Author: Chatinian Lara

OSCE MINISTERIAL MEETING’S STATEMENT ON NAGORNO KARABAKH ISSUE
By Aghavni Harutyunian

AZG Armenian Daily
07/12/2006

As a result of the Brussels sitting of the OSCE Ministerial
Council a statement on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict was adopted. In
particular, the OSCE Foreign Ministers emphasized the following: "We
are encouraged that negotiations in 2006, facilitated by the Co-Chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group and supported by the OSCE Chairman in Office,
have brought the sides closer to agreement on the basic principles for
the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, says the Statement
of Nagorno-Karabakh for the OSCE Ministerial Meeting. We welcome the
support of the leaders of the G8 to these efforts, expressed at the G8
Summit in St. Petersburg in July. We urge Presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan to redouble their efforts in the coming year to finalize
these basic principles as soon as possible. Besides, they stated that
they call on the sides, with the assistance of the international
community, to extend co- operation to conduct an environmental
operation to suppress the fires in the affected territories and to
overcome detrimental consequences. These measures can constitute
significant steps toward restoring confidence between the sides. The
OSCE is available to assist, they emphasized. They also expressed
they continuing support for the Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairman in Office and his mission to the region and particularly for
their efficient assistance to the environmental Assessment Mission
and for their ongoing monitoring of the cease-fire. "We regret that
incidents along the front lines continue occasionally to result in
loss of life on both sides to adhere strictly to the cease-fire,"
the statement stretched.

It’s worth mentioning that Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Russia,
emphasized the importance of achieving the agreement of the sides for
the settlement of the conflict, taking into account the each side’s
position in the negotiations. At the same time, Lavrov stated that the
settlement of the conflict through military actions is unacceptable and
once again emphasized the importance of peacekeeping and negotiating
formats.

TURKISH PIANIST INITIATES DAYS OF ARMENIAN MUSIC IN THE US

ArmRadio.am
06.12.2006 11:36

At the initiative of Turkish pianist Atakan Sari, in 2007 Armenian
Music Days will be held in the US. The concerts will feature "Carnet"
orchestra of New York, world-known pianist Martin Berkovski, as well
as opera singers from Armenia. Compositions by Khachatur Avetisyan
and Alan Hovhannes will be performed during the concerts. In Atakan
Sari’s wrds, it is known that the Armenian nation has a rich culture
and "it is the duty of everyone to properly present it to the world."

ART – REVIEW – MELIK OHANIAN – SOUTH LONDON GALLERY – MUSEUMS
by Martin Herbert

Time Out
December 6, 2006

Submissive audiences won’t get much out of Melik Ohanian’s art. The
French-Armenian artist demands participation both in interactive
sculptures and in video works. Like his widely shown ‘Invisible Film’
(focusing on a cine-projector that beams Peter Watkins’ once-banned
‘Punishment Park’ into a darkening desert’s blank air; we can hear the
premonitory 1971 film but not see it), this show’s 21-minute ‘Seven
Minutes Before’ plays what we see against what we know we’re missing.

Seven screens – too many to focus on at once – relay footage shot
from seven positions around a valley floor in southern France. What’s
filmed is dense, allusive, symbol-laden and rapidly changeable.

The camera pans over people playing Armenian and Japanese instruments,
caged wolves and several vehicles all rushing towards one spot –
culminating in a chain of explosions. A socio-political analogue to
the formal fragmentation is introduced earlier, when a statuesque
African man gives a lamenting monologue about the necessity of
transcending solipsism, escaping from the plane of subjectivity and
appreciating others’ needs and dreams. Allied to the dramatic finale,
this is faintly platitudinous; but only one of myriad potential
endpoints. What’s incontrovertible is that in an era whose guiding
metaphors are webs and networks, productions such as Ohanian’s
sedulously reshape montage and narrative in a manner that’s demanding,
unforgiving – and sparklingly contemporary.

CONSTRUCTION VOLUMES INCREASE BY 38.8% IN ARMENIA IN JANUARY-OCTOBER 2006 ON SAME PERIOD OF LAST YEAR

Noyan Tapan
Dec 06 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 6, NOYAN TAPAN. In January-October 2006, construction
work of 458 bln 605.7 mln drams (about 1 bln 78.6 mln USD), including
construction of production objects of 175 bln 362.9 mln drams,
was done in Armenia. The building and assembly work made 412 bln
425.7 mln drams, including that of production objects of 133 bln
879.9 mln drams. According to the RA National Statistical Service,
in January-October 2006, the construction grew by 38.8%, the building
and assembly work – by 36% on the same period of last year. In the
period under review, 4 new comprehensive schools for 700 pupils were
put into operation in Armenia. Particularly, a comprehensive school
for 200 pupils was put into operation in Artashat region with state
budget resources, and 3 comprehensive schools for 500 pupils with the
WB resources. During the indicated period, 31 comprehensive schools
were repaired, incuding 22 schools with state budget resources. In
January-October 2006, construction of 24 bln 609.8 mln drams (5.4%
of the total volume of construction in Armenia) was done in the
earthquake zone at the expense of all finance sources for construction,
restoration and repairs of residential buildings, social and production
objects, including construction of production objects of 20 bln 456.8
mln drams (11.7% of the total volume). In January-October 2006, 71 new
residential buildings of the total area of over 13 thousand sq.m. or
4.6% of the area delivered for operation in the country were put into
operation at the expense of the population’s resources in the cities
and villages hit by the earthquake. 2 new comprehensive schools for 300
pupils were put into operation in the earthquake zone with a WB loan.

SERGEY LAVROV CALLED TO CAREFUL ATTITUDE TO EXISTING FORMATS OF CONFLICT SOLUTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.12.2006 16:13 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ OSCE is still being used as a platform where
unilateral and politicized approaches are pushed forward regarding
to the well-known "frozen" conflicts, which do not have anything
in common with the real efforts to reach a lasting solution for
them. This announcement was made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov in Brussels during his speech at OSCE Foreign Ministers’
Counsel session. In his words, experience confirms: such actions only
result in growth of tension and distrust, throw back the solution
of conflicts. We should not substitute the necessity to fulfill
commitments assumed by the parties with certain reductive ideas.

"We always must follow basic principles of regional conflict
solution. Among those are respect of Helsinki Final Act, achievement
to agreements by conflicting parties, unconditional taking into
account the position of both sides, inadmissibility of hostilities,
careful attitude to the existing negotiation and peacekeeping formats,
step-by-step approach to the solution, which supposes priorities on
confidence-building measures and establishing dialog between sides;
care for the people in conflict zones not to feel isolated", pointed
out Sergey Lavrov, Russian FA Ministry press office reports.

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Dec 1 2006

NO SETTLEMENT DOCUMENT WILL BE SIGNED WITHOUT NAGORNO-KARABAKH’S
AGREEMENT

Now a shift is noted for the Nagorno Karabakh Republic to become a
party of the Karabakh talks, RA Parliament Standing Commission on
Foreign Relations Chair Armen Rustamian stated in the course of a
press a conference in Yerevan.
In his words, the issue has always been on the negotiating table.
`There are no cases in the world practice when an interested party of
the conflict does not participate in the talks. I hope the OSCE MG
will not object to NKR’s involvement in direct talks with Azerbaijan
and will do its best to that end”, Rustamyan underscored, adding
that no settlement document will be signed without NKR’s agreement.
The Parliament Commission Head noted the referendum in NKR, like
those held in the former USSR’s unrecognized republics, was very
important for the international community. `’It is people’s will,
which cannot be ignored. Returning to the territorial integrity’s
principle I will remark that for observing it the USSR needs to be
restored, as the borders of all states, on the territories of which
conflicts are available, were determined by the USSR’s administrative
division. Thus, if the state does not exist, the borders become
invalid”, Armen Rustamian said, PanARMENIAN.Net reports.

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 1 2006

ARMENIA RECOGNIZES AZERBAIJAN’S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY

The minister of defense of Armenia Serge Sargsyan told reporters on
December 1 he considers the statement that NATO recognizes the
territorial integrity of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan as normal.
`Has Armenia ever announced that it does not recognize the
territorial integrity of any country? We recognize the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan too. But we also recognize the territorial
integrity of Nagorno Karabakh because the Republic of Azerbaijan and
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic were established simultaneously, on the
basis of the laws of the Soviet Union, and Karabakh cannot be
considered part of the integrity of Azerbaijan,’ Serge Sargsyan
stated.

He also mentioned that for Armenia the recognition of the
independence of Karabakh by Azerbaijan is more important than the
international recognition of Nagorno Karabakh. `For us, the
recognition of the independence of Nagorno Karabakh is important of
all. Even if 50 countries of the world recognize the independence of
Karabakh, it is only a means, even a means of pressure, if you like
it, to make Azerbaijan recognize the independence of Karabakh. The
only and complete way of eliminating the threat of war is the
recognition of the independence of Karabakh by Azerbaijan,’ Serge
Sargsyan says.

In answer to the request to comment on the meeting of Robert
Kocharyan and Ilham Aliyev in Minsk Serge Sargsyan advised to change
the addressee. `I think it would be right to ask this question to
Kocharyan. I did not take part in the meeting. Nevertheless, both
Kocharyan and Aliyev and the foreign ministers of both countries
think it was a useful meeting,’ Serge Sargsyan says. He emphasizes
that the words useful or positive do not mean that the problem has
been solved. Serge Sargsyan thinks the resolution is rather
complicated, and in this sense there will be considerable difficulty
regarding not only the past meeting but also the future meetings.
`That is why we said the settlement of this problem will be painful
for everyone, that is why we said compromise. That is why we said if
it were easy, it would have been solved long ago,’ says the defense
minister of Armenia.

As to the settlement of the issue in 2007 and the expectations of the
co-chairs to reach agreement on the `basic principles’, the minister
of defense does not assume responsibility to say that these
expectations are realistic because he is not Nostradamus, and because
he does not know what the `basic principles’ are. `What are the basic
principles? It is not rewarding to set a definite timing regarding
this problem. It is a difficult process. It would be different if you
asked `do you expect?’ or `do you think?’. I am not Nostradamus to
say it will be in 2007 or not. I wish it, I wish it strongly,’ the
defense minister conveyed his wish to the public.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN RECEIVES AGRICULTURE MINISTER OF IRAN

AZG Armenian Daily
01/12/2006

Iran and Armenia have wide opportunities for developing bilateral
relations and fruitful cooperation in the sphere of agriculture,
Mohammad Reza Eskandari, Agriculture Minister of Iran, said at
the meeting with RA President Robert Kocharian, on Wednesday. RA
Government’s press-service informed that Mr. Eskandari highly estimated
the level of the Armenian-Iranian relations. He stated that the
agreement with RA Agriculture Ministry was signed within the framework
of Kocharian’s official visit to Iran in July 2006. Besides, he said
that the memorandum on mutual understanding will greatly contribute
to further cooperation of the two countries. The Iranian Minister
also dwelt on his experience of introducing a long-term program of
food security worked out by the Iranian Government. At the meeting,
the sides highly appreciated the economic relations between Armenia
and Iran and, particularly, emphasized the importance of extending
the interstate cooperation in the sphere of agriculture.

NGO HEAD COMPLAINS ABOUT INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS

Panorama.am
17:41 29/11/06

"2007 elections are practically over," Ruben Torosyan, head
of Human Rights-96, said in a regular meeting of Anti-criminal
movement. Torosyan has applied to become a member of the movement.

Torosyan said the upcoming elections will run smoothly. "In the
past, they broke the boxes, now they have stepped to propaganda," he
said. Moreover, there is an impression that the authorities in power
and OSCE observers have some kind of agreement between themselves. They
will come and register than everything went right, he said.

Torosyan complained that international observers came for 2 days only
during the last elections but preserved themselves the right even
to speak about advocacy. "And our observers, who conducted works for
3-4 months, were ignored," he said.

GEORGIA’S SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY
By Inga Alavidze in Tbilisi

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
Nov 30 2006

Fears grow as secret surveillance material is increasingly aired
in public.

Following the local elections in Georgia in October, the Rustavi-2
television station broadcast a compromising video of opposition Koba
Davitashvili, leader of the opposition Conservative Party.

The video, which had been shot in a restaurant in Tbilisi, apparently
showed Davitashvili promising his interlocutor a place on his party’s
election list in exchange for 20,000 US dollars.

Soon afterwards, a scandal broke out when a secret video recording
exposed corruption in the United State Fund for Social Insurance,
as a result of which top officials found themselves behind bars.

In another expose, a secret video camera installed in parliament
deputy Gia Nutsubidze’s room showed footage of him seemingly handing
over bribe to a senior education ministry official.

In the summer, an allegedly secret audio recording of a phone
conversation between fugitive paramilitary leader Emzar Kvitsiani
and opposition politician Irakly Batiashvili was the pretext for
arresting Batiashvili on charges of high treason.

These are just four instances in a long list of cases in which the
secrets of prominent people have been exposed with the help of secret
recordings, broadcast to the public.

According to the Georgian constitution, "everyone’s private life,
place of personal activity, personal records, correspondence,
communication by phone or by other technical means, as well as messages
received through technical means are inviolable. Restriction of the
aforementioned rights is permissible by a court decision or also
without such a decision in the case of urgent necessity provided for
by law".

The second part of this apparently gives license to the law enforcement
agencies to use surveillance as a weapon.

Elene Tevdoradze, a member of parliament with the ruling party and
chairwoman of the Parliament Human Rights Committee, said she thought
surveillance was justified.

"As a human rights activist, I categorically oppose the interference
in people’s personal lives," she said. "However, given the current
situation in this country, we have to tolerate a lot of things if
we want to be protected against the threats to our country. I would
like to remind you that secret recordings have been legalised in the
United States and the United Kingdom to combat terrorism effectively."

However, Tevdoradze herself admitted that she feels psychologically
uncomfortable when she talks on the phone, as someone may be tapping
her too. And lawyers and human rights activists are concerned about
both the extent and the legality of the surveillance tactics being
used."

Lawyer Malkhaz Jangirashvili said that almost all the evidence in
the criminal cases that he is currently dealing with comes from
secret recordings.

"Ninety per cent of my cases and the cases of my colleagues are
deliberately provoked, by which I mean that a tapping device is
installed and a conversation is provoked," he told IWPR. "Even neutral
conversations that have nothing to do with a crime can be regarded as
evidence. On the whole all the cases that get solved are underpinned
by this method."

Jangirashvili said that tapes are also forged and, "due to the lack of
technical means and qualified specialists, no high-quality examination
of recordings is provided".

He argues that secret tapping is widely used because of a lack of
professionalism.

"The investigation and operational service are unable to collect any
other kind of proof, as this is quite a labour-intensive process and
needs a certain level of professionalism," he said. "This is why they
take the easy path of secret recordings, as otherwise they would be
unable to solve cases."

Legal experts are also concerned about the way the secret recordings
are made public via the media. The law enforcement agencies frequently
use them as part of their publicity campaigns, with the media seemingly
having no objection to broadcasting the material.

"The media are basically working for the law enforcement agencies,"
said Republican Party leader and lawyer Tinatin Khidasheli.

"Journalists have normal channels of information closed to them but
the media allows itself to be used by the security agencies.

"For example, by making public the absolutely illegal recording
involving Koba Davitashvili, the media promoted ethnic enmity – in
the recording, Davitashvili [allegedly] used the word ‘Armenian’
in an insulting manner. This is a classic example of the lack of
professionalism. The media would have been held responsible for this
in any civilised country."

Khidasheli cited examples of hidden cameras and phone tapping also
being used in internal political battles. For example, prisons boss
Bacho Akhalaia who has a difficult relationship with the human rights
ombudsman Sozar Subari, made public a recording of an apparent phone
conversation between a representative of the ombudsman and a former
prisoner who allegedly spoke about giving a bribe to a prison guard.

Opposition parliamentary deputy Kakha Kukava says he is not against
secret recordings if they are obtained legally. "But everything that
we see on television is recorded illegally, and it is even edited in
some cases," he said.

Kukava said his main worry was that it was instilling a "fear syndrome"
amongst the public. "Many citizens who come to me as a deputy for
help are afraid to speak about their problems on the telephone,"
he told IWPR.

Eight out of ten ordinary Georgians IWPR spoke to said that they
prefer not to discuss serious issues on the phone.

"I never speak about politics on the telephone, as a serious friend
of mine warned me that all telephones are being tapped," said Maia,
a 47-year-old dentist.

"I don’t even know what’s worse – not to be able to expose one more
corrupt official or to have a constant feeling that a video eye or
a listening device is somewhere close to you," said Giga, 34.

Human rights activists and lawyers say they are also concerned
about the practice of surveillance of prisons, in violation of the
confidentiality of meetings between lawyers and prisoners. Subari
has appealed to the prison department to take down video cameras from
jail meeting rooms on the grounds that this violates Georgian law. So
far, he has met with a refusal on the grounds that the practice is
permissible under UN basic principles on the treatment of prisoners.

Georgia’s Young Lawyers’ Association has also appealed to the country’s
constitutional court to protest that the kind of surveillance
which is currently practiced by the law enforcement agencies is
unconstitutional.

The court accepted the application and has said it will answer within
six months.

Inga Alavidze works for the crime section of the 24 Hours newspaper
in Tbilisi