Author: Chatinian Lara

PanARMENIAN.Net

Circumstances surrounding Armenian Genocide resolution press for passage
16.02.2007 13:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Bipartisan support for the adoption
of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.106,
continues to grow, with new cosponsors joining this
measure over the past week from Colorado, Georgia,
Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, and Texas, reported the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). The
resolution is identical to legislation introduced in
the previous session of Congress, which was
overwhelmingly approved in the International Relations
Committee (now called the Foreign Affairs Committee),
only to be blocked from final passage by the House
leadership. "The circumstances surrounding this
resolution’s reintroduction – namely the continued
heavy-handed pressure by the Turkish government
against any mention of the Armenian Genocide – clearly
speak to the pressing need for the passage of the
Armenian Genocide Resolution," said ANCA Executive
Director Aram Hamparian.

In another related development, Rep. Frank Pallone, in
a February 13th statement on the House floor,
condemned Turkish government threats to cut off U.S.
supply routes to American troops serving in Iraq if
the Armenian Genocide legislation is even considered
by Congress. Rep. Pallone stressed that, "such a
brazen threat to interfere in U.S. military operations
is absolutely unacceptable. I am outraged that the
Turkish government would put the lives of soldiers at
risk in the pursuit of its desperate campaign to deny
the systematic slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians.
This extremist behavior is known as blackmail and it
should be publicly and forcefully rejected as such.
Clearly, Turkey is no friend of the U.S."

UPHOLDING THE LAW, NOT BREAKING IT
By Fazile Zahir

Asia Times, HongKong
Feb 14 2007

FETHIYE, Turkey – Most police forces pride themselves on their
reputations for toughness, and the Turkish police are no exception.

The unfortunate film Midnight Express gave them an image (at least in
the mind of foreigners) as merciless torturers, but this exaggerates
the truth of most police officers’ behavior. They are, however,
heavy-handed and often rude.

Most Turks are weary of dealings with the police – certainly most
believe that if they are arrested they will probably be subjected to
some level of brutality either during or after the arrest. Yet times
and attitudes are changing, both among the public and the police
themselves.

The recent assassination of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink has brought
some of these changes to the attention of the public.

Increasingly, senior police officers are being asked to be accountable
for their own and their force’s actions. Immediately after the arrest
of Samast Ogun, 17, Dink’s alleged assassin, by Trabzon police, the
head of security in that region, Resat Altay, was withdrawn from the
province by the central government.

Trabzon is the same province where another youth, this one 16,
murdered a Catholic priest last year, and it appears that the state
believes once is a mistake but twice is just plain careless. In a
statement to the press prepared by the Ministry of the Interior, it
was announced that two inspectors were being sent to the province to
carry out a wide-ranging investigation, including looking into whether
the security and police forces made mistakes or were neglectful.

The announcement has caused serious discontent among other heads of
police forces. At the annual conference of security personnel held
in Ankara on January 27, they chose to speak out, describing Resat
Altay’s recall seriously unfair. They said they were unhappy at the
influence of politics on police forces and believed they were being
undermined by political interference. The head of security forces in
Afyon, Natik Canca, said: "Attacks on the police have gone up … in
2004 there were 6,100 attacks, in 2005 this increased to 7,030 and
in 2006 this figure was 9,650 … despite the number of assaults and
incidences of abuse, no one is doing anything to protect us. It’s
very depressing that we often have to let these people walk free."

The chief of police in Artvin, Necmettin Emre, felt that the
incidents were caused by the new low status that the police were
being given. "We’re not ordinary civil servants, and yet each year the
public prosecutor gives an account of me to the provincial governor –
he gives me a report card – and this demeans me." His comments were
supported by the views of the Mersin police head, Suleyman Ekizer. "How
dare anyone prepare a report on the head of security?"

The provincial governor of Trabzon, Huseyin Yavuzdemir, is already
quite sure whom the blame for the assassination lies with: the European
Union. He complained that new laws mean police can no longer tail
suspicious people as they have previously. Now, he grumbled, they
have to get permission from the judiciary before they can carry out
surveillance operations. "We are not allowed to discomfort people
anymore."

Similar comments were made anonymously at the Ankara security
conference, where one chief policemen told newspapers, "The new
‘European’ measures have tied our hands. We are like uniformed
mannequins now – people commit crimes while looking us right in the
eye." The same law-enforcement officer also said the power to stop
and search has been reduced, warrants to confiscate possessions made
harder to obtain, and surveillance methods severely curtailed as a
result of increasing European harmonization.

These are not the only changes. Increasingly people are prepared to
complain about their treatment while in the hands of the police.

Since 2002, citizens have had the right to bring court cases against
those arms of the state that they accuse of abusing them, and in the
past four years, 115 cases seeking restitution from the Ministry of
the Interior have come to court.

In 29 cases the verdict was against the ministry, which has had to pay
750,000 liras (US$536,000) in compensation. Thirty-five cases were
dismissed from court, and 51 are still ongoing. Although individual
accountability is still largely unknown, the Ministry of the Interior
may lead the way in this matter. Fed up with the compensation it has
had to pay out, the ministry is prosecuting three staff members it
holds responsible for creating the circumstances of the successful
cases.

According to statistics published at the end of 2006 by the General
Directorate of Security (head of all police forces), it is apparent
that it is still very difficult to take successful action against
individual police officers. In 2005, 181 police officers had cases
of alleged torture and abuse brought against them – only 35 of these
cases are still continuing; the others fell apart. In the first nine
months of 2006, the number of court actions brought against police
officers fell to 24, and 19 were dropped for lack of evidence, while
in the other five cases the officers were acquitted. Even internal
investigations by the Ministry of the Interior, of which there were
93 in 2005 and 30 in 2006, all ended with no action taken against
the officers.

While the failure rate of proceedings against the police is still
unaccountably high, the figures (and even the assaults against the
police) indicate a new temerity among the general public. Slowly
in some quarters it is becoming understood that police authority
and police brutality can be challenged – and the police just don’t
like it. It seems that the higher up in the Turkish police force
one progresses, the more accountable one becomes, and it is hoped
that some of this new sense of responsibility will trickle down to
the lower ranks before too long. After all, the police should be
upholding the law, not breaking it themselves.

Fazile Zahir is of Turkish descent, born and brought up in London.

She moved to live in Turkey in 2005 and has been writing full-time
since then.

THE NEW TRANSCAUCASIAN RAILWAY

Spiegel Online
URL: ,1518,466159, 00.html
February 13, 2007, 04:38 PM

AN IRON SILK ROAD

Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan have signed an agreement to build a
rail corridor that they hope will eventually link Europe with Asia.

However, one country in the region — Armenia — is being left out.

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan travelled to the
Georgian capital Tbilisi last Wednesday, Feb. 7, to sign the three-way
agreement with his counterparts, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. The three agreed that
construction on the railroad would start this year and should be
finished by 2009. It will consist of a new 100-kilometer railway
line connecting the eastern Turkish city of Kars with Georgia, while
another 300 kilometers of existing track will be renovated.

The governments hope this railway will connect eventually to the
proposed Trans-Asian Rail Network, which is being supported by the
United Nations. Transport ministers from Turkey, China, Georgia,
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan met last year to discuss the project,
which could one day see passengers taking a train from London to China.

Peace and conflict in the Caucasus

The Ankara government has already forged closer ties with Georgia
and Azerbaijan — particularly for oil and gas delivery from the
Caspian Sea — with a pipeline connecting the Azerbaijani capital of
Baku with Georgia and the Mediterranean Turkish port of Ceyhan. The
former Soviet republics used to be connected by a Communist-era
Transcaucasian Railroad, which once moved millions of tons of cargo
every year; but traffic was suspended after the Iron Curtain fell.

Not everyone in the region welcomes the planned new Transcaucasian
route. The government in Armenia has criticized the decision by its
three neighbors to develop a corridor that avoids Armenia altogether.

Leaders in Yerevan say the plan deliberately ignores the old rail
link between Armenia and Turkey, which has been idle since the the
two countries cut off diplomatic ties in 1993.

Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan are not much better: The two
countries bitterly disagree over the enclave of Nagoro- Karabakh. The
mountainous territory inside Azerbaijan has been controlled by ethnic
Armenian forces since a 1994 cease-fire ended six years of fighting,
during which over 30,000 people died.

RESIDENTS OF KOZERN ARE STILL PATIENT

A1+
[04:54 pm] 12 February, 2007

The residents of Kozern district who have received the certificates
of property of their lands and houses were gathered opposite the RA
President’s residence in order to support their neighbors who weren’t
given certificates without any apparent reason.

"We will be united, the way we used to be", said the residents of the
district. About 70 residents have already received certificates. All of
them had come to participate in the protest action, ready to renounce
the certificates for the sake of their neighbors.

Today’s action was a peaceful one: its participants had come without
posters, and left without noise. The reason was that 15 days ago they
demanded a meeting with the President. Today they arrived to learn
the day and time of the meeting. Head of the letter department of
the RA President Aida Asatryan told that that the meeting will take
place on February 14.

(ALMOST) ALL ABOARD
by Rovshan Ismayilov

Transitions Online, Czech Republic
Feb 12 2007

Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey ink a deal for a regional railroad
that bypasses Armenia. From EurasiaNet.

First, it was energy; now, transportation. The
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway project, run by Azerbaijan,
Georgia, and Turkey, is strengthening a sense of regional cooperation
in the South Caucasus.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan met in Tbilisi on 7 February with Georgian President
Mikheil Saakashvili to sign a framework agreement on the project,
which will link Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Georgia via a 258-kilometer-
(160-mile-) long railway. The agreement must then be submitted to
the Azerbaijani, Turkish, and Georgian parliaments for ratification.

The railroad, 14 years in the making, has been touted as the shortest
route for commercial traffic between Asia and Europe. Some observers
have forecast that, if completed, it could become a competitor to the
Trans-Siberian Railway. Construction is scheduled to begin in June
2007, with a tentative completion date by the end of 2008, Azerbaijani
Transportation Minister Ziya Mammadov told the Azerbaijani independent
television station ANS on 18 January. A 16 January statement from
the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry predicted that the railroad "will
create conditions for the revival of the historical Silk Road and
will develop the Europe-Caucasus-Asia transport corridor," thereby
advancing "the region’s integration with Europe."

In many ways, the project is a case study in regional self-reliance.

The United States, an influential backer of such regional projects
as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the South Caucasus gas
pipeline, has declined to support the rail link because it excludes
Armenia. The European Union has expressed similar reluctance.

Instead, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Georgia have looked to themselves
to cover the $600 million in estimated costs. "The U.S. can issue any
decisions it wants, but there will be no problems with financing the
project," commented Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili on
10 January, the Azerbaijani news agency Trend reported. "There are
other sources."

One of those sources is Azerbaijan. At a 13 January meeting in Tbilisi,
the three sides agreed that Azerbaijan will loan Georgia $200 million
for the construction of a 29-kilometer stretch of the railroad through
Georgian territory and for the reconstruction of existing sections
of Georgian railways that the new line will use.

Georgia will pay an annual interest rate of just 1 percent on the
25-year loan, according to Georgian Economic Development Minister
Giorgi Arveladze. The Georgian government has already approved
the proposed terms for the loan and expects a final agreement with
Azerbaijan to be signed soon, Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli has said.

The agreement comes on the heels of a gas deal between Georgia and
Azerbaijan that the government in Tbilisi hopes will allow it to
replace higher-priced Russian gas with gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah
Deniz field.

Turkey also plays a key role in this assistance scheme. At a 7 February
joint press conference in Tbilisi with Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey would try by July
to funnel 800 million cubic meters from its share of Shah Deniz gas
to Georgia. Saakashvili, however, told reporters that Georgia would
receive Turkey’s gas "as soon as Shah Deniz is put into operation,"
adding that Azerbaijani gas supplies are expected to steadily increase.

The agreements underline Azerbaijan’s growing importance for Georgia.

To highlight that significance, part of the embankment of the Mtkvari
River in central Tbilisi was renamed during the summit to commemorate
the late President Heydar Aliyev, father of the current Azerbaijani
leader.

Some opposition members in Georgia have questioned this relationship.

Analysts in Baku say that the railway deal’s long-term advantages for
Azerbaijan justify the cost of footing the bill for construction of
Georgia’s section of the railway.

"The project has significant importance for Azerbaijan. It will
be the final link for providing Azerbaijan with a transportation
corridor to Europe," said Inglab Akhmadov, an economics expert
and the director of the Public Finance Monitoring Center. "The oil
and gas routes already exist, and construction of the railroad to
Europe, bypassing Armenia and Russia, will complete the process for
Azerbaijan." (The Public Finance Monitoring Center is funded by the
Open Society Institute. EurasiaNet.org operates under the auspices
of the Open Society Institute in New York.)

The profitability of Baku’s Caspian Sea port and the Azerbaijani State
Railroad will also increase, noted independent political analyst
Rasim Musabekov, who argued that the project is more important for
Azerbaijan than for Georgia.

"The length of the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railroad on
Azerbaijan’s territory is much longer than on Georgian territory,
so Azerbaijan’s railroad will make a greater profit on tariffs," he
said. Plus, a key strategic benefit also exists: "For the first time,
Azerbaijan will get direct railroad access to its most important
ally, Turkey."

GETTING FUNDING ON TRACK

Although Azerbaijan’s booming energy sector has so far allowed
it to play benefactor to its poorer neighbor, Georgia, Baku has
kept a sharp eye on potential sources of outside financing for the
project, as well. China, which has a growing interest in Central
Asian energy sources, has featured among these sources. An official
in Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry told EurasiaNet that Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov tried to convince China to support
the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway project during a visit to Beijing in
the spring of 2005. "However, while China’s leadership stated its
interest in an alternative route for railway traffic to Europe,
they politely refused to finance the project," said the source,
who asked not to be named.

Meanwhile, other sources of financing remain trapped in a tightly
intertwined circle of conditions. While the United States does
not exclude the possibility of its active support for the project
in the future, it insists on Armenia’s inclusion. With the Bush
administration’s support, the U.S. Congress in 2006 banned any
government funding for the railway for this reason.

"We’d love to get to that point when the railroad from Turkey to
Baku could transit Armenia," commented U.S. Assistant Secretary of
State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza in a 9 January
interview with the Azerbaijani state-run news agency, AzerTag. While
the United States does not oppose the project, he continued, "We hope
there’ll be [a] time soon when the transit scheme will embrace all
of the countries."

After long expressing opposition to the project, Armenia itself,
however, has announced that it is ready to sign on. But only on
one key condition – the opening of Turkey’s border with the South
Caucasus state. (The border was closed in 1993, following Armenia’s
support for the breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh.)
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted Armenian Deputy Foreign
Minister Gegam Garibjanian as saying on 18 January that his country
could join the project by reopening a section of railway that runs
from the Turkish town of Kars to Akhalkalaki in Georgia via Armenia
"the day after the border between Armenia and Turkey is opened." Such
a section could significantly reduce transportation costs.

But Azerbaijan has its conditions, too. Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev has stated that Armenia’s participation in the project
"is not possible" until the country ends its support for the ethnic
Armenian leadership of the self-declared Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh,
a breakaway region of Azerbaijan.

"Until Armenia liberates the occupied Azerbaijani territories
[Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjoining regions] all transportation
projects will bypass this country," Aliyev said at a 22 January
government meeting in Baku. "The countries and organizations that
support Armenia and speak out against the project will fail," he added.

Ongoing negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan over
Nagorno-Karabakh give no indication that that condition may soon be
met or softened. However, other project partners have softened or
otherwise changed participation conditions over time.

Georgia for years hesitated to join the railway project, first
demanding compensation for any economic losses related to the new
railway that its two Black Sea ports, Batumi and Poti, would sustain.

Both Turkey and Azerbaijan refused such a pay-out. But, after the
imposition of a transportation blockade by Russia in 2006, Georgia
reconsidered.

"We have to support this project amidst the economic blockade
of Georgia from the North," Economic Development Minister Giorgi
Arveladze said on 17 January, in an oblique reference to Russia. "It
[the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku project] will be a very important
transportation corridor for us."

That corridor could prove particularly significant for the Caspian
Sea region’s oil industry, noted Akif Mustafayev, the Azerbaijani
representative to TRASECA, a regional transportation program backed
by the European Union. Already, oil and oil-related products are
projected to make up most of the railway’s freight, noted Mustafayev,
who predicted that freight could equal at least 20 million tons in
the first year of operation.

Train-ferry connections already exist between Baku and fellow energy
giants Kazakhstan (from Aktau) and Turkmenistan (from Turkmenbashi).

With the completion of a railway link under the Bosporus by 2008,
transportation times to Europe could be reduced still further.

"It may encourage foreign investors to construct new oil refineries in
the region and to export to the European markets not just crude oil,
but more expensive oil products," Mustafayev said.

Turkey first proposed the project in 1993 as it looked for ways to
increase its influence in the South Caucasus after the collapse of the
Soviet Union. However, a protocol on the project was signed by Turkey,
Georgia, and Azerbaijan only in 2004. Feasibility studies began that
year. In May 2005, the presidents of the three countries reaffirmed
their support for the railway with a formal declaration in Baku.

Rovshan Ismayilov is a freelance journalist based in Baku. This is
a partner post from EurasiaNet.

Official optimistic about Armenia-Iran railway project

Arminfo
9 Feb 07

Yerevan, 9 February: The construction of the Iran-Armenia railway
would create new possibilities for the development of economic
relations between the two countries, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister
Arman Kirakosyan told a news conference at the national press club
today.

Asked about the possibility of the construction of this railway,
Kirakosyan said that there are real grounds for this and that the
issue is being discussed. "There is no clear programme. But there is
a desire of both sides," Kirakosyan noted. He said that the issue of
the railway construction had been discussed during Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan’s visit to Tehran in 2006.

Responding a question about the USA’s possible attack against Iran and
Armenia’s position in this regard, Kirakosyan voiced his hope that
events would not develop this way. "We hope that the situation will be
resolved through diplomatic efforts," Kirakosyan noted.

It must be noted that a representative of the White House stated
yesterday that the USA does not intend to attack Iran.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT APPROVES NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY

Mediamax news agency
8 Feb 07

Yerevan, 8 February: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan signed
a decree endorsing the country’s strategy of national security on
7 February.

The national security strategy was approved at a sitting of the
National Security Council under the Armenian president on 26 January
2007, the presidential press service has told Mediamax.

The basic values of the national security of the Republic of Armenia
were mentioned in the document. These values are independence,
the security of the state and the people, peace and international
cooperation and well-being.

The document also specifies the main factors guaranteeing the
implementation of the country’s national security strategy: the
effectiveness of the state management system, the supremacy of
law, the strengthening of democratic values, the impartiality and
independence of the judiciary, the fighting efficiency of the armed
forces, the effectiveness of the security and law-enforcement bodies,
foreign policy that ensures effective international cooperation,
and social justice.

The national security strategy may be amended depending on the domestic
and international situation and the change of threats and challenges.

JEWS READ 40 DAYS OF MOUNT MUSA

Panorama.am
17:31 08/02/2007

"The Jewish lobby is strong. It is considered the strongest in
America. They never supported us openly," Arpy Vardanyan, regional
office head of the Armenian Assembly of American (AAA), told reporters
today. In her words, despite of meeting with Jewish community leaders,
Jewish lobby does not support the Armenians in the discussion on
the Armenian Cause. Moreover, Vardanyan believes Jews support Turkey
and Azerbaijan.

She said Jews recognize the fact of the Armenian genocide but refuse
to officially recognize it because the issue is politicized. Vardanyan
said she has personally learned during her visit to Israel that a
reading from "40 days of mount Musa" is part of school curriculum in
that country.

RA DEFENSE MINISTRY SHOULD BECOME MORE CIVILIAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.02.2007 17:47 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The seminar titled "Military reform in Armenia:
providing of Defense Ministry with civil personnel and introduction
of amendments in the law On Defense" has been successfully completed,
RA Deputy Defense Minister, lieutenant general Artur Aghabekyan said
in Yerevan today. In his words, an action plan on the armed forces
reform was elaborated. "We concluded that the RA Defense Ministry
should become more civilian. To do this it’s necessary to divide the
functions of the Ministry itself and the General Staff, which is a
military structure presently.

Reformation of the law On Defense is a priority task for
Armenia. Proceeding from the discussions held we can issue a new
law that would answer the demands of the state that has chosen a
democratic path of development," the he said.

The general lieutenant also noted that this year Armenia will take
part in more than 100 NATO-initiated events. Another seminar with
participation of experts of the George C. Marshall Fund will be held
in late 2007.

MATTHEW BRYZA: "NO DEEP DISCREPANCY EXISTS BETWEEN THE PARTIES"

Today, Azerbaijan
Feb 7 2007

Co-chairs of the OSCE Minks Group Matthew Bryza (US) and Bernard
Fassier (France), mediators in the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, will meet in the framework
of International Energy conference in Paris next week.

Commenting on the Minsk Group’s activity, the US co-chair approved
the mediating activity, APA reports.

"The settlement of the conflict needs political will. The situation is
not complicated but, the schedule is intensive because of the upcoming
elections in Armenia this year. It is welcoming that democracy is
developing and elections are held in both countries. I feel that the
problem will be solved but I can not say when. I feel very optimistic
regarding the settlement of the conflict, but I can not solve it
alone. We expect the Presidents to prepare their communities for this
process. Our duty is to help the parties to hold negotiations through
stages," Mr.Bryza said.

The US co-chair also said Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers
will meet in several weeks, but the co-chairs are not going to visit
the region soon.

Commenting on applying Kosovo variant to the settlement of Nagorno
Karabakh conflict, the co-chair said each conflict has its specific
features, so any settlement can not be applied as a model.

"There exist some elements for the solution of the discrepancy
concerning the core principles. I think, we have achieved progress to
some extent, no deep discrepancy exists between the parties," he said.

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