Month: March 2007

AP Newsbreak: U.N. envoy recommends independence for Kosovo

The Associated Press
Published: March 26, 2007

PRISTINA, Serbia: The U.N. envoy for Kosovo says independence is "the
only viable option" for the province, according to a copy of his
report obtained by The Associated Press Monday.

Martti Ahtisaari, who mediated yearlong talks between ethnic Albanians
and Serbs, said that "upon careful consideration of Kosovo’s recent
history, the realities of Kosovo today, and taking into account
negotiations with the parties, I have come to the conclusion that the
only viable option for Kosovo is independence, to be supervised for an
initial period by the international community."

The 3 1/2-page report and his proposal will be delivered to the
U.N. Security Council later Monday.

It is the first time that Ahtisaari has explicitly mentioned
independence in a document dealing with province’s future.

Ahtisaari’s previously proposal provisions for Kosovo’s own
constitution, flag, anthem and army and rights to minority Serbs to
run their daily affairs, setting the stage for Kosovo’s statehood, but
did not use the word "independence."

( w.php)

He handed over his proposal to ethnic Albanian and Serbian leaders in
February, "A return of Serbian rule over Kosovo would not be
acceptable to the overwhelming majority of the people of Kosovo,"
Ahtisaari wrote in his report to the Security Council. "Belgrade could
not regain its authority without provoking violent
opposition. Autonomy of Kosovo within the borders of Serbia however
notional such autonomy may be – is simply not tenable."

Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999, when
NATO airstrikes ended a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian
separatists. The U.N. plan, drafted by Ahtisaari, is an attempt to
resolve the final major dispute remaining after Yugoslavia’s bloody
1990s breakup.

Ethnic Albanian leaders have supported the plan, while Serbia’s
officials, opposed to the province’s secession, have rejected it,
saying it grants Kosovo de-facto independence.

In his report, Ahtisaari also said that continued international
administration was not sustainable and said that "independence with
international supervision is the only viable option."

"Independence is the only option for a politically stable and
economically viable Kosovo," Ahtisaari wrote.

The U.N. Security Council is to have the final say on the
plan. However, the council is split on the issue, with Russia
supporting Serbia while the United States and the European Union back
the U.N. plan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and other officials have said that
granting Kosovo statehood could set a precedent for separatist regions
in former Soviet republics, such as South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which
broke away from control of the central government in Georgia in wars
in the early 1990s.

Karabakh leader takes short leave

Arminfo, Yerevan
26 Mar 07

Stepanakert, 26 March: The president of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic,
Arkadi Ghukasyan, took a short leave on 24 March, the press service of the
Karabakh president told Arminfo.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

UN envoy recommends Kosovo independence

Agencies
Monday March 26, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Independence is "the only viable option" for Kosovo, according to the
UN’s envoy to the province.

Martti Ahtisaari, who mediated in year-long talks between ethnic
Albanians and Serbs in the former Yugoslav province, delivered his
proposals to the UN security council today.

In an introductory report, Mr Ahtisaari made his conclusions clear,
saying that "upon careful consideration of Kosovo’s recent history,
the realities of Kosovo today, and taking into account negotiations
with the parties, I have come to the conclusion that the only viable
option for Kosovo is independence, to be supervised for an initial
period by the international community".

It was the first time he had explicitly mentioned independence in a
document dealing with the 90% Albanian province’s future.

Mr Ahtisaari’s proposals would grant Kosovo its own constitution,
flag, anthem and army, combined with some rights of self-government
for the 100,000-strong Serb minority.

But the province would not be totally autonomous immediately, with the
plans envisaging a European Union overseer. The UN has administered
Kosovo since 1999, when Nato air strikes ended a Serbian crackdown on
ethnic Albanian separatists. An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians and
1,000 Serbs were killed during the 1998-1999 war.

The UN plan is an attempt to resolve the final major dispute remaining
after Yugoslavia’s bloody break-up in the 1990s.

The foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, said Mr Ahtisaari’s proposals
gave Kosovo clarity over its future, that "would enable the Balkan
region as a whole to draw a line under the conflicts of the recent
past".

"We look forward to working with our partners in the UN security
council, on the basis of the UN special envoy’s settlement proposals,
to bring the status process through to completion," she said in a
statement.

Stressing the urgency of the issue, Mr Ahtisaari said that allowing
the territory’s status to remain ambiguous was a destabilising factor.

"Independence is the best safeguard against this risk," he wrote. "It
is also the best chance for a sustainable long-term partnership
between Kosovo and Serbia."

The envoy presented his proposals to regional leaders in
February. Ethnic Albanians supported the plan, while Serbian
officials, opposed to the province’s secession, rejected it, saying it
granted Kosovo de facto independence.

"A return of Serbian rule over Kosovo would not be acceptable to the
overwhelming majority of the people of Kosovo," Mr Ahtisaari wrote in
his report.

"Belgrade could not regain its authority without provoking violent
opposition.

Autonomy of Kosovo within the borders of Serbia – however notional
such autonomy may be – is simply not tenable."

He added that continued international administration was not
sustainable, saying: "Only in an independent Kosovo will its
democratic institutions be fully responsible and accountable for their
actions. This will be crucial to ensure respect for the rule of law
and effective protection of minorities." Mr Ahtisaari noted that
Kosovo’s Serb community continued to face difficult living conditions.

After the war, the Serb minority was targeted in revenge attacks and
about 200,000 of them were forced to flee the province.

"I therefore propose that the exercise of Kosovo’s independence … be
supervised and supported for an initial period by international
civilian and military presences," he wrote. "Their powers should be
strong – but focused – in critical areas such as community rights,
decentralisation, the protection of the Serbian Orthodox church, and
the rule of law."

The plan faces an uncertain future in the security council, which is
split on the issue. Russia supports Serbia, while the United States
and the EU back the UN plan.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and other officials have said
that granting Kosovo statehood could set a precedent for separatist
regions in former Soviet republics.

SAMVEL HAROUTIUNIAN PROPOSES SAMVEL BABAYAN WITHDRAWING HIS
CANDIDATURE FROM ELECTORAL DISTRICT N 37

YEREVAN, MARCH 26, NOYAN TAPAN. Samvel Haroutiunian, former Mayor of
Goris, candidate for deputacy nominated by majoritarian system at
Syunik electoral district N 37 proposed Samvel Babayan, Chairman of
Dashink (Alliance) Party nominated at the same electoral district
withdrawing his candidature and supporting him. S. Haroutiunian stated
this at the March 26 press conference. He said that he was supported
by S. Babayan during 1999 parliamentary elections and hopes he will be
supported by him this time, too. Currently the former Mayor is waiting
for Dashink leader’s answer and did not exclude that if being refused
he will withdraw his candidature and will support S. Babayan. It is
noteworthy that S. Haroutiunian is also 13th on the proportional list
of Zharangutiun (Heritage) Party. S. Haroutiunian refused to express
his opinion about the third candidate nominated at that electoral
district, Serge Sargsian’s brother Alexander Sargsian. At the same
time he said that A. Sargsian surpasses his rivals with material and
agitation resources and is already using both of these resources.

GABRIEL SARGSIAN WINS IN SAFRA INTERNATIONAL CHESS TOURNAMENT

SAFRA, MARCH 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The big international chess tournament
finished on March 25, in the city of Safra, Spain. Gabriel Sargsian
won Julio Granda-Zuniga (Peru) at the last 7th stage, got 6.5 points
from 7 possible ones and was recognized the individual winner of the
tournament.

There will be a need for ideology

Yerkir.am
March 23, 2007

The electoral campaign will soon start officially. Will it be a
contest of ideas or will the political forces use the strategy of
denouncing others to appear as the most honest ones? Will they speak
about their platforms, ideas? Or will they prefer political
advertising based on black PR? We asked member of ARF’s parliamentary
faction, writer Ruben Hovsepian to comment on these questions.

R.H.: Let me say first that the campaign has started long ago. Neither
this campaign nor the official campaign that will soon start will be a
contest of ideas. Today it is even difficult to say that our political
arena is truly political. It is more electoral with the only question
being who will get more votes. And the means do not matter. Political
forces resort to all sorts of means except for politics and
ideology. From what I have observed, I can make one conclusion ` the
campaign will continue in the same way. There are very few ideological
entities in our political arena and even these few ones will be forced
not to adhere to their ideologies once they see the forms of electoral
campaign practiced by the majority. They too will resort to other
measures to get votes. Of course, the elections will take place, maybe
they will even be free and fair. Elections are a political action, and
therefore in this respect the country appears to be in a stalemate, or
even worse, it experiences a regress. Because it is not the contest of
ideologies that leads the electoral processes.

Q: Does the society need ideology?

A: I cannot clear say now if it does or does not. But I know that
these elections will be the bottom line after which the society will
feel nostalgic for some ideology. The political parties and policy
makers have developed this attitude towards the elections in the
society. However, the society also develops by itself and I think it
will feel a need for ideology in the coming years. The demand for
ideology will rise and the greater this demand becomes, the more
important ARF’s role will be. The reason is that ARF is the strongest
political party in terms of its ideological content.

Q: In the pre-electoral chaos, people sometimes find themselves
joining this or that party without often knowing what party that is,
or what ideology it carries. Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly
Vahan Hovhannissian also made a statement on this calling on people
not to give their passports to anyone. Do you think this is a result
of indifference towards political processes?

A: As I already said, the political arena is not political in reality;
ideas do not matter in our politics. This is the same logic that
underlies the practice of changing parties by our politicians. We have
an atmosphere in which such changes of political affiliation are not
considered shameful. No matter how hard they try to explain that they
change their political affiliation not for the purpose of getting into
the parliament one thing is clear: there is a collective entity that
is called political party, faction, or whatever you want to call it,
that has its own ideology, and if you can change ideological
affiliation so easily explaining your act by the justification that
there are so many parties and they are so similar to each other that
it does not matter which one you join, well then¦ It does matter
because the society, no matter how low it has fallen together with the
politics, it still can see and understand. The society might follow
the same decline as the politics is undergoing, but there comes a
point below which no further decline is possible. At this point the
society will feel the need for ideology. Once this need is
materialized all these phenomena will be eliminated, the society
itself will reject them. These elections will be the end point. The
next elections will aim at restoration and rehabilitation of the
society.

Q: As opposed to the elections in 2003, the opposition failed to
unite. Were ambitions the reason for this? Will the opposition’s being
fragmented intensify the electoral campaign?

A: To be sincere, yes there are some considerations deriving from
individuals ‘ ambitions. But I think it would not have been correct if
the opposition had united. If they had the intention to unite they
should do it in another way. If I were in the opposition, I would
suggest to do the following: why does it matter to be in one list? Go
for elections under different lists but support each other. What does
it mean to work together? It means to be different but together. While
unification would mean that they all would become the same. It is
impossible to unite people who have different positions, this would be
an artificial unification.

Q: What will be the different of the next parliament from the present
one? A: My considerations presented above do not allow me to say that
the next parliament will be better than this one. One of the
advantages of the new parliament will be that some people from this
parliament might not get into the new parliament. I am sure that the
political arena in the country will change when new people appear on
it. But these should not be arbitrary people. The most useful thing
about the new parliament will be that it will generate the need, the
nostalgia for ideology that I was speaking about. The absurd situation
will get to a point after which the improvement of the political arena
and the society will become an imperative.

By Karine MANGASSARIAN

Paintings from nostalgic childhood

Yerkir.am
March 23, 2007

The personal exhibition of painter Artur Khachatrian was launched at
Narekatsi Art Union on March 16. The paintings showed the landscapes
of Aragatsotn region ` memories from the childhood, narrow streets,
small village houses, bright colors that are closer to the childhood
when you look back at it from the distance of passed years.

`I painted the village of my childhood on these paintings. Even though
I was born in Yerevan I have always felt a connection with the
village. I spent my childhood in Agarak and Byurakan villages, and
these are the villages I have painted,’ Khachatrian says.

The paintings are done in water colors and oil. The images are
saturated as if the village is the continuation of the sky and the
village of the childhood is merged with the sky. The images seem to be
real: the painter has worked in each of the streets, in every gorge.

The trees are blue and yellow, green or all colors. The mixture of
colors seems to be the main message of the exhibition ` the sky and
the earth together, with no limits.

`I am tired of urban landscapes. I see walls, closed spaces every day.
Village landscapes are different ` they inspire peace,’ Khachatrian
says.

The mountain landscapes, the river, the rocks seem to be the
continuation of childhood. They merge memory with the present, and the
saturated colors sway you with the interplay of dream and reality.

Artur Khachatrian succeeded in created the memory of his
childhood. And his paintings are so subtle that they restore childhood
memories in the hearts of everyone who looks at them.

By Gohar STEPANIAN

EurasiaNet, NY
March 26 2007

ARMENIA: POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY FOLLOWS PREMIER’S DEATH
Marianna Grigoryan 3/26/07

The sudden death of Prime Minister Andranik Markarian on March 25
from heart failure has sparked considerable political unease in
Armenia, with residents expressing concern over what implications it
could have for parliamentary elections just a month and a half away.

"We have lost a statesman, a colleague, a friend who headed the
government for nearly seven years in the 15-and-a-half year history
of our independence, and those seven years have been the best years
of our state," President Robert Kocharian told cabinet members on
March 26, local media outlets reported.

As dictated by the Constitution, the Armenian government resigned on
March 26, to be reformed under a new premier. A new prime minister
will be appointed within 10 days and a new government will be set up
within 20 days. President Kocharian has asked ministers to continue
their work until then and directed that Markarian’s funeral be held
on March 28, which has been designated as an official day of
mourning.

Already speculation has begun about who will likely succeed the
55-year-old Markarian, Armenia’s longest serving prime minister and
president of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA). Most
observers see Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian, arguably the former
cabinet’s most influential member, as the frontrunner for the post.
[For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The defense minister,
who served as chairman of the board of the ruling Republican Party,
was named the party’s acting chairman following Markarian’s death.

In a March 26 statement, Armen Rustamian, a representative of the
Supreme Council of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Party,
a fellow member of Armenia’s ruling coalition with the Republican
Party, affirmed that his party would support Sarkisian for prime
minister, the Regnum news agency reported.

"According to the 2003 agreement, the prime minister’s portfolio
belongs to the RPA, and for this reason the head of the government
must be a representative of the Republican Party," Rustamian said, in
reference to the coalition formed following Armenia’s last
parliamentary elections. "If the government decides to nominate Serzh
Sarkisian for this post, then the ARF will support this candidacy."

Inside Republican Party headquarters, the atmosphere has been tense
since Markarian’s death was announced. Flowers surround a photograph
of the late prime minister placed in the center of the party’s
office. In a televised speech to party members, Parliament Speaker
and Republican Party Deputy Chairman Tigran Torosian called
Markarian’s death "a huge loss for all of us."

"He was not only a great political figure and statesman, but also a
person who was always ready to listen even to his opponent, even to
an ordinary person, a passerby, a man who was always the embodiment
of tolerance and care for people," Torosian said.

In comments to the government, Kocharian, who has no official party
affiliation, appeared to echo those concerns. Markarian, he told
cabinet members, "left us at a very crucial time, and as the
authorities, we must provide the correct solutions for finding a way
to get out of the current situation."

Particular attention has already begun to focus on how the
appointment of Markarian’s successor will influence relations between
the Republican Party and the increasingly popular Prosperous Armenia
party, already cited as the frontrunner for the May 12 parliamentary
vote in some public opinion polls. [For details, see the Eurasia
Insight archive]. Opposition and pro-government political parties,
however, have refrained from official comments on the matter.

Ordinary Yerevan residents, however, are split in their opinions. "I
think Markarian’s death will cause big disturbances in the upcoming
elections," commented 66-year-old pensioner Hakob Muradian. Other
city residents disputed that view, saying that the event will bring
no changes in the near future.

A computer engineer by education, Markarian, a longtime Republican
Party member, was named prime minister in May 2000, just months after
the October 1999 assassination of Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian,
Parliamentary Speaker Karen Demirchian and several other senior
officials. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Prime Minister Markarian, who suffered from obesity and was a smoker,
died from cardiac failure at his Yerevan apartment on March 25, at
about 1.20 pm local time, according to official reports.

A close friend of the late prime minister, who asked to remain
anonymous, told EurasiaNet that Markarian’s health conditions had
been deteriorating for the past several days. According to the
source, a high fever, elevated blood pressure and a general sense of
ill health had already prompted Markarian to cancel an earlier
scheduled trip to France.

Editor’s Note: Marianna Grigoryan is a reporter for the
Armenianow.com weekly in Yerevan.

Arka News Agency, Armenia
March 26 2007

IRAN’S AMBASSADOR IN ARMENIA EXPRESSES CONDOLENCES BECAUSE OF PM’S
DECEASE

YEREVAN, March 26. /ARKA/. Iran’s Ambassador to Armenia Alireza
Hagigian expressed condolences because of decease of Armenian Prime
Minister Andranik Margaryan, reported the Iranian Embassy’s press
service.
"In connection with the decease of Armenia’s Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan I sympathize with friendly Armenian people and country’s
Government, as well as with the family of the deceased expressing
deep regret about the untimely loss of the prominent statesman," the
condolences said.
Hagigian said that during Margaryan’s holding the PM’s office,
friendly relations between Armenia and Iran significantly activated.
"The deceased Prime Minister’s kind feelings and good will were the
main motive forces for enlarging and deepening these relations," he
said.
Armenian Prime Minister, Chairman of the Republican Party Andranik
Margaryan died from heart attack at the age of 55 on March 25. L.M.
-0–

Arka News Agency, Armenia
March 26 2007

VISIT OF NATO SPECIAL REP IN SOUTH CAUCASUS TO ARMENIA POSTPONED

YEREVAN. March 26. /ARKA/. The visit of Special Representative of
NATO Secretary General in South Caucasus and Central Asia Robert
Simmons to Armenia, scheduled for March 26 is postponed.
The press service of the Armenian foreign ministry reported on
Monday, a new date of his visit is being scheduled.
Simmons should have come to Yerevan on Monday to discuss programs of
Armenia-NATO cooperation, including implementation of the
Armenia-NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan.
Change of the visit’s schedule happened due to the unexpected decease
of Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan on Sunday. R.O. -0–