MEETING AT NA STANDING COMMITTEE
National Assembly of RA, Armenia
March 16 2006
On March 16 Hranush Hakobyan, Chairwoman of NA Standing Committee
on Science, Education, Culture and Youth Affairs, met with Erwin
Asenbauer, President of “AFIDE” Association of Former United Nations
Industrial and Development Experts and Arshaluys Tchgnavorian, Former
Deputy Director of UN General Issues. Mr. Erwin Asenbauer informed
that the goal of “AFIDE” Association is to support the countries
being on the road of economic development. It was mentioned that it
is envisaged to set up an Association office in Yerevan.
In Mrs. Hakobyan’s view the Association can start its activity
studying the government-submitted “Medium-Term Development” pogramme
and the “Armenia’s Future Till 2020,” made by the support of Diasporan
Armenians. Mrs. Hakobyan highlighted the investment of scientific
achievements in the sphere of economy. She proposed the experts of
“AFIDE” Association to study the problems of harmonizing economy with
ecology, the basin of lake Sevan, the social and economic situation
of the population of Armenia’s regions. The cooperation in the sphere
of economy and the organization of the conference on the problems of
harmonizing economy and science were highlighted.
Other issues were also discussed at the meeting.

OSKANYAN RECEIVED DANIEL FRIED
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
March 16 2006
March 16 RA FM Vardan Oskanyan received the U.S. Assistant Secretary of
State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried, who had arrived
in Armenia within the frames of the regional visit accompanied by
the OSCE Minsk group American Co-Chair Steven Mann.
According to the information De Facto got at the RA MFA press service,
in the course of the meeting the parties had discussed a number
of regional and bilateral issues. In part, they exchanged opinions
concerning Armenia’s energy security. It was noted that settlement
of the conflicts in the South Caucasus would allow fully using the
region’s potential. The parties touched upon the situation over
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement and discussed the steps
to be taken to continue the negotiations within the frames of the
Prague process. Vardan Oskanyan and Daniel Fried also dwelled on the
Armenian-Turkish relations, in particular, on the issues referring to
unblocking the border and exploitation of the communication. In the
course of the meeting the interlocutors also discussed the issues
relevant to the Millennium Challenge program and strengthening
democracy in RA.

LAST EXAMINATION OF AZERI OFFICER WAS TENDENTIOUS – LAWYER IMAYILOV
Author: E.Javadova
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006
The last examination for definition of psychological state of Ramil
Safarov, an Azerbaijani officer who is accused of assassination of
An Armenian officer, Gurgen Markarian in Budapest, was carried out
in tendentious way, Adil Ismayilov, a law-defender of Safarov, told
a news conference at the International Press Center, Trend reports.
Gal Katalin, who carried out the first examination, interfered into
the process. During the first examination Katalin regarded the
state of Safarov was responsible before and after the crime. The
second examination held by Safarov estimated the state of Safarov as
partially irresponsible. The court appointed the third examination
to remove the contradictions between the two previous examinations.
Katalin asked the court to authorize the experts that he recommended
hold examination.
Ismayilov noted that the proposal was regarded as absurd and
rejected. As a result, the third examination of Safarov was objective
and irresponsible state of Safarov was confirmed. The judge did not
accept the results of the third examination and while appointing the
fourth examination Gal Katalin anew forwarded his proposal. “The court
charged the examination by experts not recommended by Gal Katalin,
but another institute. However, at the last moment the resolution
was changed and the examination was again given to experts suggested
by Katalin. Consequently the results of the fourth examination
coincided to the first, which urge that Safarov’s state was completely
responsible, Ismayilov underlined.
The lawyer announced that representatives of the Armenian Defense
Ministry, the Court Martial and different military bodies participated
in all hearings on Safarov. Official of the Azerbaijani Defense
Ministry participated only in the last hearings.

ARMENIAN ORGANIZATIONS DEMANDS INTRODUCTION OF SECOND STATE LANGUAGE
Prime News
March 16, 2006, 9:53 pm
Tbilisi. March 16 (Prime News) – Birk and Javakhk NGOs operating in
Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia, largely populated with Armenians,
demand introduction of the Armenian language with a status of the
second state language.
The above-mentioned organizations drafted a letter of appeal to
the Parliament of Georgia at the meeting in the town of Akhalkalaki
on Thursday.
According to them, the major part of the local population is of
Armenian origin and must enjoy Armenian record keeping.
Besides, the representatives of Birk and Javakhk say that they suffer
frequent violations of their rights for their ethnicity.; the Armenians
are deprived of an opportunity to work as public officers and they
are replaced by the Georgians, who arrive in Samtskhe-Javakheti from
other regions, they say.

ETHNIC OVERTONES IN SAMTSKHE-JAVAKHETI CLASH
The Messenger
Thursday, March 16, 2006, #050 (1070)
The aftershocks of an apparent restaurant fight that left one man
dead in the multi-ethnic Tsalka district illustrate how sensitive
local nerves are to speculations of ethnic-based violence and how
sensitive Georgian politics is to reports of tension.
On March 9 in Tsakla an argument took place in a restaurant between
ethnic Armenians and ethnic Svanetians, Georgians who had been moved
to the region in the early 1990s. It was widely reported in Georgian
press that a fight fueled by alcohol broke out between the two groups
after a disagreement on music playing in the venue.
During the conflict a 23-year-old ethnic Armenian, Gevork Gevorkian,
was killed. Police arrested 5 suspects shortly afterwards and a
representative of the Public Defender’s representative went to Tsalka
at once. As the newspaper 24 Saati quotes Public Defender Sozar Subari
as saying, “We concluded that this was not an ethnic confrontation –
it was just an ordinary struggle.”
But the aftermath of the fight and death is far from ordinary. A group
of Armenian residents, who comprise 57 percent of the population in
Tsalka, called for a lynching of the suspects and raided the local
administrative building. It has been reported that police at the time
stood down in order not to incite a larger conflict.
The Tsalka aftershocks spread to Akhalkalaki, the central city in the
region, where on March 12 an Armenian NGO held a protest action about
the incident. According to 24-Saati, the action grew to anti-Georgian
statements. Eventually the crowd stormed in the local branch of the
Tbilisi State University and the local court building. Finally the
angry mob targeted the bishop’s office of the region after hearing
Georgians were keeping weapons there. The newspaper Akhali Taoba
reports law enforcers and the bishop’s administration agreed to allow
some of the protesters inside; once they confirmed no weapons were
there, the crowd dispersed.
What transpired over these four days is prone to exaggeration and
sensationalism. But the organizer of the initial protest has already
disavowed the mob’s behavior. “There were agents in the action that
called on the population to destroy the university. We did not plan
this,” a member of the Samtskhe-Javakheti Public Organization Council
Khachatur Stepanian told the newspaper 24-Saati. Still the council
plans to hold new, peaceful protests in the near future. “First of all
we demand that government affairs be conducted in Armenian language
and that Armenians stay safe as well,” the newspaper Khvalindeli Dghe
quotes council members as saying.
At the same time, the events in Akhalkalaki have irritated Georgian
society. “Samtskhe-Javakheti separatists want war with Georgians”
on Georgian newspaper, Akhali Taoba, wrote. Many representatives of
the Armenian Diaspora in Tbilisi have countered that the behavior of
the rioters must not me connected with the entire Armenian population
in Javakheti. “There doesn’t exist in Javakheti any anti-Georgian
position. It is impossible for Armenians to have an anti-Georgian
position,” says MP Van Baiburt in Akhali Taoba.
Georgian authorities have attributed the Akhalkalaki incident
to outside forces. The presidential representative in the
Samtskhe-Javakheti region Goga Khachidze says the conflict is
likely tied to Russian special services and resent opposition
demonstrations. He also calls on Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze
to pay more attention to the situation.
Burjanadze on her part also blames ‘outside forces.’ As quoted in the
newspaper Akhali Taoba she said, “The criminals must be punished. It
is obvious that certain forces are apt to create a confrontation
between Georgians and non-Georgians. I am certain that Georgians
and non-Georgians will maximally try not to pay attention to these
provocations.”
Critics accuse the government however of being lackadaisical to the
ethnic dynamics in motion in the Javakheti region. “The president will
have to explain why he does not pay attention to the region, why he
did not work out a Samtskhe-javakheti development plan, why he did
not suggest for Armenians working in Russian markets any alternative
[work] besides potato selling,” wrote the newspaper Akhali Taoba.
It is tragic that the death of Gevork Gevorkian happened in the first
place and it should be also disconcerting for the Georgian government
that local residents have such little faith in the government’s due
process. An effective interactive dialogue with national minorities
in the region still needs development in the region; at the same time,
economic development of the region is also urgently needed.

ARMENIAN ‘MERCENARY’ SAGA STIRS UP KENYAN POLITICS
By C. Bryson Hull
Reuters AlertNet, UK
March 16 2006
NAIROBI, March 16 (Reuters) – It was a bizarre twist in Kenya’s
increasingly chaotic political climate: claims that foreign mercenaries
led a police raid on a major media house.
But what began as a minor mystery from one of the most controversial
moments in President Mwai Kibaki’s three-year-old rule has quickly
escalated to convulse local politics and bemuse Kenyans with its
theatrical elements.
The story began with the overnight March 2 raid on the Standard
Group, and reached a crescendo this week with an opposition leader
who first made the mercenary charges trading weighty accusations with
the Armenians he named.
“The whole thing looks orchestrated on both sides. It doesn’t
taste real,” security consultant and former Criminal Investigation
Department officer Ambrose Murunga, told Reuters. “No one has ever
really connected those Armenians to the raid.”
Already reeling from graft scandals and a fall in popularity, Kibaki’s
administration provoked international condemnation when hooded police
with assault rifles struck the KTN television station and its sister
newspaper the Standard.
Security cameras captured images of masked, light-skinned men.
Opposition chief Raila Odinga said that supported his accusation the
government had hired eastern European mercenaries to lead the raid
and kill opposition politicians.
“These two men were in on the raid and the police have given them
Kenya police force certificates,” Odinga said.
Odinga, who wants to run for president in 2007, raised the stakes by
recording two statements with police and producing copies of passports
of two Armenians he said were the guns-for-hire.
Police denied any foreign involvement and are now investigating
his charges.
VIP TREATMENT?
The men Odinga named then stepped out of the shadows to hold a press
conference on Monday to deny the accusations and level their own
against him over business dealings.
The venue of their appearance — the government VIP lounge of Nairobi’s
international airport — raised some eyebrows.
Appearing in dark suits and heavy gold jewelry, the men said they
were Armenian brothers from Dubai who had come to invest in Kenya,
to complement businesses including trading diamonds and gold from
the Democratic Republic of Congo.
One of the men, who identified himself as Artur Margariyan, said they
had to counter Odinga’s allegations to save their reputations.
“The next thing he was going to say was that we had tails and horns,”
Margariyan told Reuters in an interview.
He said it was the press who had led him into the VIP lounge.
But the setting of the conference has fuelled speculation the two
men have powerful government friends, as did their accusations that
Odinga had approached them for money.
Margariyan said the government was not protecting him and until they
assured his safety, he would not record a police statement.
He also alleged Odinga and fellow opposition leader Kalonzo Musyoka
approached him and his brother for 3 billion Kenya shillings ($41.44
million) to finance a vote of no confidence against Kibaki.
Margariyan said they refused to loan money for political purposes,
but gave Odinga $1.5 million in cash – in a plastic bag in a posh
Nairobi hotel suite in December – to sort out a domestic problem.
Odinga called the charges against him and Musyoka “hogwash.” Musyoka,
who recorded a statement with police, has said he met the two briefly
last year but never discussed money.
“These people were being kept hidden by the government and these are
very dangerous criminals,” Odinga told Reuters.
He declined to reveal where he had got their passport copies, saying he
needed to protect a source “who was not from the government as such.”
Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said Kenya was not protecting the
two Armenians. Police are probing all players in the puzzling drama,
he said.
“We are investigating these guys. We think there are a lot of politics
involved in this,” Mutua said.

AZERI POLICE PREVENTS PROTEST DURING ARRIVAL OF ARMENIANS IN BAKU
Baku Today, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006
Police prevented a protest from occurring today at 14:00 in front of
the “Park Inn” Hotel during the arrival of the Armenian delegation
participating in an OSCE conference.
Active members of the Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) attempted
to protest, Akif Nagi, KLO’s leader, told TURAN. Several members
of the KLO managed to enter the hotel, but police then caught them,
and did not allow the others to enter the hotel. The detained were
taken to the 39th police department and were it was said they would
be released only after the Armenian delegation leaves Baku.
The conference is about the increase of transport safety in the OSCE
zone. The Armenian delegation consisting of three people is led by
the Deputy Transport Minister of Armenia, Vagan Badalian.

GLO MEMBERS PROTESTING ARMENIANS’ VISIT TO BAKU ARRESTED
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006
Garabagh Liberation Organization (GLO) made several attempts to prevent
participation of Armenian representatives in the preparatory conference
to the OSCE Economic Forum, but police prevented the attempts.
GLO press service told APA that the organization members- Firudin
Mammadov, Khayyam Nagiyev, Afgan Suleymanov, Yashar Aliyev and some
others were taken to the police station # 39. GLO’s statement on this
happening reads that OSCE tries to justify the aggression of Armenia,
to reconcile the conflicting sides by force and to make Azerbaijan
agree with the aggression. Condemning the OSCE’s stance, GLO states
that this step disrespects the international legal norms. GLO also
deplore Azerbaijani government’s authorizing Armenians to visit Baku.
The arrested members of GLO have not been released yet. Police station
#39 told APA that after the arrested will be released after receiving
statements.
Armenian Foreign Ministry OSCE department chief- Varuzhan Nersesyan,
assistant head of Armenian delegation to the OSCE-Nahbarsum Minasyan
and Armenian Transport and Communication Ministry international
cooperation deputy chairman-Vahag Badalyan are taking part in the
preparatory conference for the OSCE Economic Forum.

ARMENIA ISOLATED FROM REGIONAL PROJECTS
Baku Today, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006
Today Armenia is isolated from regional projects and kept outside of
important communications. “We have done that because Armenia will not
give up its aggressive policy,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said
in his speech at the Second World Congress of Azerbaijanis in Baku.
He added that Azerbaijan will not make concessions, but will struggle
for a settlement of the Karabakh conflict that maintains the republic’s
territorial integrity. “Any cooperation is out of question until
Armenia liberates our territories,” said Aliyev.
Owing to rapid economic growth, Azerbaijan is developing, while the
economy of Armenia, which is in isolation, makes no headway.
The interest and importance of Azerbaijan’s partners and neighbors is
constantly growing. All this makes us believe that the country will
resolve all its problems, including the Karabakh conflict, said Aliyev.
He urged all Azerbaijanis living in various countries around the
world to actively promote the prosperity of their motherland and the
resolution of its problems.

GROUPS IN AKHALKALAKI WANT ARMENIAN AS OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Civil Georgia, Georgia
March 16 2006
Akhalkalaki-based Virk and Javakhk organizations have requested the
Georgian authorities to announce Armenian as the second official
language in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region, which is predominantly
populated by ethnic Armenians.
At a news conference on March 16 representatives of these
organizations said that they have already sent an appeal to those
four parliamentarians, who represent Armenian community, and asked
them to push the issue in the Georgian legislative body.
A group of non-governmental organizations based in Samtskhe-Javakheti
region requested last September the Georgian leadership to consider
possibility of granting the region autonomy with “broad authority
for self-governance, including the right to hold elections for all
bodies of governance.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress