Author: Andres-Papazian

DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 31, 2012 Friday

LACK OF ORGANIZATIONAL COORDINATION OF COLLECTIVE DEFENSE

BYLINE: Vladimir Mukhin
Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, August 29, 2012, p. 2

SO FAR PRESIDENTS OF THE CSTO MEMBER STATES REFUSE TO PARTICIPATE IN
OPENING OF IMPORTANT MILITARY EXERCISES IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS; The
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) tries to increase its
activeness in the post-Soviet space. Heads of the general staffs of
the member states of the organization discussed the main lines for
development of the military component of the organization in the
united CSTO staff in Moscow under supervision of its chair Kazakh
General Saken Zhasuzakov.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) tries to increase
its activeness in the post-Soviet space. Heads of the general staffs
of the member states of the organization discussed the main lines for
development of the military component of the organization in the
united CSTO staff in Moscow under supervision of its chair Kazakh
General Saken Zhasuzakov. Participants of the meeting corrected the
plan of big-scale exercises Interaction-2012 to be started on
September 3 in Armenia in the working manner. The CSTO troops will
have military exercises in the South Caucasus for the first time. The
region is full of contradictions and potential conflicts. So, it was
not incidental that participants of the meeting discussed “the matters
of improvement of the system of collective security of the
organization.”

It is a special question if CSTO member states will participate in
resolving of conflicts in the Caucasus and in other regions of the
CIS. Meanwhile, according to the official version, the military
commanders who gathered in Moscow analyzed “results of inspection of
the military formations and units of the CSTO member states intended
for the collective rapid response forces (CRRF) and peacekeeping
forces (PF).” According to General Secretary of the CSTO Nikolai
Bordyuzha, the CRRF and the PF being currently formed within the
coalition forces of the CSTO should become an important instrument of
collective security in the post-Soviet space. Along with this, CSTO
forces did not participate in any real conflicts yet. Despite the
allied relations CSTO member states have their own foreign political
courses and their positions and actions sometimes do not correspond to
the policy pursued by Moscow.

For example, not a single ally of Russia in the CSTO recognized
independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Participation of CSTO
member states in the CRRF and PF is also unequal. Russia allocated two
airborne formations for the CRRF and Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan allocated only one battalion each. The countries
participate in military exercises not in the proportion of their
contingents allocated for the coalition groups. For instance, at
international exercises of the CSTO Border-2012 held at the Chebarkul
training range in early August Kazakhstan was represented only by
command officers and observers, whereas it allocated an entire
formation of airmobile forces for the coalition group. Situation is
similar at exercises of the CRRF Interaction-2012. Only Russian and
Armenian servicemen will participate in them and other countries will
be represented only by staff officers and observers. So far, there is
no information about political representation of the CSTO member
states in these exercises.

It is quite clear that the format of collective defense in various
regions of the former USSR may be different although Armenia is afraid
of the biggest military threats to it now. They are connected with a
possible war with Azerbaijan for Nagorno-Karabakh and with starting of
a military operation against Iran. The allies can provide moral and
military support to Armenia. Press secretary of the Defense Ministry
of Armenia Artsrun Ovannisyan announced that Armenia sent invitations
to take part in the joint exercises of the CRRF organized in Armenia
between September 3 and 8 to presidents of all CSTO member states.
Armenian sources reported that not a single of them reacted to this
invitation positively yet. Only Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Armenia
Aiymdos Bozzhigitov said that “President of Kazakhstan Nursultan
Nazarbayev does not plan to participate in the ceremony of opening of
the joint exercises of the CRRF of the CSTO expected in Armenia
between September 3 and 8 yet.” Along with this, Kazakhstan is the
chair of the CSTO now and its leader could be present at the
exercises. All leaders of the CSTO member states were present at
similar exercises organized at Matybulak training range in Kazakhstan
in 2009.

[translated from Russian]

From: A. Papazian

Hungarian opposition confirms that Hungarian government cut a deal and
expresses indignation

`42
17:23 . 01/09

LMP opposition party of Hungarian parliament shares the concern and
indignation of the Armenian people over Ramil Safarov’s release.

Hungarian Lehetmas.hu newspaper reported LMP also confirmed that the
Hungarian Government itself promoted to the release of the criminal.
They noted, with that step the authorities cut at Armenia and led to
the suspension of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“If the Hungarian Justice Ministry did not have the will not to
extradite Safarov to Azerbaijan, then the Foreign Ministry had to have
drawn attention to possible consequences. The Hungarian Government
took that step being given the promise of $2-3 bln investment by
Azerbaijan,’ LMP opposition party’s statement runs.

From: A. Papazian

Armenian deputy FM condemns attempts to justify Safarov’s relase

TERT.AM
21:14 – 01.09.12

The Azerbaijani authorities’ attempts to justify the decision to
pardon Ramil Safarov is ungrounded, a deputy minister of Foreign
Affairs, Shavarsh Kocharyan, has told the Armenpress News Agency in an
interview.

The politician compared the move with an attempt to free and honor a
slaughterer sentenced for lifetime.

`This alarming act of the Azerbaijani authorities not only conflicts
with the humanistic purposes of the [Strasburg] Convention, but also
the spirit of the whole European system of human rights,’ he said.
`Azerbaijan’s attempts to cast shadow on the international legal
norms, adjusting them to its own xenophobic, racist `set of values’
are doomed to failure. They only equate the heinous murderer to the
Azerbaijani leadership which glorifies him.’

From: A. Papazian

Public figure: no Muslim will back Azerbaijan in eulogy of murderer

September 1, 2012 – 17:55 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The recent developments in Hungary and pardon of a
criminal by Azerbaijan have expanded the gap between the Armenian and
Azeri people, according to a representative of United Caucasus Youth
Assembly.

`The murder of an Armenian office and the reaction of the Azerbaijani
people proved Azerbaijan’s hostility towards Armenia,’ Rafi Abdul
Jabar said.

`It’s not a secret that Azerbaijan will seek support among the Muslims
of Caucasus and Afghanistan, but will hardly get such. After a
murderer was treated like a hero, no Muslim will back Azerbaijan, as
the Koran equates the taking of even one human life unjustly with
killing all of humanity,’ he said.

`A real Muslim would condemn but never laud a murder of a man,
especially a man in his sleep,’ the activist said.

Ramil Safarov, who was sentenced to life by a Hungarian court for the
murder of Armenian office Gurgen Margaryan in February 2004, was
extradited to Azerbaijan on Aug 31 and immediately pardoned by the
country’s President Ilham Aliyev.

In response, Armenia suspended diplomatic relations with Hungary.

From: A. Papazian

Armenian Parliament to hold special session next week

news.am
September 01, 2012 | 15:41

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s National Assembly (NA) will convene a special
session, no later than September 5, to discuss the Hungarian
government’s extradition of Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan, Armenian
News-NEWS.am’s informed sources have reported.

Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier that Ramil Safarov, a
lieutenant in the Azerbaijani military, was extradited on Friday from
Hungary, where he was serving a life sentence – and with no expression
of either regret or remorse – for the premeditated axe murder of
Armenian lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, in his sleep, during a NATO
Partnership for Peace program.

As expected, Ramil Safarov’s return to Baku was welcomed, as was his
act of murder, by the officials of president Ilham Aliyev’s government
and much of Azerbaijani society, and the Azerbaijani president
immediately granted him a pardon.

And Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan announced Friday that Armenia
is suspending its diplomatic ties with Hungary.

From: A. Papazian

‘The stronger Azerbaijan is, the more it will reckon’

Sat 01 September 2012 05:23 GMT | 6:23 Local Time

Avigdor Eskin

News.Az interviews Avigdor Eskin, Israeli political scientist.
In your opinion, does the recent visit of Israeli Minister of
Information and Diaspora Yuli Edelstein to Yerevan mean Israeli
government’s intention to review relations with Armenia in favor of
their activation? As far as I know, until recently, Israeli officials
did not go to Yerevan at such a high level.

There are diplomatic relations between Israel and Armenia. Jerusalem
is naturally interested in improving relations with Armenia and the
Armenian people as a whole. However, this is not an easy task in the
current environment, as Armenia is a close ally of Iran, and Armenian
propaganda blames the Jews and Zionists in organizing mass killings of
Armenians in 1915 in Turkey.

Does the statement of Edelstein on recognition of the “Armenian
genocide” reflect the position of the country’s leadership?

Edelstein’s statement was misinterpreted. Even Aznavour has already
agreed that the term “genocide” is not required even for the Armenian
side. And our minister had in mind that in Israel there are no people
who would deny the mass murder and deportation of the Armenian
population in Turkey in 1915.

I think myself that the term “genocide” in this case is questionable,
since the tragic events were provoked by the Armenian rebellion. In
addition, the Armenian propaganda puts unrealistic number of victims,
and systematically is engaged in accusation of the Jews for those
terrible events. I assure you that Minister Edelstein is not ready to
recognize the Armenian version of the events of 1915 and thus agree
with their blood libel against Jews.

We would like to know your opinion about another issue, concerning
Azerbaijan directly Member of the US Congress Dana Rohrabacher has
addressed a letter to US Secretary General Hillary Clinton, in which
he suggests to offer support to the Azerbaijani population of the
northwest province of Iran in the issue of gaining independence. The
necessity to defend the rights of Iranian Azerbaijanis was a topic of
discussion earlier in Washing, but such a radical proposal is voiced
for the first time. Is this symbolic or does it reflect the opinion of
only one congressman?

Dana Rohrabacher is a very influential and respected politician. His
proposal is distinguished with boldness. The persecution of Azeris in
Iran and suppression of their principal rights concerns people with
good will, who are aware of the situation. Azerbaijanis of Iran should
be given the right to decide whether they want to live under the yoke
of possessed Islamists or join Azerbaijan. No one should meddle in the
domestic affairs of Iran. But Azeris have the right to decide their
destiny on their own, and it’s necessary to hold a referendum on how
they want to form their destiny further.

By the way, in his letter Rohrabacher said: “It will be useful if the
United States would assist the military cooperation between Azerbaijan
and Israel, as Iranian authorities are both their and our enemies.”
What do you think about the attempt to link the Azerbaijani-Israeli
cooperation with the proposal to tear off a significant part of the
country from Iran in order to weaken the regime in Tehran?

Our goal should be not weakening Tehran, but improving the living
conditions of Azerbaijanis in Iran. As for the Israeli-Azerbaijani
cooperation, thanks to it Azerbaijan may become in the next decade the
strongest military power in the region. This will not only provide
security to Azerbaijan, but also help to effectively defend the rights
of oppressed Azeris in Iran.

Would not disclosure of this story, widely replicated by Iranian and
Armenian media, lead to further deterioration of relations between
Baku and Tehran? And what are the prospects of this relationship at
all, given that the Azerbaijani president did not go to the
Non-Aligned Summit in Tehran, despite repeated invitations by the
Iranian side?

Azerbaijan is pursuing a peaceful and good-neighbourhood policy
towards Iran. These Iranian leaders insulted the honour and dignity of
the Azerbaijani people, denying the fact of its existence. Cooperation
with Israel strengthens the position of Azerbaijan. The stronger
Azerbaijan will be, the more it will reckon and the easier it will be
to build constructive and mutually beneficial relations with Iran.

F.H.
News.Az

From: A. Papazian

Novruz Mammadov: “Secret talks have been held under serious control of
President of Azerbaijan for Safarov’s extradition for about a year”

ARMINFO
Saturday, September 1, 13:25

“Secret talks have been held under the serious control of President
of Azerbaijan for extradition of Safarov for about a year. At the same
time Ilham Aliyev supervised the negotiations between the law
enforcement agencies of Azerbaijan and Hungary for a long time. A
crucial role in the resolution of this issue belonged to an agreement
reached during the visit of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Ramil Safarov was extradited to Azerbaijan through the determination
and perseverance of the President of Azerbaijan,” Head of the Foreign
Relations Department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan
Novruz Mammadov told Mass Media when commenting on extradition and
pardon to Ramil Safarov, who was sentenced to life in jail by the
Hungarian Court.

“Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed an order to pardon Ramil
Safarov, as soon as he set foot in Azerbaijan. The Head of State once
again proved that he is the President of every citizen of the country.

But, unfortunately, there are people who have attributed Safarov’s
return home to others. False information in connection with Safarov’s
release was distributed. Everyone should understand that the
extradition of Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan is a sensitive topic. This
issue carried a special political burden. The Armenian side has
conducted anti-Azerbaijani campaign, invented various charges on this.

Therefore, steps to extradite Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan were taken
in a completely closed environment:. There simply was not necessary to
inform the public about this sensitive topic ahead of time. There is
no doubt that our nation is well aware of and appreciate it. But some
people have tried to gain dividends on this, Mammadov said.

Earlier on August 31 the Hungarian authorities extradited Azerbaijan
Officer Ramil Safarov, who was pardoned by the Azerbaijani president
the same day.

To recall, on February 19 2004, R. Safarov viciously axed sleeping G.
Margaryan in Budapest. Both the officers were undergoing an English
language course under the NATO PfP program. On April 13 2006 the
First Instance Court of Budapest sentenced Safarov to life
imprisonments without the right to pardon for 30 years. In February
2007 the Court of Appeal left the verdict unchanged. President of
Armenia Robert Kocharyan decreed awarding Gurgen Margaryan with
Gallantry Medal posthumously.

From: A. Papazian

Grimy Gatto

asbarez
Friday, August 31st, 2012

BY GAREN YEGPARIAN

The residents of California’s 43rd State Assembly district are
children of misfortune now because of who represents them, Mike Gatto.

Grimy Gatto is a member of the Democratic Party, so, by and large, the
Republicans in the district are bound to be dissatisfied with him.
Unfortunately, the Democrats in the district also have cause to be
dissatisfied with him. As to the Armenian community, the largest to be
found in any of California’s 80 assembly districts, the reasons for
dissatisfaction are legion.

You’re probably surprised that Democrats are annoyed with a
representative of their own party. But a recent example might help you
understand why that is. Whether or not you agree with the particular
law in question isn’t the point, it is Gatto’s behavior that you’ll
find very insulting. Democrats are generally recognized as the
advocates of basic animal rights. A proposal to ban an abusive hunting
practice came up in the State Senate as SB 1221. Once it passed that
chamber and moved to the Assembly for a vote, Gatto had said he’d vote
for it.

When the time came, he was nowhere to be found. He had not left the
Capitol, otherwise there would have been a record of his departure.
One can only assume he hid to avoid voting, motivated by some
political calculation. I can just picture Mike cowering in a broom
closet as his colleagues cast their votes in a dignified way on the
Assembly floor. What kind of person does this? Promise one thing then
avoid delivering on the promise by disappearing so he can’t be held
accountable. Is this the kind of person who should be representing
over 450,000 citizens in the most populous state of the Union?

But that’s not the end of the story. Because of Mike’s `abstention’,
the bill did not pass. Of course, he came under tremendous pressure to
change his vote, in the form of over 2000 constituent signatures and a
letter to the editor from a leader of the Humane Society (the main
proponent of the bill) published by the Glendale News Press. He did
change his vote when the Assembly revisited the issue. What would you
attribute this `change of heart’ to, other than the upcoming election?
All this happened back in June and July, but still wasn’t the end of
the disingenuousness of this Assemblymember.

In August, Gatto was appointed chair of the powerful Appropriations
Committee, meaning the bill would pass through his jurisdiction.
Amendments had been made to it, as part of an agreement with the
bill’s sponsor, so it would have enough votes to pass. Those changes
were accepted by the sponsor of the bill in the interests of having it
pass. The sponsor pledged not to remove the amendments, otherwise, it
would not be allowed to pass. However, the Humane Society opposed
those changes. So Grimy Gatto went to work again. Since he knew about
the agreement regarding the conditions under which the bill would be
allowed to pass, he decided to play games. When the bill came to his
committee, he removed the amendments so he would look good to the
Humane Society, but knowing full well that under those circumstances,
it would not pass. That’s what he really wanted, based on Sacramento
scuttlebutt, since a lobbying group had gotten hold of him on this
issue. Luckily for the humane society, the chair of the Water, Parks,
and Wildlife committee who had set up the agreement let the sponsor
off the hook since the sponsor hadn’t broken his promise and abided by
his commitments. Rather, the sponsor had become a victim of Gatto’s
games. So, happily the bill passed, despite Gatto’s best efforts to
kill it.

Now we turn to the third group of voters who have cause to mistrust
Mike, the Armenians. Let’s explore an angle that is not likely to be
very well known. Mike Gatto is an attorney. Prior to his election, he
worked for the noted law firm, Mayer-Brown. In all likelihood, once
out of office, he’ll return to his practice there. You’re probably
wondering why this relevant.

It turns out that Mayer-Brown is representing the anti-Armenian side
in the Movsessian case. In this court case, a German company, referred
to as `Victoria’, is refusing to pay the descendants of Armenians to
whom it sold life insurance policies. It is fighting to declare
unconstitutional the California law that enabled people to go after
such deadbeat companies. How far do you think Gatto will go in
standing up for this law? Sure, he introduced the legislation that
extended it. In a district full of Armenians, politically, he can do
nothing else. But he also knows where his bread is buttered. Would you
trust this guy on such a sensitive issue?

Would you vote for such a spineless person to represent you in the legislature?

From: A. Papazian

Armenia not yet closed chapter on March 1 tragedy – European Council
head – newspaper

news.am
September 01, 2012 | 08:39

YEREVAN. – European Council President Herman Van Rompuy recently
replied to the written questions, which were earlier addressed to him
at Armenia’s National Assembly during his visit to the country,
Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun (CI) daily reports.

`To note, Rompuy did not have time to verbally respond to the
journalists’ questions, after his meeting with the NA factions, and,
subsequently, he proposed the latter to pose one question from each
faction.

Rompuy replied to the questions by [the opposition Armenian National]
Congress, [ruling coalition government’s Republican Party] RPA,
[Prosperous Armenia Party] PAP, [and the ruling coalition’s Orinats
Yerkir (Rule of Law) Party] RLP.

Incidentally, according to CI’s information, what’s noteworthy is
that, with respect to Armenian National Congress Faction leader Levon
Zurabyan’s question on March 1[, 2008 tragic operations in capital
city Yerevan], Rompuy simply replied that Armenia has not yet closed
the chapter on March 1, and an effective inquiry needs to be carried
out to find and punish all those who are guilty,’ Chorrord
Inknishkhanutyun writes.

From: A. Papazian

American Armenians demonstrate in front of Hungarian embassy

news.am
September 01, 2012 | 11:54

Hours after hearing the news about Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov
being extradited to Azerbaijan, several representatives from the
Armenian community in Washington, DC. held an impromptu demonstration
before the Embassy of Hungary.

The protesters remained in front of the Embassy for nearly three
hours. Separately, the demonstrators” attempts to Email and establish
telephonic contact with the Embassy, to receive an explanation, were
unsuccessful.

Also, an agent from the US special services appeared nearby the
Embassy, at the end of demonstration, recorded the names of the
protest organizers, and noted that they had received a call from the
Embassy to provide security, Voice of America reports.

Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier that Ramil Safarov, a
lieutenant in the Azerbaijani military, was extradited on Friday from
Hungary, where he was serving a life sentence – and with no expression
of either regret or remorse – for the premeditated axe murder of
Armenian lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, in his sleep, during a NATO
Partnership for Peace program.

As expected, Ramil Safarov’s return to Baku was welcomed, as was his
act of murder, by the officials of president Ilham Aliyev’s government
and much of Azerbaijani society, and the Azerbaijani president
immediately granted him a pardon.

From: A. Papazian