Month: December 2008

$50,000 FROM U.S. TO ARMENIAN SANATORIUM IN AZOUNIEH

Naharnet
Dec 6 2008
Lebanon

USAID/Lebanon Mission Director Denise Herbol presented $50,000 to the
Armenian Sanatorium in the village of Azounieh in the Aley district,
the U.S. embassy said in a statement on Friday.

"USAID’s assistance will allow the center to procure furniture for
the elderly section," it said.

The Armenian Sanatorium, which was established in 1937, provides high
quality and low cost geriatrics and pulmonary disease treatment for
135 elderly persons per year.

Patients come from economically disadvantaged families mainly from
the Armenian community and from villages near Azounieh. The non-profit
center currently employs 60 persons.

CNN’S ‘ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’ DOCUMENTARY FRUSTRATES AMERICAN ARMENIANS

Today’s Zaman
Dec 6 2008
Turkey

A documentary aired on Thursday on the CNN International news station
to mark the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on
the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide has failed
to satisfy an influential Armenian organization based in the United
States.

The documentary, titled "Scream Bloody Murder" and anchored by
Christiane Amanpour, gave wide coverage to the Holocaust as well
as atrocities committed in Bosnia, Cambodia, Darfur, Rwanda and
chemical attacks on the Iraqi Kurds during the Saddam Hussein era,
the Anatolia news agency reported.

The documentary briefly touched upon the 1915 incidents in which
Anatolian Armenians were killed during the days of the Ottoman Empire,
suggesting that Christian Armenian citizens were massacred and forced
to emigrate for eight years and, as a result, 1 million Armenian women,
men and children were dead, the Anatolia reported.

The Washington-based Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA),
on its Web site, urged Armenian-Americans "to take action" against
the documentary, by sending protest letters to CNN executives.

"You have done a disservice to your viewers by nearly entirely
neglecting the Armenian Genocide — the thoroughly documented
systematic destruction by Ottoman Turkey between 1915 and 1923 of over
one and half million of its Armenian citizens. The only reference to
the first genocide of the 20th century is indirect and lasts only 45
seconds," ANCA said in a text, which it advised Armenian-Americans
to include in their protest letters.

RUSSIAN INVESTMENTS IMPORTANT FACTOR IN ECONOMIC GROWTH IN ARMENIA, RF PREMIER STATES

ARKA
Dec 8, 2008

MOSCOW, December 8. /ARKA/. The Russian investments, which currently
total $1.6bln, are an important factor in the economic growth in
Armenia, RF Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stated at a briefing jointly
with his Armenian counterpart Tigran Sargsyan.

"Today we have addressed all the aspects of our cooperation in all
the fields. Of course, economic cooperation was the principal issue,"
Putin said. He said that experts point out good dynamics of bilateral
trade and economic ties, a steady increase in the bilateral trade –
17% last year.

Premier Putin welcomed the expanded activities of large Russian
companies, as well as some banks, in Armenia. Among them are Gasprom,
Inter RAO EES, Russian Railways Company, and VTB Bank.

He also pointed out good prospects for joint projects in such fields
as fuel and energy, nonferrous metallurgy, transport, construction,
construction, banking and information technologies.

Putin said that the further development of bilateral economic
relations is in the highlight of the Russian-Armenian Intergovernmental
Commission.

"During our talks we made a favorable appraisal of its activities,"
Putin said.

"On the other hand, we are well aware that the results are far from
being the limit for our countries and plan to develop our cooperation,"
he said.

"O f course, we also discussed the problems caused by the global
financial crisis, which in any way has impact on our countries,"
Putin said.

He stressed the Russian side’s satisfaction with the negotiations.

The RA Statistical Service reports that the Armenian-Russian trade
amounted to $866.2mln this January-October – an increase of 19.2%. The
Armenian exports to Russia totaled $187.4mln (19.9% of the country’s
total exports) – an annual increase of 18.6%.

The Armenian imports of Russian products totaled $678.9mln – an
increase of 20.2%. Armenia’s total imports from Russia reached
$521.7mln – an increase of 18.2% or 14.6% of Armenia’s total imports.

This January-October, Russia’s share in Armenia’s foreign trade
turnover reached 19.2% – the highest index among Armenia’s trade
partners.

NATIONALISTS REACT TO INTELLECTUALS’ COURAGEOUS APOLOGY

Today’s Zaman
Dec 6 2008
Turkey

Turkey’s nationalists have been incensed about a group of Turkish
intellectuals who recently apologized publicly for the "great disaster
Ottoman Armenians suffered in 1915" in a country where even discussing
Armenian claims of genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire can
be cause for arrest.

The reaction to a petition initiated by a group of intellectuals, led
by popular professors Baskın Oran and Ahmet İnsel and journalists
Ali Bayramoglu and Cengiz Aktar, personally apologizing for the forced
deportation of Armenians from their homes in the Turkish heartland
in 1915, has shown yet again how courageous one must be to publicly
announce his or her unorthodox opinions in Turkey, particularly if
those opinions contradict the official ideology.

In a phone interview with Today’s Zaman, Nationalist Movement Party
(MHP) deputy for Erzurum Zeki Ertugay accused the signatories of being
in "a state of hysteria." He stressed that it was not Armenians who
suffered at the hand of Ottoman Turks, but Turks who were assaulted
by Armenians. "Erzurum suffered most from that cruelty.

Every house has memories of people butchered by Armenians. I regard
apologizing to the Armenians as an insult to the Turkish nation. People
who call themselves intellectuals have not even been enlightened about
their own history. A stain of shame like genocide has never taken place
in the history of the Turkish nation. If there is somebody who needs to
apologize, it is the Armenians and the Western states that provoked the
Armenians against the Turks by promising them a state of their own."

Behic Celik, a MHP deputy from Mersin, was equally enraged. "It is
impossible to refer to these people as intellectuals. The so-called
intellectuals trying to apologize to Armenians do not know the
past. They don’t know history. There has never been any genocide in
the history of the Turkish nation. Apologizing even for the deportation
is not acceptable, because deportations have been carried out by many
nations, not just Turkey. The US relocated Native Americans, Russia
deported the Kazaks and the Crimean Tatars. Their intellectuals never
apologized to anybody."

Ultranationalist media outlets and pundits were also furious. The
Yeni Cag (New Age) daily referred to the petition as a "campaign to
smear Turkey." Yusuf Halacoglu, a well-known ultranationalist who
formerly headed the Turkish Historical Society (TTK), said the real
target here was connected to Turkey’s new foreign policy initiative,
started in early September with President Abdullah Gul and Foreign
Minister Ali Babacan visiting Yerevan for a soccer match between the
national teams of Turkey and Armenia. "The aim here is to foment public
opinion to be able to take that earlier initiative to the next level,"
Halacoglu said.

He said only 22,000 people died before 1915, the year of the forced
deportation. "Will they apologize for those, too? Or will the Armenians
announce with whom they cooperated when the Ottoman Empire was fighting
world powers? Are they going to publicly announce how many Armenians
were part of the French and Russian armies at the time? Armenians, as
people who cooperated with the enemy in their own countries, have lost
this war. This is the state of affairs as it stands today," he said.

Historian Cemalettin TaÅ~_kıran was quoted in nationalist newspapers
as saying, "This is the biggest betrayal that could be shown to
our forefathers." TaÅ~_kıran said the campaign was set up to hurt
the unity of the Turkish nation and to prepare the way for Turkey’s
eventual recognition of Armenian claims of genocide.

The intellectuals’ group is calling on other people to sign
the petition posted online, which reads as follows: "I cannot
conscientiously accept the indifference to the great disaster that
Ottoman Armenians suffered in 1915, and its denial. I reject this
injustice and, acting of my own will, I share the feelings and pains
of my Armenian brothers and sisters, and I apologize to them."

The organizers of the campaign have underlined that first they will
collect signatures from intellectuals and they will then open a secure
Web site to collect signatures.

The Armenian population that was in Turkey before the establishment
of Turkish Republic was forced to emigrate in 1915, and, according
to some, the conditions of this expulsion are the basis of Armenian
claims of genocide.

–Boundary_(ID_UAG736d8sRrHnz6YQOYC7w)- –

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANATOLIAN MUSIC TO ECHO IN THE ARMENIAN CAPITAL

Hurriyet
Dec 6 2008
Turkey

ISTANBUL – Turkey will send a message of peace and friendship to the
Armenian capital of Yerevan through the common traditions of melody
and dance. Armenia will welcome its first Turkish soloist in the form
of violin virtuoso Cihat AÅ~_kın

The Armenian capital of Yerevan is preparing to host a soloist from
Turkey for the first time in the history of the Turkish Republic.

This convergence between the people of the two nations is necessary
before diplomatic dialogue between governments can occur, political
scientists consistently emphasize. People are trying to understand
and comprehend "the other Turk" and "the other Armenian" socially
and culturally.

In light of these developments, Armenian violin virtuoso Edward
Tatevosian gave a recital at the Macka Campus of Istanbul Technical
University, or Ä°TU, last week. Tatevosian also gave a master class
to the students of Ä°TU. As an answer to the visit of Tatevosian,
violin virtuoso Cihat AÅ~_kın, who has a career that features many
national and international awards, will meet Armenian music lovers
in Yerevan on Dec. 10 at the Opera and Ballet Hall, one of the most
prestigious concert halls in the city.

Following AÅ~_kın’s recital, Yerevan will host the band KardeÅ~_
Turkuler and the 70-member chorus of Sayat Nova, formed by the
Armenians of Istanbul. A message of peace and friendship between both
nations will be sent from Turkey to Armenia through song during these
concerts, which will begin Dec. 10 and last until Dec. 14.

There was not a demand for football; but there is a high demand for
concerts According to information provided by officials, the concerts
next week are in high demand compared to the football match played
between the national teams of the two countries Sept. 6.

Prior to the concert, the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review spoke
with Cihan AÅ~_kın, Fehmiye Celik and Beyza GumuÅ~_ from KardeÅ~_
Turkuler and KayuÅ~_ Calıkman, spokesperson for Sayat Nova Chorus.

AÅ~_kın spoke about tension between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia
and said he had taken to the stage in many countries and Armenia would
be no different to the others. He added, "I am an artist. I go to
Armenia as I would go to any country in the world. There is nothing
strange here. I have my political views but I am free of prejudice."

AÅ~_kın, who has featured works by Azerbaijani and Armenian
composers on many CD’s he has released, spoke about the concert for
peace. "Art is to be practiced in an atmosphere of peace. I believe
bringing artists of the three peoples together would be forcing it,
when historic facts like the Hocalı slaughter and the matter of
Nagorno-Karabakh still exist."

AÅ~_kın said he has a surprise waiting for the Armenian art lovers
at the recital. AÅ~_kın avoided giving away too much, but said,
"I can say that I will play two surprise Armenian songs at the
recital. It is a pity that Tatevosian did not play any Turkish songs
at his recital in Istanbul." Pianist Gulden Testen will accompany
AÅ~_kın at the recital. The recital will include works from Adnan
Saygun, one of the famous "Turkish five," and other works from western
classical composers.

The Sayat Nove chorus will give a concert with KardeÅ~_ Turkuler
the night after AÅ~_kın’s recital. KayuÅ~_ Calıkman said, "We
are going to Armenia with KardeÅ~_ Turkuler to follow the will of
Hrant Dink. Together, we will send a message of peace and friendship
through song."

As to whether the Armenians of Istanbul can act as a bridge between
Turkey and Armenia within the process of dialogue, Calıkman said,
"It is a hard mission for a community of 40,000 to 50,000 people
that is decreasing in number each day. Moreover, the community has
its own problems. But it is not impossible."

Music and dance, a shared Anatolian tradition Fehmiye Celik from
KardeÅ~_ Turkuler said the biggest problem between Turks and Armenians
was being unable to speak. "There are still hopes for every one of
us, if we can speak without fear. The Anatolian geography includes
not only Turkish but Armenian, Romaic and Kurdish melodies; even if
you shut your ears and do not want to hear them, you will. Anatolia
is a polyphonic melody." KardeÅ~_ Turkuler will play 25 songs with
the Sayat Nova chorus and perform other dance and music shows.

Beyza GumuÅ~_ from KardeÅ~_ Turkuler said, "Music and dance are the
commonality of the people living at the same place. We hope to make
our people feel this commonality through our melodies and our dance."

–Boundary_(ID_5DI1YKp5QxF44PrsET6Cl A)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PROGRESS MADE ON KARABAKH, SAYS ENVOY

Hurriyet
Dec 6 2008
Turkey

HELSINKI – Azerbaijan and Armenia are showing a new resolve to settle
a conflict that could threaten oil exports to the West if it flares
again into fighting, an international mediator said.

The ex-Soviet neighbors fought a war in the early 1990s over the
mountainous territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Their troops still fight
skirmishes there despite a ceasefire, and attempts to broker a peace
deal have repeatedly foundered.

But the outlook for an agreement is now looking more positive
because of a new rapport between the two countries’ presidents, said
Matthew Bryza, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary State and one of three
international mediators in the conflict.

"We can say there is progress," Bryza told Reuters on late Thursday on
the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, in the Finnish capital. Armenian
President Serge Sarkisian and his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev have
held two rounds of talks in the last six months and their foreign
ministers met in Helsinki.

Positive mood "The mood between presidents Aliyev and Sarkisian has
improved, significantly," said Bryza. "They both respect each other,
number one, and are beginning to trust each other, number two. And,
number three, they have expressed a willingness to be constructive,
meaning take into account what the other side needs to reach a deal."

"Both presidents said ‘OK, I think I’m ready to move ahead. Let’s
try to finalise these basic principles (for a peace deal). I’m ready
to work with my counterpart’." He said there was still a lot of work
to be done before fundamental differences between the two sides on
the future of Nagorno-Karabakh could be bridged. Nagorno-Karabakh is
internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. Since the fighting
it — along with surrounding Azeri districts — have been under the
de facto control of ethnic Armenian separatists, with support from
Armenia. The fighting killed about 35,000 people and displaced around
one million civilians, with most of them still unable to return to
their homes nearly two decades later.

‘CNN NEGLECTING GENOCIDE’

Hurriyet
Dec 6 2008
Turkey

WASHINGTON – The largest U.S. Armenian group late Thursday accused CNN
of ignoring the Armenian claims in a documentary offering a history
of genocide throughout the world.

The program "Scream Bloody Murder," anchored by CNN’s top international
correspondent Christiane Amanpour, gave detailed accounts of the
Holocaust and the mass murders in Cambodia, Bosnia, northern Iraq,
Rwanda and Darfur, with a special focus on those who witnessed and
warned the world about these atrocities.

Armenian lobby unhappy The two-hour documentary briefly mentioned
the 1915 incidents, saying Turkey did not accept the Armenian claims.

The Armenian National Committee of America, or ANCA, said although
the CNN program offered a compelling look at genocide, it failed to
give a detailed account of the 1915 incidents as "genocide."

"Sadly, in a disservice to its millions of viewers, CNN neglected to
include the Armenian genocide as the first such event," the ANCA said
in a statement.

The group urged U.S. Armenians to ask Amanpour "about this serious
shortcoming in her documentary."

Ankara briefed CNN The group also called on U.S. Armenians to send
messages to CNN’s leadership "pointing out this shortcoming and asking
them to address this gap in their reporting in future coverage of
genocide-related issues."

After CNN’s plans to broadcast the documentary became clear, Turkish
officials contacted the network and briefed it on Ankara’s position
on the matter. Armenians say that nearly 1.5 million of their people
were killed in the last years of the Ottoman Empire, and that the
killings clearly constitute genocide.

Objecting to the use of that term, Turkey says the Armenian figure
is highly inflated and that a large number of people from both sides
were killed amid an Armenian rebellion against the Ottomans.

Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million of
their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in Turkey in 1915.

Around 300,000 Armenians, along with at least as many Turks, died
in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took up arms, backed by
Russia, for independence in eastern Anatolia in 1915. Armenia claims
the incidents that occurred during the civil strife were systematic
"genocide".

Turkey has offered to form a joint commission to investigate the
claims and reveal the truth behind the turmoil of 1915 and to open
all official archives, but Armenia has continually dragged its feet
on accepting the offer.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PARTIES MULL PEACE PLAN FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH ROW

Today’s Zaman
Dec 6 2008
Turkey

Babacan gestures prior to the ministerial council of the OSCE in the
Helsinki Fair Center on Thursday.

Foreign Minister Ali Babacan has suggested that efforts to
resolve a deep-seated dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia over
Nagorno-Karabakh were nearing a new level, saying the parties were
considering starting work on a peace deal.

"The idea that work on a draft peace deal could start emerged at
the end of the meetings," Babacan told reporters Friday in Helsinki,
where he attended Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) talks. A sub-group of OSCE countries, called the Minsk Group,
is focused on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. The Minsk Group
had two separate meetings in Helsinki this week. "The meetings were
extremely positive," Babacan said, adding that there were "concrete
developments" on the issue. The Minsk Group is co-chaired by the
United States, Russia and France.

Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan in the
early 1990s after a protracted war between Azerbaijan and Armenians
of the mountainous region that began in the late 1980s. In show of
solidarity with Azerbaijan, Turkey severed its diplomatic ties and
closed its border with Armenia and says Armenian withdrawal from
Nagorno-Karabakh is a condition for normalizing ties.

Babacan had separate talks with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian on the
sidelines of the OSCE meetings on Thursday. "I can tell you that
things are going well both in the process between Azerbaijan and
Armenia and between Turkey and Armenia. I say this on the basis of
the impressions I received from Azerbaijan and Armenia," Babacan
said. "We hope these talks reach a positive end. Our goal is full
normalization of relations among Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia."

Azerbaijan’s President Ä°lham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart,
Serzh Sarksyan, met in Moscow last month and, for the first time,
jointly signed a declaration pledging efforts to resolve the
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. Ankara has welcomed the Moscow summit.

"We have been counseling that this window of opportunity should not
be missed. I hope all these efforts will lead to a new environment
of peace, stability and security in the Caucasus," Babacan said.

President Abdullah Gul started a new period of dialogue with Armenia
in September in a visit to Yerevan to watch a World Cup qualifying
match between the countries’ national soccer teams.

In Helsinki, Babacan also participated in the first meeting of a
regional platform initiated by Turkey. Deputy foreign ministers of
the five member countries of the Caucasus Stability and Cooperation
Platform met on the sidelines of the OSCE meeting, the first time
representatives from the group sat around the same table.

Turkey proposed the platform for conflict resolution in the volatile
Caucasus following a brief war between Russia and Georgia over the
breakaway region of South Ossetia in August. The platform consists
of Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Babacan said the
member states agree on the need to speed up work for the improvement
of cooperation within the platform and added that the parties were
working on principles and decision-making mechanisms for it. "We hope
they will be concluded soon and that we will be able to officially
start it," he said.

–Boundary_(ID_MdWPApv96zdwTvlzuoEnRA)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HOLOCAUST AS PROPAGANDA WEAPON
Neil Berry

Pakistan Observer
ld05.asp
Dec 6 2008
Pakistan

IS another Jewish Holocaust any longer conceivable? The former speaker
of the Knesset, Avraham Burg, for one, finds it hard to take seriously
claims that Jews and the Jewish state are menaced still by the specter
of genocide. After all, he points out, Israel is not only itself a
heavily militarized state but enjoys the protection of the United
States, the most militarized country in the world and one where Jews
wield prodigious power and influence.

Burg in his remarkable new book, "The Holocaust Is Over: We Must Arise
from Its Ashes", argues that Israelis and Jewish people in general have
made a fetish of the Holocaust, with lamentable consequences. Published
last year in Israel, the book maintains that preoccupation with the
catastrophe known to Jews as the "Shoah" has prevented Israel from
achieving maturity, ensuring that the national psyche remains stuck
in an ugly phase of European history. Burg says that the Holocaust
has been cynically employed as a propaganda weapon, becoming even
mightier in its way than the Israeli Defense Force. Certainly, Gentile
guilt about the Holocaust has been a significant factor in enabling
Israel to get away with murder. Like the charge of anti-Semitism,
it has been ruthlessly exploited to silence Israel’s critics. But for
the Holocaust’s emotive effect, the brutality Israel has meted out to
the Palestinians would long ago have established it as a moral pariah.

True, the Holocaust is inseparable from the story of Israel. Not
only did it precipitate mass Jewish immigration into Palestine,
it was also a truly formative influence on the Israeli sense of
nationhood. Mandatory remembrance of the Holocaust did much to forge
its collective identity, uniting even Jews with no connection with
the Nazi death camps.

Israelis have been outraged by Burg’s portrayal of Israel as
militarized state with more than a little in common with the Germany
of yore. Burg believes that just as Germans demonized Jews as the
enemy who must be defeated at all costs, so Israel has transformed
Arabs into personifications of absolute evil, an enduring threat to
the very existence of the Jewish people.

Of German descent, Burg is well equipped to grasp the contradictions
of the Israeli psyche. Israel has reconciled itself to Germany yet
finds itself incapable of forgiving the Arabs. The Jewish anger and
desire for revenge inspired by Germans have, Burg suggests, become
displaced onto the Palestinians, whom Israel savagely oppresses.

Central to Burg’s book is his discussion of the trial of Adolph
Eichmann, the Nazi war criminal who was arrested in Argentina in 1960
and subsequently tried in Jerusalem as one of the chief architects of
the "Final Solution". Burg regards the trial as a tragically missed
opportunity. Israel could have set an example as a state implacably
opposed to all forms of tyranny and oppression and affirmed its
commitment to the principle of "never again" on behalf not just of
Jewish victims but of victims everywhere, irrespective of their race,
creed or colour. Instead, in Burg’s view, Israel made far too much
of Eichmann’s deeds as crimes against the Jewish people rather than
crimes against humanity.

The truth is that when it comes to acknowledging the sufferings of
others, Israel has an ignominious record. Witness the Jewish state’s
persistent support of Turkey in denying the historical reality of the
Armenian Holocaust. Witness, too, its failure to take a stand over
the genocide that was visited on the Tutsi of Rwanda in 1994. It is
an especial source of dismay to Burg that when, in the late 1990s,
Serbia sought to purge Kosovo of Albanian Muslims, evoking worldwide
horror, Israel took the side of the Serbs. He believes that the
horrors Jews have known makes Israel’s moral dereliction over such
iniquities inexcusable.

Burg maintains that the commemorative trips young Israelis are obliged
to make to the Nazi death camps serve only to exacerbate the Israeli
fixation with the unique status of Jewish suffering. What he would like
to see is an educational program whereby groups of Israeli students,
including Jews and Arabs, visit Spain and learn about the days when
Islam and Judaism enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship.

Avraham Burg has great faith in the creative power of argument. His
book has already provoked much controversy and now that it has
been translated is certain to provoke more. At a time when crass,
catchpenny titles pour from the presses, it is that unusual thing:
A new book that matters.

"EASTERN PARTNERSHIP" AT A REASONABLE PRICE

RIA Novosti
17:49 | 08/ 12/ 2008

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Andrei Fedyashin) – Brussels
has offered its eastern neighbors, or Russia’s western neighbors, a
chance to establish new relations. The new Eastern Partnership (EaP)
program, whose final draft has been distributed to European capitals,
is to be adopted (no doubt, it will be adopted) at the forthcoming
EU summit in Brussels on December 11-12.

The new "belt of EU friends" at Russia’s eastern and southern borders
would include Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and
Belarus.

The new partnership is expressed with a strange pseudo-math
formula "27+5(6)," where the sixth member is Belarus, or rather
its President Alexander Lukashenko. Brussels is prepared to develop
only "conditionally" friendly ties with that country – until Minsk
demonstrates true eagerness to accept western democratic values.

Brussels makes no secret of the fact that it is the developments
in the Caucasus and Mikheil Saakashvili’s actions that fostered the
drafting of the program. His unpredictability rendered the European
Neighborhood Policy, which the EU has pursued since 2004, archaic. It
is going to be replaced with the Eastern Partnership (EaP).

In political terms, the program’s emergence indicates that NATO and
the EU will coordinate their political lines. After the alliance
refused to give Ukraine and Georgia the Membership Action Plan at its
latest ministerial meeting, it was necessary to somehow encourage
Viktor Yushchenko and Mikheil Saakashvili; hence the acceleration
of the Eastern Partnership, which Poland and Sweden pushed for most
vigorously.

However, the EU decided against a commitment to give Poland, Georgia,
Moldova and the others access to Greater Europe. They were only
promised Association Agreements; no pledges were made to admit those
states to the EU.

In fact, the program points to two simple facts: a) Europe has lost
its "transit patience" – it is sick and tired of Kiev’s constant
machinations with the gas supplied to Europe through Ukraine, which
is actually gas larceny, and b) it wishes to finally ensure the
diversification of gas supplies.

The first EaP summit has been planned for April. Almost simultaneously,
Brussels is going to convene a sort of conference to raise investments
to modernize the entire Ukrainian gas pipeline system. In addition,
Brussels intends to offer Ukraine and Moldova full membership in the
European Energy Community. So far, along with Georgia, they have only
observer status.

The European Energy Community was established by the Athens Energy
Community Treaty of 2005. It brought together the EU, Albania, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and
now Kosovo. The treaty regulates the energy (electricity, gas, oil)
trade and transit system in the listed countries. Full membership in
the European Energy Community will impose strict transit obligations
on Ukraine.

Brussels also intends to sign a memorandum of understanding
with Azerbaijan and Armenia. After the Caucasian war, Brussels’
eagerness to develop relations, as a German diplomat put it, with
"serious people in the Caucasus (Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev)
instead of revolutionary romantics (Mikheil Saakashvili), has only
become stronger." It should be noted that Azerbaijan is considered
an alternative gas supply source for Europe.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not
necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.