ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
May 12, 2006 Friday
Georgia troops to secure safe withdrawal of Russia base
by Tengiz Pachkoria
The units of the Georgian Defence Ministry and local law enforcement
bodies are to ensure security of the withdrawal of the weapons and
hardware of the Russian military base in Akhalkalaki.
A representative of the Trans-Caucasus Group of Russian Troops
(TCGRT) told ITAR-TASS on Friday that the “Georgian side will secure
under existing accords the process of the withdrawal of the hardware
and weapons of the Russian base in Akhalkalaki, which will be
accomplished by rail (in Russia) and motor roads (in Armenia to the
Russian base Gyumri)”.
Georgian media said on Friday that the Defence Ministry’s special
units had been relocated to Dzhavakheta province, in which
Akhalkalaki and Tsalka are, for ensuring a safe withdrawal of Russian
weapons.
The TCGRT representative said that the first train with the military
equipment and weapons had been prepared for leaving the Akhalkalaki
base.
Last week, the Russian military equipped a field camp and temporary
parking in Tsalka, which is located 50 kilometres from Akhalkalaki,
for forming the first train on which arms from the Akhalkalaki base
will be loaded on Saturday and Sunday.
Three other trains will trip to Russia on May 23, 25 and 30.
The TCGRT representative also said that “part of the hardware and
weapons of the Akhalkalaki base will be moved by truck to the Russian
base in Gyumri”, Armenia.
The first auto convoy will head to Armenia on May 18.
Under Georgian-Russian agreements, the withdrawn of the Akhalkalaki
base is to be completed during 2007.
Most of its equipment and weapons will be withdrawal of the base from
Georgia is to be completed in the period from May 15 to August 15 of
this year.

FOR THE SAKE OF FAIR ELECTIONS EVEN IF JOINING OF “THE OFFENDED” WITH
OPPOSITION IS USEFUL, ARSHAK SADOYAN CONSIDERS

YEREVAN, MAY 12, NOYAN TAPAN. Irrespective of the fact who join the
opposition, even if they are “offended people” (RA NA Speaker Artur
Baghdasarian and Orinats Yerkir Party headed by him is meant here:
NT), if they struggle for the sake of fair elections, against
mechanical reproduction of the authorities, it is useful. RA MP Arshak
Sadoyan, Chairman of the Union of National Democrats Party, expressed
such an opinion at the May 12 press conference. Sadoyan is glad that
it is being clarified what processes go on in Armenia. According to
him, the reforms become possible in the power structures as the number
of those struggling for it increases, even if they become “offended
people”, and he considers it a positive step. According to Arshak
Sadoyan, in its time the coalition was formed in rather an artificial
way and principles of joint use of the power “feeding-rack” laid in
its basis. “Naturally, there are collisions connected with use of this
“feeding-rack” and a problem emerges, how many seats will be given to
the coalition parties at this table since 2007. In fact, a quarrel for
the future table emerges,” the MP declared.

BY “ORINATS YERKIR” PARTY’S LEAVING POLITICAL COALITION, ACTION OF
MEMORANDUM TO BE STOPPED AHEAD OF TIME

YEREVAN, MAY 12, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. According to the June
11, 2003 memorandum signed by the political coalition, in the case of
not overcoming the principal disagreements among the sides of the
political coalition in the way of negotiation, each of parties may
inform other sides in written form about it leaving the coalition, at
the same time calling back all its officials envisaged by the
memorandum. Late on May 11, the Political Council of the “Orinats
Yerkir” party made a decision about its leaving the coalition and
concerning party Chairman Artur Baghdasarian’s resigning the NA
Speaker’s post. To recap, according to the memorandum, the OYK party
is given posts of the NA Speaker, Chairmen of the NA two standing
committees, the Committee for Social, Health Care and Nature
Protection Issues and the Committee for Defence, National Security and
Internal Affairs, as well as the posts of three ministers, the Urban
Development, Education and Science, Culture and Youth Issues. It was
also mentioned that deadlines for the political coalition’s activity
and action of the memorandum are in force till the next parliamentary
elections. It was fixed at the same time, that it may be stopped
ahead of time in the case of leaving one of the coalition sides as
well as by the agreement reached among all sides of the coalition.

RA PRESIDENT EXPRESSES HOPE THAT ACCREDITATION OF FIRST AMBASSADOR OF
NIGERIA TO ARMENIA TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT OF BILATERAL TIES

YEREVAN, MAY 12, NOYAN TAPAN. Ibrahin Ganyama Abubakar, the newly
appointed Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (residence in
Tehran) to Armenia, handed his credentials to RA President Robert
Kocharian on May 12.
According to the information submitted to Noyan Tapan by the RA
President’s Press Office, mentioning that at present relations with
Nigeria are limited only by the cooperation within the framework of
international organizations, the President expressed confidence that
accreditation of the first Ambassador of Nigeria to Armenia will
support development of bilateral ties and defining of possible
directions of mutual cooperation.

LAST DEVELOPMENTS CONNECTED WITH ORINATS YERKIR PARTY HAVE PREELECTION
CHARACTER, HRANT KHACHATRIAN SAYS
YEREVAN, MAY 12, NOYAN TAPAN. “The history of the ruling coalition
have come to an end, but I am not among those who are glad at the
collapse of the ruling coalition,” Hrant Khachatrian, Chairman of the
Constitutional Law Union, declared at the May 12 press conference. As
for possible influence from without on the position of the Orinats
Yerkir (Country of Law) Party and on the conduct of its leader, RA
National Assembly Speaker Artur Baghdasarian, the politician did not
exclude that the party could use the international ties and foreign
assistance. On May 11, the Orinats Yerkir, one of the parties of the
ruling coalition, made a decision about leaving the coalition. In
addition, Artur Baghdasarian declared about his intention to resign
from the position of RA NA Speaker. According to Hrant Khachatrian, it
is possible that the recent big businessmen’s leaving the Orinats
Yerkir Party could be an intra-party bargain aimed at getting the
image of really a democratic force in the eyes of the people in order
to receive as many votes as possible at the coming elections.
Meanwhile, he reminded that the Orinats Yerkir like the other members
of the ruling coalition came to power forgetting all its principles
and this casts suspicion on this party. As for the Orinats Yerkir
Party’s place in the opposition field, he declared that the opposition
is first of all the force that should enjoy the people’s confidence
and in this case the people itself should give an estimation to the
Orinats Yerkir Party. Hrant Khachatrian said that today the the
Orinats Yerkir is exposed to the attack and the pressure of the clan
system, the other parties of the ruling coalition, the ARF
Dashnaktsutiun and the Republican Party of Armenia, are also anxious
about it, the representatives of these parties in private talks
complain of clan conditions’ becoming stricter. “In addition to this,
other processes also go in the ruling clique, remember Artashes
Tumanian (former head of RA President’s Administration: NT): a pack of
wolves is ready to hunt down their former friend,” Hrant Khachatrian
declared. According to him, the last developments connected with the
Orinats Yerkir Party and its leader have a preelection character. “I
do not exclude the possibility of special parliamentary elections.
Currently many people in the society do not believe that the regular
elections can be fair. A strong striving for changes exists in the
society today,” H.Khachatrian mentioned.

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
_________________________________________ ____________________
RFE/RL Russian Political Weekly
Vol. 6, No. 10, 12 May 2006
A Weekly Review of News and Analysis of Russian Domestic Politics
**************************************** ********************
HEADLINES
* PLANE CRASH REVEALS CRACKS IN MOSCOW-YEREVAN TIES
* EU MAINTAINS CODEPENDENT ENERGY RELATIONSHIP WITH RUSSIA
* THE RECURRING FEAR OF RUSSIAN GAS DEPENDENCY
* INTERVIEW: WILL RUSSIA’S OIL WINDFALL GO TO MILITARY?
**************************************** ********************
PLANE CRASH REVEALS CRACKS IN MOSCOW-YEREVAN TIES. The fatal crash of
an Armenian airliner near the Russian resort town of Sochi on May 3
has revealed tensions in the usually warm relations between Yerevan
and Moscow.
Many in Armenia believe the crash — the worst in
Armenia’s history, with 113 deaths — was the result of poor
recommendations by Russian air-traffic controllers. But such claims
may only be the cover for deeper concerns about the impending advance
of the Russian gas giant Gazprom and growing racism in Russia
directed in part at natives of the Caucasus.
Hmayak Hovhanisian, the chairman of the Armenian Association
of Political Scientists, says it is too early to tell if the
controversy will have a lasting impact on relations between the two
countries.
“It depends on how the investigation proceeds,” he notes. “If
the black boxes aren’t recovered and the real causes of the
disaster aren’t explained in a way that is clear for everyone, it
will have a negative effect on Russian-Armenian relations.”
Recovery work is continuing following the May 3 crash of the
Armenian Airbus A320. So far divers have located fewer than half of
the 113 victims, the vast majority of whom were Armenians.
The concurrent investigation into the crash is ongoing as
well, under the joint supervision of Russian Transport Minister Igor
Levitin and Armenian Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian.
But so far few clues have been revealed about the probable
cause of the crash. Without the black-box flight recorders,
investigators lack critical information about the flight crew’s
actions in the moments before the plane nose-dived into the Black Sea
off the Sochi coast.
The lack of information has angered Armenians, who believe
the pilot may have crashed after being told by Russian air-traffic
controllers to resume preparation for landing despite poor weather
conditions. Georgian air officials had earlier recommended the plane
turn back.
While observers like Hovhanisian note that the responsibility
for final decisions ultimately rests with the pilot, and not the
air-traffic controllers, many Armenians — including those in the
political opposition — are concerned by Russia’s role in the
crash. They have also expressed doubt that an investigation led in
part by Russia will be fully honest.
Russia and Armenia have long enjoyed strong strategic ties.
Russia maintains a military base on Armenian soil, and the two
countries are partner to a landmark treaty in which Moscow has
committed itself to defend Armenia militarily in the event it is
attacked from outside — an apparent reference to its historic enemy,
Turkey.
It has also helped to prevent further outbreaks of violence
between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
Armenia has also remained a loyal member of both the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the CIS Collective
Security Treaty. This is something that sets Armenia apart from its
disgruntled South Caucasus neighbor Georgia, which has tense
relations with Moscow and has threatened to withdraw from the CIS.
But many Armenians remain resentful of Russia. This is due in
part to what is viewed as mounting racism in Russia. Skinheads were
believed to be behind the killing in April of a 17-year-old Armenian
in Moscow.
Many Armenians also accuse Russia of seeking to monopolize
the country’s energy industry. Eduard Aghajanov, an independent
political analyst in Yerevan, says Russia is not treating Armenia
like an equal partner.
“Many already don’t believe that [Russia] is a ally,
because the way Russia deals with Armenia in its foreign policy is
not the way a strategic partner would behave,” Aghajanov says.
“It’s the way it would treat a vassal.”
Armenia recently agreed to hand over a portion of its state
energy assets to Russia’s state-run gas giant Gazprom, in order
to prevent a threat to double gas prices. Gazprom has raised
natural-gas prices for nearly all of its CIS clients this year, but
Armenia, due to its compliance, saw a hike of just 10 percent.
Gazprom is now set to assume control of a major Armenian
power plant, and may also obtain a controlling share of a planned
Armenian-Iranian gas pipeline. The deal is expected to give Moscow
near-total control over the Armenian energy sector.
Observers in Russia are more sanguine about the deal. Boris
Makarenko, deputy director of the Moscow-based Center for Political
Technologies, says Gazprom’s policy in Armenia is no different
than those in other countries.
Makarenko says anti-Russian sentiment has recently become
more “fashionable” in Yerevan. But on the whole, he adds, relations
between Moscow and Yerevan can be held up as an ideal in the CIS
neighborhood. “Speaking objectively, Russia has fewer problems in
relations with Armenia than with any other post-Soviet state,” he
says. (Valentinas Mite)
EU MAINTAINS CODEPENDENT ENERGY RELATIONSHIP WITH RUSSIA. The
European Union’s apparent dependence on Russian oil and gas
imports has been the source of much debate in recent months, as
Moscow has shown its willingness to wield its influence as an energy
supplier for political gain. But at a high-level conference on energy
security held in Brussels on May 10, senior European officials noted
that Russia will need massive injections of foreign capital to retain
its dominant position as a supplier to Europe’s energy market.
BRUSSELS, May 11, 2006 (RFE/RL) — It is clear that when it
comes to the energy trade, Russia and the EU are mutually dependent
on each other.
The EU looks to Russia for 30 percent of its oil imports and
about half of its imported gas. Russia’s economy, meanwhile, is
fueled to a great extent by the revenue it generates by exporting
energy to Europe’s massive energy market.
Likewise, while recent threats by Russia to look east for
future gas and oil exports have made EU legislators nervous, some
attending yesterday’s conference on energy security noted that
Russia will require foreign investment to keep up with rising EU
energy needs.
Among those in attendance was former Russian Prime Minister
Mikhail Kasyanov, who said Russia must take “urgent action” to avoid
a sharp decline in its output of natural gas. However, he said,
Russia’s recent efforts to establish greater central control over
“strategic” assets have damaged the country’s investment climate.
“That creates a big problem for [the] overall investment
process, [for] those investments which [are] badly needed in Russia
right now, so [as to] raise the production of energy to satisfy our
internal and general European demand,” Kasyanov said. “[The] lack of
different foreign investment is much more risky for Russia since it
badly needs capital to be invested in the national energy sector.”
Senior European Commission official Christian Cleutinx
estimated that by 2020, the EU’s energy needs will rise by 200
million metric tons of gas per year. But he says that according to
Russia’s most recent energy strategy, the country envisions
expanding its total level of gas exports by just 50 million metric
tons by that time.
Cleutinx says that amount would meet only a quarter of
Europe’s future needs, not taking into account Russia’s other
export markets.
“So, you see immediately the big difference there is between
the exports that Russia on the basis of the current plan can deliver
into the world markets — because we’re not talking about 50
[million] tonnes of oil equivalent [going only] to Europe, it’s
to the CIS, to Turkey, it be might the United States, and we need an
increase of 200 [million tonnes],” Cleutinx said.
Cleutinx estimates that Russia would need $200 billion to
meet its export targets. Overall, the European Commission says Russia
would need $735 billion to modernize its energy sector by 2020. (Ahto
Lobjakas)
THE RECURRING FEAR OF RUSSIAN GAS DEPENDENCY. U.S. Vice President
Dick Cheney’s recent criticism of Russia for using natural gas as
a political weapon is by no means new. Similar charges leveled 24
years ago during the Cold War resulted in an embargo on the sale of
gas-extracting equipment to the Soviet Union and to the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) purported destruction of a Soviet gas
pipeline.
In 1982, as the Soviet Union was beginning construction of a
$22 billion, 4,650-kilometer gas pipeline from Urengoi in northwest
Siberia to Uzhhorod in Ukraine with the intention of supplying
Western Europe, the CIA issued a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE)
titled “The Soviet Gas Pipeline in Perspective.”
The NIE, regarded as the definitive product of the U.S.
intelligence community, reached several conclusions, among them that
the Soviet Union “calculates that the increased future dependence of
the West Europeans on Soviet gas deliveries will make them more
vulnerable to Soviet coercion and will become a permanent factor in
their decision making on East-West issues.”
In addition, according to the NIE, the Soviets “have used the
pipeline issue to create and exploit divisions between Western Europe
and the United States. In the past, the Soviets have used West
European interest in expanding East-West commerce to undercut U.S.
sanctions, and they believe successful pipeline deals will reduce
European willingness to support future U.S. economic actions against
the USSR.”
The Urengoi gas field, located in northwest Siberia’s
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, was one of the largest Soviet gas
fields. The main customers for Urengoi gas were West Germany, France,
and Italy.
The initial volume of the pipeline was to be 40 billion cubic
meters per year, which would mean that Soviet gas could account for
30 percent of German and French gas imports, and 40 percent of
Italy’s. Such figures were approaching a dependency level too
great for the White House to accept.
Washington apparently dealt with these concerns in a direct
manner initially. In January 1982, U.S. President Ronald Reagan
purportedly approved a CIA plan to sabotage a second, unidentified
gas pipeline in Siberia by turning the Soviet Union’s desire for
Western technology against it. The operation was first disclosed in
the memoirs of Thomas C. Reed, a former Air Force secretary who was
serving in the National Security Council at the time. In “At the
Abyss: An Insider’s History of the Cold War,” Reed wrote:
“In order to disrupt the Soviet gas supply, its hard-currency
earnings from the West, and the internal Russian economy, the
pipeline software that was to run the pumps, turbines, and valves was
programmed to go haywire, after a decent interval, to reset pump
speeds and valve settings to produce pressures far beyond those
acceptable to pipeline joints and welds.
“The result was the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and
fire ever seen from space,” he recalled, adding that U.S. satellites
picked up the explosion. Reed said in an interview that the blast
occurred in the summer of 1982.
The sabotage operation, however, did not halt the
construction of the Urengoi pipeline. The CIA was forced to revise
its tactics.
Responding to the Soviet leadership’s support for the
1981 crackdown on Poland’s Solidarity movement, Reagan announced
a program of sanctions on companies selling gas-drilling equipment
and turbines for gas-compressor stations to the Soviet Union while
urging European states not to buy Soviet gas.
Officially it was declared that this was in retaliation for
Soviet support for martial law in Poland. But it is also plausible
that the strategy was meant to ease U.S. concerns about the
construction of the Urengoi-Uzhhorod gas pipeline.
The embargo, however, was easier to declare than to
implement.
Norwegian scholar Ole Gunnar Austvik wrote in an article
titled “The U.S. Embargo of Soviet Gas in 1982” that a delegation
under the auspices of the U.S. State Department sought to induce the
Western Europeans not to buy Soviet gas and to choose alternative
sources of energy.
“The arguments in favor of such diversion were close to our
notion of economic warfare, even though the whole range of arguments
was actually used. An economically strong Soviet Union is more
dangerous than a weak one,” Austvik wrote. “The U.S. compensation
package contained two main components; American coal and Norwegian
gas were presented as alternatives to Soviet gas.”
Neither alternative, however, existed. The United States did
not produce enough coal to meet Europe’s needs and even if it
did, the logistics of transporting it there were overwhelming.
Furthermore, at the time Norway’s gas production was not
sufficient to replace Soviet gas. By November 1982, after the United
States increased its grain sales to the USSR, the gas sanctions were
terminated.
Originally, the Urengoi pipeline was projected to go through
East Germany, but the West German government protested and it was
rerouted through Soviet Ukraine. The West Germans were concerned that
in the event of a crisis, the East Germans could turn off the valves
and stop supplies. Soviet Ukraine was seen as the more reliable
transit route.
The 1982 NIE states that the West Europeans’ prime energy
goal at the time was to “reduce their dependence on OPEC,” at the
time a significant Western concern arising from the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil boycott of 1973. The oil
crisis that ensued from that boycott may have fueled U.S. concerns
regarding Soviet gas, lest the Soviet Union someday copy OPEC’s
tactic.
In November 1983, the CIA issued another NIE, titled “Soviet
Energy Prospects Into the 1990s,” which, in many ways, foresaw the
current predicament.
“If Moscow lands contracts to supply even half of the West
European gas-demand gap now foreseen for the 1990s, an additional
pipeline…would be required…and dependence on Soviet gas could
approach 50 percent of gas consumption for major West European
countries, far in excess of the 30 percent share that we and some
West European governments regard as a critical threshold for
political risk” the NIE stated. (Roman Kupchinsky)
INTERVIEW: WILL RUSSIA’S OIL WINDFALL GO TO MILITARY? WASHINGTON
May 11, 2006 (RFE/RL) — While Russian President Vladimir Putin
focused on domestic political issues in his annual
state-of-the-nation address to the Federal Assembly on May 10, he did
mention making new purchases of nuclear submarines and boosting the
“procurement of modern aircraft, submarines, and strategic missiles
for the armed forces.”
RFE/RL correspondent Julie A. Corwin asked Brian D. Taylor,
an expert on the Russian military at Syracuse University’s
Maxwell School and author of “Politics and the Russian Army:
Civil-Military Relations, 1689-2000,” to put Putin’s remarks in
context.
RFE/RL: In his annual address, Putin talked about
commissioning two strategic nuclear submarines among other military
expenditures. Is this how Russia is going to spend its new oil
wealth? Does this represent a real commitment to higher military
spending or is this a just bone thrown to the military?
Brian Taylor: He obviously [has been] flush with oil and gas
money over the last few years, and it has shown up in defense
expenditures really starting around 2002 or so. But at the same time
he himself notes in the annual address this year that they
shouldn’t expect to match the U.S. or even countries like France
and Britain in terms of how much they’re outlaying on defense.
There is some need for certain investments in strategic
nuclear forces given that there was very little investment in those
in the 1990s, but it doesn’t mean that we are looking at a new
nuclear arms race. You know, I think it’s probably real that they
are going to be spending more money in this area but it’s nothing
that from the U.S. perspective that should be seen as alarming or
worrying.
RFE/RL: So the procurement budget has already been going up?
Taylor: The procurement budget has been going up — that is
certainly true, but we shouldn’t overestimate the extent to which
things have really sort of taken off. And we also shouldn’t
overestimate what impact that will have on military performance,
because military performance depends on a lot of other things other
than weapons systems.
And he [Putin] didn’t have anything really to say — or
he didn’t have much to say in the speech about that. He talked a
bit about some of the changes in personnel policy in short term of
the draft and getting more NCOs [noncommissioned officers] and
sergeants and that sort of thing.
But that’s been something they have been talking about
for quite some time, too, and it doesn’t seem to have had a big
impact in terms of reducing certain dysfunctional elements of serving
in the Russian military, like hazing and death from suicide and death
from accidents and the fact that most people don’t want to send
their kids to serve in the military.
RFE/RL: Why not use some of the oil money to recruit soldiers
and make the army fully professional? Perhaps with the right
recruitment bonus, young men wouldn’t try so hard to avoid the
draft?
Taylor: I think people would come for certain amounts of
money. I mean there are people particularly in rural areas and
certain working-class families who see it as a viable option. So they
have increased the so-called professional component of their armed
forces over time and they’re reducing — in fact they’ve
eliminated in terms of the armed forces sending draftees to Chechnya.
And there is this sort of long-term trajectory towards creating more
professional forces.
But again, this is old rhetoric. I mean if you go back to
[former President Boris] Yeltsin and when he ran for president the
second time in 1996, he was going to end the draft and create a
professional military.
RFE/RL: So what’s the U.S. reaction to this speech likely
to be?
Taylor: I don’t really think the U.S. will respond in any
sort of serious way, rhetorical or otherwise, and I really don’t
think the U.S. should or needs to. If you just look at the trajectory
in terms of nuclear forces, which is the one area in which he made
some specific commitments today, the U.S. is well out ahead of Russia
in terms of developing new systems — in deploying new systems, and
the number of warheads available.
And really we’re in a situation in which the U.S.
probably has a much larger nuclear arsenal than it needs and the
trends are sort of down, over time, and somewhat consistent with
certain arms-control treaties, although those don’t have a lot of
teeth. And Russia is going to continue over time to let the size of
its nuclear force reduce, too, as older systems go offline.
RFE/RL: So in conclusion it sounds like you don’t think
the Russian military will be the recipient of the “oil dividend”?
Taylor: They’re going to be one of the beneficiaries of
an oil-and-gas dividend, but there are other things that Putin wants
to spend the money on, too, He’s got his whole national projects
in terms of education, agriculture, housing, and those sorts of
things. And in terms of delivering voters to his anointed successor
in 2008, if that’s the plan, spending the money on the national
projects seems like a better way to try and attract voters, assuming
that elections matter, than spending it on nuclear submarines.
************************************* ********************
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
The “RFE/RL Russian Political Weekly” is prepared
on the basis of a variety of sources. It is distributed every
Wednesday.
Direct comments to [email protected].
For information on reprints, see:
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Back issues are online at
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
_________________________________________ ____________________
RFE/RL Iran Report
Vol. 9, No. 17, 12 May 2006
A Review of Developments in Iran Prepared by the Regional Specialists
of RFE/RL’s Newsline Team
******************************************** ****************
HEADLINES:
* DATE SET FOR NEXT ELECTIONS
* ALLEGED BOMBERS ARRESTED IN SOUTHWEST IRAN
* NONGOVERNMENTAL GROUPS NOTE LACK OF PRESS FREEDOM
* TOP OFFICIAL SELECTED FOR GUARDS CORPS
* IRAN-IRAQ BORDER CROSSING OPENED
* NUCLEAR WATCHDOG REPORTS NEGATIVELY ON IRAN
* TEHRAN CRITICIZES U.S. DIPLOMACY
* ROHANI INSISTS NUCLEAR CRISIS CAN BE SOLVED
* RICE PURCHASES COULD SIGNAL PREPARATIONS FOR SANCTIONS
* HIZBALLAH ACKNOWLEDGES IRANIAN SUPPORT
* IRAN, HIZBALLAH COUNTER U.S. ACCUSATIONS OF SUPPORTING TERRORISM
* STATE MAINTAINS TIGHT CONTROL OVER INFORMATION
* ACTIVISTS FEAR LOOMING CRACKDOWN
**************************************** ********************
DATE SET FOR NEXT ELECTIONS. Guardians Council spokesman Abbas Ali
Kadkhodai announced on May 6 that the election for the Assembly of
Experts and parliamentary mid-term elections in Tehran, Rey,
Shemiranat, Islamshahr, Bam, and Ahvaz will take place on November
17, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported.
It was previously announced that municipal-council elections
will take place on the same as Assembly of Experts elections. The
head of the Tehran council, Mehdi Chamran, is not happy with this
idea. He said there will be a six-month gap between the actual
polling and the date when new councilors take office (in April),
“Etemad-i Melli” reported on April 24. Council members who are not
reelected, Chamran continued, will be undermined. (Bill Samii)
ALLEGED BOMBERS ARRESTED IN SOUTHWEST IRAN. Deputy Interior Minister
Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr said in Shiraz that the Iranians responsible
for “undermining security” in the southwestern Khuzestan Province and
the southeastern Sistan va Baluchistan Province have been arrested,
state radio reported on May 4. There was foreign involvement, Zolqadr
added, saying, “The arrested individuals were some duped persons who
enjoyed the support of the forces occupying Iraq.”
The supreme leader’s representative in Khuzestan
Province, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Musavi-Jazayeri, told a May 3
meeting of officials from the southwestern province that they must
attend to public needs and difficulties if they are to improve the
situation in the province, Khuzestan television reported. “This is
the year for creating a major change in the province and taking steps
towards comprehensive progress,” he said. Musavi-Jazayeri encouraged
the completion of unfinished development projects.
Provincial Governor-General Amir Hayat-Moqaddam told the
meeting that the province is one of the country’s top recipients
of development funding, and the 500 billion rials ($57 million)
allocated to Ahvaz exceeds the amount allocated to some of the
country’s other provinces. Hayat-Moqaddam referred to a lack of
potable water in cities and villages, and he mentioned Abadan,
Khorramshahr, and Masjid-Suleiman.
Two days earlier, Ahvaz Prosecutor-General Iraj Amirkhani
announced on state radio that 25 people have been arrested in
connection with recent bombings. State radio noted that the most
recent bombings took place in late January (see “RFE/RL Iran Report,”
January 31, 2006).
Many ethnic Arabs live in Khuzestan Province, and they make
up 3 percent of the total population (roughly 2 million out of
68,688,433). Amnesty International on April 28 expressed concern for
several ethnic Arabs in Iran — Ali Matourzadeh, his wife, Fahima
Ismail Badawi, and their one-month-old daughter, Salma. Reportedly
arrested on February 28, Matourzadeh is a founder of the illegal
Hizb-i Vifaq party. His whereabouts are unknown, while his wife and
daughter are being held at Sepidar Prison in Khuzestan Province.
Amnesty International has suggested Fahima and Salma are being held
in order to force Ali Matourzadeh to cooperate, and the group
demanded their unconditional release. (Bill Samii)
MEMBERS OF RELIGIOUS MINORITY JAILED. Fifty-two Sufis have been given
prison sentences on a range of charges, Reuters reported on May 4,
citing “Kargozaran” newspaper. “Each of them has been sentenced to a
one year jail term, some fines, and 74 lashes,” attorney and
defendant Farshid Yadollahi said. Yadollahi and another defendant
received the same sentence, plus a five-year ban on practicing law.
They have 20 days to appeal the sentences. A major crackdown on Sufis
began in Qom in February, when more than 1,000 of them were arrested
(see “RFE/RL Iran Report,” February 22, 2006). (Bill Samii)
WORKERS DEMONSTRATE. Workers marking International Labor Day in
Tehran demonstrated against temporary contracts and also called for
greater job security, state television reported. A demonstrator
interviewed by the state-television correspondent complained about
his “very low” salary, which he explained is approximately $150 per
month. A female demonstrator demanded permanent contracts, according
to state television. The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) also
reported that the workers demonstrated, but it focused on their
support for Iran’s nuclear pursuits. (Bill Samii)
NONGOVERNMENTAL GROUPS NOTE LACK OF PRESS FREEDOM. Human Rights Watch
reported on May 4 that Ramin Jahanbegloo, a Canadian-Iranian scholar
who has written for newspapers and magazines in Iran and abroad, was
arrested the previous week and is at risk of torture.
The Canada-Iran nexus appears to be especially upsetting for
the Iranian government. On May 3, Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
stated in its annual report covering 2005 that three Iranian security
officials at the embassy in Ottawa launched a “brutal attack” on a
Canadian-Iranian filmmaker. RSF also asserted that the Iranian
government has “total control over news within [its] borders and [is]
among the world’s most repressive regimes.” RSF called Iran “the
region’s biggest prison for journalists.” The presidency of
Mahmud Ahmadinejad has seen a worsening of the situation, RSF
continued, and at least 32 newspapers were suspended in the last
quarter of 2005. Predatory practices also are applied to the
Internet, according to RSF, with “a score of bloggers and online
journalists” jailed since September 2004.
Freedom House’s media survey of the Middle East, which
was released on April 27, described Iran as “Not Free.” The report
noted harsh press laws that result in self-censorship, secret trials,
and “solitary confinement and torture” of journalists and writers.
(Bill Samii)
TOP OFFICIAL SELECTED FOR GUARDS CORPS. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei has appointed Brigadier General Morteza Rezai as first
deputy commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), the
ISNA reported on April 30. Rezai succeeds Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, who
now serves as deputy interior minister.
Mohammad Ebrahim Dehqani, a commander with the IRGC naval
forces and spokesman of recent naval war games, said on May 2 that
“We have announced that wherever America perpetrates wicked deeds,
Israel will be our prime target,” ISNA reported. Dehqani went on to
say, in response to a student’s question, that Iran does not fear
U.S. B-52 bombers.
General Alireza Afshar, a public-relations official at
Iran’s Armed Forces General Headquarters, downplayed
Dehqani’s remarks, “Iran” reported on May 4. Afshar noted that
the naval exercises ended in March, so anything Dehqani says
subsequently are his personal views and do not reflect the
military’s official views. (Bill Samii)
IRAN-IRAQ BORDER CROSSING OPENED. The Chazabeh border crossing, where
Iran and Iraq meet in Khuzestan Province, was opened on May 2,
provincial television reported. A border market was opened as well.
Interior Minister Hojatoleslam Mustafa Purmohammadi said at the
speech at the opening ceremony, “The enemies of the people of
Khuzestan must know that these people’s participation and
vigilance will foil their discord-creating plots, poisonous
propaganda, and ominous designs.”
In Tehran the previous day, the deputy commander of the Armed
Forces Joint Chief of Staff for Cultural and Defense Affairs,
Brigadier General Alireza Afshar, said any border incidents will be
taken seriously, IRNA reported on May 2. He referred to unspecified
incidents along the border and said, “We cannot be indifferent to
these incidents.”
Iranian forces reportedly clashed with Kurdish militants in
the northwest. Uthman Mahmud, the interior minister of Iraqi
Kurdistan, said on May 1 that Iranian artillery shelled 10 villages
in the border region, Al-Sharqiyah television reported. This is the
second attack in 10 days, he claimed, adding that there have been an
unspecified number of casualties. The incidents reportedly are
connected with the effort to suppress the Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK), which Turkey, Iran, and the United States consider a terrorist
organization.
The PKK vowed to retaliate against Turkey and Iran if either
country launches another attack on its bases in Iraq, Reuters
reported on May 3. “If Iran and Turkey continue attacking the bases
of the PKK or other Kurdish factions, the PKK will launch a guerrilla
war against Turkey because the PKK has forces based in Turkish
areas,” senior PKK leader Murat Karayilan said at a May 3 press
conference in the Iraqi Kurdish town of Raniyah, located close to
Lake Dukan and the Iranian border.
The incidents are upsetting Iraqi officials as well. Iraqi
parliament speaker Mahmud al-Mashhadani asked the Foreign and Defense
ministries to provide a formal explanation to the Council of
Representatives of Iran’s military incursions into Kurdistan on
May 3, RFE/RL’s Radio Free Iraq reported the same day.
Al-Mashhadani made the request after Kurdish parliamentarian Husayn
Barazanchi requested that the council issue a statement condemning
Iran’s shelling of Kurdish villages. Only about half of the
parliamentarians attended the May 3 session, which focused on the
appointment of a committee to draft the council’s by-laws. The
council is slated to reconvene on May 10.
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan official Imad Ahmad issued a
stern warning to the PKK against launching attacks on Turkey or Iran
from inside Iraqi territory in an interview with AFP, the news agency
reported on May 5. “They [PKK] are on our land. We want them to
respect the law and not use our territory to stage attacks,” said
Ahmad, deputy prime minister of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan-led
government in Kurdistan. “We want them to leave our country but in
peace, not in war. If they want to stay, they have to use politics,
not weapons,” he added. The PKK on May 3 vowed to retaliate against
Turkey and Iran if either country launches another attack on their
bases in Iraq. (Bill Samii, Kathleen Ridolfo)
SWEDES JAILED IN IRAN FOR ESPIONAGE. Two Swedish construction workers
in Iran have received three-year jail sentences for allegedly
photographing naval and military facilities and telecommunications
equipment on Qeshm Island, according to the Sveriges Radio Ekot
website on May 2. Swedish Ambassador to Iran Christopher
Gyllenstierna confirmed the sentence on April 29, but he would
provide no other information other than that the men are in their
30s. “In general, we have been reticent with details about this in
order not to draw too much attention to it. We feel this best serves
the two prisoners’ interests,” Gyllenstierna said. (Bill Samii)
NUCLEAR WATCHDOG REPORTS NEGATIVELY ON IRAN. An April 28 report on
Iran from Muhammad el-Baradei, director-general of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), finds that “existing gaps” in the
IAEA’s “knowledge” about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear
activities “continue to be a matter of concern.” Insufficient
information on the centrifuge program and on “the role of the
military in Iran’s nuclear program” means that the IAEA is unable
to confirm “the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities
in Iran.”
The IAEA report refers to inadequate Iranian transparency and
cooperation: “Iran declined to discuss these matters…,” “Iran
continues to decline the agency’s request for a copy of the
document,” “Iran has continued to decline the agency’s request
for a copy.” The report also notes that Iran refused to make
individuals available for interviews. Iran said information on its
Green Salt project was “baseless,” but documentation Iran provided
previously contradicted this assertion (“green salt” is a reference
to uranium tetrafluoride; see “RFE/RL Iran Report,” February 6,
2006). (Bill Samii)
TEHRAN CRITICIZES U.S. DIPLOMACY. Representatives of the five
permanent members of the Security Council (China, France, Russia, the
United Kingdom, and the United States) and Germany met in Paris on
May 2 to discuss the Iranian nuclear issue.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi declared
on May 3 that U.S. foreign policy is in crisis, according to Fars
News Agency. Assefi based his assessment on U.S. Undersecretary of
State Nicholas Burns’ statement earlier that day that the
participants in the Paris meeting had failed to reach a consensus on
how to deal with the Iranian nuclear problem.
“Iran’s nuclear issue has made the U.S. totally lose
global trust,” Assefi said, according to Fars. “The U.S. has foul
intentions to impose its policies on countries and disrupt
international peace and security through forceful measures and
putting pressure on its allies.”
Burns had suggested that “the Security Council has no option
but to proceed under Chapter 7,” “The New York Times” reported, in a
reference to the UN Charter’s article that would open the way for
sanctions or military force. Burns predicted that this could take up
to two months, according to “The New York Times,” and he added that
it could take up to three months to generate support for sanctions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in Washington, the
“Financial Times” noted on May 3, and Berlin reportedly supports the
idea of a Chapter 7 resolution. (Bill Samii)
ROHANI INSISTS NUCLEAR CRISIS CAN BE SOLVED. Hojatoleslam Hassan
Rohani, head of the Expediency Council’s Strategic Research
Center and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s representative
in the Supreme National Security Council, said during a May 3 meeting
with visiting German parliamentarian Ruprecht Polenz that the current
crisis over the Iranian nuclear program is solvable, Radio Farda
reported.
Polenz proposed that the enrichment of uranium for Iran
outside the country would contribute to the restoration of
international confidence in the Islamic republic. Iran no longer
trusts the international community’s promises or guarantees,
Rohani countered. He added that the resumption of activities at the
Isfahan uranium-conversion facility and the Natanz Pilot Fuel
Enrichment Plant, as well as the end of voluntary compliance with the
Additional Protocol of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) were
reactions to the Europeans breaking their promise not to report Iran
to the UN Security Council. The solution to this matter, Rohani said,
is dialogue.
Rohani said a week ago in Tehran that “Iran has no problem
with short-term suspension, but the problem is that the West and
America are using this short term suspension as a pretext to prolong
the issue,” according to “Etemad-i Melli” on April 25. Iran has
strict limits, Rohani declared: “Our red line in the nuclear dossier
is for Iran’s right to be guaranteed and for us to be certain
that we can conduct enrichment activities.” (Bill Samii)
RICE PURCHASES COULD SIGNAL PREPARATIONS FOR SANCTIONS. Chookiat
Ophaswongse, president of the Rice Exporters Association of Thailand,
said representatives of the Government Trading Cooperation of Iran
are in Thailand to negotiate the purchase of 300,000 metric tons of
rice, “The Nation” newspaper from Thailand reported on May 3.
Bloomberg on May 2 put the figure at 300,000-400,000 tons. “Iran may
have to speed up its rice purchases to reduce the risk of a shortage
that may occur from economic sanctions if the United Nations decides
to impose them,” Chookiat said, according to “The Nation.” Iran has
already contracted to purchase 400,000 tons of Thai rice, and some
deliveries remain to be made. (Bill Samii)
HIZBALLAH ACKNOWLEDGES IRANIAN SUPPORT. Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah,
secretary-general of Hizballah in Lebanon, acknowledged Iranian
assistance to his organization and also defended Tehran in a May 1
speech in Beirut. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has always supported
the Lebanese people and Hizballah’s military branch known as the
‘Islamic Resistance,'” Nasrallah said, IRNA reported on May
2.
Nasrallah also spoke against warnings of an Iranian-promoted
“Shi’ite crescent,” (Jordan’s King Abdullah suggested in 2004
that Iran seeks to create a Shi’ite crescent stretching across
Iraq to Lebanon, and Egypt President Hosni Mubarak more recently
suggested that Shi’a in the region are more loyal to Iran than to
their home countries), Al-Manar television reported on May 1.
Nasrallah said “America and the Zionists” are inciting the
world against Iran by raising the issue of a “Persian empire.” At a
time when Arab states would not dare host a conference like the one
on Palestine and Jerusalem that took place in Tehran in mid-April, he
continued, “Would [Iran] publicly declare its political and financial
support for the Palestinian people and the Palestinian government?”
Iran’s raising concerns about alleged Persian ambitions and
contributing to strife and discord, Nasrallah said, is a “great and
decisive disservice for the U.S.-Zionist scheme that tries to firmly
plant its feet in the region.” (Bill Samii)
IRAN, HIZBALLAH COUNTER U.S. ACCUSATIONS OF SUPPORTING TERRORISM.
Tehran has responded to an annual U.S. State Department report
fingering Iran as “the most active state sponsor of terrorism” by
suggesting that the United States is not qualified to pass such a
judgment. Iranian allies in the Lebanese Hizballah singled out in the
April 28 report responded similarly, accusing the Bush administration
of supporting “Israeli terrorism” and carrying out its own terrorist
activities. But the participation of numerous terrorist groups in a
mid-April conference in Tehran — as well as Iranian officials’
open encouragement of suicide bombings — undermines that
country’s defense of its policies.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi
countered the State Department report by accusing the United States
of hypocrisy. He was quoted by IRNA on April 29 as saying the U.S.
administration singles out countries whose policies it opposes and
who stand up to what he described as the “Zionist regime.” Assefi
described the United States as Israel’s “main supporter,” and he
said U.S. policies contribute to the intensification of terrorism. He
added that the United States is therefore in no position to point the
finger at others.
The State Department’s annual “Country Reports on
Terrorism” also describe the Lebanese Hizballah — which it has
labeled a “foreign terrorist organization” — as being “closely
allied with Iran and often act[ing] at its behest.”
Hizballah’s reaction was described on the Lebanese
organization’s Al-Manar television on April 29. Hizballah charged
that Washington supports what it called “Israeli terrorism.” The
group said that actions by U.S. President George W. Bush’s
administration warrant a spot at the top of a list of global
terrorists. Hizballah declared that it is unmoved by its appearance
in the U.S. report, adding that it considers it “a big medal on [the]
mujahedins’ chests.”
The State Department report asserts that Iran’s Ministry
of Intelligence and Security and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps
(IRGC) were “directly involved in the planning and support of
terrorist acts.” It claims they also encourage the leadership of
Lebanese Hizballah and Palestinian groups with leaders in Syria to
“use terrorism in pursuit of their goals.”
The State Department alleges that “Iran maintained a
high-profile role in encouraging anti-Israeli terrorist activity —
rhetorically, operationally, and financially.” The report notes that
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmud
Ahmadinejad have “praised Palestinian terrorist operations.”
The State Department accuses Iran of having provided
“extensive funding, training, and weapons” to groups that include the
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.
Iranian officials and members of those groups have rejected the U.S.
accusations.
Representatives of those organizations attended an April
14-16 conference in Iran called Support for the Palestinian Intifada.
The State Department report does not mention that recent
conference, as it covers the year 2005. But Supreme Leader Khamenei
made statements in connection with the event that arguably encourage
terrorist operations. He told the conference on April 14 that “the
values of jihad and martyrdom are revived,” IRNA reported. Khamenei
added that “the noble blood of martyrdom-seeking youths and the
presence of dauntless warriors within the struggle invalidate all
calculations of worldly materialists and hedonists.” Khamenei hailed
“a new arena where blood triumphs over sword.”
Khamenei’s emphasis on martyrdom is not unusual. It is a
prominent theme in Shi’a Islam, the Iranian state religion. It is
also cited when Iranians discuss those who gave their lives in the
Iran-Iraq War or otherwise serving the country. Yet in the context of
a conference on the Intifada and to such an audience, Khamenei
appeared to be encouraging suicide bombings (also known as
martyrdom-seeking operations).
Indeed, Iranian officials appear to have encouraged their own
citizens to participate in such attacks. The Headquarters for Tribute
to the Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement — which is connected
with the IRGC — began enrolling volunteer suicide bombers in 2004.
Headquarters spokesman Mohammad Ali Samadi said in an interview that
appeared in the April 20 issue of “Il Giornale” that 55,000 Iranians
have volunteered for suicide-bombing missions in Palestine or Iraq.
He said that 1,000 of those volunteers have completed their training.
The spokesman added that the Iranian martyrdom volunteers are active.
But he noted that “unlike Hamas or Islamic Jihad,” the Martyrs of the
Global Islamic Movement “are not committed to a declared conflict.”
The State Department’s terrorism report also describes
Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria as “state sponsors.” The
report alleges that those countries facilitate terrorists’
acquisition of funds, weapons, and materials, and they also provide
terrorist groups with safe havens. (Bill Samii)
STATE MAINTAINS TIGHT CONTROL OVER INFORMATION. Suspension of
newspapers, the intimidation and harassment of journalists, arrests
and prison sentences by Iran’s conservative judiciary were
frequent events during reformist Mohammad Khatami’s presidency.
His successor — hard-line President Mahmud Ahmadinejad — has not
improved the situation for Iranian journalists who complain of
increased pressure and tighter media restrictions. At the local
level, a growing number of journalists have been jailed and their
publications have been suspended.
Vahid Pourostad, a media lawyer and member of the editorial
board of the reformist “Etemad-i Melli” (National Trust) newspaper,
was attacked by an unknown assailant on the night of April 8.
The man reportedly placed a knife on his throat and
threatened to kill him. Pourostad was not hurt but his files were
stolen. He revealed the details of the attack in his online blog.
In recent months there have been other reports of threats and
intimidation against journalists.
Rising Tide of State Pressure
Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, a prominent Iranian journalist and
the spokesman of the Committee To Defend Press Freedom, tells RFE/RL
that state pressure on journalists has also increased. “The National
Supreme Security Council allows itself whenever it wants to warn
journalists and issue circulars to editors in chief telling them what
to write and what not to write and Tehran’s prosecutor-general,
Said Mortazavi, directly contacts the press,” Shamsolvaezin said. “I
once said in an interview that Mr. Mortazavi is the editor in chief
of Iranian newspapers. The Culture Ministry also summons journalists
and talks to them and in these talks they also make implicit threats
so that journalists don’t cross red lines.”
Iranian journalists have always had to deal with red lines.
For example, any criticism of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is a
red line that journalists know not to cross.
Figuring Out Where The Boundaries Are
In recent months journalists have come under pressure not to
criticize the country’s nuclear policies and not to depict the
Iranian government’s dealings in the nuclear crisis as
unsuccessful.
Fariba Davudi Mohajer, an outspoken journalist in Tehran,
tells RFE/RL that “the boundaries have become much tighter” than they
were before. She adds, however, that in some cases journalists do not
know where the boundaries are.
“Some of these red lines are very clear and some are not,”
she said. “The issue of talks with the U.S. was, until a month ago, a
red line. For example, if I would write an article about it, it
wouldn’t get published. Therefore, journalists are confused.
The online daily “Rooz” recently reported that after March 21
— the beginning of the new Iranian year — Iran’s National
Supreme Security Council has announced new restrictions on the media.
According to the report, editors in chief have been warned to
avoid publishing political analysis that differs from the
country’s official policy.
Shamsolvaezin believes that in recent months the situation
regarding freedom of expression, freedom of information, and the
safety of journalists has deteriorated in Iran.
Problems At The Regional Level
“Since the government of Ahmadinejad came to power we have
not witnessed as many cases of journalists being arrested, but the
act of bringing criminal charges against journalists is spreading to
[other] cities and provinces,” he said. “In Tehran, courts only issue
heavy suspended sentences against journalists but don’t send them
to prison because of the negative international reaction.”
Many journalists have also left the country. Others have
changed their jobs and many have been forced to submit themselves to
censorship and stay in line with official policies in order to keep
their jobs.
Davudi Mohajer says some have also lost their jobs. “It seems
that now there is freedom of expression only for the supporters of a
certain opinion and not for all people,” she said. “Just in the last
few weeks we witnessed that about half of the ILNA [Iranian Labor
News Agency] news agency staff losing their jobs under the pretext of
economic issues but, in fact, most of them are considered reformists
and this dealt a severe blow to Iran’s journalism community.”
The Rise Of The Internet
In addition to increased pressure on the media, there are
also reports of the government’s tighter control of the Internet,
which in recent years has turned into a serious alternative news
source.
Many Iranian journalists have their own weblogs and some have
accused the government of blocking and filtering their sites.
In the past two years many bloggers have faced harassment and
some have been imprisoned.
There have also been reports of attempts to monitor text
messaging (SMSes on mobile phones), which has become very popular in
Iran for communicating and sharing jokes and is also used as a
political tool.
There has been no comment from the Iranian government about
complaints of tighter media restrictions and an assault on the
freedom of expression.
Tehran Prosecutor-General Mortazavi, who has been called “the
butcher of the press,” said recently that “freedom of the press and
freedom of expression are not absolute and are subject to respect for
Islamic and legal principles.” (Golnaz Esfandiari)
ACTIVISTS FEAR LOOMING CRACKDOWN. Some 400 students protested in
front of a Tehran university on May 2 to protest the expulsion of a
student by the country’s Education Ministry. The ministry
reportedly said that Peyman Aref — a graduate student at Tehran
University’s Faculty of Law and Political Science — does not
have “general and ideological competence” to continue his studies,
and should be expelled. Student activists and observers, however,
believe that Aref’s expulsion and similar sentences against other
politically active students are part of a new government crackdown on
Iranian universities.
At least two graduate student activists — Peyman Aref and
Mehdi Aminizadeh — former members of Iran’s largest and most
outspoken reformist student group (Daftar-i Tahkim Vahdat) have been
expelled from school in recent months.
Others have reportedly been banned from studying for one or
several semesters. Students have regularly reported being summoned to
disciplinary committees, security bodies, and courts — some have
even faced jail sentences.
The Students Protest
The authorities have also — despite some student objections
— started burying the remains of unknown soldiers killed during the
Iran/Iraq war on university campuses. The campaign is considered by
many as an attempt to bring extremist political groups into
universities to pressure more moderate students.
There have been also reports about the dismissal of
professors.
Mohammad Maleki, a former chancellor at Tehran University,
tells RFE/RL that the actions are aimed at crushing the pro-democracy
student movement.
Maleki was among students on May 2 who protested against
Aref’s expulsion and growing pressure on student activists.
“[The main point of] our protest [is] that these actions have
become a trend; by burying the remains or martyrs in the universities
and expelling students, it seems that they want to have a new kind of
cultural revolution and put students and professors under pressure,”
he said. “They especially want to create fear in the universities.
This government cannot stand criticism and opposition.”
Abdullah Momeni, an outspoken student leader in Tehran, also
believes that the Iranian government is trying to limit freedom of
expression and crush student dissent.
Calls For Tolerance
He tells RFE/RL that the authorities are violating the rights
of students. “Unfortunately, in the new system Ahmadinejad’s
government and the Education Ministry are ordering actions that are
being taken by security organs that violate the students’ basic
right to study,” he said. “Students who have a critical view of the
establishment, those who protest against government policies and
search for democracy in Iran do not have the possibility to study and
be politically active.”
Mehdi Aminizadeh, who has also reportedly been expelled from
university following intervention by Iran’s Intelligence
Ministry, recently called in an open letter for students groups,
human rights organizations, and political parties to work on his
behalf to help him return to school and pursue his studies.
Aminizadeh told Radio Farda on April 26 that he is determined
to fight for this right. “Continuing my studies is my right; I have
the right to study in the country where I was born and where I live
and I’m determined to do so,” he said. “It is possible that there
will be opportunities to study outside the country but that
doesn’t mean that whoever is [politically] active in this country
can be kept by the Intelligence Ministry from studying and be forced
to leave the country.”
Human rights activists have expressed concern about the
“intensifying repression” and the worsening of the situation
regarding freedom of expression in Iran since the government of
hard-line Ahmadinejad took office in August 2005.
Iran’s main pro-reform group, the Participation Front,
expressed concern on May 2 over pressure on students, including their
expulsion, and called on the government to have “more tolerance in
accepting criticism.”
Leading Intellectual Detained
Front spokesman Said Shariati told ISNA that the group has
also expressed concern about the detention of leading scholar and
author Ramin Jahanbegloo, and called on authorities to release
information about his situation.
Jahanbegloo, who also holds Canadian citizenship, was
reportedly arrested late last week after returning from a trip to
India. Jahanbegloo, the head of the department for contemporary
studies at Tehran’s Cultural Research Bureau, has published
several books on such subjects as liberal political philosopher
Isaiah Berlin and modernity in Iran.
The “Los Angeles Times” reported that Jahanbegloo had
challenged, in an article he wrote this year for the Spanish
newspaper “El Pais,” Ahmadinejad’s suggestion that the Holocaust
was a myth.
In recent days several Iranian websites had published reports
about his arrest and Iran finally today it was confirmed that he has
been detained.
The head of Tehran’s prison organization, Sohrab
Suleimani, told Fars news agency that Jahanbegloo was arrested on May
2 and is currently detained in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. He
did not give details about the reasons of his arrest.
Another official who did not want to be named has told Fars
agency that Jahanbegloo was arrested for security reasons and on
espionage charges.
Today in Tehran liberal cleric Mohsen Kadivar told a
gathering at the Association of Iranian Journalists that World Press
Freedom Day is celebrated as one of the country’s leading
intellectual is under arrest.
Kadivar who has been jailed in the past for his criticism of
the Iranian establishment added: “It has not been announced why
[Jahanbegloo was arrested] but we hope the day will come when no one
is held…before being tried by an open court.”
On April 30, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza
Assefi said that Canada’s ambassador to Tehran has reported the
detention of a Canadian citizen to the Foreign Ministry. He added
that the matter will be pursued in the courts. (Golnaz Esfandiari;
Radio Farda’s Mosadegh Katouzian)
************************************** *******************
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
The “RFE/RL Iran Report” is a weekly prepared by A. William Samii on
the basis of materials from RFE/RL broadcast services, RFE/RL
Newsline, and other news services.
Direct comments to A. William Samii at [email protected].
For information on reprints, see:
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Back issues are online at
From: Baghdasarian

French businesses threatened by Turkish boycott (Les entreprises
francaises s’alarment des menaces de boycott de la Turquie)

Le Monde – France; May 12, 2006
The Franco-Turkish economic community has warned that, if the French
parliament adopts a bill on the Armenian genocide, scheduled for
reading on May 18, it may provoke a boycott of French goods in Turkey,
as well as a possible prohibition on French imports to the country and
the exclusion of French countries from Turkish calls for tender.
A list of more than 400 French brands for boycotting is already
circulating on the Internet as a protest against the bill. If it is
adopted, first in line could be the nuclear group Areva, which is a
candidate to build nuclear power stations in Turkey, and other
companies that deal with the government or armed forces. After that,
there could be a spontaneous boycott by the general public of French
consumer goods, such as the products of Danone or L’Oreal.
Original article by Guillaume Perrier
Abstracted from Le Monde

Armenian political party opts out of governing coalition

AP Worldstream; May 11, 2006
A leading liberal party decided Thursday to opt out of the governing
coalition in the Armenian parliament, one of its leaders said.
Orinats Yerkir (Country Ruled by Law) made the decision during a
session of its political council, Oganes Markarian, a lawmaker and a
member of the party’s leadership, said in televised remarks.
The decision means that the party’s leader, Artur Bagdasarian, will
have to resign as parliament speaker and two other senior party
members will have to give up their Cabinet posts.
Orinats Yerkir has been part of the governing coalition since 2003
when it teamed up with the Republican Party and Dashnak-Tsutyun. It
had 20 seats in the 131-seat parliament.
Markarian didn’t explain the motives behind the party’s decision, but
some attributed it to a recent political scandal triggered by
Bagdasarian’s remarks.
Bagdasarian reportedly told a German newspaper last month that
Armenia’s future lies with the European Union and NATO, and that
Russia should not block its Westward path _ a statement that should
have vexed Russia, which has a military base in Armenia.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian quickly disavowed the speaker’s
statement, saying that the Caucasus nation doesn’t have plans to join
NATO.
Amid the scandal, seven lawmakers from Orinats Yerkir resigned from
the party.

PanARMENIAN.Net
Ohannes Margaryan: Armenian Parliament Speaker Decided
to Resign

12.05.2006 13:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Speaker of the Armenian National
Assembly Artur Baghdassaryan decided to hand in his
resignation while Orinats Yerkir Party headed by him
will come off the ruling coalition, member of Orinats
Yerkir parliamentary faction Ohannes Margaryan told
Shant TV Channel. He said the decision on resignation
and party’s secession from the ruling coalition was
unanimously taken yesterday evening at the sitting of
the political council of Orinats Yerkir Party.
Today Artur Baghdassaryan will render a press
conference and officially announce of his resignation
and Orinats Yerkir’s secession from the coalition. To
remind, during the recent days several
parliamentarians came off Orinats Yerkir faction which
serves on the ruling coalition along with the
Republican Party of Armenia and Dashnaktsutyun on the
basis of the memorandum, signed upon the outcomes of
parliamentary elections in 2003, reported Mediamax.