Author: Nahapetian Samvel

USA applying double standards in Karabakh settlement – Azeri pundit
Zerkalo, Baku
9 Jun 04
The head of the Centre for Political Innovations and Technologies,
Mubariz Ahmadoglu, has familiarized reporters with his assessment
of the political situation in the South Caucasus again. This time
a considerable amount of the analytical report is given to the
geopolitical situation in neighbouring Armenia, a country which is
unfriendly to us.
However, according to Ahmadoglu, the Azerbaijani media have
lately abused the coverage of the domestic political situation in
neighbouring countries: “I think that the Azerbaijani public should
pay more attention to the situation in Azerbaijan instead of showing a
‘sporting’ interest in other states,” the pundit said.
[Passage omitted: Armenia losing its positions in the economic and
social spheres]
The pundit believes that the events taking place in Iraq clearly reveal
the following picture: The USA is playing the role of an international
policeman, and this is obvious at least from the fact that Iran and
Turkey are not taking an active part in the Iraq events. In turn,
Armenia, which is a historic ally of Russia, is trying to benefit
from it, involving “Uncle Sam” in the geopolitical situation in the
region. Armenian politicians openly let US political circles know
that they are ready to make various overtures to Washington.
On the other hand, Ahmadoglu believes that the USA is applying dual
political standards not only with regard to the Karabakh problem, but
also with regard to the domestic political situation in Armenia. If the
USA really wishes a fair solution to the Karabakh conflict, it should
provide financial aid to Karabakh via Azerbaijani banks. “Washington is
often talking about a mechanism of trust in the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict settlement, forgetting that transferring investments via
Azerbaijani banks could serve as an additional resource for a peaceful
solution to the problem. The USA’s discrimination against the sides
to the conflict and the application of double standards by the USA
put a brake on the settlement process and create serious obstacles
to the region’s stable economic development,” Ahmadoglu said.

AZERI AGENCY SAYS 11 KILLED, NINE WOUNDED BY LAND MINES
ANS TV, Baku
7 Jun 04
According to the Azerbaijani National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA),
11 land mine victims died and nine wounded in 2004.
Four land mine blasts were registered in the last month (May) alone. To
recap, five people died and three seriously wounded as a result. In
general, 36 land mine victims have died and 44 wounded since 2001.

BAYKAL CONDEMNS STATEMENT OF FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY
Sabah, Turkey
June 7 2004
Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal has harshly
condemned statement of the French Socialist Party about the so-called
Armenian genocide. He said, ”it is quite unfortunate and baseless
to defend that Turkey’s accession to the European Union (EU) should
depend on its recognizing the so-called Armenian genocide. Such a
genocide had never taken place in history of Turkish people.”

US MEDIATOR, ARMENIAN PRESIDENT DISCUSS KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
Mediamax news agency
3 Jun 04
Yerevan, 3 June: The US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Steven
Mann, and Armenian President Robert Kocharyan discussed the settlement
of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict in Yerevan today.
Mediamax learnt from the Armenian presidential press service today
that Mann had arrived in Yerevan from Baku where he attended the
Caspian Oil & Gas 2004 International Exhibition and Conference. He
informed Kocharyan about his meetings with the Azerbaijani leaders.
(In a separate report on the same day, Mediamax said that Mann and
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan had also discussed the
forthcoming meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign
ministers in Prague on 21 June)

Minister wishes for Karabakh’s unification with Armenia – agency
Mediamax news agency
3 Jun 04
Yerevan, 3 June: Armenia’s task is to obtain the international
community’s full recognition of the right of the Nagornyy Karabakh
people to self-determination, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan
has said at a meeting with students of the international relations
department of Yerevan State University.
The right of the Nagornyy Karabakh people to self-determination means
that the people of Nagornyy Karabakh will have the right to decide
on their future, Oskanyan said. If Armenia achieves this, this will
be a success of Armenian diplomacy.
“I wish that the right to self-determination manifested itself
in the unification with Armenia. This would be the best option,”
Oskanyan said.

MOSCOW-BASED FORCES BEHIND ARMENIAN OPPOSITION – PRO-GOVERNMENT MP
Golos Armenii web site, Yerevan
20 May 04
Specific Moscow-based forces finance the Armenian opposition and
are behind the aggravation of the domestic situation in Armenia, MP
Gurgen Arsenyan, leader of the pro-government United Labour Party,
has said in an interview with Golos Armenii newspaper. He did not
name those forces, but said that their activities have nothing to do
with Russia’s official position. Arsenyan added that the opposition
is not supported by the public, which is proved by the stable number
of participants in opposition actions. The following is an excerpt
from Marina Lazarian report by Armenian newspaper Golos Armenii web
site on 20 May headlined “Foreign forces are behind the aggravation
of the domestic political situation” and subheaded “Gurgen Arsenyan,
leader of the United Labour Party and head of the party’s parliamentary
faction, thinks”. Subheadings have been inserted editorially:
Moscow-based forces behind standoff in Armenia
(Correspondent) Political consultations have been interrupted and
the confrontation between the opposition and the authorities is
continuing. What is your assessment of the situation?
(Gurgen Arsenyan) There is the logic of political activities in the
context of time and space, and therefore, it should be in line with
them: challenging the results of the presidential elections would have
been relevant a year ago, however, a year later, it is illogical and
ill-timed. Quite specific foreign forces are behind the aggravation of
the domestic situation. This assessment is based on serious analytical
reports that clearly show the presence of interested forces which
are concentrated in Moscow and finance the developments in Armenia
from there. The actions of those forces have nothing to do with the
official position of the Russian state.
The opposition’s aim, and namely, challenging the results of the
presidential campaign is not supported by the public. This is proved
by the stable number (a kind of constant unit) of participants in
street protest actions, i.e. those actions have not detonated public
dissatisfaction. Proceeding from this, the opposition is compelled
to look for a way out of the current situation, for such a method
of activity might lead to failure to honour the recommendations
contained in the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe)
resolution, and as a result, to possible sanctions against our country
for failing to honour its commitments to the Council of Europe in
the form of suspending the mandate of the Armenian delegation in the
Council of Europe.
(Correspondent) Perhaps, this is what the opposition is trying to
achieve according to the principle – the worse, the better?
(Arsenyan) The talk is about the sanctions that will not be applied
against the authorities, but against the state, and given such an
outcome, we will only have to state the victory of the third force
which is deliberately promoting the development of the situation in
the described direction.
(Correspondent) If you have serious facts about the interference of
a third force in the domestic affairs of our country, why don’t you
make them public?
(Arsenyan) We keep to the opinion that appropriate state structures,
which are in charge of maintaining the country’s security and foiling
any attempts to interfere in our internal affairs, should deal with
this issue, demonstrating to our friends and enemies that Armenia
cannot be ruled from a distance, which works with regard to countries
called banana republics. I do not think that our colleagues from the
opposition are participating in this processes consciously.
(Correspondent) It turns out that you think that you can get financial
inflows from abroad and not realize why you are getting paid?
(Arsenyan) This is not new: you can finance people, without revealing
your genuine aims, for example, by pretending that you hold the same
views as them. People, to put it figuratively, can be used in the
dark. We believe that this is the case with the opposition.
(Correspondent) I suppose that speaking about the presence of a third
force in the confrontation between the opposition and the authorities,
which is still not known, as the president said, he was talking about
the same force as you?
(Arsenyan) I suppose that the president is aware even of its name.
(Correspondent) Nevertheless, the opposition is not planning to give
up on street protest actions, probably realizing that it is impossible
to come to power in the country in this way.
(Arsenyan) Raising its voice in defence of their demands, the
opposition is talking only about its rights, whereas apart from their
rights, the opposition is also obliged to criticize and oversee the
activities of the authorities, and the opposition “successfully”
neglects the functions that voters have given it.
(Passage omitted: Quoting a Russian writer; the Baltic states are
members of the EU)
Karabakh conflict settlement
(Correspondent) Do you share the forecasts that the Karabakh settlement
process may enter a decisive stage in 2004?
(Arsenyan) We believe that this stage is approaching, and the external
forces we mentioned above, destabilizing the situation in Armenia,
aim to exert influence on this process. However, the prerogative
in the cause of settling the conflict belongs to the authorities of
Armenia and the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic (NKR) and to the Armenian
people, not to our compatriots in Moscow who are trying to interfere
and weaken Armenia’s position in the settlement process in order
to join in the process with the aim of big financial gain. This is
a commercial project which is being implemented from abroad and is
connected both to the settlement process and regional communications,
as well as to other important factors.
As for our stance on the conflict, we proceed from the situation
that Armenia is not a side to the conflict and should not discuss
issues concerning the fate of the Karabakh people, but only issues of
guaranteeing the rights and security of the NKR people. In our opinion,
the sides to the conflict should be Azerbaijan and Karabakh. Armenia
should not have a territorial dispute with Azerbaijan, except for
Artsvashen (the village of Baskand in Gadabay District) which has
been occupied by Azerbaijan. We believe that agreements and security
guarantees should be hammered out through negotiations between the
Azerbaijani and NKR authorities, and those guarantees should satisfy
the people and the authorities of the NKR.
(Passage omitted: Arsenyan will not stand in the next presidential
elections)

Armenian asylum seekers on hunger strike
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
May 20 2004
The two Armenian nationals, Roman Terian and Artur Apresian, who
came to Azerbaijan on April 7 fleeing Kocharian’s regime, announced
on Monday that they had started a hunger strike.
Terian and Apresian, who aspire to emigrate to a third country with
the assistance of international organizations, began the strike after
the Baku Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees rejected
their request.
In explaining this decision, the office said that if it granted the
request, other individuals might try to emigrate from Armenia in the
same way.

Azeri leader rules out concessions over Karabakh
ANS TV, Baku
19 May 04
[Presenter] Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s official visit to
Belgium is continuing. Aliyev will meet NATO Secretary-General Jaap
de Hoop Scheffer today. ANS’s special correspondent, Qanira Pasayeva,
is joining Xabarci [news programme] now. Good afternoon, Qanira. We
can hear you.
[Correspondent, on the phone] President Ilham Aliyev had a working
breakfast organized by the European Politics Centre. His speech,
questions and answers were focused on the Nagornyy Karabakh
problem. Aliyev said that the Armenian armed forces on the
occupied territories of Azerbaijan were a source of instability
in the region and that the territories were being used for illegal
activities. For this reason, the Armenian armed forces should withdraw,
and Azerbaijan will not give up this principled position. Asked
about possible compromises, the president said that no compromises
would be made. Because the current situation in the conflict and
international legal norms urge the liberation of [Azerbaijan’s]
occupied areas. According to the president, today we talk about
integration into the European Union. But one European country, which is
a Council of Europe member, is keeping under occupation the territory
of another European country.
The president also touched on regional cooperation. He said that the
main reason for Armenia being on the sidelines of regional projects
was that it was keeping Azerbaijani territories under occupation. The
president also responded to questions about the 15-16 October events
[post-election riots in Baku in 2003] and freedom of the press. The
president said there was no press censorship and the press did not
have any serious problems.
We call on the opposition to hold discussions at the negotiating table,
not in the streets, the president said. He added that he had offered
them dialogue a few times. However, his offer has received no response.
The president then met Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. In
an exclusive interview with ANS after the meeting, Yanukovych said
they had discussed some issues of reviving economic ties between
Ukraine and Azerbaijan and that they had no problems in the political
sphere. Moreover, the sides touched on the issues to be discussed
during Ilham Aliyev’s official visit to Ukraine in early June. Asked
if they had discussed the Odessa-Brody oil project, Yanukovych said
that he would express his official stance before Ilham Aliyev’s visit
in June. [Sentence indistinct] That’s it, Leyla.
[Presenter] Thank you, Qanira.

BAKU TODAY
May 14 2004
Oskanian: The Idea To Withdraw From Seven Districts Is Absurd And
Meaningless
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian on Thursday deemed the
idea of withdrawal from Azerbaijan’s seven occupied districts “absurd
and meaningless.”
Oskanian’s Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov came up with a
suggestion during their 13 May meeting in Strasbourg that Baku might
open up all communication lines to Armenia should the latter releases
seven districts it occupied in 1991-94 war.
Mammadyarov’s proposal holds that over 700,000 Azerbaijani internally
displaced persons (IDP) should be returned to their homes before the
issue of Nagorno-Karabakh’s status is resolved.
Armenian side has rejected thus far every plan considering stage
by stage settlement of the conflict, supporting only a “package
resolution” of the problem.
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mostly ethnic-Armenian populated region of
Azerbaijan, is under the control Armenian troops along with seven
districts surrounding it.
A no war no peace situation continues since a cease-fire agreement was
reached on May 12, 1994, with the Azerbaijani authorities oftentimes
warning that they can resort to armed means at any moment to regain
the occupied territories.

Karabakh cease-fire “mainly due to the balance of forces” – separatist minister
Mediamax news agency
12 May 04
Yerevan, 12 May: The truce agreement in the zone of the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict entered into force 10 years ago on 12 May 1994.
On 5 May 1994, Armenian, Azerbaijani and Karabakhi parliaments’
heads signed a protocol under the auspices of the CIS Parliamentary
Assembly, which served as a base for establishing a truce in the
Karabakh conflict zone. On the basis of the signed protocol, the
Russian president’s special representative for Nagornyy Karabakh,
Vladimir Kazimirov, drew up a truce agreement which entered into
force on 12 May.
In the interview with Mediamax, foreign minister of the Nagornyy
Karabakh Republic (NKR) Ashot Gulyan called the meeting in Bishkek “a
remarkable stage in the history of the Karabakh conflict settlement.”
Ashot Gulyan highlighted the importance of the fact that for the
last ten years the truce has been maintained by the efforts of the
two sides, without the support of the international contingent.
“The cease-fire is maintained mainly due to the balance of forces
in the region, and day-by-day improvement of the NKR Defence Army’s
fighting efficiency, giving confidence that the peace in the region
will be maintained in the future as well,” the minister said.