Tbilisi Hosts CIS Summit

Civil Georgia
June 2 2005

Meeting of the heads of governments and senior governmental officials
from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will be opened on
June 3 – the first-ever CIS summit held in Georgia.

A total of 34 issues are planned to be discussed during the summit,
but Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli will participate in
discussions of only nine issues, including related with cooperation
in trade between the CIS countries. Nogaideli said on June 1, that
this fact signals “necessity of reformation of the CIS.”

Although, Tbilisi plays down importance of the CIS and instead
focuses on cooperation in frames of GUAM grouping of Georgia, Ukraine,
Moldova and Azerbaijan, officials say Georgia’s withdrawal from this
organization is not yet on the agenda.

Most of the participants of the summit arrived in Georgia on June 2.

Russian 100-member delegation, which is the largest among the
participant delegations, which will be led by Prime Minister Mikhail
Fradkov, is expected to arrive early on June 3.

Belarus Prime Minister Sergey Sidorsky will also arrive early on June
3. Bilateral meeting between Sidorsky and Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili is not expected. Tbilisi has been criticizing recently
Belarus authorities for human rights abuse.

President Saakashvili made no secret about Tbilisi’s preferences
among the CIS countries and welcomed Ukrainian delegation led by
Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko in the Tbilisi airport – the only
delegation Saakashvili met at the airport.

“I welcome here Ukrainian Prime Minister and an old friend of
Georgia. Soon, we expect in Tbilisi my friend, [Ukrainian] President
Victor Yushchenko,” Saakashvili told reporters in the airport.

“I can not imagine [the Ukraine’s 2004] Orange Revolution without you
[Georgia],” Yulia Timoshenko told reporters upon arrival.

Along with participation in the summit Timoshenko will also hold
bilateral talks with her Russian counterpart Mikhail Fradkov in
Tbilisi on June 3.

The CIS, which was created shortly after collapse of the Soviet Union
in December 1991, mainly served as a regional forum and failed to
become a strong vehicle of integration between its 12 members.

Georgia was the last to join the organization in 1993.

During a visit to the Armenia capital of Yerevan on March 25, Russian
President Vladimir Putin described setting up of CIS as “a civilized
divorce” after collapse of the Soviet Union.

He said that the organization should continue its activities, as it
represents a “useful club” for the exchange of information as well
as for the determination of opinions on common problems and economic
and humanitarian issues.

“Expecting outstanding achievements in the spheres of economy,
political and military cooperation from the CIS naturally led to
nothing, since there were no prerequisites for that,” Putin said,
but added, “where is a better platform for the discussion of these
issues than the CIS?”

Kurdish dream of independence spurs militant youth

Kurdish Media, UK
June 2 2005

02/06/2005 AFP

LIJWA, Iraq, June 2 (AFP) – 19h58 – On the sidelines of a Kurdish
congress in this northeastern Iraqi village, young Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK) militants from the region and Europe are bound together
by the dream of an independent state.

“I will only get married when my people are free,” said Sara Haldan,
expressing the burning hope of these people who adhere to what has
been labelled a terrorist group by the United States, European Union
and Turkey.

“I decided to join the fighters at the age of 15 after I saw Turks
drag my friend to her death behind an army vehicle. I decided then
to abandon my family and join the guerrillas to fight injustice,”
Haldan said.

This young Turkish Kurd has not seen her family in years for fear of
being recognized and arrested by Turkish authorities.

Kurds, who have sought independence since poet Ahmad Khani first
called for a Kurdish state to fend for its people in 1695, share a
common history, culture and language across four countries — Iran,
Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

For the meeting in this village 500 kilometers (300 miles) northeast
of Baghdad, the young militants broke out their traditional shalwar
pants, multicolored shirts and wide belts.

PKK flags, red and yellow with a red star, flapped in the wind.

Narin, 22, came from Syria and took advantage of a journalist’s
presence to denounce problems faced by Kurdish women.

“Kurdish men fight for their freedom, while Kurdish women fight for
their freedom and their rights,” she said. “We should never give up
the armed struggle before we regain all our rights.”

Others who have gathered in Iraq’s northern mountains agree.

“When my family emigrated from Turkey to France I was 12 years old. I
lived there for eight years before the party called me back to join
fighters in northern Iraq,” said 23-year-old Jankiz.

He now trains Kurdish fighters and insists he “wants to remain in
this natural, human landscape until my dream of a state in these
mountains is fulfilled”.

An Indo-European people descended in large part from the Medes and
Scythian tribes, Kurds are mainly Sunni Muslims who have settled
across nearly a half-million square kilometers (200,000 square miles).

Their total number vary according to official or Kurdish sources,
from 25 to 35 million people, with between 13 and 19 million living
in Turkey.

Iran is home to six to eight million Kurds, Iraq has four to five
million and Syria around 1.5 million.

Large Kurdish communities also exist in the former Soviet republics of
Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as in European countries like Germany.

The PKK waged a bloody campaign for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern
Turkey between 1984 and 1999 in a conflict that has claimed some
37,000 lives.

Around 5,000 militants are believed to be based in Turkey and the
mountains of northern Iraq.

On Wednesday, the party said it was ready to declare a ceasefire and
offered to begin peace talks with Ankara.

PKK official Murad Karayilan said the group was now seeking a “Kurdish
democratic federation.”

In Iraq, Kurds represent 15 to 20 percent of the population and were
severely persecuted by the regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein.
They have now become a political force, with Jalal Talabani becoming
in April the first Kurd to assume the nation’s presidency.

7 Firms seek the Management of Ataturk Airport

The new managing company of Ataturk Airport International and
Domestic terminals will be determined through a tender scheduled for
June 10, reports Zaman Daily

Zaman (Istanbul)
02 June 2005

The company that provides the highest bid in a closed envelope bid will
win the lease for the international and domestic airport terminals for
a period of 15.5 years. Meanwhile, the date of tender determined for
June 3, was postponed for a week when some of the bidders confirmed
that they were not yet prepared.

Alsim Alarko will join the bidding with Corporacion America SA,
owned by an Argentinean businessman of Armenian-origin, Eduardo
Eurnekian. The head of Eurnekian is at the same time one of the
partners of a consortium that operates 32 airports in Argentina.

Eurnekian is also making significant investments in the agricultural
sector in Argentina, other American countries, and Armenia; has also
recently taken control of the operation of Zvartnots International
Airport in Armenia.

On the other hand, Ictas that operates Antalya Airport’s second
international terminal (AY Terminal 2) joins the tender in a consortium
with TBI (Luton Airport-Britain). TBI manages an airport in London.

Celebi also enters the bidding with German Company Fraport that manages
Antalya international lines terminal with Bayindir. Canadian company,
SNC prepares to make an offer with ADP (Aero Due Paris) that operates
12 airports in Paris.

One of the strongest consortiums that will participate in the bidding
is Kuala Lumpur Airport’s managing organization, the Malaysian Company
KLI and ADR (Auroport Di Roma) that operates Leonardo Da Vinci and
Fiominico airport in Rome.

Diplomat: Russian weapons transferred to Armenia won’t destabilize region
By AIDA SULTANOVA

AP Worldstream
Jun 02, 2005

A Russian diplomat sought to assuage Azerbaijani concerns about the
relocation of weapons from Georgia to Armenia, saying Thursday that
the arms and equipment would remain under Russian military control
and would not destabilize the region.

Azerbaijan has voiced fears about Russia’s plan to move weaponry
from Georgia to Armenia, which has been locked in a conflict with
Azerbaijan over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia is
a staunch ally of Russia.

Pyotr Burdykin, Russia’s acting ambassador to Azerbaijan, said Thursday
that the weaponry was being relocated under pressure to speed up the
Russian military withdrawal from Georgia.

“We initially talked about returning all these weapons to Russia
in normal conditions, but Georgia and other nations have insisted
on speeding it up and applied very strong pressure,” Burdykin told
reporters in Baku.

Russia agreed to begin withdrawing from two Soviet-era bases in
Georgia by the end of the year and complete the pullout over the
course of 2008.

“This transfer isn’t directed against any third country, and it’s not
going to affect the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement,” Burdykin said. “There
is no sense in blowing it out of proportion.”

But Tahir Tagizade, a spokesman for Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, said
moving the weapons to Armenia would compromise Russia’s role as one
of the international mediators to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “We
will insist that Russia listen to our concerns,” he said.

Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region inside Azerbaijan, has been
under the control of ethnic Armenians since the early 1990s, following
fighting that killed an estimated 30,000 people. A cease-fire was
signed in 1994, but the enclave’s final political status has not been
determined, and shooting breaks out frequently between the two sides
across a demilitarized buffer zone.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s military on Thursday denied Azerbaijani reports
that an Azerbaijani soldier was killed Wednesday in a skirmish on
the border.

The head of Nagorno-Karabakh’s election commission, Sergei Nasibian,
defended the enclave’s plan to hold parliamentary elections on June 19.

“Azerbaijani’s concerns that the parliamentary elections would be an
obstacle to peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are
unfounded,” Nasibian said Thursday.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Hay Dat Council to meet in Yerevan

02.06.2005 15:18

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s (ARF) Hay Dat
Council is scheduled to hold its meeting in Yerevan on June 3 and 4,
ARF Bureau’s press service reported.

The Council comprises members of the ARF Bureau in charge of Hay
Dat activities, heads of the Hay Dat committees of U.S. and Europe,
directors of the Hay Dat offices in Washington, Brussels, Moscow,
and Beirut as well as the Yerevan central office, and representatives
of the ARF Supreme Body of Armenia and ARF Artsakh Central Committee.

The Council is to discuss additions to the Hay Dat strategy in the
light of the recent international and regional developments, and
shape the action plans for the Hay Dat offices worldwide.

On June 2, the ARF Bureau’s Hay Dat Council representatives met with
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian.

Talks with Turkey should be cancelled, German politician says

02.06.2005 11:29

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – German Christian Social Union Party (CSU) federal
assembly group Chair Michael Glos said they believe discussions
regarding Turkey’s bid should be resumed.

He noted the decision to start membership negotiations with Turkey
on October 3 should be retracted. The negative outcome of the French
referendum stems from the perspective of Turkey’s EU membership to
a large extent, according to Glos.

Upper Garabagh’s turning into drug-growing area confirmed

Baku, June 1, AssA-Irada

The uncontrolled Upper Garabagh territory has turned into an area
with widespread corruption and drug trafficking, which has drawn
attention from the international community. The utterances made by
a member of the 055 drug trafficking group Haji Barzain sentenced
to imprisonment by the New York court prove Azerbaijan’s previous
statements in this respect.

141 hectares of land is used to grow narcotics in Zangilan, 210
in Gubadly and 176 hectares in the Fuzuli districts of Azerbaijan
occupied by Armenia, according to Russian investigation sources and
US Department of Justice drug enforcement department.

Commenting on the issue, political analyst Rovshan Novruzoghlu told
local Lider TV channel that the investigation being carried out
by the US Department shows that drugs continue to be sown in the
mentioned territories.

The court materials show that drug trafficker Barzain operates
extensive drug plantations in Upper Garabagh and is involved in
transporting drugs to other countries, together with members of
Al-Qaeda terrorist cell.

23 people were detained on charges of drug trafficking in Upper
Garabagh in 2002, 34 in 2003 and 39 in 2004. Armenian individuals
charged with drug trafficking and believed to have close ties to
Upper Garabagh are currently on trial in Tehran, Iran.

The US State Department reports show Azerbaijan’s south as an area used
for the transit of narcotic substances. However, they also indicate
that Azerbaijani frontier guards are actively involved in fighting
drug trafficking in these territories.*

I’m innocent
By FEHMÝ KORU

/fkoru2.html

Yeni Safak daily, May 31, 2005

I should have warned you long ago, but how could I have done it,
since I did not know then that I had something to warn you about. I
feel a little warning is due now: I am an “unruly intellectual” who
“backstabbed” the “national interests,” or I’m one of those who have
been labeled a “traitor.”

I did nothing to deserve that label apart from saying “yes” to
participating in a panel discussion organized by the three most
prestigious universities of Turkey.

The discussion was a part of a three-day conference on “The Armenian
Question.” I know that the topic itself is sensitive, but nevertheless
it has been tackled in many platforms by different scholars, and as is
customary for us journalists, we have commented on the matter widely.

Believe me, even now I’m at a loss as to why my opinions are considered
to be dangerous since I don’t know what I was going to say at that
panel discussion. I always postpone planning my speeches until the
last minute. Justice Minister Cemil Cicek seems to know me better than
I know myself; he labelled myself and my “co-conspirators” as being a
“back-stabbing bunch” in his speech to the Parliament. Sukru Elekdag,
from the opposition Republican People’s (CHP) Party, also did not
hesitate to call us “traitors.”

I beg to differ. I have not betrayed my country, never intended to
commit any kind of treason, yet here I am being portrayed as a traitor
in the columns of some prominent papers. I have been bombarded with
messages from people criticizing me for simply being amongst those
who would give their opinions on a sensitive topic. Intellectuals,
by definition, are duty-bound to raise any issues of importance and
put them to discussion disregarding all hindrances; this is what I
have always believed.

It has never been easy to discuss thorny issues in Turkey before
readying yourself for the worst. We have put our intellectuals
into prisons, forced some to take asylum abroad, and even those
who recited poetry were not immune from prosecution. Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan himself, who spent some time in jail, was a victim
of our harsh methods of dealing with those who never bend in front
of abject power. But to call more than 40 intellectuals “traitors”
is too much for today’s Turkey.

Now the conference on “The Armenian Question” is out of the picture
because it was postponed by the event’s venue, Bogazici University. The
intellectuals, academics, researchers, and journalists who were
supposed to take part in the conference have been left labelled as
“traitors.” In attending the conference, I was hoping to hear some
of the best historians speaking on what happened at that historical
moment in 1915, in order to make up my own mind. I now feel dismayed.

The only consolation in this depressing sequence of events is to
receive positive after-shocks. Prime Minister Erdogan put distance
between his government and Cicek. Erdogan denounced him when he replied
to question on the matter by saying that Cicek’s outburst was his
own opinion and did not represent that of the government. Parliament
Speaker Bulent Arinc reproached the postponement of the event on
the basis of “freedom of expression” during his visit to Washington,
DC. The Board of Higher Education (YOK) initially supported Cicek’s
criticism, although it has changed its position after having second
thoughts on the matter.

So what really happened?

The powers that be in this country always look towards intellectuals
with deep suspicion. They feel uncomfortable whenever they are not
in their own territory, discussing issues with unfamiliar faces,
getting unexpected reactions. From time immemorial, they, the powers
that be, tend to breed their own coterie of trustworthy people to
raise and discuss issues of high importance. They never let things
go out of their control. Governments change, parties come and go,
politician after politician takes central stage, but the official
line is never broken. When we talk about “the continuity of state
politics” in Turkey, we really mean it.

Of course I have my own opinion on the critical events which took place
90 years ago, but my approach to the issue is not to automatically side
with this or that interpretation of the events. I feel deeply sorry
for the loss of human life which occurred in that critical timeframe,
regardless of the numbers. Whether the human life lost before and
during the forced migration was only one person or one million people,
a matter which does not concern me greatly, I would not feel relieved
if only a limited number had died during that fateful period.

It might be terribly important how many men and women from each side
lost their lives in 1915, who instigated the carnage, and who issued
the instructions to that effect. Those are the areas into which
historians should delve and I would like to hear their thoughts. My
main approach to the matter is more compassionate and I think if
we start discussing the issue using our hearts rather than logic,
we would make headway in the issue’s resolution.

What happened in 1915 was probably the result of bullies from both
sides who took advantage of the sorry state of the collapsing Ottoman
Empire. I look at that period retrospectively and try not to hasten
my judgment, but what happened in May 2005 is in my time and thus
naturally it concerns me more. Furthermore, I am one of those who
now bears the label “traitor,” which makes the matter all the more
vital to me.

I should have warned you about my treachery before, but as your humble
columnist, I am sure you will forgive me.

>>From The New Anatolian, May 31, 2005

–Boundary_(ID_TLPpr2gAzTfNTfuGYdtnuA)–

Bank caught in Cyprus property battle
By Kerin Hope

FT
June 2 2005 03:00

HSBC, the global bank, has become one the casualties of an increasingly
bitter dispute over property that further threatens chances of a
settlement on the divided island of Cyprus.

The Greek Cypriot owner of HSBC’s premises on the Turkish Cypriot
north of the island has asked the bank to start paying a monthly rent
on its previously rent-free branch in Kyrenia.

The property was used by Demirbank, a Turkish bank, until 2003,
when it was acquired by HSBC.

“There wasn’t much point in a Greek Cypriot trying to get the Turks to
pay up. But it’s different now that Cyprus is in the EU and a British
bank is involved,” says a Nicosia-based lawyer familiar with the case.

In talks this week, Sir Kieran Prendergast, a United Nations envoy,
is exploring scope for resuming negotiations to reunify Cyprus within
the European Union.

But a spate of lawsuits filed by Greek Cypriots seeking to prevent
their property in the Turkish Cypriot-controlled north from being
developed as holiday villas or commercial premises threaten to
undermine the improved relations between the two communities that
had been seen as critical for securing a settlement.

The Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly rejected a UN peace plan at a
referendum last year – a move that prevented the Turkish Cypriots,
who had approved the plan in a separate vote, from joining the
European Union.

By triggering fears the island could be permanently partitioned,
the Greek Cypriot rejection also accelerated a building boom in the
north, where more than 75 per cent of land is owned by Greek Cypriots
who fled when Turkish troops invaded in 1974 after a coup aimed at
uniting Cyprus with Greece.

The government of the self-declared Turkish Cypriot Republic of
Northern Cyprus transferred land to Turkish Cypriots who lost property
in the south and to settlers from the Turkish mainland. New title
deeds were also issued.

“North Cyprus is one of the cheapest property markets in the
Mediterranean, and demand is increasing, especially with Turkey in
line for EU membership,” says a Turkish Cypriot lawyer. “If the
Greek Cypriots don’t want a settlement, why not develop the land
they abandoned.”

In a test case, a Greek Cypriot court in January ordered Linda and
David Orams, a British couple, to demolish their villa in the north
and pay compensation to the Greek Cypriot owner for illegally making
use of his property.

The decision cannot be enforced in the north, but now that Cyprus
is an EU member, the Greek Cypriot authorities can seek to have the
court decision enforced against the Orams’ property in the UK.

In retaliation, foreign homeowners in the north have set up a
UK-based lobbying organisation and retained a London firm of lawyers
to protect their interests. About 6,000 foreigners, mainly UK citizens,
are believed to own property in north Cyprus.

Ian Betts, a retired accountant and treasurer of Eupro, the lobby
group, said: “People here bought in good faith and believe they’re
being unfairly targeted by Greek Cypriots. We are raising funds for
a legal counter-attack.”

The UN peace plan provided for returning two-thirds of Greek Cypriot
properties in the north, through a territorial adjustment and
exchanges with Turkish Cypriot property in the south. Greek Cypriots
would have been allowed holiday homes in areas under Turkish Cypriot
administration.

“By rejecting the plan, the Greek Cypriots put their property
in the north at risk,” says Loukas Charalambous, a Greek Cypriot
commentator. “Taking legal action against foreigners and Turkish
Cypriots only cultivates hostility and a climate of confrontation.”

Armenia wants OSCE to back democratic reforms – foreign minister

Mediamax news agency
2 Jun 05

Yerevan, 2 June: Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan met
Christian Strohal, director of the OSCE Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), in Yerevan today.

Oskanyan and Strohal exchanged views on Armenia’s efforts to promote
democratic processes and protect human rights, Mediamax learnt from
the Foreign Ministry press service today.

Oskanyan expressed his confidence that the ODIHR would support
democratic reforms in Armenia, including “the establishment of a
democratic atmosphere in the region as a whole”.