Russia’s turning Muslim, says mufti
The Australian
06 August 2005
MOSCOW: Russia’s leading Muslim cleric has alarmed Orthodox Church
leaders and nationalists by claiming the country has 23million Muslims,
3 million more than previously believed.
According to the last census, three years ago, about 14.5 million of
Russia’s 144 million people were ethnic Muslims. Religious leaders
have put the number at nearer 20 million.
But the leader of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Ravil Gaynutdin,
said this week the number of ethnic Muslims was 23million and rising.
“They are indigenous residents of our country, not migrants or
immigrants, and have been living here from time immemorial,” the
mufti told a meeting of the European Union of Muslims. “The number
of people professing Islam in Russia is constantly growing.”
Russia is home to an estimated 3 million to 4 million Muslim migrants
from the former Soviet states — about 2 million Azeris, a million
Kazakhs and several hundred thousand Uzbeks, Tajiks and Kyrgyz.
Some Russians are also converting to Islam, according to Sheik Farid
Asadullin, of the Moscow Council of Muftis.
“Russians, Ukrainians and Belarussians, mostly young and intelligent,
see in Islam an answer to their questions,” he said.
Islam was controlled in the Soviet Union, which had only 500 mosques,
but has had a renaissance since 1991, helped by funds from the Middle
East. Russia now has about 5000 mosques.
The rise in the Muslim population has raised fears among Orthodox
Church leaders and nationalists that Russia could eventually become a
Muslim-majority nation. The church claims to have 80million followers,
but religious experts say the number is closer to 40 million and
is falling.
Russia’s population is declining, due in part to high alcohol
consumption, but numbers are rising in Muslim regions, where large
families are common and alcohol consumption is moderate.
Russia’s population dropped by 401,200 in the first half of this year,
but rose in 15 regions, including the Muslim republics of Chechnya,
Dagestan and Ingushetia. The statistics agency said the average
birth rate was 1.8 in Dagestan, compared with 1.3 for Russia overall,
while male life expectancy was 68 in Dagestan, against 58 for Russia.
Aleksei Malashenko, a local expert on Islam, said: “The real problem
is the crisis of the Russian population, not the increase of the
Muslim population. And the church is not as powerful or significant
for Russians as Islam is for Muslims. This doesn’t mean Russia will
be a Muslim society in several years, although maybe in half a century
we’ll see something surprising.”
In the short term, the trend was likely to affect only the North
Caucasus, where the proportion of ethnic Russians was dropping rapidly,
and Moscow, where the proportion of Muslims was rising.
Russian forces have been fighting Chechen rebels for more than a
decade and the bloodshed is now spilling into neighbouring republics
and radicalising many young Muslims.
Moscow, a regular target for Chechen terrorists, has an estimated
1.5 million Muslims, including about 100,000 Chechens.
,5942,16167042,00.html

Turkey blocks planned visit of Swiss politician
The Associated Press
08/05/05 09:32 EDT
BERN, Switzerland (AP) – Turkey has blocked a planned visit of
Switzerland’s economics minister, a Swiss official said Friday,
the latest episode in a long-running diplomatic dispute between the
two governments.
The visit was formally canceled because of “schedule clashes,” said
Christophe Hans, spokesman for Economics Minister Joseph Deiss.
Hans declined to say whether the decision was affected by an argument
over Turkey’s killings of Armenians around the time of World War I,
considered by the Swiss and some other governments to have amounted
to genocide. Ankara fiercely denies that Turks committed genocide.
“We regret the decision and we hope that Mr. Deiss will have the
opportunity to go on an official visit in the future,” Hans said.
Ankara was angered last month when Swiss authorities launched an
investigation into a visiting Turkish politician, Dogu Perincek,
who said the killings weren’t genocide.
Under Switzerland’s anti-racism laws, denying genocide is a crime,
and Perincek was briefly detained after his speech.
Last month, Turkey called the Swiss ambassador to the Foreign
Ministry to protest Perincek’s detention and investigation. Speaking
to another Swiss newspaper at the weekend, Perincek reiterated his
earlier comments.
“There has never been a genocide. That is an international historic
lie,” he told SonntagsBlick.
Similar disputes have erupted in the past between Turkey and
Switzerland.
In June, a Turkish Cabinet minister postponed a visit to Switzerland
to protest an investigation of a Turkish historian who denied the
killings were genocide.
The Swiss foreign minister had been scheduled to travel to Turkey in
2003, but Turkey withdrew its invitation after the parliament of a
western Swiss canton (state) approved a motion calling the killings
a genocide.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARKA NEWS AGENCY PUBLISHES QUARTERLY BULLETIN “INDICATORS OF THE
ARMENIAN BANKS’ ACTIVITY”
ARKA News Agency
Aug 4 2005
YEREVAN, August 4. /ARKA/. ARKA News Agency has published Armenian
Banks’ Activity Indicators quarterly bulletin based on the results
of the 2nd quarter of 2005. The bulletin is made up based on the
uniform financial reports of the banks published in mass media, as
well as additional information provided by the banks. ARKA News Agency
expresses thanks to all the banks, which have provided additional
information on their activity.
The Bulletin includes 75 pages of tables on the banking indicators and
consists of nine main parts, which characterize the banking system:
1. General characteristics of the banks; 2.Assets; 3.
Liabilities; 4. Active and Passive Transactions with non-residents;
5. Capital; 6. Profit/Losses; 7. Cash Flows; 8. Liquidity and
Capitalization; 9. Profitability and Yield Indicators of the Banks.
The Bulletin presents financial state of the Armenian banks in general
and allows to conduct a comparative analysis of their activity.
ARKA News Agency for the first time in Armenia had published the
quarterly bulletin “The Banking Indicators of Armenia” in 1999. A.A.
-0–

ARKA NEWS AGENCY PUBLISHES REGULAR ISSUE OF BULLETIN “CREDIT
ORGANIZATIONS OF ARMENIA”
ARKA News Agency
Aug 4 2005
YEREVAN, August 4. /ARKA/. ARKA News Agency has published the regular
issue of the financial-economic bulletin “Credit Organizations of
Armenia” for the 2nd quarter of 2005. This product is published
quarterly based on the reports of the credit organizations (CO)
published in mass media.
The bulletin includes about 20 pages of tables on various indicators
of the COs’ activities. It is composed of 11 main parts: 1. General
Characteristics of Credit Organizations; 2.Assets; 3. Liabilities; 4.
Capital; 5. Profit/Losses; 6. Money Flows; 7. Normative Indicators of
the COs’ Activities; 9. Capitalization; 10. Consolidated indicators
of the COs’ Activity (Summary); 11.Consolidated indicators of the
COs’ Efficiency.
The Bulletin presents financial state of the Armenian COs and allows
to conduct a comparative analysis of their activity. The product also
includes technical and methodological comments to the tables.
ARKA News Agency operates from May 1, 1996 and specializes in
financial, economic and political information. ARKA News Agency has
been publishing the quarterly bulletin “The Banking Indicators of
Armenia” since 1999 and the quarterly bulletin “Credit Organizations
of Armenia” – since March, 2005. A.A. -0–

Azeri youth movement says leader’s arrest authorities’ provocation
MPA news agency
5 Aug 05
Baku, 5 August: The discrediting and arrest of the leader of the Yeni
Fikir [New Thought] youth movement, Ruslan Basirli, is another show
by the authorities, the deputy chairman of the organization, Fikrat
Faramazoglu, told a news conference today. The operation against
Basirli was organized jointly by Armenian intelligence agencies and
the Azerbaijani National Security Ministry and was aimed at disabling
the democratic youth movement, especially, Yeni Fikir, he said.
Faramazoglu ruled out that Basirli, who is struggling for democratic
values in Azerbaijan, could be hired by foreign intelligence services.
A committee to protect the rights of Basirli has been set up. A number
of youth movements are planning to join this committee.
Speaking at the news conference, lawyer Tofiq Quliyev stressed
that there are no elements of crime in Basirli’s case because as
the video [of Basirli’s meeting in Georgia] shows, he did not speak
about overthrowing the current authorities by force. This incident is
politically motivated, Quliyev said. As for money received by Basirli,
Quliyev said that this money had been received not from Armenians,
but from Georgian democrats.
Basirli’s lawyer, Elcin Qambarov, said that he was illegally denied
access to the detainee. A criminal case has been instituted against
Basirli under Article 278 of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code, which
envisages punishment for actions aimed at forcible seizure of power,
forcible keeping of power and forcible change of constitutional order.

Arrested youth activist bears moral responsibility – Azeri opposition leader
ANS TV, Baku
5 Aug 05
[Presenter] The chairman of the [opposition] People’s Front
of Azerbaijan Party [PFAP], Ali Karimli, held a news conference
today after the Azerbaijani Prosecutor-General’s Office released a
statement on the detention of the leader of the opposition Yeni Fikir
[New Thought] youth movement, Ruslan Basirli, and accused him of
cooperating with the Armenian special services.
[Correspondent over video of news conference] Basirli should be
made responsible not criminally, but morally, Karimli told the news
conference today. We should recall that Basirli was detained as a
suspect [on 4 August].
[Passage omitted: reported details of the statement on Basirli’s trip
to Georgia; footage of Basirli’s meeting in Georgia shown on TV]
Despite this, Karimli considers Basirli’s arrest as a provocation
against himself. Karimli believes that Basirli’s actions in Tbilisi
might undermine his own reputation as well.
[Karimli referring to footage of Basirli’s meeting in Georgia] He
makes incorrect and inappropriate statements that the USA is preparing
for a revolution in Azerbaijan and makes exaggerated statements about
my deputy and his own deputy. He speaks about nonexistent issues as
if he wants to present himself as a more important figure in order
to make an impression on his interlocutor. All this is, of course,
regrettable, and probably makes him morally responsible before his
close comrades-in-arms.
[Correspondent] Basirli’s comrades-in-arms regret his statement that
the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict will be settled by drinking cognac
and eating chocolate, if the democratic forces come to power, Karimli
said. Karimli does not rule out that the Russian special services may
be involved in this incident as well. He explains this by the fact
that Osman Alimuradov, who reported this incident to the Azerbaijani
Prosecutor-General’s Office, is a Russian citizen. But Karimli thinks
that Basirli made the aforesaid statements being unaware that his
interlocutors was an Armenian citizen.
[Karimli] For example, he says – Nobody in Georgian society must learn
what I am saying now. He appeals to his interlocutors as Georgian
citizens. Even if these people are Armenians and representatives of
Armenian intelligence agencies, one gets the impression that Basirli
is unaware of this. He does not treat them as Armenians.
[Correspondent] At the end, Karimli appealed to members of his
party and called on them to control their actions and behaviour. He
requested that the PFAP members do not attend various meetings and
drink alcohol. If a party member loses control of his actions, this
may lead to new provocations, Karimli said.
Mahir Mammadli, Sehrac Azadoglu for ANS.

Azeri opposition leader accuses authorities of provocation
Turan news agency
5 Aug 05
Baku, 5 August: The accusations against Ruslan Basirli are a
provocation organized by the Azerbaijani special services in order
to discredit the Yeni Fikir [New Thought] youth movement, the leader
of the People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party [PFAP], Ali Karimli, told
a news conference today.
The authorities fear that this movement’s influence and activity will
grow in the run-up to the election. All attempts to intimidate or bribe
the leadership of this movement have yielded no results, and therefore,
the authorities decided to resort to provocation, Karimli said.
He said that the provocation was carried out though one of the
movement’s members, Osman Alimuradov, who is probably cooperating
with security bodies.
[Passage omitted: reported details]
The People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party categorically condemns the
provocation against the leader of the youth movement, Ruslan Basirli,
and demands his immediate release.
The party says in a statement that the statement of the Prosecutor’s
Office that Basirli agreed to cooperate with Armenian special services
to overthrow the authorities in Azerbaijan is slander.
The statement said that the law-enforcement bodies have arrested
Basirli and his friends more than once for their participation
in rallies and active fight for democracy. They talked to them,
intimidated them and tried to bribe them. On seeing that Basirli is
not giving up his actions, the authorities decided to accuse him of
betrayal and to arrest him.
“All this is part of the authorities’ dirty campaign against the
youth movement,” the statement said.
The PFAP called on the international community not to remain
indifferent to the fate of Yeni Fikir activists and to protect
Ruslan Basirli.

Azeri paper welcomes Pakistan’s help in developing defence industry
Ayna, Baku
27 Jul 05
Excerpt from C. Sumarinli report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ayna on 27
July headlined “Pakistan will support Azerbaijan’s military-industrial
complex”
Pakistan is interested in strengthening Azerbaijan’s army, and
therefore, it intends to support the development of Azerbaijan’s
military-industrial complex, Ayna has learnt from military sources. A
group of Pakistani military industry experts will visit Azerbaijan
soon, the sources said. During their visit, they will familiarize
themselves with the country’s defence industry.
In the opinion of military experts, it is important to pay attention
to the military-industrial complex in a country which might go to war
any time. In brief, it is quite a difficult task for a country that
depends on another country’s arms market to ensure its own security.
Experts believe that at the current stage, Azerbaijan should have
the capacity to produce mines at the least.
[Passage omitted: Azerbaijan buys arms from Russia at higher
prices since it is not a member of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization]
Some work on the weapons production was carried out in Azerbaijan in
the early 1990s. However, later on there were delays in this sphere
and the state forgot about the industry number one.
But at present, there is an increasing interest in developing
Azerbaijan’s defence industry. It must be noted that Pakistan could
provide our country with useful aid in this sphere. It must be
remembered that Pakistan has more than 10 defence enterprises.
Experts point to the importance of developing Azerbaijan’s
military-industrial complex in order to meet the country’s needs and
generate profits.
Military expert Uzeyir Cafarov says that Azerbaijan has some
military-industrial enterprises at the moment. “There are several
defence enterprises around Baku. Although they are not working at
full capacity, their output can be seen in the armed forces. If these
enterprises are given money, we can have a stronger military-industrial
complex. In this case, we can even work to orders from neighbouring
countries,” he said.
“There is no need to worry about Azerbaijan’s current
military-industrial complex. We do have defence industry and
there is development in this sphere,” a source in the Defence
Ministry told Ayna. The source said there was a plan to develop the
country’s military-industrial complex and work in this direction
is underway. Having said that our country was at war with Armenia,
the ministry spokesman refused to disclose details concerning the
military-industrial complex.
Military sources say that to develop its defence industry, Azerbaijan
will use assistance from Pakistan, Ukraine, Turkey and other states.
In their opinion, Azerbaijan has a broad industrial base and
specialists to create and develop its own military-industrial
complex. There is a great number of specialists and industries
in the country which can be used as an important part of the
military-industrial complex if need be. At present, there are mainly
some machinery-building enterprises.
At the same time, within the framework of the Individual Partnership
Action Plan (IPAP) between Azerbaijan and NATO, one of the priority
spheres is to update and modernize weapons and hardware in the
armed forces. In experts’ opinion, it is impossible to take serious
and substantial steps in this field without setting up a national
military-industrial complex.
It must be noted that a short-term (until 2007) and long-term (until
2015) deadlines have been set to modernize weapons and military
hardware of the Azerbaijani army. Weapons and light military hardware
will be modernized at the initial stage and heavy hardware at the final
stage. The fact that Azerbaijan’s military budget exceeded 300m dollars
in 2005 confirms that Baku intends to take steps in this direction.
According to some reports, the military R&D centre of the Defence
Ministry is engaged in developing weapons and military hardware
that meets current Azerbaijani requirements. In this connection, the
experiences of allied states such as Pakistan, Ukraine and Turkey is
being used.

Ex-UN aide alleged to have taken Iraqi money
By Evelyn Leopold
Reuters
Thursday, August 4, 2005
Benon Sevan, the former head of the U.N.’s Iraq oil-for-food program,
expects to be accused of kickbacks from oil deals “in concert” with
the brother-in-law of ex-U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali,
his lawyer said on Thursday.
“The charge is categorically untrue and no evidence has been adduced
to substantiate it,” attorney Eric Lewis said.
In a lengthy statement, Lewis anticipated a report next Tuesday from
a U.N.-appointed Independent Inquiry Committee, led by Paul Volcker,
the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman.
Volcker is also expected to allege that Sevan is not cooperating with
his probe of the program.
Such findings would be the first to accuse a U.N. official, especially
one who had control over the $67 billion humanitarian program for Iraq,
of personal profit.
Lewis told Reuters he had not been told of any amount for the
kickbacks.
Sevan himself had declared to the United Nations a receipt of $160,000
from a now-deceased aunt in Cyprus in four payments from 1999 to 2003.
The Volcker panel, in a Feb. 3 report, said it was doubtful the aunt
could have saved that much but Lewis said the panel’s sources had no
real contact with the aunt.
There was no comment from the Volcker panel.
The probe was commissioned by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to examine
charges of corruption in the oil-for-food program that began in
December 1996 and ended in 2003. The plan was designed to ease the
impact on Iraqis of U.N. sanctions, imposed in the mid-1990s after
Baghdad’s troops invaded Kuwait.
OIL ALLOCATIONS
The Volcker inquiry, in an interim report in February, accused Sevan,
a veteran U.N. employee from Cyprus, of a “grave conflict of interest”
by allegedly soliciting oil allocations for a firm, African Middle
East Petroleum, known as AMEP.
Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau has opened a criminal
investigation of Sevan.
“The Independent Inquiry Committee now claims that Mr. Sevan received
money from AMEP ‘in concert with’ Fred Nadler, a friend of Mr. Sevan
since 1992 and a relative by marriage of (Fahkry) Abdelnour, the
principal of AMEP,” Lewis said.
Nadler is the brother of Boutros-Ghali’s wife, Leia.
The lawyer said Sevan had no interest in that company and that the
committee was basing its information on “statements by officials of
the former Saddam Hussein regime.”
Sevan has acknowledged mentioning AMEP to Iraqi oil officials as a
company interested in doing business. Lewis said that was “neither
unusual nor inappropriate” and was an effort to help the program
succeed.
Lewis also implied the Volcker investigation was targeting Sevan to
cover up for the role of higher-ups, including Annan, whose son was
working for the Swiss firm Cotecna, which was awarded a lucrative U.N.
contract in Iraq.
In contrast to Sevan, Annan failed to recall two meetings with the
chairman of Cotecna, but that was treated “as a busy official’s
genuine lack of recollection,” Lewis wrote.
On the expected allegation by the panel that Sevan was not cooperating
with investigators, Lewis said Sevan had given the inquiry blank
authorizations to investigate all bank accounts.
But he said Sevan wanted to answer questions in writing rather than
orally so he could not be accused of purposely omitting information.
Defending administration of the program, Lewis invited comparison of
the management of the U.N. program with that of the U.S.-led Coalition
Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq after the March 2003 invasion.
He said it was known the CPA program could not account for billions
of dollars as well as “massive overcharging, unbridled awarding of
no-bid contracts and millions in cash simply walking out the door of
the CPA offices in Baghdad.”
;u=/nm/20050804/wl_nm/iraq_un_probe_dc_1

Oil-for-food probe accuses former chief
Associated Press
8/4/2005
NEW YORK (AP) – Investigators have concluded that the former chief
of the Iraq oil-for-food program, Benon Sevan, took kickbacks under
the $64 billion humanitarian operation and refused to cooperate with
their probe, his lawyer said Thursday.
While the amount of money Sevan allegedly took wasn’t immediately
known – and may be as little as $160,000 – the findings would be a
major blow because of his stature in the organization and the control
he had over it. The program was one of the largest in history.
The Independent Inquiry Committee had planned to release its findings
about Sevan on Tuesday, and had sent advance notice to Sevan’s lawyer,
Eric Lewis, last week. Lewis revealed the findings early and vehemently
denied both claims against Sevan, whom the U.N. is paying a symbolic
one dollar a year to keep him on payroll so he’ll cooperate.
“The fact is, the committee’s allegations are baseless,” Lewis said
in a statement. “Mr. Sevan never took a penny, as he has said from
the beginning.”
The committee, led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul
Volcker, refused to comment on Lewis’ claims. Committee spokesman
Mike Holtzman had said earlier Sevan would be one of several people
considered in the Tuesday report.
“Our final judgment on him will be rendered on Tuesday,” Holtzman said.
The oil-for-food program, launched in December 1996 to help ordinary
Iraqis cope with U.N. sanctions imposed after Saddam Hussein’s 1990
invasion of Kuwait, quickly became a lifeline for 90% of the country’s
population of 26 million.
Under the program, Saddam’s regime could sell oil, provided
the proceeds went to buy humanitarian goods or pay war
reparations. Saddam’s government decided on the goods it wanted,
who should provide them and who could buy Iraqi oil. But the Security
Council committee overseeing sanctions monitored the contracts.
In a bid to curry favor and end sanctions, Saddam allegedly gave
former government officials, activists, journalists and U.N. officials
vouchers for Iraqi oil that could then be resold at a profit.
According to Lewis, the committee will find that a small trading
company called African Middle East Petroleum Co. Ltd. Inc. paid Sevan
in exchange for his helping it win oil contracts from Saddam Hussein’s
regime. It will say that he acted “in concert” with a friend named
Fred Nadler.
Lewis said the letter of findings that Volcker’s team sent to him
does not spell how much he got in kickbacks.
Volcker’s team has been investigating oil-for-food for more than
a year. In an interim report released in February, the committee
concluded that Sevan solicited oil allocations from Saddam Hussein’s
regime on behalf of the company, known as AMEP, between 1998 and
2001. It said Nadler was essentially his middleman and accused Sevan
of a “grave conflict of interest.”
In its report, Volcker’s team mentioned $160,000 in “unexplained
funds” belonging to Sevan. Sevan had disclosed the money earlier,
saying it was from an aunt in Cyprus.
Lewis said Volcker’s committee will also say that Sevan refused to
cooperate with its investigators, apparently because he would not meet
face-to-face with them in recent months. Lewis acknowledged that Sevan
had refused to do so since January because investigators accused him
of lying or changing his testimony when he didn’t remember meetings
or phone calls he’d had years before.
He said instead Sevan had agreed to respond to written questions.
Lewis accused Volcker’s team of treating Sevan unfairly by concealing
evidence from him, relying on secret interviews with jailed members of
Saddam’s former regime and questioning his integrity when he couldn’t
remember phone calls that took place years before.
He said it was trying to look tough and appease critics in the United
States who have accused it of bungling the investigation.
“The IIC wants cartoon villains, not the truth,” Lewis said in the
statement. “Mr. Sevan has now reached a point in his dealings with
the IIC where he questions the Committee’s commitment to objective
and evenhanded fact-finding and doubts he can receive a fair hearing
in this forum.”
After the February report, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced
disciplinary proceedings against Sevan but said he would wait until
the report came out before making a decision.
It is almost certain that Sevan would be fired if the United Nations
accepts the Volcker committee claims. Sevan is also being investigated
by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.