Author: Emma Nadirian

OSCE chairman stated separatist regime will be involved to talk
process in late summer

01 April 2005 [15:27] – Today.Az

Current chairman of OSCE, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmiri Rupel was
on a visit to Armenia. In the frames of the visit he met with
President Robert Kocharyan.

In the meeting, particularly, the process of regulation of Karabakh
conflict was discussed. Rupel stated the importance of the relations
and talks between the sides of the conflict, and stressed once again
that, OSCE is ready to mediate the process. R.Kocharyan as usual
stated that, the participation of separatist regime occupying Karabakh
in the talks may affect the regulation process positively.
Exchange of opinions within OSCE-Armenia relations was also held in
the meeting. Karabakh conflict was prior topic of the meeting of OSCE
chairman with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Vardan
Oskanyan. D.Rupel called Karabakh conflict unique because of all its
parameters and that it didn’t resemble other conflicts in post-soviet
sphere. He stated his hope to the meeting of Azerbaijan and Armenia
presidents to be productive. Besides, stressing Azerbaijan and Armenia
to be the main sides of the conflict D.Rupel said he will discuss with
official Baku the matter of invader separatist regime to attend the
regulation process.
D.Rupel expressed his anxiety about the intensive violation of
ceasefire. OSCE chairman also met with the head of separatist regime
occupying Karabakh Arkadi Gukasyan. D.Rupel giving report to
journalists after the meeting lasting half an hour stated that,
suitable conditions will be present for the negotiations among
Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh in late summer: “This will
cause a good perspective in the direction of the regulating the
conflict peacefully”. /APA/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

$275 THOUSAND ALLOCATED FROM GOVERNMENT’S RESERVE FUND FOR HOLDING OF
EVENTS DEDICATED TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’S 90TH ANNIVERSARY
YEREVAN, MARCH 24, NOYAN TAPAN. RA government allocated 130m, 68.8
thousand drams ($275 thousand) for the purpose of holding of the events
dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Armenian Genocide. According to
the Press Service of RA government, these resources envisaged by the
article “Subsidies Given to Enterprises and Organizations” will be
allocated to the RA Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Culture, Finance and
Economy, Yerevan Mayor’s Office. In accordance with another decision,
102m, 93.5 thousand drams (nearly $220 thousand) was allocated for
holding of the events dedicated to the 1600th anniversary of creation
of the Armenian written language. These resources will be allocated to
the Ministries of Culture, Finance and Economy, Education and Science,
RA government’s staff.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BUSINESSMAN DEMANDS CALLING TO ACCOUNT OFFICIALS WHO GRPOUNDLESSLY
DEPRIVED HIM OF FREEDOM
YEREVAN, MARCH 25, NOYAN TAPAN. Hakob Tcharoyan, a businessman, accuses
the former prosecutor of Gegharkunik marz, member of the RA Council of
Justice Albert Margarian of corruption. H. Tcharoyan, whom the court
found guilty of an attempt to lay hold of the property of another
person by fraud, demands that a new investigation be conducted,
his property returned, and the guilty officials be prosecuted. At
the March 23 press conference H. Tcharoyan said that Margarian and
the investigators of the Gegharkunik prosecutor’s office Hovsep
Sargsian and Vardan Avetisian took a bribe from his former partner –
the community head of the village Tchotchkan (Lori marz) Varuzhan
Tamazian and opened a trumped-up criminal case against him, according
to which he alone (without Tamazian) made an attempt, by forgery, to
take the possession of a flour mill being sold at auction. According
to T. Tcharoyan, the investigator H. Sargsian demanded a bribe from
him as well, and upon Tchroyan’s refusal, he fabricated evidence
against him. Later H. Sargsian refused to investigate the case,
whereas the next investigator Vardan Avetisian also produced false
evidence. H. Tcharoyan considered the decision made by the court of the
first instance of Lori marz (chaired by Judge Vahan Hovhannisian) to be
the result of an order and an obviously ufounded one. Before getting
to the above mentioned court, the case was examined by the court of
the first instance of Gegharkunik marz. The first judge declined to
examine thre case, the second judge was challenged by the prosecution
(since, according to Tcharoyan, this judge realized the case was a
fabricated one), the third judge ruled the case should go to the court
of the first instance of Lori marz – allegedly, to prevent the regional
prosecutor’s office from putting pressure on the court. H. Tcharoyan
was sentenced to 4.5 years’ imprisonment and spent 3 years and 3 months
in prison. After much delay, the highest court left his court sentence
unchanged. Thus H. Tcharoyan has exhausted all means of achieving
justice in Armenia and intends to apply to the European Court of Human
Rights. The businessman stated that the charge of attempting to lay
hold of the valuable property of V. Tamazian by means of fraud and
abuse of confidence was an ungrounded and trumped-up one. According
to him, the point is that Tamazian and he came into conflict over
the property, and Tamazian decided to retain the mill by getting rid
of Tcharoyan. According to the RA Office of Prosecutor General, no
sufficient evidence has been obtained to open a criminal case based on
the bribe taking fact mentioned in H. Tcharoyan’s application. The
refusal to open a criminal case was motivated by the absence of a
crime – the investigators of the Gegharkunik prosecutor’s office
denied having demanded or taken a bribe, while V. Tamazian denied
that he had given one. H. Sharoyan refused to name the source that
had informed him about Tamazian’s bribing the prosecutors.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

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
=================================================
Thursday 17 February 2005
TURKMENISTAN: MORE RELIGIOUS PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE JAILED
Turkmenistan has increased the number of religious prisoners of conscience
it has jailed, Forum 18 News Service has learnt, by imprisoning two further
Jehovah’s Witnesses, Atamurat Suvkhanov and Begench Shakhmuradov, for
refusing on religious grounds to serve in the armed forces. There are now
five known religious prisoners of conscience in Turkmenistan, four of them
Jehovah’s Witnesses and one Muslim, the former chief mufti. In addition,
some imams are believed to be in internal exile. Religious prisoners of
conscience in Turkmenistan have been harshly treated, being regularly
beaten, threatened with homosexual rape, and in one case apparently treated
with psychotropic (mind-altering) drugs. Suvkhanov, who is now 18, is
currently being held in the women’s labour camp in the eastern town of
Seydi, and the whereabouts of Shakhmuradov, who is 26, are unknown.
Commenting on the fact that Shakhmuradov is older than most military
conscripts, Jehovah’s Witness sources told Forum 18 that “we still
don’t know why someone that age was called up.”
TURKMENISTAN: MORE RELIGIOUS PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE JAILED
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
Two further Jehovah’s Witnesses have been imprisoned for refusing
compulsory military service on religious grounds while others continue to
be threatened and fined for their religious activity, Jehovah’s Witness
sources have told Forum 18 News Service. Atamurat Suvkhanov was sentenced
to 18 months’ imprisonment in the north-eastern town of Dashoguz
[Dashhowuz] on 17 December 2004, while Begench Shakhmuradov was sentenced
in the Azatlyk district of the capital Ashgabad [Ashgabat] to one year’s
imprisonment on about 10 February. “Shakhmuradov is 26 years old
– we still don’t know why someone that age was called up,”
Jehovah’s Witness sources told Forum 18. The new sentences bring to five
the number of known religious prisoners of conscience in Turkmenistan, four
of them Jehovah’s Witnesses and one Muslim. In addition, some imams are
believed to be in internal exile.
Both Suvkhanov and Shakhmuradov were sentenced under Article 219 of the
Criminal Code, which punishes refusal to serve in the armed forces.
Turkmenistan offers no non-combat alternative to those who cannot serve in
the military on grounds of conscience.
Suvkhanov, who was baptised as a Jehovah’s Witness in December 2002 and is
now 18, is currently being held in the women’s labour camp in the eastern
town of Seydi, although Jehovah’s Witness sources told Forum 18 they
believe this might be a temporary measure. The whereabouts of Shakhmuradov,
who was baptised in August 2003, are unknown.
The two other Jehovah’s Witness prisoners, Mansur Masharipov and Vepa
Tuvakov who were both from Dashoguz, were sentenced on 28 May and 3 June
2004 on the same grounds and are being held in the Seydi men’s labour camp
(see F18News 25 October 2004
). All these sentences
were issued after the televised announcement by President Saparmurat
Niyazov earlier in 2004 that all imprisoned conscientious objectors should
be released.
Six Jehovah’s Witness prisoners were freed last June in the wake of the
president’s announcement which followed international pressure on the
Turkmen government. Many of them had been harshly treated, being regularly
beaten and in one case apparently treated with psychotropic (mind-altering)
drugs (see F18News 25 October 2004
). One earlier Jehovah’s
Witness prisoner had been the victim of homosexual rape and others were
threatened with the same fate (see F18News 24 November 2003
). However, Jehovah’s
Witness sources have told Forum 18 that conditions for their
fellow-believers still being held have improved since last summer. “We
have had no recent reports of beatings or threats against them.”
Also still imprisoned is the 57-year-old former chief mufti, Nasrullah ibn
Ibadullah, who was arrested after falling out with President Niyazov and is
now serving a 22-year sentence on charges the Turkmen government refuses to
make public. He has not been freed despite recent prisoner amnesties (see
F18News 25 October 2004
).
Meanwhile, the Jehovah’s Witnesses report other recent harassment of their
members in Turkmenistan. On 2 November 2004, the police seized Amangozel
Atageldiyeva, Gulshirin Atageldiyeva, Ayjemal Khummedova and Maysa
Annagylyjova in the town of Saparmurat Turkmenbashi, one of many towns
renamed after the president, in the Mary region of south-eastern
Turkmenistan. The four women were taken to the local administration,
threatened and mocked “with the aim of forcing them to abandon their
religious views”, Jehovah’s Witness sources told Forum 18. They were
then freed. Two further Jehovah’s Witnesses, Guncha Atageldiyeva and Bakhar
Sapayeva, were summoned for similar threats in the following days.
On 16 November 2004, a district police officer detained Maksat Khalyshev
while he was in the street in an outlying suburb of Ashgabad. After finding
a Bible and other religious literature on him and in the absence of a
permit to live in the capital, Khalyshev was taken to the police station.
After “verbal insults and humiliation” he was taken to a holding
centre where he was kept for 24 hours in the open air on a cold concrete
floor without any covering. The following afternoon he was driven 50
kilometres (30 miles) outside the city, made to get out of the vehicle and
told to continue to the town of Dashoguz on his own, a distance of 450
kilometres (280 miles) in a straight line. He returned to his home in
Ashgabad only at 11 pm.
On 26 November 2004, Murat Saryyev – who was originally from Dashoguz
– was summoned to the administration of Ashgabad’s Kopetdag district. He
was met by a commission of nine persons in the room dedicated to the
Ruhnama, a book of President Niyazov’s “spiritual” writings which
has taken the place of the works of Lenin as an object of official
veneration. “The members of the commission humiliated him morally and
threatened to confiscate his apartment and evict him to the city of
Dashoguz to his relatives if he continued conducting meetings with his
fellow believers in his apartment and speaking about the gospel to
others,” Jehovah’s Witness sources told Forum 18.
On 10 December 2004 Darya Meshcherina, a 20-year old Jehovah’s Witness in
Ashgabad was detained by the police when she gave a friend she met on the
street a book, My Book of Bible Stories. “At this moment two police
officers took hold of her, twisted her arms and pushed her into a car and
drove to the police station,” Forum 18 was told. “There the
content of her bag was inspected and the following items were confiscated:
The Watchtower magazine, brochures, audiocassettes, photocopied sheets of
paper and a medical identification document. She was forced to make a
written statement.”
On 20 December Ashgabad’s Azatlyk district court fined Meshcherina
2,500,000 manats (3,077 Norwegian kroner, 368 Euros or 480 US dollars at
the highly inflated official exchange rate) under Article 205 of the Code
of Administrative Offences, which punishes any religious activity the
government has not authorised. The fine represents about 1.5 times the
average monthly salary.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses are among a whole range of religious communities
that have failed to get registration with the government and therefore the
right to conduct any religious activity. Other such faiths effectively
banned include all Protestant denominations apart from the Adventists and
possibly the Baptists (their registration has not yet been completed eight
months after they were given their registration certificate), Shia Muslims,
the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Catholics (except on Vatican diplomatic
territory), the Lutherans, the Jews, the Yezidis (followers of an ancient
Kurdish faith) and the New Apostolic Church. Even for registered faiths
(the Muslims, the Russian Orthodox, the Adventists, possibly the Baptists,
the Hare Krishna community and the Baha’is), religious activity is legal
only in the few authorised places of worship.
For more background, see Forum 18’s Turkmenistan religious freedom survey
at
A printer-friendly map of Turkmenistan is available at
s/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=turkme
(END)

© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved.
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_KdGvouFTIODkBUsgExNuMw)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

STAATSCOURANT (DUTCH GOVERNMENT GAZETTE) NO. 17
Tuesday 25 January 2005
Armenian Auschwitz
‘This God, to whom you want pray, does not exist. Where was he when the Jews
in Poland had dig their own graves? Where was he when the Nazi’s played with
the skulls of Jewish children? If he exists and he has been silent, he is a
murderer just like Hitler.’ These are the words of Joseph Shapiro, main
character from the novel The Penitent of Isaac Bashevis Singer. They are in
fact also the words of Richard Rubinstein in his book entitled After
Auschwitz: ‘Auschwitz killed God’.
This week, it is 60 years ago that the concentration camp Auschwitz was
liberated. Was Auschwitz indeed that turning point in the mental history of
humanity, about which Joseph Shapiro and Richard Rubinstein speak? The
moment when the belief in God, and therewith the existence of God, was no
longer justifiable? No matter how strange it may sound, I would like for
this to be true. I would like that no earlier horrors of the same level as
Auschwitz had taken place, by which God or a another human unifying
universal faith would lose its credibility once and for all. But this is not
so simple.
This year is also the ‘jubilee year’ of another horror. This one took place
not only almost 30 years before Auschwitz, but therefore also served as a
model for Auschwitz. It was Hitler himself who in 1939, briefly before the
bloody attack on Poland, made clear to his army commanders that Germany
should not be afraid of world opinion. Because, he said, ‘Wer redet heute
noch von der Vernichtung der Armenier?’ (Who, after all, speaks today of the
annihilation of the Armenians?). How it is possible that, different from
Auschwitz, the massacres of the Armenians, which were committed under
command and responsibility of the Turkish government in the period of
1915­17, can still be denied by the perpetrator who continues to get away
with it internationally? On 24 April 1915, thousands of Armenian
politicians, priests and intellectuals were arrested in some large Turkish
cities and were in part directly assassinated and in part deported. It was
the start signal for the deportation and then eradication of the largest
part of the Armenian population in the Turkish Empire. Of the two million
Armenians living there, according to prominent historians certainly
1,200,000 died in concentration camps, by massacre or by starvation. In that
process German diplomats and consultants were ­ Turkey had chosen the side
of Germany in the first World War I ­ actively involved.
The Turkish minister directly responsible for the Armenian Auschwitz, Talaat
Pasha, did not make a particular secret out of it. As such he asked the
American ambassador at that time, Henry Morgenthau, the following: ‘I wish
that you would get the American Life Insurance companies to send us a
complete list of Armenian policy holders. They are practically all dead now
and have left no heirs to collect the money. It of course all escheats to
the state. The government is beneficiary now. Will you do so?’ The request
has not been granted. But the fact remains that numerous streets and squares
of modern Turkish cities are named after Talaat Pasha. The fact is also that
the EU talks with Turkey about accession without having required the
recognition of her Auschwitz in advancee. I am deeply ashamed as an
European.
René F.W. Diekstra
————————————-
STAATSCOURANT (DUTCH GOVERNMENT GAZETTE) NO. 23
Wednesday, 2 February 2005
Members of Parliament condemn Armenian genocide
By André Rouvoet
In the Dutch Government Gazette of 25 January René Diekstra, under the title
‘Armenian Auschwitz’, wrote about the horrors of the Armenian Genocide. He
rightly concludes that the EU will talk with Turkey about accession without
requiring the recognition of her Auschwitz in advance. For that Diekstra is
deeply ashamed as a European.
I can imagine his feeling of shame well. Like Diekstra many factions in the
House of Representatives were very disappointed about the lack of the
requirement for the recognition of this Genocide by Turkey in the
conclusions of the European Council of December 2004. Preceding that summit,
many factions had expressly called for such a requirement.
In the debate on the conclusions of the European summit, where much
attention was given to the reached agreement with respect to the start of
the negotiations with Turkey, I therefore introduced a motion in which the
government is requested, within the framework of the intensive political and
cultural dialogue, which will be conducted parallel to the accession
negotiations with Turkey, to continuously and expressly raise the
recognition of the Armenian genocide. Nevertheless, a (new) European Member
State must be required to deal with its own history honestly. Minister Bot
welcomed this motion, which was unanimously accepted by the House of
Representatives.
Unfortunately it is true that the House of Representatives cannot add the
requirement of recognition to the conclusions of the European Council
through a motion. Meanwhile, however, this parliamentary pronouncement is of
great and fundamental significance. It is namely the first time that the
Dutch House of Representatives explicitly speaks of ‘the Armenian genocide’.
Whereas the European Parliament has already done this, the term ‘genocide’
was so far always avoided in the Dutch parliament. The fact that the
parliament has now unanimously sided with a motion in which the events of
1915 to 1917 are actually labelled as genocide and the fact that the Dutch
government has also welcomed this motion is of great significance for the
Armenian community world wide.
Moreover, in the debate several spokesmen also referred to the massacres of
the Assyrian people. Although the motion does not mention this issue, when
asked, the Minister of Foreign Affairs insured me that he will interpret the
motion in such a way that in this also the Assyrians are included. Therefore
both horrors will be raised in the negotiations with Turkey.
I am of the same opinion as Diekstra that justice must be done to the entire
history. The acceptance of my motion has the chance that this will
effectively happen in the coming time. Either way, it has been brought a
little closer.
The author is Chairman of the Christian Union faction in the House of
Representatives.
–Boundary_(ID_iClox6BsAwI4J3C4HgcVXA)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ELIZABETH JONES’ STATEMENT DESTROYED ARGUMENTS OF ARMENIAN
AUTHORITIES, DPA CHAIRMAN BELIEVES
YEREVAN, January 19 (Noyan Tapan). The process of settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh problem is ruined for Armenia, – Aram Sargsian,
chairman of the Democratic Party of Armenia (DPA) included in the
“Justice” bloc, stated during his January 19 talk with reporters.
According to him, Assistant US Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones’
statement, to which the US State Department also joined, has destroyed
the Armenian authorities’ arguments that in case of sending a military
unit to Iraq the US position on the issue of Karabakh settlement would
be much more favorable. A. Sargsian reminded that soon in Strasbourg
David Atkinson’s report will be discussed. According to him, in this
report the Karabakh problem is qulified as a territorial dispute
between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
This means Karabakh is left out of the negotiation process as a
participant, and the well-known 1918 decision of the League of Mations
will be discussed, which is unecceptable for Armenia. In the view of
Aram Sargsian, if Armenia had had its own definite position, no
superpower would have applied pressure, since both US and Russia are
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. He noted that the US’ statements
express its attituse towards Armenia’s authorities. He called the fact
of sending the Armenian military unit to Iraq with zurna-dhol
(traditional Armenian music) a “jest”. Pointing out it is not clear
what fate awaits the young Armenians who were sent to Iraq,
A. Sargsian also noted that anti-Armenian sentiments have already been
expressed openly in Lebanon, Syria and the Unated Arab Emirates.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Motion made to free sisters
Legal team tries to win release for Armenian family
Las Vegas Sun
January 21, 2005
By Timothy Pratt ([email protected])
The legal team representing the Sarkisians, an Armenian family whose
teenage daughters are threatened with being deported to their
birthplace, has filed an emergency motion to release the girls from a
Los Angeles immigration detention cell.
“What’s the point of detaining them? They’re young girls who should be
with their family,” said attorney Jeremiah Wolf Stuchiner this morning.
“They’re not a flight risk and detaining them is just costing taxpayers
money,” he said.
The case involves Emma Sarkisian, 18, and her sister, Mariam Sarkisian,
17. They are threatened with deportation because their immigration
status was never straightened out although they have lived here 14
years, during which time their father, Rouben, has become a U.S.
resident, the step below citizenship — according to the family and
their attorney.
The Sarkisian family also includes three younger girls who were born on
U.S. soil and therefore are citizens.
The family has been broken up since last week after immigration
authorities arrested the daughters last Friday and sent them to Los
Angeles, where flights to Russia leave once daily.
Stuchiner was able to obtain a stay from the federal magistrate in Las
Vegas, arguing that immigration authorities should wait four months
while Rouben prepares himself to become a citizen.
Once Rouben is a citizen, he can petition for his daughters, and they
can become residents, Stuchiner said.
The attorney said the federal magistrate can decide on the emergency
motion at any time.
Meanwhile, family friend Marina Protopopova said members of the
Sarkisian family are driving today to Los Angeles to seek support from
the Armenian community there.
As of this morning there was also no court date to decide on the larger
issue of whether the daughters should be allowed to stay in the United
States until their father becomes a citizen, Stuchiner said.
“I’m arguing that it is the federal court’s discretion and humanitarian
interest to let them stay,” Stuchiner said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian ombudsman receives over 1,800 complaints in 10 years
A1+ web site
19 Jan 05
The ombudsman of the Armenian Republic received more than 1,800
complaints, 1,345 of them in writing, over 10 years of her
activities. The number of complaints filed from districts was 710, of
them 501 in writing.
A total of 555 complaints were considered, 506 were rejected, 136
complainants were given the opportunity to protect their rights and
freedoms, and 95 complaints were handed over to appropriate bodies.
There were 12 mass petitions from 1,420 citizens, 1,200 of whom lost
jobs after the ArmenTel company’s licence was renewed. In all, 85
complaints were dealt with, i.e. 24 per cent of complaints about
offences.
The highest number of complaints was filed by local government bodies
– 310, 205 by courts, and 180 from the Ministry of Social Security.

Russian pundit warns of dangers caused by wrong moves in CIS
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Moscow
18 Jan 05

Russia has been losing its positions in the post-Soviet area because
of incompetent Kremlin spin doctors who tend to choose wrong allies to
support. If this trend continues, Russia will find itself in a
political predicament and this may affect the pace of its domestic
reforms, argues Alla Yazkova, senior research associate at the
Institute for International Economic and Political Studies. The
following is the text of report headlined “Foreign-policy botch-work.
Russia continues to play dangerous games in post-Soviet area” by
Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta on 18 January; subheadings have
been inserted editorially:
The new year 2005 promises a series of fresh surprises in the
post-Soviet area.
Moldova
The parliamentary election in Moldova is scheduled for
March. Moldova’s approach to the solution of many foreign-policy
problems including the character of its relations with Russia,
Ukraine, and Georgia and its decision to either retain its neutrality
or step up the policy of Euro-Atlantic integration will depend on the
future alignment of political forces.
It is necessary to look for ways to settle the Dniester Region
conflict. If the election in Moldova takes place amid the same
political sentiments that brought to power the liberal opposition in
neighbouring Romania, Chisinau will even more actively insist on the
observance of the decisions of the 1999 Istanbul summit, the
elimination of Russia’s military presence, and the bringing of an
international peacekeeping contingent into the conflict zone. Tiraspol
will respond to this with the further toughening of its stance. In
this case Russia, which has rendered active support for the Dniester
Region’s separatist regime over the past decade, will face equally
difficult problems in the region as the ones it encountered in
Abkhazia or even more difficult ones.
Armenia
Hotspots in the former Soviet territory appear more and more often due
to the former elites’ inability or unwillingness to take into account
the growing trends to establish democratic norms in politics and
society. In April, the Armenian opposition will celebrate the second
anniversary of the adoption of the resolution on holding a referendum
of confidence in President Robert Kocharyan in view of the doubtful
results of the vote on his candidacy in the 2003 presidential
election. The opposition’s attempts to implement this decision was
suppressed by the security structures in April 2004. All the
indications are that the same scenario will be repeated this year
also. Armenia is subject to growing international pressure due to the
lack of constructive steps to settle the Nagornyy Karabakh problem and
liberate the occupied regions of Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, in defiance
of obvious logic Russia relies on the Kocharyan regime and renders it
substantial support including in the military sphere. It is for this
very reason that, according to representatives of the opposition
gaining strength, Moscow is dramatically losing its influence and
prestige in Armenian society.
Central Asia
Growing negative sentiments in relations with Moscow do not always lie
on the surface, but exist both in the policy of the Central Asian
leaders and that of Belarusian Old Man Lukashenka. The CIS is becoming
increasingly reminiscent of a kind of discussion club, whereas the
projects promoted within the framework of this organization are hardly
feasible, as attested by attempts to form the Single Economic Area
comprising Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.
GUUAM
It cannot be ruled out that associations such as GUUAM (Georgia,
Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) can step up their
activities based on specific common interests as a counterweight to
this structure. In addition, most CIS countries become increasingly
oriented towards the outer world and in this situation Moscow’s
persisting illusions and the lack of strategy based on existing
reality cause dangerous mistakes.
More and more often sensitive spots on post-Soviet territory crop up
due to the Russian political elite’s inability or unwillingness to
take into account the growing trends to establish democratic norms in
politics and society.
Ukraine
Ukraine – the country where a globally unprecedented campaign to
support a pro-Kremlin candidate was waged during the presidential
election – proved to be the weakest link in the Kremlin’s strategy and
tactics last year. In Gleb Pavlovskiy’s opinion, Russia
“insufficiently participated in Ukrainian affairs;” meanwhile, it can
specifically be reproached for its excessively active attempts to
preserve the Soviet-type regime it controlled. Nor did it hesitate to
fan separatist sentiments in the Russian-speaking southern and eastern
regions of Ukraine. However, the Kremlin spin doctors proved unable to
professionally cope even with this task and failed to get to the
bottom of interclan disagreements or comprehend the distinguishing
traits of Ukraine’s national mentality, which were vividly
demonstrated at the turn of generations. Therefore, the reputable
German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine assessed the results of
“aggressive intervention” on the part of the Russian “advisers'” as
“foreign-policy botch-work.”
Abkhazia
Russia’s interference in the election process in Abkhazia at all its
stages was even more primitive. By getting involved in the purely
internal and, in essence, illegitimate election process in the
self-proclaimed republic Russia can suffer major losses in the long
run, for it placed the interests of its own and foreign clan
structures above its national interests. So far, this interference
substantially weakened Russia’s positions not only in Abkhazia itself,
but also in Russia’s relations with Tbilisi. If Russia aspires to
become a civilized democratic country maintaining normal relations
with its neighbours, it will sooner or later have to give up support
for separatism including in Abkhazia. The sooner this happens, the
better.
International organizations
The experience of Russian policy in Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine also
exposed the threat of Russia’s increasing sliding towards geopolitical
opposition and in a number of cases confrontation with the
Euro-Atlantic structures (the EU and NATO) and in the long run, also
with the United States.
How come Moscow, which worked so hard to strengthen its positions in
the West, is wasting everything in confrontation which cannot bring it
any dividends anyway? It is, indeed, difficult to imagine a situation
where Russia, acting in line with political logic, would consider it
worthwhile to simultaneously worsen relations with the EU, OSCE, NATO
and in the long run, also with the United States. Apparently, the
temperature of Russia’s relations with the West dropped to its lowest
level since the Cold War during the Ukrainian crisis. Will Russia,
left on its own, be able to withstand even “lukewarm confrontation”
with the rest of the world? And how can this affect the continuation
of the policy of domestic reforms?
Particularly since the post-Soviet states ever more actively choose
the European direction for their development, which gives food for
thought.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY AND LEAGUE OF ARAB STATES TO SIGN MEMORANDUM
OF MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING IN CAIRO
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17. ARMINFO. Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanyan will leave for Egypt on January 18.
The Public Relations Office of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told
ARMINFO that the major goal of Vardan Oskanyan’s visit to Cairo is
signing of a Memorandum of Mutual Understanding between the Armenian
Foreign Ministry and the Chief Secretariat of the League of Arab
States. This document will factually provide Armenia with a status of
an observer at the League of Arab States, the source reports.
The same day, Minister Oskanyan will meet his Egyptian colleague Ahmed
Abul Gheit. In the course of his visit, Vardan Oskanyan will meet
Secretary General of the League of Arab States Abu Musai and Minister
for International Cooperation of Egypt, Head of the Intergovernmental
Commission of Armenian-Egyptian Cooperation on the Egyptian party
Faiza Abul Naga.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress