Category: News

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Sunday 28 March 2004

Opposition Rally In Gyumri Disrupted By Violence, Arrests

By Emil Danielyan in Gyumri

An anti-government rally in Gyumri on Sunday was effectively disrupted by
violence and arrests of opposition activists in a further ominous sign of
serious unrest awaiting Armenia.

The demonstration organized by the Artarutyun alliance degenerated into
scuffles between opposition supporters and a handful of other people who
denounced President Robert Kocharian’s foes. A resulting fistfight ended
with four Artarutyun activists in police custody, forcing the organizers to
cut short the protest to try to negotiate their release.

Stepan Demirchian and other leaders of the bloc blamed the “provocation” on
the local authorities and the central government and vowed to continue their
growing attack against the ruling regime.

“Today we are witnessing the agony of this regime,” an uncharacteristically
furious Demirchian told the crowd of more than a thousand people. “The
Armenian people can not tolerate the rule of such thugs.”

The trouble began minutes after the start of the rally when a group of
women, whom many in the crowd described as “prostitutes,” raised banners
slamming the opposition and voicing support for Kocharian. They were
immediately surrounded and jostled by angry opposition supporters trying to
tear up the banners.

The scuffles unfolded to a backdrop of firecracker explosions that were
apparently set off by other government supporters hidden in the crowd. The
noise intensified during Demirchian’s speech, resembling automatic gunfire.
Also, eggs were hurled to the podium from which the organizers addressed the
protesters. One egg hit an opposition lawmaker.

The opposition leaders, struggling to calm tempers, faced a more serious
disruption when electricity powering their loud-speakers was cut off.
Although the power supply was restored 20 minutes later, tension rose
further as a brawl broke out between some opposition activists and a man who
apparently tried to approach Demirchian.

Four of them, including Artarutyun leader Albert Bazeyan’s driver, were then
overpowered and driven away by police officers dressed in plainclothes.
Police said later that the man beaten by the oppositionists was also a
policeman, raising the question of why the security official tried to
interfere with the rally.

The organizers say the local authorities informed them in advance that they
“can not guarantee the security” of the gathering because of staff
shortages. However, the presence of plainclothes police called this
explanation into question.

“It shows that the provocation was organized by the authorities and they
will be held accountable with all the strictness of the law,” charged
another prominent member of the bloc, Victor Dallakian. “It also shows that
Robert Kocharian is pinning his hopes on prostitutes and egg-throwers.”

Dallakian and Bazeyan later met with the police chiefs of Gyumri and the
broader Shirak region to demand the release of their supporters. The lengthy
talks yielded no results as of late evening, with the police chiefs
insisting that the latter be punished for assaulting a law-enforcement
official. The opposition leaders countered that the alleged victim did not
wear a uniform and was trying to disrupt a peaceful demonstration.

“Instead of taking measures to arrest those individuals who provoked all of
this, they punish the opposite side,” Bazeyan complained. “If they want to
open criminal cases, they must primarily target us, the organizers of the
rally.”

Bazeyan said the violent incident, the worst since opposition rallies in the
run-up to last year’s presidential election, will not deter the opposition
from launching its campaign of street protests outside the main government
buildings in Yerevan. Dallakian mentioned April 12 as the most likely date
for its start.

Artarutyun was given a major boost last week when another major opposition
group, the National Unity Party of Artashes Geghamian, decided to join the
onslaught. Demirchian stressed this fact in his speech.

The government, for its part, has warned that any attempts at an
“unconstitutional” overthrow of Kocharian. The Armenian leader, still
reeling from his controversial reelection in the 2003 poll, has recently
reshuffled his security apparatus in preparation for the opposition
challenge.

Georgian president’s envoy promises solution to Armenians’ problems

Arminfo, Yerevan
26 Mar 04

AKHALTSIKHE

The plenipotentiary of the Georgian president in the [predominantly
Armenian] Samtskhe-Javakheti Region of Georgia, Nikoloz
Nikolozashvili, has met representatives of voluntary organizations
from the Akhaltsikhe area.

At the beginning of the meeting the representatives of the voluntary
organizations underlined the need to attract professionals of Armenian
descent to the creation of a political cadre, to the repair of roads
to ethnic Armenian villages, and also to the allotment of grants by
international structures to Armenian organizations, Arminfo
informed. Nikoloz Nikolozashvili promised to do his utmost to find a
solution to the problems raised.

Armenian premier sacks deputy head of government department

Arminfo
26 Mar 04

YEREVAN

Under Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan’s decision, Mikael Melkymyan
was today relieved of the post of deputy head of the Department for
the Management of State Property under the Armenian government, the
press service of the Armenian government has informed Arminfo news
agency.

Armenian opposition blocs unite to fight “illegitimate” authorities

Arminfo
26 Mar 04

YEREVAN

Two Armenian opposition forces – the Justice bloc and the National
Unity Party have agreed to consolidate their efforts in the struggle
against the country’s authorities.

These two political forces yesterday [24 March] signed a cooperation
agreement, which, in particular, noted that the Justice bloc and the
National Unity Party are taking on responsibility to head the national
movement in the struggle with the “illegitimate” authorities of
Armenia and to establish a constitutional government.

To that end, the sides agreed to jointly organize “a nationwide
demonstration of disobedience” not later than 13 April. “We confirm
our determination to struggle till the change of power in Armenia,”
the agreement said. The date of the demonstration will be declared on
5 April. The Justice bloc and the National Unity Party will make a
joint statement today.

Envoy pledges EU support in resolving Karabakh issue

Arminfo
26 Mar 04

YEREVAN

The European Union is ready to facilitate the Minsk Group process and
the efforts of Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict, the special representative of the EU for the South Caucasus,
Heikki Talvitie, said in a news conference in Yerevan today.

According to the special representative, the OSCE Minsk Group is the
body that must help Armenia and Azerbaijan resolve this
issue. However, Heikki Talvitie said that he would personally try to
help and build an atmosphere of mutual confidence. As an example, he
cited his forthcoming visit to Abkhazia next Monday 29 March
. According to him, the settlement of the Abkhaz conflict is under the
jurisdiction of the UN, but he will try to contribute to building an
atmosphere of mutual trust.

Asked about the current situation in the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict in
view of the fact that Heikki Talvitie himself used to be a co-chairman
of the Minsk conference, the special representative said that
officially “the process is at the same point as it was 12 years ago”.

“However, a lot has changed from within. Now that we are trying to
resume the talks and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen are working hard
to find ways of resolving the conflict, the processes that unfolded
within affect the conflict. Therefore, positive and negative aspects
affect the possibility of resuming the talks, not the talks process
itself,” the special representative said.

As for the possibility of him visiting Nagornyy Karabakh, Heikki
Talvitie said he would certainly do that during his next visit if his
mandate is extended.

Speaking about the fact that the Azerbaijani side has effectively
disrupted the Prague meeting which was scheduled for 29 March, the
special representative said “one meeting, not the whole process, has
been postponed”.

Asked whether it was possible to conclude that the Azerbaijani side
was not prepared not only for one meeting, but also for the conflict
settlement in general, the EU’s special representative said he would
not like to make such far-reaching conclusions.
From: Baghdasarian

Armenian minister urges Azeris not to turn officer’s trial into “show”

Arminfo
26 Mar 04

YEREVAN

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan is sure that Azerbaijan will
not succeed in making a “show” of the trial of Azerbaijani officer
Ramil Safarov charged with killing an Armenian officer in Budapest ,
the minister told a news conference in Yerevan today.

Asked about the possibility of such a turn of events, Vardan Oskanyan
said he didn’t see how the Azerbaijani side could do that because the
crime is obvious and all evidence is against the Azerbaijani officer.

“I think that all such attempts will have an opposite effect,” the
minister said and added that the Armenian side would monitor the way
the trial is progressing. The minister also expressed the hope that
the criminal would be punished severely.

Passage omitted: Known details of the Budapest killing

Armenian minister urges Turkey to be cautious over Azeri leader’s remark

Arminfo
26 Mar 04

YEREVAN

There is something Turkey needs to think about quite seriously if the
leader of a small country like Azerbaijan intends to use Turkey as a
tool of influence, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said
during a news conference in Yerevan today when commenting on
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s statement that “the opening of
the Armenian-Turkish border would make a negotiated settlement to the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict impossible and that Azerbaijan sees as
Turkey as ‘a tool of influence on Armenia'”.

In this connection, the Armenian foreign minister said that the
opening of the Armenian-Turkish border would not only facilitate
regional cooperation, but would also have a positive influence on the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict settlement.

Armenian minister, US deputy state secretary discuss ties

Arminfo
26 Mar 04

YEREVAN

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan had a meeting with US Deputy
Secretary of State Richard Armitage today.

The Foreign Ministry press service has told Arminfo that during the
meeting, the sides discussed in detail the situation in the South
Caucasus, and problems and prospects for the development of the
region. They also exchanged views on the current stage of the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict settlement.

Oskanyan and Armitage expressed their satisfaction with the level of
Armenian-US relations. They said that comprehensively developing
relations should also be stimulated by a political dialogue.

To recap, Armitage arrived in Yerevan from Kiev today and will leave
for Baku on the same day.

Will We Say ‘Never Again’ Yet Again?
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Published: March 27, 2004

LONG THE CHAD-SUDAN BORDER – For decades, whenever the topic of
genocide has come up, the refrain has been, “Never again.”

Yet right now, the government of Sudan is engaging in genocide against
three large African tribes in its Darfur region here. Some 1,000
people are being killed a week, tribeswomen are being systematically
raped, 700,000 people have been driven from their homes, and Sudan’s
Army is even bombing the survivors.

And the world yawns.

So what do we tell refugees like Muhammad Yakob Hussein, who lives in
the open desert here because his home was burned and his family
members killed in Sudan? He now risks being shot whenever he goes to a
well to fetch water. Do we advise such refugees that “never again”
meant nothing more than that a Führer named Hitler will never
again construct death camps in Germany?

Interviews with refugees like Mr. Hussein ‘ as well as with aid
workers and U.N. officials ‘ leave no doubt that attacks in Darfur are
not simply random atrocities. Rather, as a senior U.N. official,
Mukesh Kapila, put it, “It is an organized attempt to do away with a
group of people.”

“All I have left is this jalabiya,” or cloak, said Mr. Hussein, who
claimed to be 70 but looked younger (ages here tend to be vague
aspirations, and they usually emerge in multiples of 10). Mr. Hussein
said he’d fled three days earlier after an attack in which his three
brothers were killed and all his livestock stolen: “Everything is
lost. They burned everything.”

Another man, Khamis Muhammad Issa, a strapping 21-year-old, was left
with something more than his clothes ‘ a bullet in the back. He showed
me the bulge of the bullet under the skin. The bullet wiggled under my
touch.

“They came in the night and burned my village,” he said. “I was
running away and they fired. I fell, and they thought I was dead.”

In my last column, I called these actions “ethnic cleansing.” But
let’s be blunt: Sudan’s behavior also easily meets the definition of
genocide in Article 2 of the 1948 convention against genocide. That
convention not only authorizes but also obligates the nations
ratifying it ‘ including the U.S. ‘ to stand up to genocide.

The killings are being orchestrated by the Arab-dominated Sudanese
government, partly through the Janjaweed militia, made up of Arab
raiders armed by the government. The victims are non-Arabs: blacks in
the Zaghawa, Massaliet and Fur tribes. “The Arabs want to get rid of
anyone with black skin,” Youssef Yakob Abdullah said. In the area of
Darfur that he fled, “there are no blacks left,” he said.

In Darfur, the fighting is not over religion, for the victims as well
as the killers are Muslims. It is more ethnic and racial, reflecting
some of the ancient tension between herdsmen (the Arabs in Darfur) and
farmers (the black Africans, although they herd as well). The Arabs
and non-Arabs compete for water and forage, made scarce by
environmental degradation and the spread of the desert.

In her superb book on the history of genocide, “A Problem from Hell,”
Samantha Power focuses on the astonishing fact that U.S. leaders
always denounce massacres in the abstract or after they are over ‘
but, until Kosovo, never intervened in the 20th century to stop
genocide and “rarely even made a point of condemning it as it
occurred.” The U.S. excuses now are the same ones we used when
Armenians were killed in 1915 and Bosnians and Rwandans died in the
1990’s: the bloodshed is in a remote area; we have other priorities;
standing up for the victims may compromise other foreign policy
interests.

I’m not arguing that we should invade Sudan. But one of the lessons of
history is that very modest efforts can save large numbers of
lives. Nothing is so effective in curbing ethnic cleansing as calling
attention to it.

President Bush could mention Darfur or meet a refugee. The deputy
secretary of state could visit the border areas here in Chad. We could
raise the issue before the U.N. And the onus is not just on the U.S.:
it’s shameful that African and Muslim countries don’t offer at least a
whisper of protest at the slaughter of fellow Africans and Muslims.

Are the world’s pledges of “never again” really going to ring hollow
one more time?

Azeri leader, US official upbeat on multilateral cooperation

Lider TV, Baku
27 Mar 04

[Presenter] The US deputy secretary of state has met Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev. Bilateral relations, the joint fight against
international terrorism and the Karabakh settlement were discussed
during the talks. Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan was cooperating
with the USA mainly in the energy sphere. Armitage said that the USA
would provide generous aid for the development of the region and
Azerbaijan.

[Correspondent over video of the meeting] US-Azerbaijani relations are
developing speedily. Our states are closely cooperating in all
spheres. President Ilham Aliyev, who received US Deputy Secretary of
State Richard Armitage, also touched on US support for the energy
sphere. He said that the large-scale project launched in the region –
the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline – was
continuing successfully and noted that US support for this was
obvious.

Ilham Aliyev expressed the hope that apart from economic projects, the
USA would support socioeconomic development and regional programmes
carried out in the republic. He noted the high level of military
cooperation and its further development in the future. Aliyev said
Azerbaijan was together with the USA in the anti-terror coalition and
added that this policy would be conducted in the future as well. The
head of state, who stressed the importance of regional security
issues, also touched on the painful Nagornyy Karabakh problem.

[Ilham Aliyev] The regional security issues are very important and we
are convinced that peace will be restored in the region soon. The
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict creates great difficulties for regional
security. We hope that the OSCE Minsk Group will play a positive role
in the resolution of this conflict, the Azerbaijani lands will be
liberated from the occupiers, Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity will
be restored and all international legal norms will be observed.

[Correspondent] The American guest personally thanked Ilham Aliyev and
the Azerbaijani people for supporting the USA in the fight against
terrorism. We are in the same coalition. The guest said that
Azerbaijani soldiers are serving bravely in Iraq and Afghanistan and
expressed the hope that bilateral relations will be developing in all
possible spheres. We also want the Karabakh problem to be resolved
peacefully. We hope that the Caucasus can be a better partner of the
West in the future. Therefore, the problems in the Caucasus should be
resolved first of all, end quote.

Mahsati Seyidzada and Rasad Alakbarov, Lider TV.