Month: December 2008

EU CALLS ON TURKEY TO GET CLOSE TO ARMENIA

Azeri Press Agency
Dec 9 2008
Azerbaijan

Brussels. Alexander Kean – APA. The EU believes that Croatia should
speed up reforms, and Turkey has not made sufficient progress for the
EU membership, according to a ministerial meeting of the EU General
Affairs and External Relations Council in Brussels, reports the APA
correspondent.

The Council welcomed Croatia’s considerable efforts it has undertaken
this year, but stated that the country should accelerate reforms,
particularly in the judiciary, in public administration, fighting
corruption, punishment for military crimes, as well as economic
reforms.

However, the EU said that Turkey has not made sufficient progress in
reforms over this year.

"The Council notes with regret that Turkey has achieved limited
progress, particularly on the issue of political reform over the
current year ", said the statement.

The Council underlined the strategic importance of Turkey for the EU
and praised its active role in diplomatic initiatives in the South
Caucasus and Middle East.

In addition, the Council called onTurkey to come close to Armenia.

Ministers noted that Turkey still has to do much more in the fields
of judicial reform, fight againt corruption and protection of the
human rights, torture and attitude towards prisoners, protection of
the rights and freedoms, in particular freedom of speech and faith.

In conclusion, the Council also added that Turkey didn’t manage to
make progress towards improving relations with Cyprus and expressed
hope for progress in the near future.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EU SIGNS AVIATION AGREEMENT WITH ARMENIA

Xinhua

Dec 10 2008
China

BRUSSELS, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) — The European Union (EU) and Armenia on
Tuesday signed an aviation agreement which will allow all EU airlines
to fly between Armenia and any EU member state.

The agreement removes nationality restrictions in the existing
bilateral air services agreements between EU member states and
Armenia. Now any EU airline can operate flights between any EU member
state and Armenia.

The EU has negotiated 35 such horizontal agreements with partner
countries and thereby removed nationality restrictions in more than
600 bilateral air services agreements.

"The agreement recognizes that airlines in the EU are not any longer
national airlines, and all of them will thus have non-discriminatory
access to the air transport market between the EU and Armenia. This
is an important step in our external aviation policy and a further
building block in our policy toward neighboring countries," said
European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani, who is responsible
for transport policies.

The EU-Armenia agreement was a result of three years of negotiations.

Passenger numbers between the EU and Armenia increased from 166,000 in
2006 to 204,000 in 2007 with the main markets being France, Austria,
Germany and the Czech Republic.
From: Baghdasarian

HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER IN RUSSIA: SVETLANA ALEKSEEVNA GANNUSHKINA

Amnesty International
pdates/feature-stories/human-rights-defender-russi a-svetlana-alekseevna-gannushkina-20081209
Dec 9 2008

Svetlana Gannushkina, is a mathematician by training and for many
years was professor of mathematics at a university in Moscow. She
started her human rights work in the late 1980s during the break-up of
the Soviet Union, arranging support for refugees during the conflict
around Nagorny Karabakh, an autonomous region in Azerbaijan.

In 1990 she was one of the founders of the NGO Citizen’s Assistance
(Grazhdanskoe Sodeistvie). In subsequent years, the NGO campaigned
for the protection of human rights and the integration of internally
displaced people, migrants and refugees into Russian society.

Citizen’s Assistance has helped many individuals, lobbied the
authorities on improvements on the law on citizenship, on refugee
rights and on laws easing the plight of people displaced from conflict
areas in the former Soviet Union. It has protected many refugees
from being extradited or deported to countries where they might be
at risk of being tortured or sentenced to death. Lobbying the third
governments helped to provide protection to refugees in Russia and
asylum-seekers from Russia.

Svetlana Gannushkina was also one of the founding members of the Human
Rights Centre Memorial. Working for both organizations, Svetlana has
done a lot to protect the rights of Chechens during the first (1994 –
1996) and second (1999-2007) armed conflicts in Chechnya.

She went to Chechnya to provide humanitarian aid and to help set up
legal advice centres. She founded a network of centres for migrants,
refugees and the internally displaced in Russia, supported by the
UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR). In Moscow she started a centre where
volunteers teach Russian, English, mathematics and other subjects to
children from Chechnya who due to the conflict, often had not been able
to go to school regularly. Psychologists work with those children,
who are traumatised, and the volunteers organize trips to museums,
theatres or summer camps.

Svetlana Gannushkina has acted many times on behalf of people accused
of terrorism, criticizing the denial of basic human rights to those
suspected of such crimes and protesting against the fabrication
of criminal cases against young Chechens or Uzbekistani citizens,
facing deportation to Uzbekistan.

Svetlana has received many awards for her work, among others the UNHCR
Nansen Award for Refugees and the human rights award from AI Germany.

At the same time, she has been accused of supporting criminals
and received many threats, some of which she had to take seriously
. Her name, date of birth and address were posted on a website which
listed a number of Russian human rights activists and journalists
as so-called enemies of the people. The accompanying text could be
read as an incitement to kill her as well as the other civil society
activists listed.

She is a member of the Council for the Development of Civil Society
Institutions and Human Rights under the President of Russia.

FRANCE VOWS TO MOVE AHEAD ON GARABAGH SETTLEMENT

AzerNews Weekly
Dec 3 2008
Azerbaijan

France will do everything in its power to achieve a fairly negotiated
settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict,
President Nicolas Sarkozy has said.

In a letter sent to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Sarkozy wrote
that he was aware of new hope for a settlement following the November
2 meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents and hosted by
Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev.

"This being said, I sense that 2009 is a unique and suitable year,
and this chance should be capitalized upon to reach a solution to
the conflict," the French leader wrote.

Further, Sarkozy indicated that Paris was ready to make its
contribution to settling the long-standing Garabagh dispute. "In
a broader sense, we are keen to provide a variety of assistance in
turning the Caucasus into a region of peace and progress."

Sarkozy welcomed the meeting he held with President Aliyev in
November 2007 and invited the Azerbaijani leader to visit France
next year. "This visit will allow us to explore all aspects of the
relations connecting our countries and work toward deepening them."

Sarkozy stressed that the Eastern Partnership plan proposed by the
European Commission was a good opportunity to draw Azerbaijan closer
to Europe. "France will strive for this new document to be fully in
Azerbaijan`s favor."

France has been chairing the 27-member European Union since July 2008.

Sarkozy added that the meeting of the French-Azerbaijani economic
commission, scheduled to be held in Baku in early 2009, would allow
participants to map out broad prospects for economic and trade
cooperation between the two countries as well as their activities on
the world stage.

MOST ARMENIANS EXPECT NO WARM-UP WITH TURKEY – GALLUP

AzerNews Weekly
Dec 3 2008
Azerbaijan

Most Armenians have little hope for normalizing the country`s relations
with neighboring Turkey, which have been marred by historic tensions,
an influential Gallup poll has revealed.

Only seven per cent of poll respondents said they anticipated Turkey`s
becoming a reliable partner for Armenia in the future.

As for the prospect of Ankara`s recognizing the alleged Armenian
genocide, only a minute portion of those polled cited this as a
possibility.

With regard to the possible opening of the Armenia-Turkey border,
which has been closed since 1993, optimistic respondents gave the
chances of its opening four points on a 10-point scale.

The poll results were released just as relations between the two
countries have recently begun to improve. Following secret talks
between Turkish and Armenian diplomats in Bern in July, Turkish and
Armenian leaders met to attend a 2010 World Cup qualifying soccer
match in Yerevan early in September when Abdullah Gul became the
first Turkish leader to visit Armenia. Yerevan saw the visit as an
opportunity to normalize relations with the neighboring country,
where no diplomatic ties exist. This was followed by a tripartite
meeting of the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers
in New York in late September. Further, Armenian Foreign Minister
Eduard Nalbandian visited Turkey on November 24 where the parties
discussed ways of normalizing relations between Ankara and Yerevan.

BONES, BY PETER BALAKIAN

The New York Times
December 7, 2008 Sunday

Peter Balakian is the author of "Black Dog of Fate," a memoir. This
essay is adapted from a new chapter that will appear in a
10th-anniversary edition, to be published in February.

SECTION: Section MM; Column 0; Magazine Desk; LIVES; Pg. 74

For Armenians, Der Zor has come to have a meaning approximate
to Auschwitz. Each, in different ways, an epicenter of death and
a systematic process of mass-killing; each a symbolic place, an
epigrammatic name on a dark map. Der Zor is a term that sticks with
you, or sticks on you, like a burr or thorn: "r" "z" "or" — hard,
sawing, knifelike. Der Zor: A place to which hundreds of thousands of
Armenians in 1915 and 1916 were forced to march, a final destination
in the genocide of the Armenians carried out by the Ottoman Turkish
government under the cover of World War I.

In May 2005, after I was invited to lecture in Beirut through the
auspices of the U.S. State Department, the Armenian church arranged
for me to travel into Syria — to Aleppo, an important city of refuge
during the Armenian genocide, and farther east to Der Zor.

The highway from Aleppo followed the Euphrates River through Syria
toward the Iraqi border. The river appeared and then disappeared,
fresh and flowing and teal green, not brown and sluggish as I had
imagined it, and certainly not red with blood and clogged with corpses
as recorded by eyewitnesses during the worst period of the genocide.

By noon we were passing through the commercial district of Der Zor
city. The streets buzzed with cars and mopeds as we drove up to the
high stone facade of the Armenian church, called Holy Martyrs. The
Der Hayr (parish priest) ushered us inside. Downstairs, under the
sanctuary, there were archways and a giant marble pillar that rose up
within a large opening in the ceiling. Circling the pillar were glass
cases containing bones and soil. Hundreds of bones: partial skulls,
femurs, tibias, clavicles, eye sockets, teeth. Case by case. Bones
and more bones.

I asked the Der Hayr where they came from. "You’ll see soon," he
said. And after mezze we were off farther to the east. I realized
now that Der Zor was a huge region of arid land. After a couple of
hours of nothing but the occasional flock of sheep, the car stopped
in the middle of nowhere, and up the hill at the side of the road I
saw a small chapel of white stone.

"This is Margadeh," my guide, Father Nerseh, said. "About 15 years
ago, the Syrian government was doing some exploration for oil here
and put their steam shovels in the ground, and piles of bones came up."

"Right here," I said pointing down.

"Yes." He explained that the Syrian government had offered the Armenian
church a plot of land for a memorial.

I walked up the slope toward the chapel. I put my hand in the
dirt, grazing the ground, and came up with hard white pieces. "Our
ancestors are here," I muttered. Then I began, without thinking,
picking up handfuls of dirt, sifting out the bones and stuffing them
in my pockets. I felt the porous, chalky, dirt-saturated, hard,
infrangible stuff in my hands. A piece of hip socket, part of a
skull. Nine decades later.

I filled my pockets with bones, compelled to have these fragments
with me as I continued up the hill to the chapel. The floor was cool,
and behind the altar was a wall of alabaster with a carved cross. With
the evening sun pouring through a yellow glass window, the whole space
was floating in saffron light. I tried to empty my head and let go of
the graveyard I was standing in, to let go of myself. Let the breath
go in, go out.

On the plane back to the United States, I kept waking and sleeping. It
wasn’t until we were over Labrador that I realized I was carrying
organic matter from another country. The declaration card asked:
Are you bringing with you fruits, plants, cell cultures, "soil, or
have you visited a farm/ranch/pasture outside the United States?" The
bones, now in resealable bags, were caked with soil, and although
they weren’t cell cultures, what were they now, 90 years later?

I reached down into my briefcase and felt them through the plastic,
glancing around to see if a flight attendant might be looking. What
could I say? These are bones of my countrymen? I had visited a pasture
of bones in the Syrian desert? This one might be from my grandmother’s
first husband; this one from a farmer from Sivas. I filled out my
declaration card. "Are you bringing with you ?"

I put an X in the "No" column.

As I stood in line at customs at Kennedy Airport, I remembered my State
Department hosts telling me that, because of where I’d been, they might
want to check my bags. But the customs agent looked at my passport,
looked at me, then stamped the passport and said, "Welcome back."

Submissions for Lives may be sent to [email protected] The magazine
cannot return or respond to unsolicited manuscripts.

ARMENIANS REMEMBER DEVASTATING QUAKE AS CONSEQUENCES LINGER
by Mariam Harutunian

Agence France Presse — English
December 7, 2008 Sunday 12:10 PM GMT

Armenians on Sunday marked the 20th anniversary of a devastating
earthquake that left 25,000 people dead, as many survivors still
waited for new homes after years of promises.

President Serzh Sarkisian joined the head of Armenia’s Apostolic
Church, Catholicos Karekin II, for commemorations of the Spitak
earthquake held in one of the worst-hit cities, Gyumri.

At 11:41 am (0741 GMT) Armenians across the country observed a moment
of silence on the exact time the quake struck 20 years earlier.

Unveiling a sculpture in Gyumri depicting victims of the earthquake,
Sarkisian thanked the international community for aid and support
given to the then-Soviet republic after the disaster.

"Twenty years ago, all peoples rallied to our side, despite the
Cold War, ideological differences and different political views,"
Sarkisian said. "From the first days, our people felt like the whole
world was with us."

But a few kilometres (miles) away from the ceremonies, in a settlement
of small metal shacks, survivors were still waiting for the new homes
they were promised after the earthquake.

"We are hoping that the government will fulfill its promises and in
the next two years we will finally receive a new apartment," said
Suzana Gyoletsian, 40, whose family, along with dozens of others in
the settlement, still live in one-room metal cabins provided in the
weeks after the quake.

Nearly 7,000 families remain homeless after their houses and apartment
buildings were destroyed in the quake, despite repeated government
promises to build them new homes.

Gyoletsian and her husband raised two sons in the tiny cabin, which
has neither gas for heating nor running water. Their only income is
a small government pension of about 100 dollars (79 euros) per month.

Armenia’s government announced plans last month to spend 252 million
dollars (199 million euros) for reconstruction efforts starting next
year, aimed at finally rehousing all those who lost their homes in
the quake by 2013.

"I believe, and I will ensure, that in the next few years there will
not be one family in the affected area without a roof over their
heads, despite the global financial crisis," Sarkisian said at the
ceremony Sunday.

Gyoletsian, who after the quake spent six hours in the rubble of her
apartment building waiting to be rescued, is hoping that this time
the government help will finally come through.

"This has been a very difficult time. We have had to overcome a lot
of obstacles, but we haven’t lost hope," she said.

The 7.0 magnitude quake struck Armenia on December 7, 1988 with its
epicentre near the town of Spitak, in the mountainous northwest of
the country.

Spitak, a town of about 4,000 people, was completely destroyed and
nearby Gyumri was heavily damaged. In total, about 25,000 people were
killed, more than 140,000 were injured and more than half a million
lost their homes.

Experts blamed shoddy construction and the failure of emergency
services for much of the death and destruction. In some cases, it
took up to three days for rescuers to reach affected areas.

In the aftermath of the quake, the Soviet government vowed a massive
reconstruction effort to rebuild within two years, but plans stalled
when Armenia gained its independence in 1991.

Subsequent Armenian governments have struggled to find funds to
rebuild as Armenia’s economy collapsed after independence and it was
hit by economic embargoes from neighbours Azerbaijan and Turkey over
Yerevan’s support for separatists in Azerbaijan’s breakaway region
of Nagorny Karabakh.

In a statement Sunday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev paid tribute
to the earthquake victims and thanked Armenians for remembering the
aid Russian had provided.

"We bow our heads before the memory of the thousands of victims of this
natural disaster. We remember with deep respect and gratitude today
the courage of the rescuers who answered the call for help." he said.

"In this hour of difficulty Russia quickly extended a helping hand to
Armenia, made its contribution to the rescue operation and recovery
work. It is cause for gratitude that the memory of this is carefully
preserved by the Armenian people."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MILITARY ELITE LOST THE BATTLE TO THE RUBLE
by Vladimir Mukhin

DEFENSE and SECURITY
December 8, 2008 Monday
Russia

IN THE NORTH CAUCASIAN MILITARY DISTRICT OFFICERS WILL BE REDUCED BY
66.67%; Vladimir Putin reported that only the officers and warrant
officers whose service term expired in 2009 and officers drafted
for two years after graduation from military departments of civil
higher educational institutions (if their contract term expired)
would be dismissed from the army. Vacancies will be reduced too. No
other reductions are planned. This statement differs from what the
military commanders are doing.

Vladimir Putin reported that only the officers and warrant officers
whose service term expired in 2009 and officers drafted for two
years after graduation from military departments of civil higher
educational institutions (if their contract term expired) would be
dismissed from the army. Vacancies will be reduced too. No other
reductions are planned. This statement differs from what the military
commanders are doing.

Large-scale reductions of officers will take in the most combat ready
and capable military district of the Russian army. Whereas in the
Armed Forces in general the quantity of officers will be reduced by
50% by 2012, in the North Caucasian Military District the quantity
of officers will be reduced by 66.67%. Deputy Commander of the North
Caucasian Military District, Lieutenant General Alexei Verbitsky,
announced this recently. Such plans cannot be explained from the
standpoint of common sense. It was commonly known that during the
difficult days of fighting against Georgian aggressors in South Ossetia
in August, it was officers of the North Caucasian Military District
who provided the tasks set for the troops. Now it turns out that the
backbone of the army, its elite deployed in the most explosive region
is not needed by anyone.

In any case, General Verbitsky does not say which military posts
will be reduced although like other military commanders he states
that in the course of reforms the quantity of combat ready units and
overall strength of the North Caucasian Military District will not
change. This means that, first, the strength of the military units
will be increased on account of a part of reduced of professional
servicemen and, second, reduced posts of officers and warrant officers
will be occupied by sergeants.

An officer of the Defense Ministry wishing to remain anonymous reports
that a mass reduction of officers in the North Caucasian Military
District where the quantity of professional servicemen who die is the
biggest is explained, although this may sound blasphemous, is explained
by purely financial problems. For killed officers the state has to pay
significant insurance and social benefits and needs to grant housing
and benefits to families of the deceased. The situation with soldiers
and sergeants in similar cases will be simpler. Hence, incumbent
top-ranking officials of the Defense Ministry decided to reduce the
quantity of officers’ posts in the North Caucasian Military District.

Some commanders say that ignoring the role of officers in the
south of the country during conduction of reforms in the army may
lead to big problems. Lieutenant General Yury Netkachev said, "The
current conscript and contract soldiers including sergeants do not
comply with the required level. They are insufficiently educated,
do not have due motivation for service, are often ill-disciplined
etc. They will hardly substitute officers. In conditions of the North
Caucasian Military District this is harmful in general. However, the
formation of soldiers’ ranks there continues according to regional
and mono-ethnic principle. The majority of soldiers and sergeants in
units of the North Caucasian Military District are people from the
North Caucasus where the level of economic development is low. If
this trend continues degradation of the army is inevitable."

A significant reduction of the quantity of officers is only one
of the novelties to be tested in the North Caucasian Military
District. Another initiative is increasing the quantity of
general-purpose military formations not only on the territory of Russia
but also in other Caucasian states. Verbitsky reports that in the North
Caucasian Military District, "we will form 11 combined-arms brigades of
permanent readiness." According to him, the 58th army (headquartered
in Vladikavkaz) will be reorganized into an operational command and
two mechanized infantry brigades of permanent readiness will be formed
on the basis of the 20th mechanized infantry division (headquartered
in Volgograd). The general says that three Russian bases: in South
Ossetia (Tskhinval and Dzhava), in Abkhazia (Gudauta) and Armenia
(Yerevan) will be included into the North Caucasian Military District.

He also says that brigades and units of permanent readiness will be
formed according to three principles: under contract, according to
draft and according to mixed system where there are 80% contract
servicemen and 20% conscript soldiers. Meanwhile, according to
reports from the local level, so far the North Caucasian Military
District manages to form only the units manned with conscripts without
problems. Situation with recruitment of contract servicemen is not
very favorable. In the 42nd mechanized infantry division there are
problems with contract soldiers from Dagestan. In some units they
form majority, which according to commanders has a negative impact
on their combat capability. There are also problems at the military
bases being formed in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Recruiting residents
of North Caucasus there, military registration and enlistment offices
promised salaries of 50,000 rubles per month to them. Now it turns out
that contract servicemen there will earn slightly more than 15,000
rubles per month. Many of the recruited professionals terminated
their contracts or deserted.

GEORGIAN CHURCH "SURPISED" AT ARMENIAN PROTESTS OVER DISPUTED CHURCH

Channel 1 TV
Dec 8 2008
Georgia

[Presenter] The Georgian Orthodox Patriarch has expressed his
regret over reports that have appeared recently in the Armenian and
international media about alleged religious discrimination against
Armenians living in Georgia. The tension stems from a dispute over
the origin of the Jvris Mama Church, on Leselidze Street [in Tbilisi],
which is referred to as Norashen in Armenian sources. Both the Georgian
and Armenian churches claim it as their own.

The Georgian Patriarchate issued a special statement on the matter
today which says that talks were held on 26 November between
representatives of both churches, as well as both governments,
at which the Georgian patriarch [Ilia II] was in attendance. The
statement says the sides agreed to observe a moratorium on laying
claim to the church until a working group of academics determines its
origin. Despite the agreement, protest rallies were held in Armenia
on 27 November and 3 December.

[Deacon Davit Sharashidze, head of the Georgian Patriarchate’s press
service] Given that we reached this agreement, the protest rallies
held in Armenia on 27 November and 3 December and the harsh statements
made by the Armenian Church came as a surprise to us. Yet, in spite
of the situation that has taken shape, we think that the fraternal
relations between Georgian Patriarch Ilia II and His Holiness, the
Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenia, Garegin II, will
facilitate the defusing of tensions and ensure that the problem is
overcome in a reasonable and just manner.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KORAN TRANSLATED INTO ABKHAZIAN. TURKISH RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS DIRECTORATE TO SEND ABKHAZIAN-SPEAKING CLERGYMEN TO ABKHAZIA
by Elza Tsiklauri

Rezonansi
Nov 24 2008
Georgia

The Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate is the first official
organization, which has started official dialogue with the de facto
Abkhaz authorities. According to the Turkish media reports, an
agreement has already been reached that Abkhazian-speaking clergymen
will be sent from Turkey to Abkhazia in order to satisfy religious
needs of residents of Abkhazia.

Ties established between Muslims in Abkhazia and Turkey

The Turkish media also report that, in addition, a Turkish religious
foundation will fund the construction of a new Mosque and the
translation of Koran into Abkhazian and its dissemination in Abkhazia.

Ankara has not yet made a statement in this connection. The Kremlin
is keeping silence too. However, Georgian experts are saying that
Moscow will not allow the strengthening of Islam in Abkhazia, which
it has recognized, and will do all it can to prevent this religion
from acquiring a foothold here.

According to GHN agency, it was the Turkish Hurriyet newspaper that
reported on the start of cooperation between the Turkish Religious
Affairs Directorate and separatist Abkhazia. The newspaper reported
that the head of the Presidency of Religious Affairs, Ali Bardakoglu,
met Abkhaz Deputy Mufti Timur Dzyba in Ankara last week.

It was decided at the meeting to establish bilateral religious
relations.

"It was decided at the talks to satisfy Abkhazia’s religious needs,
in particular, through Muslim clergymen and places of worship," the
newspaper wrote, noting that it is first and foremost the question
of sending to Abkhazia Abkhazian-speaking Turkish clergymen.

An agreement was also reached at the talks on the participation
of a Turkish religious foundation in the construction of a mosque
in Abkhazia.

In addition, it was also agreed at the meeting to supply Koran to
Abkhazia and to publish Koran in Abkhazian with support of the Turkish
Presidency of Religious Affairs.

The Spiritual Administration of Abkhazia’s Muslims was founded in
1999 with direct support from the unrecognized republic’s de facto
president Vladislav Ardzinba. However, both before and after the
[Georgian-Abkhaz] military conflict [in 1992-1993], Ardzinba was
against Islam’s being widespread in Abkhazia.

The aforementioned organization now unites more than 100 members.

It is also known that the Spiritual Administration of Abkhazia’s
Muslims has established close relations with Muslims residing in
Russia, who supply Abkhaz Muslims with literature. An agreement on
cooperation with Russian Muslims was signed in March 2005.

Places of worship of followers of traditional Islam emerged in Abkhazia
after the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. One of such places was built in
the village of Agudzera near Sukhumi. At the same time, the Wahhabi
movement headed by well-known Wahhabi Khazamat Gitsba also became
active. However, the movement did not become widespread. In the
same period, this small circle of Muslims decided to build a mosque,
but the building was blown up at the very beginning and unidentified
people killed Gitsba.

The spreading of Islam in Abkhazia and the resettlement of descendants
of Abkhaz Muhajirs [evicted from Abkhazia by Tsarist Russia following
the Russian Turkish war in the late 19th century] from Turkey are
categorically unacceptable to the Russian authorities. A couple of
years ago, a member of the Russian Duma, Sergey Mitrofanov, even made
such a statement in a private conversation: "What terrible thing we
did! We evicted the Georgians from Abkhazia and Islamic centres are
now being opened there".

Correspondingly, Tbilisi assumes that Moscow will ultimately not allow
cooperation between the de facto authorities and the Turkish Religious
Affairs Directorate and will use all available levers to prevent it.

Separatist authorities "play their own games"

"The Turks are trying to strengthen their positions in Abkhazia through
this cooperation. Given that, this action of theirs is understandable
and clear. In addition, it is obvious that they are preparing grounds
in advance for the return of Muhajirs’ descendants.

"However, [representatives of] Sunni Islam, who signed this document
on cooperation, do not represent an aggressive wing of Islam and,
correspondingly, are less dangerous. However, I can say one thing
for sure: Russia will by no means allow Turkey to enter Abkhazia and,
on the other hand, religious activities to become particularly active.

"The de facto Abkhaz authorities often play their own games. Although
the Kremlin has warned them on a lot of occasions, Sukhumi continues
to insist on the idea of returning Muhajirs’ descendants. This
causes serious anger in Moscow. It seriously warns the authorities
in Sukhumi through the local Armenian diaspora that it will not
allow this, particularly ahead of the [2014 Winter] Olympics [to be
held in Russia’s Sochi adjacent to Abkhazia] and in such a troubled
situation. Therefore, it is another issue how Sukhumi is to implement
this idea.

"Incidentally, the de facto Abkhaz authorities will fail in this
issue just like it failed in building a Western vector [of foreign
policy]. Russia will achieve its goal anyway," expert in Caucasus
issues Mamuka Areshidze told Mteli Kvira.

Islam strong as never in Abkhazia

Another expert in Caucasus issues, Gia Anchabadze, does not rule out
that the Kremlin may take measures against the rising strength of
Islam in Abkhazia. However, he finds it difficult to say what shape
all that may take.

"In general, there is no clear division line between Christians
and Muslims in Abkhazia. Christians celebrate Bairam and Muslims –
Easter. At the same time, both have strong vestiges of paganism,
but there are no tensions between them.

"As regards percentage, from 80 to 90 per cent are Christians in
Abkhazia, while the rest account themselves Muslim. Despite the
percentage, Islam has never been as strong in Abkhazia as now. There
are cases when young Abkhaz go to Turkey and convert to Islam. There
is talk now that a mosque may be built too and Muslim organizations,
first and foremost of Turkish origin, will most probably start their
activities in Abkhazia following that.

"As regards the Russia factor, of course, strengthening Islam is
not agreeable for Moscow, because that will be viewed against the
background of what is happening in the North Caucasus. However,
it is very difficult to say today what measures Moscow will take in
this case and how it will act, although it is already clear that it
will resort to anything against this," Anchabadze added.