Author: Toneyan Mark

ARTSAKH IS PRICELESS
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
28 Sept 04
Recently OSCE cochairman Stephen Mann has stated that the meeting
of the mediators with the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in
Astana were aimed to reveal the presence of political will in the
two leaders. The American cochairman expressed the opinion that
regional development passes by Armenia. Pipelines, roads, railways
are built, and Armenia misses the chance of benefiting from the
economic integration in the entire region. As it would be expected
the reaction to the statement of Mr. Mann did not wait long. On the
same day foreign minister of Armenia Vardan Oskanian gave a press
conference and announced that Armenia cannot be frightened or worried
by stating that Armenia remains outside the implementation of oil
and gas and transport projects. According to the foreign minister
of Armenia, we have proved to the world that without railways and
pipelines Armenia is able to not only survive but even develop going
on to in the next hundred years as well. And to connect the question
of status of Nagorni Karabakh to some oil or gas pipeline and turn it
into an object of trade is simply impossible for, as Vardan Oskanian
emphasized, “Nagorni Karabakh is priceless and is not an object to
be sold, therefore we do not accept the argument that by defending
its interest the Armenian side loses the opportunity to take part in
large regional programs.” In reference to the construction of the
railway, the Georgian-Turkish agreement and other projects passing
by Armenia the foreign minister thinks that it is a mistake. “Whoever
connects these questions to the problem of Nagorni Karabakh, I state
that there can be no relation between these as Artsakh is priceless,”
said Mr. Oskanian. Making use of the meeting with the representatives
of the mass media, the foreign minister of Armenia also summed
up the results of the four meetings of the foreign ministers of
Armenia and Azerbaijan. Although presenting details of procedure
rather than content, he informed that the preliminary stage of the
process of talks was concluded by the Kocharian-Aliev meeting in
Astana and the four meetings of the foreign ministers in Prague. Now
the negotiation parties have taken a so-called “time out” to think
for a while and then enter the second round of negotiations between
the foreign ministers. According to Mr. Oskanian, the second round
will be on a higher level in terms of quality and will be closer to
the settlement of the problem than the first one. “At the beginning
of the second round the presidents will say what they will do on the
content basis of the talks between the foreign ministers. Those might
be changed, accepted or refused.” During the press conference the
former PACE reporter Terry Davis report on Karabakh was also touched
upon. Mr. Oskanian characterized the report as unacceptable because
it reflected the personal position of the reporter. “It is the opinion
of one person and is a subjective opinion; it is not possible to agree
with it as the picture is not presented truly,” said Vardan Oskanian.
Although the new reporter, British member of parliament David Atkinson
is not of better disposition towards Armenia and Artsakh judging by,
according to Vardan Oskanian, his numerous statements made before
his appointment, Vardan Oskanian, nevertheless, hopes that the new
reporter will be maximally unbiased in preparing his report. Of course,
the Armenian party should contribute to this directly. “Therefore it
is necessary to try to explain, present the situation as objectively
as possible in order for the report not to affect the process of
negotiations. Today this is our problem,” announced Vardan Oskanian.
CHRISTINE MNATSAKANIAN. 28-09-2004

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 23 2004
S Caucasus PA not to be set up unless Upper Garabagh conflict is
settled, says Vice Speaker

Baku, September 22, AssA-Irada
Vice Speaker of the Milli Majlis (parliament) Ziyafat Asgarov
received Denis Sammit, executive director of the London Information
Network on State Building and Conflicts, on Wednesday.
Asgarov said that he has been informed about the proposal made by the
Network to establish the Parliamentary Assembly of South Caucasus
countries.
Noting that this is impossible unless the Upper Garabagh conflict is
settled, the Vice Speaker directly blamed the leadership of Armenia
for failure to solve the conflict. `How can we set up a Parliamentary
Assembly together with a terrorist state?’, underscored Asgarov,
stating that no relations will be established between Azerbaijan and
Armenia until the conflict is settled. Sammit, in turn, said that
there is a very complicated situation in South Caucasus due to
ongoing conflicts. Stating that he understands well international
organizations’ failure to settle the conflict, Sammit advised the
governments of the two conflicting sides to make joint efforts with
international organizations and NGOs in this respect.*

EU to follow authorities-opposition dialogue
AzerNews
23 Sept 04
The European Union is ready to cooperate with Azerbaijan within the
European Neighborhood Policy both in the political and economic
fields, the European Commission (EC) President Romano Prodi told a
press conference following his meetings with Azeri
government officials in Baku on Friday. Prodi visited Baku as part of
his tour of the South Caucasus region on September 16-17. The EC
President saidhe discussed the next steps following the EU’s recent
decision to include Azerbaijan in the program with President Aliyev,
Prime Minister Rasizada, Parliament Speaker Alasgarov and Caucasus
Clerical Leader, Sheikh Pashazada.
“We would like to see the benefit of extended Europe both for
ourselves and the “new neighbors.” Prodi noted that Azerbaijan will
“experience the advantage of entering the European Union’s 500
million-people market”. He added that implementation of the mentioned
policy is possible not exclusively for any country in the region but
only for all regional countries. “The EU has expressed a very clear
and firm position: by the “new neighborhood policy” we imply all the
three regional states – Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia.”
Progress
The European Commission President Prodi said with regard to democratic
reform ongoing in Azerbaijan that the European Union believes that the
country has achieved considerable progress in this area. “We openly
state that important progress has been achieved in Azerbaijan in the
area of democracy and it needs to be further developed.” Prodi said
that in his meeting with President Ilham Aliyev “a full range of
issues on freedoms, democratic development and transparency of
elections was discussed”. “Our position is unequivocal and clear:
these are our priorities, which are very important, as the EU is based
on them”, the EC President said. He said the EU will follow the
relations between the authorities and the opposition in
Azerbaijan. “There is no democracy without opposition and the EU will
definitely keep in spotlight the relations between the authorities and
opposition and trends for their getting closer.”
Prodi underlined, however, that “in all South Caucasus countries, we
(European Union) did not fully agree with the results of elections,
which raised our concerns from various standpoints”. Touching upon the
Upper Garabagh conflict settlement, he said the European Union
supports a dialogue between the Presidents and Foreign Ministers of
Azerbaijan and Armenia. However, the EUhas no plans to interfere with
the negotiations. Nonetheless, the EU is ready to assist in
establishing peace and providing assistance to refugees if the
conflicting sides reach an agreement.
EC offers assistance
The EC President Prodi said in a meeting with teachers and students of
the Baku State University on Friday that conflicts in the Caucasus are
unacceptable. Prodi stated that resolution of the Upper Garabagh
conflict depends on the conflicting sides. He said he supports the
peaceful settlement and that such conflicts have also arisen among the
European Union member-states in the past and were resolved within the
framework of economic reforms. In a meeting with Prodi on the same
day, Sheikhulislam Allahshukur Pashazada said that Armenia tried to
misinform the international community that its conflict with
Azerbaijan started on a religious basis. Pashazada pointed put that
this was not true and said the fact that Azerbaijanis are not willing
to live side by side with Armenians is the latter’s delusion. “25,000
Armenians are living in Azerbaijan today. However, there is not a
single Azerbaijani living in Armenia,” Pashazada stressed. Prodi said
that his visit to Baku aimed to put forward new proposals on
cooperation and pointed out that not only economic and but also
political relations between the EU and Azerbaijan will expand. “The
European community is open to your community. The involvement of
religion in this dialogue is therefore necessary,” Prodi said and
added that the EC could assist in solving conflicts in the region.

INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC SUPPORTS FAIR POSITION OF AZERBAIJAN
AzerTag
September 22, 2004
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Republic Elmar Mammadyarov
has met with the special envoy of the OSCE Acting Chairman on
Azerbaijan and Armenia Phillip Dimitrov, responsible representative of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria on Caucasian questions
Dimiter Dimitrov and the special representative of the working
chairman of OSCE Andzey Kaspshik.
As was informed to AzerTAj from the press center of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, the visitors, having conveyed greetings of the Acting
Chairman of OSCE, Solomon Passi, have expressed confidence of
rendering assistance to achievement of the certain motions in the
field of peace settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh
conflict.
Warmly greeting the guests, Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar
Mammadyarov has noted value of the visit of Phillip Dimitrov in our
country. Having estimated the negotiations carried out in Prague on
settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh conflict as
satisfactory, The Minister has especially noted importance of
acceleration of process of negotiations after the meetings, which have
been carried out by presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Astana.
The head of foreign policy department has emphasized his trust not
only local, but also the international public renders positive
influence on settlement of the conflict on the basis of norms and
principles of international law.
The parties also have exchange of views on some other questions
representing mutual interest.

US mediator says time ripe for Karabakh peace talks
Ekho, Baku
22 Sep 04

An interview with the US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Steven
Mann, was published on the web page of the BBC Russian Service
yesterday [21 September].
[Correspondent] At what stage is the Karabakh peace process now?
[Mann] We, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, have held four rounds of
talks to study the problem only to answer this question and understand
what stage it is at. There is a new leadership in Azerbaijan now, and
the Armenian leaders are already in power for the second term. This
means that politically both sides are living through the period of
more stability now than in the past few years. That is we have an
opportunity to resume the study of the problem.
[Correspondent] Do you think that there is a good opportunity for
negotiations?
[Mann] There are all objective opportunities for this. To be frank, as
there was a season of elections in Armenia, one could not hope for a
serious breakthrough in the peace talks. The case was the same during
the transition of power in Azerbaijan. All this is left behind
now. There are all opportunities, if the two capitals have the
political will, of course.
[Correspondent] Do Baku and Yerevan have the political will?
[Mann] We are trying to assess this. Our talks in Astana were aimed at
this. This will be discussed with the OSCE Minsk Group as well. We
tell both governments that the time is not on your side. It will get
worse both for Armenia and Azerbaijan.
[Passage omitted: reported details of the conflict’s impact on
Azerbaijan and Armenia covered from Azad Azarbaycan TV on 21 September
2004]
The sides should pass through the negotiating process and find a
solution which the two sides will agree on.
For this, leaders of all parties from both countries should promote
the idea of dialogue. I am convinced that this meets the strategic
interests of both sides. From the practical viewpoint, these steps
will have to be taken if the governments are really interested in
establishing peace and putting an end to this humanitarian, social and
economic tragedy.
[Correspondent] What are the sides to the conflict expecting from the
Minsk Group?
[Mann] You should ask the sides to the conflict to answer this
question. The Minsk Group’s mandate is not to reach a solution and
impose it on the sides. The mandate is not to be a judge between
Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Our mandate implies creating an atmosphere in which the two sides
could hold serious peace talks. The Minsk Group’s mandate is also to
adopt together with the sides a decision acceptable for all. We cannot
do anything else. Responsibility for the conflict resolution rests
with Armenia and Azerbaijan. This is a fundamental issue. Of course,
the governments of the co-chairing countries of the Minsk Group – the
USA, Russia and France – are sincerely interested in the resolution of
the conflict and we will do our best to support the sides’ decision.

EU: Caucasus states cannot join Europe before rows settled
20.09.2004

Yerevan. (Interfax) – The South Caucasus states cannot integrate into Europe
before they resolve disputes between them, European Commission President
Romano Prodi said on Sunday.
Prodi told a news conference in Yerevan that was unclear today whether any of
the South Caucasus countries had a chance of ever becoming a full European
Union member.
But he said that six months ago he could not even dream of the possibility of
Azerbaijan, Armenia, or Georgia being invited to join the EU New Neighbours
program.
He said the extent to which the EU would carry its relations with each of the
three countries would depend on the nation’s economic and democratic
development.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Worldwide Faith News (press release)
Sept 16 2004
World Council of Churches – News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 [email protected]
For immediate release – 16/09/2004
PROMINENT WORLD CHRISTIAN LEADERS AND PEACE-MAKERS
AFFIRM THE POWER AND PROMISE OF PEACE
Broadcast quality video messages available, see below.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Orthodox
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, and the head of
the Evangelical Church in Germany, Bishop Wolfgang Huber are among
those supporting an International Day of Prayer for Peace called for
by the World Council of Churches (WCC) within its Decade to Overcome
Violence. The date set for observance is 21 September.
More than a dozen well-known Christian leaders and peace-makers
from all over the world are affirming churches’ and faith
communities’ work for peace and justice in a series of inspiring
two-minute video messages that will be made available at
on Monday 20 September (12:00
a.m. Geneva time).
This year, the WCC’s Decade to Overcome Violence is focusing on the
United States, under the theme “The power and promise of peace”. The
video messages thus also recognize and encourage the struggle of
US churches to witness to peace and justice, both domestically and
internationally.
Personalities joining the International Day of Prayer for Peace
through video messages are:
– Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Anglican
archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa
– Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
– Wolfgang Huber, chairman of the council of the Evangelical Church
in Germany
– Aram I, catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church (See of Cilicia)
a and WCC Central Committee moderator
– Hanan Mikhail Ashwari, Sydney Peace Prize winner and advocate for
Palestinian rights
– Keith Clements, general secretary of the Conference of European
Churches
– Mvume Dandala, general secretary of the All Africa Conference
of Churches
– Karen Hamilton, general secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches
– Israel Batista, general secretary of the Latin American Council
of Churches
– Hildegard Goss Mayr, honorary president of the International
Fellowship of Reconciliation
– Ahn Jae Woong, general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia
– Bernice Powell Jackson, WCC president from North America
– Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr., president of the National Council of Churches
of Christ in the USA
Within the framework of its Decade to Overcome Violence, the WCC has
called on its member churches – which represent a membership estimated
at about 550 million Christians world-wide – to pray for peace on
21 September or on the Sundays preceding or following that day.
This WCC initiative links to the International Day of Peace declared
by the United Nations General Assembly, a world-wide effort intended
as a day of global cease-fire and non-violence, and as an opportunity
for education and raising public awareness.
The video messages in both webcast and broadcast quality
will be available as of Monday 20 (12:00 a.m. Geneva time) at
Liturgical resources for the International Day of Prayer for Peace
are already available at the same website.
See also our press release of 31 August, 2004 at
> press corner > International Day of Prayer for
Peace
Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
[email protected]
Sign up for WCC press releases at

Putin to attend two summits in Kazakhstan
By Viktoria Sokolova
ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 15, 2004 Wednesday 12:26 AM Eastern Time
MOSCOW September 15 – Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in
Kazakhstan’s capital Astana for a working visit.
He will attend two summits, of heads of states of the Common Economic
Space (CES) on Wednesday and of CIS presidents on Thursday.
The leaders of the CES countries, or Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and
Belarus, will hold a separate meeting, after which their delegations
will join them.
The presidents will sign joint documents and will hold a news
conference.
A main item on the agenda is discussion of a list of 29 accords
prepared by a high level group and awaiting signing on a priority
basis, the Russian president’s aide Sergei Prikhodko told Itar-Tass.
“The implementation of these documents is called to lay necessary
conditions for deepening economic integration and staged progress
toward free movement of goods, services, capital and workforce in
the framework of the ‘four’,” Prikhodko said.
The presidents of the four CIS republics will sign an accord on
setting up a commission on tariffs and trade that will be a common
regulating body for the CES countries, he said.
The president wills make a joint statement after the summit.
Prikhodko said Putin would meet the Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents, Robert Kocharyan and Ilkham Aliyev, on Wednesday evening.
He is also likely to hold a separate meeting with Kazakhstan’s
President Nursultan Nazarbayev during his working visit.

STATEMENT OF THE FOREIGN MINISTRY OF AZERBAIJAN REPUBLIC
[September 14, 2004, 22:14:22]
Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
Sept 14 2004
Foreign ministry of the Azerbaijan Republic expresses deep regret
in connection with cancellation of the exercise Co-operative Best
Effort 2004, which was scheduled to begin on September 14-26, 2004, in
Azerbaijan in the frame of Partnership for Peace Program of the NATO.
The Republic of Azerbaijan considered these exercises in its territory
a landmark and important event on the way to integration to the
Euro-Atlantic space and had created every condition to conduct them.
The Azerbaijan-NATO cooperation links have successfully developed
in the last years and as a result, the Republic of Azerbaijan as
one of the active partners of NATO had presented the management of
the Organization the Operation Plan on Individual Partnership in May
current year.
As a military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan Republic,
the country, where the exercises were to conduct, 20 percent of
the territories are still under occupation and over one million of
Azerbaijanis are refugees and IDPs.
Leadership of this country holds a sharp and non-constructive position
in the carried out peace negotiations. In this case, for Azerbaijan,
participation of the Armenian militaries in the exercises in the
territory of the country was impossible.
The Azerbaijan side once again states its adherence to the principles
of the Euro-Atlantic values and deepening its partnership with the
Northern Atlantic Alliance and expresses hope that the years-old
successful and effective partnership relations between NATO and the
Republic of Azerbaijan will develop dynamically in the years coming.

By the World Forgot: Realpolitik and the Armenian Genocide
By Nir Eisikovits
Commentary
In The National Interest
September 1, 2004
Between 1915 and 1916, through a campaign of slaughter and deportation,
the nationalist ‘Young Turk’ government of the Ottoman Empire
killed over 1 Million Armenians. To this day, Turkey refuses to
accept responsibility for this genocide, claiming that the number of
casualties was far smaller and that most had been killed in fighting
between the parties rather than in one-sided massacres. It seems
that Turkish genocide-deniers are now receiving assistance from an
unexpected source. In a recent article, the Israeli daily Haaretz
reported that several Jewish groups in Washington have been involved
in blocking attempts to procure Congressional recognition of the
atrocities.
This involvement was much more proactive last year than it is now, but,
to quote the article, “a central activist in a Jewish organization
involved in this matter clarified that if necessary, he would not
hesitate to again exert pressure to ensure the resolution is not
passed and the Turks remain satisfied.” Surprising? Not really. Israel
has systematically refrained from recognizing the extermination
of Armenians. Senior officials, including former foreign minister
Shimon Peres, have spoken of a “tragedy,” which “cannot be compared to
genocide.” The position taken by Israel and some Jewish organizations
is animated by two considerations. One has to do with the uniqueness
of the Holocaust. The other is pure realpolitik. Let us examine these
in turn.
Recognizing the Armenian genocide, so the first argument goes, could
eclipse the singular magnitude of the crimes perpetrated against
the Jews during World War II.[1] This claim is both morally warped
and empirically unfounded. It is morally warped, because we Jews do
not have a monopoly on pain. Our catastrophes are not in a separate
category; we do not feel any more agony for the obliteration of our
families than others do. When Armenians are pricked, they bleed;
when they are poisoned they die.[2] If human suffering is essentially
democratic, Jews cannot, simultaneously, attack those who deny the
Holocaust and assist others who deny the Armenian genocide. The concern
for the legacy of the Holocaust is empirically unfounded, because
other cases of genocide have been recognized without the Holocaust
being forgotten or sidelined. The massacres by the Khmer Rouge in
Cambodia and the Tutsi by the Hutu in Rwanda are now universally
acknowledged. Such recognition has not eclipsed the discussion of
Nazi atrocities. It has, rather, served as a reminder that human
cruelty is as much a reality now as it was in 1915 and 1939.
As for realpolitik, Israel sees Turkey as an all-important
strategic ally in the Middle East – a moderate democratic Muslim
state in a region where both moderation and democracy are in
short supply. Thus, keeping the Turks happy is taken to be an
essential Israeli interest. Two observations are in order. First,
the appeasement of Turkey does not seem to be working. Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently accused Israel of “state terrorism”
and compared its policies towards Palestinians to the actions of the
Spanish Inquisition against Jews. Turkey is said to have rolled back
planned contracts to purchase military equipment from Israel and is
now reconsidering a planned deal to transport 15 Million cubes of
water annually to the water-poor Jewish State. Apparently we have
sold our moral integrity in vain. Second, realism in international
affairs, with all its merits, must be subordinate to a nation’s most
basic principles rather than dictate them. In the case of Israel, the
most deep-seated of those principles is that the state was founded as
a barrier against genocide, as a safe-haven for Jews the world over
to protect them from future persecution. The refusal to recognize
other cases of genocide undermines this fundamental tenet. It provides
invaluable ammunition to those who claim that history is written by the
victors. If that position takes hold, no group, including the Jews,
would ever be safe from hounding, and Israel would have undermined
the main reason for its own existence.
On August 22, 1939, days before the Nazis invaded Poland, Hitler
addressed his military chiefs in Obersalzburg. “The aim of war is not
to reach definite lines,” he told them “but to annihilate the enemy
physically. It is by this means that we shall obtain the vital living
space that we need.” He then went on to ask them a rhetorical question:
“Who today still speaks of the massacre of the Armenians?” The Israeli
government, for one, does not. History, it would seem, has a cruel
sense of humor.
Nir Eisikovits, an Israeli attorney, is completing his Ph.D. in legal
and political philosophy at Boston University.
NOTES
[1] In early 2002, after Israeli ambassador to Georgia and Armenia
Rivka Cohen rejected any comparison between the Holocaust and the
Armenian Genocide, Israel’s foreign ministry released a statement
including the following text: ” …Israel asserted that the Holocaust
was a singular event in human history and was a premeditated crime
against the Jewish people. Israel recognizes the tragedy of the
Armenians and the plight of the Armenian people. However, the events
cannot be compared to genocide. This does not in any way diminish
the magnitude of the tragedy.”
[2] W. Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, Act 3, Scene 1.