DEVAL PATRICK LINKED TO GROUP DENYING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Hub Politics, MA
April 19 2006
To rationalize his decision to attack Poland, Hitler rhetorically
asked, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the
Armenians?”
Sadly, not many, but there are some groups out there that in the
same way deny the Nazi Holocaust, deny the occurance of the Armenian
Genocide. Most prominent of these groups is the Turkish Government,
who hired the Washington lobbyist group, the Livingston Group, to
push that contention. A member of this lobbyist group happened to
co-host Deval Patrick’s big fundraiser in Washington last night.
While the explanation from the Patrick campaign seems plausible, and
the Livingston Group has a laundry list of clients likely representing
a large variety of viewpoints, the Armenian community may be hard
pressed to look past this.
—————–
A Washington lobbyist who works with a firm that is pushing the Turkish
government’s contention that the Armenian genocide never occurred
co-hosted a fund-raiser for gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick
last night, angering members of the Massachusetts Armenian-American
community.
The Democratic gubernatorial candidate’s link to the Livingston Group
raised red flags with Armenians, who despise the Turkish effort to
erase the heartbreaking chapter in their history. Experts estimate
1.5 million Armenians were killed between 1915 and the 1923.
“It upsets us,” said Stephen Dulgarian of Chelmsford, whose mother
survived the genocide but lost two children; one to a Turkish bayonet
and one to starvation. “He probably doesn’t know anything about the
Armenian genocide.”
Massachusetts has a large Armenian community, centered largely in
suburbs west of Boston.
Lobbyist Bernie Robinson, one of 39 Beltway bigs who hosted last
night’s fund-raiser, is a consultant to the Livingston Group, according
to the company Web site. He is a former chief of staff for Patrick
supporter U.S. Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) and a former Phillip
Morris executive.
Patrick spokeswoman Libby DeVecchi said Patrick was “comfortable”
with Robinson’s role, saying he was only an independent contractor
working “under the umbrella” of the Livingston Group. “He does not,
nor has he ever, worked with the government of Turkey,” she said.
“Deval does acknowledge the Armenian genocide and he’s saddened by
the event.”
Robinson, who donated $1,000 to Patrick over the past two years,
did not return a phone call.
php

MARK THOMAS REFUSES TO IGNORE THE PROBLEM OF TURKEY
Columnists
Mark Thomas
Monday 24th April 2006
New Statesman, UK
April 19 2006
There is one EU problem that is resolutely not going away and will
only get worse: that is, Turkey’s membership, writes Mark Thomas
For some in Britain, slagging off the European Union (something I am
about to do for the next 900 words) is an instinctive act of patriotic
faith, akin to not knowing the second verse of the National Anthem. For
many of us, the EU remains a quasi-democratic institution in search of
an electorate. Quite tellingly, we tend to see the EU not so much as a
vehicle for change as a means of registering a protest vote. Remember
Robert Kilroy-Silk? Who can forget a tan like that? Britons loved him
so much that we voted for him to leave the country five days a week,
to spend that time in a place he says he despises.
The EU has become adept at dealing with its many problems and crises.
By which I mean it ignores them and hopes they will go away. The EU
constitution is a case in point. However, there is one problem that
is resolutely not going away and is going to get worse: that is,
Turkey’s membership. The patrician consensus is that Turkey joining
would be a jolly good thing as having a Muslim state in the EU would
bring all sorts of benefits. However, Turkey’s membership is dependent
on the country introducing significant reforms – including many in
the area of minorities’ rights, eradicating the role of the military
in the running of the state and bringing democratic procedures into
the institutions of the country.
So far, Turkey has failed to come up to scratch, but more importantly
the EU has allowed this situation to continue. The deal was this:
Turkey is allowed into the EU but the EU gets to monitor and
investigate human-rights abuses and pressurise Turkey to reform.
Neither side has kept to the deal.
The Kurdish region of Turkey has suffered a steep rise in violence
over the past weeks, with a huge deployment of troops against the
civilian population. The Turkish police and military have attacked
demonstrators using tear gas, batons, tanks and other lethal weapons.
The Kurdish cities have seen a de facto return to state-of-emergency
rule. Significant numbers of Kurdish trade unionists, human-rights
defenders and political activists have been imprisoned, many of them
shot and wounded by troops. Across the Kurdish region, at least 15
people have died, including three children, aged three, six and nine.
Reports from human-rights defenders state that some of those killed
were shot in the head at close range, suggesting execution.
The mayor of Diyarbakir, who tried to mediate between the authorities
and protesters, has been physically attacked by the military, which
has called for his suspension. And democratic Kurdish parties are
being raided and their members imprisoned. How did it return to this
so quickly?
The events that led to this escalation started with the funeral,
on 28 March, of four PKK guerrillas, attended by a crowd of between
20,000 and 30,000 Kurds. After provocation from the local police,
mourners clashed with the authorities and troops were called in.
However, the real motor at work has been the failure of the Turkish
state to work with the Kurds to take advantage of the PKK ceasefire.
Ankara has refused to negotiate. “We will not talk to terrorists,”
the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, declares. And he has done
so with the backing of the EU. Instead of urging dialogue, the EU has
followed the UK and the United States in proscribing the PKK, even
though it announced a ceasefire and formally renounced violence. Just
about every attempt by grass-roots Kurdish groups to form inclusive
democratic movements has been regarded by the EU and the UK as merely
another group to add to the list of terrorist organisations. At the
same time, unemployment, poverty and political stagnation have fuelled
the clashes between Kurds and the Turkish state.
With the region threatening to return to the bad old days of the
mid-1990s, when 3,500 Kurdish villages were destroyed, 30,000 people
killed and over a million Kurds internally displaced, the EU simply has
to intervene. If the deal is that Turkey gets to join if it respects
minority rights and introduces democracy to the institutions of the
state, what happens if it breaks the deal? At the moment, the penalty
is . . . nothing.
The British media tend to regard Turkey through the lens of bird flu
and the occasional bomb, though in tabloid terms Turkey is strictly
sick chickens. Occasionally, the broadsheets will rally round a cause
celèbres, such as the case of the internationally renowned writer
Orhan Pamuk. When he was threatened with prison for mentioning the
Armenian genocide, the literary world rushed to his defence. But
the trouble with causes celèbres is that once the celeb has gone,
little attention remains on the cause.
It is doubtful that Eren Keskin will get the same press attention.
Keskin was the founder of the Legal Aid Office for the Victims of
Sexual Harassment and Rape in Custody. When I met her in 2001, her
Istanbul office was cramped and insalubrious. She talked about how
Kurdish women had to endure sexual harassment and rape at the hands
of the Turkish authorities. In 2002, she gave a lecture in Germany
describing her work and the horrific scale of rape in custody in
Turkey. For daring to speak about this, she was put on trial back
home. This year, she was sentenced to ten months for the crime of
“insulting the moral character of the military”.
er.php3?newTemplate=NSArticle_NS&newDisplayURN =200604240014
–Boundary_(ID_1JLMWI+pwbUls6tuUwGW nw)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IRAN HOLDS UP TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF AZERBAIJAN
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
April 19 2006
Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar of the Islamic Republic of
Iran has arrived in Baku on an official visit, 19 April.
After welcoming ceremony, Defense Minister of Azerbaijan Safar Abiyev
met with Mostafa Mohammad Najjar.
Official visit of President Ilham Aliyev to Iran in January 2005 and
working visit of President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Nakhchivan in
December last year have given new impetus to expansion of relations,
Mr. Abiyev said. ‘Current visit will serve all-round development of
cooperation between two countries’, he emphasized.
Then, dwelling on the military-political situation on the South
Caucasus, Azeri Defense Minister said the Armenian-Azerbaijan,
Nagorno Karabakh conflict is the major factor of tension in region,
which impedes common development. The policy pursued by Armenian
leaders finally will wipe out Armenia. ‘We consider Iran which calls
Azerbaijan fraternal, should render assistance in fair solution of
the problem. Common roots of two nations give season to tell that’,
Abiyev stressed.
Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said ‘our culture and religious unanimity
should always be in progress. There large opportunities for expansion
of our links. Safety of Azerbaijan is our safety’.
Regarding the Armenian-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
the Iranian minister said Iran stands ready to help Azerbaijan in
settlement of the conflict. “We have always supported territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan and will further do it’, he underlined.
In the meeting, discussed were issues of prospects of
Azerbaijani-Iranian relations, regional security, legal status of
the Caspian and other questions.

DM VISITS GREEK MISSION IN KOSOVO
Athens News Agency, Greece
April 19 2006
Defence Minister Evangelos Meimarakis underscored the contribution
of the Greek armed forces to reinforcing peace and stability in the
Balkan region when he visited the Greek peace-keeping mission in
Kosovo on Wednesday.
Meimarakis met with the members of the Greek peace-keeping force in
Urosevac and Mitrovica and wished them a Happy Easter.
“Greece is not and should not be isolated from developments unfolding
in the broader region,” he said, noting that the stabilising role
Greece and its armed forces are playing in the region is being
recognised by friends and allies.
Meimarakis also visited the Armenian officers stationed at the same
camp as the Greek force in Urosevac.

CONVICTED OFFICER’S LAWYER SAYS CASE NOT LOST YET
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
April 19 2006
Azerbaijan has not lost the case of Ramil Safarov, an Azerbaijani
officer sentenced for life by a Hungarian court for killing an
Armenian counterpart in 2004, the officer’s lawyer, Adil Ismayilov,
told a news conference in Baku on Tuesday.
He urged the public to stop speculations that the trial has been
lost. “We must win the case and we will win it,” the lawyer said.
Ismayilov said there were great opportunities for winning the case
in higher court instances and that it was necessary to deal with the
issue more seriously.
Ismayilov sees as perfectly normal the frequent actions of protest
being staged in Azerbaijan in the wake of Safarov’s life sentence. He
said it was people’s right to express protest at the decision.
However, he urged protesters not to ask for Safarov’s freedom but
for a fair trial.
“I hope the Court of Appeal will hand down a ruling which will be
commensurate with Ramil Safarov’s personality and with what he has
done,” Ismayilov said and added that the second instance court could
change the sentence to a 10-15 years’ imprisonment because according
to Hungarian law, if there is a mental condition that does not rule
out insanity at the time a crime is committed, the sentence can be
commuted significantly.
He went on to say that the judge could even sentence Safarov to three
to five years in prison. The lawyer explained that it was necessary
to capitalize of the two examinations which confirmed that Safarov
was in a state of emotional distress when committing the killing.
Ismayilov said further that the defense was currently waiting for
receiving the official court sentence before it will file an appeal.
“As soon as we receive the sentence in writing, we will appeal against
it to the Court of Appeal. If the latter does not consider the case
fairly, the Azerbaijani side will appeal further to the Hungarian
Supreme Court,” he said.
He indicated that the country’s Supreme Court does not look at the
content of cases being brought to it and only establishes whether
previous proceedings have been in compliance with law. Therefore,
if it discovers any irregularities, it sends cases back to the first
instance court. Ismayilov said if the Supreme Court did not pronounce
a fair ruling either, the defense would take the case to the European
Court of Human Rights.
“However, we are hopeful that things won’t go that far,” he concluded.

OSCE MG’S PROPOSAL PROVIDES FOR ARMENIANS TO HAND OVER 5/7 REGIONS AROUND NK
Baku Today, Azerbaijan
April 19 2006
“Armenia really occupied Azerbaijani territories,” European Union (EU)
representative Mary Ann Izler Begin stated today at a press-conference
of the commission about inter-parliamentary cooperation between
Armenia and the European Union.
Today the most important thing is the plan submitted by the OSCE
Minsk group on handing over of five regions around Nagorno Karabakh
to Azerbaijan. After that Nagorno Karabakh can participate in talks.
“We anticipate that Armenia and Azerbaijan’s presidents will sign
the relevant agreement,” she said.
This statement was made by the EU representative in response to
indignation expressed by Armenia, which tried to condemn Azerbaijan
for its unwillingness to have talks with them.

PRESIDENT RECEIVES DELEGATION HEADED BY INTERIOR MINISTER OF TURKEY
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
April 19 2006
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on 19 April received at President
Office the delegation headed by Abdulkadir Aksu, Interior Minister
of Turkey.
Expressing pleasure with visit of the fraternal country’s delegation,
President Aliyev said he is aware of their programs and meetings. The
President expressed satisfaction with the visits of top officials of
Turkey to Azerbaijan and bilateral negotiations.
Dealing with bilateral relations, President of Azerbaijan said they
would go ahead successfully, and stressed necessity for discussion
of the ongoing processes in region and of serious coordination.
Minister Abdulkadir Aksu thanked for cordial reception and conveyed
greetings of the President of Turkey and Prime Minister. ‘Turkey and
Azerbaijan are fraternal countries and Turkey is always with Azerbaijan
and this will continue’, he emphasized. ‘In the frame of common ties,
we should continue our cooperation in combat against terrorism and
organized crime, as well as trafficking’.
Regarding settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh
conflict, the Minister said Turkey would and henceforth support
fair position of Azerbaijan and territorial integrity of country. The
Turkish minister appraised the development and alteration in Azerbaijan
and Baku. He, especially, highly assessed stability established in
the country.
President Ilham Aliyev said there is close cooperation among all
the ministries of two countries that serves our common goals. The
cooperation between the interior bodies is of great importance,
he emphasized.
President Aliyev conveyed greetings to the President and Premier
Turkey, noting unanimity of Turkey and Azerbaijan is the guarantee
both for ensuring of safety of two peoples and peace and stability
in region. This, as a whole, serves development of region.
Speaking of the world scale economic projects, President of Azerbaijan
urged for safety and combat against new threats, trafficking and
other negative cases. ‘The history shows that none of the developed
countries can consider itself fully defended’, President Aliyev said.

AZERBAIJAN URGES IRAN TO HELP SETTLE CONFLICT IN KARABAKH
ITAR-TASS, Russia
April 19 2006
BAKU, April 19 (Itar-Tass) – Azerbaijani Defence Minister Safar Abiyev
urged Iran to help settle the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
During his talks with his Iranian counterpart Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar
on Wednesday, the Azerbaijani minister said, “We believe that Iran,
which names us its friendly country, must help us solve this problem.”
Mohammad-Najjar, who is currently on an official visit to Azerbaijan,
said, “Security in Azerbaijan means security in Iran. Our defence
capability is your defence capability. We’ve supported and will
support Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.”
The talks focused on military cooperation between the two countries
and prospects for its development, the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry’s
press service reported. The ministers also discussed regional security
and the Caspian Sea status.
Mohammad-Najjar said Iran has the right to use nuclear energy for
peaceful purposes “Iran continues its uranium enrichment activities.
This is the Iranian nation’s right. The forces, which don’t like Iran,
are seeking to deteriorate the situation, but they will fail.”
The Iranian minister named Azerbaijan “a friendly country”. He
stressed that Iran and Azerbaijan were cooperating in different fields,
including in the military sphere. “As part of my visit I’ll hold talks
on expanding military contacts with Azerbaijan although there is an
agreement on military cooperation between the two countries. If we
have problems, we’ ll solve them,” he said.
On Thursday, the Iranian minister will meet Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister Elmar Mamedyarov and parliament speaker Oktai Asadov. He is
also expected to be received by Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev.

CASES OF THE EUROPEAN COURT IN A JOURNAL
A1+
[03:14 pm] 19 April, 2006
Today the presentation of the journal “Experience of the European Court
of the Human Rights” took place in which the heads of the RA Courts,
judges, advocates and representatives of NGOs participated. According
to the organizers of the event, the representatives of the Armenian
court system confirm their wish to reform the system in Armenia by
getting acquainted with the practice of the European Court.
The surprising fact was that the representatives of the Justice
Ministry which is the respondent side in the European Court in
the cases from Armenia were not present at the presentation. “Does
it testify to the fact that the executive power does not have the
desire to reform the court system? ” Asked this question by the “A1+”
correspondent Ara Ghazaryan, editor of the journal tried to answer
diplomatically, saying that the representatives of the Ministry have
come in fact; they just did not make a speech and are not in the hall
at the moment, and it does not testify to anything.
The journal the print run of which is 300 examples, includes the
investigations of the European Court, the messages, the decisions
made each month and other information connected with the court. On
the whole, the Court has made five decisions about the applications
from Armenia. They will all be published in the journal.
It is noteworthy that the staff of the journal consists exclusively
of lawyers so that there are no mistakes in the published materials.

AZERBAIJAN: FAMOUS MEDIEVAL CEMETERY VANISHES
By IWPR staff in Nakhichevan, Baku and Yerevan
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
April 19 2006
IWPR reporter confirms that there is nothing left of the celebrated
stone crosses of Jugha.
Jugha Cemetery (13th-16th centuries)
Photographs from 1970s and 2006
It has become one of the most bitterly divisive issues in the Caucasus
– but up until now no one has been able to clear up the mystery
surrounding the fate of the famous medieval Christian cemetery of
Jugha in Azerbaijan.
The cemetery was regarded by Armenians as the biggest and most
precious repository of medieval headstones marked with crosses –
the Armenians call them “khachkars” – of which more than 2,000 were
still there in the late Eighties. Each elaborately carved tombstone
was a masterpiece of carving.
Armenians have said that the cemetery has been razed, comparing its
destruction to the demolition of two giant Buddha figures by the
Taleban in Afghanistan. Azerbaijan has hit back by accusing Armenia
of scaremongering, and of destroying Azerbaijani monuments on its
own territory.
Now an IWPR contributor has become the first journalist to visit
the site of the cemetery on Azerbaijan’s border with Iran – and has
confirmed that the graveyard has completely vanished.
The European Parliament, UNESCO and Britain’s House of Lords have
all taken an interest in the fate of the Jugha cemetery. A European
Parliament delegation is currently visiting the South Caucasus. But
so far none has been allowed to visit the site itself.
If international observers can confirm that the cemetery has been
razed, it is sure to spark a new high-voltage row between the two
countries, which have engaged in a bitter war of allegation and
counter-allegation since fighting ended in the Nagorny Karabkah
conflict in 1994.
The IWPR contributor was accompanied by two Azerbaijani security
service officers and was restricted in his movements. He was unable to
go right down to the River Araxes, the site of the former cemetery,
as it lies in a protected border zone. However, he was able to see
clearly that there was no cemetery there, merely bare ground.
Nor was there, as some Armenians have claimed, a military training
ground.
He did manage to see a 20th century cemetery with Armenian tombstones
that lay untouched in a nearby village.
This is one of the most inaccessible parts of Europe, located in the
Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan, which is surrounded by Armenia and
Iran and – because of the unresolved Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute –
is only accessible from the rest of Azerbaijan by air.
Old Julfa, or Jugha as it is known by the Armenians, sits on the
northern bank of the River Araxes which divides Nakhichevan from Iran.
According to Armenian and other historians, Julfa was a flourishing
Armenian town in the Middle Ages. But in 1604, Shah Abbas of Persia
forcibly resettled the inhabitants to Isfahan, where to this day
there is still an Armenian quarter known as New Julfa.
The ruined town and its cemetery remained, and were visited by a
number of travellers over the years. British Orientalist Sir William
Ouseley arrived in July 1812 and found “a city now in perfect decay”,
and the remains of what had been one of the most famous stone bridges
in the world.
He wrote, “I examined the principal remains of Julfa, where 45
Armenian families, apparently of the lowest class, constituted the
entire population.
“But of its former inhabitants, the multiplicity was sufficiently
evinced by the ample and crowded cemetery, situated on a bank
sloping towards the river, and covered with numerous rows of upright
tombstones, which when viewed at a little distance, resembled a
concourse of people or rather regiments of troops drawn up in close
order.”
Historian Argam Aivazian, the principal expert on the Armenian
monuments of Nakhichevan, said that Jugha was a unique monument of
medieval art and the largest Armenian cemetery in existence. There
were unique tombstones shaped like rams, a church and the remains
of a massive stone bridge. Nowhere else in the world, he said, was
there such a big concentration of thousands of khachkars in one place.
Aivazian last visited the site in 1987, when it was still mostly
intact, despite its poor upkeep during the Soviet period.
Artist Lusik Aguletsi, a Nakhichevan-born Armenian, also last visited
the cemetery in 1987, although she was under escort.
“There is nothing like it in Armenia,” she said. “It was a thrilling
sight. Two hills completely covered in khachkars. We weren’t allowed
to draw or photograph them.”
Armenian experts now accuse Azerbaijan of a deliberate act of cultural
vandalism.
“The destruction of the khachkars of Old Jugha means the destruction
of an entire phenomenon in the history of humanity, because they are
not only proof of the culture of the people who created them, they
are also symbols that tell us about a particular cultural epoch,”
said Hranush Kharatian, head of the Armenian government’s department
for national and religious minorities.
“On the entire territory of Nakhichevan there existed 27,000
monasteries, churches, khachkars, tombstones and other Armenian
monuments,” said Aivazian. “Today they have all been destroyed.”
Although the historical provenance of the cemetery is disputed
in Azerbaijan, its cultural importance is confirmed by the 1986
Azerbaijani book “The Architecture of Ancient and Early Medieval
Azerbaijan” by Davud Akhundov, which contains several photographs of
the cross-stones of Jugha.
In Akhundov’s book, the stones are said to be of Caucasian Albanian
origin, in line with the official theory taught in Azerbaijan that
the Christian monuments there are the work not of Armenians, but of
the Albanians. The Caucasian Albanians – a people unconnected with
Albania – lived in the south-eastern Caucasus but their culture began
to die out in the Middle Ages.
Nowadays, there is a village of some 500 inhabitants known as Gulistan
near where the cemetery used to lie. The climate is harsh and dry
and the houses are mostly built of wattle and daub and stones from
the river.
The local inhabitants are tight-lipped, denying there was ever an
Armenian cemetery here
“In some parts of Julfa there are historic Christian cemeteries,
but they are monuments of Caucasian Albania and have nothing to do
with Armenians,” said political scientist Zaur Ibragimli, who lives
in Julfa.
He added that there is a large Armenian cemetery and church, still
preserved, near the village of Salkhangaya.
Husein Shukuraliev, editor of the Julfa local newspaper Voice of
Araxes said the destruction of the cemetery began as early as 1828,
when Azerbaijan became part of the Russian empire. Thousands of
tombstones were then destroyed at the turn of the 20th century when
a railway was constructed, he said.
Safar Ashurov, a scholar with Azerbaijan’s Institute of Archaeology
and Ethnography disputed that the cemetery was Armenian, calling the
ram shapes an “element of exclusively Turkish Muslim grave art”.
However, two other witnesses told IWPR that there has been more recent
destruction of the cemetery – though it may have started much further
back than Armenians allege.
A man named Intigam who works repairing tin cans in Baku said he was
posted in Julfa with the Soviet army in 1988-89. At the end of 1989,
the radical Azerbaijani nationalist politician Nemat Panahov dismantled
the border-posts on Nakhichevan’s border with Iran.
Intigam said that part of the Julfa cemetery was destroyed at that
time.
Panakhov himself declined to comment when contacted by IWPR, saying,
“Journalists always deceive me, and I don’t want anything more to do
with them.”
A second witness, who asked for his name not to be given, said that
there were khachkar stones on the site up until 2002, but they were
then removed on the orders of the Nakhichevan military command.
An Armenian architect, Arpiar Petrossian, told IWPR he visited the
Iranian side of the border in 1998 with a friend in order to look
at the monuments on that side. They also viewed the remains of the
bridge. Looking across the river into Azerbaijan, he said, they
noticed a flat-bed train apparently removing the cross-stones from
the cemetery.
Armenian deputy culture minister Gagik Gyurdjian said his government
raised the alarm in 1998.
“Then we got the entire international community up in arms and stopped
the destruction,” he told IWPR. “But in 2003 the destruction started
again. Many khachkars were buried under the earth, and the rest were
destroyed and thrown into the Araxes.”
In the last few months, the propaganda war over Jugha has reached
a new intensity – just as the latest round of Karabakh peace talks
between presidents Ilham Aliev and Robert Kocharian, held in February,
ran into trouble.
Azerbaijani president Aliev angrily denied Armenian allegations
about the Jugha cemetery last week, saying the claims were “a lie
and a provocation”.
International institutions are now demanding to be allowed to visit
the site of the cemetery. The European Parliament passed a resolution
in February condemning the destruction of the cemetery.
However, Azerbaijan said it would only accept a European parliamentary
delegation if it visited Armenian-controlled territory as well. Around
one seventh of what is internationally recognised as Azerbaijani
territory has been under Armenian control since the end of the
Karabakh conflict.
“We think that if a comprehensive approach is taken to the problems
that have been raised, it will be possible to study Christian monuments
on the territory of Azerbaijan, including in the Nakhichevan Autonomous
Republic,” said Azerbaijani foreign ministry spokesman Tahir Tagizade.
The Azerbaijani foreign ministry says old Muslim monuments have
disappeared from Armenia. In a statement, it said that at least
1,587 mosques and 23 madrassas had been destroyed in what was once
the Muslim-governed Yerevan Khanate – now part of Armenia. In the
Zangezur and Echmiadzin areas alone, more than 830 mosques have been
demolished, it said, adding that more than 500 Muslim cemeteries
have been destroyed within the territory of Armenia. The statement
did not specify when this destruction occurred.
Avetik Ishkhanian, president of Armenia’s Helsinki Committee, blames
the international community for not reacting sooner to the razing
of Jugha, contrasting the response with the outcry that followed the
Taleban’s demolition of the Buddhas of Bamian in 2001.
“Why has there not been the same reaction in this case?” asked
Ishkhanian. “At that time, world public attention was directed against
the Taleban regime, and this act of barbarism was used as a propaganda
weapon to launch military action against them.”
Reporting by Idrak Abbasov in Nakhichevan; Shahin Rzayev and Jasur
Mamedov in Baku; and Seda Muradian, Narine Avetian and Karine
Ter-Sahakian in Yerevan.
;s=f&o =261191&apc_state=henh