Category: News

Quick Guide: The OSCE
BBC News
June 2 2004
Flags of member nations at the OSCE HQ (Picture: OSCE)
Membership: 55 nations
Headquarters: Vienna, Austria
Budget: 185.7m euros (2003)
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the OSCE,
aims to prevent conflict and manage crises in Europe, the Caucasus
and central Asia.
The organisation is based in Vienna, Austria, but many of its 3,500
staff work in the field. The OSCE is particularly active in the
countries of the former Yugoslavia and in the republics of the
Caucasus.
The organisation’s mandate is broad. It aims to promote democracy and
human rights and to resolve regional conflicts. To this end it
encourages political, social and media reforms.
The OSCE has no peacekeeping contingents, but may call on the
resources of other international bodies, including the UN and Nato.
Background
The OSCE’s forerunner, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in
Europe (CSCE), was set up in 1972 as a forum for dialogue between
nations. It brought Nato and Warsaw Pact countries to the meeting
table.
Moldova: OSCE monitors removal of Russian arms (OSCE/Neil Brennan)
In 1975 the CSCE produced the Helsinki Final Act. The signatories –
from East and West – promised to respect basic freedoms and human
rights and to recognise Europe’s post-war borders.
At the end of the Cold War, the CSCE became a fully-fledged
organisation and provided the framework for reducing conventional
armed forces in Europe.
The organisation adopted its present name in 1994 to reflect its more
permanent structure.
Members, decision-making
The OSCE has 55 member states. These are drawn mainly from Europe,
the Caucasus and Central Asia. The United States and Canada are
members of the OSCE.
All OSCE members have equal status within the body. Decisions are
reached by consensus, except in the case of “clear, gross and
uncorrected violations” of OSCE commitments by a member country.
Member states fund the running of the organisation and its missions.
Structure
Summit Conference: Leaders of member states meet once every two or
three years to map out the OSCE’s priorities
Ministerial Council: The OSCE’s main governing body meets annually,
except in a Summit Conference year; it comprises foreign affairs
ministers of member countries
Permanent Council: Undertakes the day-to-day running of OSCE
activities; comprises permanent representatives of member states who
meet once a week
Leaders
Chairman-in-office: The position is held by the foreign affairs
minister of a member state for a one-year term. The incumbent has
overall responsibility for the organisation.
Secretary-general: Responsible for managing OSCE operations, the
secretary-general is the representative of the chairman-in-office.
OSCE on the ground
Albania: A substantial OSCE presence aims to promote democracy, human
rights and media freedom.
Monitors on Georgia-Chechnya border (OSCE/Alexander Nitzsche) Armenia
and Azerbaijan: The OSCE is working for a political settlement between
Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed Nagorno Karabakh region. It
has monitored elections in both states and maintains offices in their
capital cities.
Belarus: The OSCE has repeatedly clashed with President Alexander
Lukashenko after it condemned as fraudulent elections which he won in
2001. The OSCE office in Minsk undertakes projects related to the
body’s principles.
Bosnia: An OSCE mission aims to strengthen the legal system and
de-segregate the education system.
Central Asia: The OSCE maintains offices in the capitals of Uzbekistan,
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. The OSCE monitors
elections in the region. It has warned that a failure to develop
democracy will make Central Asia more vulnerable to extremism. The
OSCE has criticised human rights standards in Turkmenistan.
Chechnya: The organisation has urged a political solution to the
conflict and has expressed concerns about the climate of violence and
the lack of independent media in the republic. In 2002 Russia refused
to renew the mandate of the OSCE’s mission.
Elections in Kosovo: OSCE is committed to democracy-building
Croatia: An OSCE mission advises on democratisation and human rights.
Georgia: The OSCE urges a political resolution to the status of the
breakway Georgian republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. OSCE
monitors are in place on the Georgia-Chechnya border.
Kosovo: As part of the UN Mission in Kosovo, a large OSCE presence is
involved in democracy-building and human rights monitoring. The OSCE
police school trained more than 6,000 officers for Kosovo’s new,
multi-ethnic police force.
Macedonia: Originally set up in 1992 to prevent the Balkan conflict
from spreading, the OSCE mission expanded following the 2001 conflict
between ethnic Albanian rebels and government forces. The
organisation has trained a new multi-ethnic police force.
Moldova: The OSCE is working for a political settlement between
Moldova and the breakaway Trans-Dniestr region.
Macedonia: 2001 conflict prompted the OSCE to boost its presence
Serbia and Montenegro: The federation was admitted to the OSCE in
2000, eight years after the old Yugoslavia was suspended during the
war in Bosnia. An OSCE mission based in Belgrade has set the
promotion of democratisation, human rights and media freedom as its
priorities.
Ukraine: The OSCE runs projects on media freedom, military and legal
reform.

Built to Last: A Georgian Armenian’s house plans for eternity
By Vahan Ishkhanyan ArmeniaNow reporter
ArmeniaNow.com
28 May, 2004
(from Akhalkalak, Georgia) In the Georgian town of Akhalkalak,
Serozh Hakobyan is one of those rare people who have apartments in
two worlds. The one for this life is on Rustaveli St. The one for
the next life is in the Akhalkalak cemetery.
He tells a visitor: “I am both in this world and in the other one.” And
he takes every guest to show them his grave.
Serozh says he’s ready to go … Next to his family, his grandmother,
grandfather, mother and father, he has built his and his wife’s graves,
a polished stone with a portrait of the couple and their birth dates,
Hakobyan Serozh 1932 and Hakobyan Manushak 1933. All that remains
are death dates, a carving task assigned to their only child,
their daughter.
“Since I didn’t have a boy, I thought I myself would make my grave,
so that it’s not hard for my daughter,” Serozh says. “Since I could
afford it, I made one for me and my wife. My wife agreed with me,
saying it’s better this way, so that we don’t have to bother our
child. Why should she be troubled because of us later?”
Making a grave is a man’s job. He has to go find a stone, give it
to a master, follow how they’re polishing it, find a painter to
carve from photos properly and he has to bargain with everyone. In
1994, when he had some money saved, Serozh did all that’s required
for a grave. And, allowed the privilege of choosing how he will be
eternally remembered, he carefully chose a painter from Yerevan to
do the tombstone portraits.
In his town, plenty of others know their final resting places. But
the others are next to graves that have already been filled, most
with the remains of a spouse, before the survivor’s name was carved
next to the deceased.
But Serozh’s grave is totally empty, ready for a house warming.
“This is my permanent apartment, we are guests here, our main apartment
is here, buddy,” says Serozh looking at the black gravestone.
The 72-year old former taxi driver isn’t in any hurry to take up
residence, but says when that time comes, well, so be it.
“Whatever’s there it’s there, whatever’s not, it’s not,” Serozh
says. “I can only say if you’re an honest man, your soul will be
in peace.”
Serozh says he believes in God and follows all the church ceremonies
like Easter, baptism, sacrifice and etc. He always keeps icons in
his pocket.
“Icons of Mother Mary, of my Lord the Christ have always been in my
pocket and thank God that after driving a taxi for 45 years I haven’t
had any trouble. I’ve met all kinds of people in my car but haven’t
seen harm from any of them.”
Since retiring from the taxi business, Serozh has been a pensioner. He
get 15 lari (about $7.50) a month, which of course is not enough
for survival. So now he trades at the Akhalkalak market selling
sieves and other little things.
Doesn’t he get closer to the death by building himself a grave and
isn’t he afraid of dying?
“Of course not, buddy,” laughs Serozh. “Whether it gets you closer
or not, whether you’re afraid or not, when the time comes for you
to die, you’ll die. The main thing is to live as long as you can,
humanly, decently, with respect. If you like people, people will like
you. Otherwise, if you’re born, you have to die. If you live for 100
years you have to die, if you live for one year, you have to die … ”
On Easter and All Saints Day and other church holidays, all the family
visits the graves of Serozh’s parents to eat, drink and honor the dead.
One day when his grandchildren visit his “eternal apartment”,
they’ll see an inscription saying that Serozh’s tombstone is “from
grandchildren”.
It’s ok if grandchildren didn’t make it, they were too small, how could
they,” Serozh says. “But those who pass by will know that this man
had respect and honor, since his grandchildren had built his grave.”

Azeri ANS TV suspends BBC broadcasts, but ready to continue cooperation
ANS TV, Baku
1 Jun 04
[Presenter in studio] The news bulletins of the BBC Russian service
will no longer be rebroadcast by ANS CM. Both companies have kept
their word.
[Correspondent over video of ANS office] As of today, the BBC
Russian broadcasts through ANS CM radio have been suspended on
Azerbaijani territory. The ANS independent broadcasting and media
company has taken this step in connection with the position of the
BBC’s morning programmes on Azerbaijan. We should remind you that
the ANS CM radio station had repeatedly sent letters of warning to
the BBC that the morning programmes of this service of the BBC and
the programmes by producer Mark Grigoryan are distorting the truth
about the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. It was said that if Mark
Grigoryan is not taken off the air by 31 May, the transmission of
the Russian service will be suspended on 1 June. So it was suspended.
The BBC also regrets this decision. But at the same time, Hamid
Ismayilov, head of the BBC’s South Caucasus and Central Asia Service,
stressed that ANS is a democratic and independent channel.
Vahid Mustafayev, head of the ANS group of companies, made the
following comment on the decision: ANS had played a great role
in setting up the BBC’s Azerbaijani service. For this reason, we
will continue our cooperation. We suspended the transmission of the
Russian-language programmes because these programmes are run by an
Armenian producer which seriously worried Azerbaijani listeners.
I should note that the BBC leaders have accepted this step with
understanding, end of quote.
Ayaz Mirzayev, ANS.

Azeri private radio scraps some BBC relays in protest at “biased” reports
BBC Monitoring research
2 Jun 04
The Baku-based Azerbaijani commercial FM station ANS CM has suspended
transmission of BBC programmes in Russian to Central Asia and the
Caucasus at 0700 local time (0200 gmt). On 1 and 2 June, the BBC output
was replaced by continuous music and station identification jingles.
A statement by the company, ANS CM, which has been rebroadcasting BBC
World Service output for the last 10 years, said it had stopped the
transmission because of what it called the biased BBC reporting on
the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. The BBC denied the accusations and
expressed regret over the decision. In a statement, the BBC said that
it has remained committed to providing fair, impartial and balanced
coverage of events in the region.
ANS TV, operated by the same company as the radio station, reported on
1 June that ANS CM radio would not broadcast the Russian programmes
in Azerbaijan because “the morning programmes of this service of the
BBC and the programmes by producer Mark Grigoryan are distorting the
truth about the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict”.
A deadline of 1 June was reported on the air by ANS TV on 24 May,
by which the BBC was to have addressed the issues raised by ANS in
letters sent to the BBC since 6 April.
ANS TV has carried regular criticism since 12 May about BBC Russian
programming for the region and BBC web pages in Russian which dealt
with the 10th anniversary of the cease-fire in the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict. Similar critical reports were aired to a lesser extent by
some other Baku-based commercial TV stations. Azerbaijani press and
news agency reporting of the affair has been more muted.
On 31 May the head of the presidential administration, Ramiz Mehdiyev,
told Azartac news agency that a visit by a BBC correspondent
to Nagornyy Karabakh, without the permission of the Azerbaijani
authorities and in violation of Azerbaijani laws, had caused some
discontent. However, since freedom of the press is protected in
Azerbaijan, he said it would be unacceptable to take sanctions against
the radio station or to take it off the air.
ANS CM radio on 102 FM did rebroadcast the BBC Azeri Service at 1700
gmt on 1 June as scheduled. The dedicated BBC FM relay for Baku on
103.3 FM, which carries BBC World Service in English, the Central
Asia and the Caucasus Service in Russian and Azeri, as well as the
BBC Turkish Service and some British domestic programming, continued
to operate as scheduled.

Russia to remain Armenia’s “major” arms supplier, officer says
Interfax news agency, Moscow
1 Jun 04
Yerevan, 1 June: Armenia plans to increase defence spending in 2005,
the country’s Defence Minister and Security Council secretary, Serzh
Sarkisyan, has said.
Serzh Sarkisyan spoke after the parliamentary session on the execution
of the 2003 budget.
Armenia will spend about 85m dollars on defence in 2004, a 7-8 per cent
rise from the year before. The Armenian army uses mostly Russian-made
weapons and military hardware.
A source in the country’s Defence Ministry told Interfax that Russia
will remain Armenia’s major arms supplier.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian speaker stresses parliamentary cooperation with Iran
IRNA news agency, Tehran
1 Jun 04
Moscow, 1 June: Armenian National Assembly Speaker Artur Bagdasaryan
on Monday [31 May] called for expansion of Iran-Armenia parliamentary
cooperation.
He made the remarks in a meeting with Iran’s outgoing Ambassador to
Yerevan Mohammad Farhad Koleyni.
At the meeting, Bagdasaryan appreciated Koleyni’s efforts to promote
mutual cooperation during his mission in Armenia, expressing hope
that the mutual cooperation will further broaden in the future.
Koleyni, for his part, termed recent years as a period for deepening
of ties between Tehran and Yerevan.
He expressed hope that cooperation in commercial, economic, cultural
and educational areas will further develop between Iran and Armenia.
The two sides, in the meeting, exchanged views on various issues
related to mutual cooperation and regional developments.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WHO ARE THOSE FIGHTING AGAINST CORRUPTION?
A1 Plus | 17:56:33 | 02-06-2004 | Official |
Robert Kocharyan signed a decree on establishing a Council for
Corruption Prevention.
Armenian PM was nominated the Council Chair. Parliament Vice-Speaker,
Head-Minister of Government staff, Justice Minister, President’s
Councilor, General Prosecutor, Chairs of Central Bank, State Committee
for Defense of Economic Competition, and Parliament Counting Chamber,
and Head of Control Service of Armenian President are the Council
members.

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
June 2, 2004
___________________
ARCHBISHOP GREETS GRADUATES OF HUDSON COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian
Church of America (Eastern), delivered the invocation during Hudson
County Community College’s graduation services on Wednesday, May
26, 2004.
The Primate spoke to more than 2,500 graduates, family, and guests
at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ.
“Lord, let the pride in accomplishment our graduates feel today live
on through their lives, as a beacon of inspiration,” the Primate
said in his invocation. “Let the lessons they have learned in the
course of their schooling propel them to greater achievements in the
outside world.”
The Primate shared the stage with other speakers, including New Jersey
Governor James McGreevey and film-maker Spike Lee.
In his remarks, the Primate asked for the Lord to guide the graduates
to lives filled with mercy, justice, and human dignity. He also called
on God to watch over them.
“We are aware that this is a solemn time for all of us, as citizens
of the United States of America,” the Primate said. “The burdens of
our time fall most heavily on the generation represented by the young
men and women gathered here. They have been called to play a critical
role in the years to come.
“Bless them, Lord; inspire them with your compassion; and grant them
the spiritual strength to meet the challenges of their generation.
Above all, grant them the wisdom and resolution to act according
to the highest ideals of our country, and for the sake of civilized
people everywhere.”
— 6/2/04
E-mail photos available on request. Photos also viewable on the
Eastern Diocese’s website,
PHOTO CAPTION (1): Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern
Diocese, delivers the invocation during the graduation ceremony at
Hudson County Community College in Newark, NJ.
PHOTO CAPTION (2): Archbishop Barsamian speaks with Norair Kharpertian,
who along with his fellow professor Siroun Meguerditchian, were
instrumental in arranging for the Primate to deliver the invocation
at Hudson County Community College on Wednesday, May 26, 2004.
PHOTO CAPTION (3): Archbishop Barsamian with the board of trustees of
the Hudson County Community College, before the commencement services
at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ, on Wednesday,
May 26, 2004.
# # #

Azeri representative in Nagornyy Karabakh with working group
Noyan Tapan news agency, Yerevan
1 Jun 04
Russian human rights champion Svetlana Ganushkina was in Stepanakert
on 31 May in her role as the cochairman of a working group on missing
people, hostages and POWs in the zone of the Karabakh confrontation,
the Armenian news agency Noyan Tapan reported on 1 June.
The working group’s delegation included the coordinator from the
Azerbaijani side, Avaz Hasanov, the agency added.

Possible Hit-Man Ring No Surprise
Los Angeles Times , CA
June 1 2004
Glendale police who discovered an alleged murder-for-hire scheme
believe foreign criminals are behind worsening Armenian gang activity.
It started as an investigation into an Armenian crime ring suspected
of running credit card scams out of a Glendale pickle factory.
But thanks to a stroke of luck — the help of an informant —
authorities believe they stumbled upon a lethal page in the group’s
business plan: hiring hit men to eliminate seven members of a rival
criminal organization.
The arrests that followed constituted one of the largest
murder-for-hire cases ever uncovered by the Glendale Police Department,
which conducted the investigation with the FBI.
But neither the scope nor the viciousness of the plan surprised
authorities. The alleged scheme, they say, is part of a recent surge in
violence among the Armenian crime rings that have already transformed
Glendale into a hotbed of insurance, medical and credit card fraud.
According to court documents filed by Glendale police, the unnamed
group connected to the pickle factory was “heavily involved in credit
card fraud, medical and Medicare fraud, check fraud, drug trafficking,
[and] extortion.”
But police allege that the men also were involved in “numerous
shootings, assaults and other violent felony crimes” — an expansion
of the typical Glendale swindler’s portfolio that has authorities
increasingly concerned.
Four suspects in the murder-for-hire case, including former pickle
factory owner Edvard Gyulnazaryan, are awaiting trial on conspiracy
charges. Lawyers tried unsuccessfully last week to have the case
dismissed. The trial is expected to begin in the fall. Each defendant
faces 25 years to life in prison.
In October, two members of the group, Gagik Galoyan and Gayk
Tadevosyan, pleaded guilty to solicitation of murder for their part
in the alleged scheme, which was planned between 2001 and 2003,
according to prosecutors and court documents.
Trouble from Armenian fraud groups has been a problem for this
Southern California suburb since the late 1980s, when immigrants from
the dissolving Soviet Union began settling in the city en masse. And
although criminals constitute a tiny fraction of Glendale’s 53,000
residents of Armenian descent, they have placed a heavy burden
on police.
Sgt. Steve Davey, who heads the city’s multi-agency Eurasian Organized
Crime Group, said the criminal element has been responsible for
hundreds of millions of dollars in losses and a citywide fraud rate
that is nearly six times higher than the state average.
Police have a few ideas on what’s behind the heightened violence,
which they began noticing about four years ago.
Davey believes some of it is carried out by hardened criminals who
came to the U.S. to carry out specific crimes, then decided to settle
permanently in Glendale.
Police also believe that members of the Armenian Power street gang
may be graduating into the fraud rings and pushing them into more
violent pursuits.
Davey would not comment on possible connections between Armenian Power
and the groups involved in the murder-for-hire case. But in a separate
court case pending against one of the plan’s intended victims, Armen
Sharopetrosian, Los Angeles County prosecutors accuse him of attempted
murder “in association with a criminal street gang.”
Authorities acknowledge that discovering the murder-for-hire plot
probably helped save the lives of criminals. But Davey said the arrests
may have also prevented the kind of retaliatory, extrajudicial violence
that is increasing on the streets of Glendale.
“This is one that we got lucky and heard about,” Davey said. “But
there’s been so much extortion and kidnapping and other crimes that
have gone unreported. We’ve found cars full of bullet holes, and
there’s no report on it.”
In this case, Davey said, “When you look at who the victims are,
they probably wouldn’t have reported anything. And that’s where it
really becomes dangerous. They were going to take matters into their
own hands.”
The alleged plot first came to light when Gyulnazaryan, 40, asked the
informant — a non-Armenian — if he knew anyone who would conduct
a killing for hire, court records show. Gyulnazaryan apparently
met the informant when he hired him to stage fake auto accidents,
records show. Eventually they asked the informant to make the hit.
One of their first discussions of a hit took place Feb. 21, 2001, when
Gyulnazaryan and Tadevosyan met the informant at the pickle factory,
a small brick storefront on an industrial stretch of San Fernando Road,
according to court documents.
That day, the men drove to Pasadena, showing the informant a store
called the Washington Smoke Shop. Gyulnazaryan told the would-be
killer he would be paid $5,000 if he shot a worker at the smoke shop
twice in the head, the documents show.
More slayings were discussed in other meetings, which at various times
included Galoyan as well as two other suspects: Andranik Safaryan,
24, a surgical technician, and Edgar Hatamian, 21, who was unemployed,
documents show.
By 2003, the smoke shop worker, Emil Airapetian, was still alive. But
he was in Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles awaiting trial
on weapons charges. So was Sharopetrosian, another intended target,
who had been arrested on an attempted murder charge.
So Hatamian, Safaryan and Gyulnazaryan allegedly turned to an
imprisoned gang member, Anthony “Smurf” Armenta, and asked him to
arrange the killing of the incarcerated men.
“You take care of this, those [expletive], I take care of you all
your life, man,” Gyulnazaryan allegedly told Armenta in February 2003
in a conversation taped by authorities. “You never even have to work
one second.”
The true root of the conflict between these two groups is unclear.
Davey said there is usually little formal “competition” between fraud
rings, since such schemes as credit card fraud offer a limitless pool
of victims.
In the taped conversation, Gyulnazaryan allegedly told Armenta that
the motive was revenge, contending that the two men had killed a
7-year-old girl and were “snitches” who caused the arrest of a number
of his associates.
Authorities say the story of the 7-year-old girl is doubtful. But they
say that some of the bad blood stems from an incident in Ventura County
in late 2002, when police arrested a relative of Galoyan’s and three
other men after sheriff’s deputies saw them throw two semiautomatic
assault rifles out the window of a BMW sport utility vehicle.
According to Jeff Robinson, an investigator for the Ventura County
district attorney’s office, Gyulnazaryan’s group believed the rival
group led them into a trap that night.
Robinson said the feud may also be linked to an incident the previous
October, in which one of the occupants of the BMW, Anushavan Sargsyan,
was shot in the side by an unidentified assailant in Los Angeles
County.
Sargsyan refused to cooperate with police in the matter, Robinson said.
After his guilty plea on the solicitation-of-murder charge, Tadevosyan
was sentenced to three years in prison. Galoyan, the alleged leader
of the group, has yet to be sentenced.
The remaining suspects — including Latino gang member Anthony Armenta
— have maintained their innocence. Gyulnazaryan’s attorney, Michael
M. Levin, argued in his motion to dismiss the case that Gyulnazaryan
was heard using crude colloquialisms similar to “messing someone up”
on the tapes. But he is never heard using the word “kill.”
On San Fernando Road, the pickle factory has been empty for months.
The owner of a nearby company, himself an Armenian, said he was
surprised when he learned that Gyulnazaryan had been arrested.
Gyulnazaryan was a “big talker,” the man recalled, but generally
seemed like a nice guy.