Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

Azeri officer’s murder trial starts in Hungary

ANS Radio, Baku
23 Nov 04

The trial in the case of Ramil Safarov, an officer of the Azerbaijani armed
forces, who is charged with killing [Armenian officer] Gurgen Markaryan
[on a NATO course] in Hungary on 19 February 2004, has just opened
in the Budapest city court. The ANS correspondent in Hungary, Parviz
Sultanov, will give us the latest details.

[Correspondent, by phone] We are at the court located at No 27,
San Marco Street where Ramil Safarov’s trial is currently being
held. There are a lot of people outside the court at the moment. Ramil
Safarov was brought to the court and he entered the courtroom a
few minutes ago. There were many journalists from Hungarian and
Armenian TV stations. Gurgen Markaryan’s father was also present in
the courtroom. The trial has already started. The court will look
into Safarov’s case and pass a relevant verdict on him.
From: Baghdasarian

Karabakh defence chief dismisses Azeri reports on US troops deployment

Arminfo, Yerevan
22 Nov 04

Stepanakert , 22 November: The defence minister of the Nagornyy
Karabakh Republic NKR , Lt-Gen Seyran Oganyan, has described as
groundless recent Azerbaijani media reports that Baku was allegedly in
negotiations with Washington on deployment of US troops on territories
under the control of Nagornyy Karabakh.

Commenting on debates provoked by Azerbaijani reports in the Karabakh
media on the so-called “occupied territories”, the NKR defence minister
said that since the conflict has not been politically resolved,
the territories around Karabakh serve as a security zone.

“The Karabakh army has created a serious defence system on the
controlled territories,” Oganyan said.

Oganyan described Baku’s belligerent statements as a result of
political short-sightedness and lack of knowledge of subtleties of
the Karabakh problem.
From: Baghdasarian

Athens News Agency
November 16, 2004

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT’S FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE EXAMINES ISSUE OF
TURKEY’S EU ACCESSION

STRASBOURG (ANA/O. Tsipira) – The European Parliament’s Foreign
Affairs Committee examined the issue of Turkey’s accession to the
European Union in the framework of a discussion which took place on
Tuesday night on the report by Dutch Eurodeputy Kamiel Erlings which
will be put to the vote at the European Parliament in December

Other issues discussed were the issue of Cyprus, the genocide of the
Armenians, the Kurdish question and the situation concerning human
rights in Turkey

Ruling New Democracy party Eurodeputy Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos said
“it is unacceptable that forces of Turkey, a candidate country,
should occupy part of the territory of a member-state, while it is
also unacceptable that its military establishment should give
instructions to its forces for provocative acts against another
member-state.” Dimitrakopoulos further said that on December 17 the
European Council must decide positively on a date for the beginning
of accession negotiations

Main opposition PASOK party Eurodeputy Panos Beglitis, referring to
Turkey, said “this country has carried out an institutional
revolution. It has a European prospect. In other words, we say ‘yes’
to the beginning of negotiations, but without this being considered a
‘blank cheque’. We demand, therefore, respect for the political and
economic criteria of Copenhagen and respect for the acquis
communautaire.” Cypriot Democratic Rally Eurodeputy Ioannis
Kasoulides said on his part amendments which create the impression
that Turkey no longer has any obligations concerning a solution to
the issue of Cyprus because the majority of Greek Cypriots said ‘no’
in the referendum on the Annan plan are very negative.
From: Baghdasarian

ArmenPress
Nov 15 2004

ROBERT KOCHARIAN AND ARNOLD RUUTEL DISCUSS COOPERATION

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15 ARMENPRESS: The president of Estonia Arnold
Ruutel arrived in Armenian 13 November at the invitation of president
Robert Kocharian. Ruutel is accompanied by his spouse.
According to president press services, the two presidents had a
face to face meeting early today after the ceremonial reception of
the guest at the presidential residence. The two leaders conferred on
different domains of Armenian-Estonian relations and prospects for
their development. They also discussed a range of issues on regional
and international significance.
The two president expressed their determination to assist
deepening of political dialogue and bilateral cooperation between the
two countries. In the words of Arnold Ruutel, Estonia hails the
inclusion of South Caucasian countries in the European Union New
Neighborhood project. Estonia devotes wider attention to developing
relations with South Caucasian state, the Estonian president said.
On Sunday, Ruutel visited the Garni Temple, the Geghard Monastery
and the Sergey Paradzhanov Museum where culture ministers of Estonia
and Armenia signed a bilateral cultural cooperation agreement.
Today Ruutel met also with the Speaker of the Armenian National
Assembly Arthur Baghdasarian and Armenian Prime Minister Andranik
Margarian. Afterwards, Ruutel visited the genocide museum and laid a
wreath at the genocide monument.
On Tuesday President Ruutel will deliver a lecture, Estonia and
Armenia in Europe, at Yerevan University, visit the old manuscripts
museum of the Matendaran Institute, see the display of the Armenian
National Museum and the Yerevan brandy distillery.
Tuesday afternoon the Estonian head of state will meet with the
head of the Armenian church, Catholicos Karekin II, and see the
Etchmiadzin Armenian Cathedral.
The official delegation accompanying the president on the visit
includes, among others, Culture Minister Urmas Paet, Regional Affairs
Minister Jaan Ounapuu, State Secretary Heiki Loot, Jarva County
Governor Ullar Vahtramae, Tartu University Rector Jaak Aaviksoo and
Mayor of Tartu Laine Janes.
Besides, the president is accompanied by a business delegation of
11, headed by board chairman of the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry Toomas Luman. Ruutel will return to Estonia on Tuesday,
November 16. President Kocharian made an official visit to Estonia in
June 2002.
From: Baghdasarian

AzerTag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
Nov 13 2004

V. LOSHININ: “INTERSTATE RELATIONS BETWEEN AZERBAIJAN AND RUSSIA
DEVELOP IN VERY GOOD DIRECTION”
[November 13, 2004, 17:11:05]

The first deputy foreign minister of the Russian Federation Valery
Loshinin informed in exclusive interview to the correspondent of
AzerTAj that interstate relations between Azerbaijan and Russia
develop in very good direction. As he said, Russia is satisfied with
current level of mutual relations, in particular, the raising level
of economy of both states. He emphasized, that commodity circulation
between two states for 8 months has grown more than for 30 percent,
and the countries have good prospects of cooperation in power and
other fields of economic activities.

The Russian diplomat also has emphasized that on international arena
the two states practically on all positions operate together, and it
is very important. “All it, we hardly probable could reach, if not
for kind relations of heads of our countries. Here, first of all, it
is necessary to give due to Heydar Aliyev, he was very wise person,
wise statesman and politician, and he has much made for Azerbaijan
and for development of the Russian – Azerbaijan relations. He has
managed to make the friend of the young Russian President, and the
difference in their age has affected these relations only in the best
sense of this word. They had excellent mutual, attractive aspiration
to be beside, to listen and understand each other. And naturally, the
relations between presidents Ilham Aliyev and Vladimir Putin became
continuation of this mutual understanding. It is enough to recollect
absolutely recent meetings in Moscow when at the Congress of the
All-Russia Azerbaijan Congress, President Vladimir Putin and Ilham
Aliyev attended, and arrival of the Azerbaijan President in the
anniversary of Moscow State Institute of International Relations
(MGIMO). It is evidence to our relations, the evidence that they are
pure, they do not bear in themselves any latent interests. These are
the open hearts, open souls which we very much appreciate”, the first
deputy foreign minister of Russia has told.

Having touched the question of settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan,
Nagorno Karabakh conflict, V. Loshinin has stated that Russia
consistently and actively works in this direction within the
framework of the Minsk Group of OSCE and is ready to act as the
guarantor of any decision adopted by the sides during negotiating
process.

Making comments on the question on situation developed in sphere of
economic integration of CIS member-states, the diplomat has noted
that priority direction of the policy of Russia is rapprochement with
the CIS states, and in particular, in economic sphere.
From: Baghdasarian

Cambridge Chronicle, MA
Nov 11 2004

Student muscle-power lights bulbs

“Come on, pedal harder. We got the incandescent bulb up to 100
degrees, enough to boil water!”

Tad Sudnick encouraged his students, but try as they might, the
compact fluorescent bulb wouldn’t break 30. Using a bicycle rigged to
generate electricity and turn on a light bulb, the students used
their muscle power to experience the difference between a 60-watt
incandescent and 15-watt compact fluorescent bulb.

“A 15-watt compact fluorescent light bulb gives off the same
amount of light as a 60-watt incandescent bulb, so where does the
rest of the energy go?” explained Elke Hodson, a volunteer from MIT’s
Students for Global Sustainability group.

As the students discovered, it becomes heat. We don’t use light
bulbs to heat our homes, so this is wasted energy. “That’s why our
parents tell us to turn off the lights to stay cool in the summer,”
said Rashaad Wharton.

The bicycle-lighting experiment was part of an Energy Project
between the Tobin School and an Armenian School in Cambridge’s sister
city, Yerevan. While the United States consumes very high levels of
electricity, Armenia has been forced to conserve due to a severely
restricted supply. Eighth-grade students are exchanging questions
over the Internet, and will compare their personal consumption and
sources of energy. To learn more, visit the Project’s Web site a

More calculations were necessary to decide which bulb was
preferred because a fluorescent bulb can cost twice as much as an
incandescent. But the expense of the extra electricity to light the
incandescent far exceeded the fluorescent bulb’s initial cost.
Compact fluorescent bulbs save between $10 and $15 per year in energy
costs, and their bulbs last five to 10 times longer than standard
incandescent bulbs.

Elke also explained fluorescent bulbs currently contain mercury,
a toxin. The solution to not poisoning the landfill is to recycle
fluorescent bulbs. Cambridge accepts fluorescent light bulbs and
other mercury devices for recycling at the Public Works drop-off
center, 147 Hampshire St., Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 7:30 p.m.
and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
From: Baghdasarian

Reaping and Writing
By EDWARD WYATT; Compiled by Lawrence Van Gelder

The New York Times
November 10, 2004 Wednesday
Late Edition – Final

Four novelists, two poets and two writers of nonfiction have been
chosen by the Lannan Foundation of Santa Fe, N.M., to receive $925,000
in literary awards and fellowships for their work. The poet W.S. Merwin
will receive the foundation’s lifetime achievement award, carrying
a $200,000 prize. Three literary awards of $125,000 each will go to
Rikki Ducornet, a novelist in residence at the University of Denver
and author of ”Gazelle,” a novel set in Cairo in the 1950’s (Alfred
A. Knopf, 2003); Peter Reading, a British poet; and Luis Alberto Urrea,
for his nonfiction work, including ”The Devil’s Highway” (Little,
Brown, 2004), an account of a group of Mexican men who died in the
desert while crossing illegally from Mexico into the United States
in 2001. The Lannan Foundation also awarded literary fellowships to
Edwidge Danticat, above, a novelist and author of ”The Dew Breaker”
(Knopf, 2004); Thomas Frank, a social critic and author of ”What’s the
Matter With Kansas?” (Metropolitan, 2004); Mavis Gallant, the Canadian
novelist and short-story writer; Micheline Aharonian Marcom, born in
Saudi Arabia and author of ”The Daydreaming Boy” (Riverhead, 2004),
a novel about a survivor of Turkey’s Armenian massacres; and Rebecca
Seiferle, the author of three books of poetry, including ”Bitters”
(Copper Canyon Press, 2001). EDWARD WYATT
From: Baghdasarian

Book probes Ocalan affair

‘The Kurdish Trap’ offers fascinating insights and lessons to
politicians on both sides of Aegean

Kathimerini, Athens (English Edition)
11-09-2004

By Burak Bekdil

The book is still fresh on bookstore shelves in Turkey, but it’s already a
best seller. “The Kurdish Trap” not only gives the reader the most detailed
insight so far on an episode the Turks recall with quite a lot of pride,
but
also offers an excellent narrative of how the Aegean neighbors wisely
avoided the most recent unpleasant chapter in their history.

“The Kurdish Trap” is the odyssey of Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the
outlawed
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), now in solitary confinement in a military
prison, between Oct. 1, 1998, when his days in his Damascus safe haven were
numbered, and Feb. 15, 1999, when he was delivered by American agents to
Turkish special forces at Nairobi airport – after he was “deported” from
the
Greek Embassy in the Kenyan capital.

The book’s author is Murat Yetkin, one of Turkey’s most prominent
journalists and presently Ankara bureau chief for Radikal, a daily
newspaper
many people view as Turkey’s “Guardian.” For “The Kurdish Trap,” Mr Yetkin
interviewed American diplomats and intelligence officers as well as
Turkey’s
top government, military and intelligence officials who were in office
during the PKK leader’s forced journey across three continents. His
revelations are stunning in many ways.

On Sept. 30, 1998, a day before President Suleyman Demirel was to make his
annual speech in Parliament, his foreign-policy advisers came up with a
speech text that, as the president had ordered them to do, contained a
warning to Syria not to harbor Ocalan any longer. Having read the text, Mr
Demirel looked bitterly at his advisers and said: “Make it tougher.
Threaten
Syria.”

President Demirel’s speech on Oct. 1 was the beginning of a new and very
tense chapter between Ankara and Damascus. In his speech the president
bitterly reminded the Assad regime of the 30,000 dead, and openly said
Syria
should either stop harboring the man responsible for the bloodshed or
suffer
the consequences. Twelve days later, Army Commander General Atilla Ates
echoed the threat in a military tone. Turkey would begin reinforcing its
troops bordering Syria, then launched military exercises in the eastern
Mediterranean, and, eventually, began a hot pursuit after the PKK
terrorists
infiltrating Turkish territory from across the Syrian border. Operational
plans showed the first Turkish troops would set foot in Damascus in 8-12
days. The choice belonged to President Hafez al-Assad.

After increased pressure from Ankara and Washington, and intensive
diplomatic efforts from Egypt and Iran – both of which thought a military
confrontation in the region was against their interests – Assad, much
sooner
than Turkey expected, agreed to stop sheltering Ocalan.

Ocalan was put on a plane en route to Athens. That was the beginning of
trouble for the PASOK government. Prime Minister Costas Simitis, reportedly
despite objections from Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, ordered
Ocalan’s
immediate deportation from Greek territory. After a breathtaking diplomatic
confrontation between Turkey, Italy and Russia, Ocalan ended up in Athens
briefly, and later in Corfu before, once again on orders from Mr
Simitis, he
was packed into a Falcon 900 and, carrying a false Cyprus passport under
the
name of Lazaros Mavros, sent to Kenya until the Americans decided it was
time to deliver him to the Turks. Most of the odyssey is in the public
domain. But “The Kurdish Trap” reveals many details not known before.

New findings

For example, the book tells of contacts between the PKK, which it refers to
as the “unwanted baby of the Kurdish problem” and a bunch of PASOK members
led by Costas Badouvas in the 1990s. A photo in the book shows Mr Badouvas
discussing with Ocalan, over a map, possible energy routes via Turkey. It
cannot be a coincidence, Mr Yetkin argues, that the Armenian killing
machine, ASALA, which murdered dozens of Turkish diplomats in the ’70s and
early ’80s, was dismantled in 1983-84, the same year as the PKK took the
stage.

Mr Yetkin reveals that the Turkish secret services had attempted to
assassinate Ocalan at his Damascus home in the mid-1990s, but the effort
failed when a ton of explosives blew out a whole street when Ocalan was not
at home. Most interestingly, Mr Yetkin claims the Turkish secret services
had also attempted to kill Admiral Adonis Naksakis, a Greek naval
intelligence officer, shortly after his meeting with Ocalan at Lebanon’s
Bika Valley, once home to thousands of PKK gunmen. It’s a funny story:

“Yesil, a code name for a Kurdish hit man often used by the Turkish
services
and now on a wanted list, had been tasked with assassinating Admiral
Naksakis. He went to Athens for the job with a team of his own. When they
ended up driving in the wrong direction on a one-way Athens street, they
were caught by the Greek police, interrogated under detention for a few
days, but then released without revealing their true mission in Athens.” Mr
Yetkin says a Turkish intelligence officer confirmed the story.

According to the book, Turkish intelligence was also behind a series of
explosions on the Greek mainland and islands, in retaliation for the
alleged
Greek support for the PKK’s campaign in the 1990s to set Turkish forests
ablaze.

But throughout the whole episode Prime Minister Simitis was very determined
to stay away from trouble. In his defense in court, Ocalan recalls his
first
landing in Athens: “My arrival in Athens was the product of our contacts
with Badouvas. I had asked (the Greeks) 10 times whether the circumstances
for my arrival were appropriate. The answer was positive each time. At the
airport, I saw (Greek intelligence chief) Haralambos Stavrakakis and
(another intelligence officer) Savvas Kalenderidis. They were in a state of
panic. They threatened me: Unless I left Athens by 5 p.m. the same day I
would be forced to do so. Badouvas never showed up.” Ocalan’s next stop was
Russia, where he stayed at Vladimir Zhrinovsky’s house until Ankara
convinced Moscow that Ocalan had to be deported.

Ocalan further reveals the “Greek connection.”

“…We once bought scores of Russian-made ground-to-air missiles from
Serbia
through funds collected in Greece and under guidance of the Greek secret
services.”

But during those days Turkey’s primary target was Italy, where Ocalan
stayed
for 66 days amid massive Turkish protests. The book claims that the Turkish
secret services were so frustrated by the Italian behavior over Ocalan that
they put together an assassination plot against him in Rome. But instead,
they made a wiser move. The book says the intelligence chiefs in Ankara
told
of their plan to the CIA’s local station chief and “requested the American
service’s assistance in neutralizing the Italians when the attempt was
to be
made.”

That move, according to Mr Yetkin, convinced the Americans that the Turks
had become so crazy and obsessed with Ocalan that they could do anything
insane to get him. Something truly crazy might have caused turmoil in
Turkey’s
ties with the Western world, and that was entirely against American
interests. That was the beginning of the end for Ocalan.

After Italy’s communist prime minister, Massimo D’Alema, could no longer
resist the pressure, Ocalan went to Russia once again on Jan. 16, 1999. A
very hot potato unwanted by every country, even Armenia, due to increased
Turkish-American pressure, Ocalan had to spend nine days in Tadzhikistan,
then went to St Petersburg, and finally to Athens again. At the time, Mr
Simitis’s differences with Mr Pangalos over Ocalan were deepening.

On one occasion, according to unidentified sources referred to by Mr
Yetkin,
when Mr Pangalos discussed with Mr Simitis the issue of possible political
asylum for Ocalan, the Greek prime minister said bluntly: “You are not to
meet with (Ocalan). And that person will leave this country at once.”

These were the conditions Ocalan was put aboard a plane heading first for
Minsk, then back to Athens, and on to Corfu when head of the Turkish
intelligence, Senkal Atasagun sent a fax message to his Greek counterpart,
Mr Stavrakakis, saying: “We know where Ocalan is. This is going to cause a
lot of trouble between Turkey and Greece.” Mr Simitis once again called Mr
Pangalos: Finish off this business.

Ocalan’s days at the residence of the Greek ambassador to Nairobi, Giorgios
Kostoulas, ended in a way that is known to more or less everyone. But the
breakthrough, according to Mr Yetkin, came up on Feb. 4 when the CIA’s
station chief in Ankara called Mr Atasagun and gave him the good news:
President Bill Clinton had endorsed Ocalan’s capture by the American agents
and his delivery to the Turks on condition of a “fair trial and no capital
punishment.” The Kurdish trap was finally beginning to work. Under pressure
from Kenyan authorities, his own government and the Americans, Ambassador
Kostoulas convinced Ocalan that he would be put aboard a plane heading for
The Hague. Hoping to be boarding a Dutch plane, Ocalan instead found
Turkish
agents greeting him: “Welcome to your homeland!”

No doubt, Mr Yetkin’s book will be much debated. But its contents are a
valuable lesson to politicians across the Aegean.

PHOTO CAPTION: Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan (c) is flanked by
masked Turkish agents as he is flown from Kenya to Turkey in February 1999.
From: Baghdasarian

Azeri foreign ministry says visas not to be issued to Armenian MPs

Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
8 Nov 04

[Presenter in studio] The names of Armenian MPs who are expected to
attend the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Rose-Roth seminar due in
Baku on 26-28 November have been revealed. However, the Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministry said today that visas would not be issued to the
representatives of the aggressor-state.

[Correspondent over archive footage] Armenia will be represented
by three deputies at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Rose-Roth
seminar in Baku. The delegation will include the chairman of the
standing parliamentary commission on defence, national security and
internal affairs, Mger Shakhgeldyan, and deputies Aleksan Karapetyan
and Artur Petrosyan.

Mger Shakhgeldyan has said that the Armenian side had already informed
the organizers of its decision. As for the issue of receiving visas to
travel to Azerbaijan, the delegation will receive the visas in Baku,
end of quote.

While the Armenians are making preparations for the visit to Baku,
there seems to be no clarity on the issue in Baku. The Foreign
Ministry has stated that since there are no diplomatic contacts
between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Armenian deputies cannot receive
the visas in Baku. The Defence Ministry, in turn, has said that it has
nothing to do with the Armenian MPs’ possible visit to Baku. According
to the head of the ministry’s press service, Ramiz Malikov, since
this seminar is being organized by NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly,
all organizational issues are being dealt with by the Milli Maclis
[parliament], end of quote.

However, the Milli Maclis seems reluctant to comment on the issue. In
fact, the parliament’s press service does not even know the names of
the deputies expected to represent Armenia at the seminar.

Meanwhile, the Karabakh Liberation Organization has accused the Milli
Maclis administration of creating suitable conditions for the Armenian
deputies’ visit to Baku. The organization sees the recent signing
of a document in Paris by speaker Murtuz Alasgarov to form a joint
working group with Armenia as a betrayal of national interests. It
said it would prevent the Armenian MPs from visiting Baku.

Vusala Karimova, “Son Xabar”.
From: Baghdasarian

ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano
November 7, 2004

AZERBAIGIAN: LEZIONI DI TOLLERANZA DA PAESE SCIITA / ANSA

DIVERSE RELIGIONI MA UNICO OBIETTIVO: LO SVILUPPO ECONOMICO

BAKU

(dell’inviato Alberto Zanconato).

(ANSA) – BAKU, 7 NOV – Un insolito Ramadan quello che si
celebra in questi giorni in Azerbaigian. Nonostante sia questo
un Paese musulmano – e l’unico oltre all’Iran quasi totalmente
sciita – l’impressione che si ricava da un giro per il centro di
Baku e’ quella di una citta’ laica. Pochissime le donne velate,
ristoranti e bar frequentati anche nelle ore diurne (quelle del
digiuno), vodka, vini georgiani e azeri serviti generosamente.

Eppure, assicurano molti abitanti della capitale, il digiuno
viene osservato da oltre meta’ della popolazione. Ma cio’ senza
ostentazioni, in un Paese dal governo laico dove i musulmani,
che sono il 93 per cento, i Cristiani ortodossi e gli ebrei,
ridotti a poche migliaia, coabitano senza tensioni reciproche.

Lo conferma l’ambasciatore italiano a Baku, Margherita
Costa. “Sono ottime – sottolinea la diplomatica – le relazioni
tra lo sceicco dei musulmani, Allahshukur Pasmazadeh, il
patriarca ortodosso Aleksandr, la guida spirituale degli ebrei
Semion Isiilov e il capo della comunita’ cattolica, il salesiano
Ian Kaplan”.

“E’ vero – dice Nargis, 25 anni, che lavora per l’ufficio
relazioni estere del Museo della Citta’ vecchia della capitale,
un gioiello di architettura medievale – molti giovani oggi si
rivolgono all’Islam, studiando con attenzione le fonti, alla
ricerca di radici che sembravano dimenticate. E forse a
digiunare per il Ramadan sono fino al 65 per cento degli azeri.
Ma questa e’ una libera scelta, non un’imposizione”.

La voglia di riscoprire queste radici sembra giustificata, se
si pensa che proprio dalle regioni azere, nel sedicesimo secolo,
nacque la dinastia dei Safavidi, fondata dallo Shah Ismail,
destinata a convertire alla religione sciita lo stesso Iran.

Ma anziche l’ ‘hejab’ l’abbigliamento islamico obbligatorio
per legge in Iran, alle donne di Baku piace di piu’ sfoggiare
nelle strade vestiti di marche italiane. Intanto la vodka scorre
nei bar del centro, nei negozi i salumi sono esposti in vetrina
con le sole avvertenze di ‘halal’ (permesso dall’Islam, cioe
non di carne suina) o ‘haram’ (proibito) e sulle bancarelle per
i turisti i cimeli dell’era sovietica fanno mostra di se
accanto ai ‘taspi’, rosari musulmani per la preghiera.

L’Azerbaigian e’ terra di antiche tradizioni religiose.
Queste lande, gia’ considerate il sito del biblico Giardino
dell’Eden, sono state meta di parte della diaspora ebraica,
hanno visto il passaggio del profeta Zarathustra e poi la
cristianizzazione, prima appunto dell’affermazione della Shia
islamica. Ma con il regime sovietico hanno anche testimoniato
una tra le piu’ crude repressioni anti-religiose. Negli anni ’30
furono abbattuti alcuni dei monumenti sciiti piu’ sacri, il
mausoleo di Bibi, sorella dell’ottavo Imam, e la cattedrale
Alexander Nevsky di Baku.

La moschea di Bibi e’ stata la prima ad essere ricostruita
nell’intera ex Unione Sovietica, negli anni ’90, e l’allora
presidente Gheidar Aliyev, padre dell’indipendenza e difensore
della laicita’ dello Stato, decise personalmente di finanziare
uno dei minareti.

L’Azerbaigian di oggi, ammesso dal 2001 nel Consiglio
d’Europa con l’obiettivo di entrare un giorno nell’Unione
europea e nella Nato, si presenta come un Paese non toccato
dalle tensioni religiose che si fanno drammaticamente sentire ai
confini caucasici e, a sud, in Iraq e Medio oriente. Anche la
guerra con la cristiana Armenia dei primi anni ’90 per il
Nagorno Karabakh ebbe poco a che fare con la religione. Una
prova ne e’ il fatto che il grande vicino sciita, l’Iran, fu
accusato da Baku di sostenere proprio le truppe di Erevan.
Nonostante le rassicurazioni del presidente iraniano Mohammad
Khatami, il quale visitando quest’anno Baku ha detto che Teheran
considera “la sicurezza dell’Azerbaigian importante tanto
quanto la propria”, le relazioni non sono migliorate di molto.
A renderle ostili e’ la disputa ancora aperta per la spartizione
delle acque del Caspio (e il petrolio sotto il fondo di questo
mare) a 13 anni dalla caduta dell’Urss, oltre ai timori di
Teheran – condivisi dalla Russia – per un possibile arrivo di
truppe americane nel vicino Paese.

Tra le prime preoccupazioni del presidente Ilham Aliyev –
succeduto al padre Gheidar nelle elezioni dell’ottobre 2003 – e
quella di prevenire attriti religiosi che possano mettere a
rischio il rilancio dell’economia resa possibile dal petrolio. E
finora c’e riuscito. Tensioni politiche vi sono. Lo dimostrano
le condanne fino a cinque anni di reclusione inflitte nei giorni
scorsi a sette leader dell’opposizione per la loro
partecipazione, lo scorso anno, a manifestazioni di protesta per
l’elezione del nuovo presidente, che provocarono un morto e
quasi 200 feriti. E cio’ dopo che osservatori occidentali
avevano messo in dubbio la regolarita’ della consultazione.
Ma la religione, almeno per ora, resta fuori da tutto questo.
(ANSA).
From: Baghdasarian