Author: Kanayan Tamar

GLOOM OVER KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
Aug 3, 2006
Revelations about the latest peace deal leave the conflicting parties
still far apart.
By Elshad Guliev in Baku, Karine Ohanian in Stepanakert and Tatul
Hakobian in Yerevan
All sides remain pessimistic about the peace process in Nagorny
Karabakh, despite a visit by the newly-appointed American negotiator
to the region intended to breathe new life into negotiations.
Matthew Bryza – who was appointed as the United States co-chair of
the OSCE’s Minsk Group on Karabakh in June – has visited Karabakh,
Armenia and Azerbaijan during the past week. He said little in public
following his meetings, but some saw his trip as a sign Washington, at
least, is determined to move the process along despite recent setbacks.
He arrived unaccompanied by his French and Russian co-chairs on the
Minsk Group, a month after the three had delivered an unusually blunt
report to the OSCE, which presides over negotiations on the Karabakh
dispute, signalling that the current peace process had stalled.
The co-chairs said they had “reached the limits of our creativity”
and put the onus on the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to
carry the peace process forward. “We remain ready to assist,”
said the statement. “As mediators, however, we cannot make the
difficult decisions for the parties. We think the parties would
be well-served at this point by allowing their publics to engage
in a robust discussion of the many viewpoints on these issues.”
Before arriving in the region, Bryza broke with precedent by giving
an unusually frank interview to Radio Liberty in which he revealed
details of a peace agreement that the two sides had been discussing
over the past two years. The two presidents, Ilham Aliev and Robert
Kocharian, rejected the deal in two meetings this year.
Under discussion has been a phased withdrawal of Armenian forces from
the Azerbaijani territories around Nagorny Karabakh, a referendum on
the status of Karabakh itself, and the deployment of a peacekeeping
force.
In their report to the OSCE, the negotiators issued a stark warning
of what was at stake if the process collapses and the deal is
not accepted, “Ultimately, it is the two sides that will be held
accountable by their peoples and by the international community if
their actions lead to war and not peace.”
Many commentators said that these statements expressed a hitherto
unseen level of exasperation from the trio.
“It is possible to see this new emphasis constitutes a form of pressure
on the presidents,” Gerard Libaridian, Armenia’s negotiator on the
Karabakh issue under former president Levon Ter-Petrosian, and now
professor of history at the University of Michigan, told IWPR by email.
But Libaridian doubted that this pressure was having an effect. “It
will require more than the discomfort these statements have caused
these presidents for the latter to make the necessary concessions.
The main energy is emanating from Mathew Bryza, it seems to me,
who is not new to the process,” he said.
For their part, the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders are, as ever,
striking very different positions in public.
The day before he met Bryza, Aliev told a cabinet meeting that he
still adhered to the principles of a phased solution for the dispute.
But he added that the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is not
up for discussion, “not today, not tomorrow, never and under no
circumstances.”
Akif Nagi, head of the radical pro-war Karabakh Liberation
Organisation, struck a more aggressive note, saying Azerbaijan should
now cease contact with the Minsk Group. “The main aim of Matthew
Bryza’s visit to Azerbaijan is an attempt to force a peace deal on us
which really does not meet our interests,” he said. There has been
anxiety in Azerbaijan about the idea of a referendum on the status of
Nagorny Karabakh. But Mubariz Ahmedoglu, director of the Centre for
Political Technologies and Innovations, told IWPR that Azerbaijanis
should take heart from the fact that “the co-chairmen are not saying
that it ought to take place only on the territory of Nagorny Karabakh”
– a process that would almost certainly lead to the Armenian-majority
population of Karabakh voting to secede from Azerbaijan.
Earlier, during Bryza’s visit to Armenia, foreign minister Vardan
Oskanian put the blame on Baku for the breakdown of the peace process,
saying Armenia had agreed to the two-and-a-half page document under
discussion and that it should still be the basis for talks.
“This is not an ideal document, but if Azerbaijan agrees to the
arguments advanced in it, then I think that on this basis we can
move towards settling the issue and trying to convince our people,
which at the current time is the only way of settling the issue,”
Oskanian told IWPR
Other Armenians say that the process is flawed because the Armenians
of Karabakh, the disputed territory itself, are not participating
directly, as the government in Baku insists on negotiating only with
the government in Yerevan.
“There will be no progress until the unrecognised but legitimate
authorities of the Nagorny Karabakh Republic take part in the talks as
a full member,” Aram Sarkisian, leader of the opposition Democratic
Party told IWPR. “The Armenian side represented by Robert Kocharian
does not have the right to sign any agreement.”
Bryza heard these arguments from Karabakh Armenian officials when he
visited the territory last week.
After meeting Bryza, Karabakh’s foreign minister Giorgy Petrosian also
expressed doubts about the latest plan. He said, “The proposals made
by the co-chairs foresee as a first stage, compromises being made
by the Nagorny Karabakh Republic, which could have serious negative
implications for the security of the republic and its population,
as they do not contain sufficient guarantees that military action
would not resume in the conflict zone.”
Libaridian identified five obstacles blocking progress to a final
peace settlement, more than 12 years after the conflict was halted
by a ceasefire.
First, he said, domestic concerns of both leaders have led to a
“deficit in political capital” which leaves both presidents having
to accept compromises and sell them to their peoples. Second, there
was a belief on both sides that time is on their side that hardened
positions. Third, he argued, the absence of the Karabakh Armenians
from the negotiating table “has resulted in the inability of the
mediators to explore fully some of the available options”.
For Libaridian, the fourth problem is one of accountability, “The
parties to the conflict have devised elaborate escape mechanisms to
derail the process every time it reaches a critical point, without
any perceived risk.”
Finally, he said, the mediators did not “share a common vision for
the region” and their different interests were “pulling in opposite
directions” and undermining the conditions whereby the conflict could
be solved.
Elshad Guliev is a freelance journalist in Baku and Karine Ohanian is
a freelance journalist in Nagorny Karabakh. Tatul Hakobian works for
Public Radio in Armenia. Shahin Rzayev in Baku and Thomas de Waal in
London contributed to this report.

VETERAN TRAINER ARAM KHANZADIAN’S PUPILS BRING MEDALS TO ARMENIA
ISTANBUL, AUGUST 2, NOYAN TAPAN. Sportsmen of 31 countries participated
in the Europe Youth Championship of free-style wrestling held in
Istanbul.
Sporstmen from Vanadzor performed successfully among the
8 representatives of Armenia. Matevos Saroyan (42 kg) won all his
rivals, took the 1st place and was awarded the champion’s golden
medal. Ohan Gikinian (50 kg), the 3rd prize-winner of the previous
year was awarded silver medal this time. To recap, they are pupils
of honorary trainer, 76 years old Aram Khanzadian.

“WITHIN THE INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL CONTEXT, THE REGIME SATISFIES
PERSONAL SELF-INTERESTS,” “ZHARANGUTYUN” PARTY FIXES
YEREVAN, AUGUST 2, NOYAN TAPAN. The “Zharangutyun” (Heritage) party
is sure that healthy forces stood for a justice struggle for the
good future of Armenia, with the society’s active assistance, will
come out of the difficult ordeal of withstanding all the inner and
outer challenges with honour. It is said in the resolution accepted
at the 4th congress of the party on August 1. At the same time the
regular quick fall of the inner and foreign policy, social-economic,
spiritual-cultural and other spheres is fixed. According to the
“Zharangutyun” estimation, the gathered negative phenomena threaten the
sovereignty, democratization, national security and stable development
of Armenia.
In the resolution an anxiety is particularly expressed relating
to just, democratic relations’ being in danger what fraughts with
threat of reproduction of the illegal authorities. “Castration of the
electoral system brought to the one that formation of the authorities
in Armenia remains depending on outer forces being accountable to
which, the regime is inhibited while making decisions and leading a
policy arising of national and sovereign interests of the country,”
is said in the resolution adopted by the congress. It is mentioned that
the people’s belief towards elections as a just and effective institute
of expressing the public opinion has seriously been shaken: “In the RA
elections in no way become a mean of expressing the majority’s will,
solution of political contradictions and formation of the political
elite, no legitimate authorities are formed.” Such elections, according
to the resolution, not only do not secure the political stability,
but, the opposite. become ground for straining of inner-political
confrontations. “Castration of the electoral system brought to the
one that formation of the authorities in Armenia remains depening
on outer forces being accountable to which, the regime is inhibited
while making decisions and leading a policy arising of national and
sovereign interests of the country. It, in its turn stimulated the
yet unfinished process of endowing the country’s riches to foreigns,
turning the public property into trade,” is said in the resolution.
According to authors of the document, only interests of the regime,
to the detriment of Artsakh, are on the international stage. It is
mentioned that the world of protection of the rights of Armenia and
Nagorno Karabakh will not lend an ear while within the international
and regional context, the regime satisfies its personal, group
self-interests. And “our possibility to confront dangers depends just
on Azerbaijan’s making mistakes, but never on Armenian diplomatic
steps,” is said in the resolution of the 4th congress of the
“Zharangutyun” party.
According to the estimation of the “Zharangutyun” party, “all
those defective phenomena hour by hour threaten the sovereignty,
democratization, security and stable development of Armenia.”

Elections are not an obstacle to the conversations on
Nagorno-Karabakh – US co-chairman of OSCE Minsk Group
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
July 31, 2006
“I see the parties sow a political will to solve the problems and
the philosophy forming our basis is acceptable”, Liberty Station
reports quoting Matthew Bryza, US co-chairman of OSCE Minsk group,
following his meeting with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan on
settling Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Trend reports with reference to REGNUM information agency, Mr Bryza,
talking on proposals details, said there are some unsolved questions
linked to Kelbajar and Lachin, as well as the referendum. Mr Bryza
confirmed OSCE MG co-chairmen opinion of Nagorno-Karbakh people sole
entitlement to define Karabakh’s status. However, Bryza said, the
question is whom to consider people of Karabakh as some lived there
till 1988 and are also willing to take part in the referendum. Such
issues are just offers and suggestions and therefore the agreement
is inevitable.
Answering the question whether it is possible to reach the agreement
this year or only in 2009, Bryza said the chance always exists as it
would be beneficial for the two countries presidents to take part at
the elections with the problem already solved. However, he added,
the problems are much easier to solve without the tension in big
politics. Alongside, American diplomat said OSCE Minsk group was
ready to act as long as the parties take these problems seriously.
Touching upon democracy in Armenia, Bryza said US links to Armenia
would be as strong as the democracy in this country, especially
Armenia’s participation in “Challenge of Millennium” program

Malefactors Attempted to Set Fire to Museum of Russia-Armenian Friendship
PanARMENIAN.Net
31.07.2006 18:49 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On July 31 night malefactors damaged the Museum
of Russian-Armenian Friendship located in the Surb Khach Church. As
reported by the Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of Russia,
when coming to work the museum employees saw outraging inscriptions
of the museum walls. The vandals could not enter the museum but broke
the windows. Experts suspect skinheads; law enforces have not issued
any versions so far.

Who Edited My Cheese?
Five subjects that get Wiki-maniacs fighting mad
GQ, USA
July 31, 2006
July 31, 2006-In the contentious alternate universe of Wikipedia,
the back-and-forth over even the most obscure of topics can get pretty
vitriolic. As the online encyclopedia’s most avid contributors prepare
to descend upon Boston for the second annual “Wikimania” get-together
later this week, we asked the company’s spokesperson Wayne Saewyc to
name a few topics likely to start a Wiki-brawl.
MySpace: “People are advertising their MySpace accounts in the MySpace
article. It gets removed but it happens a lot. The most common form of
vandalism is to say, ‘So-and-so is gay.’ People go through and put in
‘gay’ after any construction that includes ‘MySpace is.’ ”
2006 World Cup: “Zidane’s head butt caused a big flurry of activity.
The French supporters were very disappointed and upset but they
supported their man, and the opposite is true as well. People were
watching the match and live editing on Wikipedia at the same time.”
Scientology: “This has been a hot war in the past. There are arguments
over word choices, like quiet birth versus silent birth. Right now
it’s fairly neutral, so Wikipedia is winning. We want things to
be neutral!”
Cheese: “This one gets vandalized regularly. One anonymous IP said
that cheese was made out of the ‘pubic hair of migratory elephants.’ ”
Nagorno-Karabakh: “It’s a portion of the South Caucasus which
should be part of Azerbaijan but is effectively unruled or de facto
independent. The arguments are about stuff like whether the Azerbaijani
coat of arms should be included on the page or not. They’re trying
to work towards a compromise.”
– Staff

Agence France Presse
28 juillet 2006 vendredi 2:01 PM GMT
Un nouvel écrivain turc poursuivi pour des écrits sur la question arménienne
ISTANBUL 28 juil 2006
Un procureur d’Istanbul a requis jusqu’à trois ans de prison contre
la romancière turque Elif Shafak pour avoir “insulté l’identité
nationale” dans un de ses livres, consacré aux massacres d’Arméniens
sous l’empire ottoman, a rapporté vendredi l’agence de presse
Anatolie.
Les propos incriminés sont ceux de personnages Arméniens du roman
“Baba ve Pic” (“Le Père et le Btard”), initialement écrit en anglais
-Mme Shafak poursuit une carrière universitaire aux Etats-Unis- puis
traduit en turc en mars 2006, a précisé Anatolie.
Le roman suit les pérégrinations de quatre générations de femmes
entre les Etats-Unis et la Turquie pour raconter l’histoire d’une
famille arménienne et des descendants d’un de ses enfants, abandonné
en Turquie lors des massacres d’Arméniens de 1915-1917, qui s’est
converti à l’islam et a vécu comme un Turc.
Elif Shafak, 35 ans, est poursuivie au titre de l’article 301 du code
pénal, qui a déjà servi de base à plusieurs autres procès contre des
journalistes et des intellectuels et dont l’Union européenne, avec
laquelle la Turquie a entamé des négociations d’adhésion en octobre,
réclame l’abrogation.
Parmi eux figurent le directeur de la rédaction du quotidien bilingue
turc-arménien Hrant Dink, condamné à six mois de prison avec sursis,
et l’un des écrivains les plus connus de Turquie, Orhan Pamuk, contre
qui les charges ont été abandonnées.
Comme dans ces deux affaires, la procédure contre Mme Shafak a été
engagée sur la base d’une plainte de Kemal Kerinçsiz, un avocat
nationaliste qui s’est acquis une certaine notoriété pour sa “traque”
infatigable des intellectuels questionnant la position officielle sur
les massacres d’Arméniens.
La question des massacres d’Arméniens commis à la fin de l’empire
ottoman est très sensible en Turquie, qui juge inapproprié le terme
-adopté par plusieurs pays dans le monde- de génocide pour les
qualifier.
Les Arméniens estiment que jusqu’à 1,5 million des leurs ont péri
dans un génocide, Ankara affirme que des massacres ont été commis de
part et d’autre.
Une première demande d’enquête contre Mme Shafak avait été rejetée,
mais cette décision a été cassée en appel. La date du procès n’était
pas immédiatement connue.
su-nc/jlb

“TRIPS IN ARMENIA” YOUTH PROGRAM TO LAUNCH ON JULY 29
Yerevan, July 28. ArmInfo. “Trips in Armenia” youth program initiated
by the youth branch of ARF ‘Dashnaktsiutiun” will launch on July 5.
Hasmik Sargsian, one of the program’s initiators, informed that 115
young people from South and North America, Europe, Near East, Artsakh,
Javakhk and Armenia will participate in the expeditions. She stated
that their initiative is aimed to represent the historical
sigthseenings of Armenia to the young people from Diaspora. She added
that the program includes trips to Echmiadzin, Tsakhkadzor, Sevan,
Sardarapat, Vayots Dzor and Aghavnadzor. She emphasized that this
program will be held annually.

Robert Kocharyan meets OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Matthew Bryza

ArmRadio.am
29.07.2006 15:40
RA President Robert Kocharyan received today US Co-Chair of the OSCE
Minsk Group Matthew Bryza.
The interlocutors discussed the latest developments in the Karabakh
conflict settlement process, President’s Press Office informs.

ARKADY GHUKASIAN AND HASMIK POGHOSIAN DISCUSS ISSUES OF EXTENSION OF
RA-NKR COOPERATION IN SPHERE OF CULTURE

STEPANAKERT, JULY 28, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Issues relating
to cooperation in the sphere of culture between two Armenian republics
were discussed at the July 26 meeting of RA Minister of Culture and
Youth Affairs Hasmik Poghosian and NKR President Arkady Ghukasian.
During the conversation with participation of NKR Minister of
Education, Culture and Sport Kamo Atayan, Hasmik Poghosian said that
closely cooperating with Artsakh partners, the ministry headed by her
studies issues of founding branches of Armenian higher education
institutions of cultural sphere in NKR and supporting libraries and
music schools, as well as a number of large programs regarding Artsakh
youth.
As NT was informed by NKR President’s Acting Spokesperson, among the
problems of the sphere Arkady Ghukasian singled out those regarding
improvement of the building conditions of Stepanakert theater and
issues of restoration of Shoushi centers having historic-cultural
values. The President also attached importance to the role of culture
in NKR and expressed gratitude to the guests for their readiness to
support Artsakh.