Author: admin

OSCE REPORT STATES: THERE IS NO CLEAR ORGANIZED RESETTLEMENT, NO
NON-VOLUNTARY RESETTLEMENT, NO RECRUITMENT

Azg/arm
19 March 05

`The Overwhelming Majority of Settlers Are displaced Persons from
Various Parts of Azerbaijan’

The OSCE Fact-Finding Mission that visited the seven regions
surrounding Nagorno Karabakh on January 30-February 4, has officially
presented its report to the OSCE Permanent Council. In particular, it
is said in the report that “Overall settlement is quite limited,”
“there is no clear organized resettlement, no non-voluntary
resettlement, no recruitment.”

The Fact-Finding Mission affirms the following number of the
population: “In Kelbajar District approximately 1,500; in Aghdam
District from 800 to 1000,in Fizuli District under 10, in Jebrail
District under 100, in Zangelan District from 7000 to 1000; and in
Kubatlu District from 1000 to 1500. In Lachin, the Fact Finding
Mission estimates that there are fewer than 8000 people livingin the
district overall.”

The mission did not determine that such settlement has resulted from a
deliberate policy by the government of Armenia.” The report says: “The
Fact-Finding Mission has seen no evidence of direct involvement by the
authorities of Armenian in the territories,” “the overwhelming
majority of the settlers are displaced persons from various parts of
Azerbaijan, notably from Shahumian (Goranboy) Getashen (Chaikent) –
now under Azerbaijani control – and Sumgait and Baku.”

Masis Mailian, NKR deputy foreign minister, accompanied the
fact-finding mission during their visit. In the interview to Azg,
Masis Mailian said that official Stepanakert will give its evaluation
of the report when that will be represented to the Karabakh
side. Mr. Mailian reminded that NKR authoritiesdid everything to
secure all the conditions for the activities of the fact-finding
mission.

David Babayan, political expert from Stepanakert, also accompanied the
fact-finding mission. He said in that the report is an objective one
and reflects the reality. “But it doesn’t mean that Azerbaijan will
give up manipulating with the issue of resettling these
territories. Most likely, Baku will try to make the international
community to force the settlers move to the territory of the former
NKAR or Armenia, explaining this by the fact there are few people
living in these territories,” Babayan said.

Araz Azimov, Azeri deputy foreign minister, said in an interview to
the Baku Ekho that “We already know that the OSCE Fact-Finding Mission
has confirmed the facts of settlement. The report of the mission is
very close to the data Azerbaijan managed to accumulate.”

A press release by RA Foreign Ministry on March 17, says that the OSCE
Fact-Finding Mission denies the claims of Azerbaijan, according to
which “There are exclusively large numbers of settlers in the
territories surrounding Nagorno Karabakh. At various times, their
number ranged from 30000 to 300000 even.” “The Republic of Armenia is
directly intentionally engaged in the so-called settlement process,
and even has a state policy of settlement, with budgetary
allocations,” and “the overwhelming majority of the settlers are
citizens of Armenia, or from the Diaspora.”

RA Foreign Ministry stated that the total number of these settlers is
insignificant given that there are over 400.000 Armenian refugees as a
result of the conflict. Without those living in Lachin, then the total
number of settlersis indeed negligible. The co-chairs have noted that
“Lachin has been treated as a separate case in previous negotiations.”
This is because Lachin is Nagorno Karabakh’s humanitarian and security
corridor. Without it, Nagorno Karabakh would remain an isolated
enclave. It is because of Lachin’s political and geographical reality
and security dimension that it is viewed differently in the
negotiation process,” the statement says.

“Armenia, at the request of Nagorno Karabakh authorities, has
requested that the OSCE Permanent Council mandate a fact-finding
mission for a similarly transparent assessment of those regions which
were formerly largely-Armenian populated, and are today under
Azerbaijan’s control: The Northern Martakert and eastern Martuni
regions of Nagorno Karabakh, and Shahumian,” the statement says.

It’s worth reminding that according to the United Nations Economic and
Social Council Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ” The
Committee is concerned about the illegal occupation by refugees and
internally displaced persons of properties belonging to Armenians and
other ethnic minorities.”

In particular, the UN Committee pointed out Shahumian and Getashen
region that were formerly Armenian-populated.

By Tatoul Hakobian

Keralanext, India
March 19 2005

Australasia ; Australian charged over bomb threat on Russian plane:

[Australasia News] Russian police have charged an Australian with
making a hoax bomb threat, after he threatened to blow up a flight
from Tokyo to Moscow.

The man was charged with knowingly making false claims about a
terrorist act.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of three years in jail.

The 29-year-old man, who police sources say is of Armenian
extraction, had told crew on board the Aeroflot flight he would carry
out his threat unless he was flown to the breakaway Russian region of
Chechnya.

He tried to break into the cockpit of the Boeing 777 as it approached
Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport but was stopped.

The plane landed safely.

News agencies reported that the unidentified man was drunk at the
time of the incident.

He was on a flight from Sydney to the Armenian capital of Yerevan via
Tokyo and Moscow.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Hindustan Times, India
March 19 2005

PM’s gesture overwhelms Born Free star

Vijay Dutt

London, March 18, 2005|23:28 IST

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has refused to send “Veda”, a
six-year-old she-elephant to Armenia after deciding to ban the
practice of gifting animals to heads of states or government or
foreign zoos. Veda was gifted to the President of Armenia.

The move came in the wake of a letter written by actress and activist
Virginia McKenna, who starred in the film Born Free and is attached
to the Born Free Foundation. She has been campaigning to save Veda,
presently residing in the Bannerghatta National Park near Bangalore.

“I’m over the moon. I’m overjoyed and grateful to the Indian Prime
Minister. It is the best gift that he could have given to the Born
Free Foundation on its 21st anniversary,” she said Virginia McKenna,
praising Prime Minister Singh.

She had recently written to the Prime Minister urging him to ban the
inhuman practice.

She had asked whether this ban would include Veda. The letter further
asked, “what happens if Armenia wants to buy her?”

The foundation has sent a representative to the Yerevan zoo in
Armenia. It was found that Veda would be kept in a closed enclosure
and spend many months locked indoors due to the country’s freezing
winter climate.

McKenna had noted if Veda would be moved away from her family, she
would die young.

The foundation is an international wildlife charity working
throughout the world to prevent wild animal suffering and protect
threatened species in the wild.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RIA Novosti, Russia
March 18 2005

ABKHAZIA TO CONTINUE TALKING ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP WITH RUSSIA

MOSCOW, March 18 (RIA Novosti) – Abkhazia (self-proclaimed republic
in Georgia) will continue dialog with Moscow on getting the status of
an associate member in the Russian Federation, President of Abkhazia
Sergei Bagapsh told journalists in Moscow on Friday.

“The theme is still topical and remains on the agenda,” he said.

“We’ll carry out dialog with the State Duma (lower chamber of Russian
parliament), other Russian authorities for the matter to continue. It
will not stop,” Bagapsh added.

The president of the unrecognized republic of Abkhazia is ready to
meet with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili for talks.

Only recently Saakashvili said he was ready to meet with Bagapsh and
discuss the political status of Abkhazia within Georgia.

“It is a normal, good symptom. But such meetings have to be
prepared,” Bagapsh said.

Working groups are already setting to work and “we’ve made our
proposals,” he specified. In the opinion of the Abkhaz side, the
talks should begin with the discussion of economic matters and
problems. “There are such matters of benefit to Abkhazia, Georgia,
Russia and the entire Caucasian region,” Bagapsh noted. One is
through railway communication.

Bagapsh also said that within two weeks the leaders of South Ossetia
and Transdniestria (self-proclaimed republics in Georgia and
Moldova), Nagorny Karabakh (region in Azerbaijan populated by
Armenians) and Abkhazia are going to meet and discuss settlement in
their regions, Bagapsh said.

“We’ve had the first meeting but it was off-the-cuff. Now we are
going to have an official meeting to consider the present state of
affairs,” he said.

Bagapsh said he was getting alarming information on “active actions”
allegedly possible in spring or summer in the territory of Abkhazia,
South Ossetia and Transdniestria. He did not specify what he meant.

“If somebody wants to unleash another conflict, we’ll try to prevent
it. So far, diplomatically. If not, we’ll provide all-round support,”
Bagapsh added.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN REVOLUTIONARY FEDERATION DEFENDING HIMSELF FROM GACHECHILADZE

A1+
18-03-2005

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau issued a press
release on March 18 in regard with some statements made by Georgi
Gachechiladze, advisor to the Georgian president on international
issues, and published in the March 14 issue of the Georgian newspaper
Rao-Rao. The release reads:

1. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation has never sought and does not
seek “Georgia’s destruction through North Caucasus.” The ARF is
seeking the protection of the Javakhk Armenians’ rights within
Georgia. Such statements of the Georgian president’s advisor may only
sow disturbance in the Caucasus.

2. On the eve of the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the
Georgian president’s advisor is insults the memory of the Genocide
victims, accusing them of becoming a blind tool in the hands of
others. Actually, he is repeating the official position of
Turkey. Such unpardonable stance of the Georgian president’s advisor
is unfitted to the position he holds.

3. The Georgian presidential advisor’s threats directed at the Javakhk
Armenians prompt that the attempts to initiate disruption in Javakhk
are aimed at justifying those very threats. The Georgian presidential
advisor’s intimidating tone is no good for a country that claims to be
a democracy champion; it resembles the style of dictators speaking to
their subjects in tyrannies.

4. The level of the Georgian presidential advisor’s ignorance may be
low enough to call a Yeltsin aide an ARF member, but it should not be
as low as to overlook the real problems in Javakhk.

5. The ARF is ready to assist the Georgian authorities in protecting
the political and civil rights of the Javakhk Armenians as well as
resolving their socio-economic problems if the Georgian authorities
take such steps. Georgian authorities’ continuing discriminatory
policy towards the Javakhk Armenians will not result in favorable
consequences.

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
March 18 2005

CZECHIA SHOWS INTEREST IN DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATION WITH AZERBAIJAN
[March 18, 2005, 12:12:15]

Speaker of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) Murtuz Alasgarov has met
with visiting Azerbaijan Chairman of the Czech Parliament’s Committee
on Defense and Security Ian Vidim.

Noting that Azerbaijan attaches particular importance to development
of relations with European countries including Czechia, he said the
two countries’ parliamentarians fruitfully cooperate within
international organizations. Mr. Alasgarov provided the guest with
detailed information on legal, democratic reforms being implemented
in Azerbaijan, the role of the country in the South Caucasus as well
as the problems it faces. Dwelling on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh, he showed on the map the occupied lands of
Azerbaijan noting that these territories are used by the occupants
for drug cultivation, and terrorist groups training. All these facts
have been reflected in the documents of the US Department of State,
he said. The Speaker reminded as well that the UN Security Council,
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and other
international organizations had adopted a number of resolutions,
which Armenia continues to ignore pursuing its aggressive policy
against Azerbaijan. Our country stands for peaceful resolution of the
conflict on the base of the norms and principle of the international
law.

Having thanked the Speaker of the Milli Majlis for the warm meeting
and detailed information Chairman of the Committee on Defense and
Security at the Czech Parliament Jan Vidim said his country was very
interested in development of links with Azerbaijan. He noted that
although 20% of Azerbaijan’s territories were occupied and over
million people became refugees and internally displaced, the progress
gained in the country was very attractive for all. According to him,
Czechia stands for peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict on the base of territorial integrity of states. We welcome
the PACE January resolution hope the next meeting of the Presidents
of Azerbaijan and Armenia will be a turning point in the peace
process, Mr. Vidim said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSCE Organization
arch 18 2005

OSCE and Council of Europe experts discuss freedom of assembly
legislation with Armenian authorities

YEREVAN, 18 March, 2005 – Experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Venice Commission of
the Council of Europe met yesterday with the Armenian authorities for
consultations on amendments to the Armenian law on Conducting
Gatherings, Meetings, Rallies and Demonstrations.

Both organizations have made suggestions as to how the legislation,
adopted in April 2004, can be brought into compliance with
international standards. These consultations are a part of
wide-ranging co-operation between the Venice Commission and the
OSCE/ODIHR on legislative reviews and support in a number of
countries.

The consultations with Tigran Torosyan, Deputy Chairman of the
National Assembly, and David Harutyunyan, Minister of Justice,
addressed key issues such as the possibility for spontaneous
demonstrations as well as the freedom to counter-demonstrate. Also
discussed were notification procedures, grounds for restrictions on
and termination of public assemblies and responsibility for the
conduct of participants in a public assembly.

Armenia has committed itself to amend the law following a Council of
Europe Parliamentary Assembly resolution, which called on the
Armenian authorities to introduce amendments to the law on
demonstrations and public assemblies by March 2005, in order to bring
the legislation into full conformity with Council of Europe standards
to ensure freedom of assembly in practice.

The consultations provided a basis for consolidation of the proposed
amendments, which is to be finalized by end of April.

For further information, please contact:

Urdur Gunnarsdottir
ODIHR Spokesperson, Press and Public Information Adviser
Public Affairs Unit
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

Aleje Ujazdowskie 19
00-557, Warsaw
Poland
Tel.: +48 22 520 06 00 ext. 4162
+48 603 683 122 (mobile)
Fax: +48 22 520 06 05
E-mail: [email protected]

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Sydney Morning Herald , Australia
March 18 2005

‘Australian’ charged over bomb threat on Russian jet
March 19, 2005

Russian police have charged an Australian with making a hoax bomb
threat after he threatened to blow up a plane on a flight from Tokyo
to Moscow, reports said.

The man was charged with knowingly making false claims about a
terrorist act, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in
jail, Interfax news agency said, citing police.

The 29-year-old man, who police sources said was of Armenian
extraction, had told crew on board the Aeroflot flight late yesterday
he would carry out his threat unless he was flown to the breakaway
Russian region of Chechnya, the agency said.

He tried to break into the cockpit of the Boeing 777 as it approached
Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport but was stopped, the agency said,
without giving any more details.

The plane landed normally.

In Canberra, a spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade said the man would be provided consular help.

“The Australian embassy in Moscow has verified the man’s detention
and will provide normal consular assistance,” she said.

“He’s been detained by Russian authorities, he’s been questioned as
to his identity and his motives.”

An official at the airport told foreign news agencies: “The
Australian-based passenger, born in 1976 and travelling from Sydney
to Yerevan, Armenia via Tokyo and Moscow, tried to enter the pilot’s
cabin but was prevented from doing so by the crew.”

Reports by ITAR-Tass suggested the man did not have explosives and
that he would undergo psychiatric tests.

The Australian embassy in Moscow will help the detained man obtain a
lawyer, the spokeswoman said.

Moscow airport police spokeswoman Tatyana Bondareva said If
convicted, the man could face up to three years in prison.

The Interfax news agency quoted an unidentified police official as
saying the Australian was drunk.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Baku Today

National

KLO Calls on Azeris to Get Ready for War

18/03/2005 12:46

The Karabagh Liberation Organization (KLO), a non-government organization
based in Baku, has called on Azeri public to get ready for war with Armenia,
Assa Irada reported today.

`Although international organizations have been informed of frequent
ceasefire breaches by Armenia of late and this country’s failure to return
three Azerbaijani soldiers, who accidentally passed to the Armenian side of
the frontline, they have not adequately responded to these facts,’ KLO
statement reads.

`These confirms that Armenia is unwilling to settle the Karabakh conflict
peacefully and give up its policy of aggression. The KLO believes that the
future activity of international organizations will yield no results
either.’

One Azeri soldier was killed in a ceasefire breach along the tense line
dividing Azerbaijan and Armenian-occupied territory on Thursday, according
to media reports.

Armenia controls Karabakh and seven surrounding regions almost 20 percent of
Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSCE and Armenian Ombudsperson enhance co-operation
News > Press Release

Lars Gerold of OSCE/ODIHR (right) and Armenian Ombudsperson Larisa
Alaverdyan at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding
allowing for exchange visits with Polish and Lithuanian Ombudsman
Offices, 18 March 2005. (Photo OSCE)

;id=4789

Lars Gerold of OSCE/ODIHR (right) and Armenian Ombudsperson Larisa
Alaverdyan at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding allowing
for exchange visits with Polish and Lithuanian Ombudsman Offices, 18
March 2005. (Photo OSCE) Lars Gerold of OSCE/ODIHR (right) and
Armenian Ombudsperson Larisa Alaverdyan at the signing of a Memorandum
of Understanding allowing for exchange visits with Polish and
Lithuanian Ombudsman Offices, 18 March 2005. (Photo OSCE)

YEREVAN, 18 March 2005 – The OSCE today signed two Memoranda of
Understanding with the first Armenian Ombudsperson Larisa Alaverdyan,
under which her staff will receive training through exchange visits
with the Polish and Lithuanian Ombudsman Offices.

Created in 2004, the Armenian Ombudsman Office has become an integral
part of the human rights landscape of the country during its first
year of operation.

“The recently established Office has faced a lot of challenges from
the very moment it started to work,” said Stefan Buchmayer, Human
Rights Officer at the OSCE Office in Yerevan, at the signing ceremony.

“Therefore, we are happy to find financial resources with the help of
the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights [ODIHR]
to support the Ombudsman Office by building its staff capacity.”

The training will include a two-week study visit for two staff members
of the Armenian Ombudsman Office to Poland and Lithuania
respectively. The four trainees will in turn host their training
partners from the Polish and Lithuanian Ombudsman institutions in
Armenia and evaluate the results of the training.

“In the past, similar training programmes have proved to be successful
in the OSCE region,” said Lars Gerold, the ODIHR representative who
signed the agreement for the human rights institution.

“This method provides for a “hands on” approach, in which the trainees
are actively involved in the daily business of the host institutions.”

“The development of our institution depends to a large extent on
well-trained, motivated staff,” said Ombudsperson Larisa Alaverdyan,
expressing her appreciation of the project.

“We need to profit from the experience of human rights defender
institutions in countries with a similar recent history.” Key links
and documents:

For further information, please contact:
Gohar Avagyan
89 Teryan St.
375009, Yerevan
Armenia
Tel.: +374 1 54 10 62
+374 1 54 58 45
Fax: +374 1 54 10 61

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress