Author: Arbi Tashjian

Sverdlovsk governor discussing economic ties with Armenia
By Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
March 23, 2005 Wednesday
YEREVAN, March 23 — The coming working visit by Russian President
Vladimir Putin to Armenia and opening of Year of Russia in Armenia will
be a new impetus for the further development of bilateral relations
which are already at a high level. This idea was repeatedly emphasized
at meetings which Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel
held here on Tuesday.
Receiving the guest, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan advocated
“combining the economic potential of the republic and the region”. He
suggested specifying in what directions the two sides can enter markets
of each other, to think of restoring contacts between machine-builders
and machine-tool builders of Armenia and similar enterprises in the
Sverdlovsk Region.
The governor proposed at a meeting with Armenian premier Andranik
Margaryan that an Armenian Trade House should be opened in
Yekaterinburg, the administrative center of the Sverdlovsk Region. To
encourage cooperation, he voiced support for mounting exhibitions of
goods from Armenia and establishment of joint ventures.
Armenia established active trade and economic relations with 25
subjects of the Russian Federation in the past few years. For instance,
it concluded agreements on cooperation with the Leningrad, Saratov,
Astrakhan and Kirov regions as well as with the Krasnodar Territory
and the Moscow city government.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PAN-ARMENIAN MUSICAL FESTIVAL ENTITLED “EGHEGAN POGH” (“PAPE”) TO BE
HELD IN ARMENIA FOR FIRST TIME IN AUTUMN
YEREVAN, MARCH 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The Pan-Armenian musical festival
entitled “Eghegan Pogh” (“Pape”) will be held in Armenia for the
first time within the framework of the festival entitled “One Nation,
One Culture” on September 25-29. According to Garnik Guyumjian, the
Head of the Department of State Programs, Cultural Cooperation and
Education and Science attached to the RA Ministry of Culture and
Youth Affairs, the ensemble of folk instruments from Armenia, the
Diaspora and the CIS countries will participate in the festival.
According to G. Guyumjian, the purpose of the festival is to
familiarize the wide public with performers and composers working in
the genre of gusan and folk song in Armenia and the Diaspora. The
festival will be held in two directions: festival and competitive.
The exhibition will be opened, as well as the conference devoted to
the problems of the development of the folk song art will be held
within the framework of the festival.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkish Press
March 15 2005
Edelman: Traditionally U.S. Administrations Prefer To Leave The
Incidents Of 1915-1916 To Historians

BURSA – U.S. Ambassador in Ankara Eric Edelman stated that
”traditionally U.S. administrations prefer to leave the incidents of
1915-1916 –regarding Armenians– to historians”.
Answering questions in a press conference after lunch at the Bursa
Industrialists & Businessmen Association, Edelman said that, ”in the
event a resolution on the so-called Armenian genocide comes to the
U.S. Congress in April, the American administration will not change
its decades old stance (on the incidents of 1915-1916) and prefers to
leave this matter to historians”.
Asked if the Armenian lobby is putting pressure on the U.S.
administration, Edelman replied that all ethnic minorities in the
States can express their thoughts freely. ”Yet the American
administration’s stance is, as I have indicated…”
In response to a question on rumors of deteriorating Turkish-U.S.
ties, ambassador Edelman stressed that ”relations between Turkey and
the U.S. are strong, and multi-faceted, including political, economic
and social topics”.
Eric Edelman paid a visit to the University of Uludag after meeting
the press corps.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Russia’s former Karabakh mediator says delays in talks hurt peace process
Trend news agency
9 Mar 05
Baku, 9 March: Time is neither on Armenia’s nor on Azerbaijan’s side
in the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, the former Russian co-chairman of
the OSCE Minsk Group, Nikolay Gribkov, has told Trend commenting on
the current status of the negotiations.
Gribkov said that the loss of time in negotiations distances the
sides from peace and exacerbates the problem.
“Since the conflict has not been resolved, Armenia has been sidelined
from the region’s economic development. As far as Azerbaijan is
concerned, it has 1m refugees and its lands are under occupation,”
Gribkov said.
The Russian diplomat is concerned that new generations are growing
up in both countries that consider each other an enemy.
He said the co-chairmen have to lean on “public opinion in their
future work and for that the authorities and the opposition in both
countries have to unite”.
“It is up to the sides themselves to solve the problem. This reality
is observed in the latest negotiations as well,” he said.
Touching on the latest series of talks, Gribkov said with some regret
that the parties to the conflict are not making any compromise.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Abkhaz President-Elect Comments on Zhvania’s Death

Civil Georgia (Tbilisi)
2005-02-03

President-elect of breakaway Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh expressed
condolence regarding the death of the Georgian Prime Minister Zurab
Zhvania and said `Zhvania’s death will not influence’ relations
between Tbilisi and Sokhumi.
`Conflict settlement process will continue in the manner as it has
been developing. Death of the Georgian Prime Minister will not and can
not have impact on our [Tbilisi-Sokhumi] relations,’ Russian news
agency RIA Novosti reported quoting Bagapsh as saying.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Socialist Worker, UK
Jan 26 2005
Murder by assembly line
Holocaust Memorial Day commemorates the greatest crime of the 20th
century. Henry Maitles has written extensively on the Holocaust,
which claimed the lives of members of his family in Lithuania and
Poland. Here he spells out a warning from history
THE LAST century was the bloodiest in history. The Holocaust, the
Nazis’ attempted annihilation of Jews and other `sub-humans’, claimed
12 million victims and was its most brutal act. It was not the only
genocide. There was the attempt by the fledgling Turkish state to
wipe out the Armenians from within its borders in the second decade
of the 20th century. In the last decade there was the slaughter in
Rwanda.
There were other barbarities too – the use of atomic weapons against
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, imperialist wars such as in Vietnam, and
appalling conflicts such as in Congo.
Yet the Holocaust rightly evokes for most people the ultimate in
inhumanity. Hence the outrage and revulsion when David Irving and
other Holocaust deniers claim that it was `a detail in history’.
However, it was not just the scale and savagery of the slaughter, but
the thoroughly capitalist nature of the Holocaust – both in its
planning and implementation – that makes it unique.
This shone through in the recent BBC2 series on Auschwitz. One Nazi
officer at the death camp even described it as `murder by assembly
line’, as the most advanced industrial methods were turned to
killing.
In essence, we are dealing with an attempt to strip humans of their
humanity, to justify the idea that they are subhuman as a prelude to
their extermination.
As Primo Levi, the Italian Auschwitz survivor put it: `Imagine now a
man who is deprived of everyone he loves, and at the same time of his
house, his clothes, in short, of everything he possesses: he will be
a hollow man, reduced to suffering and needs, forgetful of dignity
and restraint, for he who loses all often easily loses himself.
`He will be a man whose life and death can be lightly decided with no
sense of human affinity, in the most fortunate of cases, on the basis
of a pure judgment of utility. It is in this way that one can
understand the double sense of the term `extermination camp’, and it
is now clear what we seek to express by the phrase `to lie on the
bottom’.’
The capitalist nature of the Holocaust ran through from the
conference that planned the slaughter at Wannsee in January 1942
through to the role of industrialists and the civil servants. Jews
were not only exterminated immediately, but could, particularly in
times of labour shortage, be worked to death as slave labour.
Yet unlike previous barbarities, such as the slave trade, there was
no overriding economic logic to the death camps and the mass murder.
It often appeared irrational – industrial managers using slave labour
complained of how wasteful it was to constantly have to train up new
workers as the SS ensured that Jewish slave labour did not live too
long.
On occasion the transport of Jews ran counter to the war effort. On
D-Day itself, in June 1944, the main worry of the German High
Command, faced with the Allied invasion of Europe, was the transport
of a few hundred Greek Jews to Auschwitz.
Yet as the German army was thrown back on the Eastern and Western
Fronts, the Nazis’ commitment to wiping out the Jews of Europe
remained. The one thing holding the Nazi cadre together was the
belief that as they went down they would take millions of Jews and
other `subhumans’ with them. This has encouraged some to argue that
the Holocaust was some inexplicable outburst of `evil’ with no
connection to the capitalist system.
The connection is there. Germany’s leading engineering firms competed
for the contract to build the most efficient crematoria. However, the
link is not primarily through the complicity of firms such as IG
Farben or IBM in the execution of the Holocaust, but in the way the
Nazis came to power and maintained their rule in alliance with big
business.
Historian Ian Kershaw, who was adviser to the BBC series on
Auschwitz, has described how Germany’s elites hoisted the Nazis into
power in January 1933.
Hitler did not win a majority of seats in the German parliament. For
all the Nazis’ rhetoric of standing up for the `little man’ on the
street, Hitler required the support of the representatives of the
capitalist class to seize power.
They saw in him a force that could destroy working class resistance.
His programme of military expansion, particularly into eastern
Europe, chimed with the historic aims of German imperialism.
The Nazis were the barbaric product of the crisis of capitalism in
Germany between the wars and the Holocaust was a product of their
twisted world outlook which had at its heart the notion that the Jews
were a subhuman enemy. The Holocaust became central to the Nazis,
while the Nazis and the successful outcome of the war were central to
the interests of German capital.
The German invasion of the USSR in 1941 unleashed murder on a vast
scale. The Nazis found they now controlled areas with many millions
of Jews – there were less than half a million within the borders of
Germany itself. Forced Jewish emigration from the lands the Nazis
controlled was no longer an issue. The `solution to the Jewish
problem’ was to murder them.
In the first week of the invasion more Jews were killed by the
Einsatzgruppen (the SS killing squads) than in the previous eight
years of Nazi rule in Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and half of
Poland.
Indeed, until mid-1941, there were more communists and socialists in
Nazi concentration camps than Jews.
The Einsatzgruppen moved in behind the German army. One historian
summed up what happened in the city of Bialystok, which had some
50,000 Jews, when the Nazis entered on 27 June 1941: `Dante-esque
scenes took place in these streets. Jews were taken out of the
houses, put against the walls and shot… At least 800 Jews had been
locked in the Great Synagogue before it had been set on fire…the
soldiers were throwing hand grenades into the houses.’
The Einsatzgruppen also attempted to involve indigenous populations
in doing their killing. Often they were successful and many of those
accused of war crimes were Latvian, Lithuanian or Ukranian.
In other places, though, the Nazis couldn’t make the locals into
murderers. For example, a report prepared in October 1941 complained
that Einsatzgruppen A operating in Estonia could not `provoke
spontaneous anti-Jewish demonstrations with ensuing pogroms’ because
the population in their area lacked `sufficient enlightenment’ to
murder the Jews.
The need to kill Jews more efficiently and quickly, and the effects
of face to face slaughter on the German soldiers, persuaded the Nazi
leadership that a more impersonal method of slaughter was preferable.
The Nazis went to great lengths to keep the extermination camps
secret from both the Jews and the German population. The Allies did
get to know about the death camps. But Allied leaders told
delegations asking them to bomb the railway into Auschwitz and the
crematoria blocks that they had no proof of mass murder. Saving the
Jews of Europe was not an Allied war aim.
We should remember all this as we commemorate the Holocaust this
week. Keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive will not by itself
stop the rise of fascism in the 21st century. But it does make the
Nazis’ job harder, which is why BNP leader Nick Griffin and the rest
go to such lengths to deny it. The Holocaust also stands as a
terrible warning of the barbaric forces capitalism can unleash when
it goes into a deep crisis and its existence is at stake.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

La Croix , France
25 janvier 2005
Les camps, soixante ans après. L’auteur de “Shoah” dialogue avec des
élèves d’un lycée de banlieue. Face à l’ignorance ou à la négation de
la Shoah chez certains élèves de banlieue, des lycées organisent des
rencontres autour du film de Claude Lanzmann.
par GORCE Bernard
“Avez-vous ressenti du remords, au moins décelé une part d’humanité
chez les anciens SS?” “Pensez-vous qu’il soit possible aux survivants
des camps de pardonner?” Ils sont élèves de classe de terminale, et
leurs questions hésitantes brisent le silence total qui a enveloppé,
durant près d’une heure, la projection.
Ce jeudi 6 janvier, les élèves du lycée Auguste-Blanqui, à Saint-Ouen
(Seine-Saint-Denis), viennent de visionner en présence de l’auteur,
Claude Lanzmann, deux extraits de son film Shoah. Où le nazi Franz
Suchomel explique comment, à Treblinka, il fallait deux heures pour
vider un train, une journée pour “traiter” 18 000 personnes. Où un
coiffeur de New York, Abraham Bomba, se souvient: à Treblinka, il ne
tondait pas mais coupait les cheveux des femmes. Une coupe presque
“normale”, afin de ne pas trahir la présence de la chambre à gaz,
derrière la porte.
Des mots, des images d’une telle violence que les questions des
lycéens tentent de se frayer une issue, une ouverture, vers le sens,
l’éthique, la morale. Lanzmann tend l’oreille, écoute. Au sujet du
pardon, il cite le philosophe Jacques Derrida. “On ne peut pardonner
que l’impardonnable. Réfléchissez bien à cela.” Mais, avec patience,
le vieil homme en revient à une explication précise de l’entreprise
d’extermination des nazis. Il insiste sur les aspects techniques. La
différence entre un camp de concentration et un camp d’extermination,
comme Treblinka où furent gazés 600 000 juifs. “Vous n’avez vu aucune
image de cadavres, poursuit le cinéaste. Car les hommes qui
arrivaient étaient tués dans les heures qui suivaient, les corps
étaient brûlés, les os étaient pillés, les cendres dispersées.”
Shoah, onze ans de travail pour neuf heures trente de pellicule,
n’est pas un document, ni un reportage, encore moins une médiation.
Ce travail unique représente une oeuvre de “création de la mémoire”,
explique Claude Lanzmann, car il a fallu “partir du néant”. Dans une
salle du lycée Auguste-Blanqui, la conversation se poursuit sur ce
travail. Claude Lanzmann décrypte les conditions de tournage des deux
scènes. Dans le salon de coiffure, Abraham Bomba, l’un des très rares
“revenants” de Treblinka, fait semblant de coiffer un client tout en
poursuivant son long récit. Le réalisateur le pousse à témoigner. À
un moment donné, l’homme pleure. “Ces larmes, dit Claude Lanzmann aux
lycéens, ont le prix du sang. Elles sont le sceau de la vérité.” Avec
le SS, la mise en scène était totalement différente puisque l’homme
était filmé à son insu. Durant le film, on entend Lanzmann promettre
à Franz Suchomel que son témoignage restera anonyme. Les élèves du
lycée Blanqui interrogent l’auteur sur ce mensonge. “J’ai menti, oui,
mais à la face du monde. J’ai fait ce film comme une sépulture. J’ai
ressuscité les victimes de la Shoah pour qu’elles meurent une seconde
fois, mais que, cette fois, elles ne meurent plus seules.”
Puis le dialogue avec les lycéens aborde les questions d’actualité.
On évoque rapidement le conflit au Proche-Orient. Lanzmann dit son
espoir qu’avec le nouveau président de l’État palestinien, la
situation puisse évoluer très vite. On parle de la sortie du film La
Chute sur les derniers jours d’Hitler. Lanzmann n’ira pas le voir,
“mais si vous y tenez…”, répond-il au jeune public. La rencontre
s’achève sur des applaudissements. “Je vais enregistrer le film à la
télé, j’essaierai de tout regarder”, explique un adolescent. Ne
serait-ce que pour ce lycéen, le pari, pourtant risqué, est gagné.
Auguste-Blanqui est un de ces établissements de la banlieue nord de
Paris, qui scolarise une population très brassée. Très peu de
Français de souche, essentiellement des enfants de familles d’origine
africaine ou maghrébine. Un de ces établissements où les enseignants
affirment qu’il devient de plus en plus difficile de parler de la
Shoah. Où l’on s’insulte en se traitant de “feuj”.
En septembre 2002, la publication du livre Les territoires perdus de
la République provoqua un véritable séisme au sein de l’éducation
nationale. Une poignée de professeurs apportaient des témoignages
terrifiants sur la poussée de l’antisémitisme, mais aussi la
banalisation des comportements racistes ou sexistes dans les collèges
et lycées à forte composante maghrébine. “Exempts de tout sentiment
de responsabilité, voire de culpabilité ou plus simplement d’empathie
vis-à-vis de la Shoah, les élèves qui se revendiquent de confession
musulmane expriment parfois librement leur antisémitisme”, écrivait
par exemple un professeur agrégé d’histoire des Hauts-de-Seine. La
sortie de ce livre fut très diversement appréciée dans le monde
enseignant, mais il a incontestablement participé à la prise de
conscience. Parce que, déjà, la situation s’était dégradée, Jack
Lang, en 2001, avait convaincu Claude Lanzmann de rassembler dans un
DVD trois heures du film Shoah. Non pas une “version courte”, insiste
l’auteur, mais bien des extraits, qui doivent inciter les jeunes
publics à regarder toute l’oeuvre. Pourtant, les milliers de DVD sont
restés un temps dans les placards des rectorats. À son arrivée rue de
Grenelle, François Fillon a relancé l’opération. Depuis, Claude
Lanzmann répond aux invitations des enseignants et part à la
rencontre des lycéens.
L’opération reste pourtant délicate. Une telle séance ne s’improvise
pas. “Les élèves ignorent tout du génocide”, explique Carole Diamant,
professeur de philosophie à Auguste-Blanqui. Cette enseignante vient
de publier un livre témoignage sur son expérience en banlieue (1).
Elle y décrit comment les “vive Ben Laden” qui suivirent les
attentats du 11 septembre lui révélèrent la profondeur d’un fossé
creusé entre son univers et celui des nouvelles générations d’élèves
issus du monde arabo-musulman. Mais le livre de Carole Diamant peut
être lu comme une réponse à la vision pessimiste des auteurs du
premier livre. Sur le terrain “miné” – et non pas perdu -, Carole
Diamant refuse de baisser les bras.
À Auguste-Blanqui, les enseignants ne laissent passer aucun dérapage
verbal. Mais l’enseignante souhaitait aller plus loin. Avec quatre
collègues d’histoire, de français, d’économie et d’éducation
physique, Carole Diamant a fait travailler les élèves de deux classes
de terminales sur les thèmes “Exclusion, déportation, extermination”
à l’occasion de travaux personnels encadrés (TPE). C’est ainsi que
des rencontres ont été programmées sur quatre génocides du siècle: la
Shoah, d’abord, puis les génocides arménien, cambodgien et rwandais.
À chaque fois, une oeuvre ou un reportage est visionné en présence de
l’auteur. La singularité de la Shoah – le projet de supprimer non
seulement toute trace du peuple juif mais aussi de l’entreprise
d’extermination elle-même – a été bien expliquée aux élèves. Mais en
mettant en perspective ces génocides, Carole Diamant explique qu’il
s’agit de souligner leur point commun. “La négation d’autrui. Ils
sont une perversion du rapport de l’homme à l’homme.” Lors de la
première séance, celle consacrée à la Shoah avec Claude Lanzmann,
l’enseignante a relevé que les lycéens sont demeurés dans une posture
très scolaire. Puis, au fur et à mesure, ils ont quitté cette
attitude. “Si l’on veut aller au bout du projet pédagogique, il faut
dépasser l’élève, et toucher la personne elle-même. Il ne s’agit pas
seulement d’instruire, mais aussi de former des hommes”, explique
l’enseignante.
BERNARD GORCE
(1) École, terrain miné de Carole Diamant, Éd. Liana Levi, 120 p., 12
Euro.
Une heure sur la Shoah dans toutes les écoles
Le ministre de l’éducation nationale François Fillon a demandé que le
27 janvier, dans tous les établissements scolaires, une heure de
cours soit consacrée dans chaque classe à la mémoire des victimes de
la Shoah.
Le DVD du film Shoah, édité par Sceren-CNDP et L’Eden cinéma, propose
six extraits du film Shoah de Claude Lanzmann accompagné d’un livret
pédagogique à destination des lycées.
Sur Internet, des sites proposent des dossiers et des pistes
pédagogiques. Les enseignants du primaire trouveront des fiches
pédagogiques sur le site du Centre national de documentation
pédagogique: Pour les collèges et
lycées, un dossier complet sur le site de France 5:
education.france5.fr/shoah/
L’association Yad Layeled-France a réalisé une excellente mallette
pédagogique pour les élèves de CM2 ou de début du collège.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ROBERT KOCHARIAN: THE MORE SPECIFIC ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN COOPERATION
BECOMES, THE MORE NEW PROSPECTS OPEN
YEREVAN, December 4 (Noyan Tapan). Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov was
especially impressed by constructional changes in Yerevan that gave
the Armenian capital a livelier mood. He told the RA President Robert
Kocharian about this at the December 3 meeting. Robert Kocharian
expressed satisfaction with the Armenian-Russian cooperation’s results
that are becoming more and more tangible and noted that the more
specific this cooperation becomes, the more new prospects open.
According to the RA President’s Press Office, in particular the sides
discussed the possibility of increasing significantly export and
import volumes through operating a big Armenian wholesale trade center
to be built in Moscow which gets particularly long-term in the context
of the upcoming operating of the “Caucasus” ferry-boat complex. The RF
State Duma deputy, People’s Artist Iosif Kobzon was also among the
members of the delegation headed by Yuri Luzhkov. Robert Kocharian
presented him with the Saint Mesrop Mashtots order, which was
conferred upon Kobzon by the RA President’s decree on September 20 for
his significant contribution to the development of the Armenian-Russin
friendly relations, strengthening and development of cultural links
between the two countries, as well for his philanthropic activities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER MEETS WITH UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES
[November 26, 2004, 23:15:39]
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Nov 26 2004
On November 26, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Rood Lubbers met
with Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, Chairman of the State
Committee for Refugees and IDPs Ali Hasanov.
The Deputy Prime Minister provided the guest with detailed information
on the situation of refugees and internally displaced persons ousted
from their native lands as a result of the Armenia-Azerbaijan,
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, measures taken by the government of
Azerbaijan to solve their social problems. He especially stressed that
the destructive stance of Armenia that had carried out ethnic purge
on its territory hamper the problems resolution whereas thousands of
people is suffering from hardest living conditions.
The guest was also informed about the citizens of third countries
seeking asylum in Azerbaijan.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Rood Lubbers said he had witnessed
the work done by the Azerbaijan government for improvement of the
refugees’ situation. He promised that the United Nation would do
what it can to help despite the budget restrictions appeared. He also
touched upon the issue concerning those who arrive from other countries
to find an asylum in Azerbaijan, as well as ethnic Armenians living
in the country. Mr. Lubbers appreciated the Azerbaijan government’s
refugee policy noting that the work done in Azerbaijan to improve
the their situation is an example for other countries.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Messenger
Friday, October 22, 2004, #201 (0725)
Electricity imports set for October
By Christina Tashkevich
Georgia will be able to receive imported electricity from Armenia already
this October.
The negotiations on the imports of energy from Armenia are currently
underway, and according to the Minister of Energy Nika Gilauri, these
imports are necessary in order to avoid an energy crisis in the country.
Talking to reporters on Thursday, he added that imports should have been
started in November but the process was sped up because of the latest
sabotage on the high-voltage line Kartli-2.
“We want to make this winter much better for the population as far as
electricity supplies go,” said the minister. He adds there should not be any
problem of supplying Tbilisi with 24-hour light if not for some force majeur
situation.
On October 9 the Kartli-2 transmission line was knocked out of operation
because of an explosion that officials blame on saboteurs. To transfer
electricity from western Georgia to the east, officials have been forced to
use 200-kilovolt low transmission lines instead of the 500-kilovolt
Kartli-2.
Meanwhile the repairs on the Kartli-2 are underway. According to Shota
Maisuradze, the General Director of SakRusEnergo who is in charge of the
repairs, the line will be operational again in one week. “One tower of the
line is almost repaired, the other is half repaired,” he told journalists on
Thursday.
Gilauri is sure that the energy system needs full rehabilitation. “There has
not been a serious rehabilitation of the system which was working in force
majeur state,” he said adding there has already been four cases of sabotage
on the high voltage line in the last two months.
Currently the energy sector plans to provide Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Rustavi and
Zugdidi with better energy supply. “We can offer only eight-hour supply for
other regions of Georgia,” says Gilauri.
Meanwhile the government reports the sabotage group which attacked the
Kartli-2 line was eliminated by Georgian special forces. “We will secure the
system so that there is no other sabotage acts in Georgia,” President
Mikheil Saakashvili declared at a Wednesday briefing after announcing that
the group was captured.
Without mentioning where, when or how, President Saakashvili explained to
journalists that “trespassers” were destroyed by Georgian law-enforcers.
“The members of this gang planned to make the same type of sabotage along
other sections of the power line but our law-enforcers foiled their plans,”
Saakashvili said.
According to him, a special forces unit was sent to the whereabouts of
saboteurs, but “the gang members refused to surrender and opened fire.” As a
result of the gunfight, the group was forced to surrender.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress