Author: Tvankchian Parkev

Armenian National Committee of America
888 17th St., NW, Suite 904
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet:

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 19, 2005
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

GREEK AMERICANS CALL FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE REPARATIONS

WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
has expressed the appreciation of the Armenian American community
to the American Hellenic Institute and the leading Greek American
membership organizations for their principled stand in favor of
Turkish compensation for the Armenian Genocide.

American Hellenic Institute president Gene Rossides, in a public
statement issued today, called for Armenian Genocide reparations as
part of a policy statement on “Compensation to Turkey’s Victims,”
prepared by the American Hellenic Institute. The policy statement
has been endorsed by the major Greek American membership groups:
the Order of AHEPA, Hellenic American National Council, Cyprus
Federation of America, Panepirotic Federation of America, Pan-
Macedonian Association of America, Evrytanian Association of America
and American Hellenic Institute.

“We want to extend our appreciation to Eugene Rossides, the American
Hellenic Institute, and all the leading Greek American groups for
their clearly articulated and principled demand that Turkey compensate
the Armenian nation for the Armenian Genocide,” said ANCA Executive
Director Aram Hamparian. “We join with our Greek American friends in
calling on our government to press Turkey to ensure a just resolution
of this crime and an equitable settlement of all of Turkey’s offenses
against Greeks and Armenians.”

In addition to seeking Turkish government compensation for the
Armenian Genocide, the Greek American leadership calls for Turkish
compensation to the 1) the victims of Turkey’s illegal invasion of
Cyprus of 1974; 2) the owners of property in Cyprus illegally taken,
occupied and used by the Turkish authorities and individuals since
1974; 3) the victims of the September 1955 Turkish pogrom against its
Greek citizens in Istanbul; 4) the victims of the Turkish genocide
against the Pontian Greeks in the 1920’s, and; 5) the victims of
the Turkish massacre of the Greek and Armenian populations of Smyrna
(now Izmir) in 1922 under Kemal Ataturk’s orders.

In calling on “the U.S. government to press Turkey to pay
compensation,” the Greek American leadership cited “the compensation
paid by the government of Germany to Holocaust victims and to the
state of Israel and the government of Japan to the victims of its
actions in Asia before and during World War II.”

#####

SUMMARY OF FIVE YEARS

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
16 May 05

On the eve of the parliamentary election the faction “Democracy” or
“Democratic Liberal Union”, holding the majority in the parliament,
presented a summary of its five years activity. In the press conference
on May 14 the vice chairman of the faction “Democracy” (known as
Democratic Liberal Union), the chairman of the NA standing committee
of foreign relations Vahram Atanessian presented the work done in
five years to the journalists. The faction goes in for the rule of
law, promotion of democratic processes, building of a civil society,
economic progress in the country, tax and loan reforms. In order
to achieve these objectives the parliamentary faction endorsed the
policy of the president and the government of the republic. According
to V. Atanessian, they do not regret. Moreover, they are proud for
considerable social and economic progress was achieved owing to their
political support. Particularly, in the past five years the NKR state
budget almost doubled, the country’s own income increased three times.
“This shows that the executive power of our republic has adopted
the line of establishing a self-sufficient economy through use of
the country’s inner potential, which fully reflects the interests
of our state and people,” said the vice chairman of the faction.
Mentioning the rise in salary of budget-financed institutions,
retirement pension and social security payments, V. Atanessian,
nevertheless, said that the faction does not consider that all the
issues in the country have been solved and that there are no social
problems. “We can see the current difficulties better than any other
political force, however, unlike others, we do not want to distract
people with populist calls, we prefer to promote steady growth in
the country, for only through continuousness can we achieve good
results.” V. Atanessian also focused on the legislative activity of
the faction directed at democratization of the home political life
of NKR. It was pointed out that in 2001 the political government
of the republic decided on upgrading the NKR legislation for it to
correspond to the European standards, starting from its important
role for the international recognition of NKR. The Democratic Liberal
Union undertook a series of important legislative projects which were
adopted and brought in effect. Among them was the law on television and
radio by which the NKR public television and radio were established
and operate. The NKR law on the mass media was adopted. Besides,
the faction undertook the law on freedom of information which,
according to V. Atanessian, became subject of long fruitless debates
in press. Besides, according to him, the faction paid great attention
to the protection of human rights. The law on the defender of human
rights was undertaken by the faction. “Certainly, I do not think that
our work is perfect, and the faction shares this opinion too. More
exactly, we did not manage to do everything but this is normal. We
may have made mistakes and had imperfections, however, if one works,
one makes mistakes too,” said the vice chairman of the faction. He said
he was hopeful that the political force which will hold the majority in
the next parliament will recognize as the positive, so as the negative
aspects of activity of the faction, and will carry on the policy of
improvement of the legislation launched by them, filling the gaps and
correcting the mistakes for the sake of development of NKR and for
the sake of our common aim to build a free, democratic, independent
and sovereign state and achieve its international recognition. In
the end Vahram Atanessian answered the questions of journalists.

LAURA GRIGORIAN. 19-05-2005

BASIC AMOUNT OF UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT MAKES 60% OF THE MINIMAL MONTHLY
SALARY IN NKR STARTING FROM JANUARY 1 2005

STEPANAKERT, May 18. /ARKA/. Basic amount of unemployment benefit
has totaled 60% of the minimal monthly salary, i.e. AMD 9 000 in
NKR starting from January 1 2005. As Lenston Gulyan, the NKR Social
Security Minister told ARKA News Agency, the unemployment rate in NKR
made 5,5%as of May 1, 2005, against 5,7% in the same period of 2004.

The quantity of the unemployed reached 3278 against 3314 last year.

The share of urban population prevails – about 91,4%. Since the
beginning of the year, about 264 unemployed were removed from the
registry, connected with occurrence of new vacancies. The share of
unemployed women made 92,5% or 3032.

As of January 1, 2005, 124 unemployed receive unemployment benefits in
NKR. This indicator has reduced by 30,7% compared to the same period
of 2004. The quantity of people with higher education made 10,1% of
the overall number of unemployed. The people up to 30 years made 47,6%
of the unemployed, people within 30-50 years- 48,1%, people over 50
and older made 4,3% of the unemployed. L.V.-0–

Professional boxing back in Kirkcaldy after 53-years
By STEPHEN HALLIDAY

The Scotsman
Thu 19 May 2005

PROFESSIONAL boxing will return to Fife for the first time in more
than half a century when Kevin Anderson attempts to win the IBO
Intercontinental welterweight title next month.

The 22-year-old Buckhaven boxer, who has won all 13 of his contests
since turning pro just over two years ago, faces the vastly more
experienced Ukrainian Vladimir Borovski at the Fife Ice Arena in
Kirkcaldy on 11 June in what is a nostalgic occasion for the Scot’s
manager and promoter Tommy Gilmour.

Not since Jim Gilmour, his grandfather, promoted fights at the same
venue, formerly known as the Kirkcaldy Ice Rink, has professional
boxing been staged in the area, with the last bill on record taking
place in 1952. Such is the level of local interest in the progress of
Anderson, however, that Gilmour is hoping for close to a remarkable
2,500 sell-out next month for a show which will not be televised.

“Kevin is the most exciting young prospect we have in Scotland and
it’s terrific that he finally has the chance to fight in front of
his home public,” said Gilmour. “If this show is a success, and the
early indications are that it will be, then there is no reason why we
can’t promote regularly in Fife and hopefully deliver a major title
fight for Kevin on his own patch.”

Guest of honour at the bill, which will also see unbeaten Kirkcaldy
light-heavyweight Steven McGuire in international action against
Varuzhan Davtyan of Armenia, will be 85-year-old former middleweight
luminary Jim Gallacher, who appeared on the last show at the ice rink
53 years ago.

“It was a famous boxing venue once,” added Gilmour, “and the people
in charge of the arena now are keen to bring the sport back on a
regular basis. It’s nice for me to be following in my grandfather’s
promotional footsteps.”

Anderson, who has appeared on undercards from Altrinchan to Nottingham
in his career so far, is understandably thrilled at the prospect of
headlining the show in the town of his birth.

“I’ll shift a lot of tickets for this show and so will Stevie,” he
said. “I’ve had a travelling support of around 300 when I’ve fought
in Glasgow, so I’ve no doubts there will be a huge crowd in Kirkcaldy
on a Saturday night.”

Turkish premier dismisses Armenian genocide allegations

Anatolia news agency
18 May 05

Ankara, 18 May: “Turkey has not committed genocide through its history,
so it is impossible for us to accept such accusations”, Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday [18 May].

Addressing the gathering of his governing Justice and Development Party
(AKP), Erdogan said that the so-called Armenian genocide allegations
were brought to the Council of Europe heads of state and government
summit (held in Polish capital of Warsaw at the beginning of this
week).

Erdogan stated that he was out of the meeting room when Armenian
President Robert Kocharyan was speaking, and drew attention that
Turkey recognized Armenia but there were not any diplomatic links
between the two countries. [Passage omitted]

“During my speech, I said that we have opened our state archives. We
don’t have any concerns about our history, and believe that the
reality should be revealed. Armenia should also open its archives. And,
historians, jurists, political scientists and archivists should work
on them. Then, we make the political decision, but unfortunately I
cannot get any positive response from Kocharyan so far,” noted Erdogan.

Erdogan went on, saying: “Parliaments of some countries recognize these
so-called Armenian genocide allegations after lobbying activities. This
contradicts international diplomacy. There is no word for assuming such
an attitude without basing on any document or information against a
country with which you are together in international institutions. In
Warsaw, I told reporters that parliaments of 15 countries made such a
decision and we will examine these 15 countries. There are countries
among these 15 which carried out genocide in the past. We will bring
them to our parliament and pass a decision, basing on real documents
and information, not with lobbying. We will take this step because
Turkey had never committed genocide throughout its history.”

“But of course, some people might have died during relocation. It
is true. But why were these people forced to migrate? Documents
indicate that the Ottomans were fighting in three fronts and there
was an Armenian nation which started to rebel due to provocations
of some other circles. Naturally, the administration encouraged such
a relocation under these circumstances. But, it also met travelling
costs of the people forced to migrate. And it issued circulars for
protection of these people. There could be raids on the way. But the
state did not carry out a genocide,” said Erdogan.

“There might have been some problems for this or that reason, but
it is wrong to define it as genocide. We won’t build our future on
hatred and resentment,” added Erdogan. [Passage omitted]

NEW STORAGE FOR PROCESSED FUEL FOR ANPP TO COST 10 MILLION EUROS

Pan Armenian News
18.05.2005 02:49

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The construction of the new storage for the
processed fuel for the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant will cost 10
million Euros, Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsesian stated
in parliament, RosBusinessConsulting reports. In his words, the
construction of the new storage has been planned taking into account
the exploitation term of the Armenian NPP till the end of 2016. The
Minister informed that annually 90 cassettes with the processed fuel
will go into the storage and by the end of 2016 there will be 1872
cassettes in total. The building process will be stepwise and the
storage is supposed to consist of 3 constructions. The first part of
the complex is to be finished in 2007, the second one – in 2012 and
the third one – in 2018. The exploitation term will make 50 years. To
note, the first ever storage intended for 616 cassettes of processed
nuclear fuel was put into operation in 2000. The expenses (about $6
million) were covered with the funds provided by the French government.

COMPACT DISC OF CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC ISSUED IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, MAY 17. ARMINFO. The Second All Armenian Cultural Festival
“One Nation: One Culture” will be held in Armenia in 2006, Executive
Director of the Fund “One Nation: One Culture” Tamara Poghosyan said
at the presentation of a web- site today.

The web-site contains information on the fund’s activity, the
work carried out and plans. The fund’s activity aims preservation,
extension and development of art and cultural heritage of Armenia and
Diaspora, T. Poghosyan said. With support of the country’s government
and the fund, a compact disc “Krunk” has been issued, which present
chamber music of Armenian composers Aram Khachatryan, Komitas, Arno
Babajanyan, Edvard Mirzoyan and the great chanson Charles Aznavour.
The CD also contains the work by Tigran Tagmizyan “Cool wind blows”
performed by the great master of duduk Jivan Gasparyan. The CD is
not for sale, it will be distributed free in Armenia and abroad.

CONGRESS OF ASSOCIATION OF ARMENIAN JEWELERS TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN IN SEPTEMBER

Pan Armenian News
17.05.2005 05:14

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The recurrent congress of the Association of
Armenian Jewelers will be held in Yerevan in September, reported the
Caucasian Knot. Besides jewelers from Armenia, Armenian jewelers
and companies from the US, Belgium, Lebanon and other countries will
take part in the congress. An exhibition of jewelry items will be
simultaneously organized.

New limit on review of asylum cases
Immigration judges’ decisions would be harder to overturn

– Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, May 16, 2005

Armen Matevosyan said he fled his native Armenia after being jailed
and beaten for 30 days because he is a Pentecostal Christian. The
immigration judge who heard his claim of political asylum decided
Matevosyan was lying about his religious beliefs because he hadn’t
joined a church in Southern California and because he disagreed with
the judge’s view of the relevance of the Old Testament to his own
faith.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco overturned the judge’s
decision in November, saying it was based on speculation and personal
opinion, and reinstated Matevosyan’s asylum case. But the court might
be barred from making such rulings in the future once President Bush
signs a law narrowing federal courts’ authority to second-guess
immigration judges.

It’s no coincidence the ruling came from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals. The asylum legislation is a Republican-led attempt to
nail two targets: perceived fraud and security risks in the asylum
program, and the San Francisco-based court. The court is the largest
of the federal circuits and hears far more immigration cases than any
other.

The changes would “return asylum law to the way it was before
activist judges in the Ninth Circuit had their way with it,” the
measure’s sponsor, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James
Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said in a letter to colleagues.

The asylum rules are part of the Real ID Act, which is attached to a
military spending bill headed to the president after overwhelming
congressional approval.

The asylum provisions have received much less attention than another
section of Real ID, which would require states to demand proof of
legal residency from driver’s license applicants. But the changes
will have a significant effect on a system that handles more than
60,000 asylum applications each year, and grants about half, from
foreigners claiming they would face persecution if deported to their
homeland.

“This legislation will … prevent the ability of potentially
dangerous aliens to show up under false pretenses on our shores and
be granted safe haven, while simultaneously protecting those who are
legitimately fleeing persecution,” Sensenbrenner said on the House
floor.

Immigrants’-rights advocates say the measure will not help security
but will place new obstacles in the path of those seeking shelter
from political oppression.

“These provisions will … harm the victims of human rights abuses,
torture and religious and political persecution who seek the
protection of this society,” said a statement by Human Rights First,
formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.

Each of the bill’s changes would overturn Ninth Circuit rulings that
have made it easier for asylum applicants in California and eight
other Western states to prove their cases.

The measure would:

— Allow an immigration judge to decide that an applicant’s account
is false based on any statements that the judge finds inconsistent or
implausible, or doesn’t believe because of the applicant’s manner or
body language. If the judge, a Justice Department employee who hears
asylum claims at an early stage, decided an applicant was not
believable, a federal court would have limited authority to overrule
that decision.

— Allow the immigration judge to require an applicant to produce
evidence documenting a claim of persecution, unless the applicant
cannot reasonably obtain it. A ruling by the judge that such
documentation was needed would be virtually immune from review in
federal court.

— Require applicants to prove that their status — race, religion,
nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social
group — was “at least one central reason” they were persecuted in
the past, or were likely to be persecuted if deported.

Each of those revisions would harden definitions in current law.

For example, the federal courts that hear appeals of asylum cases are
already required to defer to an immigration judge’s assessment of a
witness’ truthfulness, unless there is compelling evidence the judge
was wrong. The law would tighten that standard.

Opponents of the change point to cases like Matevosyan’s, where an
immigration judge found an applicant to be untruthful because of the
judge’s notions about the applicant’s religious practices. Critics
also fear the consequences of limiting federal court review of
subjective decisions by immigration judges who work for the executive
branch.

“A person who is very nervous, very timid, from another culture, is
going to be perceived as not truthful,” especially when trying to
describe a traumatic event, said Karen Musalo, director of the Center
for Gender and Refugee Studies at UC Hastings College of the Law in
San Francisco. “Imagine a fearful person entering the United States
who doesn’t know who they’re speaking to and may not have an
interpreter. Is that statement going to be used against them?”

But supporters of the measure say it’s needed to rein in Ninth
Circuit judges who dismiss discrepancies in an applicant’s story as
only minor inconsistencies.

For example, Soghoman Abovian, who said he was persecuted in Armenia
for refusing to join the secret police, testified that Armenia’s
president met with him at least 15 times to pressure him to join, but
never mentioned any such meeting in his written application. Noemi
Garrovillas said in his asylum application that Filipino guerrillas
had shot at him, but denied it on the witness stand and said he
hadn’t read the application a lawyer prepared for him. The Ninth
Circuit reinstated both men’s asylum cases in rulings criticized by
backers of Real ID.

Probably the most hotly disputed provision requires applicants to
prove that their status was a central reason for their persecution.
It does not appear to differ greatly from current law — which makes
asylum available to those fleeing persecution on account of their
race, religion, nationality, political opinion or social group — but
opponents say the subtle shift in language could have harsh results.

In a study of the proposed law, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
predicted dire consequences for victims of religious persecution, who
would be asked to “prove with unrealistic precision what is going on
in their persecutors’ minds.” Other religious groups, including some
conservative evangelicals, also opposed the provision.

Similarly, said Stephen Knight, a lawyer at Hastings’ Center for
Gender and Refugee Studies, immigration judges have found that a
lesbian was given electroshock treatment in Russia to cure her, not
to persecute her, and that African women were subjected to genital
mutilation for cultural reasons — rulings that would be harder to
overturn under the new standard.

But supporters of Real ID say the change is crucial because of a line
of Ninth Circuit rulings, starting in 1988, that found political
persecution in cases where a foreign government imprisoned and
tortured someone who was falsely accused of being a militant.

Under such rulings, said Sensenbrenner, the United States would have
to “grant asylum to aliens whose governments believe they are
affiliated with terrorist organizations.”

He said in a letter to colleagues that “asylum fraud is a vehicle of
choice for terrorists,” citing an asylum application that allowed a
mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 to remain
in the country.

But Congress quickly closed that loophole in 1994, and there’s no
evidence that would-be terrorists are applying for asylum, said
American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Timothy Edgar, an opponent of
Sensenbrenner’s bill.

“Asylum applicants are the most closely scrutinized group of any
immigrants,” Edgar said. “That’s one reason why the 9/11 hijackers
never applied for asylum.”

E-mail Bob Egelko at [email protected].

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St. Petersburg Times
15 May 2005
A pipeline to promise, or a pipeline to peril
The United States is betting the future of energy lies in the hard-to-reach
Caspian Sea. With the $3.6 billion pipeline about to open it remains to be
seen if the investment will show a return.
By CANDACE RONDEAUX, Times Staff Writer
Published May 15, 2005

American-backed plans to build a nearly 1,100-mile long oil pipeline from
the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean are about to go from what skeptics once
called a “pipe dream” to a reality.
Trailing from Baku, Azerbaijan, through Georgia to the Turkish seaport of
Ceyhan, British energy giant BP will bring the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC)
pipeline on line this month. One of the longest oil routes in the world,
it’s expected to pump 1-million barrels of oil a day by 2010.
With oil prices skyrocketing, the hope is the pipeline will bring consumers
in the West a steady flow of oil while avoiding the usual risks. No shaky
Middle East regimes to deal with. No tricky negotiations with unfriendly
OPEC nations. Instead, the theory goes, oil would flow smoothly through the
rugged deserts and steep mountainsides of cash-starved former Soviet
republics. Along the way, the $3.6-billion project would bring foreign
investment and much-needed economic development to the region.
President Bush sees the BTC pipeline as a critical piece of America’s energy
policy for the future.
“Greater energy security through a more diverse supply of oil for global
energy markets, these are the engines of global growth, and with this
pipeline those engines can now run at high speed,” Bush said on the eve of
the pipeline’s construction launch two years ago.
But the project represents a big gamble for the United States in an
energy-rich region traditionally dominated by Russia and Iran. The pipeline
could undercut Iranian oil production and compete with Russian-controlled
oil routes, which has provoked some grumbling from both countries.
To guard against threats, the United States has spent $64-million to train
Georgian troops in antiterrorism tactics. American military officials have
said the United States will spend an additional $100-million to train and
equip the Caspian Guard, a network of special operations and police units
that will protect oil facilities and key assets in the region, the Wall
Street Journal reported in April.
Much of the pipeline operations are orchestrated from BP’s offices in Baku,
the capital of Azerbaijan. A few miles from the phalanx of rusting
Soviet-era oil derricks that line the city’s coast, BP’s headquarters are
tucked away in the ultralux Park Hyatt Hotel, a modern pastel confection of
a building.
In the lobby, dark-haired Russian women in stiletto heels, thick lipstick
and Gucci sunglasses lounge on suede couches. German businessmen chomp on
overpriced sandwiches. Doormen eye visitors warily at the entrance. The
hotel is the nexus of the modern Wild West, where Western oil executives and
Soviet-era strong men are corralling a new energy corridor.
In his sleek office several floors up, BTC Company CEO Michael Townshend
plots a crucial part of the Caspian region’s economic future. The oil exec
has spent much of his career jetting from pipeline to platform, from Alaska
to Nigeria, Australia and Texas.
For the past decade, Townshend has been in Baku on a mission even the most
sanguine of oil men would call hellish. BP and 10 other stakeholders that
form the BTC Company have bet billions that the Caspian region will be the
next big thing in global energy production.
Winning the bet means coping with howling winter winds in eastern Turkey
that have thrown construction off schedule and off budget; clearing mine
fields along the pipeline’s route that are leftover from the conflict
between Armenia and Azerbaijan; and dealing with the threat of sabotage by
rebel groups in Georgia’s breakaway republics.
Townshend believes the hassle is worth it, even as he acknowledges that what
comes out of this oil field through his BTC pipeline will cover just a
fraction of world demand.
“But,” he says, “the oil that comes out of BTC is about a quarter of the new
growth of oil production. In that respect it’s very significant, especially
since it’s a non-OPEC, non-Russian source of oil.”
Some experts have doubts. Bulent Aliriza, a Caspian region political analyst
at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the BTC route
could be a boon for Turkey. He worries, however, that the pipeline could
spark conflict between the United States and Russia, or even Iran.
“You can build the best pipeline in the world but once the politics change
you can’t use it,” Aliriza said.
Plus, Aliriza said, there might not be enough oil in the BTC pipeline to
make it economical. When the Clinton administration first pitched its
ambitious plan to transport Caspian Sea oil to the West in 1994, the
landlocked body of water in Russia’s back yard was hailed as the “new
Persian Gulf.” Some estimated that the Caspian area could hold as much as
233-billion barrels of oil, a close runnerup to Saudi Arabia – eight times
the estimated 29-billion barrels of proven oil reserves in the United
States.
Much of the exuberance of those years has dissipated; now the U.S. Energy
Information Administration estimates the Caspian Sea could hold from
17-billion to 33-billion barrels of proven oil reserves. By 2010, analysts
expect the countries in the region to produce from 2.4-million to
5.9-million barrels per day, rivaling South America’s largest oil producer,
Venezuela. But several Western oil companies have recently pulled out of
exploration in parts of the Caspian as wells have come up dry.
That does not bode well for the BTC pipeline, which needs a steady and
abundant supply of oil to make BP’s investment pay off. Scarce oil in the
Azerbaijan section of the Caspian could force BP to hunt for fields
elsewhere, Aliriza said.
Townshend disagrees.
“The economics is based only on the oil we know we have,” he said. “If there
was no more oil that came into BTC, that’s fine. We don’t speculate as to
whether it will be economical if we get oil from say Kazakhstan. It is
purely based on what we know we’ve got.”
The pipeline’s success also depends on backing from international lenders.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation,
have signed off on $250-million in loan guarantees. The European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development, World Bank and others are financing about 70
percent of the project.
“These international lenders are not pushovers,” said Steve Mann, the White
House’s Caspian Basin energy adviser. “They have tough environmental
policies, so if the BTC Co. can get these plans through them that’s a great
vote of approval.”
But the pipeline has received few votes of confidence from environmentalists
in Georgia. They worry that the oil route’s path across the rugged terrain
of the Caucasus Mountains could make it vulnerable to damage from landslides
and cause an ecological disaster.
Spanning a distance roughly the equivalent of a train ride from Miami to New
York, the pipeline makes 1,500 river crossings, including one near the
Borjomi Gorge in Georgia. Environmentalists worry an oil leak could pollute
the water there and devastate the country’s economy.
Troubled waters
The Kura River cuts a cool, foamy line down a narrow sluice of black
boulders in Borjomi. Wood shacks with corrugated iron roofs line the river’s
bank. Wood-burning stoves churn charred chimney air over the river’s swirl
of white water.
The water here is mythic and enduring. Every year, thousands of summer
revelers descend on Borjomi for a dip in the western Georgian mountain
town’s steaming hot mineral water springs. Though the handful of rustic
sanatoriums and refurbished 19th century hotels are not exactly four-star
establishments, Borjomi is one of Georgia’s biggest tourism engines. For
decades, this resort town of roughly 17,000 has drawn everyone from Russian
czars to soccer stars.
Once known as the Aspen of imperial Russia, Borjomi is home to one of
Eastern Europe’s most widely distributed brands of mineral water. The
Georgian Glass and Mineral Water Company sold 131-million bottles of Borjomi
mineral water in 2003, raking in roughly $90-million in revenue. Production
of the mineral water has been like an elixir for Georgia’s ailing economy,
generating 10 percent of the country’s total exports.
“It’s the Coca-Cola of the ex-Soviet Union,” said Georgian Glass and Mineral
Water Company CEO Jacques Fleury.
He and others worry that routing the pipeline through the Borjomi region
could jeopardize the mineral water source. Any hint of a problem with the
pipeline could spell disaster for the company.
“We have to cope with it, but it is a little difficult,” Fleury said. “We
are being told that the maximum has been done to protect the environment,
but we’re not yet convinced. If there’s a leakage I don’t know how we would
recover.”
Neither does the Georgian government. In July, Georgia’s minister of
environment, Tamar Lebanidze, ordered a two-week halt to construction of the
pipeline near Borjomi. Lebanidze worried BP had not taken enough steps to
guard against oil spills.
“We consider Borjomi an area of very high sensitivity, the most sensitive
along the whole pipeline,” Lebanidze said.
The Georgian government is especially concerned about the nearby
Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park. Home to some 1,600 unique plant species
and the endangered Caucasian leopard, the 195,000-acre nature preserve is an
oasis of conservation in a region decimated by years of Soviet neglect and
endemic poverty.
“If the pipeline breaks it would not only ruin the ecology of the national
park, it would bankrupt the whole country,” said Kakha Tolordava, a
spokesman for the Tbilisi office of the World Wide Fund for Nature, a group
that helps maintain the preserve.
There’s reason for concern. Last year, Britain’s Parliament opened an
inquiry into whistle-blower reports that BP did not follow proper design
safeguards and used a faulty adhesive to seal the pipeline joints.
BP acknowledged the company had to dig up large sections of the pipeline in
2003 to repair corrosion in about one-quarter of the pipe joints in
Georgia – 1,560 in all. But the company says the risk has been exaggerated
and the problems fixed. Late last year, BP also provided $6-million to
enhance pipeline security in the Borjomi region and an additional
$40-million for development programs.
But the security plan has done little to reassure some of the project’s
backers. Late last year, Banca Intesa, one of Italy’s largest banks, said it
plans to sell off part of its $60-million stake in the pipeline because of
fears over a potential leak.
An oil leak would be no small affair for Georgia, a nation roughly the size
of South Carolina. The impoverished country is expected to earn about
$50-million to $65-million in annual transit fees from the BTC pipeline –
big money for a country with an annual budget of $1-billion.
But environmentalists and human rights activists say no price can be placed
on the potential damage. In the past year, government forces have clashed
violently with antipipeline protesters on more than a dozen occasions.
BP officials acknowledge the route is far from ideal, but they say their
hands are tied.
“Every Georgian has a childhood memory of spending time in Borjomi so we
knew it would be difficult,” said Ed Johnson, BP’s former project manager
here.
“But for security, and other reasons it was the only way to go, so we
threaded the needle through Borjomi. It automatically creates a lack of
faith in what the company wants to do.”
Moving mountains
About an hour’s drive from Borjomi, the car bogs down in mud about halfway
up the road. The driver, a gray-haired man with a weather-worn face,
struggles with the gearshift on his rusty Soviet-era sedan. The engine
grinds as the car’s balding tires squeal their discontent.
The driver shakes his head. A landslide has made the road impassable. He
lights a cigarette and tells his passenger, Tamuna Kurtanidze, he’ll wait
but she’ll have to walk the rest of the way. Kurtanidze, a human rights
activist with the Georgian environmental group Green Alternative, gets out,
her white sneakers sinking into the ankle-deep mud.
The soil in Dgvari has been shifting for centuries. The tiny farming village
is smack in the middle of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, in one of the most
geologically unstable regions in the world.
Landslides regularly send torrents of mud crashing through the village.
Heaps of the stuff roll up the sides of homes, staining stone walls, seeping
beneath doorjambs.
Like many settlements along the oil route, Dgvari barely rates a tick on
most maps. Life here has never been easy, and villagers say it’s gotten
worse since BP began building a section of the BTC pipeline on a nearby
ridge.
Kurtanidze travels to Dgvari and other villages, collecting grievances. She
is part of the small army of international human rights activists monitoring
the pipeline construction.
“One crack in the pipeline could level all of Dgvari,” she said. “What we
want to know is who is going to help the villagers in Dgvari and in other
towns when that happens.”
BP has offered $1-million to help resettle villagers, leaving it to the
Georgian government to distribute the money and help people move out of the
danger zone. The government, in turn, said late last year it would pay the
entire village about $440,000 for resettlement.
The pipeline lies near the path of five known active landslide faults in
Georgia, including one near Dgvari. Severe as the risk might sound,
geophysicist Tamaz Chelidze casts a cool, scientific eye on the potential
danger. The threat of a rupture is real, he said, but if the pipeline were
damaged, the environmental fallout is not necessarily insurmountable.
“When you have those kinds of faults, of course, it’s quite dangerous,”
Chelidze said. “But that doesn’t mean people can’t live there. People have
lived there for centuries.”
Villagers here are not convinced. Some are packing to leave, including Gocha
Gogoladze. The 52-year-old farmer spits at the long gash running down the
concrete wall of his house. Nearly every house in Dgvari has one like it.
It started as a hairline fracture last fall, in a storage room wall behind a
row of mason jars filled with pickled vegetables. Now, months after BP’s
heavy construction trucks arrived, the crack is a foot wide.
“It’s dangerous,” he said. “No one can live like this.”
Deep doubts in Atskuri
The pipeline isn’t playing out well with villagers near Georgia’s border
with Turkey either. Out here at the remote western end of Georgia’s
wind-swept countryside, huge black metal pipes snake along the steep
undulating curves of rusty, yellow mountain ridges. Half-buried in the
crumbling brown earth, the pipeline yawns across the barren landscape.
About a half-mile from the pipeline, near the village of Atskuri, men in
leather jackets and wool caps huddle by a roadside kiosk, drink beer and
watch BP’s trucks rumble down the road.
There is little else to do in Atskuri other than watch the days slide by,
says Gela Mumaladze. The village’s 39-year-old town headman hoped that would
change when BP began building the pipeline nearby.
“They promised they would give us work, but so far they’ve hired maybe five
people in the past two months.”
High expectations have led to deep disillusionment in Georgia. BP estimates
the pipeline will have created about 10,000 temporary jobs by the time it’s
operational. But only about 250 people will be permanently hired in Georgia.
Construction has been delayed several times because of violent protests over
labor disputes.
“People were told that there would be 70,000 Georgians that were going to be
employed because of this pipeline,” BP’s Johnson said. “The (Georgian)
government needed to sell the project to its own people so some of the
benefits were overblown.”
A few miles from Atskuri, in the tiny town of Tnisi, 45-year-old shopkeeper
Tsiala Gakhishvili walks alongside the land her family has farmed for 12
years. After pipeline construction crews built a dam nearby, water from the
Kura River flooded the plot, she said.
BP officials said the company has promised to pay some 35,000 landowners
about $130-million for land along the pipeline’s route. But Gakhishvili said
she is not one of them.
“We told BP they ruined our land. They said, “It’s not our fault,’ and
refused to do anything about the problem,” Gakhishvili said.
Johnson said Georgia’s muddled Communist-era property laws have made sorting
out landowners’ claims difficult. He said disappointments are par for the
course when large-scale projects bring a flood of money into impoverished
regions.
“Imagine being in a place where no one has ever sold or exchanged property,”
Johnson said. “That means you can have 4,000 different standards for
property sales. It really sets up an atmosphere of mistrust between people
and the company.”
Tensions aside, Bush administration officials say the BTC pipeline is
setting a high standard for future large-scale energy projects around the
world. Mann, the White House adviser, dismissed concerns about the
pipeline’s effect on the environment and local economies, saying BP and its
partners have brought an “unprecedented level of transparency” to the
project.
“It’s a tremendous success because not only have the companies managed to
build this but they have built it in a way that is setting a new benchmark
for pipeline projects,” Mann said. “Future pipeline projects around the
world are going to have to meet BTC standards.”