Author: Ekmekjian Janet

A1 Plus | 17:31:16 | 12-05-2004 | Politics |
EUROPEAN UNION LAYING CLAIMS TO “POLITBURO”
European Parliament member, Swede Pier Garthon has today referred
to the recent statement of President Robert Kocharyan that Council
of Europe is not a “Politburo”, so it is not obligatory to fulfill
its demands.
“Of course, CE is not a “Politburo”. But European Union is closer to
be the Political Bureau. The organization has the right to command
to its member-states over various issues”, Garthon said.
Garthon had decided that Armenia must learn this to finally clarify
– whether it wishes to join EU or not. In response to it Armenian
Parliament Vice-Speaker Tigran Torosyan stated European integration
for Armenia is beyond alternative.
Armenia is the CE member for 3 years whereas projects are made and
versions are discussed on how Armenia can join EU, too.
“Wider Europe” program gives Armenia that chance. An attempt will be
made to enroll South Caucasus, too.
During presentation of “Wider Europe” program Pier Garthon made an
interesting statement. It turns European Union “doors” will be open for
3 South Caucasus states – Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan only in case
that Turkey joins EU, too. “Turkey’s participation is a precondition or
else South Caucasus participation in the program won’t be discussed”.
Pier Garthon states Turkey doesn’t yet meet all the EU requests but
it “improves”. Turkey is demanded to recognize the Armenian Genocide
and to cease blockade against Armenia to become an EU member.
“European Union won’t accept a state with local or regional conflicts.
Cyprus was a bad precedent and we won’t make the same mistake again”,
Garthon says.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
May 11 2004
MEETING OF SHEIKH UL-ISLAM WITH US AMBASSADOR TO AZERBAIJAN
[May 11, 2004, 22:52:35]
On May 11, Chairman of the Clerical Office of Caucasus Moslem, Sheikh
ul-Islam Haji Allahshukur Pashazadeh has met in his residence the
plenipotentiary ambassador of the USA to Azerbaijan Reno Harnish on
his request.
During the meeting passed in friendly conditions, discussed were
questions of political situation in the world, in particular, the
attitude towards Islam in the USA after the events on 11 September.
Mr. Reno Harnish has emphasized that between terrorism and the
Islam there is no connection. In Iraq, the USA conducts war against
political opponents, but not against the Islam. The ambassador has
reminded that in 1993 the United States rescued Moslems in Kosovo.
The diplomat has presented to the Sheikh ul-Islam A. Pashazadeh the
brochures issued in the USA in the Azerbaijan and Russian languages
where it is stated that 5 million Moslems in the USA take part in all
spheres of political life of the country. They are equal in rights
members of our society, R. Harnish underlined.
Sheikh Haji Allahshukur Pashazadeh has noted that after the 11
September events, Azerbaijan has declared one of the first that
is against terrorism and has offered assistance in combat against
this evil.
The head of Caucasus Moslems has informed the visitor on work which is
carried out by this structure, about his trip to Teheran where there
passed conference in which representatives of various faiths from
90 countries of the world took part. Religious figures spoke about
necessity in common to solve sharp conflicts, but not by sword, and
peacefully. It was pleasant to note, that the example of tolerance
and wide experience of peaceful co-existence among various faiths
had been named Azerbaijan. It is the true course of our national
leader Heydar Aliyev, successfully continued by his successor –
the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.
Speaking about the conflicts existing in the world, the parties
have expressed confidence for quick peace settlement of the Nagorny
Karabakh conflict.
Then, the US ambassador Reno Harnish and the head of Caucasus Moslems
Clerical Office Sheikh ul-Islam Haji Allahshukur Pashazadeh have
continued conversation in private.
In conclusion, of R. Harnish and A. Pashazadeh have answered questions
of journalists.

EURASIA INSIGHT May 11, 2004
ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT, OPPOSITION DECLARE SHAKY TRUCE
Emil Danielyan: 5/10/04
Armenia’s leadership and its political opponents have begun talks to resolve
their bitter confrontation over the rule of President Robert Kocharian. The
move has brought a temporary lull to the month-long political crisis sparked
by the opposition’s attempt to remove Kocharian from office.
The negotiations are taking place amidst a 10-day moratorium imposed by the
country’s two main opposition groups on the anti-government rallies which
have been held in the capital, Yerevan, since the beginning of April. [For
background see the EurasiaNet Insight archive]. The alliance and the
National Unity Party (AMK) state that the protests were suspended to give
the government time to stop its crackdown on protest participants and
opposition supporters. The moratorium will expire on May 14.
Talks between leaders of Justice and the AMK and the three pro-Kocharian
parties making up Armenia’s coalition government began on May 6 and will
continue this week. The participants have issued a brief statement saying
that they agree on “the need to create a new situation in the country” and
have approved a long list of issues to be discussed during the dialogue.
But so far, few local analysts expect the dialogue to yield an agreement to
compromise. The opposition and government remain far apart on the key issue
driving their dispute — the legitimacy of Robert Kocharian’s presidency.
The opposition maintains that Kocharian rigged last year’s presidential
election to win a second term in office and is therefore “illegitimate.” His
loyalists deny the charges, saying that widespread fraud reported by
international observers was not serious enough to affect the election
outcome.
The long-standing opposition demand for a “referendum of confidence” in
Kocharian — one of the main issues to be discussed in the talks —
illustrates this divide.
This idea was first floated by Armenia’s Constitutional Court in the wake of
the February-March 2003 presidential ballot and has since been heavily
exploited by the opposition. Kocharian and his loyalists have categorically
rejected it as unconstitutional. In parliament earlier this year, they
refused all discussion of the issue. Kocharian’s supporters now say they are
ready to discuss the measure’s “legality,” while indicating they will not
agree to hold the proposed referendum. “If the opposition continues to
insist on the referendum, no dialogue will be possible,” a leader of the
governing Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Armen Rustamian, said this past
weekend.
The opposition, on the other hand, says a regime change “without upheavals”
must be the basis of the crisis talks. “Our view remains the same: Robert
Kocharian must either resign or be dismissed or we will hold a kind of
referendum of confidence together with you,” Justice’s Albert Bazeyan told
thousands of supporters as they rallied in Yerevan on May 4.
Both sides are keen to show that they are following the recommendations made
by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). In a
resolution on the political situation in Armenia adopted on April 28, the
PACE urged the government and opposition to embark on a “dialogue without
preconditions.” As the Yerevan daily “Haykakan Zhamanak” commented, neither
Armenian authorities nor their foes want to appear the recalcitrant party in
the eyes of the Strasbourg-based, pan-European organization.
Each of the parties has interpreted the PACE resolution as vindicating its
own position in the standoff. The presidential camp argues that the document
did not endorse the referendum of confidence and made clear that the 2003
election irregularities “did not decisively change the outcome of the
elections nor invalidate their final results.”
The opposition, for its part, points to the PACE’s threat to impose
sanctions on Armenia if it fails to lift “unjustified restrictions” on
peaceful demonstrations, release individuals detained for their
participation in the anti-Kocharian rallies and investigate the “human
rights abuses alleged against the Kocharian government. The resolution
mandates that Armenian authorities report back to the European parliament by
June about the status of their investigations and prosecutions of those
found responsible for violation of citizens’ rights.
Since the campaign of street protests began on April 7, hundreds of
opposition activists and their supporters nationwide have reportedly been
harassed, detained and jailed. The crackdown was strongly condemned by Human
Rights Watch last week. “The Armenian government is repeating the same sorts
of abuses that called into question the legitimacy of last year’s election
and sparked the protests in the first place,” Rachel Denber, acting
executive director of HRW’s New Europe and Central Asia division, said in a
May 4 statement. “The cycle of repression must end.”
In a separate 21-page report, the New York-based watchdog group provided a
detailed account of the “mass arrest and police violence against opposition
supporters.” It singled out the brutal break-up of an opposition rally on
Yerevan’s Marshal Baghramian Avenue leading to Kocharian’s residence on the
night from April 12-13. Riot police used water cannons, stun grenades and,
according to some witnesses, electric-shock equipment to disperse the crowd
of between 2,000 and 3,000 protesters. The police arrested and seriously
injured at least 115 people and ransacked the offices of the three main
opposition parties, the report states.
Despite the PACE and HRW criticisms, the authorities last week continued to
arrest dozens of participants in unsanctioned protests and to sentence some
of them to up to 15 days in prison under Armenia’s Soviet-era Code of
Administrative Offenses. They also restricted provincial residents’ access
to Yerevan ahead of a May 4 opposition rally, effectively ignoring the PACE
demand to “guarantee freedom of movement inside Armenia.”
The Justice and AMK leaders have given Kocharian until May 14 to end the
crackdown and release all “political prisoners.” What they will do if those
demands are not met, though, is not yet clear. Another march towards the
presidential palace remains a possibility, even though opposition members
have twice delayed it. The postponement of the march has prompted some
commentators to conclude that their bid to emulate the Georgian experience
has already failed.
“We never intended to repeat the Georgian scenario here,” opposition leader
and former Prime Minister Aram Sarkisian, told EurasiaNet on May 4 while he
and his allies led about 10,000 people in a march towards the Armenian
police headquarters. “First of all, because Robert Kocharian is very far
from being a [deposed Georgian President Eduard] Shevardnadze in terms of
his commitment to democracy and popularity; secondly, today’s rally showed
that we are gaining momentum, not losing it.”
Even if no “decisive action” results from this week’s talks, Sarkisan said,
the opposition will press on with its protests. “What else can the people do
apart from gathering, expressing their views and holding marches?”
Editor’s Note: Emil Danielyan is a Yerevan-based journalist and political
analyst.
—

U.S. Newswire Press Releases / Yahoo News
May 7 2004
U.S. Church Leaders Press President Bush on Problems Facing Holy Land
Christians
To: National Desk and Religion Reporter
Contact: Jim Wetekam of the Churches for Middle East Peace,
202-543-4150 or [email protected]
WASHINGTON, May 7 /U.S. Newswire/ — Fifty leaders of evangelical and
mainline Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox churches and
church-related organizations in the U.S. today delivered a letter to
President Bush (news – web sites) asking for a full understanding of
“the crisis in the Holy Land confronting Christian Palestinians,
Christian institutions, and those who wish to visit the birthplace of
Christianity.”
Stating that the “churches have directed their concerns to the
Israeli government but to little avail,” the church leaders appealed
for the President’s intervention to help restore the normal
functioning of Christian institutions in Israel and the Occupied
Territories and claimed that “it is generally acknowledged that
relations of the churches and these institutions with the Israeli
government may be the worst they have ever been.”
The letter addressed the church leaders’ concerns specifically
regarding the effects of the separation barrier being constructed by
Israel, taxation issues that may force some church institutions to
close due to the removal of their longstanding tax-exempt status, and
“the denial and delay of visas, by Israel, for clergy and church
personnel result(ing) in understaffed seminaries, churches,
hospitals, education and other institutions.”
Speaking as one of the diverse group of signers, the Most Rev. Frank
T. Griswold, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, USA, said,
“Our churches, hospitals, schools, and other institutions are
important visible expressions of our faith’s concern for humanity.
While they serve Christians and non-Christians alike, they are also
expressions of our Christian heritage and its many contributions to
the region.”
Another signer, Brother Robert Schieler, Provincial for the De La
Salle Christian Brothers who administer Bethlehem University,
emphasized the destructive effects of the separation barrier on
Christian and Palestinian populations: “Even if the barrier is
intended for security, it has had the very real effects of separating
students and faculty from their classrooms, families from one
another, farmers from their fields, and Christian worshippers from
their churches.”
In the letter to President Bush, the church leaders observe, “We find
it difficult to be assured by your description on April 14 of the
barrier as ‘temporary’ in light of Israel’s plans to extend the
barrier far beyond the 1967 Green Line, encompassing on the Israeli
side those large West Bank settlements that you implied would remain
part of Israel.”
Speaking of Bethlehem particularly, Bro. Schieler noted, “The barrier
and checkpoints are now cutting off Christians in Bethlehem from
Jerusalem just a few miles away. I wonder if U.S. Christians who
visit Bethlehem as tourists know that many of their Christian
brothers and sisters who live and work and worship where Jesus was
born are not able to travel just a few miles to Jerusalem to where
Jesus died and was risen. Unfortunately, most American Christians
remain woefully uninformed about what is happening in the very land
where Jesus walked.”
Letter signers included the heads of many Catholic orders and
organizations in the United States; the General Secretary of the
National Council of Churches; the Presiding Bishops and leaders of
many denominations, such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America, Presbyterian Church (USA), Reformed Church in America; and
Armenian Church of America; evangelical leaders including Leighton
Ford, Robert Seiple, and Ron Sider; the heads of relief and
development agencies such as World Vision, Catholic Relief Services,
Church World Service, and the Mennonite Central Committee; and many
others. The complete text of the letter and list of signers is
available at
The signers, while specifically raising the concerns of church
institutions and Palestinian Christians, stated clearly that they “do
not mean to minimize the suffering of Muslims and Jews.” The letter
ended by imploring the President to assist all Muslims, Jews, and
Christians in the Holy Land, stating, “your help is needed as a force
for peacemaking that builds bridges to a new and hopeful future.”
Bishop Griswold summarized, “We believe that our institutions provide
services that are essential to bringing hope to people in need and
thus to our shared goal of two states, with secure borders, and able
to live in peace, one with the other.”

Hometown Dispute: Family faces displacement over residency status
May 7, 2004
By Julia Hakobyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Levon Galstyan’s family are not refugees of war, but of natural
disaster. They are Armenians who escaped Gyumri on December 9, 1988,
two days after earthquake ruined their home. The “Corncob”.
They came to Yerevan, where they moved into a landmark of the capital, the
“Corncob” building, officially known as Yerevan Youth Palace.
As aggressions intensified between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Karabakh,
hundreds of Armenians from Azerbaijan also moved into the hostel.
These 15 years later, the building, home for all the time to the Galystans
as well as the refugees, has been privatized. Twenty-nine refugee families
were paid between $5,000 and $10,000 to move out.
The Galstyans have gotten nothing. The three-member family says it faces
being homeless, unless an arbitration court finds them qualified to be paid
a displacement allotment relevant to real estate prices in Yerevan.
Authorities say the Galstyans must move back to Gyumri and apply for housing
there.
“We lived in Yerevan for 15 years and we have jobs here,” Levon Galstyan
says. “We will have no job and no home in Gyumri. All that we want is
compensation. It is not human to compensate all residents except us. If we
don’t have the refugee status it does not mean that we have to end up in the
street.”
The director of insolvency issues for the Youth Palace, Levon Hovanisyan,
says the Galstyans needn’t worry about being homeless, but should move back
to Gyumri, where they would be eligible for housing under earthquake relief
assistance programs.
“No one is going to move them out to the street. It is not that they have no
place to go. The problem is that they do not want to leave Yerevan,”
Hovanisyan says. “Other families from Gyumri agreed to take certificates and
leave. There is no law saying that if a person has lived in some city for
several years and has a job in that city he has the rights to have residency
pretensions.”
Levon, 43, his sister Susanna, 50, and their 83-year old mother lived in No.
310 of the Youth Palace. On weekends Levon, a musician by education, sells
the paintings of his brother who lives in Gyumri. Susanna works in a
library.
“My job in Yerevan feeds my family and the family of my brother,” Levon
says. “How am I am supposed to maintain them if I lose this work?”
The Galstyans are again facing the problem of moving out.
Levon and his mother have residency permits form Gyumri. Susanna, however,
has a stamp in her passport showing that her residence is the 20-square
meter flat in the Youth Palace. Hovanisyan questions how she got the stamp
for the property, which had belonged to the Ministry of Youth and Culture.
The Galstyans argue that their registration in Gyumri would provide only
$3,000 for housing.
“We can not buy a house for $3000 neither in Yerevan nor in Gyumri,” Levon
says. (In Yerevan one room apartments sell for an average of $7,000).
“Besides I have already checked that there are more than 2,000 families in
Gyumri, having acquired a housing certificate, cannot find an appropriate
house, . My brother, too, got the certificate after the earthquake but he
could not find a house and lives now in domik (temporary housing) in
Gyumri.”
The Galstyans’ appeal is currently being heard in court. Levon says the
family is not optimistic of a settlement in its favor.
“The family was suggested to take an apartment for four months free of
charge until they find the house by their certificate, but they refuse” says
Karine Petrosyan, the arbitration judge.
The family’s property is stored in the corridor of the hotel while they try
to maintain living in their unit.
The building, which includes a 500-bed hotel, a 1,200-seat concert hall,
gymnasiums and recording studios, was sold in January for about $740,000 to
Avantgarde Motor Company, distributors for Daimler Chrysler. The company
says it intends to spend $5 million on renovation, but will maintain the
building’s unique design.

A1 Plus | 17:28:18 | 05-05-2004 | Politics |
PENDING JUSTICE
On Wednesday, Court of Appeal continued considering the first instance court
‘s decision, under which general-lieutenant Vagharshak Harutyunyan, who has
been charged with three counts of attempting a coup, making seditious calls
and making insulting remarks toward the authorities, will remain kept in
preliminary detention facilities while awaiting trial.
The Appeal Court upheld the first instance court decision.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
April 28 2004
ECONOMIC IMPACT OF EU ENLARGEMENT TO BE DISCUSSED IN WARSAW SUMMIT
[April 28, 2004, 11:11:06]
As was informed by AzerTAj correspondent, representatives from 45
countries – and thousands of anti-globalization demonstrators – are
expected in the Polish capital from Wednesday, for a 3-day summit
devoted to the economic impact of the European Union’s May 1
enlargement.
Organized by the Davos, Switzerland based World Economic Forum; the
European Economic Summit is expected to gather 20 presidents and
prime ministers, along with 600 other ministers, central bankers,
representatives from the EU and other international organizations,
and 50 companies including Boeing, Hewlett Packard and IBM.
“The meeting will give the opportunity for the representatives of
hundreds of millions of Europeans to meet with leaders from business
and from civil society to try and map out the direction of this
amazing voyage that Europe has embarked on,” World Economic Forum
Chief Executive Officer Jose Maria Figueres said in a statement.
The European Economic Summit has been held every year in Salzburg,
Austria, since 1996.
It traditionally acts as a magnet for eastern European countries
seeking to join the wealthy West, after the collapse of the communist
bloc at the end of the 1980s set them on the difficult path to
economic transformation.
This year, as an exception, the meeting is being held in Poland, the
biggest of the 10 mainly former communist bloc countries set to join
the EU on May 1, along with Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia.
While most of the leaders of the incoming countries will be in
attendance, they will be outnumbered by leaders from countries which
are not joining the EU for now, with for some, like Albania, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Serbia and Montenegro,
membership being a distant prospect.
Polish police are also braced for thousands of anti-globalization
protestors, who are expected to demonstrate and hold parallel
meetings on the sidelines of the summit meeting.
Warsaw police chief Ryszard Siewierski told a recent news conference
between 3,000 and 15,000 demonstrators were expected, and that 13,500
police officers, 550 firemen, nine hospitals, 15 medical teams, 40
ambulances, a medical helicopter, as well as prosecutors,
interpreters, negotiators and psychologists would be on hand.
The Summit has posed a particular challenge for Warsaw, as it has
never been the venue of a large anti-globalization demonstration.
The summit will involve working sessions ranging from the euro and
competitiveness to the financial services market, transatlantic
relations, relations with Russia and the Caucasus and one
cutely-named “jog, eat and be happy” session.
“The program will be built on issues that affect business and policy
making, such as the immediate impact of enlargement on current EU
states and new member countries as well as the impact the new EU will
have on world affairs,” the World Economic Forum said in a statement.
“Over the past 10 years accession countries to the EU have made
ambitious economic reforms. Their biggest challenge will be to
sustain this reform effort and narrow the income gap with respect to
current members,” it said.

Interfax
April 28 2004
Azerbaijan hopes to include Kazakhstan in BTC in 2004
Astana. (Interfax) – Azerbaijan hopes that Kazakhstan will become a
participant in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project in 2004, Azerbaijani
Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov said at the forum Caspian:
Politics, Economics, Business in Astana on Wednesday.
“At the moment 34 companies from 16 countries are participating in
transport projects in the Caspian region. Azerbaijan considers the
Baku- Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline projects to be
the main ones,” he said.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum projects are
“necessary conditions” for the economic development of the Caspian
region and will strengthen its energy security,” he said.
He said that Azerbaijan shares the position of Kazakhstan regarding
the laying of pipelines along the Caspian seabed.
Kazakh First Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Abuseitov said at the
forum that Kazakhstan is against having to agree laying underwater
communications and pipeline in the Caspian with all of the littoral
states. These issues should be agreed with the Caspian states through
whose sectors they pass, and not with all states in the region, he
said.
Khalafov also said that the implementation of oil and gas transport
projects in the region might be hindered by the unresolved
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and the unstable political situation in
Georgia.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project will cost $3.6 billion. The future
pipeline will stretch 1,767 kilometers (443 km through Azerbaijan,
248 km through Georgia and 1,076 km through Turkey) and will have a
capacity of 50 million tonnes of oil per annum
Participants in the BTC project are: British Petroleum (30.1%), SOCAR
(25%), Unocal (8.9%), Statoil (8.71%), TPAO (6.53%), ENI (5%), Itochu
(3.4%), ConocoPhillips (2.5%), Inpex (2.5%), TotalFinaElf (5%), and
Amerada Hess (2.36%).
Kazakhstan hopes to transport 10 million – 20 million tonnes of oil
per year through the pipeline. The republic produced over 51.3
million tonnes of oil and condensate in 2003.
Construction of the 690-km Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline should begin
in the third quarter 2004. The pipeline will transport gas from the
Shah Deniz field, which has reserves of 625 billion cubic meters of
gas and 101 million tonnes of condensate.

A1 Plus | 14:40:25 | 03-05-2004 | Politics |
RALLIES HAVE NEGATIVE IMPACT ON ECONOMY
Armenian capital’s mayor Yervand Zakaryan, asked by journalists at his
Monday’s news conference why the municipality denies to authorize
opposition-staged rallies, said demonstrators bar traffic and that has
negative impact on economy.
He said the rally scheduled for May 4 would be denied authorization as well.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
May 3, 2004 Monday
Samara to host Russian-Armenian conference in mid-May
By Lyudmila Yermakova
A conference on inter-regional Russian-Armenian cooperation will be
held in Samara in the middle of May.
The head of the Federation Council Committee on the CIS, Vadim
Gustov, told Itar-Tass on Monday that the meeting had been initiated
by the upper house of the Russian parliament and the National
Assembly of Armenia.
“In conditions when the Caucasus remains a problem territory, it is
necessary to use the regional factor in order to forge relations,” he
said.
Armenian regions have signed 15 agreements with Russian regions, and
these ties need to be strengthened, the senator said.
Samara was chosen as the venue of the conference as one of the
Russian regions that cooperate with Armenia most actively.
Six Armenian governors, representatives of Russian regions, members
of the Federation Council, officials from the government and the
Foreign Ministry will arrive in Samara.
The conference will be moderated by Federation Council chairman
Sergei Mironov and Armenian National Assembly Chairman Artur
Bagdasaryan.
The Armenian delegation will visit an Armenian church and meet with
members of the local Armenian community.
A meeting of regional leaders and the co-chairmen of the
Russian-Armenian inter-governmental cooperation commission will also
be held.