KARABAKH ARMY HOLDS WAR GAMES
By Karine Kalantarian in Stepanakert and Aza Babayan in Moscow
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
April 19 2006
The ethnic Armenian armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh ended on Wednesday
week-long large-scale exercises which the disputed region’s leadership
said highlighted their ability to fend off possible military action
by Azerbaijan.
Hundreds of troops, backed up by tanks, heavy artillery and helicopter
gunships firing live rounds, practiced defensive and offensive
operations at a training ground not far from the Armenian-Azerbaijani
line of contact east of Karabakh.
The war games, which will be evaluated by top military officials
on Thursday, followed a familiar scenario, with the Karabakh army
fighting back an enemy assault and then going on counteroffensive.
They also involved a rare call-up of local army reservists who also
took in the simulated fighting.
Armenia’s Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian and the chief of army staff,
Colonel-Lieutenant Mikael Harutiunian, monitored the proceedings
along with the leadership of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic (NKR). “At first glance, everything is alright,” Sarkisian
told reporters.
Armenian and Karabakh officials insisted that the exercises are not
connected with Azerbaijan’s renewed threats to win back Karabakh
by force or aimed at affecting the ongoing peace talks mediated by
the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe. Sarkisian claimed that President Ilham Aliev and other
Azerbaijani leaders make such threats for “propaganda purposes.”
Sarkisian also said he looks forward to Aliev’s meeting with President
George W. Bush at the White House which is scheduled for April 28. “I
am confident that the president of the United States will urge Aliev
to resolve the conflict by peaceful means,” he said.
NKR President Arkady Ghukasian, for his part, remained skeptical
about chances of a breakthrough in the peace process. “In my opinion,
Azerbaijan is dragging out the negotiations,” he said. “Azerbaijan
is not prepared for a settlement. But this is a case where I want to
be mistaken.”
Ghukasian denied the existence of any major differences between
Karabakh and Armenia on how to resolve the conflict, saying that
the Karabakh Armenians “have no reason to mistrust” Yerevan. Still,
he renewed calls for the NKR’s direct involvement in the peace process.
Meanwhile, Russia’s chief Karabakh negotiator, Yuri Merzlyakov,
confirmed on Wednesday that he and the French and U.S. co-chairs of
the Minsk Group will likely visit the conflict zone early next month
in a bid to arrange another meeting between Aliev and his Armenian
counterpart Robert Kocharian. Speaking to RFE/RL in Moscow, Merzlyakov
said the two leaders have already been presented with the mediators’
revised peace proposals and are currently studying them.
He refused to disclose those proposals.
The Minsk Group’s U.S. co-chair, Steven Mann, is due to pay a separate
visit to Baku and Yerevan later this week.

IRAN, IRAQ ON AGENDA OF G8 FOREIGN MINISTERS’ SESSION
RIA Novosti, Russia
April 19 2006
MOSCOW, April 19 (RIA Novosti) – The June session of foreign
ministers of the Group of Eight industrialized nations will cover
topics including Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa,
the U.S. under-secretary for political affairs said Wednesday.
Nicholas Burns, attending a meeting of G8 political directors in
Moscow, said a number of countries had also proposed discussing
the situation in the former Soviet republics of Belarus, Moldova and
Georgia, as well as Nagorny Karabakh, a largely ethnic Armenian enclave
inside Azerbaijan, and Abkhazia, a self-proclaimed republic in Georgia.
The session of G8 foreign ministers is scheduled for June 28 prior
to the G8 summit in St. Petersburg in July.

MARY-ANN ISLER BEGIN OPPOSES TURKEY’S EU MEMBERSHIP
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
April 19 2006
Chairwoman of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Commission
Mary-Ann Isler Begin declared her oppostion to Turkey’s EU
membership. She argued that ther was a close connection between
Turkey’s EU membership and the Armenian allegations. Armenia is not
a EU country, even some experts say it is not a European country. Mrs.
Begin did not touch the occpied territories issue.
YEREVAN – Chairwoman of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation
Commission Mary-Ann Isler Begin told then reporters in Yerevan that
Turkey’s admission to the European Union was only possible after the
re-opening of borders with Armenia and settlement of the issue of
the Armenian allegations regarding the 1915 Relocation campaign.
Turkey-Armenia territorial borders have been closed since the Armenian
occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories. Armenia does not
recognise Turkey’s national borders and call Turkey’s eastern region
‘Western Armenia’. The nationalist groups like Tashnaks in Armenia
are also against opening of Turkish borders.
However more than 50,000 Armenians work in ýstanbul and they travel
freely by air.
According to Mary-Ann Isler Begin, the European Parliament has always
been for the re-opening of the Turkish-Armenian borders. “This issue
will certainly be raised the moment of Turkey’s admission to the
European family. Otherwise, the admission of the country having
its borders with its neighbors closed to the EU is impossible”,
Isler Begin said. For Mrs. Begin, all European countries should have
friendly relations and all borders should be opened. However Mrs.
Begin did not touch the problems the two European neigbours, namely
Armenia and Azerbaijan. Almost 20 percent of Azeri territories have
been under Armenian occupation and the EU and the OSCE have named
Armenia ‘ocuupier’ in Karabakh. Turkey argues that yerevan should first
recognise Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s national unity to open the borders.
The close-borders policy is not a new strategy. The US has banned any
trade and relations with Iran and Cuba. Turkey argues that Armenia
commited worse ‘policies’ than Iran or Cuba had done. A Turkish
diplomat told the JTW that “Iran occupied no country, but Armenia did.”
On October 3, 2005, a meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers in Luxembourg
reached an agreement on Turkey’s admission to the EU. On October 4,
2005, the EU started official negotiations with Turkey.
Turkish experts forecast that the negotiations with official Ankara
may last maximum 5 years.
Dr. Nilgun Gulcan told the JTW that there is no connection between
the Armenian allegations and Turkey’s EU membership:
“The EU has no option but accept Turkey as full member to the EU
becuase Turkey has fulfilled all the requirements the EU asked. The
Armenian allegations are being used to hide the anti-Turkish
intentions. The anti Turkey groups abuse the Armenian issue and teh
Armenians are ready to be used.”
–Boundary_(ID_78qYZY4SZ2MchMJPSMeq1g)–

ARMENIA AND TURKEY SHOULD NEGOTIATE OPENLY AND FREELY, BAGDASARYAN
Anatolian Times, Turkey
April 19 2006
BERLIN – “Turkey and Armenia should talk to each other ‘openly and
freely’,” Armenian Parliament Speaker Arthur Bagdasaryan said on
Wednesday.
In an exclusive interview with German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
newspaper, Bagdasaryan reiterated allegations regarding the “so-called”
genocide, however indicated that, “nonetheless we should not waste our
future because of the past. Hopes for the future are more important
than the sorrowful memories of the past. Turkey also needs this
dialogue.”
Underscoring that he personally favored a dialogue with Turkey,
Bagdasaryan said, “we should sit around a table and resolve our
problems. Of course not all the Armenians share this view.”
The newspaper said Bagdasaryan is one of the best placed nominees
that may succeed Armenian President Robert Kocharian whose term in
office will expire in 2008.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IRAN STARTS GAS EXPORT TO ARMENIAN IN JAN 2007 SERVICE: INDUSTRY
ISNA, Iran
Iranian Students News Agency
April 19 2006
Tehran, April 19(ISNA)-Iran will start its gas export to Armenian
from January 2007.
“Currently Iran to Armenia gas pipeline’s construction are being
carried out and we hope that these pipelines will be ready for
utilization by January 2007,” said Iran’s National Gas Company managing
director, Seyed Reza Kasaizadeh.
“In the first phase of this project, we plan to export daily 2
million square meter and in phase two we are aiming for 3 million
square meter daily,” added Kasaizadeh.

ARMENIAN MEMORIAL VANDALIZED IN FRANCE
The New Anatolian
April 19 2006
A memorial in southeast France honoring those killed in the so-called
Armenian genocide in 1915 was vandalized just a week before it was
to be unveiled, Armenian organizations said yesterday.
The memorial in Lyon was scrawled with graffiti reading, “There was no
genocide,” according to the Committee for the Defense of the Armenian
Cause and the Council of Armenian Organizations in France.
The groups expressed indignation over Monday’s incident and demanded
tight security both during the monument’s unveiling on April 24 and
during other commemorations around France the same day.
April 24 is the date chosen by Armenian communities worldwide to mark
the Armenian genocide claims. Turks say that the number of deaths is
inflated and that the victims were killed in civil unrest in a time
of war.

GOVERNMENT INFIGHTING HERALDS START OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA
By Emil Danielyan
Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
April 19 2006
Armenia’s governing coalition is beset with fresh infighting
between the two largest political parties loyal to President Robert
Kocharian, which could have repercussions for next year’s parliamentary
election. The Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law) Party of parliamentary
speaker Artur Baghdasarian has publicly denounced Prime Minister
Andranik Markarian and his Republican Party (HHK) over questionable
privatization policies pursued by the Armenian government.
The move appears to mark the start of Baghdasarian’s election
campaign. The 36-year-old speaker, who is one of Kocharian’s potential
successors, is widely believed to be trying to enhance his populist
appeal by attacking a government in which his party is represented
by three ministers.
The row broke out on April 11 at the start of parliamentary debates
in Yerevan on the privatization of remaining state assets from 2001
through 2004. A government report on the process was expected to be
accepted by the Kocharian-controlled National Assembly without much
fuss. The parliament did endorse it, but only after three days of
bitter recriminations traded by the two coalition partners in front
of television cameras and gloating opposition parliamentarians.
Orinats Yerkir lawmakers strongly challenged the integrity of the
privatization deals handled by Armenia’s Department for State
Property Management, humiliating the pro-Markarian head of the
government agency, Karine Kirakosian. They pointed to the fact that
48 of 69 state-owned enterprises put up for sale during the four-year
period were privatized without tenders or auctions and at knockdown
prices. Most of those enterprises have long ceased to operate and were
primarily of interest to private buyers as pieces of real property.
It emerged that virtually all properties located in central
Yerevan were sold off at ridiculously low prices ranging from
$30 to $60 per square meter. The market value of real estate in
the increasingly expensive city center is at least $900 per square
meter. Newspaper reports said last week that among the lucky buyers
of lucrative properties were Trade and Economic Development Minister
Karen Chshmaritian and a businessman whose daughter is married to
Kocharian’s elder son.
Baghdasarian and his loyalists allege that the huge price disparity
is the result of government corruption and nepotism. “They have
appropriated millions and have to account for it,” Baghdasarian
charged without naming names. He also accused the government of
illegally privatizing buildings that once belonged to educational,
cultural, and scientific institutions.
Markarian and HHK parliamentarians rejected the accusations,
presenting them as yet another manifestation of Orinats Yerkir’s
trademark populism. “All privatizations were approved at government
sessions,” he told reporters on April 12. “Representatives of that
party were present at those sessions. If they had questions they
could ask them and be given explanations.” Markarian aides implicitly
threatened to publicize “compromising material” against Orinats Yerkir
in retaliation. The threats led the latter to somewhat tone down its
anti-government rhetoric. “Had we gone a bit further, we would have
destroyed each other,” admitted another HHK leader, Galust Sahakian.
The key question is what prompted Baghdasarian to lash out at the
HHK-dominated government now, just two months after he and other
coalition leaders pledged to stop embarrassing each other in public
and to preserve their uneasy marriage of convenience at least until
the 2007 election. “One can arrest any official who has dealt with
the privatization sphere at any moment and rest assured that justice
has been done,” wrote a columnist for the 168 Zham newspaper. “On the
other hand, it is clear to everyone that Orinats Yerkir does not care
much about state property privatized for nothing.”
What the party does care about is a strong showing in the next
legislative polls. Barring the absence of personal attacks on
Kocharian, the pre-election discourse of its young leader has always
differed little from that of opposition leaders. Baghdasarian’s
statements may be often demagogic and short on specifics, but they
won him the post of National Assembly speaker and the second-largest
faction in the Armenian parliament after the HHK in 2003. He is
arguably the most electable member of the ruling regime, which explains
the persistent speculation about his ambition to succeed Kocharian,
who is expected to step down after completing his second five-year
term of office in 2008.
Baghdasarian already scored more political points last October when he
forced the government, reportedly with Kocharian’s blessing, to start
compensating some of those Armenians whose Soviet-era savings bank
deposits were wiped out by hyperinflation in the early 1990s (see EDM,
October 6, 2005). (Compensation of the former deposit holders was a key
Orinats Yerkir campaign promise in 2003.) So observers wonder if his
latest offensive in the parliament was also agreed with the Armenian
president. But it is not clear why Kocharian would want to undercut the
HHK, Armenia’s number one “party of power” that has served him so well.
Some local commentators say the HHK is not 100% reliable for Kocharian
and his closest associate and most likely successor, Defense Minister
Serge Sarkisian. The latter ran for parliament on the HHK ticket in
2003 and promised to name in February the party with which he will
team up for the 2007 vote. But Sarkisian has still not made the
announcement, suggesting that he might be lacking faith in Prime
Minister Markarian’s Republicans.
(168 Zham, April 13-14; Lragir.am, April 13; Aravot, April 13;
Haykakan Zhamanak, April 12)

NAZELI VARDANIAN: HUNGARIAN COURT OF APPEAL WON’T COMMUTE VERDICT ON RAMIL SAFAROV
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 19 2006
“I don’t believe Hungarian Court of Appeal will commute the life
sentence on Azerbaijani army officer Ramil Safarov.
This court will never meet the appeal for commuting the punishment,”
said lawyer Nazeli Vardanian, who represents the family of murdered
Armenian officer Gurgen Markarian, in a news conference. He said
that the Court of Appeal can only investigate whether there were
any illegalities in the court proceedings against the Azerbaijani
lieutenant. Vardanian said that the court dismissed Safarov’s claim
that he was driven to this act by the events he witnessed during the
occupation of Azerbaijan’s region of Jabrail region by Armenians.
“The court investigation found out that Ramil Safarov was not in
Jabrail at that time and did not witness the events,” the Armenian
lawyer said.
Vardanian also said that the prosecutor Margit Chokain reacted severely
to Ramil Safarov’s being declared as Man of the Year in Azerbaijan.
“The prosecutor said that he has never met a country and a nation to
declare such murderer as a prestigious figure,” he underlined.
Legal representative of Ramil Safarov’s family, lawyer Adil Ismayilov
told APA that the Armenian lawyer Vardanian’s statements are nonsense.
“Prosecutor Margit Chokain did not say such sentence on Azerbaijan
state and people. These statements were voiced by the lawyer for
Armenian side not by the prosecutor. Armenians try to make public
their opinions on behalf of the prosecutor,” Ismayilov underscored.
Adil Ismayilov also refuted Vardanian’s statements that the fact
as if Ramil Safarov was not in Jabrail during its occupation was
confirmed by the court. He said such fact was not confirmed by the
court at all.

SADOYAN: WE’LL ANNUL TREATIES ON SELLING STRATEGIC ESTABLISHMENTS TO RUSSIA AFTER CHANGE OF POWER IN ARMENIA
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 19 2006
“It is shameful for Armenian government to sell the 5th block of Razdan
heating and power plant to Russia’s Gasprom Company,” Arshak Sadoyan,
leader of opposition party National Democrats Alliance stated.
The party leader called all opposition parties to annul the treaty
signed with Russia after the change of authorities in Armenia.
Sadoyan, however, did not make it clear how Armenia will pay its state
debts to Russia after the annulling of the treaty. Opposition leader
has stated that international organizations can assume responsibility
of paying debts of Armenia in the situation like that.
Arshak Sadoyan has expressed opinion to Russia’s selling gas to
Armenia in an expensive price. “Today Russia sales gas to Armenia
more expensive than to Turkey. Ukraine purchases gas for price cause
from Turkmenistan not from Russia. We can also purchase gas from
Turkmenistan having refused from Russia.”

“525-CI GAZET”: INITIATIVE GROUP TO RETURN WESTERN AZERBAIJANIS TO THEIR NATIVE LANDS AND TO CREATE AUTONOMY IN ARMENIA

19.04.2006
Political movement “Way of Azerbaijan” created initiative group
aiming at return of western Azerbaijanis, outcasts from Armenia,
to their native lands and create autominy for them in space-saving
dense territory. In connection with creation of initiative group and
future tasks the above movement held press-conference on April 18.
Leader of the movement, Ilgar Gasimov, imformed that in 1948-53 and
in 1988 more than million Azerbaijanis were removed by force from
historical places of residence. “To return them in their native land
we intent to hold mass actions all over the world from 24 of April
to 8 of May”. These events will be supported by Turkish and European
organizations of the world. Preliminary agreement has already been
reached”, he stressed.
I. Gasimov informed that in connection with this issue a campaign on
signature collection would be held then documents would be drawn up
and submitted to representatives of Azerbaijan to PACE.
Deputy, Fazil Gazanfaroglu, and others who took floor at the event,
evaluated the return of Azerbaijanis removed from Armenia as demand
of time. F. Gazanfaroglu informed that this issue would be put on
the agenda of Milli Mejlis.
It should be pointed out that appeal prepared by “Way of Azerbaijan”
on return of western Azerbaijanis to their native land, deported by
force from Armenia and on creation of autonomy for them is submitted
to the head of state, speaker and the Minister of Foreign Affairs.