Author: Badalian Vardan

01/10/2008

JEWISH L.A.

The Jewish Daily
2008-01-11
Azeri Jews: Centuries of coexistence in Azerbaijan
By Gabriel Lerner

Gabriel Lerner, left, with leader of Jewish community in Quba.
"This," says the guide, a man in his 20s with a round face, a hint of a
mustache, beard and very short hair — "this below us is the city of Quba."

We are standing at the top of a cliff, overlooking an urban development that
at first sight looks like any other in this country — bright tin roofs,
low-slung buildings, a few cars covered in dust because of the wind, but no
commercial signs or logos — and, surprisingly, few mosques for a Muslim
Shiite country like Azerbaijan.

Then I see the river that runs through Quba, and in the distance I notice a
cluster of distinctive houses. They are more attractive, much larger, and
decidedly different compared to others in surrounding areas. None of these
houses looks like any other.

"This is where the Jewses [sic] of Quba live," says the guide, pointing at
the group of houses I was looking at. "They are very successful."

Behind us is a cemetery. While the rest of the group stares at the river and
the city, I walk alone toward the cemetery’s iron gates, where I immediately
recognize a Mogen David. This gate is not unlike one at the cemetery outside
Buenos Aires, where my father is buried, or one in Rishon Letzion, Israel,
that contains my ex-father-in-law’s remains, or even the cemetery where my
sister rests in L.A.’s Eden Memorial Park in Mission Hills. I walk slowly,
reading the Russian and Hebrew inscriptions and staring at the photographs
of the deceased etched in stone.

"They [the Jews] have the best cars," continues the guide. "Ferraris,
Mercedes. They have them all. Jewses in Quba live very well." His face
portrays satisfaction and pride, and the other members of my group —
journalists from Europe and the United States — listen and nod. I am with
this group to cover for La Opinión an international conference on the role
of the media in the development of tolerance, organized by the Organization
of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

Not unlike the Jews of Sefarad (Spain) during the First Caliphate,
Azerbaijan’s Jewry is interwoven into the fabric of this state, which
emerged in August 1991 from the Soviet Union. And despite their minuscule
numbers — maybe 12,000 in a population of 8 million — their presence is
known and acknowledged, especially that of the Jews of Quba. These Mountain
Jews, as they are called, have been living in this area for a very long
time, perhaps 2,500 years; they consider themselves the descendants of those
Jews exiled to Babylon after the destruction of the first Temple in 586
B.C.E., remaining in what is modern day Iran. In the eighth century, when
the Muslims from the Arab Peninsula conquered the area, they brought the
Jewish tribe, an ally, to the area of Baku to serve as a barrier against the
Kazakhs to the north. In 1730, they were officially allowed to put down
roots and own property in the Quba province.

I have read this and other accounts about the Mountain Jews, and now I am
ready to meet them. I am the only Jew in the group. The others seem to sense
my emotion and begin taking pictures of us as we approach a small group of
congregational leaders. As I reach the group of Azeri Jews, I look at them
looking at us and realize, all of a sudden, that these people and I have
more in common than anybody else here, and so I step up, and the guide
introduces me to the head of the community, and then I say "Sholem
Aleichem," and I also say in Hebrew, "Ani Yehoudi," and point to myself. We
stare at each other, each noting our similarities, and we hug in the middle
of a street in Quba, Azerbaijan.

Now I feel part of them. We enter the building, and my "cousin" speaks to me
in Azeri, which is translated into English. He is a mathematician, he says.
He points to signs on the wall with lists of names, those of Jews who died
in the long fight against the Armenians: a few dozen. Like everybody else on
our trip, he speaks of the allegiance to President Ilham Aliyev, with
special attention to the memory of his father, the late President Heydar
Aliyev.

While 93 percent of the population is Muslim, the constitution mandates no
state religion, a legacy from the former Soviet Union. The residents wear
Western clothes, and in the official meals we were offered throughout the
trip, vodka, wine and beer were served. Ethnically, I cannot differentiate
between Azeris and Mountain Jews. But Yevda Abramov, the Jewish member of
the Parliament representing rural Quba, whom I met in Baku, explains these
differences.

"The Jewish community," Abramov says, "differs from the rest of the
population in education and lifestyle. We are very educated and operate
businesses. We kept the Persian language," referring to the Jewish version
of the dialect Tat, "but 25 percent of the words we use are in Hebrew."

Like almost everything else in Baku, the Parliament building is undergoing
massive additions and renovations but will no doubt maintain its
unmistakable Soviet-era character — solemn, impersonal, with massive
amounts of concrete, small doors and an oversized walkway. Abramov’s office
is a small room, devoid of decorations, on the building’s fifth floor.

"I ran against 17 other candidates of my own party" (the ruling New Azeri
Party), Abramov states. "I won over all of them, and an international agency
was watching the election. This is a democracy."

In Quba, Abramov was a teacher, a principal and a rural organizer. "Today
Quba is not unlike any other Jewish community," he tells my translator, who
then speaks to me in Spanish. "Our rabbi, butcher, mohel, chazzan — all
were educated in Israel."

Since the Helsinki Accords of 1972, the Jews of Azerbaijan have been exiting
the country in large numbers, mainly going to Israel, where they number more
than 50,000. Since most of the emigrants were Ashkenazis from Baku, the
Mountain Jews remained here, as the majority of the community in the
country.

Abramov, a bulky man with a prominent mustache, discusses the successes of
Jews in Azerbaijan, mostly in holding government positions. There are some
well-known Azeri artists who are Jewish. According to him, his country is a
model for religious liberty in the world, "especially compared to Armenia,"
he emphasizes, where "there are not even 10 Jewish families today."

While the country keeps a remarkable pace of development and focuses on very
rapid urban construction, exploitation of its huge oil reserves and the
expansion of the apparatus of the state, its main concern is the conflict
with Armenia. My hosts took me to a "recently discovered mass grave" — a
horrific pile of bones at the end of a soccer field in a small town. These
are, they claimed, the remains of hundreds of Azeris slaughtered by
Armenians in 1918. At the same time Armenians were slaughtered by the
Ottoman Empire.

Abramov supports the official line. "If there is a war between Armenia and
Azerbaijan," Abramov says, "many Jews will die. Please, clarify that to the
world. In the war for Karabakh, the first fallen hero was Jewish. Send the
message."

Between 1992 and 1994, the war between the two new countries left 30,000
dead and 800,000 refugees, almost all of them Azeris. Armenia, a country of
less than 2 million, compared to 8 million of Azerbaijan, conquered the
region of Nagorno-Karabakh, about 16 percent of the territory of Azerbaijan.
One of the refugees was Emin Alesgerov, my translator. "I lived there with
my grandparents; I was 7 years old, and they told us to leave. My
grandparents still want to go back," he told me.

The conflict is central to the government’s policies. Idahav Orijov,
minister of religious affairs, becomes emotional describing the war. He
stands by a map on the wall in his office and shows me a spot that
represents his hometown in the area controlled by Armenia. Then he describes
a series of settlements destroyed by the conquerors. Nazim Ibrahimov,
minister of the diaspora — a population he put at 50 million (35 in Lower
Azerbaijan, in Iran) in 36 countries — tells me about the need to organize
that diaspora "like the Jews, the Italians, the Irish of the United States
did," to counter the influence of the Armenian diaspora.

Recovering the lost territory is considered the supreme goal of the state.
To gain support for their cause, they resort to every imaginable resource,
including an alleged strategic alliance with Turkey, a main ally, and
Israel, with which they established diplomatic relations in April 1992. When
I went to meet the head of the embassy in Baku I found an old friend.

The Ambassador

Arthur Lenk, a native of New Jersey, served as Israeli consul for
communications and public affairs in Los Angeles between 1998 and 2000. We
had met on several occasions back then, as the consulate implemented a
distinctive process of recognizing the increasing importance of the Latino
community in the United States. Then he returned to other assignments in
Israel, and in September 2005 he submitted his credentials in Azerbaijan.

Now we are looking at each other, smiling and speaking Hebrew, surrounded by
other Israelis and Azeris — and a sizable contingent of security agents. He
invited me to the celebration of Yom HaAtzmaut, the 59th anniversary of
Israel’s independence. Lenk says that "the most interesting thing I found
here is the human link, the fact that there is a sizable Jewish community
that lives as brothers and partners, as part of a Muslim country. This is
not always understood in the world and is vital for Israel.

"While there are those who speak in terms of a clash of civilizations, in
Azerbaijan they talk about the other Islam, the moderate. Their relationship
with Israel, in business, energy and regional interests, is a compelling
example of tolerance and coexistence," Lenk says. "They are an important
partner of Israel; here, we buy one-sixth of our oil."

All together, that’s more than a billion dollars every year. According to
Jane’s Defence Weekly, Israel sells to Azerbaijan "battlefield aviation,
artillery, antitank, and anti-infantry weapons." The Washington Institute
for Middle East Policy includes in Israel’s involvement "training for
Azerbaijani security and intelligence services, as well as security for the
Azerbaijani president during his foreign visits."

While as a diplomat he emphasizes bilateral collaboration, Lenk cannot
ignore the fact that there is still no Azeri embassy in Israel.

"It is true, but this is not our decision, and they must consider it in the
perspective of their own interest. I try to convince my Azeri friends that
the presence of Israel serves their own goals."

In the hall of the Hyatt-Regency, Jewish youth sing the national anthem of
Azerbaijan and "Hatikvah." I stand close to Lenk — we sing too. I returned
home to Los Angeles at the end of April. Since then, Azerbaijan never
disappeared entirely from the news; first were stories about imprisoned
journalists that sent an image of an authoritarian regime. Then, on Nov. 6,
Azerbaijan announced that it foiled an attack by Wahabi extremists aided by
Al Qaeda on the U.S. Embassy. Baku tries to dispel an insistent rumor about
military cooperation with the United States and Israel that would allegedly
include providing an air base for an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites. In
August, President Aliyev made an urgent trip to Tehran to meet Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, six days after the visit to Baku by Israel’s
transportation minister Avidgor Lieberman.

This area is in turmoil and under tremendous pressure for change and
development. In this process, the Jews of Azerbaijan, Quba dwellers, the
Mountain Jews who claim to have arrived 2,500 years ago to the area, are
patient witnesses as well as participants.

Gabriel Lerner has worked in various editorial positions for La Opinion, the
largest Spanish- language newspaper in the United States, since 1999,
covering local, national and international news. A native of Buenos Aires,
he lived in Israel for more than 25 years and has resided in Los Angeles
since 1989. He founded a publishing company in Israel and a literary
magazine in Spanish. He has written several books and is currently
researching the immigration protests of 2006 in Los Angeles.

w.php?id=18754

ZORYAN INSTITUTE OF CANADA, INC.
255 Duncan Mill Rd., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, Canada M3B 3H9
Tel: 416-250-9807 Fax: 416-512-1736 E-mail: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT: Torrey Swan
DATE: January 8, 2008
Tel: 416-250-9807

Prof. Dadrian Lectures on Legal Aspects of the Armenian Genocide in South
America

Toronto, Canada-There has been significant activity regarding Armenian
Genocide recognition in South America lately. This has involved governmental
agencies, human rights organizations, parliamentarians, journalists, lawyers
and university students.

As late as November 19, 2007, deputies from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and
Uruguay-all members of the South American Parliamentarians’ coalition known
as MERCOSUR-adopted a resolution recognizing and condemning the Armenian
Genocide at a meeting held in Montevideo. MERCOSUR, established in 1986, is
the largest intergovernmental organisation in South America. The Senate of
Chile also recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide in June, 2007.

In this vein, a major international conference, "The Armenian Genocide:
History and Present Day," was held in Montevideo at the same time. Organized
by the Uruguay Armenia Cultural Association (ASCUA), the Political Science
Institute (UDELAR), and the Human Rights Program (CLAEH), the conference was
co-sponsored by the University of Montevideo, the Ministry of Education and
Culture, the Ministry of Tourism, the Press Association of Uruguay, the
Municipality of Montevideo, Amnesty International-Uruguay Section, and the
Embassy of the Republic of Armenia. Zoryan participated by sending its
Director of Genocide Research, Prof. Vahakan N. Dadrian to speak at this and
another conference in Buenos Aires.

Similarly, another conference was organized in Buenos Aires by the Luisa
Hairabedian Foundation, which is a group dedicated to the preservation of
universal human rights, with a special interest in the Armenian Genocide.
The three Masters of Ceremonies were all alumni of the university program
run by the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (A
Division of the Zoryan Institute), held annually in Toronto in partnership
with the University of Minnesota. This event was attended by university and
middle school students, lawyers, historians, sociologists, anthropologists
and a large number of members of the Armenian community in Argentina.

Owing to the interest in the Armenian Genocide, and particularly its legal
aspects, Prof. Vahakn N. Dadrian, Director of Research at the Zoryan
Institute, shed light on these subjects. His work was particularly
interesting to The Luisa Hairabedian Foundation, which is currently engaged
in a unique legal procedure in Argentine law regarding a "truth trial" on
the Armenian Genocide. Instituted as a method to uncover the truth about the
human rights abuses of Argentina’s recent past, especially the "Forced
Disappearances," truth trials do not require the prosecution of a defendant.
The Federal Court has accepted the case and sanctioned the initiation of
legal proceedings. The lawyers involved are assembling materials, including
a mass of authentic and verifiable official documents, for which they are
receiving assistance from Prof. Dadrian and the Zoryan Institute.

Prof. Dadrian’s presentation in Montevideo was on the conflict between the
near-universal recognition of the Armenian Genocide and its persistent
denial by past and present Turkish officials. His analysis, summarised
below, suggests that Turkish denial will not cease because of foreign
pressure on the Turkish government, but rather only by pressure from the
Turkish population itself, who, as part of their democratic movement, will
require the state to recognise its own falsifications of history and remove
its limitations on the freedom of speech and conscience.

Prof. Dadrian outlined the specific components of the denial syndrome and
explained its underlying motives and reasons. He highlighted the enormous
problems modern Turkey would face should its leaders decide to recognize the
historical reality of the Armenian Genocide. At the very least, any
government daring to do so could hardly expect to survive. The risks for
Turkey of recognizing the Armenian Genocide transcend the economic issues of
reparations and land claims. Given the critical role some of the founders of
the modern Republic of Turkey played in the organization of the Genocide,
such revelations bear directly upon the very genesis of the republic and
hence the issue of the current regime’s integrity. The launching and
sustaining of the blockade against Armenia and the total absence of
diplomatic ties are conditions that accentuate these pitfalls. Under these
tense circumstances, Armenia will remain at grave risk-with or without
Russian protection.

Notwithstanding, the historicity of the Genocide, argued Dr. Dadrian, is
beyond any legitimate dispute. This fact is attested by the series of
criminal trials the post-war Turkish Military Tribunal instituted in the
1919-21 period. The Key Indictment that charged the leaders of the Ottoman
government, as well as top young Turk Ittihadist leaders with the crime of a
centrally organized mass murder against the Armenians, incorporates dozens
of secret documents, and many cipher telegrams, ordering the destruction of
the deportee convoys. What is so extraordinary about this line of legal
documentation is the fact that the prosecution and the Chief Judges of the
Military Tribunal employed a two-track procedure to ensure the validity of
the documentation. First, the documents were carefully examined by competent
officials of the Ministries of Justice and the Interior, who marked their
authenticity with a stamp. Second, before taking the witness stand, the high
ranking party officials and Cabinet Ministers were asked to inspect the
documents bearing their signatures and verify their authenticity. This
two-tier procedure of authentication of key wartime documents served to
ensure ironclad utilization of prima-facie official evidence. This is
exactly the same procedure adopted at Nuremberg, where Nazi criminals were
tried and convicted some two dozen years later.

The rapid ascendancy of the Kemalist insurgent movement in the end served to
jettison, however, the completion of the courts martial and to even
effectively help invalidate many of the verdicts and sentences renditions.
Nevertheless, the massive legal documentation of the wartime crime of
genocide against the Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire is on record
and is indelibly ensconced in the serial Annexes of Takvim-i Vekyi, the
official gazette of the Ottoman Parliament- despite the resolute effort of
Turkish authorities to collect and remove them from circulation and access.

The next day, Dadrian delivered a public lecture on the topic of "The
Significance of the Ottoman-Turkish Official Documents Dealing with the
Armenian Genocide." The final plenary session featured the Deputy Foreign
Minister of Uruguay who delivered a paper discussing the global ramification
of genocide today, in which she made reference to the devastating
consequences attached to the impunity that characterizes the present status
of the World War I Armenian Genocide.

In Buenos Aires, Dadrian spoke on "The Armenian Genocide and International
Criminal Law." This lecture argued the linkage between the World War I
Armenian Genocide core issue of "crimes against humanity," which term the
Allies for the first time formally and officially introduced when denouncing
that act of genocide, and the Nuremberg doctrine. This central issue of
intent and governmental complicity was an integral component in the
conception and organization of the crime.

The Argentinean publisher, Imago Mundi, will come out in April with a
Spanish translation of Dadrian’s classic book, The History of the Armenian
Genocide, which is already available in French, Greek, Italian, and Russian.
Prof. Dadrian and Prof. Taner Akçam, renowned Turkish Sociologist and
Historian, are publishing the results of their collaborative archival
research on the only official record of the military tribunals prosecuting
the Armenian Genocide, found in the Takvim-i Vekyi, in Turkish. The work
contains translation of the original trial documents and argues many of the
points Prof. Dadrian presented in his South American lectures.

The Zoryan Institute, co-publisher of Genocide Studies and Prevention: An
International Journal and Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, is
the first non-profit, international center devoted to the research and
documentation of contemporary issues with a focus on Armenian social,
political and cultural life, with the concern for the human rights of all.
For more information please contact the Institute by email
[email protected] or telephone (416) 250-9807.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION MAY BE PUT ON VOTE IN MID-JANUARY

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.01.2008 14:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian Genocide Resolution (H. Res. 106)
may be put on a vote in the plenary session of the U.S. House of
Representatives in January 2008, Democrat Brad Sherman declared after
a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Turkish media reports.

"The bill will be brought to a vote, when we have the support of the
necessary number of Congressmen.

Possibly, the voting will take place in January 2008," Sherman said.

Speaker Pelosi had recently reconsidered her decision to put the
bill on a vote before November 22 due to pressure from the Bush
administration.

The resolution introduced by Rep. Adam Schiff is supported by 219
Congressmen.

EXHIBITION TO FEATURE WESTERN ARMENIA

ARMENPRESS
Jan 7, 2007

YEREVAN, JANUARY 7, ARMENPRESS: The Armenian culture ministry and the
Shushi Foundation will hold in spring a display of 250 photographs
that will be called "Western Armenia (now in eastern Turkey) is the
Homeland of Armenians."

Bakur Karapetian, the chairman of the Shushi Foundation, said to
Armenpress the photographs will show the culture of Western Armenia,
its monuments, traditions of people, their crafts and traditions
between 1860-1915. The exhibition will also show the map of six
Armenian provinces in Western Armenia.

Sunday Leader , Sri Lanka
Dec 6 2007

Asokamala safe for now

The mock wedding ceremony

Roles reversed

Human beings may have reached the top of the food chain but evolution
has done little to ameliorate the suffering meted out by our species
to other animals. In Sri Lanka the elephants have been singled out
as an animal of particular sin from forcing them to walk endlessly on
heated asphalt in peraheras to encroaching on their territory through
development, war, and population migration. Our nation stands guilty
of intense animal cruelty. Would you like to be a performing human?

The Yerevan Zoo in Armenia was in the news last year as animal rights
activists battled Sri Lankan authorities in the Supreme Court to stop
nine year old Asokamala, born at the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage
>From being exported to that zoo. Rights activists say the Yerevan Zoo
which boasts of 2,300 animals is in a deplorable state.

Recreational Minister, Gamini Lokuge who was the mover and shaker of
the proposed gift reportedly denied to media, claims by animal rights
activists that there was a confectioner involved in the deal to
"gift" Asokamala to Armenia. However the following article published
in the Armenian press reveals that a confectioner was indeed
involved.

The bride from the north: Armenia’s bachelor elephant gets a wife
>From Russia

Armenia’s bachelor elephant, who has been desperate for a wife for
several years, has finally found his match. The "wedding of the year"
between Grand and Masha from Russia took place at Yerevan’s Zoo on
Sunday and proceeded in a pompous atmosphere in the presence of
hundreds of guests.

The Yerevan Zoo is home to more than 2,300 animals today. The number
of animals increases from year to year. But finding a partner for
Grand was not an easy thing to do as it appeared to have reached a
deadlock in recent years.

A ‘bride’ for Grand

Grand, sponsored by Grand Holding, was brought to Armenia in November
1999, and it’s been several years since he reached puberty. But every
time, brides intended for him could not arrive in Armenia for
different reasons.

"If Grand remained lonely for a little longer, he would have faced
serious physiological problems," Grand Holding President, Hrant
Vardanyan told ArmeniaNow. "Before this we tried to get a bride from
India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, but every time we encountered problems."

A few years ago, India’s Prime Minister promised to gift an elephant
to Armenia. However the elephant named Komala intended for Armenia
suffered poisoning at the native Bangalore Zoo and died. The next was
Veda, who did not reach Armenia because of protests from local
environmentalists who cited "severe climatic conditions in Armenia."

"I think Masha, who has already been renamed Candy, is a good match
for our Grand. Her transportation to Armenia cost about $150,000,
which is not a particularly big sum for me," Hrant Vardanyan
explained. "We hope that Grands and Candys will be born in two or
three years to our common delight. And now we should rejoice at
today’s wedding."

Celebrations

On that day Yerevan Zoo was decorated with balloons, wedding ribbons
and special banners symbolising the elephants’ love.

The marrying couple was not attending their own wedding ceremony
though – "to avoid unnecessary trouble," but it did not prevent those
present to have fun at the symbolic wedding celebrated according to
Armenian, Indian and Russian traditions, with humans dressed in
colourful elephant clothes posing as the marrying couple.

The toast

"Our bride is from Russia, however she is an honest and modest girl
and will not let us down," the host of the wedding party declared
>From the improvised stage in the centre of the zoo announcing the
start of the ceremony, as he wished "good health, love and
solidarity" to the marrying couple.

Then the organisers began distributing candies from wedding trays and
tarosiks (small presents given to unmarried guests of the wedding
party).

.HTM

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Jan 2 2008

Accused killer of Turkish-Armenian journalist named

Samast’s identity was previously protected as it was believed he was
a minor when the shooting of Dink took place.

Güncelleme: 15:03 TSÝ 02 Ocak 2008 Çarþamba

ISTANBUL – The man accused of murdering prominent Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink almost one year ago can now be named by the
media, after authorities lifted a ban on publishing his identity
Wednesday.

The man standing trial for the January 19, 2007, slaying of Dink has
been named as Ogun Samast. Till now, the media have been forbidden to
publish Samast’s name as he was believed to be under the age of 18
when he allegedly shot Dink outside the office of the newspaper
Argos, of which he was the editor.

However, the results of medical tests conducted on Samast revealed he
is currently 19 years of age, meaning he was not a minor when the
allegedly gunned Dink down in Istanbul.

Samast is standing trial for the murder of Dink along with a number
of other men accused of involvement in the crime or inciting Samast
to commit the shooting.

Detained a few days after the shooting, Samast, who has links to far
right wing Turkish groups, admitted to killing Dink.

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Jan 2 2008

US President approves the bill to cut assistance to Armenia by $17.5
million

[ 02 Jan 2008 23:06 ]

US President has signed the 2008 fiscal year aid bill which is to
provide $17.5 million less to Armenia compared to 2007, APA Bureau
reports.

The bill, signed by President Bush, is an unchanged version of the
budget expenditures item passed by the both houses a day earlier.

The 2008 overall package, known as the omnibus bill, envisions
providing $58.5 million in economic assistance to Armenia within the
Freedom Support Act.

The omnibus aid bill includes $19 million for Azerbaijan.
Also, the United States will render $3 million in foreign military
financing (FMF) assistance to Armenia and Azerbaijan in equality.
The 2008 budget items infuriated the US-based Armenian organizations.
/APA/

Zerkalo, Azerbaijan
Dec 20 2007

The MP that keep himself in cotton-wool

This is the brand of the `hermetic’ parliament that has nothing to do
even with the fate of Karabakh

by Ibrahim Bayandurlu

Here is the respectable press secretary of the [Azerbaijani] Foreign
Ministry joining the chorus of bureaucrats at different levels who
declare that this or that unit or institution of the executive branch
of power does not report to the parliament.

"Executive reaction"

The other day revered Xazar Ibrahim [press secretary of the Foreign
Ministry], whose knowledge and deep intellect leave no space for
doubts, has essentially made a sensational, but quite an ordinary for
the Azerbaijani public statement: "Azerbaijani is not a
parliamentary, but a presidential republic. The foreign minister of
the country reports directly to the Azerbaijani president and
therefore there is no need for him to address the parliament."

I would like to note that according to the national portal Day.az, it
was exactly how the diplomat commented to the media on the initiative
of several members of parliament to invite the Azerbaijani foreign
minister to the legislative body to update MPs on the negotiations
with Armenia.

"Several ministries are subordinated directly to the president and
one of such state structures is the Foreign Ministry. That is why the
foreign minister reports to the president," Mr. Ibrahim added.

Knowing the deep knowledge and professionalism of this person one may
suggest with a high likelihood that such an anti-parliamentary move
is a reaction to the initiative of the MPs, which was prepared and
coordinated in the higher executive-bureaucratic and official
circles. I will try to address my journalistic words of intelligent
disagreement to those people, but not to Xazar Ibrahim, who deserves
every praise as an honest and unfortunately rare expert of his
business.

Parliament can invite foreign minister

First of all, the respectable gentlemen are deeply deluded from the
constitutional and legal viewpoint. It should be noted above all that
despite the presidential model of work of the executive authorities
in the country (under the constitution the president is the head of
state and administers the executive branch of power), the Milli
Maclis [parliament] of Azerbaijan has quite serious powers and
functions. In particular, in accordance with Article 94 [of the
constitution], "the general rules established by the Milli Maclis of
the Republic of Azerbaijan", the parliament identifies the rules of
ratification and invalidation of international covenants. Under
Article 95 of the national "Legal Bible" [the constitution] the Milli
Maclis has the authority to establish diplomatic missions of the
Republic of Azerbaijan abroad at the presentation of the president of
the country, ratify or invalidate international covenants, as well as
agree to the declaration of war or the conclusion of peace on the
basis of the appeal from the president. This is in view of the fact
that the president of Azerbaijan does not have a permanent
representative in parliament. This creates a situation in which the
parliament has the right to demand that the foreign minister provide
clarifications on certain issues. But this is not all. In accordance
with the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which is
an inseparable part of the constitution, the government of Azerbaijan
is accountable to the Milli Maclis. It means that if the entire
Cabinet of Ministers is accountable to such a legislative and
representative body as the Milli Maclis, the foreign minister is also
accountable to the parliament as a member of the government. It is
like two and two is four. Nobody denies or challenges the truth in
the statements like "the Azerbaijani foreign minister reports
directly to the president". But this constitutional provision, which
is as clear as a day, does not invalidate another constitutional
provision saying that the foreign minister like any other member of
the government reports and is accountable to the parliament. This
gives the Milli Maclis a right to initiate parliamentary hearings on,
say the Karabakh problem, and urge [Azerbaijani Foreign Minister] Mr
[Elmar] Mammadyarov to provide clarifications on certain issues
related to this problem.

The statement of the Foreign Ministry also has some political
minuses, which are both internal and external. Let us start with the
fact that the parliament, being a supreme and nationally elected
representative body, provides a vital arena "for letting off steam of
a public outcry". This is a kind of shied against lightening through
which the public gets a certain minimal static from illusions of
general agreement and consensus.

Sacred topic

In the meantime, the Karabakh problem is a sacred topic for
Azerbaijanis. The parliament’s ignoring this topic would drive public
passions beyond the political system. Why to give an aggressive and
protesting mob a charge (forgive me for tautology) to supply the rest
of the society with uncompromising opposition in the run-up to the
presidential race when it is possible to ensure the discussion of
this issue in the parliament with the participation of the foreign
minister? MPs do not know what to answer their voters, especially
refugees who ask: "Why do not you consider the Karabakh issue
comprehensively? Why do you not invite Elmar Mammadyarov to address
the Milli Maclis? What does he discuss with the Armenians, etc". I
would like to assure you that there may be and there are people with
high legal education among refugees who will find a good
counter-argument to the argument of the press secretary of the
Foreign Ministry and then start hurling abuse at different people
>From petty Z from a housing department to the high and inaccessible
A.

President’s key argument?

There is a foreign policy moment here. President Ilham Aliyev quite
often says that the people of Azerbaijan will not be reconciled to
the occupation of its territories. So, why do you, Mr officials,
deprive the parliament, which is elected by that people of
Azerbaijan, of the right and opportunity to invite a government
official and discuss the problem of the liberation of the above
mentioned territories? It is quite evident that the will of the
Azerbaijani people is the key argument in the hands of the president
in his interaction with the international communication. Relying on
this will, Ilham Aliyev demands that the world community and
international organizations crack down on the aggressor.

By the way, the late [Azerbaijani President] Heydar Aliyev understood
the aforementioned facts very well. It was not by a mere chance that
the patriarch with a true sweep of statehood held broad discussions
of the Karabakh problem in the Milli Maclis with the participation of
the wide public and personally attended the parliament for this
purpose. This was a message to the world powers: "Yes, it is true
that I control everything in my country. But in the Karabakh issue
even I am vulnerable to the will of the Azerbaijani people like any
other ruler."

But different times have come, bringing to the agenda such an issue,
too: how to convince [US Secretary of State] Condoleezza Rice that
the Azerbaijanis have made up their mind on the basis of the formula
"either Karabakh or death" and therefore the Azerbaijani government
should be assisted in returning the occupied territories? What if her
assistant [US ambassador to Azerbaijan] Ann Derse sends her a
telegram saying: "yesterday the Mayor’s Office of Baku refused to
give permission to a public organization to hold a rally dedicated to
the Karabakh problem. Police prevented protesters from attempting to
have an unsanctioned rally in the evening. Today the foreign minister
rejected the invitation of MPs to come to the parliament to discuss
the Karabakh problem, saying through his press secretary that
Azerbaijan is not a parliamentary, but a presidential republic and he
himself directly reports to the president of the country. Therefore,
there is no need for him to address the parliament."

In a word, it is not serious, gentlemen, not serious at all…

[translated]

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Dec 28 2007

Armenia’s president opens overpass, tunnel in Yerevan

YEREVAN, December 28. /ARKA/. The opening ceremony of an overpass on
the Barekamutyun (Friendship) Square and tunnel on the crossroads of
Orbeli-Baghramyan took place today in Yerevan. `I am sure that every
year we should realize programs that will make better our capital
city,’ RA President Robert Kocharian said during the event.

According to the RA President, large-scale construction will continue
in Yerevan. `Yerevan is richer than we think,’ President Kocharian
said.

He believes social programs implemented in Yerevan will help reduce
poverty in the city.

According to Yerevan’s Mayor Yervand Zahkaryan, the newly opened
transport centers will improve the city traffic. `The new traffic
centers
Barghramyan-Kasyan-Kievyan-Baghramyan-Orbeli were designed in the
1980s, but we were able to implement the project only now,’ he said.
`Our architects have done a tremendous job and have given the
Armenian capital an architectural complex built with great
responsibility.’

Zakharyan pointed out that the newly built 226km long and nine meters
wide overpass on the Barekamutyun Square has seven openings. He
believes the overpass will help improve traffic on the crossroads of
Baghramyan-Proshyan, Kievyan Street and Komitas Avenue.

AMD 1.8bln ($5.9mln) was allocated from the RA state budget for the
traffic centre construction. AMD19.4bln ($63.9mln) was spent for
beautification of Yerevan. Z. Sh. -0–

LEGITIMATE PRESIDENT UNION DEMANDS DISMISSAL OF CANDIDATE OF
AUTHORITIES FROM POST OF PRIME MINISTER

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. For the purpose of providing equal
conditions for all the candidates running for presidency the Legitimate
President Union considers as necessary the dismissal of Serge Sargsian
from the post of the Prime Minister or the stopping of his activities
on that post. The Union calls to all the organizations interested in
the legality of the elections for taking measures to solve that problem.

As Ruben Torosian mentioned at the December 27 meeting, the Prime
Minister, striving for gaining an advantage over his rivals, abuses his
position by applying "a state terrorism." According to him, TV
companies are constantly conducting propaganda in his favour under the
pretence of covering the activities of the Prime Minister. That mode of
action, in the estimation of Ruben Torosian, is a terrorism, as by
creating an illusion of an inevitable victory of the candidate of the
authorities, it incites people to vote for him.

In the words of Ruben Torosian, all those state bodies, which are to
follow the legality of the elections, are the first to make violations.
In his words, the state terrorism is being conducted through all the
four branches of the authorities: the parliament adopts laws serving to
the campaign of the candidate of the ruling party, the executive body
makes use of all the administrative levers, the judicial bodies settle
a score with the rivals of the candidate of the authorities and the
forces supporting them, and the electronic mass media, which are under
the influence of the Prime Minister, the Public Television first of
all, subjects electors to a psychological attack.