Author: Nalbandian Eduard

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

========================================== ======
Monday 10 December 2007
AZERBAIJAN: "IF YOU MEET AGAIN YOU’LL BE IMPRISONED," ADVENTISTS TOLD

Neighbourhood police officer Elhan Sokhbetov, who took part in an 8
December raid on a Baku Adventist congregation’s worship service, denied
that it was a raid. "It was just a check-up," he insisted to Forum 18 News
Service. Asked why 13 police officers had raided the service, why eight
church members had been held for five hours, insulted, threatened and fined
he responded: "No-one was threatened. It was just a check-up." Pastor Rasim
Bakhshiyev told Forum 18 he was warned they would be imprisoned if they
meet again for worship. "They tried to make us sign statements that we had
been led astray in coming to services and that we were renouncing our
faith," he added. "This was a crude violation of the law," another
Adventist leader told Forum 18. "All our documents are in order and they
have no reason to raid the congregation or to fine our members." No
official of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations was
available to tell Forum 18 why the service had been raided. Officials have
told the Adventists they are "too busy" to receive them.

AZERBAIJAN: "IF YOU MEET AGAIN YOU’LL BE IMPRISONED," ADVENTISTS TOLD

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <;

Police who raided a worship service of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in
the capital Baku on Saturday 8 December told the congregation’s leaders
that they will be imprisoned if they meet again, Pastor Rasim Bakhshiyev
told Forum 18 News Service from the city on 10 December. "They told us
verbally they will check up to make sure we don’t meet." He and seven other
congregation members were held for five hours at the local police station
and fined. However, reached by Forum 18 on 8 December shortly after the
group had been fined and released, the duty officer at the Nizami district
25th police department denied that any raid had taken place or that any
Adventists had been held.

Reached again on 10 December, the duty officer at the 25th police
department was also unable to explain why the Adventist congregation had
been raided. "Why?" he asked Forum 18, laughing, but failed to answer the
question. He referred all enquiries to the station head, but his telephone
went unanswered on 10 December.

But the neighbourhood police officer Elhan Sokhbetov, who took part in the
raid and in an earlier unsanctioned search of the premises where the
congregation meets, denied to Forum 18 that it was a raid. "It was just a
check-up" he told Forum 18 on 10 December. Asked why 13 police officers had
raided the church service, why eight church members had been held for five
hours, insulted, threatened and fined he responded: "No-one was threatened.
It was just a check-up." He then hung up.

Despite repeated calls on 10 December to the State Committee for Work with
Religious Organisations, none of the officially-authorised spokespersons
for the committee was available to tell Forum 18 why a religious
community’s worship service had been raided. The receptionist said that
committee chair Hidayat Orujev was in a meeting, while reached later she
said he had left the office. The telephone of deputy chair Elchin Askerov
went unanswered. Staff who answered the phones of spokespersons Yagut
Alieva and Jeyhun Mamedova said neither was there.

Adventist leaders in Baku told Forum 18 that they had telephoned the State
Committee on 10 December to try to arrange an urgent meeting to discuss the
raid, but officials told them they were "too busy" to receive them. "They
said perhaps they might be free on 25 December, so we should ring them on
24 December to find out," one Adventist told Forum 18 on 10 December. "They
just want to avoid talking with us about it." He declined to speculate
whether 25 December had been chosen specially, given that this is the day
Adventists in Azerbaijan celebrate Christmas.

"This was a crude violation of the law," the Adventist added. "All our
documents are in order and they have no reason to raid the congregation or
to fine our members."

Bakhshiyev told Forum 18 that at 11.30 am on 8 December, some 13 police
officers arrived as he was leading about 20 people in the congregation’s
worship service (the Adventists’ holy day is Saturday). He said the group –
half of whom were in uniform and half in civilian clothes – were from the
25th police department.

"They surrounded us and wrote down all our names," Bakhshiyev told Forum
18. "They insulted us, asking why we had no books about [the Muslim
prophet] Muhammad and why we preach Jesus without informing them. I calmly
told them that we preach Jesus Christ and that our faith commands us to be
peaceable in our preaching. They said we shouldn’t preach Jesus Christ."

Bakhshiyev said that he and seven members of the congregation were taken
to the local police station. "There were about 20 officers there. They
didn’t beat us, but they constantly insulted us in words." He said they
accused the church of meeting without state registration.

The Azeri-language Adventist congregation Bakhshiyev leads meets in a
privately-owned building in Baku’s Nizami district, but acts under the
umbrella of the city’s central Adventist Church, which has state
registration. Bakhshiyev said he explained this to the police but they
failed to accept this.

Bakhshiyev said the detained Adventists were taken to separate rooms,
where officers tried to force them to write statements. "They tried to make
us sign statements that we had been led astray in coming to services and
that we were renouncing our faith," he told Forum 18. "They accused me of
receiving money from Armenia, as though we support Armenia." (Azerbaijan
and Armenia have long been in conflict over the disputed region of
Nagorno-Karabakh.)

Bakhshiyev said that he was fined 16.50 Manats (106 Norwegian Kroner, 13
Euros or 20 US Dollars). The other seven Adventists were each fined 11
Manats. He said police did not explain exactly which article of the Code of
Administrative Offences they had violated. He said one of the detained
Adventists had been allowed out to collect together some money and they all
paid the fines. But were told receipts for the money would only be given
out on 10 December. All were freed after five hours’ detention.

During the summer the same congregation faced an unsanctioned raid led by
Sokhbetov, the neighbourhood police officer who took part in the 8 December
raid. "I suddenly saw him and about another seven police climbing through
the gates to get in," Bakhshiyev reported. "They searched the place right
through and then went away – all without any documents at all."

Bakhshiyev said his congregation wants to gain separate legal status, but
that the authorities "don’t want to register a second Adventist
congregation in Baku". He believes controls on religious communities have
become tighter since Orujev took over in July 2006 as chair of the State
Committee from the former chair Rafik Aliev.

Meanwhile, imprisoned Baptist pastor Zaur Balaev is still waiting to hear
when his appeal to the Supreme Court will be heard. Balaev led a Baptist
congregation in Aliabad in the far north-west of Azerbaijan, close to the
border with Georgia. Like most of the population of the village, he is from
the Georgian-speaking Ingilo minority. The congregation has repeatedly over
many years had its applications for legal status refused and has faced
years of harassment from the local authorities.

Arrested in May, Balaev is serving a two year sentence on charges of
resisting the police, charges eyewitnesses and church members insist are
"trumped-up". He is now being held in Ordinary Regime Prison Colony No. 10,
located in Darnagul in Baku’s Narimanov District (see F18News 16 November
2007 < 1049>).

"Zaur’s health is worsening in prison," Ilya Zenchenko, head of
Azerbaijan’s Baptist Union, told Forum 18 from Baku on 10 December. "Some
church members were able to visit him yesterday and he needs more
medicine." He said the Supreme Court has until 15 January to decide when
his second appeal against his sentence will be heard.

In early November, police in the southern port town of Neftechala on the
Caspian Sea, threatened local Baptist Jabbar Musaev with the same fate as
that of Balaev (see F18News 16 November 2007
< e_id=1049>).

"Jabbar was dragged out of his home directly in the eyes of his mother and
taken to the police station," Zenchenko complained. "Although he was freed
that evening he was so intimidated – and so was his mother."

Other Protestant congregations and Jehovah’s Witnesses have also faced
harassment in recent months. "Sometimes pressure is open, sometimes it is
covert," Zenchenko told Forum 18. (END)

For a personal commentary, by an Azeri Protestant, on how the
international community can help establish religious freedom in Azerbaijan,
see < 482>

For more background information see Forum 18’s Azerbaijan religious
freedom survey at <‘ >

More coverage of freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Azerbaijan
is at
< mp;religion=all&country=23&results=50>

A survey of the religious freedom decline in the eastern part of the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) area is at
< id=806>.

A printer-friendly map of Azerbaijan is available at
< s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=azerba& gt;
(END)

© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News

Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at

GUAM SUBMITTED DRAFT RESOLUTION ON FROZEN CONFLICTS TO UN

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.12.2007 13:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova)
submitted a draft resolution on frozen conflicts to the UN General
Assembly.

"The ‘four’ calls on the nations to confirm the territorial integrity
of states, where separatist ethnic groups maintained since the Soviet
period – Nagorno Karabakh, Abkhazian and Tskhinvali regions in Georgia
and Moldovan Transnistria."

Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine indicated in the draft
resolution that the lingering conflicts still threaten peace
and stability in the region, calling on states and international
organizations to assist in resolution of conflicts in GUAM’s area.

GUAM member countries reminded of rights of refugees from the ethnic
conflict zones and the necessity of observing the security guarantees
for their repatriation and living, as well as rights and freedoms of
all ethnic groups in these areas.

The draft document also specifies "to include in the initial agenda
of the 63rd session an item on "Lingering conflicts in the territory
of GUAM and consequences for the international peace, security and
development", Trend reports.

ARMENPRESS

AZERBAIJAN HOPES FOR PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH
PROBLEM

BAKU, DECEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS: Azerbaijan hopes for
a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, Azerbaijani foreign minister Elmar
Mammadyarov said when addressing an audience at
Norway’s Foreign Policy Institute.
‘I am sure that a peaceful settlement option will
be found,’ he said in response to a question whether
Azerbaijan’s increased military budget means that Baku
wants to use force to win Nagorno-Karabakh back.
Azerbaijani foreign minister is on an official
visit to Norway, where he has already held a series of
meetings with its top officials, including top
executive of Norway’s Statoil company.
He will stay in Norway until December 7, Trend news
agency said.

LEGITIMATE PRESIDENT – 2008 MOVEMENT CREATED IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Dec 04 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. A movement under the title Legitimate
President – 2008 has been created in Armenia. Its goal is to present
voters with falsifications committed during the parliamentary
elections, as well as to disclose possible falsifications in the
upcoming presidential elections.

Lyudmila Sargsian, the Chairwoman of the Social-Democratic
Hnchakian Party, expressed such an opinion at the December 4 press
conference. According to her, all political forces supporting first
Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosian will join the movement soon.

L. Sargsian and the other participants of the press conference,
Garnik Margarian, the Chairman of the Homeland and Honor party,
and Gurgen Yeghiazarian, the former Deputy Head of the National
Security Service, said that today’s most urgent problem is to hold
legitimate elections, which will exclude Armenia’s dependence on
strong countries, will ensure country’s normal development and really
independent future. "Armenia’s independence is endangered today,
country’s out-post condition is explained by the very fact of its
having an illegitimate President," L. Sargsian stated.

G. Margarian said that "L. Ter-Petrosian is the only political figure,
who is able to free the country of the authorities acting by the laws
of the criminal world."

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Dec 5 2007

Moscow & Yerevan’s Efforts Aim to Stabilize Situation in
Transcaucasia – Russian Foreign Minister
05.12.07 15:17

`The efforts of Moscow and Yerevan aim to set stability in
Transcaucasia,’ ITAR-TASS quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov who said this at a meeting with his Armenian counterpart
Vardan Oskanian on 5 December.

`Not only bilateral relations are developing, but also relations on
joint efforts to stabilize the situation in the region,’ Lavrov said.

`It is not the first time we have met this year. When try to meet so
that agreements concluded between our Presidents get implemented. I
hope, today’s meeting will have the same course,’ the Russian Foreign
Minister said.

`The agenda is very vague. But the sides do not have problematic
tasks. The key task is to deepen relations,’ Oskanian said. He voiced
his hope that the Moscow meeting will be useful in terms of
discussion both for global problems and important regional issues.

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Dec 6 2007

Armenia’s antimonopoly commission not to admit rise in prices for
foodstuff on New Year Eve

YEREVAN, December 6. /ARKA/. Armenia’s State Commission on Protection
of Economic Competition (SCPEC) will not admit rise in prices for
foodstuffs on New Year Eve. SCPEC Chairman Ashot Shahnazaryan said
that the Commission will continue the monitoring of goods that are in
the field of its activity, in particular, the market of sugar, eggs,
dairy butter and sunflower oil.

`There is no rise now, on these days last year there was rise
already, and that is why some companies have been fined since this
January 1,’ he said.

Shahnazaryan said that the fine for anti-competition agreement was
increased from 1 to 2% of annual circulation of the entity.

He believes that the population should trust the Commission at least
on the example of a recent case when rise for dairy butter and
sunflower oil was stopped.

`Our decision stopped the rise in prices for butter, which could have
had multiplied effect on other goods,’ he said.
Shahnazaryan pointed out that the Commission’s priorities include 25
goods market that form the consumer basket.

He also pointed out that the Commission observes the economic
entities that have dominating positions on the markets.

`Now we study socially significant goods on 30 goods markets, and
their monitoring will be continues up to New Year,’ he said.

The SCPEC on the basis of market monitoring held from August to
October revealed the fact of agreement between 20% of entities
working on the market of dairy butter and sunflower oil about the
unreasonable rise in prices for the products.
As a result about 50 Armenian businessmen were fined for unreasonable
rise in prices for the food – 2% of the annual income in 2006. L.M.
-0–

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Dec 6 2007

85% of earthwork on second section of Iran-Armenia gas main completed

YEREVAN, December 6. /ARKA/. 85% of the earthwork on the second
section of the Iran-Armenia gas main, Kajaran-Araratm, has been
completed, RA Minister of Energy Armen Movsisyan told reporters.

According to him, assembling on a 60-km-long section has been
completed, and the work on a 5-km-long section is to be completed one
of these days. `Before the end of the year the work will be continued
as long as the weather in the highlands permits,’ the Minister said.
He pointed out that the construction is to be completed before the
end of 2008.

Movsisyan reported that the second section of the Armenia-Iran gas
main will increase the capacity of the gas-transport system and
annual gas imports from Iran to Armenia to 2.3bln cubic meters.

The first, 40-km-long, section of the gas-main, Meghri-Kajaran, was
put into operation on March 19, 2007.
The project is estimated at $220-250mln. Under an agreement, Iran is
to supply a total of 36bln cubic meters of gas to Armenia during 20
years. The agreement can be prolonged for five years, with the total
amount of gas to be supplied to Armenia to reach 47bln AMD.

The gas will be used for generation of electric energy, which will
later be used in Armenia exported to Iran – 3kw/h for one cubic
meter. P.T. -0–

PROFESSOR FLORA KESHISHIAN WINS FULBRIGHT AWARD TO TEACH IN A NEW MASTERS PROGRAM IN ARMENIA

St. John’s University, NY
Nov 26 2007

Flora Keshishian, Ph. D., has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar
grant to lecture and do research next spring at Armenia’s Yerevan
State Linguistic University after V. Brusov, where she will teach
Intercultural Communication as well as Media Criticism in a new Master
of Arts in International Journalism program.

Born and raised in Iran by Armenian parents, Dr. Keshishian speaks
fluent Eastern Armenian but will be teaching her courses mainly in
English. With a doctorate in Media Criticism from New York University
and considerable experience teaching similar courses–including
Language and Intercultural Communication and Interpersonal
Communication for the Pharmacist–at St. John’s, she’s well equipped
to teach the graduate students at Brusov. Recently, she learned she
may teach undergraduates as well and is ready for that challenge too.

One of the tools the St. John’s professor plans to use in the Media
Criticism course at Brusov is an article based on her doctoral
dissertation. That study involved a close verbal and nonverbal
language analysis to detect bias, if any, in The New York Times’
and The Washington Post’s reportage of two earthquakes, one of which
took place in Armenia.

Going beyond the Classroom Keshishian, an Assistant Professor in
the Department of Speech, Communication Sciences and Theatre at
St. John’s, hopes to go "beyond the classroom" in Armenia to conduct,
or at least plant the seeds for, cross-cultural studies One topic
that particularly interests her is the link between the economic
system and cultural values.

"I’d like to examine the difference, if any, between the cultural
values and perceptions of the older generation of Armenians who lived
under the Soviet regime, and the younger generation of Armenians
who have lived in the current system since 1991 (Perestroika),"
she explains.

She is also looking to examine cross-cultural non-verbal communication,
discerning the difference, if any exists, between student-student
and student-teacher communication in Armenia and in the United States.

While at the Brusov University, Keshishian has a more personal goal:
"I would like to create a long-term relationship between Brusov and
St. John’s University, between their faculty and our faculty, that
might involve the creation of ongoing research projects. I’d also
like to invite a faculty member to teach or lecture at St. John’s,"
she says.

Already, St. John’s newest Fulbright Scholar has attended an
orientation in Washington, DC, where she spoke with several student
Fulbright winners. She’d like to invite some of them to New York to
speak with St. John’s students about the experience as well as how
to apply for the Fulbright scholarship.

The Value of Studying Abroad "I strongly believe that studying abroad
would be an invaluable experience for any student, here and elsewhere,"
she offers. "I hope to do anything I can to encourage our students to
apply for different scholarships, including the Fulbright, and to take
advantage of the Study Abroad program at St. John’s for an opportunity
to study in a culture that’s different from theirs. Being exposed to
a different way of life is likely to broaden anyone’s perception of
the world and result in a more effective interpersonal/intercultural
communication."

Keshishian’s Fulbright is the second in two years for the Language,
Speech Communications and Theatre department. Previously Associate
Professor Michael Hostetler, Ph.D. received a Fulbright grant to
teach in Ukraine.

071126.stj

ALLOCATION OF RUSSIAN MILITARY EQUIPMENT IN ARMENIA TO BE DISCUSSED IN BAKU

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Nov 27 2007

Kazakhstan, Astana / Trend corr. K.Konirova / The allocation of
military equipment withdrawn from Georgia in Armenia is of concern
to Baku.

"The issue concerning the allocation of Russian military equipment
withdrawn from Georgia in Armenia will be discussed during the meeting
with the Defense Minister of Russia on 27 November," Safar Abiyev,
the Azerbaijani Defense Minister, said during the press conference
in Astana. About 70% of military equipment withdrawn from Georgia
was placed in the Gumri military base 102.

The Russian Defence Minister Anatoli Serdukov will pay an official
visit to Azerbaijan on 27 November. Discussions will include the
military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia. Within the
framework of the visit Serdukov will also visit the Gabala Radar
Station.

According to Abiyev, Azerbaijan condemns the allocation of the Russian
military equipment in Armenia.

GEGHAMIAN JOINS PRESIDENTIAL RACE, BLASTS TER-PETROSIAN
By Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio LIberty, Czech Rep.
Nov 27 2007

Opposition leader Artashes Geghamian announced on Tuesday his
participation in the Armenian presidential election in a move
which his aides said is aimed at staving off former President Levon
Ter-Petrosian’s return to power.

Geghamian and senior members of his National Accord Party (AMK)
fiercely attacked Ter-Petrosian as they officially nominated his
presidential candidacy. The AMK leadership also significantly toned
down its criticism of the Armenian government.

Risking more accusations of secret collaboration with the authorities,
Geghamian revealed that he has meet with President Robert Kocharian
and Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian recently to discuss the upcoming
election.

Geghamian was among a dozen opposition heavyweights whom Ter-Petrosian
urged earlier this month to withdraw from the presidential race in
his favor and help him topple the "corrupt and criminal" regime. The
AMK leader was quick to reject the call and reaffirm his critical
attitude towards the former president.

Geghamian said on Tuesday that he is unimpressed by Ter-Petrosian’s
harsh criticism of the government, saying that the latter has
essentially repeated his own characterizations. He also blasted the
ex-president for alleging that Kocharian and Sarkisian have turned
Armenia into a "gangster state."

"If you have something to say, say it to Robert Kocharian and Serzh
Sarkisian and [refer to] their policies," he said. "Leave Armenian
statehood alone."

Geghamian’s closest associates went even further in condemning
Ter-Petrosian and his discourse. One of them, Sarkis Muradkhanian,
denounced the ex-president as a "landmine planted not only in the
opposition field but under the foundations of Armenian statehood."

The AMK’s second deputy chairman, Aleksan Karapetian, charged that
Ter-Petrosian is surrounded by "thieving businessmen" and "populist
revanchists." "It must be pointed out that Ter-Petrosian himself bred
many prominent representatives of today’s oligarchy and bureaucracy
and bears the burden of responsibility for political disasters,
murders of Armenia’s citizens, the cold and dark years, the people’s
impoverishment and manifestations of total plunder," Karapetian told
a news conference.

This, according to Karapetian, is the key reason why Geghamian will
contest the election scheduled for February 19.

Geghamian was at pains to insist that his and his party’s stance does
not amount to an expression of support for the handover of power from
Kocharian to Sarkisian. "The AMK equally rejects both the former and
current authorities," he told reporters.

Geghamian added that he has held face-to-face talks with Sarkisian and
Kocharian "for the sake of Armenia’s stability." "The key agreement
reached [at the meetings] is that everything must be done to avert
a destabilization of the situation in the country and prevent our
centuries-old enemies, our neighbors from taking advantage of that,"
he said.

The remarks were a far cry from Geghamian’s trademark anti-government
rhetoric that helped him finish third in the last presidential
election held in 2003. He has repeatedly accused Armenia’s two most
powerful men of corruption and mismanagement in the past. Sarkisian,
widely seen as the election favorite, has been equally scathing in his
responses to Geghamian, repeatedly declaring that the AMK leader is
"as empty as a drum."

With the AMK failing to win a single parliament seat in the May
elections, Geghamian appears to have lost much of his popularity
since 2003 and is not regarded by analysts as a major contender of
the upcoming ballot.