Category: News

Azeri ministry denies protest at Armenian presence at NATO drills
Turan news agency
3 Sep 04
Baku, 3 September: The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has denied
reports by some media outlets that the ministry has sent a note to
NATO protesting a visit by Armenian officers to Baku to attend NATO’s
Cooperative Best Effort 2004 exercises (13-26 September).
Turan was told by the Foreign Ministry that the Azerbaijani side had
issued no protest. “Our representatives in Brussels are continuing
consultations with the NATO headquarters, explaining our position on
the participation of Armenian officers in the Baku-hosted exercises,”
a Foreign Ministry press service official said.
At the same time, he noted that Azerbaijan should follow its
commitments assumed within the framework of NATO’s Partnership for
Peace programme.

Azerbaijani Media Protest Visit of Armenian Officers
Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Sept 3 2004
Media in Azerbaijan released a statement protesting visit of Armenian
officers to Baku to attend training to be held within NATO
Partnership for Peace Program on September 12, 2004.
The statement considers visit of Armenian officers who occupied
Azerbaijan’s almost 20 per cent of territory as a stab against
independence of Azerbaijan.
“Letting the officers of occupational forces in the training
facilities of Azerbaijan, letting them train together with our
soldiers means disrespect towards the military interests of the host
country and playing with the nerves of the Azerbaijan nation,” reads
the statement.
“We think that admission of the Armenian forces to Baku is insult to
Azerbaijani nation, which lost thousands of its sons, aggravates a
political situation in the country, causes mass protest, and creates
ground for infringement of existing stability and unpredictable
negative consequences.”
“Considering all of the above mentioned, we, undersigned media
representatives of Azerbaijan categorically condemn planned visit of
the Armenian militants to Baku. We declare that as a sign of the
protest and not being beyond our professional activity, on Saturday,
September 4th, as an action of protest electronic media will suspend
its broadcast for three hours and newspapers will publish the first
pages empty.”
The statement further reads: “Depending on development of events we
reserve the right to broaden our protest activities even further and
to suspend our activity for longer term. This statement is available
for other media representatives to join.
ANS Group of Companies, Vahid Mustafayev, President
Ayna-Zerkalo, Elchin Shikhli, Editor-in -Chief
Yeni Musavat, Qabil Abbasoglu, Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Azadliq, Qanimat Zahidov, Editor- in-Chief
Azer.Net Group of Companies, Ramin Iskenderov
Echo, Rauf Talishinski, Editor-In-Chief
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525-ci, Rashaf Majid,Editor-In-Chief
Sharg, Akif Ashirli

Germany gets active in settlement of Karabakh conflict
Messenger.com.ge, Georgia
Sept 3 2004
According to the Azeri newspaper 525 Gazeta.Baku, President of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev went on an official visit to Germany and met
with German President Horst Kohler. President Kohler thinks that
official Berlin supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and
that this position is unwavering. Kohler highly assessed the first
official visit of Aliev to Germany, stressed that the visit has
positively influenced cooperation of the two countries, including
further development of the economic ties.
For his part, Aliev talked about the necessity to start attempts
to strengthen bilateral relations. The issues regarding cooperation
between Azerbaijan and Germany within the framework of international
organizations, integration of Azerbaijan into the European structures,
strengthening of activities of German companies in Azerbaijan and
others were discussed at the meeting.
Attention to the issue of the Armenian-Azeri conflict was
significant. Kohler said that Germany always supported the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan and that the country always will follow
this standpoint. According to him, Germany as a member of OSCE will
strengthen its attempt to settle this problem. Aliev also highly
assessed Germany’s standpoint and thanked President Kohler. Aliev
also invited Kohler for an official visit to his country and the
invitation was accepted.
Aliev also met with Chancellor Gerhard Schroder. According to the
results of the negotiations, two documents were signed: an agreement
regarding the avoidance of dual taxation and the purchase of 4 Airbus
A319’s by Azerbaijan. The chancellor also confirmed the standpoint
of Germany regarding the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
As Schroder said, Germany and European Union are interested in
cooperation with Azerbaijan and Germany supports the integration of
Azerbaijan into European structures in every possible way. Aliev also
noted that Azerbaijan considers the development of relations with
Germany as an important element in cooperation with the European
Union. As for the Karabakh conflict, Aliev stated that after the
withdrawal of Armenian occupying forces from the Azeri territory,
a peaceful agreement can be signed and relations can be normalized
between two countries as well.

San Diego Union Tribune, CA
Sept 3 2004
Sargsian captures five-set marathon
Match is second-longest in Open history By Jerry Magee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
NEW YORK – They don’t pass out gold medals at the U.S. Open, cash
being preferred, but Nicolas Massu of Chile, a gold medalist in
tennis at Athens, and Sargis Sargsian staged a match last night that
was truly Olympian.
Sargsian, from Armenia, finally won it, but only after he and Massu
had struggled through the second-longest match in Open history – 5
hours and 9 minutes.
The longest match on record at the Open was a 1992 men’s semifinal
between Stefan Edberg of Sweden and Michael Chang that lasted 5
hours, 26 minutes. Edberg won 6-7, 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4.
Before the Sargsian-Massu match, the second-longest match also
occurred in 1992, with Ivan Lendl defeating Boris Becker 6-7, 6-2,
6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in 5:01 in the round of 16.
The Sargsian-Massu get-together was a stormy one, with Massu,
supported by a noisy, flag-waving contingent of Chileans, carrying on
several dialogues with the chair umpire, who twice warned him for
slamming his racket and later penalized him a game for another such
abuse.
“Three violations,” Massu said. “The first two were OK. Nothing to
say. But the third one, I can’t believe.”
Massu did not dispute that he had thrown his rackets; he shattered
two of them. “Yeah, but normally all the players throw the racket,”
he said. “This umpire (Carlos Ramos) should not umpire anymore. He
unbelievable. He’s never going to umpire me again.”
Ted Schroeder of La Jolla, meantime, remembered that in the final of
the 1949 U.S. Championships, he and Pancho Gonzalez played a five-set
match that went on for 5 hours, 15 minutes. Schroeder said there were
no chairs on the court and changeovers had to be completed in 30
seconds.
In his three previous matches in that tournament, Schroeder said, he
had played five-setters on consecutive days against Gardnar Mulloy,
Frank Sedgman and Billy Talbert.
Massu being eliminated left the men’s phase of the tournament without
any of the Athens medalists. Silver medalist Mardy Fish of the United
States failed yesterday against Michal Tabara, the player from the
Czech Republic winning 6-3, 3-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3. Bronze medalist
Fernando Gonzalez of Chile had been beaten in the opening round by
Robin Soderling of Sweden.
The women’s field has lost bronze medalist Alicia Molik of Australia,
but gold medalist Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium and silver
medalist Amelie Mauresmo of France are still around.
Marathons aside, this week at the Open has been marked by
retirements, with first Todd Martin, then Wayne Ferreira saying
farewells. Andre Agassi, of their generation, presses on. He did
yesterday, gaining the tournament’s third round when a muscle problem
in the left leg forced Florian Mayer of Germany to retire in the
fourth set. Agassi advanced 7-5, 2-6, 6-2, 1-0 (ret).
Agassi, 34, said he misses many of the players against whom he
competed when he was in his 20s.
“In some cases, these are guys you grew up with and competed with
since you were 8 years old,” Agassi said. “So you do miss them; you
feel as if the game misses them.”
Agassi said he has not made any plans after the Open. He said he may
play a full fall schedule, he may not. On one point, he was clear: He
has no plans to retire should he win the Open.
No. 3 seed Carlos Moya took last night’s concluding match in Arthur
Ashe Stadium with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 conquest of American Amer
Delic. Earlier, French Open champion Gaston Gaudio of Argentina fell
to Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Delegation hails successful visit to Turkey
swissinfo, Switzerland
Sept 3 2004
A delegation of Swiss parliamentarians is winding up a visit to Turkey
following meetings with the country’s leaders and opposition figures.
Peter Briner, the head of the group, told swissinfo that there was
nothing now to prevent foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey from
visiting Ankara.
Calmy-Rey and the foreign affairs committee delegation had been due
to make scheduled trips to Turkey last year, but these were called
off at short notice.
Turkey was angered when two Swiss cantonal parliaments officially
recognised as genocide the 1915 killings of hundreds of thousands
of Armenians in Turkey. The federal parliament followed suit last
December.
But Briner said that Turkey now had “no bad feelings” towards
Switzerland.
swissinfo: How successful has the visit been?
Peter Briner: I think it has been a very successful trip. Our objective
was to get acquainted with Turkey and to meet parliamentary colleagues
of the foreign policy committee, because if we want to understand
each other we first have to get to know each other.
We met with open doors and an extraordinary hospitality from our
Turkish friends.
swissinfo: You met Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül. What subjects
did you discuss with him?
P.B.: We discussed mutual cooperation. There is a lot of cooperation
in business, in culture and in technology. They [our Turkish partners]
stressed their wish to strengthen our business relationship.
On our side we had problems to be resolved too. It seems that Turkish
customs discriminate against Swiss imports due to European Union
certification, even though we have a free trade agreement with Turkey
and with the EU. We are discussing this problem at various levels
and I’m hopeful that it can be resolved.
swissinfo: Did you raise the issue of human rights?
P.B.: We did mention human rights. We also met a small delegation of
opposition leaders led by [Kurdish human rights activist] Leyla Zana.
She said she wants to see a stable Turkey living in peace, democracy
and justice. She therefore welcomes the focus on reform due to
[Turkey’s application for] membership of the European Union.
She is encouraged, but of course she would like to speed things up.
She will fight with democratic means, we hope, because violence is
no way to reach goals. We stressed the fact that democracy can be
reached only through legal means.
swissinfo: A year ago you wanted to go to Turkey and weren’t able to.
In the meantime relations between Bern and Ankara appear to have
improved. How would you describe them now?
P.B.: We have a very open, friendly relationship. We discussed the
disagreements which made us postpone our trip. We explained things
in Switzerland, and finally I think we did finish that discussion to
the satisfaction of both sides.
swissinfo: Do you think that your visit might pave the way for Swiss
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey to visit Turkey finally?
P.B.: Yes, absolutely. Foreign Minister Gül said there were no
obstacles whatsoever to a visit by Calmy-Rey, and that the chiefs of
protocol would try to find a suitable date. There is no bad feeling
left whatsoever.
swissinfo-interview: Morven McLean

Protesters sentenced to prison
By Jahan Aliyeva (Sun Staff Writer)
Baku Sun, Azerbaijan
Sept 3 2004
BAKU — Nasimi district court handed down prison sentences to six
members of the Organization for Liberation of Karabakh (QAT) on Monday.
Judge Famil Nasibov handed out various prison sentences ranging from
three years to five years to QAT chairman Akif Nagi, deputy chairman
Firudin Mamedov, and Ilkin Gurbanov, Mursal Hasanov, Rovshan Fatiyev
and Manaf Kerimov. QAT activists and relatives of the defendants who
protested this decision in the court were forced out and dispersed
by police.
The six men were sentenced to imprisonment for their participation
in a protest against the presence of two Armenian military officers
at a NATO-sponsored conference called Best-Efforts-2004 held in Baku,
June 21.
According to the indictment, the imprisoned QAT members are charged
with attempting to enter Grand Hotel Europe, where a NATO conference
was being held, by using force against police and guards, interfering
with traffic and attempting to prevent the NATO event. The court
sentence noted that as a result of the QAT protest, Grand Hotel Europe
suffered 1 million 700 thousand AZM ($347) in damages.
Parties from across the political spectrum have condemned the
verdict as “unjust”, including political organizations, public
activists, members of the Parliament, pro-governmental and opposition
organizations.
On September 1, the first day of the autumn parliament session,
several pro-governmental deputies and MP’s criticized the sentencing
of the convicted QAT activists.
MP, Jahangir Huseynov, said that “it was necessary to arrest not OKL
activists, but employees of the prosecutor’s office and the court”,
while Zeynab Khanlarova, also a pro-governmental MP, said that “these
persons (from the court) have Armenian blood in their veins”.
Some MP’s stressed that they are ready to reimburse the amount of
damages that was suffered by Grand Hotel Europe during the protest.
Murtuz Aleskerov, speaker of the parliament also supported the QAT
protest against the arrival of Armenians to Baku.
“However, this is the NATO requirement. If we consider NATO assistance
to settle the Karabakh conflict, then we are the subject to this,”
he added.
However, Zahid Oruj, MP from the pro-governmental Ana Vatan (HomeLand)
Party thinks that there has been a certain misunderstanding between
the government, NATO and the people of Azerbaijan that led to the
sentencing.
“There is a simple thing in the heart of the matter. Azerbaijan
has been a member of the Partnership for Peace Program within NATO,
since 1994, and actively is taking part in all of the events in the
framework of this program. In general, NATO applies to the nations that
want to take part. It contradicts NATO’s principles to force nations
to take part in such events. Armenia, which has no interest in NATO,
had special interests for taking part at NATO’s seminar that was held
in Azerbaijan,” Oruj told Baku Sun.
Oruj explained that Armenian Defense Minister Serge Sarkissian
repeatedly stated that Armenia not only doesn’t want to become a
member of NATO, but that it also contradicts Armenia’s strategy in
its foreign policy. Defense cooperation with Russia is more of a
priority for Armenia than becoming a member of NATO.
“The point is that Armenia was worried about the developing relations
between NATO and Azerbaijan, thus they planned to make troubles with
these relations. They tried to tarnish the Azerbaijani people’s image
in front of NATO and the member countries. It was the information war
and Armenia managed to cause problems. Two Armenian officers came
and left, but the entire nation is at odds, the relations between
the government and people are weakened.”
Shamil Mehdi, deputy chairman of QAT, who thinks that the court’s
verdict is a “political order” said in an interview with Baku Sun
that “this verdict is not against QAT members, but against the entire
Azerbaijani nation.”
Mehdi believes that the imprisoned QAT members are playing the role
of catalysts in Azerbaijan’s society.
“The Azerbaijani community has been in something like a deep depression
for a long time, in terms of the Karabakh issue, but these six people
proved enough that Azerbaijanis will never concur to the occupation
of their lands. No one can force the nation to accept this.”
“Actually, there should have been nation-wide protests against this
unjust verdict, but it didn’t happen because, people are afraid to
be intimidated. The real situation is that people know that if they
protest even once, all of their family members will suffer.
We have information that high-ranking officials from government
organizations oppose this verdict too. But we all know the reasons
why they keep silent,” Mehdi said.
He added that the government does citizens to hold any protests that
openly show their disagreement.
“So, what should we do? Then let us greet the Armenians with flowers
and make sacrifices at their feet next time they arrive at the
airport,” he said ironically, referring to the planned arrival of
Armenian officers in Baku later this month to take part in NATO’s
military training later this month.

Opposition party insists on picketing French embassy
Assa-Irada
Sept 3 2004
Baku, September 2, AssA-Irada
The Mayor’s Office of Baku has not sanctioned a protest action that the
opposition Whole Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (WAPFP) schedules to
hold outside the French embassy in Baku on Friday. However, the party
insists on holding the protest action. The WAPFP intends to picket
some ministries and the embassies of NATO member states accredited
in Baku in protest against the arrival of Armenian officers in Baku
to attend NATO military training due in September. The police broke
up the party’s previous protest actions held outside the ministries
of Foreign Affairs and Defense as well as the US embassy in Baku.*
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 3 2004
President Aliyev says he will halt talks with Armenia if they are
proved to be fruitless
Baku, September 2, AssA-Irada
During his visit to Nakhchivan started on Thursday President Ilham
Aliyev unveiled his standpoint towards the peaceful settlement of
the Upper Garabagh conflict.
President Aliyev told journalists that Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov has reported him on the recent Prague meeting with his
Armenian counterpart Vardan Oskanian. The talks must be continued,
he noted.
Asked if he believed in the prospects of the talks, President Aliyev
said: «When I see that the talks are fruitless and when I don’t believe
in their prospects, then Azerbaijan will halt the talks. Today,
I can say that it is necessary to continue the talks.» President
Aliyev restated that no agreement has been reached during the talks
yet but discussions on concrete subjects are underway.*

Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press
September 1, 2004
Tbilisi Poised for New Conflicts With Rebel Regions
CONFLICT WITH ABKHAZIA IS CREATING STRAINS IN GEORGIA’S ALLIANCE WITH
TURKEY, WHICH HAS INFLUENTIAL ABKHAZ EMIGRE COMMUNITY, MANY MEMBERS
OF WHICH HAVE RETURNED TO ABKHAZIA
SOURCE: GEORGIANS STRIKE AT TURKS. — Tbilisi Is Irritated by
Assistance That Ankara Is Giving to Abkhazia. By Oleg Kasimov. Noviye
Izvestia, Aug. 4, 2004, p. 4. Condensed text:
. . . A certain amount of tension arose last Saturday [July 31] in
relations between Georgia and Turkey. The reason was an incident in
the coastal waters of Abkhazia. A Georgian coast guard cutter fired
on a Turkish freighter that had crossed into Georgian territorial
waters and was headed for Sukhumi. The vessel was damaged, but the
Georgians did not succeed in detaining it. Abkhazia’s minister of
security, Mikhail Tarba, declared yesterday that Abkhazia would
henceforth sink all Georgian ships entering the region’s waters. The
minister said that, if necessary, aircraft would be used.
Somewhat earlier, the Abkhaz leadership also announced a halt to
the negotiating process with Tbilisi. The announcement was made the
day after the self-proclaimed republic’s armed forces completed
training exercises that involved 15,000 people, including reservists.
The maneuvers were regarded in Tbilisi as preparations for a
large-scale war with Georgia. Under these circumstances, Turkey chose
to respond with silence to the incident involving its ship. There are
reasons for that: Turkey and Georgia, together with Azerbaijan,
currently form a politico-military axis that serves as a
counterbalance to another geopolitical structure in the region — the
triangle formed by Russia, Armenia and Iran. With support from
Washington, Ankara is pushing for rapid completion of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which will carry Caspian oil to
world markets by way of Georgia and Turkey. In addition, Ankara is
helping Georgia to develop its military. It is no mere coincidence
that a platoon of Georgian peacekeepers has been serving in Kosovo
since 1999 as part of a Turkish battalion.
However, the unresolved Abkhaz problem is creating nervousness in
the two countries’ relations. Turkey recognizes Georgia’s territorial
integrity and rejects Sukhumi’s attempts to secede from that
Transcaucasian republic. But at the same time, it closes its eyes to
the fact that its cargo ships regularly violate Georgia’s maritime
border and deliver food and manufactured goods — which the Georgians
regard as contraband — to Abkhazia. Georgia’s security services have
even given Ankara a list of Turkish vessels (19 altogether) that
regularly travel between Abkhazia and Turkey, but they have received
no response. Many experts are of the opinion that Ankara’s stance on
the Abkhaz problem is heavily influenced by the Abkhaz community
living in Turkey. It consists of roughly 400,000 descendants of
muhajirs — the name that was given in the Ottoman Empire to persons
of Abkhaz descent who fled to the empire during the Caucasus War in
the 19th century. Most of them adopted Islam in Turkey.
In the early 1990s, the Abkhaz authorities appealed to these people
to return to their historical homeland, promising them housing and
free education. At the same time, it was decided to build two
mosques, one in Sukhumi and the other in Gudauta. At first the
repatriation process progressed rapidly: Hundreds of muhajir families
returned to Abkhazia from Turkey. The number of citizens in the
autonomous republic who professed Islam rose sharply; according to
recent surveys, 49.3% of residents consider themselves Christians,
while 28.7% call themselves Muslims. Ankara is now closely following
the situation in Abkhazia, emphasizing its concern for the muhajir
families who have moved to the autonomous republic. With Ankara’s
tacit consent, Turkish ships regularly deliver fuel and food to the
region. Ankara is financing the establishment of schools there that
use Turkish as the language of instruction. In June, the Turkish
ambassador to Georgia visited the region and said that Ankara is “not
indifferent to the processes unfolding in Abkhazia.”
It goes without saying that, in its confrontation with the Georgian
authorities, Sukhumi is banking on the Abkhaz lobby in Turkey, which
is attempting to influence the policies of official Ankara. Last
October, Sukhumi received a visit from former Turkish Finance
Minister Zekiriat Emizel, who is of Abkhaz descent. He assured the
unrecognized republic’s leaders that he was using his political
influence to try to turn Turkish public opinion and the attention of
the Turkish government toward Abkhazia’s problems.

Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press
September 1, 2004
Tbilisi Poised for New Conflicts With Rebel Regions
ABKHAZIA ENDS TALKS WITH TBILISI AFTER GEORGIAN COAST GUARD VESSEL
FIRES ON TURKISH FREIGHTER IN ABKHAZ WATERS; SYSOYEV: MOSCOW HOPES TO
USE GEORGIA’S CONFLICTS TO RETAIN ITS INFLUENCE THERE; GIVEN LINKS
WITH ARMENIA, IT COULD THEN REGAIN CONTROL OF TRANSCAUCASUS, CENTRAL
ASIA
SOURCE: GEORGIA IS READY TO TAKE ON EVERYONE. — Tbilisi Is
Determined to Recover Remaining Territory. Kommersant, Aug. 2, 2004,
p. 9. Condensed text:
(By Vladimir Novikov in Tbilisi and Oleg Zorin [in Moscow]). —
Georgia is on the verge of war with its former autonomous regions.
Abkhazia announced on Saturday [July 31] that it was withdrawing from
all talks with Tbilisi. . . .
The Abkhaz authorities’ announcement that they were pulling out of
talks with Tbilisi followed an incident that occurred in the
unrecognized republic’s coastal waters. A Georgian coast guard cutter
patrolling the Abkhaz coast on Saturday spotted a Turkish freighter
headed for Sukhumi. In an attempt to detain the vessel, the cutter’s
commanding officer ordered the crew to open fire with a large-caliber
machine gun. The freighter was damaged, but the attempt to detain it
failed.
For several years now, Georgia has been demanding that all foreign
ships calling at Abkhaz ports undergo preliminary inspection in the
West Georgian port of Poti. Tbilisi maintains that this is necessary
in order to stop shipments of weapons and narcotics to Abkhazia. Over
the past several years, dozens of ships flying the Turkish flag, as
well as the flags of other states, have been detained in Abkhaz
waters and sent to Poti. Some of them have subsequently been fined
and released, while others have been seized and sold at auction.
Until now, this hadn’t had any major repercussions.
But this time officials in Sukhumi responded angrily to Saturday’s
incident. Prime Minister Raul Khadzhimba announced that Abkhazia was
withdrawing from the negotiating process on the grounds that
Georgia’s attack on the freighter was a flagrant violation of the
1994 cease-fire agreement.
Tbilisi responded immediately. “The Abkhaz leadership had better
think long and hard before it withdraws from the negotiating
process,” Georgia’s state minister for conflict resolution, Georgy
Khaindrava, told Kommersant. Mr. Khaindrava said that Sukhumi’s
decision could lead to a complete suspension of the peace process to
resolve the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict.
Officials in Tbilisi maintain that the incident involving the ship
has nothing to do with the 1994 cease-fire agreement. Georgia’s State
Border Protection Department said that the crew of the patrol vessel
had acted in accordance with Georgian law and had not violated any
international agreements. Moreover, the Georgian authorities say they
will continue their efforts to stop the unmonitored entry of foreign
ships into Abkhaz ports. So neither Tbilisi nor Sukhumi intends to
back down.
The new flare-up in relations between Tbilisi and Abkhazia
coincides with an escalation of the conflict between the Georgian
government and the leadership of South Ossetia. There were incidents
involving the use of weapons in several villages of the unrecognized
republic early Sunday morning.
South Ossetian authorities accused Tbilisi of shelling the southern
part of Tskhinvali with mortars. And Georgian Minister of Internal
Affairs Irakly Okruashvili reported yesterday that two Georgian
policemen had been wounded and six South Ossetian residents killed in
an incident near the village of Prisi. . . . The Georgian internal
affairs minister issued a warning: “We have no intention of
tolerating South Ossetia’s escapades. Every time the South Ossetians
open fire, we will fire back.”
Moreover, Irakly Okruashvili said that Georgia has no plans as yet
to close down its police post in the village of Tamarasheni, which is
not far from Tskhinvali. The day before, at a meeting of the Joint
Monitoring Commission for a settlement of the conflict in South
Ossetia (the meeting was attended by representatives of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and mediated by
Russia), Tbilisi and Tskhinvali seemed to have reached an agreement
whereby Georgian police in the Georgian village of Tamarasheni . . .
would be replaced with posts manned by the trilateral peacekeeping
forces — i.e., by Russian, Georgian and Ossetian peacekeepers.
But after the commission meeting, the Georgian internal affairs
minister said he was prepared to order a withdrawal of Georgian
policemen from Tamarasheni only “if there are guarantees that the
local Georgian population will be safe.” Georgia is demanding a trial
period to see if the trilateral peacekeeping contingent (in other
words, the Ossetian and Russian peacekeepers) is in fact neutral. The
Georgian side is also calling for the establishment of trilateral
peacekeeping posts in several Ossetian villages on a reciprocal
basis. Finally, Georgia categorically refuses to dismantle financial
police checkpoints on the administrative border between South Ossetia
and other parts of Georgia, citing the need to combat smuggling.
All of Tbilisi’s demands will no doubt be unacceptable to the
Ossetian and Russian sides. And this is now spawning fears that a
further escalation of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict could lead to
another war between Tbilisi and Tskhinvali, one in which Russia would
inevitably become involved.
In an interview with Mze Television on Saturday, Georgian Defense
Minister Georgy Baramidze said, “Georgia is prepared for war and does
not advise anybody to start one.” The minister added that Georgia is
ready to “respond to any armed provocation, including actions by
those who represent the Russian side.”
But Kommersant’s sources in Tbilisi say that for Georgia, getting
involved in another armed conflict would not be in the country’s best
interests. The person who would most like to avoid war is President
Mikhail Saakashvili himself. An armed conflict would cancel out all
his plans to rebuild the Georgian economy and improve the
population’s standard of living, which was one of the president’s
main campaign promises. What’s more, a war in the immediate vicinity
of the pipelines leading from the Caspian basin to Europe via Georgia
would hardly be to the West’s liking. Finally, no one knows how a war
might go for Tbilisi, given the powerful Russian backing enjoyed by
both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Officials in Tbilisi think that war
in the Transcaucasus would be disadvantageous for Russia as well,
since it would completely discredit Moscow’s peacekeeping efforts.
So Georgia is not inclined to burn all its bridges. On a visit to
Kiev in late July, Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, one of President
Saakashvili’s closest associates, said that the “new Georgian
authorities are trying to achieve something that [former Georgian
President] Eduard Shevardnadze never could” — better relations with
Russia. And in support of that statement, Mr. Zhvania once again
urged Russia to participate in the privatization of strategic
facilities in Georgia, such as ports and power stations. The prime
minister also declared that the Russian military bases [in Georgia]
are an “anachronism that hampers the development of bilateral
relations,” and proposed the creation of a joint counterterrorism
center near Tbilisi. According to Kommersant’s sources, Georgia is
prepared to provide the counterterrorism center with not only heavy
equipment but also aircraft, and to allow several thousand Russian
soldiers to serve there.
But Moscow is against linking the establishment of a
counterterrorism center to the dismantling of its military bases in
Akhalkalaki and Batumi. Moreover, Russia is demanding that Georgia
record in a bilateral treaty a pledge by Tbilisi not to allow foreign
military bases on Georgian territory. But Georgia feels that solving
the problem in this way would be degrading for a sovereign state and
is proposing another option — a statement by the Georgian president
(at the UN, for example) that no foreign bases would be permitted on
Georgian territory. . . .
* * *
What’s at Stake. (By Gennady Sysoyev). — . . . The current
conflict over Abkhazia and South Ossetia involves more than just the
Georgian authorities fighting the leaders of the self-proclaimed
republics for control over Sukhumi and Tskhinvali. It is primarily a
battle for Georgia — not in the sense of the country’s restoring its
integrity, but in the sense of gaining control over Georgia. And one
of the main combatants is Russia.
The prominent American political analyst Zbigniew Brzezinski once
gave US leaders the following advice: Never let Russia bring Ukraine
under its influence — without Kiev, Moscow will never be able to
regain control over the former Soviet empire. In a certain sense,
Georgia is now just as important to Russia as Ukraine.
If it can maintain its influence over Tbilisi, Moscow, given its
strategic partnership with Armenia, will be able to control more than
just the Transcaucasus. In such a situation, Central Asia, where the
US has significantly increased its political and military presence of
late, is all but bound to eventually return to the orbit of Russian
influence as well. Because with no alternative to the Russian route
for exporting their strategic resources to the West (and the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline is primarily meant to provide such
an alternative), the Central Asian republics and Azerbaijan will
sooner or later be forced to seek refuge once again under Moscow’s
“umbrella.” And with the return of Central Asia and the Transcaucasus
to the fold, the restoration of the former Soviet empire — albeit on
the basis of different principles — will no longer be such a utopian
goal for Moscow. On the other hand, if Moscow loses effective levers
of influence on Tbilisi, this will render Russia’s military presence
in Armenia all but pointless, lead to a weakening of its influence
throughout the Transcaucasus, and consign the idea of regaining its
former influence in Central Asia to oblivion once and for all.
Moscow apparently hopes to maintain its influence in Georgia
chiefly through the breakaway republics. It allowed President
Saakashvili to emerge triumphant in the battle for Batumi and was
counting on reciprocity. For one thing, it expected Tbilisi to drop
its demands for the removal of the Russian bases on Georgian
territory. But Mikhail Saakashvili failed to repay his debt to Russia
for Adzharia; instead, he decided to press for control of South
Ossetia. If he quickly succeeds, he will substantially reduce
Russia’s ability to bargain over Abkhazia, and Moscow is extremely
reluctant to let that happen.
Russia has yet another major stake in the battle for Georgia. If a
policy of holding on to Tbilisi at any price prevails in Moscow, this
is bound to be seen by the rest of the world as showing that Russia
has adopted the imperialist ambitions of the former USSR.