BLASPHEMY ROW INFLAMES AZERBAIJAN
By Kenan Guluzade in Nardaran

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
Nov 30 2006

Islamists say journalist who allegedly impugned Islam deserves to die.

For the past three weeks, residents of the village of Nardaran,
close to Baku, have been demonstrating every Friday to demand severe
punishment of Azerbaijani journalist Rafik Taghi, who is accused of
having insulted the Prophet Mohammed in an article published by the
little-known Azerbaijani newspaper, Senet.

The case of the journalist, who is now serving a two-month prison
sentence, demonstrates that Islamic sentiment is strong in Azerbaijan
and has complicated relations with Azerbaijan’s southern neighbour,
the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Nardaran, a village with strong Islamic traditions, has been leading
the protests. On November 17, Haji Ali, one of the leaders of the
local religious community, summoned crowds by striking a stone against
a pillar in Imam Husein square in the centre of the village.

Teenagers, who had climbed on a wall, joined him, banging iron rods
against a gas pipe. This noisy call to action reverberated through
the village.

By three o’clock, the square was teeming with devout believers,
who form an overwhelming majority in the village. "Last week we, the
residents of Nardaran, condemned Rafik Taghi and the editor-in-chief
of the newspaper", said Haji Ali, beginning his speech. "Our religion
knows only one punishment for such people, which is execution. This
is not our decision, this is what our holy book prescribes. The
authorities sentenced the journalists to two weeks in custody. But
that is not enough!"

Nardaran became famous after bloody clashes between its residents and
police in 2002. (See Azerbaijan: Rebel Village Remains Defiant, CRS
133, June 13, 2002). Since then, the village has become a stronghold
for Shia Islamists opposed to the government. All walls on its narrow
streets are covered with religious inscriptions, and locals are keen
to vent their anger against the authorities in Baku.

The latest row began at the beginning of this month, when Senet
(Trade), a Baku-based bimonthly with a circulation of 2000 copies,
published an article by Taghi entitled "Europe and us". The author
criticised Azerbaijanis’ lifestyle and made some remarks about the
Prophet Mohammed, which many of the country’s Muslims interpreted as
insulting. Whether Nardaran’s residents had heard about Senet before,
the controversy around the article found its way into the village,
causing a storm of outrage that believers from surrounding villages
were quick to support.

Protesters carried banners with religious inscriptions and placards
saying "Death to Israel!" All speeches were met with a loud "Allahu
Akbar!" Guests from other villages spoke out to express their support
for Nardaran. American and Israel flags were brought to the square
just to be tramped on and burnt.

"We declare that if these people are not sentenced to life
imprisonment, we will take measures to punish them by ourselves,"
said Haji Ali. "It’s a pity that there’s no death penalty in our
country. We are told that their houses are being guarded, but let them
hear us vow – Muslims never take vengeance on women and children. No
one will touch their families. We’ve heard that Rafik Taghi’s family
members have asked Denmark for political asylum, but no matter how
things turn out nothing bad is going to happen to them.

Rafik Taghi is the only one we want to have punished."

As well as being a journalist and publicist, Taghi is also
a professional cardiologist. He is well known for voicing ideas
against the current of general public opinion. In other articles,
he has made scathing comments about Azerbaijan’s national poet Samed
Vurgun, chairman of the Writers Union Anar and other famous people.

Taghi and his editor Samir Sadagatoglu were arrested in mid-November
and sentenced to two months in jail for kindling religious intolerance.

However, the villagers of Nardaran rejected the verdict and are
continuing their protests, demanding that the two journalists be
punished with a life sentence at least, burning US and Israel flags
and calling for "an end to all supporters of world Zionism".

Hajiaga Nuriev, one of the village’s elders and chairman of
Azerbaijan’s Islamic Party, suggested Taghi was part of a wider
conspiracy. "Both domestic and foreign forces have an interest in
this," he said. "We think that people such as Rafik Taghi are acting on
behalf of international Zionism and Armenia, and they have deliberately
damaged Azerbaijan’s credibility with its brothers-in-faith.

"In this situation, the residents of Nardaran could not have acted
otherwise…to the enemies of Islam… who discredited Azerbaijan in
the eyes of the world. This blasphemy ought to be punished."

Hajiaga said through their rejection of the court’s sentence, the
people of Naradaran had rescued the country’s reputation as chairman
of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and showed to the world
that the Muslims of Azerbaijan were angered by the Senet article.

The affair has also triggered protests in Iran. APA news agency
reported that around 50 people demonstrated in front of the Azerbaijani
embassy in Tehran on November 19 to protest against the "humiliating"
article. The Iranian TV-channel Seher aired calls for the overthrow
of Azerbaijan’s "anti-Islamic" government.

Then news reports said that the Iranian ayatollah Morteza Bani Fazl
had offered his own home as a reward for the head of the Azerbaijani
journalist, who had "insulted" the founder of Islam. "I will give
my house as a reward to anyone, who kills this Azerbaijani author,
who insulted the Prophet Mohammed," said the mullah who lives in the
city of Tebriz in the northwest of Iran, which has a large Azerbaijani
population.

The row is likely to strain further Azerbaijani-Iranian relations.

Political analyst Boyukaga Agayev, who is director of the South
Caucasus research centre, said, "The relations between Azerbaijan and
Iran cannot be described as friendly." He noted that the two countries
already stand on opposite sides of many disputes, from the status of
the Caspian Sea to relations with the US and Israel.

Vugar Aliev, press secretary for the Azerbaijani prosecutor general’s
office, said, "We live in a constitutional state, and all issues should
be solved in accordance with the law. What happened in Nardaran is
a protest reaction to what these people did. But the law-enforcement
bodies have already taken appropriate actions, and these harsh calls
with regard to the two journalists are unacceptable. The police
responded in a timely fashion and there remains no danger of any
civilians undertaking any illegal actions against them."

Eldar Zeynalov, director of the Human Rights Centre of Azerbaijan,
commented, "The situation is of the soviet-time kind – ‘I have not
read it, but I do condemn it!’"

Kenan Guluzade is editor of Zerkalo newspaper in Baku

TURKEY INTENDS TO WORK WITH AZERBAIJAN ON JOINT STRATEGY IN RELATION WITH ACTIONS OF ARMENIAN LOBBY – TURKISH AMBASSADOR
Author: A.Ismaylova

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 30 2006

Turkey intends to work out the joint strategy with Azerbaijan, in
relation with the actions of the Armenian lobby regarding so-called
"Armenian genocide", the Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Turan
Morali, briefed the media in Baku, commenting on the decision of
the Parliament of Argentina dated on November 20, "On recognition of
Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey in 1915", Trend reports.

According to the diplomat, this decision of the Argentinean Parliament
was not a surprise for Turkey, since a strong Armenian lobby function
in Argentina. "Currently, it is important for us to see what position
Armenia will demonstrate in this process", the diplomat said. He
said that currently it is not possible to speak about sanctions in
reply to the decision of the Argentinean colleagues. He said that
presently Turkey is revising the strategic plan regarding the adequate
steps with regard to the decision on the recognition of the so-called
"Armenian genocide". "We hope that this strategy will be worked out
together with Azerbaijan", Morali said.

KARABAKH OFFICIAL DISMISSES ALIEV OPTIMISM
By Astghik Bedevian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Nov 30 2006

A senior Nagorno-Karabakh official brushed aside on Thursday
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev’s claims that Armenia and Azerbaijan
moved closer to resolving their long-running territorial dispute
during their latest high-level negotiations.

"We are already approaching the final phase of negotiations," Aliev
told Azerbaijani state television following his talks in the Belarusian
capital Minsk on Tuesday with President Robert Kocharian.

He said they reached agreement on a number of contentious issues that
have precluded the signing of a framework peace accord so far.

The comments raised new hopes for a near-term solution to the Karabakh
conflict. But a senior aide to Arkady Ghukasian, president of the
self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, saw no cause for optimism.

"If President Aliev is saying that the process is moving in a positive
direction, that is quite dangerous in itself," Arman Melikian told
RFE/RL. "To my knowledge, his idea of positive direction is that
Nagorno-Karabakh can not be an independent and sovereign state."

It is not clear if this was also a thinly veiled rebuke addressed to
Armenia’s leadership that shared Aliev’s positive assessment of the
Minsk talks.

Aliev repeated on Wednesday that he will never recognize Karabakh’s
secession from Azerbaijan. Baku is only ready to give the disputed
territory a "maximum degree of self-rule," he said.

Armenian officials insist, however, that under the existing peace plan
proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group, Karabakh’s population will have a
chance to legitimize the secession in a referendum to be held years
after the start of an Armenian pullout from occupied territories in
Azerbaijan proper. Unlike official Yerevan, the NKR leadership has
voiced serious misgivings about this formula.

Ghukasian discussed the Karabakh peace process with the Minsk Group’s
U.S. co-chair, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza,
during a visit to the United States last week.

RUSSIAN CONTROL OF IRAN-ARMENIA PIPELINE ‘NOT A CERTAINTY’
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Nov 30 2006

The widely anticipated handover to a Russian company of a pipeline
that will supply Armenia with Iranian natural gas is not a forgone
conclusion, Prime Minister Andranik Markarian claimed in a Russian
newspaper interview published on Friday. He also reiterated Yerevan’s
hopes that Russia will defuse its festering confrontation with Georgia.

"The construction of the pipeline is not yet complete, and it is still
too early to speak of its transfer or non-transfer to any operator,
including Gazprom," Markarian told the Moscow daily "Kommersant,"
referring to the Russian state gas monopoly. He said the pipeline’s
first Armenian section will come on stream "soon."

Gazprom makes no secret of its desire to control the pipeline which is
supposed to reduce Armenia’s strong dependence on Russia for energy
resources. Last April the company confirmed but then refuted reports
that it will get hold of the first 40-kilometer stretch of the facility
as part of an agreement that allowed Armenia to temporarily avoid a
hike in the price of Russian gas.

Armenian officials insist that the Russian giant will only get an
incomplete thermal power plant in Hrazdan and a controlling stake in
Armenia’s national gas distributor, ArmRosGazprom (ARG), as a result of
the deal. According to Energy Minister Armen Movsisian, the government
will choose the owner of the under-construction pipeline next spring.

Still, Markarian himself strongly hinted on October 31 that the
pipeline will be incorporated into ARG, 58 percent of which is now
owned by Gazprom. "It would be illogical to have two gas distribution
networks in Armenia," he said.

The pipeline from Iran is taking on a greater significance in the
light of the mounting Georgian-Russian tensions that increasingly
threaten continued Russian gas supplies to Georgia. Armenia, which
imports Russian gas through Georgian territory, might also be affected
as a result.

"We are interested in a quick resolution of the problematic aspects
of Russian-Georgian relations because cooperation between Russia and
Georgia is one of the most important components of stability in our
region," Markarian told "Kommersant."

The Armenian authorities signaled earlier their frustration with the
continuing Russian transport blockade of Georgia which is hurting
Armenian companies trading with Russia.

ARGENTINE PARLIAMENT RECOGNIZES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By Diego Karamanukian in Buenos Aires

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Nov 30 2006

The lower house of Argentina’s parliament adopted late Wednesday a
resolution recognizing the 1915-1918 mass killings and deportations
of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey as genocide.

The bill overwhelmingly approved by the assembly declared April 24,
which sees annual commemorations of more than one million genocide
victims in Armenia and its worldwide Diaspora, an official "day of
mutual tolerance and respect" among peoples around the world. It
gives Argentine citizens of Armenian descent the legal right to be
absent from work or university classes on that day.

There was no immediate reaction to the move from Turkey, which has
strongly condemned similar resolutions passed by about two dozen
other nations and insists that the mass killings did not constitute
a genocide.

The bill has to be approved by the Argentine Senate in order to become
a law. Officials in Buenos Aires say the upper house could discuss
it as early as next week.

Argentina is home to tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians, most of
them descendants of genocide survivors. They have long been lobbying
the authorities in Buenos Aires to officially recognize the genocide.

Neighboring Uruguay, which also has an influential Armenian community,
did so several years ago.

report/en/2006/11/E128E6CA-5419-4B90-A885-7B807728 C5A5.ASP

ACTION TO TAKE PLACE IN MOSCOW AGAINST CONCERT OF THE "VOICE OF ARTSAKH" GROUP
Author: R.Agayev

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 30 2006

Within the closing of the Armenian Year in Russia, the concert of the
"Voice of Artsakh" group will take place in Moscow International Music
Home. The Azerbaijani diplomats take all steps to prevent the next
Armenian provocation, Trend Special Correspondent in Moscow reports
with reference to the Azerbaijani Embassy in Russia. The Azerbaijani
Embassy has forwarded a protest note to the Russian Foreign Ministry,
after which the Russian diplomats have orally assured the Azerbaijani
side that the concert will not take place.

Although the posters of "Voice of Artsakh" still remain in Moscow,
the announcement has been deleted from several Armenian websites.

Irrespective of the oral assurance of the Russian diplomats and the
efforts of the Azerbaijani Embassy, the tickets for the concert of
"Voice of Artsakh" are sold in the box offices of the Music Home. The
personnel of the Music Home told Trend that they have been told
nothing about the cancellation of the concert and the tickets for
the concert are still on sale. For assurance, we purchased a ticked,
in which it was written that the concert of "Voice of Artsakh" will
take place in Moscow International Music Home on December 4, at 19:00.

In relation with this, the International Fund "Karabakh" and the
activists of the Coordination Center of the Azerbaijani Youths appealed
to the Prefecture of the Central Administrative District of Moscow
for conducting a picket in front of the building of the music Home. A
protest action against the Armenian provocation will take place in
front of the Moscow International Music Home on December 4.

The appeal says that "We consider the performance of this group
impossible, because they will represent unrecognized separatist
regime of Nagorno-Karabakh, and the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic"". The goal of the rally is to protest against and prevent
the next provocation of Armenia directed against not only Azerbaijan
and Azeri people, but also against Russia whose official position
includes supporting and recognizing the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan. The "Voice of Artsakh" group can not perform on behalf
of the unrecognized republic in the territory of Russian Federation.

Armenian occupied 20% of Azerbaijan. They have committed large
scale aggression acts, held ethnical cleansing against the Azeri
people and turned more than 1 million Azerbaijanis into refugees and
internally displaced persons. Exactly through the support of Armenia,
occupant regime of terrorists and extremists has been created in the
occupied Azerbaijani territories and they want to present themselves
as "independent republic" which has not received international
recognition. These facts have been repeatedly confirmed by the
Russian senior officials. However, certain forces within the country
try to break the centuries-old, good-neighborhood and fraternal
relations between Azerbaijan and Russia through provocations and
inadmissible actions. The protest action will take place under the
following slogans: "Russia and Azerbaijan are strategic partners!",
"Russian and Azerbaijani peoples are fraternal peoples!", "Russian
and Azerbaijani peoples are against all separatists, extremists,
bandits and terrorists!", "Armenian separatists do not differ
from others", "Karabakh is Azerbaijan territory!", "Armenia is an
occupant!".

CHAIRMAN OF ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF SLOVAKIA PROPOSES TURKISH AMBASSADOR PUBLICLY EXPRESSING HIS POSITION ABOUT RESOLUTION ON GENOCIDE ADOPTED BY SLOVAKIAN PARLIAMENT

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Nov 30 2006

BRATISLAVA, NOVEMBER 30, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On November 30,
it is two years since the adoption of the resolution condemning the
Armenian Genocide by the Slovakian parliament. In honor of adoption of
this resolution the Nig-Aparan compatriotic union of Armenia donated a
khachkar (cross-stone) to Bratislava. The Embassy of Turkey in Slovakia
by the instruction of Turkish Foreign Ministry applied to the town
authorities of Bratislava with the demand to dismantle the khachkar.

Ashot Grigorian, Chairman of Armenian community in Slovakia, applied
to the Ambassador of Turkey to Slovakia with a proposal to publicly
express his position about this decision of the Slovakian parliament.

A.Grigorian’s letter to the Turkish Ambassador, in particular, read:
"Your Excellency, we know that the Turkish Foreign Ministry demands
dismantling the memorial to the Genocide of 1915 placed in 2005 as a
token of Armenian people’s gratitude for adoption of the resolution
condemning the Armenian Genocide by the Slovakian parliament in 2004.

As you are well-aware, on November 30, 2004, the Slovakian parliament
made a decision by which it not only confirmed the fact of the
Armenian Genocide, but also conditioned Turkey’s membership to EU by
this country’s confirming the fact of the Genocide, lifting Armenia’s
blockade and other factors.

Your Excellency, we propose you publicly expressing your position
about this decision of the Slovakian parliament and say that we
are ready to freely discuss this issue with you in Slovakian media:
we are ready to discuss not the issue of the Genocide itself, during
which 1.5 mln Armenians living in Western Armenia were killed on their
native land, but the decision adopted by the Slovakian parliament.

We believe with whole our soul that not only all progressive countries
of the world, but also the country accused of organizing the Genocide
and pretending on membership to association of European democratic
countries, EU, will join this decision."

ARMENIAN SINGER TO LEAVE FOR GREAT BRITAIN TO TAKE PART IN BBC CONTEST’S FINAL

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Nov 30 2006

LONDON, NOVEMBER 30, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. 17-year-old
Armenian singer Silva Hakobian has passed to the final of BBC’s The
Next Big Thing future stars’ contest and with another six singers
will have an opportunity to leave for the United Kingdom next week
to perform in BBC’s well-known Maida Vale studio.

First the best 20 out of 1100 records were selected at the contest
held since September this year.

According to radio Liberty, the best six performers were to be
selected through Internet voting on November 28, but the criteria
of presented records were so high that the jury chose seven of them,
including 17-year-old Armenian singer with her song "I like."

The song’s author is Silva’s sister Mane and the song was recorded
by Silva’s brother Edgar.

"The participants’ quality was a surprise for people, but not for
us, as from the moment of the idea’s emergence we believed in its
realization," contest producer Simon Pits said.

Maida Vale stage will start on December 6 and the contest commission
will announce the winner on December 9.

The winner will be chosen by musical experts group including Katy
Danis who has worked with Madonna and William Orbit who has written
Kyle Minogue’s song Can’t Get You out of My Head.

FOR TURKEY’S ARMENIANS, PAINFUL PAST IS MUTED
By Anne Barnard

Boston Globe, MA
Nov 30 2006

ISTANBUL — When Mesrob II, the Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul and
All Turkey, meets today with Pope Benedict XVI, the one topic he says
he definitely won’t bring up is the one that most intensely interests
his people around the world: the Armenian genocide.

Getting Turkey and the rest of the world to acknowledge the slaughter
of more than 1 million Armenians in the early 20th century, many by
troops of the collapsing Ottoman Empire, is a cherished goal of the
Armenian diaspora. The visit from the spiritual leader of 1 billion
Roman Catholics might seem the perfect opportunity not only to draw
attention to the problems of the tiny Christian minority here, but
also to ask the pontiff to press Turkey for an apology.

But for about 68,000 Turkish citizens of Armenian descent, who —
along with 20,000 to 30,000 people from neighboring Armenia who
have migrated here in search of jobs — make up by far the largest
Christian community in Turkey, the situation is much more complicated,
even dangerous.

Armenians here must balance a deep need to preserve the memory of the
killings, known in Armenian as metz yeghern, or "the big calamity,"
with safeguarding the small community that remains, which to them means
avoiding conflict with the Muslim Turk majority or the nationalist
government. Turkish citizens who mention the killings — including
Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish author who won the Nobel Prize this year —
have been charged with the crime of "insulting Turkishness," and risk
fines, jail sentences, and even death threats.

The Armenian community is treading cautiously around the pope’s
visit. Leaders are seeking his support on general issues of religious
expression; during his first two days Benedict has already stressed
the importance of religious freedom. But they are being careful not to
embrace too closely a pontiff widely seen by Muslims as having insulted
Islam — and they are avoiding any public reference to the genocide.

Many Armenians here say they have chosen to leave the past buried —
or partly buried — in order to press for more immediate benefits.

They want to persuade the government to ease onerous restrictions,
such as laws that ban Christians from bequeathing land to the church or
running independent seminaries to train priests. And they want to live
in peace with the rest of this country of nearly 80 million people,
about 99 percent of whom are Muslim and overwhelmingly ethnically
Turkish.

Mesrob, the leader of the Armenian Orthodox Church here, is a case in
point. Speaking the confident English he perfected at Memphis State
University, he chose his words carefully in an hourlong conversation
with three foreign reporters.

Asked whether he would discuss the genocide with the pope, he said
he never brings up "local issues" with visiting dignitaries. Asked
whether he could state for the record that a genocide took place,
he fixed a reporter with a friendly gaze and was silent for a long
moment. Then he said, "I acknowledge that people were killed."

But Mesrob, 50, spoke more readily when asked what had happened to
his own family at the time. His grandfather’s six brothers were all
deported from the town of Izmit, during a time when many Armenians
were shipped off to the Syrian desert. His grandfather, who escaped to
Istanbul and became a baker, never heard from them again. He assumed
most of them died.

Mesrob’s parents and grandparents never told him the details. "They
never talked about it. They didn’t want us to be at odds with our
Muslim neighbors," he said.

"There is no family that didn’t share this situation," said Navart
Beren, 51, an administrator at St. Mary’s Church, across the street
from the patriarch’s residence on a winding street near the Sea of
Marmara, where she was attending Mass last Sunday. Her parents were
close-mouthed, too, she said: "They didn’t want us to carry revenge
in our hearts."

"All that is in the past," said her friend Margarit Nalbantkazar, 52.

"But this did happen: My husband’s father was 8 or 9 years old. He
saw them take his father by hitting him on the back of the head with
a gun. . . . They never saw him again."

Murat Belge, a Turkish academic who runs the publishing house that
prints Pamuk’s books, explained why Armenians inside Turkey walk such
a fine line between forgetting and accusing.

Told of the patriarch’s comments, Belge said: "If he had said there was
an Armenian genocide, it’s very likely that he would be assassinated
by some fascists, the patriarchate would be burned, and Armenians
leading their daily lives would be shot by unknown people."

Turkey has always insisted that the deaths, most of them in 1915,
were part of a war in which a beleaguered Ottoman Empire was facing
Armenian rebels allied with its enemies, which included the United
States, Britain, and Russia.

But most historians agree that Armenians were systematically killed
and driven out. The subject is extremely sensitive in Turkey because
many of the military leaders of the dying Ottoman Empire went on to
found the secular Turkish republic in 1923.

Also in the 1920s, hundreds of thousands of Greek Orthodox Christians
were forced to leave Turkey as smaller numbers of Muslims were forced
out of Greece, under the agreement that established the Greek and
Turkish borders. Today, Christians make up less than 1 percent of
the population.

US policy on the Armenian deaths is to respect the position of Turkey,
an important NATO ally, though the 1.2 million Armenians in America
fiercely lobby Congress to recognize the genocide.

Pope John Paul II called the events a genocide in a 2000 document,
and in 2001 visited a memorial to the victims in Yerevan, Armenia’s
capital. In a speech there, he avoided the term genocide but adopted
the Armenian phrase "big calamity."

The Vatican has given no indication of whether Benedict will mention
the issue.

Mesrob said he hoped the pope’s visit would improve interfaith
relations, but whether it does "depends on what kind of language he’s
going to use," he added with a chuckle. He said the pope’s September
remarks, quoting a Byzantine ruler’s criticism of Islam as violent,
"jeopardized" Christian minorities.

A metal detector and security checkpoint stand outside Mesrob’s ornate
residence, and security will be extra tight during the pope’s visit,
he said.

Mesrob said Turks do not bear all responsibility for the killings
of Armenians but have "the most important responsibility" because
"they were ruling the country." He said many people believe "ethnic
cleansing" was carried out to "remove Christians from public life."

When asked if Armenians in Turkey have a ceremony or memorial site to
commemorate the killings, he said that they do not, but that people
remember the date April 24, 1915, when Armenian intellectuals in
Istanbul were rounded up and deported, as a kind of "beheading of
the community."

Mesrob dismissed recent allegations that he forbids church officials
to speak of the killings. "It’s not a question of silence," he said.

"How can you make friends with someone if you confront them?"

Instead, he recommends cultural exchanges between Armenia and Turkey
to pave the way for an honest discussion of the events, he said. In
the meantime, he said, when foreign governments raise the issue,
ethnic Armenians in Turkey get nervous.

Aida Barsegian, 56, a house cleaner who moved here from Armenia,
said it didn’t help when France passed a law last month declaring it
a crime to deny the genocide. "If they care so much, they should open
the borders of France and let us find work there," she said after
lighting candles at the church. "Here they give me work."

TALKING POINTS
By Paul Abelsky

Russia Profile, Russia
Nov 30 2006

CIS Seeks a New Course, But With Little Agreement As to Its Nature

The CIS has seen its mission and utility tested and transformed in
recent years, struggling to adapt to changing political environments
and diverse challenges. For all the anachronisms of the NATO bloc,
which also met last week, the recent gathering of the CIS leaders in
Minsk, Belarus, offered a particularly vivid exercise in fractious
internal rivalries, made worse by the mingling of political ambitions
and economic imperatives.

The proceedings of the annual CIS summit were held in the recently
completed building of the National Library of Belarus, a striking
diamond-shaped edifice on the city center’s edge that is seen as
a high mark of President Alexander Lukashenko’s public works. The
gathering brought together presidents of 11 countries, some of whom
have spent recent months strenuously trying to avoid contact with one
another. Saparmurat Niyazov, president of Turkmenistan, has regularly
sent a deputy official in his stead.

This year’s summit marked the 15th anniversary of the CIS, a coalition
borne out of the Soviet breakup and variously described as a means
of a civilized divorce and a vehicle for Russia’s post-imperial
aspirations. In recent years, tensions between individual member
states have started to strain the alliance, as some countries have
come to question the practical value of the commonwealth.

"The CIS continues to be a viable organization, even though countries
other than Russia are the ones capitalizing on its benefits," said
Alexander Fadeyev, an expert at the Institute for CIS States in
Moscow. "There is a struggle for leadership unfolding at the moment,
but Russia is the only country that can balance the various interests
and mediate conflict. Kazakhstan also aspires to the leadership role
but it is clearly perceived as a rival by some of the other member
states who are looking out for their own national interests."

The run of "color revolutions" in former Soviet republics and the
emergence of a new generation of leaders, particularly in Georgia,
have put in doubt the value of an association formed to sustain the
bonds officially severed with the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

The rise of alternative alliances, such as GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine,
Azerbaijan, Moldova) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a
loose partnership between Russia, China, and several Central Asian
states, exemplifies the pursuit of alliances driven by more immediate
pragmatic concerns and the geopolitical realities prevailing today.

More recently, faced with Russia’s pledge to raise the price of its
hydrocarbon exports, Belarus has tried to nudge Ukraine and Azerbaijan
toward greater cooperation in the energy sector.

The CIS has nonetheless managed to defy the grim assessments of its
future that regularly appear with the annual summit. It remains perhaps
the last forum for the presidents of Russia and Georgia to meet without
facing undue expectations, or for the Armenian and Azerbaijan leaders
to discuss the intractable problem of Nagorno-Karabakh. Ritualized
threats of secession by some countries have so far come to naught. What
is more, this year’s meeting was animated by a reform agenda, focused
on making the alliance framework more efficient and bringing the
mission of the commonwealth up to date.

But the results have proven to be inconclusive at best. The countries
signed a 42-page document produced by a special reform committee
assigned the task of streamlining CIS operations and formulating
a strategy for future development. Other than a general commitment
to reform, the most tangible part of the agreement was the plan to
conduct further talks about the CIS restructuring at next year’s
summit, tentatively scheduled to be held in St. Petersburg.

"While there is a consensus on the need to reform, all the countries
have their own ideas on how to go about the process," Fadeyev said.

"Unfortunately, Russia has been mostly silent on this, and has
not offered a specific project of its own. Russia should certainly
continue to use its assets in the energy sector to its advantage,
but it also needs to utilize other levers of influence in such areas
as military cooperation, trade, migration, and others."

The final press conference, shadowed by a scandal involving three
accredited Russian journalists who were not allowed to take part,
featured Nursultan Nazarbayev, president of Kazakhstan, and CIS
Executive Secretary Vladimir Rushailo, who broadly outlined the
summit’s outcome. The main agreements reached at the meeting
included a statement on efforts to combat illegal migration and
accords on combating money laundering, financing terrorism, and
human trafficking. Rushailo also said a separate document was signed
summarizing progress made to date on a program of economic integration
within the CIS to be accomplished by 2010.

The participants chose not to discuss or were not able to strike deals
on a set of other major issues. These included clarifying the legal
formulation of state borders between the member countries, as well
as a memorandum, proposed by Ukraine, on free trade and the use of
protectionist measures within the commonwealth. Russia also opposed
any changes to the status of the special CIS tribunal charged with
adjudicating economic disputes within the organization.

Before departing for Moscow, the Russian president told journalists
that the summit was "productive and business-like," adding that the
participants reached a consensus on the need for the organization
to continue to function and develop."We agreed that there is need
for the organization, whose potential has not yet been realized,"
Putin said. "At the same time, serious changes have transpired in
the post-Soviet space, and the organization should adapt to today’s
realities."

Other leaders judged the outcome based on what their individual
countries were able to accomplish. Ukrainian President Viktor
Yushchenko sounded disappointed with some of the results, saying
that Ukraine’s position wasn’t fully taken into account. Mikheil
Saakashvili, president of Georgia, has characterized his unofficial
talks with Putin as the "start of a dialogue" that addressed some of
the key problems in their bilateral relations. The Russian embassy in
Minsk also hosted a meeting between Robert Kocharyan and Ilham Aliyev,
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan respectively, accompanied by
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

While Russia and Georgia have barely managed to skirt the issues
dividing the two countries, there was a tentative breakthrough in
Russian-Moldovan trade relations, with Russia agreeing to lift the
ban on Moldovan wine and meat imports. In exchange, Moldova has
pledged to sign the protocol necessary for Russia’s entry into the
World Trade Organization.

>>From Russia’s position, the most worrisome development is the talk
of an energy consortium between Ukraine, Belarus, and Azerbaijan. The
leaders of the three countries met for a separate discussion, focused
in particular on the transit of Caspian oil to the European market.

According to Fadeyev, such a consolidation of the CIS member states
is a cause of concern because of its implied anti-Russian character,
driven by tensions over rising hydrocarbon prices: "The integrationist
processes should be allowed to proceed within the CIS unless they
try specifically to preclude Russia’s participation."