Author: Emil Lazarian

ARMENIAN LEADER CALLS FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION DESPITE CONFLICTS
Mediamax news agency, Yerevan
7 Jun 06
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has called for promoting
regional cooperation without waiting for the settlement of the
existing conflicts in an address to the 27th plenary session of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC)
which opened in Yerevan on 7 June.
Armenia and Azerbaijan are in the state of war and therefore economic
cooperation between the two countries is impossible, the head of
the Azerbaijani delegation to the PABSEC, Asaf Haciyev, said at a
press conference which followed the session. The Azerbaijani MP also
stressed that constant mutual insults and accusations will not lead
to the settlement of the conflict and called on the Armenian side to
do its best to resolve the problem.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AN UNSEEN VICTORY
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir.am
07 June 06
The political sphere of Armenia is always in the focus of
dissatisfaction of the public. One of the often-mentioned reasons for
this dissatisfaction is that the players on the political sphere are
not replaced. Moreover, the tools, we may even say requisites that
these figures use also remain the same. And in this general stagnation
the introduction of a new political tool, namely a finger, worked
to the bone to achieve something good, somehow passed unnoticed in
Armenia. However, the society had not managed to pay due attention
to all this, and the new tool had not become adjusted to the new
environment, when chess became involved. It is difficult to tell
whether it got mingled with politics or is going to. However, even
if it does, it is welcome, because at last a new tool appeared in
politics, which brought joy to the public.
The achievement of the Armenian chess players in Torino is simply
invaluable for a tiny country and nation such as Armenia, a nation
so tiny that any victory appears big. In fact, a real victory cannot
be small or big. A victory is a victory, and we must congratulate
the winners. However, it is highly uncertain who the winners are,
who we should congratulate, and who worked their fingers to the bone
for this victory, who checked and who mated. Whereas it is utterly
important to know in person who brought the victory, for as Serge
Sargsyan, the minister of defense of Armenia, the president of the
Chess Federation, said, “there are going to be more victories.” And we
would feel somewhat uneasy not to know who we owe in case of another
victory. At least, one thing is certain that we owe our chess players
for the Olympic gold, who remained on top all through the 13 rounds,
and did something that has not been achieved over the past 13 and
more years. It is surprising, however, that it is not the winners of
this victory who announce about future victories.
On the whole, the World Chess Olympiad had other curious aspects for
us. Particularly, it was surprising that the Minister of Defense
decided to go on holiday in a crucial home political period for
Armenia, and take up the duties of a chess federation president and
commentator. It was surprising that having a chess commentator in
Torino, who is quite professional, we could hear comments by Serge
Sargsyan from time to time. It was also surprising that the tournament,
which began and continued so successfully for us, was not televised and
all we were able to see were photos and comments. Of course, in this
sense, the victory of our chess team appeared more mysterious but why
did we miss the chance to televise this historical tournament? Is the
Olympic gold less important than the eighth place on Eurovision? Or
maybe the most important events are going to take place in Yerevan,
and it is not worthwhile to go to a lot of expense and take the camera
to Torino, wasting both the money and mystery.
It’s a pity. Whereas, we would be happy to not only hear but also
see the victory. And this victory was, in fact, worth seeing and
cheering. Who knows when it will happen next time? We were promised
new victories but we were not told in which sphere and for who.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN MET LEONIDAS CHRISANTHOPOULOS
ArmRadio.am
06.06.2006 18:10
President Robert Kocharyan received today Secretary General of
the Standing International Secretariat of the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation Organization Leonidas Chrisanthopoulos.
The interlocutors exchanged ideas about the developments in the Black
Sea region, particularly issues related to economy, security and
stability. They attached importance to developing such approaches,
which will strengthen the common aspiration for partnership.

WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY : “IRANIAN AZERIS: A GIANT MINORITY”
By Ali M. Koknar
Today, Azerbaijan
June 6 2006
Recently in Iran, tens of thousands of Iranian Azeris took to the
streets for several days of demonstrations touched off by the May 12
publication of a racist cartoon in the state-run Iran newspaper.
Iranian security forces cracked down violently on the demonstrators,
killing at least four people (Azeri nationalists claim twenty
dead), injuring forty-three, and detaining hundreds of others. These
developments indicate brewing discontent among Iran’s Azeri population
and should be studied for their implications for U.S. and Western
policy toward Tehran.
The Iranian regime’s effort to put out this ethnic brushfire by closing
the Tehran-based Iran newspaper and arresting its editor as well as
the ethnic Azeri cartoonist quickly escalated to the usual strongarm
response as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ anti-riot units
and Basij militias attacked the Azeri protesters.
Iranian security forces cracked down on tens thousands of offended
Azeris, who took to the streets in Tehran and in the major northwestern
Iranian cities such as Tabriz, Urumieh, Ardebil, Maragheh, and
Zenjan. The intelligence service launched a massive detention campaign,
rounding up relatives of Azeri Turks previously jailed for Turkish
nationalism.
The Iranian deputy interior minister for security affairs, Ali Asghar
Ahmadi, admitted that the demonstrations in Tabriz were far more
than a mere protest against a newspaper insult. In fact, there is
much resentment in Iranian Azerbaijan about the region’s economic
and social difficulties. That resentment is fed by the attitudes of
ethnic Persians toward ethnic Azeris-an attitude well captured in the
phrase “Torki khar” (Turkish donkey), used by Persians in reference
to Azeris, whom they regard as the “muscle” of the Iranian economy
to be dominated by Persian “brains”.
Azeri Turks, concentrated mainly in the oil-poor northwest of Iran
(along the border with Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan), make up
an estimated one-fourth of Iran’s population of 70 million. Azeris
often claim a population share close to 40 percent, a number that
includes ethnic brethren such as the Turkmen, Qashgais, and other
Turkic-speaking groups. Unlike other ethnic groups in Iran such as
Sunni Kurds and Arabs, the Azeri Turks are Shiites like the Persians.
Divided from their kin in Azerbaijan by the 1828 Treaty of Turkmanchai,
which gave northern Azerbaijan to Russia (that part of Azerbaijan
gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991)
and southern Azerbaijan to Iran, the Azeris’ role in the Persian
government was significantly weakened when the Pahlavi dynasty came
into power in 1925. Contact between the Azeri areas of Iran and the
Soviet Union were limited until Soviet forces occupied northern Iran
during World War II. In 1945, at Soviet instigation, an Azerbaijan
Democratic Republic was proclaimed in Iranian Azerbaijan.
It lasted only until Soviet forces withdrew a year later; in the
aftermath, some thousands of Iranian Azeris were killed.
Much as did imperial Iran, the Islamic regime has downplayed the
ethnic differences between Persians and Azeris. Despite the fact that
influential figures in the establishment, such as Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are of Azeri descent, the mullahs did not
hesitate to crack down hard on Azeri Turkish nationalism, using heavy
weapons to put down a 1981 uprising in Tabriz and summarily executing
hundreds of Azeris.
Azeris have had mixed relationships with other Iranian minorities.
Kurds, who make up around 14 percent of Iran’s population, do not have
particularly good relations with ethnic Azeris; several cities in
western Iran, such as Urumieh and Mako, are inhabited by both Kurds
and by Azeri Turks. In the last decade, the ethnic majority of the
Azeri Turks in some areas close to the border with Turkey has been
diluted by immigration of Kurds. The attitudes of the Turkic-speaking
ethnic Turkmens, who live in the part of Iran near the independent
republic of Turkmenistan, are unclear.
The last fifteen years has seen a boom in nationalist publications
for Iranian Azeris and growing interest in both Turkey and the former
Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. A considerable number of Iranian Azeris
watch Turkish television broadcasts now available via satellite;
this has increased their knowledge of Turkey as well as the Anatolian
dialect of Turkish.
This revival led to the creation of a new organization, the South
Azerbaijan National Awakening Movement (Gamoh), by literature professor
Mahmudali Chohraganli. After winning election to the Iranian parliament
in 1995, Chohraganli, whose own father was once tortured by the Shah’s
secret police for Turkish nationalism, was not allowed to take his
seat. Gamoh opposes what it calls “Persian chauvinism,” demanding
more cultural rights for Azeris, and a future Iranian government with
a federal structure resembling the United States in which Azeris can
have their own flag and parliament.
Gamoh’s proclaimed support for self-determination, secular government
and a pro-Western orientation does not sit well with Tehran. Its
apparent popularity has put Gamoh squarely on Tehran’s radar screen.
Gamoh is run as a secret organization inside Iran. Its members,
including Chohraganli, who was jailed for two years and released
in 1999 after falling seriously ill, are often jailed or harassed
by Iranian security forces. Denied visas by both the Turkish and
Azerbaijani governments, Chohraganli was allowed to travel to the
United States in 2002. In April 2005, bodies of two Gamoh members
were found floating in the Aras River, the boundary between Iran and
Azerbaijan. In September 2005, the Iranian government blamed Gamoh
for the shooting of a government official in Urumieh; Gamoh denied
involvement. In March 2006, several Gamoh members attended the Second
World Azerbaijanis Congress in Baku. Following that congress, several
Gamoh members were arrested in Tabriz, and in April the Iranian Azeri
newspaper Navid Azerbaijan was banned.
The plight of Iranian Azeris is followed closely by their kin in
Azerbaijan and Turkey. But both the Azerbaijani and Turkish governments
take care not to damage their sensitive relations with the Iranian
government. Turkey recently stopped allowing a Chicago-based Azeri
television broadcaster, Gunaz, from using its satellite link. Gunaz
is known for its virulent opposition to Iran’s Islamic regime and its
separatist attitude since it went on the air in 2005. On the other
hand, Ankara has given Chohraganli permission to visit Turkey soon,
and Gamoh has an open presence there.
Azerbaijan is also walking a fine line between sympathy for the Iranian
Azeris and its economic and political interests with the Islamic
regime. Tehran recently consented to the opening of an Azerbaijani
consulate general in Tabriz, Iran’s largest Azeri-majority city. With
annual bilateral trade volume of $600 million, Iran is a major
trading partner of and an investor in Azerbaijan; Tehran also offers
humanitarian aid to the almost one million Azerbaijanis internally
displaced from Nagorno Karabakh after Armenia occupied that part of
Azerbaijan in 1993. Yet the Azerbaijani public is largely sympathetic
to the plight of Iranian Azeris. “Baku, Tabriz, Ankara. Where are
the Persians? Here we are!” chanted the Azeri Turks in Baku this
week as they protested the brutal treatment of their ethnic kin by
Iranian security forces. Many Azeri nationalists are interested in
uniting “North” Azerbaijan (the former Soviet republic) with “South”
Azerbaijan (the Iranian provinces).
Ethnic tensions in Iran have been on the rise with unpredictable
results, involving not just Azeris but also Kurds, Arabs, and
Baluchs. The government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has only
made these problems worse.
Ali M. Koknar is the owner of AMK Risk Management, a private security
consultancy with offices in Washington, DC, and Turkey specializing
in counterterrorism and international organized crime.
/
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VISIT PROGRAM OF AGO GROUP TO VISIT AZERBAIJAN ON JUNE 13 ANNOUNCED
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 5 2006
The Ago Group from the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe
will be visiting Baku from June 13 till 14.
The group composed of ambassadors of six countries (Germany, France,
Switzerland, Sweden, Austria and Romania) is headed by Germany’s
permanent representative at the Council of Europe, Ambassador Roland
Wegener. The Committee of Ministers secretariat told APA’s Europe
bureau that the visit aims at monitoring of Azerbaijan’s compliance
with commitments it undertook when joining the Council of Europe. The
discussions will also focus on the Nagorno Garabagh conflict. Ago
Group’s main intention is to get information about the results of the
recent meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents, Ilham Aliyev
and Robert Kocharian in Bucharest. They will also focus on the issues
concerning political prisoner and election practices.
During their stay in Azerbaijan, the Group will have talks with
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, head of President’s Executive
Office Ramiz Mehdiyev, Justice Minister Fikret Mammadov as well as
parliamentary delegation to PACE, NGO representatives and popular
opposition parties. The visitors are also expected to meet President
Ilham Aliyev. The European ambassadors will hold a press conference.
The Ago Group will fist visit Armenia on 8 June. It will draw up a
large report after ending the visit to the region. The report, which
will be made by stages will be published in a form of recommendations
before the June session of PACE.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

N. MAMMADOV: AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO MEET AGAIN THIS YEAR
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 6 2006
“Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharian
are expected to meet again this year,” said Novruz Mammadov head of
President’s Executive Office international relations department.
Commenting on the lack of detailed information about the recent meeting
of the Presidents in Bucharest, Mr.Mammadov said the talks are on
such a stage that it is unadvisable to give detailed information on it.
“After the first day of meeting, it was decided to continue the
negotiations next day. It means certain issues are being considered.
On the other hand, it is difficult to reach an agreement. Thus,
Armenia’s position is unacceptable. They want Nagorno Garabagh to be
given independence. President Ilham Aliyev making Robert Kocharian’s
position go to fall, stressed that the conflict should be solved only
in the frames of territorial integrity. There can be ten or fifteen
Armenian states if Armenians living in different parts of the world
establish a state,” Mammadov underlined.
The state official refused to say concretely what issue was agreed
upon in Bucharest meeting.
“The agreements on small details are consolidated, and a final
principle is determined. There is nothing new in the latest statement
by Kocharian. As a president, he needs to be careful while making
statements. His saying “Armenians should be given independence wherever
they are” sounds ridiculous,” he underlined.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NKR PRESIDENT CONGRATULATED RA CHESS PLAYERS ON VICTORY IN WORLD OLYMPIAD
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
June 6 2006
Nagorno Karabakh Republic /NKR/ President Arkady Ghoukasyan sent a
congratulation message to RA Chess Federation President, DM Serge
Sargsyan on the victory scored by the RA men’s team in the 37th World
Olympiad in Turin.
According to the information DE FACTO received at the Nagorno Karabakh
President’s Press Service, the message runs, in part, “the victory of
the men’s team on the Italian land showed the world the high level
of the national chess school, resuming the traditions of glorious
victories founded by unforgettable Tigran Petrosyan”.
“Besides, our chess players’ victory at the international level has
exhibited our nation’s unfailing mental capacity, staunchness and
belief in its strength. The victory in Turin will become a powerful
impetus for the chess’s development in Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh,
as well as for the growth of new talented chess players”, the message
says. In conclusion, Arkady Ghoukasyan invited the chess players to
visit Artsakh.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ALIYEV, KOCHARIAN AGAIN MAKE NO HEADWAY IN NK DISPUTE
The New Anatolian
June 6 2006
Armenian President Robert Kocharian and his Azerbaijani counterpart
Ilham Aliyev failed on Sunday to make progress towards a solution to
the decades-long Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
A face-to-face meeting between Kocharian and Aliyev was held just
before the Black Sea Dialogue and Partnership Forum which started in
Bucharest, Romania yesterday.
Romanian President Traian Basescu also met with the two presidents
separately on Sunday to discuss how to find a solution to the divided
enclave, Basescu’s office said in a statement.
Talks between Kocharian and Aliyev in France in February ended in
failure as well, despite international mediators’ efforts to help
the leaders finalize the enclave’s status.
Nagorno-Karabakh is inside Azerbaijan, but populated mostly by ethnic
Armenians who have run it since an uneasy 1994 cease-fire ended six
years of full-scale war. Sporadic border clashes have grown more
frequent since the breakdown of talks. The lack of a resolution has
hindered development throughout the strategic region.
While Armenians want Nagorno-Karabakh to be independent or annexed to
Armenia, Azerbaijan opposes the idea of giving any territory from the
divided enclave to Armenia, but warmed to the idea of an autonomous,
but not totally independent, status for the region.
The Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia has also
created a rift in relations between Ankara and Yerevan.
It was reported last week that secret talks between Turkey and Armenia,
launched after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote a letter to
Armenian President Kocharian suggesting that they set up two committees
to discuss political issues and the Armenian genocide allegations,
have failed to make any headway coming out of their third round. The
latest round reportedly failed after Ankara found Yerevan’s response
to its suggestions “watered down,” sources said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RA LAW ON LOBBYIST ACTIVITY – A SOURCE OF CORRUPTION RISK
ArmRadio.am
07.06.2006 14:30
What does RA Law on Lobbyist Activity envisage: expansion or
restriction of opportunities for defense of society’s interests? The
Law has been already approved by NA Standing Committee on State
and Legal Issues and will be discussed during the coming four-day
sitting. About 100 NGOs are confident that the Law is an obstacle to
public participation and a source of corruption risk.
Adoption of the Law is part of the Poverty Reduction Strategy
Paper. NGO representatives, however, are not confident that it will
help overcome poverty in our country.
In reality, the Law on Lobbyist Activity is a mechanism of interests,
which should allow this or that group of the society defend its
rights. It should guarantee the link between voters and legislators,
but the bill does not envisage this connection. NGO representatives are
concerned that the Law will be disputed by financial organizations:
any NGO is weak, it possesses no additional sources of financing to
defend its rights through a lobbyist.
Legal adviser of “Internews” agency David Sandukhchyan considers
that the Law on Lobbyist Activity is characterized with non-distinct
objectives and sharp legislative shortcomings. The approaches and
methods are suspicious and non-democratic.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BSECO SECRETARY GENERAL ARRIVING IN ARMENIA JUNE 6
Author: À.Mammadov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
June 6 2006
(PanARMENIAN.Net) – The plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization will be held in
Yerevan June 6-8. Secretary General of the BSECO Standing International
Secretariat Leonidas Chrisanthopoulos is expected to participate
in the event. Within the visit framework he will meet with Armenian
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and National Assembly Speaker Tigran
Torosian, reported the RA MFA press office.
–Boundary_(ID_35A9X6rqjaFGMTHJYk9mtw)–