Author: Emil Lazarian

BILL ON SUPPORT TO SOUTH CAUCASUS STATES INTRODUCED BEFORE US SENATE
PanARMENIAN.Net
15.05.2006 14:45 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A bill on support to states of the South Caucasus and
Central Asia for ensuring US national security interests, containing
Russia’s geopolitical ambition, as well as creation and support to a
network of US military bases is introduced before the US Senate. Bill
co-sponsor, Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) stated that US vital interests
in the Caspian region include ensuring independence and security of
Azerbaijan and Georgia. Extremely important pipelines of oil and gas
transit pass through those countries.
US also has to restrain Iran, provide access to oil and gas reserves,
secure good relations with Kazakhstan, promote peaceful settlement
of conflict and contain Russia’s geopolitical ambition,” Brownback
believes. The bill concerns Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Armenia,
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WHAT IS OPPOSITION IN ARMENIA?
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir.am
15 May 06
The word “opposition,” which seemed to be gradually eluding the word
stock of the Armenian public and political thought, reappeared after
the secession of the Orinats Yerkir Party from the coalition and
the resignation of Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan. The reaction of his
colleagues in the coalition, already former colleagues, was not as
strong, at least it did not appear as such, as the opposition parties,
at least those who appear as such (opposition, not political party).
The public, the political circles and the mass media were not
interested in the reason of this step of the Orinats Yerkir, its
likely impact on further processes as deeply as in the fact how the
opposition would accept the Orinats Yerkir. This is, in fact, a very
important question. But first it is important to find the answer to
another question, without which any answer to the previous question
would be far from being true. What is opposition? And if we narrow
the scope of the question, and put the question as follows: what
is opposition in Armenia? It is nothing but a group of people who
appeared in power for different periods of time or have kinship ties
of various degrees with government in power at different times. They
cannot even get on well with one another, for at different times
and for different periods were they in power, and each of them tends
to think that they deserve to return to power, because they had the
shortest stay in power and, what is more, without nepotism.
In other words, the biography of the present opposition does not
differ from that of Orinats Yerkir in a single episode. Moreover,
Orinats Yerkir itself rejected power. Whereas there is not a force in
opposition, which resigned from government offices on their own will,
except the National Democratic Union. Most probably, this is the reason
why it is beyond the opposition to insist on the government to resign
on their will, for they are reluctant to establish a precedent.
Hence, the notion of opposition is not distinct in Armenia, especially
that one can learn about its existence in front of Matenadaran, only
when weathermen predict sunny weather or sun with rain. They say press
and television are closed for them. But when they used to be in power,
not only the press and television were open for them. Consequently,
it is hard to imagine how such an amorphous being is going to make
a definite decision on accepting or rejecting some force. If the
opposition is able to make decisions at all, it should make decisions
on more important things, much more important than accession or
rejection of the Orinats Yerkir Party.
There is the other side of the question. In what political system is
it accepted to hold entrance exams for opposition or government?
Usually, in normal countries elections are held, and the society
decides which force should be opposition, and which one government.
And finally it is the society that decides the fate of political
forces. Opposition or government are not clubs where people are
accepted for some fee or social status. And it is at least surprising
that the representatives of the opposition, self-denying devotees
of democratic values, speak about the possibility and conditions of
accepting a political power, which rejected government (repentance,
confession, etc.), on the public channel and the Republic of Armenia
Official Newspaper, where the doors are allegedly closed before them.
But did the Republic Party repent, if the majority of its members
are to blame for the electoral fraud in 1998? Did the People’s
Party repent, if the majority of its members allied in 1999 with the
falsifiers of the election in 1998? And finally, did the opposition
repent or apologize to the society for the disappointment caused by
their innumerable vows for a revolution or constitutional ways.
Repentance and apology to the society for even the smallest mistake
are, in fact, very important, and in this sense it is not a pity
to provide airtime. However, it is necessary to repent in turn for
a proper repentance. And it is the society that should decide the
order. I personally rely on the memory of the society only for everyone
to “lift the weight” in turn. It will eventually become clear who is
forgiven and whose time is up.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER AWARDED WITH PETER THE GREAT ORDER
Yerkir
15.05.2006 16:51
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – May 16 the ceremony of handing of the orders of
the all-Russian academy of defense issues will take place in the
Russian Embassy in Yerevan.
The orders will be handed by Russian Ambassador to Armenia Nikolay
Pavlov, vice president of the academy K. Hakobyan and president of
the academy Armenian branch S. Hakobyan.
Armenian Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan, Prosecutor General Aghvan
Hovsepyan and Russian Ambassador to Armenia Nikolay Pavlov will be
handed the order of Peter he Great. First deputy to the RA Defense
Minister, general staff chief, colonel general Mikael Harutyunyan
will be awarded with Alexander Nevsky order while chief military
prosecutor Gurgen Dakibaltyan will receive the order of Great Victory
Chairman of the permanent commission for defense, national security
and home affairs Mher Shahgeldyan will receive the order of Alexander
Nevsky and president of Mika Ltd. Mikael Baghdasarov will be handed
the order of Peter the Great of 2nd degree.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BY KEEPING SILENCE OSCE ENCOURAGES AZERBAIJAN’S MILITARISM
Editorial
Yerkir.am
May 12, 2006
May 10 is the 12th anniversary of the ceasefire on the line of contact
between Karabagh and Azerbaijan. 12 years of ceasefire that has not
yet led to final peace. Therefore, the silence on the line of contact
between the conflicting parties is relative. The war continues.
Experts assure that shots can be heard on the border almost every
day. This means that people get injured or even die. The international
mediators become increasingly worried about this and appeal to the
conflicting parties to stop their militaristic rhetoric.
They appeal to all sides without specifying who makes calls for a
new war.
They do not want to specify not to offend them. Recently shooting
could be heard during the monitoring visit made by OSCE missions. But
even in this case the mediators did not announce from which side the
shootings were heard.
Isn’t it the direct responsibility of the personal representative
of OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andze Kasprzik and his field assistants
investigate such incidents and prevent their recurrence in the
future. The great “equality” that they are trying to preserve amounts
to encouragement of Azerbaijan’s militaristic and anti-Armenian
rhetoric.
At the recent hearings in Nagorno Karabagh National Assembly the
Karabagh Minister of Foreign Affairs Georgi Petrossian made a proposal
that all parties should sign a document reasserting the cease fire
regime. No response. This means that the mediators are interested
in this situation because they can use it to achieve their political
objectives.
There can be no other explanation to the mediators’ position: on the
one hand they call for speedy restoration of peace in the region,
on the other hand they support Azerbaijan’s militaristic moods. In
this context, the international organizations’, including OSCE’s,
statements that the responsibility for conflict settlement lies solely
with the conflicting parties is nothing more than a cover under which
they try to avoid their own responsibility for the existing situation.
It is difficult not to agree with the former Russian Co-Chair Vladimir
Kazimirov who stated that OSCE practically does nothing to implement
its only agreement on Karabagh. He was referring to the agreement
signed on February 6, 1995 that aimed at settlement of incidents
and minimization of losses. ” However, Baku does not fulfill this
agreement and keeps silence.
So does OSCE… With such an approach regular monitoring visits will
not prevent complications and people being killed. The arms race
openly launched by Ilham Aliyev deserves criticism. In this case as
well, one can only be surprised with OSCE’s silence,” Kazimirov writes.

Hürriyet, Turkey
May 13 2006
Chirac: Pro-Genocide Bill could still be rejected
At a dinner with Latin American Leaders held in Vienna this week,
French President Jacques Chirac gave Turkish Prime Minister, Recep
Tayyip Erdoðan an important message regarding the `Bill on Criminal
Punishment for Denial of the supposed Armenian Genocide’.
Chirac told Erdoðan, `the National Assembly is very busy. The bill
may still be rejected at a vote which will determine whether or not
it will be part of the agenda. It may not be discussed at that
session.’ Chirac stated that the French Government would treat the
case with utmost respect to Turkey’s sensitivity about the issue.
Diplomatic sources evaluate this new attitude of the French
Government as `the result of suggestions from French firms, investing
in Turkey. The volume of trade between the two countries currently
stands at 10 billion euro, of which 6.3 billion euro belongs to
France, and 3.7 billion euro to Turkey. Chirac’s Government, the UMP,
could prevent the bill from getting to the parliamentary agenda, in a
pre-voting session to take place before the bill appears on the
Parliamentary agenda on May 18.’
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Russia begins removing armour from military base in Georgia
RTR Russia TV, Moscow
13 May 06
[Presenter] Russia is withdrawing from its military base in
Akhalkalaki, Georgia. The first convoy of equipment and weaponry was
put together today. The base will be vacated by the end of this
year. Our correspondent Aleksandr Rogatkin is in Akhalkalaki.
[Video report shows tanks moving, heavy vehicles being loaded at
railway sidings, military officers and personnel, local people]
[Correspondent] The tanks will go to the station at Tsalka under their
own steam. That’s about 100 km from here. There they’ll be loaded onto
railway trailers.
[Igor Konoshenkov, adjutant to commander-in-chief of Russian Ground
Troops, captioned] Equipment and weaponry will leave from this station
and go via Azerbaijan. Wheeled vehicles and some of our armour will be
loaded up today.
Heavy equipment will be loaded up onto rail trailers on the 14th [of
May] and on the 15th, under the agreement with Georgia, in the morning
of that day, the first convoy will depart for Russia.
[Correspondent] The convoy’s destination is Makhachkala. From there,
the equipment will be sent on to various units in the North Caucasus
Military District. A hundred and fifty officers at the Akhalkalaki
base will be given new postings. The conscripts, of whom there are
nearly 600, will be gradually discharged into the reserve. The
Armenian community here usually stage protests against the base’s
closure but this time everything went smoothly.
[David Rostokyan, Armenian community leader, Akhalkalaki] We’ve been
saying, and we still say that the Russian military base is a factor
for stability and security. If the Russians leave this region so
abruptly, the likelihood of a conflict will be much greater.
[Correspondent] The plan is to send about 20 convoys of heavy armour
by September. Some armour and armaments will also be moved to a base
in Armenia.
Under the agreement with Georgia, the last Russian soldier should go
from Akhalkalaki base by the end of 2007.

SOCIETY DECIDES WHO IS OPPOSITION AND TO WHAT DEGREE
Lragir.am
13 may 06
Shavarsh Kocharyan, the leader of the National Democratic Party, was
among the first who commented May 13 on the resignation of Speaker
Arthur Baghdasaryan and secession of the Orinats Yerkir Party from the
coalition.He stated at the Azdak Club that he had predicted this
political divorce two years ago.
Shavarsh Kocharyan says having such big political ambitions the leader
of the Orinats Yerkir Party could not stay in the government because
no place had been foreseen for him in the first three positions.
`In the context of the upcoming election, there should obviously be a
package solution: president, prime minister, speaker. It is obvious
that pretenders are many, and Arthur Baghdasaryan was not one of them,
and realizing this and having serious political ambitions, Orinats
Yerkir either had to accept a lower position and to lower their
ambitions, or become opposition with big ambitions,’ says Shavarsh
Kocharyan.
According to Shavarsh Kocharyan, it does not matter what place Orinats
Yerkir will have in the opposition, or how the other opposition forces
will accept it. He says the attitude and evaluation of the people and
society will be more important and deciding. Shavarsh Kocharyan says
the assessment of the government by Orinats Yerkir and its
self-assessment for the years in government is also very
important. The leader of the National Democratic Party believes that
similar statements are not enough to become opposition, therefore
Shavarsh Kocharyan advises to wait for the future actions of Orinats
Yerkir.
He does not exclude that Arthur Baghdasaryan’s step was a result of
agreement with the government. However, Shavarsh Kocharyan does not
insiston it either. He considers the step of Orinats Yerkir
inevitable, because this political party has big ambitions.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EARLY ELECTION IS IMPROBABLE
Lragir.am
13 may 06
After the resignation of the speaker of the National Assembly there
was no possibility of dissolution of the parliament and an early
election. This is the opinion of the leader of the National Democratic
Party Shavarsh Kocharyan.
Shavarsh Kocharyan said May 13 that all the political processes
underway are determined by an anticipation of the parliamentary
election 2007 and the constitutional reform. According to the leader
of the National Democratic Party, the renewed constitution has made
the role of the speaker and prime minister equal to or even higher
than the role of the head of state, and the presidential election 2008
will not be deciding. Everything will be decided in 2007.
Shavarsh Kocharyan hence points to the activity of businessmen, who
are setting up a political party to gain a place in the parliament,
because they understand that questions will no longer be solved by a
single person.
`These people are tempted, they want to decide, they do not want to
serve.
This is another threat, danger that Armenia is facing. Either 2007
will bea serious step towards a more democratic system or this
opportunity will be used by those people, and we will have a fusion of
political power and black economy. This would set us far back, we
would have serious problems,=80=9D says Shavarsh Kocharyan.
The most probable candidate of the next prime minister is Robert
Kocharyan, he says. However, it means that the president elect in 2007
will appoint an intermediate prime minister until 2008 when the office
of Robert Kocharyan ends. Shavarsh Kocharyan declined to name a
candidate of intermediate prime minister, saying that the government
knows better. Shavarsh Kocharyan, whoin fact comments on major points
rather, says in 2007 there will be no absolute majority in the
parliament. The majority, according to Shavarsh Kocharyan,will look
like a mosaic, for Robert Kocharyan to be an acceptable candidate.
`The majority needs to be like a mosaic. There cannot be a powerful
political force in the majority. If there is such a force, it will
claim to nominate its candidate,’ says Shavarsh Kocharyan.
He announces that the newly established parties, including the
Bargavach Hayastan Party, are to guarantee this mosaic. Shavarsh
Kocharyan says his political party will not ally with Bargavach
Hayastan. The National Democratic Party has not chosen who to ally
with, and is predominantly bound for running for parliament with a
separate ticket, says the person who will probably be the first on the
list, with the name Shavarsh Kocharyan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Anatolian Times, Turkey
May 14 2006
FRENCH AMBASSADOR ON SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ALLEGATIONS
ANKARA – “I think that any one with common sense can see that I have
no intention to intimidate anything between Turkey and France,“ said
French Ambassador to Turkey Paul Poudade.
Answering questions of reporters, Poudade indicated, “they tried to
derive a sensational meaning from my words, but it is not so. What I
said was so clear. Those who read my remarks can understand what I
mean.“
Poudade said that Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan wanted to express
his concerns during his meeting with executives of French companies
investing in Turkey.
“My duty is to convey these concerns and sensitivities to the other
party,“ he noted.
Poudade indicated that PM Erdogan is in fact trying to preserve
friendly relations between Turkey and France. “This is everybody`s
aim,“ he added.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Chicago Tribune
May 14 2006
Breakaway regions `two black holes’ for Georgia
By Alex Rodriguez
Tribune foreign correspondent
Published May 14, 2006
TSKHINVALI, Georgia — The separatist government in this crumbling
war-scarred city at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains has its own
flag, anthem, president and prime minister–and little else.
Most of the economy in South Ossetia, of which Tskhinvali is the
capital, vanished two years ago when Georgian troops shut down a
large open-air market that they insisted was a haven for smuggling.
Buildings half-destroyed in the region’s 1991 war with Georgia have
never been rebuilt. People scrape by on $50 a month or less.
Still, it’s a life that suffices for the tiny, unrecognized state’s
65,000 people, a life they say they will fiercely defend to the last
person.
“We can’t live very well here, but somehow we survive,” said Timur
Tskhovbrov, one of thousands of Ossetians who fought Georgian troops.
“Here in the mountains, we can fight in the woods for a long time.
They will win, of course, but we’ll cause them a lot of trouble.”
That kind of defiance poses the greatest challenge for Washington’s
strongest ally in the Caucasus region, Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili, as he steers his country Westward.
Since leading the Rose Revolution that ousted Eduard Shevardnadze in
2003, Saakashvili has replaced his country’s entire police force to
rein in corruption, stewarded strong economic growth and returned the
breakaway province of Ajaria back under Georgia’s control.
But he has yet to live up to his promise to regain authority over
Georgia’s two other breakaway regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
And as Saakashvili strives to move Georgia out of the Kremlin’s orbit
and into Europe’s, his administration realizes South Ossetia and
Abkhazia stand in the way.
“These are two black holes,” said Giorgi Khaindrava, Georgia’s
conflict settlement minister. “They’re open doors for smuggling, for
illegal militias, for drug trafficking. They’re two serious wounds,
and until we cure them, we can’t begin to talk about the health of
the whole country.”
Lasting separatist conflicts
The Soviet Union’s breakup in 1991 yielded 15 new nations, but it
also spawned several lasting separatist conflicts that have inflicted
a swath of misery and poverty from Eastern Europe’s Dniester River to
the Caucasus range on Russia’s southern border.
In Europe’s poorest nation, Moldova, pro-Moscow separatists have
clung to a sliver of land along the Dniester, calling their
unrecognized state Transdniester. In 1991, Armenians in
Nagorno-Karabakh, a fertile, horseshoe-shaped patch of land in
Azerbaijan, declared their de facto independence after ousting Azeri
forces.
For decades, ethnic Abkhazians and Ossetians endured a tense
relationship with their Georgian neighbors while Georgia was a Soviet
republic. After Georgia declared its independence in 1991, civil war
broke out between both ethnic groups and Georgian troops. Abkhazians
defended their lush homeland of orange groves and palm trees along
the Black Sea coast; Ossetians fought Georgian forces in the forested
mountainsides and valleys of South Ossetia.
Cease-fires ended major combat in South Ossetia in 1992 and in
Abkhazia in 1994. Separatist leaders established governments, setting
up foreign ministries, parliaments and defense departments. However,
those governments survive solely as a result of backing from the
Kremlin, which has peacekeeping troops in both regions.
Georgia has effectively cordoned off Abkhazia and South Ossetia from
trade with the rest of the country, but the regions border Russia,
giving them a conduit for Russian goods and arms. Russia also has
given citizenship to virtually all South Ossetians and about 80
percent of Abkhazia’s population.
Russia’s military and economic presence in Abkhazia and South
Ossetia, as well as in Transdniester, has become even more important
to the Kremlin as Georgia and Moldova have shifted their allegiances
to the West. For the Kremlin, control over Abkhazia and South Ossetia
provides leverage against a Georgian government that sees its destiny
under the wing of NATO.
For many Ossetians, however, the dependence on Russia is
disconcerting.
“Now we live on Russian aid only, and that’s very bad–it’s like
we’re drug addicts,” said Alan Parastayev, head of the Civic Society
Movement, an Ossetian non-governmental organization based in
Tskhinvali. “It wasn’t like this before 2004.”
10,000 lost livelihoods
Citing concerns about smuggling, Saakashvili’s administration in 2004
shut South Ossetia’s market, where Georgians and Ossetians bought and
sold gas, cigarettes, produce and other goods amid a sea of
corrugated metal stalls and wooden shacks. The market’s closing cost
10,000 Ossetians their livelihoods, officials say.
“They were only interested in establishing an economic blockade and
shutting down the breath of the people,” said Boris Chochiyev, South
Ossetia’s deputy prime minister and its representative at peace talks
with Georgia, Russia and the Russian republic of North Ossetia.
Ossetian officials are convinced Georgia’s next step will be
military. They point to the Georgian government’s recent decision to
move its military hospital to the city of Gori, just outside the
South Ossetian border, as well as sizable increases in Georgian
defense spending. Georgia also recently opened a military base
outside Abhkazia.
Khaindrava, Georgia’s conflict settlement minister, says fears about
Georgian military action are misplaced.
“The only way out is political pressure on Russia and international
law,” he said.
Ossetians believe their only recourse is to brace for war. Khaindrava
says Russia has supplied Ossetian forces with tanks, armored vehicles
and anti-aircraft artillery. The region’s prime minister, Yuri
Morozov, would not discuss his military’s arms or troop strength, but
he said his government is convinced that Ossetians living in Russia
and Abkhaz forces would come to the region’s aid if fighting broke
out.
In Tskhinvali, Ossetians say another round of conflict in a war that
has shadowed them for 15 years is the last thing they want–and
foremost on their minds right now.
“Women, old men and even our children will protect our homeland,”
said Jana Meshchereykova, an Ossetian doctor. Her 24-year-old son
died when Georgian gunmen ambushed a busload of Ossetians in 1992.
“Each person has to die on the land where he was born. We don’t want
war, but we will protect ourselves.”