this woman’s life and turn
it topsy-turvy and cause her grief?’

"She was scared, she was nervous. She said to me that her husband could
be rather difficult. The truth may be she just couldn’t face up to
meeting the child that you give away. And I think I respect that also."

If you look at the photo of Jenny as an older woman, you can
immediately understand her fears that others would realise David was
her son, long before he was a well-known TV face.

"She used to say to me, ‘People will put two and two together. People
will recognise you.’ She was, obviously, alarmed at that thought."

After the death of his natural mother, David made contact with his
half-brother Ken and his wife, Sue. They live in the same house in
Jersey where Jenny and her husband Bert lived for 40 years.

There are plenty of tears as the two brothers again discuss those lost
years and their mother. Recalling their very first meeting, Ken says,
"When you walked through the arrivals hall, I could feel the hairs
on the back of my neck standing on end because it was just like a
reincarnation of her.

"I thought, ‘Here I am. I’ve had the love of this wonderful woman all
throughout my childhood, and all you’ve got are these letters.’ Very
emotional."

More tears flow when David walks along the beach, reflecting on the
mother he never met. "She did what she thought was the best. Coming
over here and seeing Ken happy there with his wife in the house which
his mum, and dad, brought him up in … a bit tearful today, really."

Back in Manchester, David discovers more about his grandfather,
Hrant Gulessarian, a wealthy textiles merchant who came to the city
from Istanbul in 1904.

With Christian Armenians facing persecution in Turkey, Hrant became
part of a thriving Armenian community in Manchester.

After joining an uncle already set up here in business, he became a
millionaire in his twenties.

Blackpool hotel

But Hrant later lost most of his fortune, spending his last years
living alone in a Blackpool hotel room before his death in 1963.

Although, at the time he never knew his grandfather or his background,
David actually followed in his footsteps and believes he inherited
the family genes for toughness.

"I’m not really a Dickinson. I’m definitely a Gulessarian. Since I
was 11, I’ve been chasing the Gulessarian name. Perhaps I’ve been
trying to prove something."

He visits the Armenian church in Manchester and finds records of his
grandfather’s wedding, plus details of his mother’s birth. Hrant lived
the life of an English country gentleman with his wife Marie-Adelaide,
the daughter of a Moss Side baker, in Great Warford, Cheshire, just
20 minutes’ drive from David’s present-day home.

But their marriage did not last. Hrant’s business was failing and
the couple drifted apart. Divorce papers mention her frequent adultery.

David asks, "What can you say when your grandmother turns out to be
a bit of a tart?"

He visits the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry and uncovers
more about his grandfather’s 1920s city centre business.

There are a few last pieces of the jigsaw waiting for him as he
travels to Istanbul to find out what happened to the Turkish branch
of his family, including the discovery of a new-found relative.

His ancestral quest at an end, David is happy his questions have
finally been answered. "Now the circle is completed as far as I’m
concerned. It’s put to rest."

k/entertainment/filmandtv/s/224/224639_return_to_h is_roots_brought_david_to_tears.html

TURKISH PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION IN PARIS

Turkish Press
Oct 3 2006

PARIS – A Turkish Parliamentary delegation arrived in Paris to lobby
against the draft resolution which considers denial of so-called
Armenian genocide claims a crime.

The Turkish Parliamentary delegation, led by Turkish MP Mehmet Dulger,
who is the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Parliament,
is comprised of Justice & Development Party (AKP) and Republican
People’s Party (CHP) parliamentarians.

The delegation would ask for the resolution, submitted by the French
Socialist Party, to be rejected.

The Turkish parliamentarians are expected to point out that approval
of the resolution would harm Turkish-French relations.

GENOCIDE QUESTION CONTINUES TO DOG PVDA

NIS News Bulletin, Netherlands
Oct 3 2006

THE HAGUE, 04/10/06 – Labour (PvdA) is not yet free of the Armenian
genocide question. Various media again cast doubts on the position
of prominent MP Nebahat Albayrak yesterday. Meanwhile, PvdA Senator
Erik Jurgens has proposed dropping the ban on Holocaust denial.

The PvdA broke with candidate MP Erdinc Sacan last week. He is not
running in the 22 November general elections because he refuses to
recognise the genocide perpetrated by Turkey on the Armenians between
1915 and 1917. Albayrak, the highest-placed candidate on the PvdA
list after front-runner Wouter Bos, is however still refusing to
provide clarification of her position.

According to Elsevier magazine, Albayrak has been unavailable for
comment since last week, when she "reduced the debate" to a question
of definition in an interview with Trouw newspaper. Alabayrak said
it is not possible to take a clear position because the historical
sources are "polluted."

Elsevier says Albayrak is propounding the position of the Turkish
government, as expressed by the Turkish ambassador in a letter
to evening newspaper NRC Handelsblad. The diplomat said in this
yesterday that "historians are divided on how the events should be
characterised."

According to Elsevier, there are virtually no independent academics
that doubt that the term ‘genocide’ is appropriate. "In the
Netherlands, a report appeared as early as 1918 by a committee of
very eminent politicians which spoke unequivocally of the ‘systematic
slaughter’ of 800,000 Armenians in Turkey."

While Turkish PvdA members are not committing themselves for now
on the question, it has already led to turmoil within the Christian
democratic (CDA) party. A group of 30 Turkish CDA members protested
at last weekend’s party congress against the forced departure of two
CDA election candidates due to their denial of the genocide.

According to the Turkish ambassador, CDA candidates Ayhan Tonca and
Osman Elmaci were wrongfully removed from the election list. Their
position "cannot be described as a denial of a proven genocide,
but rather as non-acceptance of the one-sided allegation by the
Armenians." The Turkish parliament on Monday awarded Sacan, Tonca
and Elmaci the distinction of ‘honorary parliamentarians.’

Prompted by the debate on Turkey’s Armenian genocide, PvdA Senator Erik
Jurgens is urging the abolition of the ban on denial of the Holocaust,
the genocide of around six million Jews by the Nazi regime. "It
comes under freedom of speech, unless somebody is inciting to racial
hatred," in his view. Equally, denial of the Armenian genocide is
not punishable, according to the Senator, who is also a member of
the Council of Europe parliament.

Professor Ton Zwaan of the University of Amsterdam, specialist in
genocide studies, said yesterday in Trouw that "Albayrak, unhampered
by any knowledge, has made a series of dubious statements which are
closely related to negationism and denial politics. The question is
how she and her party think they will get away with this."

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AZERI, ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS TO MEET IN MOSCOW OCT. 6

Today, Azerbaijan
Oct 3 2006

The OSCE Minsk group has not finished its work, claim the Co-Chairs.

Today they announced that the Armenian and Azeri Foreign Ministers
will meet in Moscow on October 6.

The Co-Chairs are a little indignant at yesterday’s meetings in Baku
and the interpretation of the Azeri mass media. US Co-Chair Mettew
Bryza says that he couldn’t sleep the whole night after seeing his
announcement on GUAM in the press. According to the Azeri press
data, Mr. Bryza said that GUAM countries can render assistance to
OSCE Minsk group in Karabakh conflict settlement. Today Mr. Bryza
read his opinion on the GUAM in front of the Armenian journalists;
"GUAM member countries are not OSCE members."

Bernard Fassier, French Co-Chair says that he didn’t announce in
Baku that Karabakh cannot participate in the negotiation process at
present. He didn’t answer the same question in Yerevan either. He
didn’t exclude the possibility that peaceful troops may be located
in vacated territories by 2006.

Tomorrow the Co-Chairs will leave for Karabakh. Mr. Bryza assured that
the Co-Chairs are of the same opinion on all questions, and there
is no discord among them. "I can assure that the Karabakh conflict
settlement has not a military solution," said Mettew Bryza.

Bernard Fassier said that unless Armenians and Azeris are ready
to live side by side as neighbours, the Karabakh conflict won’t
be settled. As for the time when the conflict will find its final
solution, Mr. Fassier said, "Let’s live and see."

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TURKEY RAPS CHIRAC COMMENTS ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Reuters
Oct 3 2006

Turkey on Tuesday criticized remarks by French President Jacques
Chirac that Ankara must recognize the 1915 massacre of Armenians as
genocide before joining the European Union.

On a visit to Armenia last weekend, Chirac urged Turkey to come to
terms with a dark episode in its history just as Germany had done
with regard to the Holocaust under the Nazis.

Turkey strongly denies claims that Ottoman Turks committed a systematic
genocide against Armenians during World War One, saying that large
numbers of both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks perished in a
partisan conflict raging at that time.

"We were deeply saddened by the statements supporting the baseless
Armenian claims during the visit by President Chirac to Armenia,"
the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Chirac should instead support Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s
call for a joint commission of Turkish and Armenian historians to
assess what really happened more than 90 years ago, the ministry
said. It noted that last year Chirac said the issue of France’s own
alleged maltreatment of peoples under its former colonial rule should
be left to historians to argue over.

The Armenian issue is especially sensitive in France, which is home
to a large Armenian diaspora and faces presidential elections next
year. The French parliament is due to debate a bill by the Socialists
opposition party proposing to punish anyone denying Armenian genocide
claims on October 12.

Chirac has also promised French voters a chance to vote on
whether Turkey should join the EU after it has completed its entry
negotiations. The talks are expected to last many years.

The EU’s Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said during a visit to
Ankara on Tuesday that recognizing the Armenian massacres as genocide
was not a condition for Turkey’s EU membership. "We want to encourage
a rational, constructive debate (about what happened)," said Rehn,
who said he had welcomed Erdogan’s proposal for a commission.

ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN AGREE TO RESUME DIRECT TALKS
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 3 2006

The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet in Moscow
on Friday for face-to-face peace talks that could be followed by
another crucial Armenian-Azerbaijani summit on Nagorno-Karabakh,
international mediators said on Tuesday.

The senior French, Russian and U.S. diplomats co-chairing the OSCE
Minsk Group made the announcement after talks with the leaders of the
two nations. They were in Baku on Monday and are scheduled to meet
with the Armenian leadership of Karabakh in Stepanakert on Wednesday
in their latest round of shuttle diplomacy.

Speaking at a joint news conference in Yerevan, the mediators said
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar
Mammadyarov will likely hold another round of negotiations next week
in an attempt to kick-start the deadlocked peace process.

In the words of Bernard Fassier, the group’s French co-chair,
the two ministers will specifically look into the possibility of
organizing yet another meeting of their presidents. Fassier and his
American and Russian colleagues refused to speculate on the chances
of a breakthrough.

"We are not saying that we are on the verge of a grand breakthrough
or that the difficult problems have gotten any easier," said, Matthew
Bryza, the U.S. co-chair. "But we do sense a willingness by the sides
to think in a deeper way and to look for a way to move ahead."

Oskanian and Mammadyarov were already scheduled to meet in New York
late last month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Oskanian
effectively cancelled the meeting in protest against the assembly’s
decision to discuss the conflicts in Karabakh and elsewhere in the
former Soviet Union during its ongoing session. Armenia is strongly
opposed to any UN involvement in Karabakh talks.

The issue was included on the assembly agenda at the insistence of
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova that make up a loose grouping
of former Soviet republics known as GUAM. They are expected to submit
a relevant resolution to the body this fall.

Bryza indicated that the United States will oppose any GUAM resolutions
that would blame the Armenian side and run counter to the main points
of a framework peace deal disclosed by the Minsk Group in June. "If
the GUAM states put forward a resolution that is not balanced, that is
not fair, that is accusatory or simply doesn’t call for a settlement
based on the basic principles we’ve articulated, it won’t be helpful
and we won’t like it," he said.

The mediators favor a gradual resolution of the Karabakh dispute that
would lead to a referendum on the disputed enclave’s status after the
liberation of surrounding Azerbaijani districts controlled by Armenian
forces. They made it clear on Tuesday that this formula remains at
the heart of their revised peace proposals. "We still believe that
our basic principles that we have articulated provide the best hope
for a fair, just and lasting settlement," said Bryza.

Presidents Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan and Robert Kocharian of Armenia
were widely expected to accept those principles as a basis for a more
comprehensive peace accord during two rounds of intensive negotiations
earlier this year. However, the talks yielded no agreement, all
but dashing hopes for the conflict’s settlement before the end of
this year.

Aliev has since repeatedly ruled out any settlement that would stop
short of restoring Azerbaijani control over Karabakh. He reportedly
reaffirmed this stance in an address to the Azerbaijani parliament
on Monday. Azerbaijani media quoted him as saying that Baku is under
pressure to accept a deal "contradicting the interests of our people."

"Some forces wonder why the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict has still
not be solved," Aliev said, according to the Trend news agency. "This
is so because we are not opting for agreements that are not acceptable
to us."

Bryza refused to comment on this, saying that there are discrepancies
between remarks attributed to the Azerbaijani leader by various
Azerbaijani media outlets.

Aliev was also quoted by Agence France Presse as also pledging to
"increase pressure on Armenia." "Otherwise they are not likely to give
back our territories. We must be ready for war," he said, according
to the French news agency.

Bryza reiterated in that regard the mediators’ view that "there is
no military settlement to the Karabakh conflict."

ARMENIAN EXPORTS HURT BY RUSSIAN BLOCKADE OF GEORGIA
By Astghik Bedevian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 3 2006

Armenian companies trading with Russia said on Tuesday that they are
already incurring losses as a result of Moscow’s decision to impose
a transport blockade on Georgia in retaliation for the arrest of its
Tbilisi-based military officers accused of espionage.

The Russian government suspended all land, sea, and postal links with
Georgia on Monday despite the release and repatriation of the four
officers who allegedly worked for Russia’s GRU military intelligence.

It also threatened to ban cash remittances from hundreds of thousands
of Georgians working in Russia.

The extraordinary move, criticized by the European Union, further
complicated Moscow’s already tense relationship with the pro-Western
administration of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. It could
also seriously hamper Armenian exports to and imports from Russia.

Those account for a considerable part of Armenia’s external trade.

Prime Minister Andranik Markarian downplayed the blockade’s effects on
Armenia, arguing that the Russians had already closed their main land
border crossing with Georgia in June and that Armenian companies can
continue to ship cargos to Russia via Ukraine. However, the owners
of some of those companies were far less sanguine, saying that they
are already counting the possible cost of the Russian blockade.

Ashot Baghdasarian, chief executive of the Kilikia beer and soft
drinks company, said a batch of its products bound for Russia was
left stranded in a Georgian Black Sea port following the suspension
of a regular Georgian-Russian ferry service. Kilikia is also unable
to import Russian raw materials used for the packaging of its natural
juices, he said.

"I have information that our cargos were stopped at the border
yesterday," Baghdasarian told RFE/RL. "This is a very big problem for
businessmen." The businessman, who is also a parliament deputy from
the governing Republican Party (HHK), urged the Armenian government
to help sort out the problem.

The government seems reluctant to raise the issue with the Russian side
for the time being. "We have not yet received an official notification
from the Russian side on restrictions placed on shipments of our
goods." the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Vladimir Karapetian,
said.

Great Valley, a major Armenian brandy firm heavily oriented towards
the Russian market, has also seen its exports grind to a halt. "There
is an option of shipping things by air, something which we have done in
the past," its owner Tigran Arzakantsian told RFE/RL. "But that is very
expensive. We are now examining ways of making shipments via Iran."

Arzakantsian also owns a textile factory in his native town of Gavar
that exports most of its production to Russia.

Other Armenian exporters said they have so far been unaffected by the
escalating Russian-Georgian crisis. Arsen Ghazarian of the Apaven
cargo company said it continued to successfully ferry freight to
Russia on Tuesday. MAP, another major liquor manufacturer, likewise
reported non transportation problems.

"Only the shipment of Georgian cargos has been suspended," the MAP
chairman, Alik Petrosian, told RFE/RL. "So our cargos keep going to
[the Georgian port of] Poti and then proceeding to Russia."

But Petrosian too was worried about the situation. "Nobody knows what
will happen tomorrow," he explained. "Everyone understands what a
serious blow to our economy could suffer."

Armenian exports to Russia, dominated alcoholic drinks and agricultural
products, were already dealt a severe blow with the closure last June
of the main Russian-Georgian border crossing.

Armenian leaders tried unsuccessfully to get the Russians to reopen
the Upper Lars crossing. This prompted renewed complaints by Armenian
politicians and commentators that Russian ignores the interests of
Armenia, its main regional ally, in its dealings with Georgia.

Russian officials have denied any political motives behind the closure
of Upper Lars, saying that the "temporary" measure was necessary for
repairing roads and customs facilities on the Russian side of the
mountainous frontier.

Despite stepping up its economic and diplomatic blockade of Georgia,
Moscow has not cut off its vital natural gas supplies to Georgia and
on to Armenia, something which would have even more severe consequences
for both South Caucasus states.

PARLIAMENT BLOCKS GOVERNMENT BILL ON TV REGULATION
By Ruzanna Khachatrian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 3 2006

The Armenian parliament rejected on Tuesday a controversial government
bill that envisages important changes in the formation of a powerful
state body regulating television and radio broadcasts in the country.

The bill was backed only by 46 of the 131 members of the National
Assembly after being strongly criticized by Armenia’s leading media
associations. It was also rejected by parliament deputies representing
the opposition minority and the governing Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun).

Its main stated purpose is to make the controversial National
Commission on Television and Radio (HRAH) more independent of
President Robert Kocharian in line with one of the recently enacted
amendments to Armenia’s constitution. Under the existing law, Kocharian
single-handedly appoints all of its nine members.

The proposed changes would reduce that number to eight and empower
the president of the republic to name only half of the commission
members. The other four members would be chosen by the parliament.

The HRAH would also have to "substantiate in a proper manner" the
distribution and withdrawal of television and radio frequencies.

In a joint statement, the Yerevan Press Club, the Armenian Union of
Journalists and three other groups said the proposed changes do not
ensure the HRAH’s independence, arguing that it would take years
before the composition of the Kocharian-controlled body changes
significantly. They suggested that the new HRAH have 16 members,
half of whom would be appointed by the parliament at once.

The media groups object to the government’s desire to give additional
powers to the broadcast regulator. They say this would make the
distribution and withdrawal of broadcasting licenses more arbitrary
and discretionary.

Speaking in the National Assembly last week, Justice Minister David
Harutiunian said the government is ready to accept some of these
suggestions but only after the bill is adopted in the first reading.

Parliament speaker Tigran Torosian backed this approach, urging fellow
lawmakers to vote for the draft law. Most of them clearly failed to
heed the call, however.