NAGORNO-KARABAKH: UNCERTAINTY FACES BAPTIST CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
Forum 18, Norway
18 September 2006
It is unclear whether the authorities will take further action
against a young Baptist conscript who refuses to swear the military
oath and bear arms on grounds of conscience, Forum 18 News Service
has found. Gagik Mirzoyan was freed from prison at the end of a
jail sentence, held by the Military Police and, after eight days,
transferred to a military unit.
“They are still pressuring him to swear the military oath and take
up weapons,” Baptist pastor Garnik Abreyan told Forum 18. “He still
has three months to serve of his military service and we just don’t
know what they will do with him.” Albert Voskanyan, of the Centre
for Civilian Initiatives – who has regularly visited both Gagik
Mirzoyan and jailed Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objector Areg
Hovhanesyan – told Forum 18 that “the danger is real that Mirzoyan
could be imprisoned again.” Deputy Foreign Minister Masis Mailyan
told Forum 18 that he does not know what the military will now do.
Baptists in the unrecognised republic of Nagorno-Karabakh in the
South Caucasus are still unsure whether the authorities will take
further action against a young Baptist conscript who refuses to swear
the military oath and bear arms. Freed from prison in Shusha on 5
September, at the end of his sentence for refusing to perform military
duties, 20-year-old Gagik Mirzoyan was held by the Military Police and,
after eight days, transferred to a military unit. “No-one is doing
anything bad to him in the unit, but they are still pressuring him to
swear the military oath and take up weapons,” Baptist pastor Garnik
Abreyan told Forum 18 News Service on 17 September from Stepanakert,
the disputed enclave’s capital. “He still has three months to serve
of his military service and we just don’t know what they will do
with him.”
Mirzoyan, who is from Karabakh’s Mardakert district, is a member of
a local congregation of the Council of Churches Baptists, who refuse
on principle to register congregations with the state authorities
in post-Soviet countries. He was called up in December 2004 and
immediately refused to swear the military oath and carry weapons. After
initially allowing him to serve without weapons and without swearing
the military oath, the military authorities then changed their minds.
At the district court of Hadrut in south-eastern Karabakh in July 2005,
Mirzoyan was found guilty under Article 364 part 1 of the Criminal
Code, which punishes “refusal to perform one’s military duties” with
detention of up to 3 months, service in a punishment battalion of up
to 2 years or imprisonment of up to 2 years. Mirzoyan was sentenced
to two years’ imprisonment, but this was suspended and he was then
sent back to his military unit. However, in September 2005 Hadrut
district court converted this into a one-year term of imprisonment
at the urging of military leaders. He was beaten several times while
in the hands of the army and while in prison (see F18News 22 March
2006 ) .
Nagorno-Karabakh has adopted Armenia’s Criminal Code, which also
punishes conscientious objection – see eg.
F18News 23 February 2006
=733.
Despite having served his full jail sentence for refusing to perform
military duties, Gagik Mirzoyan’s two-year term of compulsory military
service is not due to be completed until December of this year.
An official at the Defence Ministry, who declined to give his name,
told Forum 18 from Stepanakert on 18 September that he was not familiar
with Mirzoyan’s case and was not prepared to discuss it. He referred
all enquiries to the Foreign Ministry, although it has no jurisdiction
over what happens in the Karabakh armed forces.
Deputy Foreign Minister Masis Mailyan told Forum 18 on 18 September
that he has been following Mirzoyan’s case and described his release
from prison as “good news” – even though the release was at the end
of the young Baptist’s full jail sentence. Mailyan said that after
having spoken to the Defence Ministry about Mirzoyan’s case he thought
there was “no urge to punish him again”. But he does not know what
the military will now do, as Mirzoyan still refuses to swear the
military oath.
Mailyan insisted that Karabakh needs to be able to defend itself
because of the unresolved conflict with Azerbaijan, but said he
believes young men who cannot serve in the armed forces on grounds
of conscience should be offered alternative, non-military service.
“We strive to meet European standards, and I’m personally in favour
of introducing an alternative service,” he told Forum 18. However,
he noted that no concrete draft law on alternative service has yet
reached the local parliament.
Pastor Abreyan told Forum 18 that he and fellow Baptists had been able
to meet Mirzoyan on 16 September, at his unit in Nagorno-Karabakh’s
south-eastern Martuni district. “Gagik is being well treated at the
moment, can move freely around the base and has not been made to wear
a uniform,” Abreyan reported.
Also imprisoned in Shusha Prison, just south of Stepanakert, for
refusing military service on grounds of religious conscience is a
Jehovah’s Witness from Stepanakert, Areg Hovhanesyan. He was sentenced
in February 2005 to four years’ imprisonment for refusing military
service on grounds of religious conscience (see F18News 22 February
2005 ) .
Concerned over both Mirzoyan and Hovhanesyan is Albert Voskanyan, head
of the Centre for Civilian Initiatives, a local human rights group,
who has regularly visited both in Shusha Prison. “The danger is real
that Mirzoyan could be imprisoned again,” Voskanyan told Forum 18 on
15 September.
Voskanyan had written on 21 August to the president of the unrecognised
republic, Arkady Gukasyan, explaining that Mirzoyan had rejected
the military oath because of his belief as a Baptist that the Bible
forbids the swearing of oaths and had expressed his willingness to
serve in the armed forces without swearing the oath.
“The following, complex situation has emerged, almost an impasse,”
Voskanyan told Gukasyan. “The sentenced man, having served the
punishment given to him, will again be called up to military service,
will again refuse to swear the oath although he is ready to serve the
remainder of the term he is due to serve, and will again be sentenced,
this time as a recidivist.”
Voskanyan called on Gukasyan to have Mirzoyan treated “leniently”.
Pastor Abreyan told Forum 18 that Mirzoyan is the only Baptist in
Nagorno-Karabakh facing such problems. He also reported that Baptist
congregations are not obstructed in meeting for worship. “No-one is
restricting us – we can hold meetings, pray and worship.”
A printer-friendly map of the disputed
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is available at
las/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=azerba
with in the map titled ‘Azerbaijan’.

POLITICAL ANALYST VAFA GULUZADEH: INTRODUCTION OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH ISSUE TO UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY A GOOD ONSET
Author: S. Ilhamgizi
Trend
Today 19.09.2006
The introduction of the discussions on the lingering conflicts on the
territory of GUAM member-states to the agenda of UN General Assembly
is a good onset for Azerbaijan, political analyst and former state
official Vafa Guluzadeh told Trend today.
Notably, on August 10, 2006, the representatives of GUAM member-states
(Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) to UN appealed to UN
General Assembly with a proposal to include the issue “Lingering
Conflicts on the Territories of GUAM Member-States” to the agenda of
61th Session of the Organization. On September 13, during the sitting
of UN General Assembly, a decision to include the issue to the agenda
Mr. Guluzadeh pointed out that the discussions held in UN General
Assembly are a good onset to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
internationally. But at the same time, in the political analst`s
opinion, its is too early to expect any quick results on this issue.
“I think that the conflict will last for a long time.
However, I perfectly appreciate the repeated introduction of this
issue to UN consideration, and think that it is a consolation for
Azerbaijan at the same time, since both Russia and Armenia have
already gone into mourning because of it”, he told.
According to the political analyst, the mediation of OSCE Minsk
Group in the negotiations as the Armenia wants has not brought any
results yet.

TRANSDNESTR VOTERS BACK UNION WITH RUSSIA
By Nabi Abdullaev – Staff Writer
Gleb Garanich / Reuters
The Moscow Times
Tuesday, September 19, 2006. Issue 3500. Page 1.
Election official Pyotr Denisenko announcing the referendum results
Sunday.
The vast majority of voters in Moldova’s separatist province of
Transdnestr on Sunday backed independence and eventual unification
with Russia.
More than 97 percent of registered voters supported independence,
according to Transdnestr officials.
About 300,000 voters, or nearly 79 percent of those who are registered,
showed up at the polls.
Only Georgia’s breakaway province of Abkhazia, which held its own
independence vote in 1999, has recognized the referendum.
Still, the vote was a victory for the Kremlin as it seeks to expand
its influence in the former Soviet republics.
“The referendum demonstrated that our society is united in its desire
to become part of Russia,” said Svetlana Antonova, Transdnestr’s
deputy information minister. Antonova spoke by telephone from the
province’s capital of Tiraspol.
Officials in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau and at the European
Union dismissed the referendum. But Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
praised it, calling the vote “democratic and open.”
Lavrov noted that hundreds of monitors from former Soviet republics
and Europe observed the referendum.
“They could watch the people’s will,” he said.
But Lavrov’s ministry was reluctant to go too far, refraining from
officially acknowledging the controversial vote and commenting on
its results.
Russia earlier pledged to respect Moldova’s territorial integrity.
In Chisinau, meanwhile, Natalya Vishanu, a spokeswoman for Moldovan
President Vladimir Voronin, said in an interview: “We don’t consider
it a referendum, and we don’t accept its outcome.”
The Moldovan government issued a statement Monday saying the referendum
sought to “torpedo” Moldovan unification talks and called on other
countries not to acknowledge the vote.
The European Council and the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe, the continent’s premier human-rights groups, and the EU
also refused to recognize the referendum.
None of this appears to be deterring Transdnestr leaders from taking
steps to integrate with Russia.
Transdnestr leader Igor Smirnov said Monday that the province’s
authorities would begin changing the legal code to make it conform
to Russian legislation. He said government bureaucracies would be
reconfigured in the image of Russian ministries and state agencies.
Transdnestr also wants the Russian ruble be the province’s only
official currency, Smirnov said.
The entire integration process is expected to take from five to seven
years, said Valery Litskai, the province’s foreign minister.
“If anyone thinks that Russia is going to acknowledge the referendum,
and that tomorrow everyone in Transdnestr will be granted Russian
citizenship, and Transdnestr will become an integral part of Russia,
I’d have to say this isn’t going to happen,” Litskai said, Interfax
reported.
Transdnestr seceded from Moldova in 1990, as the Soviet Union was still
in the midst of collapsing. A short but bitter war ensued in 1992,
with hundreds killed on both sides. Transdnestr’s population is roughly
equally divided between ethnic Moldovans, Russians and Ukrainians.
Like the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, bordered by Poland, Lithuania
and the Baltic Sea, Transdnestr, which is surrounded by Moldova and
Ukraine, would stand apart from the rest of Russia were it to become
part of the country.
Sunday’s vote strengthens Russia’s hand insofar as other unrecognized
states in the former Soviet Union are concerned, officials and
analysts from Russia and Transdnestr said. All those unrecognized
states, most of which are in the Caucasus, are Russia-leaning.
While Western governments have backed independence for Kosovo and
Montenegro, they have refused to recognize similar bids in Transdnestr;
Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in Georgia; and the Nagorno-Karabakh
republic, claimed by Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Sergei Markov, a Kremlin-connected political analyst, said the Kremlin
would seek to leverage Western support for Kosovo’s independence into
Russian recognition of Transdnestr and South Ossetia.
Antonova, the Transdnestr deputy information minister, acknowledged
the referendum’s timing was meant to help Russia.
In recent years, Moldova, Georgia and Azerbaijan have been drifting
out of Moscow’s orbit as they seek closer ties with the West.
“The results of the referendum were predictable, and although they
will not have any real legal consequences related to joining Russia,
nevertheless, this is a signal to the international community that
cannot be ignored,” said Vadim Gustov, head of the Federation Council’s
Committee for CIS Affairs, Interfax reported.
Gustov’s colleagues in the Federation Council and the State Duma voiced
similar views. Duma Deputies Sergei Baburin and Viktor Alksnis went
so far as to propose that Russian authorities establish an official
process for eventually recognizing Transdnestr’s independence.
The bloc of former Soviet republics known as GUAM — Georgia, Ukraine,
Azerbaijan and Moldova — last week managed to insert an item on the
United Nations General Assembly agenda dealing with the so-called
frozen conflicts in Georgia, Moldova and Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Georgian diplomats who spearheaded the move called it a sign of
GUAM’s successful foreign policy, while Lavrov downplayed the inclusion
of the frozen conflicts on the General Assembly’s agenda. Lavrov
noted that 16 member-states voted for inclusion, 15 were against it,
and 65 abstained.
The General Assembly’s 61st session began last week and will run
until mid-September 2007. It was not immediately clear when the frozen
conflicts item would be dealt with by the General Assembly.

ONE YEAR SINCE BUNDESTAG ADOPTS RESOLUTION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By Anahit Hovsepian
AZG Armenian Daily
19/09/2006
Today, September 19 at 7.00 pm, German companies invite to a dispute
titled “The reality of Memory” at the representative office of
Saxony-Anhalt in Berlin.
This discussion from the series of “Berlin Lectures” has an aim to
have retrospective look at the events in Germany after the historic
decision of Bundestag on June 16 2005.
Elvira Reit, chairman of German-Armenian Association, will deliver a
greeting speech, and writer, publicist Raffi Kandian will make a short
speech and will monitor the discussion. Among other participants will
be Bundestag deputies Dr. Christoph Bergner and Dr.
Markus Meckel, as well as Prof. Herman Goltz head of Johannes Lepsius’s
archives in Potsdam, Mari Karachiyan-Berndt and lawyer Stepan Taschian
from the Armenian community.

YEAR OF ARMENIA IN ILE-DE-FRANCE STARTS WITH CONCERT
By Petros Keshishian
AZG Armenian Daily
19/09/2006
Historic district of Ile-de-France that includes Paris and its
surroundings each year holds a festival with 3 dozens of various
concert programs. This year’s topic of the festival is the Silk
Road. It enables the French to discover cultures of a number of
counties.
One of the participants of the Ile-de-France festival is Armenia
through territory of which part of the Silk Road used to pass. Within
the framework of the Year of Armenia in France concerts of Armenian
music will be staged in different parts of Ile-de-France.
Organizers of the festival say that one of the concerts will be held
at a concert hall in Meudon on September 30. Inspired by Biblical
Ararat, Armenian musicians will perform ashugh and gusan songs,
folk melodies of holidays, spiritual music and epic songs.
In the second part orchestra of Arc de Seine conservatoire conducted
by Alexander Siranosian.
Earlier, on September 24 and 26, singer Anna Mailian will present
Armenian folk music to residents of one of Paris’s southern suburbs. In
two concerts she will acquaint the listeners with the monodia of
Armenian art of singing and the polyphony of spiritual music.

CRU WILL REMAIN EITHER WITHOUT KHACHATRYAN OR WITHOUT BABOUKHANYAN
A1+
[07:09 pm] 18 September, 2006
The situation created in Constitutional Right Union was not cleared
even after the conference. Moreover, although the conference
reconfirmed Hrant Khachatryan in the post of the president of the
party, and Hayk Baboukhanyan in the post of the vice president,
the passions have not cooled down, and today Hrant Khachatryan made
an ultimatum.
“In order to heal the party Hayk Baboukhanyan has to resign from
the post of the vice president of the party for three months”, Hrant
Khachatryan told a news conference rendered today. Let us remind you
that according to the results of the Saturday voting Hrant Khachatryan
was elected president of the party with 184 votes. Hayk Baboukhanyan
was elected vice president with 203 votes; on the day of the elections
he withdrew his candidacy for the post of the president.
We asked Hrant Khachatryan is he is convinced that Hayk Baboukhanyan
would not gather more votes if he did not withdraw his candidacy. He
answered that it was the plan of the overturn – that he would remain
president, and Baboukhanyan would remain vice president.
According to Hrant Khachatryan, the party is facing the danger
of losing its independence and the only way out is to bring Hayk
Baboukhanyan back from the wrong path. And the “wrong path” is the
financial abuse of about 1.6 million AMD, and “the debt of 3 or 6
million AMD” where Hrant Khachatryan sees no criminality.
Hrant Khachatryan informed that if Hayk Baboukhanyan does not resign
until Wednesday, he will leave the political field and will take the
name “Constitutional Right Union” with him.
By the way, Hayk Baboukhanyan informed that he is not going to resign
as he was elected by the conference in order to regulate the activity
of the party.
According to Khachatryan, newspaper “Iravounq” will continue
its activity despite anything, and Baboukhanyan will remain its
editor-in-chief.

VIRABYANS WERE ARRESTED
A1+
[07:28 pm] 18 September, 2006
Two people have been arrested in connection with the September 6
murder of Shahen Hovasapyan, Head of the Operative Investigation
Department of the State Tax Service.
According to the statement made by the RA Public Prosecutor’s Office,
brothers Armen and Gourgen Virabyans have been arrested and are
presently kept in prison.
Let us remind you that Armen Virabyan is an official of the State
Tax Service.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ROBERT KOCHARYAN: NKR’S EXISTENCE IS AN INDISPUTABLE FACT
Panorama.am
12:41 18/09/06
Armenian president Robert Kocharyan made a speech Monday at the session
of Third Armenia – Diaspora Conference. Kocharyan reflected upon
international recognition of the Armenian genocide and the current
pace of Karabakh conflict settlement. The head of the republic,
said, in particular, “Thanks to joint efforts with the Diaspora,
great progress has been recorded in the international recognition
and condemnation of the Genocide.
Parliaments of several countries have adopted resolutions and
international conferences have been held. Armenia has initiated
international documents at U.N. condemning the genocide. Armenia’s
clear-cut disposition has played a distinctive role in these processes
– we look into the future but we do not reject our past memories. We
will keep to this work style in future as well.
Dear delegates, I cannot help not talking about Nagorno Karabakh at
this representative meeting.
Artsakh freedom fight and the talk processes that followed it are an
undividable part of our years of Independence.
We have had many nuances of the negotiation process.
We have been close to making a deal for several times which could
enforce Karabakh people’s right for free life. I feel sorry that it
was not accomplished.
I do not see a reason to reply to pro-war statements made by Azerbaijan
because a nation’s spirit and an efficient army win the war and
not statements.
Our disposition is this: the existence of Nagorno Karabakh Republic
is an indisputable fact. The legal basis for its establishment is
strong. The economy is developing stably and democratic reforms are
deepening. In fact, Nagorno Karabakh people has executed and protected
its right for self-determination and is in process of effective
state construction. No one has the intention to refuse from these
achievements. Our number one national challenge should be pan-Armenian
efforts for the international recognition of NKR.”

Armenpress
Sept 18 2006
“ARMENIA: 15 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE” PHOTO EXHIBITION KICKS OFF
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS: “Armenia: 15 Years of Independence”
photo-exhibition kicked off yesterday at the “Moscow” cinema as
part of the events dedicated to the 15th anniversary of Armenian
Independence. The exhibition has been initiated and organized by the
Armenian “Armenpress” news agency.
At the exhibition photos by Martin Shahbazian, Hakob Berberian,
Ruben Mangasarian, Hrayr Baze, German Avagian, Nazik Armenakian,
Zaven Sargsian, Felix Arustamian, Alexander Khachunts, Hayk Bianjian,
Karen Minasian, Karen Mirzoyan have been presented. In parallel with
the opening of the exhibition a three-language (Armenian, French,
Russian) illustrated catalog of photos have been presented which has
been published with the funds provided by the Armenian government.
The Executive Director of “Armenpress” news agency Hrayr Zoryan
said the exhibition is a result of an open competition announced
by the Armenpress news agency. He said a panel of professional
photographers selected 109 photos by 15 photographers from 400
works by 40 photographers. The executive director also said that the
exhibition has already been held in Moscow as part of the Year of
Armenia in Russia and is included in the programs of events which
will be carried out within the framework of Year of Armenia in France.
Hasmik Poghosian, culture and youth affairs minister, said in her
opening speech that it is very pleasant when the events dedicated to
the Armenian Independence kick off by such an exhibition. “By this
exhibition we have an opportunity to see the 15 years of Armenian
Independence through the eyes of photographers and by looking at them
we remember the past 15 years,” the minister said.
Deputy Culture and Youth Affairs Minister Karine Khodikian
congratulated the photographers and the organizers and noted that
by collecting pieces they gathered the 15 years of our life. “The
15 years of independence were not easy and consequently it is very
difficult to find relevant words describing them.
Nevertheless, when you watch the photos, you see what you want to
see. Moreover, years later our generations will see in this album
our way to the independence which was full of difficulties but at
the same time full of victories,” Khodikian said.
Canadian Armenian photographer Hrayr Baze said the photos presented
at the exhibition are wonderful – historic faces and events, common
people and things, marvelous nature.
“During the 15 years of independence Armenia has prospered. Of course
we also had bad days but the progress is sensitive and visible,
visible in this works as well,” Hrayr Baze said. The exhibition will
last until September 24.

PROSECUTORS INDICT TWO MEN FOR KILLING TOP TAX OFFICIAL
Armenpress
Sept 18 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS: A senior official of the Armenian
state taxation service and his relative were formally indicted by
Armenian prosecutors for planning and killing a colleague on September
6 morning in central Yerevan.
The office of prosecutor general said Armen Virabian and a relative,
G. Virabian, were formally charged on September 16 for killing Shahen
Hovasapian, who headed the investigation department at the taxation
service. The prosecutors said they have collected ample evidence to
charge both with the murder.
Shahen Hovasapian, a former head of the taxation service department
in charge of investigating tax evasion, was killed on September 6 in
a car explosion in central Yerevan.
The blast was caused by a explosive device planted under the car’s
front passenger seat occupied by Hovasapian. His driver and son were
not hurt.