Author: Andres-Papazian

STALIN’S LAST VICTIMS, MESKHETIAN TURKS, TRICKLE HOME TO GEORGIA
By Kenan Guluzade, Maia Tsiklauri

Institute for War and Peace Reporting IWPR
March 28, 2011

Government prepares to admit Meskhetian Turks, though locals may not
welcome their return.

Nearly 60 years after Stalin deported them from Soviet Georgia, members
of the Meskhetian Turkish community are on the brink of returning home.

Georgia agreed to facilitate the minority’s return when it joined
the Council of Europe in 1999, but the necessary legislation was not
enacted until 2007. (See (See Tbilisi Criticised Over Repatriation
Requests on delays to the process.)

The Meskhetians now have until the end of this year to receive
“repatriate” status, which will put them on the fast track to acquiring
citizenship and the other rights.

Members of this Muslim group from what is now part of Samtse-Javakheti
region of south-western Georgia generally call themselves Ahiska Turks,
while Georgian officials describe them as Meskhetian Muslims.

The Meskhetians were one of several ethnic groups, also including
the Chechens, the Kalmyks, the Crimean Tatars and others, who were
exiled en masse from the Caucasus region to Siberia or Central Asia
during the Second World War, out of a paranoid concern that they
might be less than loyal in case of invasion. In November 1944,
all the Meskhetians were rounded up and despatched to Central Asia,
with thousands dying en route in disease-ridden cattle trucks.

Unlike most of the other groups, the Meskhetians were not allowed to
go home after Stalin’s death, but remained in Central Asia.

In 1989, tens of thousands of them fled ethnic violence in Uzbekistan
that targeted their community. Most ended up in Azerbaijan or southern
Russia – much nearer home, but still not quite there. Around 10,000
who lived in Russia’s Krasnodar region were resettled in the United
States following clashes with the local population, but the majority
of exiles remained in limbo.

Kamal Qahramanov’s life story is one of repeated exile and relocation.

Born near Georgia’s border with Turkey in 1927, he was part of
the deportations to Central Asia in 1944, where he lived until the
1989 bloodshed in Uzbekistan. Fleeing the violence, he ended up in
Azerbaijan, where he now lives in the village of Fatalikend in the
Saatli region.

Although he spent his childhood years there, Qahramanov cannot remember
much about Georgia.

“If possible I will return. But I know nothing about Georgia. They
say there are mountains and forests there,” he said. “If I go back,
I will be a farmer like my forebears,” Qahramanov said.

Georgia’s ministry for refugees stopped accepting applications from
would-be repatriates at the start of January 2010, by which time
there were about 8,800 people on the list, the vast majority of them
currently resident in Azerbaijan.

The ministry now has a special commission going through the
applications, most of which contain errors or lack crucial supporting
documents. Applicants will be given four months to correct these
problems. Irakli Kokaia, who heads the ministerial department dealing
with the repatriation process, said failure to do so would result in
the application being shelved.

Repatriate status will give the Meskhetians the right to take out
Georgian citizenship, thus clearing the way to buying property and
land, and to obtaining an education.

This will free them of the bureaucratic obstacles that faced the small
number of Meskhetians who moved to Georgia under their own steam in
past years. Shamsaddin Sarvarov, chairman of Vatan, the Meskhetians’
organisation in Azerbaijan, said he was in touch with around 40
families who had done so.

“They can’t get registered [for residence], they aren’t assigned
housing, and they have problems getting their children educated,”
he said, adding optimistically that “all these problems will be
resolved soon”.

When it comes to those going through the formal repatriation process,
Nugzar Tsiklauri, who chairs a parliamentary committee dealing with
diaspora issues, said Georgia was hoping foreign donors would step
in to help.

Tsiklauri said he did not know where in Georgia the Meskhetians would
be housed.

This is a sensitive issue – much of the current population of
Samtskhe-Javakheti consists of ethnic Armenians. Given the legacy of
hostilities with both Turkey and Azerbaijan, the Armenians may not
welcome the arrival of a Turkish-speaking group in their midst.

Melsa Torosyan, chairman of Nor Akunk, an activist group in the town of
Akhalkalaki, couched these concerns using careful language, suggesting
that the region was simply too impoverished to accept incomers.

“I agree that the mistakes of the past have to be corrected. But
we mustn’t make other mistakes,” he said. “Our region doesn’t have
factories and the people don’t have work, yet they want to bring in
new arrivals.”

Torosyan argues that the authorities should ensure there is funding,
work and an integration programme for the Meskhetians before settling
them anywhere, and also prepare local residents so that they will
accept them.

“The repatriates will definitely have problems with the local
population, of that I’m certain. It isn’t just the ethnic factor
– in fact that the least of the concerns,” he said. “What’s more
important is how land is distributed. Alkhalkalaki residents don’t
have so much land that they can share it. Various problems may arise,
and the locals will always seek to pin the causes of conflict on the
newcomers. One can only guess where that will lead.”

Ethnic Georgians in the south of the country also expressed concerns
about the plan.

“Let them give work to locals first, and only then bring in others,
whoever they might be,” Temur Zazadze, a resident of Tmogvi in the
Aspindze district, said. “There’s so much unemployment that this is
just going to increase the competition. There isn’t enough land – I’ve
got three sons and the land isn’t sufficient to divide among them.”

Tsiklauri pointed out that the total number of settlers were really
quite small, and they were people who were keen to be part of Georgia.

“I think it’s premature to say these people are going to have problems
when they arrive. We’re talking about 6,000 people in a country of
five million,” he said. “On top of that, these are people who –
despite the decades that have passed since they were deported –
have always pushed to return and regarded Georgia as their homeland.”

Maia Tsiklauri works for Liberali magazine in Georgia; Kenan Guluzade
is editor of the analitika.az website in Azerbaijan.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA: LITTLE HOPE OF MORE DEMOCRACY
By Vahan Dilanyan

Institute for War and Peace Reporting IWPR
March 28, 2011
UK

Sense of being surrounded by threats impedes creation of fairer
society.

Although there is still more than a year to go until the next
parliamentary election, opposition parties in Armenia are already
calling their followers onto the streets.

There is plenty of popular dissatisfaction with the status quo,
driven by rising prices and widespread poverty. But experts say the
scope for channelling that into real change is limited by Armenia’s
difficult relationships abroad, which its current leaders can always
cite as justification for tough controls at home.

Armenia is still officially at war with Azerbaijan, and its troops
garrison the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorny Karabakh, so ruling
politicians can play the national security card if their authority is
threatened. This has allowed them to fend off demands for democratic
reforms.

The government’s authoritarian tendencies, and its insistence on
supporting Karabakh, has won support from big businesses keen to keep
their monopolies safe from the Azerbaijani and Turkish competitors
who might flood in if a peace deal was signed.

Opposition parties seeking to harness popular resentment of the
government believe there is a limit to what people will put up with
in the name of national security.

“One fine day, a people who have nothing to lose and who have been
driven to extreme suffering, might cease to care about the views of
opinion of parliament, and even about Karabakh,” Armenian National
Congress, ANC, leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan told a rally of supporters
last month.

Experts say, however, that most people are not prepared to abandon
their fellow-Armenians in Karabakh, and fear a possible repeat of
the conflict with Azerbaijan. This plays into the government’s hands.

“It’s clear the Armenian public has a keen sense of the danger of new
war with Azerbaijan. That means that both the public and the opposition
are more restrained than they might be], and that citizens have to
opt for political stability over democratisation in many areas,” Garik
Keryan, head of politics in Yerevan State University’s international
relations faculty, said.

Commentators say the government tolerates political freedoms as long
as they do not interfere with its grip on power, while the opposition
movement remains divided among competing personalities. People who
attend opposition protests are often there because they are against
the government rather than actively drawn to the opposition.

Ter-Petrosyan’s ANC fails to make much ground because he alienated
many people in his time as Armenian president in the 1990s.

“Look what this government has driven me to. I have a law degree and
I’m driving a taxi. They’re forcing people to team up with Levon,”
Artur, a 29-year-old Yerevan resident said. “I remember the days of
Levon’s government – it was terrible then. But what else can you do?

These politicians are just humiliating us.”

Ter-Petrosyan has ruled out a swift attempt to win power, comparing
his political strategy to a game of chess. That has led many analysts
to argue that he is not interested in changing the political set-up
radically, just in putting himself and his followers at the head of it.

Political battles in Armenia are often more about competing individuals
than different ideologies.

“The ANC probably a few tens of thousands of supporters, and the
Heritage party has fewer, since it isn’t as well-organised,” public
relations expert Samvel Martirosyan said. “Heritage more closely
resembles a collection of individuals.”

The divisions among opposition groups were graphically evident on
March 17, when Ter-Petrosyan was taking part in a protest meeting
in central Yerevan and went past Heritage leader Raffi Hovhannisyan
without acknowledging the fact that the latter had been staging a
hunger strike for the past two days.

Arman Vardanyan, chairman of the Union of Young Politicians of Armenia,
said recent remarks made by Ter-Petrosyan, 66, might indicate he was
considering stepping down as ANC leader. But finding a replacement
of similar standing would be difficult.

“Ter-Petrosyan was making it plain he didn’t intend to stand in the
next [2013] presidential election. But in my opinion, no newcomer
is going to be able to present a serious challenge to the current
president, Serzh Sargsyan,” Vardanyan said.

He predicted that the ANC would win around 25 per cent of the seats
in parliament in the May 2012 election, while the Heritage Party and
Dashnakutsyun, a party now in opposition but formerly part of the
ruling coalition, would probably struggle to surpass the five per
cent threshold needed to gain any seats at all.

The result, Vardanyan said, would be that the ruling coalition would
maintain its grip on power, and there would be little progress towards
a more democratic system.

Keryan ascribes Armenia’s failure to build a more open political
system in the two decades since independence to economic problems,
the Karabakh war and its legacy of isolation in the region, and the
continuing influence of Russia.

“For 20 years, Armenia has seen its security as depending on its
strategic partnership with Russia,” he said. “This could change only
if there were major geopolitical changes in the region, and those
changes haven’t happened.”

Last year, the two countries agreed to extend the stay of Russian
troops in Armenia. An official strategy paper on national security
reaffirms that a continued Russian presence in the South Caucasus
is crucial for Armenia. While the document also talks about greater
cooperation with NATO members, most analysts say the authorities
would never stray too far from Moscow.

Meanwhile, a rapprochement with Turkey which has emerged over recent
years appears to have ground to a halt.

With no change to the external environment, observers say there is
little impetus to move away from the current system dominated by a
small political elite and by oligarchs with vested economic interests.

“There is a privileged caste which is not only able to bypass the law
but which uses the state to pursue its own ends,” Arman Rustamyan,
a member of parliament from the opposition Dashnakutsyun party, said.

Hovsep Khurshudyan, an expert from the Armenian Centre for National
and International Studies, said that despite the government’s declared
intention of pursuing reforms, “the economy remains in the hands of
a few families which also have political influence”.

“The government is unable to force the big oligarchs to pay taxes, so
it’s forced to place the whole tax burden on small and medium-sized
businesses and on ordinary citizens, who will soon refuse to put up
with this, or will emigrate,” Khurshudyan added.

Vazgen Manoukyan, who heads of the Public Council, a government
advisory body set up by President Sargsyan in 2009, told IWPR that
while Armenia had a democratic constitution, there were problems in
practice with elections, freedom of speech and the judicial system.

“The parliamentary and presidential elections of 1990 and 1991 were
democratic, but 1995 and 1996 saw a huge step backwards, and the
tradition of electoral fraud has continued since then, albeit with
some modification,” he said.

Manoukyan said free speech was marred by the removal of the A1+ TV
channel from the airwaves some years ago, the judicial system was
far from perfect, and economic domination by the oligarchs had curbed
both market competition and the growth of democratic institutions.

Vahan Dilanyan is a freelance reporter in Armenia.

From: A. Papazian

COALITION PARTIES OF ARMENIA NOT TO TAKE PART IN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION WITH A SINGLE LIST

arminfo
Thursday, April 7, 20:59

The Republican Party of Armenia and Prosperous Armenia Party are not
going to take part in the parliamentary election 2012 with a single
list, a member of the PAP parliamentary faction, Vardan Bostanjan,
told journalists today.

“At present, the single list is absolutely illogical”, – he said and
added every party has its own position.

To note, the three coalition parties – RPA, PAP and Orinats Yerkir
signed a statement on 17 February 2011, according to which at the
presidential election 2013 they will support a single candidate,
the incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan.

From: A. Papazian

CHINESE COMPANY FORTUNE OIL MEETS GOVERNOR OF KOTAYK REGION AND MAYOR OF HRAZDAN

arminfo
Thursday, April 7, 21:41

On April 3 the Chinese Fortune Oil Company representatives met
with Kotayk Regional Head Kavalenko Shahgaldyan and Hrazdan Mayor
Aram Danielyan, Coordinator of the Aarhus Center in Hrazdan Anahit
Mnatsakanyan told EcoLur NGO.

During the meeting, the Chinese entrepreneurs kept on mentioning they
have signed a transaction with the Government. The transaction price is
24 mln USD. The company representatives got surprised when they learnt
the mine is situated next to water. To note, the Chinese company is
going to start building a plant in 2012. It should be mentioned that
the Hrazdan reservoir is located in the lower part of the mine.

It is noteworthy that all the three mines to be developed by Fortune
Oil (in Hrazdan, Abovyan and Svarants village) belong to Souren
Ayvazyan, the son of the former minister of nature protection of
Armenia Vardan Ayvazyan, and to Armenian MP Tigran Arzakantsyan.

To recall, the protest action against development of the iron and ore
deposit was held on March 31. “We will all stand up and won’t allow
the mine to be developed”, “We want our families to live a healthy
life”: Hrazdan residents came up with such decisive statements and
on March 31 they gathered in Constitution Square in Hrazdan to take
part in the protest demonstration directed against iron mine.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN ENVIRONMENTALISTS INTEND TO CONTINUE FIGHT AGAINST “NEMO” DOLPHINARIUM

arminfo
Thursday, April 7, 21:24

Armenian environmentalists intend to continue the fight against the
“Nemo” dolphinarium.

“We will do our best for the dolphinarium to be closed. In Armenia
dolphins should not be exploited, and we are sure that we’ll attain
our goal”, Head of the Bird Lovers’ Center NGO Silva Adamyan said to
ArmInfo correspondent.

She pointed out that the surveys of European and American scientists
distinctly say that the dolphins should live only in the seawater.

“These conditions are not observed in Armenia, and this is enough to
bring the dolphins out of Armenia”, said Adamyan.

The expert pointed out that the Ministry of Nature Protection
started the expert examination of the dolphinarium almost 3 months
after the dolphinarium had been opened. “The fact that the expert
examination is being carried out now runs counter to the law, as the
examination should have been carried out before the construction of
the dollphinarium”, she stressed.

When commenting on the fact that the Administrative Court rejected the
claim of the Bird Lovers’ Center and EcoDar NGO against the Ministry
of Nature Protection, Adamyan said: “Earlier we applied to the
Ministry to provide us with the documents on the expert examination
of the environment, however, the Ministry replied that it has no
such documents. The judge should have paid attention to that letter,
as it was a sufficient ground for a trial by itself”. She added that
the given decision of the court will be disputed. “I think the trial
will be continued”, said Adamyan.

To recall, the dolphinarium “Nemo” was opened in Yerevan on 24
Dec 2010. A group of greens held a protest action in front of the
dolphinarium the same day.

Experts say that in captivity dolphins are prone to stress and can be
very dangerous. There have even been cases of dolphins killing people.

Despite this fact, “Nemo”‘s commercial says that they will also
provide dolphin-therapy for children. The activities of “Nerium,”
the Ukrainian company that has brought dolphins for “Nemo”, have been
declared illegal in Ukraine.

From: A. Papazian

SUGAR IMPORTERS IN ARMENIA TO BE INSPECTED

arminfo
Thursday, April 7, 20:29

The Monitoring Group of the State Commission for Protection of
Economic Competition (SCPEC) has registered upward trends in sugar
price recently.

According to the official website of the Commission, a decision was
adopted to launch inspections. The Commission will demand importer
and producer companies to report on their activity and substantiate
the rise of prices.

To note, the monopoly importer of sugar in Armenia are the companies
of Samvel Aleksanyan, a businessman-parliamentarian, who also built
a sugar production company in Shirak region and even launched export
of this program earlier this year.

Earlier in February Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan promised
to use all levers to ensure stability in the consumer market and stop
discriminations in the sugar market.

In the meanwhile, the “silent” mess around the sugar prices is
continued. There are rumors that sugar price may total 2 dollars
per kg.

In 2010 sugar import in Armenia totaled 97.7 thousand tons, which
was 50.8% higher than a year ago.

From: A. Papazian

RUSSIA FEELS SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 6, 2011 – 19:37 AMT 14:37 GMT

Russia shows the greatest activity in resolving Karabakh conflict
today, Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Vladimir Dorokhin said.

“Out of the 3 presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries,
only the Russian president personally deals with this issue,” he
told media.

He added that such activities are coordinated with the fellow OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairs, the U.S and France.

He said Russia feels special responsibility for resolving the conflict.

“We have a special chance and potential due to our unique relations
with the conflicting parties,” he said. “We believe our moral and
historical obligation to use this chance,~T Trend News quoted Dorokhin
as saying.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJAN MISUNDERSTANDS ICAO COUNCIL PRESIDENT’S LETTER ON STEPANAKERT AIRPORT

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 6, 2011 – 14:34 AMT 09:34 GMT

The president of ICAO council Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez issued a response
to a request of Azerbaijan State Civil Aviation in reference to the
opening of an airport in Stepanakert.

In his letter Gonzalez says, “in reference to your request, I
addressed a letter to the CEO of General Department of Armenia’s
Civil Aviation. I’ll keep you updated in case of any developments in
the issue.”

Gonzalez also addressed a letter to the General Department of Armenia’s
Civil Aviation, stating, “I received a request of Azerbaijan State
Civil Aviation in reference to a protest against organizing flights
to Stepanakert airport. I hereby inform you about the concern caused
by this issue.”

Meanwhile, according to AZE.az, the letter of ICAO council
president said that “the Stepanakert airport may start operation
only upon reception of a permit from Azerbaijan State Civil Aviation
administration.”

From: A. Papazian

ARCHBISHOP UNREPENTANT ABOUT GUN, LUXURY CAR POSSESSION
Sargis Harutyunyan

06.04.2011

A high-ranking cleric of the Armenian Apostolic Church on Wednesday
defended his ownership of a handgun and luxury car which was revealed
by the Armenian press recently.

Archbishop Navasard Kchoyan, head of the church’s largest diocese
encompassing Yerevan and the southern Ararat province, shrugged off
the resulting outcry in some media and online social networks. “I
don’t take that seriously,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

The Yerevan newspaper “168 Zham” reported last month that Kchoyan
has been seen riding in a Bentley car. It quoted him as saying that
he received it recently as a gift from one of his godsons.

The celibate priest refused to go into details, reportedly telling
the paper not to meddle in his “private life.”

It is still not clear how old his luxury car is. Brand new Bentleys
currently cost between $180,000 and $280,000.

Later in March, another newspaper, “Hetq,” revealed that Kchoyan
received in 2007 a pistol from then Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian.

The paper said his spokeswoman initially denied the information but
then confirmed it after being shown documentary evidence of the gift.

She was quoted as saying that Kchoyan does not carry the weapon and
keeps it in his office safe.

“In all countries, weapons are presented to all those who are
appreciated,” Kchoyan told RFE/RL. “A weapon is [given as] an
appreciation, not for some other purpose.”

The archbishop also had no qualms about using a very expensive car in
a country where the official poverty rate exceeds 34 percent. “Should
I have renounced the gift?” he said.

Kchoyan has for years faced criticism from local media for his behavior
and lifestyle which they consider too earthly.

He has also sparked controversy by participating and even speaking
at political gatherings organized by Sarkisian and his Republican
Party of Armenia. Kchoyan personally blessed the current Armenian
president at a February 2008 campaign rally held in Yerevan in the
run-up to a dispute presidential election.

The office of Catholicos Garegin II, the supreme head of the Armenian
Church, has not commented on the latest controversy surrounding
the archbishop.

From: A. Papazian

ARFD: PARTY MAY COOPERATE WITH ANC ONLY IN CERTAIN PROGRAMS

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 6, 2011 – 19:26 AMT 14:26 GMT

Head of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD) parliamentary group Vahan
Hovhannisyan said that ARFD may cooperate with ANC only in certain
programs and actions aimed at changing the current system in Armenia.

The ARF Dashnaktsutyun will not unite with other forces only to allow
another party to come to power and do the same things as the current
authorities, Hovhannisyan told a press conference in Yerevan.

He added that ANC offers unification around itself, while all those,
who disagree with it, are subjected to attacks like leader of Heritage
party Raffi Hovannisian or the ARF Dashnaktsutyun.

“There will be unification, but we will make the decision with whom
and how we will unite and not at someone’s bidding,” said Hovhannisyan.

He added that it is necessary to create the second opposition pole
in Armenia, while Dashnaktsutyun is ready to cooperate in this matter.

However, similar cooperation’s model has not been formed, said
Hovhannisyan.

In a conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, Hovhannisyan
refrained from naming the political forces, with which Dashnaktsutyun
is ready to cooperate, saying that it may be a result of long
discussions and negotiations.

From: A. Papazian