Category: News

UKRAINE, ARMENIA FIRM TO FURTHER DEVELOP TIES
ArmenPress
May 12 2004
KIEV, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS: Ukrainian prime minister Viktor Yanukovich
told the visiting Armenian counterpart, Andranik Margarian on
Tuesday that Kiev was satisfied with the level of cooperation with
Armenia. Speaking to a joint news conference after the session of a
joint Ukrainian-Armenian inter-governmental commission on economic
cooperation, the Ukraine’s prime minister said a significant progress
has been achieved since the two governments decided to boost their
trade, economic and other ties. He said the trade turnover between
the two countries grew by 1.4 times last year and this figure is
expected to double this year.
Yanukovich said the main focus in his talks with Margarian was that
sweeping measures should be applied to eliminate all obstacles to
developing partnership relations, the major one of which is transport
communication.
Yanukovich said Ukraine is planning to take part in the construction
of Iran-Armenia gas pipeline. “We have sufficient resources and
technical means for that,” he said.
Andranik Margarian said that the construction of the pipeline
would become a very promising pattern of bilateral cooperation with
Ukraine. He said “technical consultations are being conducted with
the Iranian side now” after which decisions will be made on funding
and selection of contractors through tenders. “Ukraine will have a
chance to participate in them,” Andranik Margarian said.
Prime minister Margarian also both governments will continue to
elaborate around 60 bilateral documents to facilitate relations between
the two nations. Margarian also invited his Ukrainian counterpart to
visit Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KARABAGH MUST BE INVOLVED IN TALKS, FORMER TOP OFFICIAL SAYS
ArmenPress
May 12 2004
YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS: A former top official in the
administration of ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosian backed up today
the idea that Nagorno Karabagh authorities must be involved in talks
over its future. Babken Ararktsian, a former parliament chairman,
told a news conference, which he called on the occasion of the 10-th
anniversary of the establishment of ceasefire on the line of contact
between Armenian troops of Nagorno Karabagh and Azerbaijan forces that
Karabagh had been involved in all talks with various international
peace-brokers, held prior to the ceasefire.
Reverting to the details of the ceasefire agreement, Ararktsian
said it was a key decision by all the sides to the conflict, who
realized that continuation of the war would bring only new losses.
Ararktsian recalled today that one of the provisions of the agreement
was that Nagorno Karabagh should continue participating in all talks
and that the overland connection between Armenia and Karabagh through
the Lachin corridor should operate.
The first international mediation effort to resolve the Nagorno
Karabagh conflict was attempted by the presidents of the not yet
independent Russia and Kazakhstan, Boris Yeltsin and Nursultan
Nazarbayev, respectively, in September 1991. Their visits to Baku,
Stepanakert, and Yerevan, and subsequent talks between the leaders of
Armenia and Azerbaijan in Zheleznovodsk, Russia produced an agreement
to negotiate the conflict; this was negated by the government of
Azerbaijan almost immediately.
The international involvement in the resolution of this conflict began
in earnest in 1992, after successor states to the Soviet Union had
been admitted to the Conference (later Organization) for Security and
Cooperation in Europe. The CSCE (OSCE) thus became the primary venue
for the resolution of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict, and remains so
to this day.
On March 24, 1992, a CSCE Council meeting in Helsinki decided to
authorize the CSCE Chairman-in-Office (i.e., the presiding officer
of the CSCE who is usually the foreign minister of the country
presiding in the organization, based on rotation principle) to
convene a conference on Nagorno Karabagh under the auspices of the
CSCE. The purpose of the conference was “to provide an ongoing forum
for negotiations towards a peaceful settlement of the crisis on the
basis of the principles, commitments and provisions of the CSCE.” This
decision launched the so-called Minsk Process, which spearheads the
international effort to find a political settlement of the conflict.
(The process is so named because the city of Minsk, Belarus had
been originally selected as the site of the future conference on
this problem.)
The objectives of the Minsk Process are to provide an appropriate
framework for conflict resolution to support the negotiation process
supported by the Minsk Group; to obtain conclusion by the Parties
of an agreement on the cessation of the armed conflict in order to
permit the convening of the Minsk Conference; and to promote the
peace process by deploying OSCE multinational peacekeeping forces.
Ararktsian argued today that after the Karabagh conflict transformed
into “a territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan
has snatched off the ceasefire becoming its master to ground that it
can revoke the ceasefire agreement any time in order to restore its
territorial integrity.” In concluding Ararktsian aid the resolution
of the conflict must be based on the principle of self-determination
of Karabagh Armenians and mutual compromises.

IN TERMS OF DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS ARMENIA IS ON PAR WITH SOME EU
MEMBERS, OFFICIAL SAYS
ArmenPress
May 12 2004
YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS: Deputy parliament chairman Tigran Torosian
reiterated today that there is no alternative to Armenia’s integration
with Europe. In a keynote speech at the presentation of “Wider Europe-
New Neighborhood Policy” initiative, organized by the Armenian-European
Policy and Legal Advice Center (AEPLAC) and moderated by Per Gahrton,
member of the European Parliament and a special rapporteur on the South
Caucasus, Torosian admitted that Armenia has still a lot to do and to
carry out a range of reforms to make its judiciary, local management
bodies and constitution comply with accepted European standards, but
argued that in terms of the current level of democracy and observance
of human rights Armenia is on par with some EU member countries. He
said Armenia’s membership in the EU will give it many privileges.
Per Gahrton said Armenia lacks geographic and economic commonalities
with the EU and added that in order to comply with EU membership
requirements Armenia must improve the level of democracy, human rights,
promote resolution of ecological problems, close its nuclear power
plant and get involved in all regional projects. Another condition,
according to him, is that Armenia must pull out its troops from some
Azeri regions, now under Armenian control and continue talks with
Azerbaijani president to end the confrontation. Garhton said the EU
would provide financial support to the sides to achieve these goals
and would exert also pressure on Russia and Turkey to facilitate
the process.
The aim of the presentation was to describe the EU’s notion and
spirit of the “Wider Europe – New Neighborhood Policy” initiative,
elaborate on the European Parliament Recommendation to the Council
on EU policy towards South Caucasus and what Armenia can expect from
the EU’s “Wider Europe – New Neighborhood Policy” initiative.
The event hosted members of the government, the National Assembly,
governors, heads and representatives of diplomatic representations
in Armenia, as well as international organizations located here.

Turkey Wants Good Relations With Armenia
Anadolu Agency
May 12 2004
ANKARA – Turkey wanted good relations with Armenia, Turkish Foreign
Ministry Spokesman Namik Tan said on Wednesday.
Tan told a weekly press briefing that the Caucasus and Armenia were
important regions for Turkey.
Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tan stated that there were chronic
problems in the region.
Everybody should fulfil his responsibilities, Tan noted.
Tan added that only Turkey`s efforts would not be sufficient to
overcome those chronic problems.

Legacy of Trauma in Karabakh
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
may 12 2004
Armenian veterans continue to feel the shock of the conflict as if it
ended yesterday.
By Ashot Beglarian in Stepanakert (CRS No. 233, 12-May-04)
“This is how we live,” said Gennady, a weathered former soldier, as he
ushered us into a modest home furnished with only the bare essentials –
a table and a couple of chairs in the middle, and beds by the walls.
“I’ve never craved fame or wealth, and I never treasured life that
much, never feared death,” he told IWPR. “I just want my children to
live. And I pray to God that their lives will be different from ours.
We saw too much blood.”
Gennady is intense and gesticulates a lot when he speaks, but he
appears preoccupied rather than intimidating. “Sometimes dad’s mind
wanders off,” said his son, and Gennady himself did not disagree.
Ten years after a ceasefire was called, the Armenians of Nagorny
Karabakh still live in daily recollection of the war fought over their
territory. The memories are especially fresh among men – every male
between the ages of 18 and 45 was called up to fight.
Even though they ended up on the winning side, they have bad memories
of the war.
Zoya Mailian, a psychologist who often sees patients haunted by the
horrors of the war, said ex-combatants most commonly suffer from
chronic post-traumatic stress, which creates a range of psychiatric
disorders.
“The stress factor can hit you a few days, months or even years later,”
she explained. “In most cases, it makes itself felt through haunting
memories and recurring nightmares. Not infrequently, people suffering
from this kind of trauma lose interest in activities that made sense to
them before. Others may become wary to the point of paranoia, or very
tense and irritable. This condition can be treated by psychotherapy,
but it’s important to see a doctor at an early stage.”
War veteran Mikhail Sarkisian still hears the noises of war. “I was an
artillery gunner, and all that horrendous noise had a terrible effect
on me. Now I can’t stand the slightest sound. I’m very irritable.”
Sarkisian admitted that, “At times I have an inexplicable yearning
for the sound of an artillery barrage.”
Another veteran said, “Whenever I hear a noise, my arm seems to hear
it first – any sudden loud noise echoes with pain in my old bullet
wounds. It’s as if you expect a punch out of nowhere all the time. It
must be a subliminal memory of the Azerbaijani gunfire and bombardment,
which used to start out of the blue.”
Life in peacetime has hit many veterans hard as they have tried to
adjust to new conditions and find employment. Shortly before Karabakh
celebrated May 9, the anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi
Germany, the local parliament passed a law granting a 20 per cent
pension raise worth between 700 and 2,000 dram (1.2-3.5 US dollars)
for former soldiers maimed on active service, as well as the families
of those killed. Invalids and families are expected to receive extra
help next year.
But this hasn’t cured the sense of alienation experienced by many
veterans.
“I’m so ashamed to be staying at home, looking after the kids while
my wife is at work. I don’t have a job,” said Gennady resignedly,
stroking his two sons’ hair.
As the years have gone by, veterans have had to cope with growing
indifference from the society around them.
In 2000, Nagorny Karabakh’s government launched a memorial campaign
entitled “No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten”, designed to
extend social benefits to all registered war veterans, including
those who fought as guerrillas before a regular army was formed in
1992. However, very few have benefited so far.
Sergei Khachikian, who received several combat awards, is unable to
find a steady job, and lives in poverty.
“I’ve been trying forever to renovate my place, which is pretty small
as you can see,” he complained. “It looks terrible, like a war ruin.
The government pledged some help, but nothing’s happened yet.”
Retired general Zhora Gasparian is adamant that veterans shouldn’t
wait for the government to help them, but should look after themselves.
“Laziness and reluctance to work causes a lot of problems,” he said.
“We have really good, fertile soil, but it needs care. I have retained
my love for farm work since my schooldays…and I still work hard,”
he said, displaying his hardened, blistered hands.
A career officer with 40 years of service behind him, Gasparian
receives a pension of 120 dollars from the government, which is
hardly enough to live on – certainly not if you want to live like
a general. But he manages, and also helps out several war-widowed
families. “We’ve got to help them in every way,” he said.
Major-General Vitaly Balasanian, who chairs the Union of Karabakh War
Veterans, believes the veterans do need help and recognition. “The
armed forces and the soldiers of yesterday – the army’s chief reserves
– must always be at the centre of the government’s attention. It is
important that our veterans are valued and esteemed by everyone,”
he said.
Karabakh remains unrecognised as a state, and the tense atmosphere of
“neither war nor peace” which has characterised the truce since 1994
has created a sense of continuing unease and sensitivity to any change
in the status quo.
Despite the reconstruction work, economic growth and improved living
standards seen over the last 10 years, the legacy of war continues
to make itself felt as people suffer from deprivation, the threat of
sniping along the ceasefire line, and unexploded mines.
Many people in Karabakh believe these problems – including the tough
situation facing veterans – can only be resolved properly once there
is a lasting peace deal in place – whenever that might happen.
Ashot Beglarian is a freelance journalist and regular IWPR contributor
in Stepanakert
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Institute for War and Peace Reporting
May 12 2004
Azerbaijan: No Glory for Veterans
Former combatants struggle to survive, and veteran status offers
little solace or practical help.
By Mamed Suleimanov in Zakatala and Baku (CRS No. 233, 12-May-04)
Rahim volunteered to go to the front in the war against the Armenians
in 1992, when he was 23. In January 1993, he was wounded and taken
prisoner near the town of Fizuli.
Eleven years on, Rahim is reluctant to talk about his time as a
prisoner-of-war. “I’ve told this story so many times to the state
commission on prisoners, so go and talk to them,” he told IWPR.
But over a cup of tea, he relented and agreed to tell his story.
“I spent more than a year in captivity. For about a month they kept me
behind bars next to another Azeri man called Oktay. Then I ended up in
the family of an Armenian man whose son had also been taken prisoner. I
spent many long months in the countryside around Hadrut, in this
man’s house. His name was Kamo. They treated me much better there.”
After more than a year in captivity, Rahim’s family managed to win
his freedom after paying a ransom. He was exchanged for a body of an
Armenian plus some money. He declined to say how much money changed
hands, but said that it was the intermediary who kept it anyway –
a field commander nicknamed Fantomas, a former tractor driver who
spent the war involved more in the “business” of trading prisoners
than in the actual fighting.
Rahim returned an invalid to the small town of Zakatala in
north-western Azerbaijan where he lives. Even though he cannot move
the fingers on his left hand because of war wounds, he managed to
become a professional hairdresser.
The local authorities gave him a small room in a local hotel, which
he turned into a hairdressing salon. Then his luck turned sour again.
Survivors of a fire in an apartment block were re-housed in the hotel,
so Rahim lost his means of making a livelihood.
Now Rahim is unemployed. He has a family and three children, but
no house and nowhere to turn to for help. The town authorities have
long forgotten about him, and now he is saving up to move to Russia,
where he hopes he can find a job as a market trader.
Another veteran, 38-year-old Azer, had more luck. He too volunteered
for the war, serving as a driver ferrying ammunition to the front. He
was badly wounded by a landmine in Aghdam, and spent over a month in
intensive care. Twelve years later, he still gets bad headaches from
the skull injury he suffered.
After he left hospital, Azer managed to get a fairly lucrative job by
local standards, working at a customs checkpoint on the border with
Georgia. He says that to avoid standing out from his colleagues, he
took bribes and shared them with his superiors, just like the other
customs officers.
After ten years on the job, he managed to save up a decent sum, got
married, bought a house in Baku and started his own business. But a
year ago he was sacked from customs because, he says, “they sold my
workplace to someone else”.
The stories of both Rahim and Azer illustrate how Azerbaijan’s veterans
of the Nagorny Karabakh war have had to fend for themselves in the 10
years since the ceasefire agreement of 1994. Most say they are ignored
by the state they fought for, and that they survive only on their wits.
Recently a local television channel reported that a war invalid from
the town of Imishli has been living with his wife and children in an
old bus for three years, because he lost hope that he would ever be
able to get a proper home.
The primary concern for most veterans is feeding their families. The
pension for invalids from the war is about 27 dollars a month, well
below the bread line.
Veterans used to enjoy some benefits, travelling free on public
transport and receiving gas and electricity supplies for nothing.
However, former Azerbaijani president Heidar Aliev cut those benefits
from the beginning of 2002.
Rei Kerimoglu, a spokesman for the Karabakh Gazileri (Karabakh
Warriors) organisation, one of several veterans’ groups, told IWPR that
benefits for invalids are sometimes misappropriated. For instance,
specially-adapted vehicles should be provided to invalids free of
charge, but officials demand a bribe of 300 to 400 dollars to hand
them over.
Kerimoglu said that in recent years, abject poverty has driven 36
war invalids to kill themselves, and 75 more have been treated by
doctors after attempting suicide.
Mekhti Mekhtiev, chairman of the Public Union of Karabakh War
Invalids, Veterans and Families of Martyrs’ Families, told IWPR, “We
have been facing a difficult situation since our benefits were cut.
When Baku mayor Hajibala Abutalibov had illegally-built structures
demolished, some trading booths belonging to Karabakh veterans also
got destroyed. These people are unable to work due to their health,
and trading is their only source of income. Now many veterans are
simply starving.”
Labour and welfare minister Nagiev denies that veterans are being
neglected. He said the 8,000 Karabakh war invalids on his ministry’s
books get priority treatment from the state. “Compared with others,
they have much higher pensions, they receive free medical treatment
at home, and those who need to have treatment abroad are given a
certain amount of money every year,” he said. The minister said the
state has handed out nearly 800 cars and 350 apartments to veterans
free of charge since 1997.
Altay Mamedov, who heads the Azerbaijani Association for Veterans of
the Great Patriotic War, an organisation originally set up to help
Second World War participants, said part of the problem is that there
are so many different veterans’ groups.
“In other countries there is one centralised body that deals with all
the problems facing veterans. But we have nine state organisations
doing it, and as a result there are differing interpretations of the
criteria for granting veteran status, and varying numbers of veterans
are cited,” said Mamedov. “The state claims there are 74,000 veterans
of the Karabakh war in the country. But our data indicates that the
number of war veterans is exaggerated. Our association is proposing to
unite all organisations that [have the power to] grant veteran status.”
Neither Rahim nor Azer is a member of any of the veterans’
organisations.
“It’s all politics, and the heads of all those organisations just
want to grab a piece of the pie,” said Rahim. Azer agreed, saying,
“If you hang around waiting for help from the state, you could easily
starve to death.”
Neither man likes reminiscing about the war, and they do not take
part in army reunions. The memories of what they did then are a burden
they carry alone.
Mamed Suleimanov is a reporter for the Baku newspaper Novoe Vremya.

Armenia to sign gas agreement with Iran
RosBusiness Consulting
May 12 2004
RBC, 12.05.2004, Yerevan 16:10:45.Iranian Petroleum Minister
Bijan Namdar-Zanganeh will arrive in Armenia on a one-day visit.
According to the press service of the Armenian Energy Ministry, the
main aim of the visit is to sign an agreement on constructing the
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline. Namdar-Zanganeh will meet with Armenian
President Robert Kocharian and Prime Minister Andranik Markarian.
The length of the pipeline will amount to 141km. It is planned
to start the construction this year and to finish it in 2006. The
cost of the project has been estimated as $120m. At the first stage,
it is planned to receive some 700m cubic meters of gas from Iran with
later up to 1.5bn cubic meters.
Armenian authorities deny the possibility of transit of Iranian
gas to Europe through Armenia since this project implies “certain
difficulties”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Vancouver Sun (British Columbia)
May 12, 2004 Wednesday Final Edition
‘Special’ Liberal foreign policy advisers ridiculed: Two MPs who quit
to make way for Martin candidates get post-election advisory jobs
by Peter O’Neil
OTTAWA
OTTAWA — Two Liberal MPs who quit politics to make way for Prime
Minister Paul Martin’s favoured candidates were ridiculed Tuesday for
accepting posts as “special” foreign policy advisers to the prime
minister.
B.C. Liberal MP Sophia Leung and Ontario Liberal Sarkis Assadourian
gave up their $140,000-a-year jobs in Parliament to provide
post-election advice to Martin, who is known for his expertise in
world affairs and has access to countless policy and trade experts in
the federal bureaucracy.
Neither of the MPs, nor Martin’s office, would say whether the MPs
would draw salaries and have office and travel budgets in the event
Martin is prime minister after the next election.
“It’s just a pork-barreling way of filling their pockets with money,
and making them feel important, because they’re giving up their jobs
as MPs,” said Conservative House leader John Reynolds. “It’s not
doing one iota of good for Canadians.”
Reynolds (West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast) said Martin is insulting the
many policy and trade experts in Canada and abroad who work at the
departments of foreign affairs and international trade, which
together have budgets totalling $1.8 billion.
The government would provide no information on remuneration for the
new positions.
“For the time being, they remain MPs and are therefore unpaid in
their advisory roles,” said Melanie Gruer, a Martin aide.
“What happens after a possible election will be decided at that
time.”
The MPs bluntly rejected the pork-barreling claim.
“No, it’s not patronage,” said Leung, who will sacrifice her
Vancouver-Kingsway seat for Martin’s friend, B.C. businessman David
Emerson, to be Martin’s special adviser on international trade and
emerging markets.
“I have the background. I’ve been on the finance committee. And I’m
very interested, and I know so many people, in the business sector,
especially Asia-Pacific,” said Leung, 69, who was born in China.
“The prime minister feels I can really make a contribution.”
Assadourian, 56, the only MP of Armenian descent, will be special
adviser on near eastern and south Caucasus affairs. That covers the
countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.
The MP gave up his Brampton-Springdale seat to Ruby Dhalla, a Toronto
chiropractor who worked on Martin’s leadership campaign.
Assadourian refused numerous opportunities to speak to The Vancouver
Sun Monday and Tuesday about his new job, but an aide said the MP is
qualified.
“In terms of of why he has the position? Of course it is because of
his background and knowledge [and his] language capabilities,” said
Daniel Kennedy, an aide to Assadourian, pointing out that the MP
speaks Armenian, Arabic, and Turkish.
[email protected]
GRAPHIC: Color Photo: CanWest News Services; …Ontario MP Sarkis
Assadourian quit their $140,000-a-year jobs to make way for Prime
Minister Paul Martin’s favoured candidates and provide post-election
advice for the prime minister.; Color Photo: CanWest News Services;
B.C. MP Sophia Leung and …
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Nagorno-karabakh; A Decade Of Frustration In Search Of A Negotiated Peace
Eurasianet Organization
May 12 2004
On May 12, 1994, a ceasefire brought a halt to fighting over
Nagorno-Karabakh, a conflict that embroiled Armenia and Azerbaijan
and Karabakh Armenians. In the decade since then, the two countries,
along with representatives of the unrecognized Karabakh Republic,
have been unable to agree on a political settlement. Despite an
increased international interest in promoting lasting peace, the
near-term prospects for a Karabakh deal appear bleak. In early 2004,
international mediators, operating under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk
Group, took action to reinvigorate the peace process, facilitating
several top-level meetings of Armenian and Azerbaijani officials. In
late April, for instance Armenian President Robert Kocharian met with
his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Warsaw. And on May 12-13,
the foreign ministers of the two countries were scheduled to meet on
the sidelines of a Council of Europe gathering. [For background see
the Eurasia Insight archive].
Amid the flurry of recent diplomatic activity, both Armenian and
Azerbaijani officials have used terms such as “productive” to
characterize the discussions. The Russian news agency Itar-Tass on
April 30 quoted Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov as
saying the presidential meeting in Warsaw featured “a useful exchange
of opinion.” No one, however, sounds optimistic that the existing
deadlock will be broken any time soon.
Indeed, Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities in recent days have
stressed that while they remain open to talks, their respective
negotiating positions are unchanged: Yerevan will not accept any
settlement that leaves Karabakh a constituent part of Azerbaijan;
Baku will not consent to a deal in which Karabakh operates beyond
the control of Azerbaijani authorities. [For additional information
see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Baku also is pushing for Armenian
forces to withdraw from occupied Azerbaijani lands before addressing
a Karabakh settlement.
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markarian said on May 11 that
Yerevan is seeking a “comprehensive” Karabakh solution that attaches
no pre-conditions to peace talks. “We want this issue to be dealt
with comprehensively, instead of having to vacate the [occupied
Azerbaijani] lands and then discussing Nagorno-Karabakh’s status,”
the Russian Itar-Tass news agency quoted Markarian as saying while
on a visit to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan has grown increasingly frustrated with
international mediation efforts. Aliyev said that the Minsk Group
co-chairs “have to stop just observing” peace talks and do more to
promote a settlement, the publication Baku Today reported on May
8. In recent months, Aliyev has repeatedly suggested that if the
negotiating stalemate was not broken soon, then Azerbaijan would
consider resorting again to force to resolve the Karabakh issue. Few
political observers believe Aliyev would follow through on his threat,
however, given that such action would likely prompt international
sanctions. Military analysts also believe that Armenia’s armed forces
retain the ability to repulse a potential Azerbaijani offensive.
The Karabakh conundrum has its roots in the late Soviet era, a time
when former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s efforts to restructure
the Communist system unleashed pent-up nationalist feelings among
ethnic minorities. Under the Communists, Karabakh existed as an
administrative entity within Azerbaijan that was inhabited mainly
by ethnic Armenians. In February 1988, the regional legislature
debated the issue of Karabakh’s transfer from Azerbaijani to Armenian
jurisdiction. The transfer question sparked a chain reaction in which
popular demonstrations in both Karabakh and Armenia were followed
by anti-Armenian pogroms in Azerbaijan. In a flash, two peoples –
Armenians and Azerbaijanis – who had co-existed in peace for decades,
if not centuries, developed into mortal enemies.
In 1992, military operations engulfed Karabakh. At first, Azerbaijani
forces held the upper hand. But in 1993 Karabakh Armenian forces,
with considerable support from Yerevan, broke an Azerbaijani siege,
and went on to occupy about 15 percent of Azerbaijani territory before
the cease-fire brought military operations to a halt.
In trying to negotiate a permanent political solution, both Armenian
and Azerbaijani leaders have found that they have less room for
maneuver than expected. Attempts to forge Karabakh compromises have
more often than not proved politically dangerous. The first such
instance came in late 1997, when then-Armenian president Levon
Ter-Petrosian indicated that he might accept a political formula
that would allow Karabakh to remain a part of Azerbaijan with
strong security guarantees for the region’s Armenian population.
Ter-Petrosian immediately faced stiff opposition from hardliners
within his administration, and, ultimately, was forced to resign. His
successor, Robert Kocharian, was the political leader of Karabakh
who led regional forces in defeating the Azerbaijani army in the
early 1990s. Since assuming the Armenian presidency, Kocharian has
been unswerving in his efforts to secure a settlement that leaves
Karabakh outside of Azerbaijan.
So far, the closest the two countries have come to agreeing to a
deal appears to have occurred in April 2001 during a round peace
talks at the Florida resort island of Key West. Although nothing
was ever formally announced, Azerbaijan’s leader at the time, Heidar
Aliyev, the now deceased father of Azerbaijan’s incumbent president,
reportedly agreed in Key West to a deal that would have severed Baku’s
administrative ties to Karabakh. [For background see the Eurasia
Insight archive]. When the elder Aliyev returned to Baku, however, he
faced broad opposition to the proposed settlement terms. Accordingly,
Baku backed away from the supposed Key West settlement parameters.
The question of whether or not Heidar Aliyev tentatively agreed to a
deal in Key West remains politically sensitive for Baku. Azerbaijani
officials claim the former president never made any actual commitments
at Key West, while Armenian leaders insist that he did. Whatever the
case, little progress on Karabakh peace talks has occurred since the
Key West meeting, as the sides have been unable to set aside mutual
suspicion to restart a substantive dialogue.
Editor’s Note: Haroutiun Khachatrian is a Yerevan-based writer
specializing in economic and political affairs.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Institute for War and Peace Reporting
May 12 2004
Special Report: Karabakh: Missing in Action – Alive or Dead?
Ten years after the Nagorny Karabakh ceasefire agreement, hundreds of
Armenians and Azerbaijanis are still missing, presumed dead.
By Karine Ohanian in Stepanakert and Zarema Velikhanova in Baku (CRS
No. 233, 12-May-04)
On December 9, 1994, a meeting took place on the Karabakh ceasefire
line and an unusual transaction was made.
Two young captive soldiers – Azerbaijani Rauf Budagov and Karabakh
Armenian Levon Babayan, both aged 23 – were exchanged for one another
and allowed to go home.
The two men shook hands, each finding the other’s – like his own –
chafed rough by the cold and coated in dirt. Both trembled with
emotion.
“I’ve become a different person, quite different,” said Levon. “I
don’t sleep a wink all night,” said Rauf. “And even now I don’t
believe I’m going home. It’s like being born a second time, like
coming back to life from my coffin. Basically, you’ve given me back
your life and I’ve given you yours.”
Levon replied, “And what a life, 100 years long…. I wouldn’t wish
what I’ve been through on my enemies.” Then each man moved on and
returned home.
Sadly, the return from the dead of these two men, seven months after
the Nagorny Karabakh ceasefire agreement of May 12 1994, was a rare
happy ending in what is one of the most ignored and tragic aspects of
the unresolved conflict.
As the tenth anniversary of the truce is observed, thousands of
people are still reported missing and their fate remains a mystery.
Most independent observers believe that all those still missing are
in fact dead. But many relatives refuse to give up hope – and they
will be encouraged by occasional cases where captives are traded for
money through Georgia.
>>From the very beginning of the Karabakh dispute in 1988, both sides
took hostages.
At the beginning of 1993, a year into the full-blown war, Azerbaijan
and Nagorny Karabakh – the latter still unrecognised as a state –
formed government commissions to deal with prisoners of war and
hostages. Armenia later set up its own commission.
As the fighting raged, the Azerbaijan and Karabakh Armenian sides
kept up a constant dialogue and continued to exchange prisoners.
“There were several corridors along the front-line, where meetings,
negotiations and exchanges took place,” said Albert Voskanian, deputy
head of the Karabakh commission from 1993 to 1997. “It all helped us
to work realistically and fruitfully. Several hundred people from
both sides were sought out and exchanged.”
The formal end of hostilities with the 1994 ceasefire, which sealed a
de facto victory for the Armenians, resulted in a sharp decrease in
captive numbers, but the fate of thousands remained uncertain.
In 1997, the Azerbaijanis stopped working directly with the Karabakh
commission. After that, the Karabakh Armenians engaged with Baku
mainly through the Red Cross.
Since 1995, an International Working Group – led by Bernhard Clasen
of Germany, Russia’s Svetlana Gannushkina and Paata Zakareishvili of
Georgia – has worked with all sides, going back and forth to visit
sites where prisoners might be detained.
The Azerbaijani State Commission says 4,959 Azerbaijanis are still
missing in action from the Karabakh conflict, a figure that includes
71 children, 320 women and 358 elderly people. Furthermore, the
Azerbaijanis say they have information that 783 people, again
including civilians as well as combatants, were taken captive by the
Armenians and have not been released.
On the Armenian side, the Karabakh State Commission lists around 600
people as missing, 400 of them civilians.
The vast majority of these missing people have not been heard of for
more than a decade, and it is presumed they are dead, buried in
graves whose location is known only to a few people or to no one at
all.
But every year, a few soldiers still go missing across the front
line, generally in places where the trenches of the two opposing
militaries run closest to one another. Some of the men may simply
have got lost and blundered into enemy lines, others may have got
caught on reconnaissance missions, and others still may have been
trying to desert.
Each side alleges that the other is hiding captives – and each
strongly denies this charge.
The Azerbaijani commission says it does not trust the Armenians. In a
statement to IWPR, it said that between 1993 and 1999, the Armenian
side consistently said it was holding no more than 50 or 60 captives,
yet from 1992 to 2000 the far higher figure of 1,086 Azerbaijanis was
freed.
“There is information about a few possible burial sites of
Azerbaijani soldiers after certain battles,” Viktor Kocharian, head
of the Karabakh commission, told IWPR. “From time to time we hand
over remains which are discovered in the searches we carry out. But
the figure of 5,000 is ridiculous! It should be obvious that it’s
simply impossible to secretly hold this number of prisoners of war or
even human remains within Karabakh.”
It has mainly fallen to a partnership of non-government organisations
on either side, together with the International Working Group, to
investigate the allegations that captives are still being detained.
“To debunk myths, we’ve had to climb into quarries in Azerbaijan and
check out information we’d received that hundreds of Armenian
prisoners were working there,” Svetlana Gannushkina told IWPR. “We
didn’t find a single Armenian.” To investigate similar allegations
about the other side, the Helsinki Initiative 92 group organised a
trip by a group of Azerbaijan women to Karabakh last August. Carrying
a list of 50 soldiers missing in action, the women were allowed to
visit Karabakh’s two prisons, one in Shusha (which the Armenians call
Shushi) and one in Stepanakert (which the Azerbaijanis call
Khankendi) – and found no one.
The three international investigators point out that for purely
practical reasons, it is difficult and expensive to keep prisoners
over a long period and hide them from prying eyes.
This is not enough to satisfy all the relatives. After the trip to
Karabakh, one Azerbaijani mother, Tamara Eyubova, told IWPR, “We are
not entirely certain that there are no Azerbaijani prisoners in
Karabakh. We were shown one prison and one detention centre, but
where’s the guarantee that they are not being held in other prisons?”
Vera Grigorian, an Armenian mother whose son is missing in action,
told IWPR, “We have definite information that there are Armenian
prisoners of war and hostages in Azerbaijan. We receive various kinds
of information through different channels about this or that person.
Former prisoners come to us and identify one and the same person with
whom they shared their captivity.”
The most explosive allegation made by both sides is that prisoners
are being traded for money via their common neighbour Georgia.
Arzu Abdullayeva, a well-known human rights activist who is head of
Azerbaijan’s Helsinki Committee, spent a long time in the early
Nineties investigating this trade, particularly at the market in
Sadakhlo in Georgia. In 1994, Abdullayeva personally paid 1,000
dollars that she had been awarded with the Olof Palme peace prize,
allowing Azerbaijani father Fikret Mamedov to buy back his son. She
said the decision to pay the ransom was made because it was feared
that the criminals said to be holding the boy would kill him before
normal channels could be made to work.
“People are bought for cash,” said Donara Mnatsakanian, whose son
Nelson went missing in 1996, two years after the ceasefire. “Today no
one makes a secret of that. But I won’t name any names because the
problem still exists and unfortunately money is just about the only
way of freeing hostages.”
Donara said that her son was found through the efforts of relatives
in Kiev and acquaintances in Azerbaijan. Nelson had grown so
desperate in captivity that he tried to commit suicide by jumping out
of a window – but he survived. He was finally freed for a cash
payment in Georgia four years after he went missing, and after an
initial attempt to free him in Tashkent had failed.
Donara refused to answer IWPR’s questions as to who was the
intermediary, what sum was paid and how Nelson was finally freed,
because she didn’t want to wreck the chances of a similar transaction
helping someone else.
“It’s easier to come out with fine slogans about how people mustn’t
be bought and sold – until your own son is over there,” said another
Karabakh mother, Vera Grigorian. “The thing is that money,
unfortunately, is the last thread that connects relatives on either
side of the border.”
One desperate Azerbaijani, Hamlet Badalov, has gone to great lengths
to secure the release of his son Vugar, who he is convinced is still
alive after vanishing in 1993. Badalov paid over some money in return
for some news about his son, and then bought a fax machine and waited
all night for the promised information.
But as Russian investigator Gannushkina reports, “Eventually a fax
came through with a Moscow address and the surname of a man
supposedly holding Vugar. I checked – that address in Moscow is the
Stanislavsky Theatre, and no one by that name works there.”
The experts believe Badalov is the victim of a cruel hoax.
All the relatives of the missing agree that what they want more than
anything else is certainty. Not knowing what happened to their loved
ones, they say, is worse than knowing for sure that someone is dead.
“We want real help in the search for our relatives,” said mother
Svetlana Martirosian. “We want to know for sure whether a person has
or hasn’t died. We need just one thing – true information.”
Sadly, ten years after the Karabakh ceasefire, hundreds of families
are still waiting to find out the truth.
Karine Ohanian is a freelance journalist based in Stepanakert,
Nagorny Karabakh. Zarema Velikhanova is a freelance journalist based
in Baku.
Editor’s Note: This article is a unique collaboration by two
journalists from the opposing sides in the Karabakh conflict. The
terminology used to refer to aspects of the conflict was chosen in
London in an attempt to achieve neutrality. It may not necessarily
reflect the original wording.