Author: Torgomian Varazdat

Cyprus Mail, Cyprus
March 7 2008

Marios Karoyian: a meteoric rise to influence
By Jean Christou

MARIOS Karoyian, the new House President, has been elected at the
relatively young age 46, an almost meteoric rise by Cypriot standards
given that he only became a member of DIKO’s central committee in
1988.

Prior to yesterday’s coup in securing the second-highest position in
the land, the pinnacle of his career to date had been his election as
DIKO leader in October 2006, when he succeeded then President Tassos
Papadopoulos who resigned from the post in August that year.

The duties of party leader had been conducted by Nicos Cleanthous in
an acting capacity after Papadopoulos was elected President in
February 2003.
The election for new party leader party was acrimonious. Cleanthous
supporters derided Karoyian as an upstart and some even went as far
as picking on his Armenian descent and accusing him of not doing his
military service.

For his part, Karoyian tried hard to portray himself as a link
between the old and new guards inside DIKO and when it came to the
crunch he won the leadership post with 62.6 per cent of the vote,
compared to the 37.4 per cent garnered by Cleanthous.
Karoyian was born in Nicosia in May 1961. He graduated from Terra
Santa College and studied political sciences at the University of
Perugia in Italy.

In 1981, Karoyian was elected the first president of the students
association `Anagenisi’ in Italy and two years later the first
President of the Cypriot Students’ Union of Perugia. He was also a
member of the Pancyprian Federation of Students Unions (POFNE).

>From 1986 until 1992, Karoyian was President of DIKO’s youth section
NEDIK and then elected secretary for trade union issues.
He served as Director of the office of the President of the House
from May 1991 until June 2001, participating in bilateral and
international parliamentary activities in House official delegations.

He became a member of the DIKO Central Committee in 1988 and was
elected member of the Executive Bureau for the third time in 2005.
Karoyian was a close associate of DIKO founder and late Cypriot
President Spyros Kyprianou.
In 2003 Karoyian was appointed Director of the President’s Press
Office under Tassos Papadopoulos and also served as Acting Government
Spokesman. He resigned from that post in 2006 and announced his
intention to run for parliament. He won his deputy seat in the House
that year.
Karoyian has written a number of articles and analysis on the Cyprus
problem and the EU both for the local and international press. He
speaks English, Italian and Spanish and is married with two children.

EurasiaNet, NY
March 7 2008

Armenia: Authorities Advance Conspiracy Theory
03/07/08

Armenian leaders are now casting the March 1 bloodshed in Yerevan as
the product of an international conspiracy that sought the
revolutionary overthrow of the existing political order.

Speaking at a March 7 news conference in Yerevan, Armenian
Prosecutor-General Agvan Ovsepian asserted that `conspiratorial
foreign forces’ played a role in initiating the armed clashes between
anti-government demonstrators and state security forces that left at
least eight people dead. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive]. `Many factors related to the [March 1] events … provide a
basis for such a conclusion,’ Ovsepian added, according to an account
published by the Russian daily Izvestiya.

Meanwhile, in an interview published by Rosssiiskaya Gazeta on March
7, Serzh Sarkisian — Armenia’s prime minister, and, according to the
official results of the February 19 election, outgoing President
Robert Kocharian’s successor — claimed that the anti-government
protesters were intent on toppling the government. `It’s fair to say
that an attempt to organize a `color revolution’ in Armenia really
took place,’ Sarkisian insisted.

Overall, 350 individuals have been interrogated in connection with a
criminal probe being carried out by officials, Ovsepian said. So far,
53 individuals have been formally charged in connection with the
March 1 violence. Another 16 have been detained and are under
suspicion of wrongdoing, Ovsepian added.

Meanwhile, two members of parliament, Sasson Mikaelian and Khachatur
Sukisian, have apparently gone into hiding, Ovsepian announced. The
two, who are suspected of playing a role in organizing the
anti-government protests, were recently stripped of their
parliamentary immunity.

The government version is contradicted by eyewitness accounts of the
March 1 events. Participants in the anti-government protests insist
that security forces opened fire on a largely unarmed crowd. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In addition, the
preliminary findings of Armenia’s ombudsman have indicated that the
Kocharian administration initiated the sequence of events that led
directly to the bloodshed. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive].

State of emergency restrictions have hampered the ability of
independent news organizations, both inside and outside Armenia, to
gather information, thereby hindering the ability to verify the
competing versions of events. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive].

The United States and key members of the European Union have not
challenged the Kocharian administration’s handling of the crisis,
even though as part of its all-out effort to stifle a free press, the
Armenian government pulled the plug on Armenian-language broadcasts
of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. In a March 7 editorial titled
`Dark Days in Armenia,’ the New York Times called on President George
W. Bush, along with European leaders, to `make clear to Armenia’s
government that such behavior is unacceptable and will jeopardize
future relations.’ A clear signal of disapproval is needed in order
to halt what the editorial described as a `slide into
authoritarianism’ by CIS states.

Amid the relative silence of the United States and EU, Armenian
authorities have started to vigorously attack the few Western
officials who have gone on record as criticizing the Armenian
government’s behavior. One such official is Terry Davis, the
secretary-general of the Council of Europe, who on March 3 called for
a quick end to the state of emergency. [For background see the
Eurasia Insight archive].

Without referring to Davis or other critics by name, Victor
Sogomonian, Kocharian’s press secretary, pointedly told outsiders to,
in effect, mind their own business. `We must clearly realize that it
is not foreign officials, but rather [Armenian] authorities that are
in charge of the republic’s security,’ Sogomonian said.

ARMENIAN UNREST THREATENS PEACE IN NAGARNO-KARABAKH – FEATURE

Earthtimes
March 6 2008
UK

Moscow/Yerevan – Border fighting between Armenia and Azeri troops
in the disputed region of Nagarno-Karabakh turned to heavy artillery
shelling this week in the worst clashes since a 1994 ceasefire that
ended a six-year, full-scale war. Between 15 and 16 soldiers died
and dozens were injured in Wednesday night clashes according to
conflicting casualty claims by Armenian and Azeri officials.

Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov on Thursday accused Armenia
of initiating the battle to distract from violent post- election
opposition protests at home that led the president to impose a 20-day
emergency rule over the capital Yerevan.

But Armenian President Robert Kocharian hit back Thursday: "The Azeris
thought that the situation in Armenia had dulled the vigilance of
our armed forces in Karabakh, that all our large military divisions
had been relocated."

The unresolved status of Nagarno-Karabakh, an Azeri province controlled
by ethnic Armenian separatists, was the hottest topic in Armenia’s
February 19 elections and daily protests since then have led to
clashes with police in which eight people died Sunday.

The opposition’s leader, Armenia’s first post-Soviet president Levon
Ter-Petrosian, pledged to "correct" what he called "his biggest
mistake": bringing into government top military officials from
Nagorno-Karabakh such as incumbent Kocharian and Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisian, whose presidential election win he now refuses to recognize.

Ter-Petrosian accuses the Karabakh Clan, as his supporters have dubbed
them, of widespread corruption and nepotism, including signing over
control of crucial economic sectors to Russia, thereby transforming
a long-time alliance into a "vassal-sovereign" relationship.

Coming three weeks after Kosovo’s declaration of independence from
Serbia, Russia and the United States fear escalating tensions in the
region and have called for restraint.

The mountainous Caucasus region where Nagarno-Karabakh lies has
emerged as strategically important as it lies along gas routes from
the energy-rich Caspian Sea region to Europe.

Western powers fear further instability could disrupt gas routes and
further undermine a fragile security situation in the neighbourhood,
which is host to a Russian military base and borders Iran.

The United States and NATO declared Thursday that Kosovo’s independence
from Serbia could not serve as a precedence for Nagarno- Karabakh or
any other region.

Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetia region on Wednesday asked for
the European Union, the United Nations and Russia to recognize its
independence, bearing out Russia’s claim that Kosovo’s independence
would lead to a "parade of sovereignty" in the Caucasus.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev firmly rejects Kosovo’s independence
as illegal and has upped rhetoric about using any means to achieve
unity ahead of October presidential elections.

"We have been buying military machinery, airplanes and ammunition to
be ready to liberate the occupied territories, and we are ready to
do this," Russian newspaper Noviye Izvestia quoted Aliyev as saying
on Thursday.

"The conflict will come to an international solution when Armenia
feels Azerbaijan’s force," he said.

Oil-rich Azerbaijan has increased its military spending to more than
1 billion dollars in 2008, provoking a mini-arms race with Armenia,
which in turn has hiked its military spending by 20 per cent in the
past year.

Thomas Gomart, head of the Russian/CIS programme at the Paris- based
Institut Francais des Relations Internationales, voiced concern over
the "evolution of the rhetoric" in a recent interview with Deutsche
Presse-Agentur dpa.

"The disproportion in the two countries’ military spending is
worrying. Azerbaijan’s expenditure could be compared to the total
Armenian budget," he said.

bservers also fear that Armenia’s post-election instability could
aggravate relations with Turkey which has allied with fellow Muslim
state Azerbaijan to blockade landlocked Armenia along its borders.

Ter-Petrosian, who was forced from power by the current leadership in
1998 for his proposal to compromise in peace talks with Azerbaijan,
has argued the blockades are killing Armenia’s possibilities for
growth. "Russia cannot be Armenia’s only road to the outside world,"
he has said.

But a construction boom and a healthy economy spoke in favour of
the established leadership in the recent elections, and despite
rallying thousand-strong opposition protests Ter-Petrosian remains
widely unpopular among those who recall the economic hardships of
the post-Soviet transition.

Nagarno-Karabakh native and war hero Sarkisian is expected to keep
up the hawkish stance set by his political mentor Kocharian during
his decade at the helm, perpetuating fears of a new war along the
border where gunfire breaks out regularly.

THE EU’S RING OF FRIENDSHIP: BUDDIES IN BAKU, AMIGOS IN ARMENIA
By Hans-Jurgen Schlamp

Spiegel Online
0,1518,539799,00.html
March 6 2008
Germany

Where does Europe end? The EU’s Neighborhood Policy seeks to ensure
prosperity and stability in countries bordering the 27-member club.

The problem is, the neighbors would like to join, too.

The tall, black-haired man scowls at the small blonde woman sitting
across the expansive conference table from him. She has been holding
forth for some time, accusing him of not adequately respecting
human rights, saying that the next elections must be run more
fairly than the last, and warning that freedom of the press must
finally be broadened. At the end of her monologue, she is somewhat
more conciliatory and allows that the country has made progress —
"but things could move faster."

Elmar Mammadyarov struggles to control his rising anger. He is
the foreign minister of the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan,
a land rich in oil and gas and sitting on the shores of the Caspian
Sea, north of Iran. And no one is allowed to talk to him like this
normally, except perhaps his boss, the president. But Mammadyarov makes
the effort because the woman sitting across from him is incredibly
important for Azerbaijan.

The outspoken guest is the Austrian Benita Ferrero-Waldner. The 59 year
old is the European Commissioner for External Relations and responsible
for the European Neighborhood Policy — and she regularly visits the
countries bordering the EU, from Morocco and Egypt, through Jordan,
Israel or the Ukraine, to Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. She
frequently makes calls for more democracy and promises in return
"stability, security and prosperity."

FROM THE MAGAZINE Find out how you can reprint this DER SPIEGEL article
in your publication. The EU has already given over ~@8 billion ($12.2
billion) to 12 countries on its borders and plans to hand out another
~@12 billion ($18.2 billion) over the next six years. The result of
this investment, hopes Ferrero-Waldner, will be a region that is both
relatively prosperous and politically stable. The hope is that this
"ring of friends," as she has called the plan, will keep terrorists
away and unwanted immigrants at arm’s length.

But the rosy plan has a catch: Most of these neighbors aren’t just
interested in stability and prosperity, but they also have their
hearts set on eventually becoming full-fledged members of the EU.

Above all, it is the countries on the eastern edge of the European
continent that have gotten their hopes up — and not without
justification. Poland, Great Britain and the Baltic States all would
like to extend the borders of the EU as far as the Caspian Sea. The
region is waiting in the EU-enlargement line directly behind the
Balkans — it’s just that nobody is supposed to talk about it yet.

"No, no," denies the Austrian Commissioner, "membership perspective"
is not part of her plan. The neighborly friendship may extend to
substantial support, but not beyond. It is "a difficult, fine line
to walk," she says.

That may be true. But the greater EU cooperation with its neighbors
becomes, the more pertinent the old question that has plagued the
27-member group since its inception becomes: Where does Europe in fact
end? Is Georgia part of Europe? What about Morocco? Israel? And then,
of course, what about Ukraine?

DER SPIEGEL Does Europe extend to the Caucausus?

Ferrero-Waldner and her team have developed a separate "action plan"
with each of the 12 participants in the European Neighborhood Policy.

Europe helps with expertise and funding in areas such as
transportation, job training, energy supply, the training of customs
officers, police or judges, and in providing the poor with food
and clothing — and the countries themselves can choose where the
focus should lie. And then there is a bit of tutoring in the study of
democracy and the constitutional state thrown in — as, for example,
with Elmar Mammadyarov in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital.

Ferrero-Waldner continues the mandatory lesson over dinner: When
will these three journalists, who were arrested without reason,
be released? Why is the government doing so little to improve its
relationship with Moscow? Well, answers a grouchy Mammadyarov, the
journalists must first file a petition for their release, which will
then be reviewed by a judge. And he would like improved relations
with Russia as well, but Azerbaijan is not going to kowtow. His
country, after all, has become a "well-performing mid-sized power in
the region."

Just how much has changed in recent years can immediately be seen
during rush hour in Baku. Traffic jams stretch as far as the eye can
see, with rusty old trucks from the Soviet era stuck bumper-to-bumper
with highly polished sport utility vehicles. In 2007, economic growth
was around 25 percent, thanks to oil and gas bubbling out of the
ground. The gulf between rich and poor has widened considerably,
and beggars stand in front of Armani and Escada shop windows.

An internal EU paper on Azerbaijan takes note of the economic progress
the country has made. Nevertheless, when it comes to democracy, freedom
of the press or human rights, the official message in the paper is
that of "persistent difficulties." That also goes for Azerbaijan’s
neighbors, Georgia and Armenia — and Ferrero-Waldner is not shy
about voicing her concerns there as well.

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Moreover, the strong nerves that often earn her ridicule at
home serve her well. In the Caucasus, she often faces hard-boiled
nationalists. What the spokesperson of a human rights organization —
financed by the EU — says of Armenia, applies to Georgia as well:
"There is an extremely corrupt political leadership, no free judicial
system, no free press, and the elections are no freer than they were
in the Soviet Union."

But those are only the "horror stories," says Georgian Prime Minister
Vladimir Gurgenidze. He speaks English with an American accent and
greets people by singing out "Hi, everybody!" Of course there are
improvements that need to be made, he says — and that’s why his
country needs help from Brussels. "Europe is in our hearts and our
minds," gushes Gurgenidze. "We want free trade with you, facilitation
of visas and EU membership."

Georgia will be joining NATO soon, says Gurgenidze, at the latest when
there is a Democrat in the White House. And there are already Georgian
soldiers in both Iraq and Afghanistan. "The Americans recognize that,"
adds Gurgenidze smugly, looking at Ferrero-Waldner, his European guest:
"It’s good to have friends."

ANCA: U.S. SHOULD EXPAND LEVEL OF DIALOGUE WITH NAGORNO KARABAKH

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.03.2008 16:50 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In the wake of renewed threats this week against
Nagorno Karabakh by Azerbaijan’s President and the March 4 military
attack by the Azerbaijani military against defensive positions
in the Mardakert region in northern Nagorno Karabakh, the Armenian
National Committee (ANCA) alerted members of Congress and the broader
Washington, DC foreign policy community to the growing danger that
Azerbaijan represents to U.S. interests in maintaining peace and
stability in the Caucasus region.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, known for his inflammatory
anti-Armenian rhetoric, stated that, "We have been buying military
machinery, airplanes and ammunition to be ready to liberate the
occupied territories and we are ready to do this."

In letters circulated yesterday afternoon to Congressional offices,
the ANCA called on Senators and Representatives to voice their support
for Nagorno Karabakh’s democratic progress and development, to hold
Azerbaijan accountable for its belligerent rhetoric and aggressive
actions, and to promote peace by expanding the level of dialogue
between the U.S. and Nagorno Karabakh.

PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA: IMAGE OF OUR COUNTRY DAMAGED

arminfo
2008-03-06 10:22:00

ArmInfo. Armenia’s image has been damaged, President of Armenia Robert
Kocharyan said at a press conference on March 1 in Yerevan.

‘Look back at how Armenia looked a month ago. It was said to be
the most stable and rapidly developing country in the region’, the
president said.

‘Frankly speaking when I watch the video records of the incidents
I am ashamed to admit and I cannot believe that it happened in our
country’. The president said everyone ‘must be strong and brave enough
to consciously evaluate the incidents and work together to restore both
the country’s image and the international attitude to our country’.

AZERBAIJAN’S DEFENSE MINISTER SAFAR ABIYEV VISITING TERTER, PLACE OF RECENT FIGHTING WITH ARMENIANS

Today
/43587.html
March 6 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister Safar Abiyev is currently in Terter.

The information was confirmed by the press service for Azerbaijan’s
Defense Ministry.

It was noted that the executive powers of Terter are holding a session
by results of 2007.

"S.Abiyev takes part in this session. MP Aynur Guliyeva, elected from
this region, is also in the region", the press service announced.

It was noted that the visit is not connected with the tense situation
on the front line.

"S.Abiyev’s visit to Terter is a pure coincidence. Each year
the Defense Minister takes part at the session by results of the
previous year. This time, the events just coincided", the press
service reported.

WROCLAW JAZZ FEST GETS UNDERWAY

Thenews.pl
March 6 2008
Poland

The 44th Wroclaw Jazz Festival begins today under the slogan ‘Jazz
on the Oder River’.

Highlight of the festival include the only by Canadian vocalist and
pianist Diana Krall, who will be playing her only European gig on
her present tour in the south western Polish city.

Other highlights include Polish jazz bands Old Timers and the Jazz
Band Ball Orchestra, and vocalist Aga Zaryan.

Music lovers will also be able to catch Armenian instrumentalist Djivan
Gasparian, who is a virtuoso on the duduk, an instrument similar to
the oboe.

The festival runs until Sunday March 9.

MEDIA SITUATION REMAINS APPALLING IN MOST CIS COUNTRIES, EXPERTS SAY
Jean-Christophe Peuch

EurasiaNet
March 5 2008
NY

The ongoing effort by Armenia’s government to dam the free flow of
information during the country’s state of emergency fits nicely into
a distressing pattern concerning press freedom in CIS states. Far
from thriving, independent media outlets in most CIS nations are
struggling merely to keep operating.

Independent-minded journalists and media outlets often face adversity
and retribution if they strive to fill a traditional watchdog role.

In Azerbaijan, for example, a Baku district court on January
18 sentenced Avaz Zeynalli, the editor in chief of the "Xural"
newspaper, to 18 months of corrective labor and a hefty fine on
charges of defaming the director of a state-owned publishing house
in a series of critical articles.

A few days later, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ) reported that Uzeyir Cafarov, a journalist for Azerbaijan’s
"Baki Zaman" (Baku Time) daily had received numerous death threats
from anonymous callers after he had written critical reports on the
army and Defense Ministry.

More recently in Kazakhstan, an Astana court ordered February 14 the
closure of the Zakon i Pravosudiye (Law and Justice) weekly, alleging
that mistakes had been made during its registration. Staffers insist
the court ruling is merely a pretext for muzzling an independent
media outlet known for its investigative reports on corruption.

Oleg Panfilov is the director of the Center for Journalism in
Extreme Situations, a Moscow-based media watchdog that specializes
in monitoring and protecting the rights of journalists across the CIS.

In his view, the media environment in most of post-Soviet countries
— including Azerbaijan, Belarus, Central Asia, and Russia — can be
described as "appalling."

By contrast, Georgia has expunged its criminal code of repressive
articles traditionally used against journalists. Yet, the Russian
rights activist says that even there the situation "is not ideal."

"Many post-Soviet countries are following Russia’s example, as if they
were competing among each other to create the worst possible conditions
for independent journalism," Panfilov told a roundtable discussion
organized in late February in Vienna by the OSCE’s Representative
on Freedom of the Media, Milkos Haraszti, to commemorate the tenth
anniversary of his tenure.

In Panfilov’s view, independent journalism in Belarus and Uzbekistan
now faces "total disappearance," while in Turkmenistan there are
still no indications that the economic liberalization initiated by
President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov will allow for even partially
independent media outlets to emerge. [For background see the Eurasia
Insight archive].

In Tajikistan, media outlets remain "economically very weak" and,
therefore, vulnerable to official pressure. According to Panfilov,
President Imomali Rahmon’s administration in Dushanbe "is unwilling
to allow competitors [to] challenge state propaganda."

Media conditions in Kazakhstan, a country where the influx of energy
wealth is helping to create a middle class, have deteriorated in
recent years. Most major media holdings are now either in the hands
of the state, or are controlled by close friends and relatives of
President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Following the fall into disgrace of Nazarbayev’s now former son-in-law
Rakhat Aliyev, the latter’s extensive media holdings — including
the Kazakhstan Today news agency, the Karavan newspaper, and the KTK
television channel — were transferred to the state. The new holding
is now headed by Nazarbayev’s former spokesman Zhanai Omarov.

Kazakh authorities in 2007 temporarily shut down several
opposition-leaning websites for publishing documents pertaining to
the Aliyev-Nazarbayev feud, and the government is now striving to
finalize plans to put domestic Internet content under strict control.

"The government wants to be an active player in Internet technologies
from a content perspective. We must offer [users] content,"
Kazakhstan’s State Computerization and Communications Agency head
Kuanyshbek Yesekeyev said in December.

Post-Soviet governments are particularly adept at putting financial
pressure on independent media outlets.

Addressing the OSCE roundtable discussion, Council of Europe Human
Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg mentioned Azerbaijan, where
he said businessmen are being advised to not place advertisements in
newspapers that are critical of authorities.

Another favored weapon of post-Soviet governments is the denial of
frequencies, or the revocation of licenses to independent radio and
television broadcasters — a practice that is common in Azerbaijan
and Tajikistan, among others.

Yet it is physical violence that poses perhaps the greatest threat
to independent journalists.

According to the Almaty-based Adil Soz media watchdog, three
independent Kazakh journalists — Yernazar Ibrayev, Tolegen
Kibatov and Ilyas Gafurov — were murdered in 2007 under mysterious
circumstances. Another 10 reporters were physically assaulted and
Zakon i Pravosudiye corruption expert Oralgaisha Zhabagtaikyzy has
been missing for almost a year.

In neighboring Kyrgyzstan, ethnic Uzbek journalist Alisher Saipov
was gunned down in the southern city of Osh in October 2007, in what
observers believe was a politically motivated act. The Brussels-based
International Crisis Group think tank says it suspects Tashkent
of involvement in the murder. A member of Uzbekistan’s exiled Erk
opposition party, Saipov was the editor in chief of the "Siyosat"
(Politics) weekly. The Kyrgyz government suggests the journalist
may have been killed because of his alleged involvement with banned
radical Islamic groups and has stopped investigating the case. CPJ and
other international media watchdogs remain skeptical of the Islamic
radical-connection claim, and demand that the official probe resume.

Whether there is a link between Saipov’s assassination and Uzbekistan’s
December 23 presidential ballot is unclear. Yet, as a rule, the number
of attacks on independent and opposition media in the former Soviet
Union tends to increase around elections.

In Georgia, for instance, Georgian security forces in November raided
the headquarters of the opposition Imedi TV amid a general crackdown on
opposition protesters, ransacking the premises, and ordering all staff
out of the building. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Panfilov told the OSCE media panel that in Armenia more than 10
journalists were physically assaulted during the months preceding
the February 19 presidential polls. He said similar incidents took
place in Kyrgyzstan prior to the December 16 legislative ballot.

Firdevs Robinson, editor of the BBC World Service’s Central Asia
and Caucasus Service, in turn noted that with presidential elections
approaching in Azerbaijan "there seems to be less and less room for
dissenting voices."

On December 28, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pardoned five of
eight opposition journalists convicted under criminal charges described
as politically motivated by human rights groups. The three who remain
in jail — Qanimat and Mirza Sakit Zahidov of the Azadliq (Freedom)
daily and Eynulla Fatullayev, editor in chief of Realny Azerbaijan
(Real Azerbaijan) and Gundalik Azarbaycan (Daily Azerbaijan) — were
joined by "Bizim Yol" (Our Path) daily reporter Musfiq Huseynov,
who was handed a six-year jail sentence on bribery charges in January.

The OSCE’s Haraszti told a December 13 hearing of the United States
Commission on Cooperation and Security in Europe that the moratorium on
the criminalization of journalists Aliyev had declared in 2004 seemed
to be no longer in force. In addition, he said "critically-minded
reporters" were now being sentenced for alleged criminal offences
unrelated to their professional activities, such as hooliganism,
or possession of drugs.

Criminalization of journalists — which is also a common practice
in Kazakhstan — can only encourage rampant violence against
representatives of the media and must therefore be banned, Haraszti
said during the OSCE panel discussion.

Editor’s Note: Jean-Christophe Peuch is a Vienna-based freelance
correspondent, who specializes in Caucasus- and Central Asia-related
developments.

SERZH SARGSYAN CALLS ON DISORDERS PARTICIPANTS TO ATTEND POLICE STATIONS OF THEIR OWN FREE WILL

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.03.2008 13:37 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "The scenario meant to discredit the people and
authorities of Armenia is still being implemented and should exert
efforts to prevent its development," Armenian Prime Minister Serzh
Sargsyan after signing a joint statement issued by the Republican
Party of Armenia, Prosperous Armenia party and Orinats Yerkir party,
the RA government’s press office reported.

"On March 4 morning Azeri troops attacked one of our positions. The
Azeri Defense Ministry rejected our appeal to stop the provocation. I
want to say that the attack was rebuffed and the enemy fled, leaving
dead bodies at the battlefield," the PM said.

As to the disorders that shocked the Armenian capital on March 1
and 2, the Prime Minister said, "I want to assure our citizens that
I will do my utmost to detect the organizers and perpetrators. They
will all stand trial. I call on those who took part in the melee to
attend police stations of their own free will, what will considerably
extenuate their guilt."