Author: Chmshkian Vicken

ILHAM ALIYEV’S STATEMENTS – PECULIAR WAY OF SELF-AFFIRMATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.12.2006 13:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "We are accustomed to Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev’s aggressive public statements on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement. Most likely, it is a peculiar way of self-affirmation
and compensation of diffidence," RA President’s Spokesman Victor
Soghomonian told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words, "Aliyev’s
statements made in Nakhichevan on December 21 were tactless, in
addition." "We regret that with inheriting his father’s office the
Azeri President failed to inherit his wisdom. Wrangle is not the
business of Presidents," Soghomonian said.

Earlier Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said that "Armenian authorities
make ridiculous provocative statement and artificially drag out
the negotiation process." "Nagorno Karabakh will never be rendered
independence, their statements are false," Aliyev said.

RF STATE DUMA: CIS MEMBER STATES’ JOINING NATO CONFLICTS WITH THEIR STRATEGIC INTERESTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.12.2006 17:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "The Commonwealth of Independent States meets the
interests of all its members and the international community. It
has potential for development and cooperation in all directions,"
says the statement issued by the Russian State Duma today.

The parliamentarians underscore that ‘peacekeeping operation for
rescuing human lives and ensuring of human rights in conflict zones
were successfully carried out within the CIS framework.’ They also
drew attention to the growth of the CSTO’s authority and efficiency
of cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The deputies remark that ‘development of integration forces in the
CIS meets serious opposition of various outer forces not interested
in formation of a strong integration union, a rival in the world
market and political arena.’ The Duma deputies are convinced that
‘membership in NATO of any CIS member state conflicts with the highest
strategic interests of these states and wish of the peoples.’ The
State Duma expresses its negative attitude to NATO enlargement to the
East considering it ‘contradicting to the interests of international
security.’

"15 years that followed the CIS formation were the years of serious
ordeals and sometimes disappointments. However the CIS has not lost
importance. This commonwealth can consolidate positions in the world
politics and economy via mutually beneficial and equal cooperation,"
the statement says, reports ITAR-TASS.

IRANIAN BUT NOT ARMENIAN GAS PIPELINE TO OPEN IN THE NEW YEAR

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 19 2006

The Iran-Armenia gas pipeline is ready but there are problems which
will delay the official opening appointed on December 20. At least
this is what the Armenian government had stated, meanwhile a member
of this government Vardan Oskanyan is stating that the Iranian party
did not test the gas pipeline, and the opening will be when the test
of complete. Vardan Oskanyan stated this in a news conference on
December 19 at the Friday Club.

The Armenian foreign minister, who returned from Iran yesterday, says
the opening of the gas pipeline will be delayed until the Iranian New
Year. It means that the gas pipeline will not be opened till March
because the new year is celebrated in March in Iran. He says there
are no talks over the engagement of a third party in the management
of the pipeline, and the Iranian party has announced for a number of
times that its approval is necessary, showing that they disagree to
the involvement of a third party. In this case, the third is Russia,
which has already stated for a number of times about taking up the
management of the pipeline.

"The involvement of ARG is concerned, not the involvement of Russia.

As far as I know, there is no decision yet, and I informed the Iranian
party, however, it is possible that the most logical decision will be
made," says Vardan Oskanyan about the fate of the gas pipeline. And
the most logical decision, according to Vardan Oskanyan, is that ARG
takes up the management of the gas pipeline.

"In Armenia ARG deals with everything that concerns gas, it would
be pointless to set up another consortium or organization to manage
this section. This would be a natural solution, but I repeat that
there is no solution. The Iranian side is interested in any issue
regarding their supply. So, it is possible to reach an optimal, an
effective solution in the talks with the Iranian party," says the
foreign minister of Armenia.

RA CAMD TO TAKE STEPS AIMED AT SOLVING FUEL PROBLEM AT ZVARTBOTS AIRPORT

Noyan Tapan
Dec 19 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Civial Aviation Main
Department (CAMD) must take appropriate steps to regulate relations
with the aviation fuel filling services at Zvartnots Airport. The
RA State Commission on Protection of Economic Competition made this
decision at the December 19 sitting, taking into account several
cases of aviation fuel lack this year. According to the commission,
Zvartnots’ manager – the company Armenia International Airports (AIA)
is obliged to carry out and guarantee natural and constant provision of
aviation services. However, the company’s lawyer Armen Ter-Tachatian
said that by the concessional agreement signed with the Armenian
government, the company does not bear responsibility for lack of
fuel. For this reason the commission assigned the RA CAMD to apply to
the Armenian government with a proposal to make respective amendments
in the concessional agreement. In the words of the Commission Chairman
Ashot Shahnazarian, the story about aviation fuel lack is a "myth",
and all this is done to protect the importer’s interests.

Otherwise, according to him, Armenian International Airports would
announce an ninternational tender for purchase of fuel from other
companies, which has not been done so far.

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway

The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief

========================================== =======

Tuesday 19 December 2006
UZBEKISTAN: GOVERNMENT TRIES TO DENY RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REALITY

Uzbekistan increasingly claims that it is a country of religious
tolerance, where religious freedom is respected, Forum 18 News Service
notes. This is despite the state TV company’s attacks on religious
tolerance and religious freedom, the persecution of independent Muslims,
Protestants and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and tight restrictions on members of
other communities. In an echo of Soviet-era practice, religious leaders
have increasingly been co-opted to support false claims of religious
freedom. A "non-governmental" opinion poll centre has claimed that it has
carried out a poll proving that "only" 3.9 percent of respondents had said
their religious rights are restricted in Uzbekistan. Marat Hajimuhamedov,
who was involved in the survey, laughed and declined to comment when Forum
18 asked him how the survey accorded with religious believers’ experience
of police raids, fines, imprisonment and harassment of religious
communities.

UZBEKISTAN: GOVERNMENT TRIES TO DENY RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REALITY

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <;

While independent Muslims, Protestants and Jehovah’s Witnesses face
persecution and members of other religious communities face tight
government-imposed restrictions, the Uzbek authorities are stepping up
efforts to promote their spurious claims that Uzbekistan has a
religiously-tolerant government that respects religious freedom. Forum 18
News Service notes that – in an echo of Soviet-era practice – religious
leaders have increasingly been brought in by the government to help
promote this message.

These efforts come against a backdrop of increasing government control
over all aspects of religious life. Among recent developments, the
authorities in the Andijan [Andijon] region have instituted a new ban on
the Muslim call to prayer from mosques, another court has ordered
confiscated Christian literature to be burned and the government’s
Religious Affairs Committee has banned the Jehovah’s Witnesses from
importing Bibles (see forthcoming F18News article).

To help promote the government’s image of a country that respects
religious freedom, the results of an opinion poll allegedly carried out
across Uzbekistan by the Ijtimoiy Fikr (Social Opinion) centre were widely
distributed in the official media on 13 December under the headline
"Religious rights in Uzbekistan are respected – poll". The report was
carried by the websites of various Uzbek Embassies, such as those in
Germany and Israel. Ijtimoiy Fikr is a government-founded
"non-governmental" opinion poll centre in the capital Tashkent led by Rano
Ubaidullaeva, a member of the Academy of Sciences.

Close observers of the polling agency’s work over recent years – who asked
not to be named – pointed out to Forum 18 that the agency is not
independent. They report that the alleged results of polls the agency
publishes do not always accurately reflect the results the agency gets and
on occasion the published "results" – particularly over sensitive issues –
have been fabricated.

The alleged results of the opinion poll on religion were released less
than two weeks after Uzbek national state television broadcast an
anti-Protestant and anti-Jehovah’s Witness programme entitled
"Hypocrites". The programme accused these groups of promoting drug
addiction, turning converts into zombies and wanting to promote fights
between people of different faiths. The programme interviewed a Russian
Orthodox and a Jewish representative, who both claimed that Uzbekistan
guarantees full religious freedom (see F18News 19 December 2006
< e_id=890>).

The Tashkent-based Armenian priest Fr Gevorg Vardanyan and two ethnic
Armenian leaders have also defended the Uzbek government’s record. They
described the designation of Uzbekistan by the US State Department in
November as a "Country of Particular Concern" for its violations of
religious freedom as "an injustice to which we cannot be indifferent". "To
consider Uzbekistan as a state where there are no religious freedoms," they
assert, "is a crude political demarche insulting above all those who avail
themselves of these freedoms, the ordinary believers of our country,
whether Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist or representatives of other
faiths."

The comments by the three Armenians came in their article in the
government’s Russian-language paper Narodnoe Slovo on 16 December
reporting on a service in Tashkent to commemorate the victims of the 1988
Armenian earthquake. They said nothing about the then very recent
imposition of massive fines on six Baptists, and the order by a court that
Christian literature, including copies of the Bible, should be burnt (see
F18News 27 November 2006
< e_id=877>).

In her 13 December report of the Ijtimoiy Fikr opinion poll results,
Ubaidullaeva claimed on the Ijtimoiy Fikr website that "only" 3.9 percent
of respondents had said their religious rights are restricted in
Uzbekistan. It claimed that 82 percent had said they are not, while the
remaining 14.1 percent were unable to answer.

On the website, Ijtimoiy Fikr gave no information about how many people
had been polled, where they lived or how they had been selected to ensure
they represented the wider population. Forum 18 notes that fear of
responding on a sensitive issue would also have hindered accurate polling.

However, Marat Hajimuhamedov, who heads the sociological monitoring
department at Ijtimoiy Fikr and who was involved in the survey, told Forum
18 that more than 1,700 adults were surveyed in face-to-face interviews
across Uzbekistan at the end of November and the beginning of December.
"Everything was done according to international survey standards," he
insisted to Forum 18 from Tashkent on 19 December. He said the sample was
weighted for age and geographical location.

Hajimuhamedov told Forum 18 that respondents did not give their names but
had to give their addresses to allow verification of the results. He
insisted that his centre guarantees the secrecy of responses and that
respondents would therefore have no reason not to give accurate answers.
He did not explain how this matches the reports of a wide range of
respected human rights and media organisations, including Forum 18, which
point to a pattern of widespread control and repression used by the Uzbek
government against its own citizens.

He insisted to Forum 18 that the results of the question as to whether
respondents are able to practice their faith freely are accurate. "The
rights of believers are respected here in Uzbekistan," he maintained. "The
overwhelming majority of the population – more than 90 percent – will tell
you that." Asked how that accords with religious believers’ experience of
police raids, fines, imprisonment and harassment of religious communities,
he laughed and declined any comment.

On its website, the polling group also claimed that 22 percent of Muslims
have been able to make the haj pilgrimage to Mecca in the fifteen years
since Uzbekistan became independent, an unlikely claim given that in
recent years the government has allowed only about 4,000 Muslims to
conduct the haj each year. For this year’s haj which is about to begin,
the Uzbek government has allowed only 5,000 pilgrims to travel compared to
Uzbekistan’s quota from the Saudi authorities of some 25,000 (see F18News 7
December 2006 < 884>).

However, Hajimuhamedov told Forum 18 that the question – put only to the
90 percent or so of respondents who identified themselves as Muslim –
actually asked whether they or members of their immediate family had been
on the haj. He was unable to explain why an inaccurate impression had been
given in the website report or how even then such a high percentage could
respond positively, given the tight government restrictions on pilgrim
numbers.

Forum 18 notes that, in what has become customary practice, the
widely-distributed report of Ijtimoiy Fikr’s alleged findings and the
"Hypocrites" television programmes both spoke repeatedly of religious
freedom and religious extremism and violence in the same breath,
establishing in viewers’ and readers’ minds that religion is a dangerous
force that the government is right to control and restrict.

One Tashkent-based Protestant – who declined to be identified for fear of
reprisals – regards the "Hypocrites" programme as part of an increased
anti-Protestant and anti-Jehovah’s Witness campaign that began in 2005.
The Protestant cited the instructions from the Tashkent city mayor’s
office in December 2005 to check up on all aspects of religious
communities’ life (see F18News 11 January 2006
< e_id=714>). "Commissions from
the architect’s office, fire department and all manner of agencies came to
each church," the Protestant recalled. "Sometimes officials came openly,
sometimes secretly." The Deputy Head of the city administration at that
time claimed to Forum 18 that "there is no campaign against religious
believers."

Also part of the campaign were orders to heads of schools and institutes
in spring 2006 to investigate the religious affiliation and practice of
staff and students, a campaign stepped up in the new academic year in
September. Yet again, Uzbekistan repeated its claim that members of
religious faiths "freely practice their faith." Forum 18 has itself been
accused of trying "at every opportunity to accuse Uzbekistan without
foundation of repressing believers." (see F18News 28 November 2006
< e_id=878>).

The Protestant said the campaign was stepped up in summer and autumn of
this year, with police raids, the closure of churches and the expulsion of
foreigners connected with or accused of being connected with religious
communities (see F18News 10 October 2006

< le_id=852>). The latest foreign
humanitarian aid group to be accused of being a front for missionaries is
the US-based Northwest Medical Teams International. The government
press-uz.info website accused the group on 28 November of tax-evasion and
cooperating with aid groups that have been fined or closed down for
allegedly proselytising among the population.

Unlike foreign Muslims, Protestants and Jehovah’s Witnesses who have faced
deportation for working with local religious communities at their
invitation (see eg. F18News 6 September 2006
< e_id=838>), the Russian
Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian Apostolic and Jewish faiths can use foreign
clergy.

Andrei Kuraev, a Moscow-based deacon of the Russian Orthodox Church, says
he has faced no problems visiting Uzbekistan twice this year and speaking
in churches and the Orthodox seminary in Tashkent, as well as in
universities and other institutions. "The only conditions came not from
Uzbek officials but from our bishop [Metropolitan Vladimir (Ikim) of
Tashkent], who said I should not use the word ‘mission’ and should not
criticise Islam," he told Forum 18 on 18 December. "I gave all my lectures
wearing my vestments. Of course I had to inform the authorities in advance
where I was going and what I would say."

Deacon Kuraev believes it was a "political decision" to allow him to come
to Uzbekistan and speak, while Russian, Ukrainian, American and Korean
Protestants have been expelled for doing the same. (END)

For a personal commentary by a Muslim scholar, advocating religious
freedom for all faiths as the best antidote to Islamic religious extremism
in Uzbekistan, see < 338>.

For more background, see Forum 18’s Uzbekistan religious freedom survey at
< id=777>.

For an analysis of whether the May 2005 Andijan events changed state
religious policy in the year following, see
< _id=778>. For an outline of
what is known about Akramia itself, see
< _id=586>, and for a May 2005
analysis of what happened in Andijan see
< _id=567>.

A survey of the religious freedom decline in the eastern part of the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) area is at
< id=806>, and of religious
intolerance in Central Asia is at
< id=815>.

A printer-friendly map of Uzbekistan is available at
< s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=uzbeki& gt;.
(END)

© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News

Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at

–Boundary_(ID_DeJ6wTD 7/+6C5QKbLPSAOA)–

US SUPPORT FOR STUDENT EXCHANGE DISAPPOINTS GREEK CYPRIOTS
By Selcuk Gultasli, Brussels

Zaman, Turkey
Dec 14 2006

The Greek Cypriot administration, while trying hard in Brussels to
sabotage Turkey’s EU bid, also launched a campaign in San Diego to
deepen the isolation of Turkish Cypriots.

The Greek lobby, which had initiated a campaign to cancel the student
exchange program between the University of California-San Diego (UCSD)
and the Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) in Turkish Cyprus,
lost round one, but seems determined to continue its efforts.

Following extensive pressure from the Greek Cypriot embassy and the
Greek lobby, UCSD initiated an investigation into the exchange program,
but at a Dec. 6 meeting decided to continue the program.

However, a separate meeting will be convened in late January to
finalize the decision.

While the Greek lobby was seeking the support of two U.S. Democratic
senators to freeze the program, U.S. State Department Deputy
Undersecretary Matt Bryza stepped in to back the student exchange
program. Bryza’s letter to UCSD reportedly affected the university’s
decision to continue the program.

Despite the heavy influence of the Armenian-backed Greek lobby,
both the United States and university administrations favored the
continuation of the initiative.

ARGENTINEAN SENATE APPROVES THE LAW ON APRIL 24

ArmRadio.am
14.12.2006 11:50

Thirteen days after the adoption of the law on the Armenian Genocide by
Parliament, the Argentinean Senate confirmed in unanimity, Wednesday,
the law of April 24 "Day of action for tolerance and respect between
the people." By this unanimous vote, Argentina recognizes officially
the reality of the Armenian Genocide (1915-1923) by the Ottoman Empire,
Jean Eckian informs from France.

Present in the enclosure of the Senate during the vote, Armenian
ambassador, S.E. Vladimir Karmirshalyan declared: " I share the joy and
the pride with present people, all community and all Armenia. Argentina
showed, once again, its devotion to the respect of human rights and
its serious comprehension of the aspirations of the Armenian people
". The law should be promulgated soon by the Argentinean President.

EU SUMMIT WILL NOT AVOID TURKISH QUESTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.12.2006 16:17 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A two-day meeting of the European Union opens in
Brussels December 14. Though the EU Foreign Ministers already found a
compromise on Turkey-EU negotiations, the discussion of that subject
will be continued on the level of Prime ministers.

Commenting on EU’s decision to halt the negotiations with Turkey on
its membership bid German Chancellor Angela Merkhel stated, "I hope
the Turkish side will understand: we are not talking about toughening
the conditions for Turkey to enter the European Union. We just say:
those things, which were not implemented but should be implemented
before membership, will have its consequences."

It is worth reminding that the Turkish authorities did not fulfill
Brussels’s demand to open a port and an airport for the Republic of
Cyprus. This step would mean an indirect acknowledgment of the republic
by Ankara. In the light of upcoming parliamentary elections in Turkey
in 2007 it would mean political death for Erdogan’s government. The
Turkish Prime minister called Brussels’s decision ‘too tough’, which
do not correspond to the level of relations reached by Turkey and the
European Union last year. "We were treated unfair, though we performed
good will. The split in ‘Cypriot problem’ will lead to the worsening
of bilateral relations. Instead the Greek Cypriots and Greece will
win and they use this fact very well," Erdogan stated.

Despite the interruption in negotiations, Ankara declared that the
course of reforms necessary to enter the EU will be continued. The
European Union welcomed this approach: even those states, which
are standing in tough positions on Turkey, are not interested in
estrangement of Ankara from Brussels.

At the same time Brussels refuses to mention concrete schedule
for Turkey’s membership: The European Union needs to ‘swallow’ the
upcoming adjournment of Romania and Bulgaria. And Croatia already
stands on the threshold. Up till now, after the negotiations were
partially frozen with Ankara, Zagreb occupied the place of number one
candidate. Croatia does not hide that wants to become an EU member
already in 2009, reports Deutsche Welle.

OSCE CIO’S STATEMENT DISREGARDS HISTORICAL EVENT FOR NKR PEOPLE

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.12.2006 15:13 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The statement by OSCE Chairman-in-Office Karel
De Gucht is an open disregard for an event carrying historical
importance for the people of Karabakh – the constitutional referendum,
RA President’s Spokesman Victor Soghomonyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter. In his words, such attitude can undermine the trust in
the OSCE and the Minsk Group. "The best thing they could do is to
keep silent. We are forced to state that comments of the kind do not
promote the peaceful settlement process.

The NKR citizens have made their choice in favor of freedom
and independence, as it was 15 years ago, during the previous
referendum. The choice that doesn’t need to be recognized by a European
official," he underscored.

ANKARA REJECTS NAGORNO-KARABAKH REFERENDUM

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Dec 12 2006

Turkey said on Monday that it would not recognize the outcome of a
referendum backing independence in the breakaway Azerbaijani region
of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry, in a written statement, said that
Ankara learned that Azerbaijan’s disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh
overwhelmingly voted in favor of its first controversial constitution
while ignoring international laws and the expectations of international
society.

The statement underlined that Ankara does not recognize the
independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, neither the "referendum" nor its
outcome, while condemning the development.

The statement said that people in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region under
the occupation of Armenia, live as refugees and in prison-like
conditions. The Foreign Ministry described the development as a new
violation of Azerbaijan’s political unity, sovereignty and territorial
integrity by Armenia.

The statement also underlined that the referendum move ignored
co-constructive efforts at peaceful conflict resolution that were
implemented under the Minsk Group in the European Security and
Cooperation Organization (OSCE).

In related news, the European Union said that it would not recognize
the outcome of a referendum backing independence in the breakaway
Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh.