Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep.
March 16 2005

FBI Breaks Weapons-Smuggling Ring Linked To Russia, Caucasus
By Nikola Krastev

A lengthy investigation by U.S. agents has led to 17 people in New
York, Los Angeles, and Miami being charged with various
weapons-trafficking offenses. Armenian and South African nationals
are among those arrested in connection with an alleged scheme to
smuggle rocket-propelled missiles, machine guns, grenade launchers,
and other Russian military weapons into the United States for sale.
Prosecutors say the case raises alarm over the willingness of
traffickers to sell arms to terrorists.

New York, 16 March 2005 (RFE/RL) — Prosecutors allege that the
defendants were preparing to import various assault weapons —
including antitank missile systems — into the United States from
countries in Eastern Europe.

The United States attorney for the Southern District of New York,
David Kelley, said in announcing the arrests on 15 March that the
suspects have been under close surveillance for more than one year.

“As part of the overall scheme,” Kelly said, “five of the defendants
were charged with plotting to import into the United States various
military weapons, including rocket-propelled grenade launchers, which
are known as RPGs, shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, known as
SAMs, and those were from Armenia, the Republic of Georgia, and other
Eastern European countries.””The criminal complaint charging the
defendants reads like a Hollywood script, with one important
distinction. Unlike the escapist fiction of a Hollywood thriller, the
plot unveiled today was undeniably real.”

While the weapons involved could have inflicted major casualties,
Kelley said there is no sign the smugglers possessed weapons of mass
destruction.

“Throughout this investigation,” Kelley said, “through our
eavesdropping of some 15,000 conversations by the defendants, or
through countless surveillances 24-7 [around the clock] by the agents
and investigators, we did not see any indication that the defendants
had any capacity to obtain uranium or other chemical or biological
weapon material. It didn’t happen.”

Two of the alleged ringleaders were identified as Artur Solomonyan,
an Armenian citizen living in New York and Los Angeles, and
Christiaan Dewet Spies, a South African citizen also living in New
York.

Another defendant, Vato Machitidze, was shown on television as he was
led handcuffed after his arrest in Manhattan.

A criminal complaint charged five of the participants with conspiring
to transport destructive devices and 13 others with weapons
trafficking. One of the 13 is still at large.

The FBI says the suspects proposed selling weapons to one of its
informants who was posing as an arms buyer with ties to Al-Qaeda.
They supplied him with digital pictures from a warehouse allegedly in
Armenia, showing caches of Russian-made weapons.

The complaint charges that the defendants knew that the weapons may
have been used for terrorist activities in the United States,
particularly for bringing down commercial aircraft.

Andy Arena is a special FBI agent. “The criminal complaint charging
the defendants reads like a Hollywood script, with one important
distinction,” Arena said. “Unlike the escapist fiction of a Hollywood
thriller, the plot unveiled today was undeniably real.”

The U.S. authorities said the sting operation was conducted with the
assistance of law-enforcement authorities in Georgia and Armenia.

John Loftus, a former U.S. Justice Department prosecutor who closely
follows terrorism issues, tells RFE/RL that Russian authorities also
appeared to be very helpful in the investigation.

One of the weapons offered for sale, the Hornet antitank missile, is
capable of penetrating the U.S.-made Abrams tank, according to arms
experts. Among the other weapons offered for sale was the Igla
missile, a shoulder-fired heat-seeking missile that can shoot down a
commercial airplane.

The FBI says the defendants actually sold one of their informants
eight machine guns and assault weapons, delivering them to warehouses
in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami. The agency alleges the
defendants offered to provide many more sophisticated weapons. The
FBI says there were also discussions at some point concerning the
delivery of uranium to be used for attacks in U.S. subways.

If convicted on all charges, the two alleged ringleaders each face up
to 30 years in prison.

Authorities say the FBI is working with Armenian and Russian
authorities to secure the weapons that were bound for the United
States.

Warped advice blights American intervention
By Anatol Lieven

FT
March 16 2005 20:11

In Armenia in the late 1990s, I visited a very brave former Soviet
Armenian dissident. He had spent years in Soviet prison and his walls
were festooned with awards from western organisations devoted to
supporting democracy and human rights. Indeed, I have no reason to
doubt the sincerity of his commitment to Armenian democracy. But what
I mainly remember is his territorial vision. He believed that Armenia
should seek the annexation of the whole of eastern Turkey on the basis
of ancient historical and ethnic ties.

As many examples have made clear since the Soviet Union’s collapse,
the Soviet dissident movement had two starkly different faces, often
combined in the same person. Both were about freedom but very
different kinds of freedom. The first was about freedom for the
individual; the second, freedom for a particular nation.

Natan Sharansky, the Israeli government minister, has gained
considerable influence over George W. Bush thanks to his heroic past
as a Soviet dissident.

Mr Sharansky’s book The Case for Democracy is one of the few works on
the Middle East that Mr Bush has read. According to Mr Bush himself,
Mr Sharansky has been a key inspiration for the US president’s
rhetoric of spreading democracy and freedom.

Tragically, however, Mr Sharansky’s record in Israel, and Mr Bush’s
apparent indifference to this record, demonstrate the almost Orwellian
contradictions in the US approach to the Muslim world. They also go to
the heart of European doubts about both the practicality and sincerity
of US progressive agendas in the Middle East. The grounds for such
doubts are especially worth recalling at present, given the short-term
exuberance produced by developments such as the Iraqi elections and
anti-Syrian demonstrations in Lebanon. Mr Bush was first attracted to
Mr Sharansky by his noble record of resistance to Soviet tyranny,
which earned him years in Soviet jails. Today, however, Mr Sharansky
is a leader of the Soviet immigrant-based Yisrael Ba’aliyah party,
which takes a hard line on Palestinian demands and security issues,
and has supported the expansion of settlements.

In his book, Mr Sharansky writes that peace depends on the spread of
democracy and this should be driven by a coalition of all “free
nations” of the world. In his words: “The free world should not wait
for dictatorial regimes to consent to reform. We must be prepared to
move forward over their objections . . . we can live in a world where
no regime that attempts to crush dissent will be tolerated.”

Mr Sharansky’s demand for greater democracy is, of course, focused
foremost on the Palestinians. He said in February that he would be
prepared to give the Palestinians “all the rights in the world” once
they fully adopted democracy. The problem is that Mr Sharansky has
never said what land he would be willing to concede, even to a fully
democratic Palestinian state. His record in office, however, has
reflected utter contempt for the lives, property and well-being of
Palestinians, as well as for their opinions, whether democratically
expressed or not.

As Israel’s minister of Jerusalem affairs, Mr Sharansky decided last
June to interpret a 1950 law in such a way as to allow the Israeli
government without legal process to confiscate Palestinian land around
Jerusalem – a decision that has now been struck down by Israel’s
attorney general on the grounds that it is legally indefensible,
contrary to “the rules of customary international law” and bound to
encourage violence.

In writing of the need to bring democracy to the Arab world, Mr
Sharansky makes repeated parallels with America’s propagation of its
democratic message to the subject peoples of the Soviet Union and
eastern Europe. But the peoples of eastern Europe, the Baltic states
and the Caucasus had good reason to identify America and democracy not
only with personal freedom but with national liberation from Soviet
domination. Ask many ordinary Arabs which superpower today is playing
a role in the Middle East analogous to that of the Soviet Union in
eastern Europe and what answer would you get?

The parallel with eastern Europe therefore, far from being
encouraging, actually suggests the greatest problem faced by
proponents of westernising reform in the Middle East today: namely,
the immense difficulty they have in mobilising nationalism in support
of their programme.

Of course, were it possible for the US to act in the Muslim world as
it has done in eastern Europe, and to spread freedom and development,
this would indeed be a wonderful boon for the region and the
world. But none of this can possibly happen as long as the US is
identified both by Muslims and by Europeans with agendas such as Mr
Sharansky’s. If Mr Bush really wants to play a progressive role in the
region, he badly needs other sources of advice and inspiration.

* Natan Sharansky (with Ron Dermer), The Case for Democracy: The Power
of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror (Public Affairs)

The writer is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace in Washington DC; his latest book is America Right
or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism (OUP/HarperCollins)

Observer Online, IN
March 16 2005

University selects ’05 grad speaker
By Eileen Duffy

The President of the United States won’t be speaking to Notre Dame’s
2005 graduates, but a man who has held three presidencies in his life
will.
The University announced Tuesday that Vartan Gregorian, president of
the Carnegie Corporation and former president of Brown University and
the New York Public Library, will be the principal speaker at its
160th commencement exercises on May 15.
Gregorian has held high-ranking positions in a wide variety of
fields, making him an ideal selection, University President Father
Edward Malloy said in a press release.
“In all his many roles in public life, Dr. Gregorian has displayed
extraordinary leadership,” Malloy said. “I know that his remarks will
be an ideal capstone for [our graduates’] educational experiences on
our campus.”
Gregorian has served at the helm of New York’s Carnegie Corporation
since 1997. The corporation, which was founded in 1911, seeks to
carry out founder Andrew Carnegie’s vision of philanthropy, which
Carnegie said should aim “to do real and permanent good in the
world.” Awarding grants in four areas (education, international peace
and security, international development and strengthening U.S.
democracy), the corporation expects its fiscal year 2004-2005 grants
to total over $80 million.
>From 1989 to 1997, Gregorian served as the president of Brown
University, where he taught freshman and senior history seminars and
a course on Alexis de Tocqueville. In addition, he led capital
campaigns that helped triple the endowment there.
Prior to that, Gregorian served for eight years as president of the
New York Public Library – no small task, considering that this system
has four research libraries and 83 circulating libraries. He is
credited with pulling the library out of financial crisis.
Gregorian was born to Armenian parents in Tabriz, Iran. After
receiving his elementary education there and his secondary education
in Lebanon, he enrolled at Stanford University in 1956. He graduated
with honors just two years later.
In 1964, he earned a doctorate in history and the humanities, also
from Stanford.
Gregorian taught European and Middle Eastern history for eight years
at San Francisco State College, the University of California at Los
Angeles and the University of Texas. He then joined the University of
Pennsylvania faculty. In 1972, he became the founding dean of the
Faculty of Arts and Sciences there; in 1972, he became the provost.
Senior Erin Mai said she is “excited and proud” of Notre Dame’s
decision to bring someone with a “different perspective.”
“This is a Catholic university, but it’s still important for people
to be exposed to different ideas and different religions,” she said.
“[Gregorian] seems to know a lot about Islam, and I think that could
bring a lot to his speech.”
Senior Galen Loughrey agreed, calling the University’s choice of
Gregorian a “great change” from the past commencement speakers.
“I would hope [Gregorian] would bring a unique perspective, given his
international experience, that might not be at Notre Dame,” he said.
Gregorian has received myriad accolades and grants during his career.
Currently serving as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, Gregorian has received fellowships from the John Smith
Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the
Social Science Research Council and the American Philosophical
Society.
He received the National Ethnic Coalition of Organization’s Ellis
Island Medal of Honor in 1986, which is annually presented to
“Americans of diverse origins for their outstanding contributions to
their own ethnic groups and to American society,” according to that
organization’s Web site.
He has also been honored by U.S. presidents. In 1998, President Bill
Clinton awarded Gregorian with the National Humanities Medal; last
year, President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of
freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.
Gregorian is the author of “Emergence of Modern Afghanistan: Politics
of Reform and Modernization, 1880-1946;” “Islam: A Mosaic, Not a
Monolith;” and his autobiography, “The Road to Home.”

Agence France Presse
March 16 2005

Alarmed over freedoms, Turkish media seek suspension of new penal
codeDocument Actions 16/03/2005

The Turkish media have launched a campaign to halt a much-hailed,
EU-backed penal code just days before it comes into effect, saying it
contains severe restrictions on freedom of the press.
The new penal code may result in “many arbitrary prosecutions… and
pack prisons with journalists,” press groups said Wednesday in a
letter to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The campaign to suspend and amend the law, which took the government
by surprise, came only two weeks before it comes into force on April
1 and almost half a year after it was adopted by parliament in
September amid much fanfare and praise from the European Union.
The reform was one of the most notable measures Brussels sought from
Ankara in the run-up to a landmark decision in December to give
Turkey the green light for accession talks.
“The big media groups were under the spell of the EU campaign. They
either failed to see or did not want to see the dangers of the law,”
said Oral Calislar, a member of the Turkish Journalists’ Association
executive board.
Journalists also say recent attacks on the media by Erdogan raised
doubts over the government’s democratic credentials and forced them
to take a closer look at the penal code.
“The Musa Kart incident sparked it off and fuelled suspicions,”
Calislar said, referring to a cartoonist who was sued by Erdogan and
then fined for depicting the premier as a cat entangled in a ball of
wool.
Experts say penal code provisions concerning the media contain terms
vague enough to leave prosecutors and judges with room for arbitrary
decisions and re-introduce jail terms for journalists, although such
penalties were purged from the press law in another reform last year.

Provisions on slander and the protection of privacy, they maintain,
are too restrictive and may deal a heavy blow to investigative
journalism.
One article of particular concern foresees up to 15 years in jail for
those who disseminate propaganda via the media against “basic
national interests” in return for material benefits from foreigners.
The article raised alarm when it emerged that explanatory notes in
the draft said it targets those who may, for instance, advocate the
withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus and support claims that the
massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire was genocide.
“What will happen, for example, to an institution that receives funds
from the EU and criticizes Turkey’s Cyprus policy?” Calislar asked.
“Who can guarantee that any move to prosecute it will fail?”
Dozens of dissident journalists, writers and intellectuals have been
imprisoned in Turkey in the past for voicing their opinions.
Adem Sozuer, a jurist who took part in drafting the penal code,
acknowledged that some provisions in the law should be amended, but
maintained that it guarantees freedom of the press and of opinion.
“With this law, Turkey has undoubtedly taken a step forward,” he
said.
The reform, which overhauled Turkey’s 78-year-old penal code borrowed
from fascist Italy, won praise in particular for increasing penalties
against human rights abusers and torturers and improving women’s
rights.
The government ruled out suspending the code, saying amendments could
be made later if the law creates serious problems in practice.
“I do not believe that the journalists’ suspicions will be justified
after the law takes effect,” said Koksal Toptan, the head of the
parliament’s justice commission.
“We have to see the law’s implementation. If deficiencies emerge,
they will be addressed,” he said.

Kommersant, Russia
March 16 2005

Abkhazia Prepares to Become Part of Georgia

// As far as the Russian military is concerned

Friendship of the Nations

Abkhazian President Sergey Bagapsh has returned from his first visit
to Moscow as president. He told a press conference on Tuesday that
the issues he discussed there were of a purely economic nature.
Something else was clear from his statements, however. Everything
that is economic in the unrecognized state is inseparable from the
political.

Bagapsh did not specify whom he met with in Moscow. He only said that
he met with Russian ministers and businessmen and discussed potential
investments in the resort industry and energy supplies. He also said
that he raised the question of restoring railroad connections between
Russia and Abkhazia and beyond, through Georgia to Armenia. It is
hard to say whether that question is more pressing for Moscow or
Sukhumi. That rail line connects Abkhazia with Russia, and Russia
with its military bases in Armenia. Georgia will have a different
reaction to the issue, since the restoration of the rail line will
strengthen both Abkhazia and the Russian military presence in the
Transcaucasus. But Abkhazian officials intend to win Georgia’s
agreement to the project in their next negotiations. It is likely to
be another one of the issues that Georgia will have to settle in
order to attain other concessions from Abkhazia. The next meeting
between Abkhazian, Georgian and Russian officials on settlement of
the regional conflict will take place in Geneva in April.

The Abkhazians reacted quickly to the strain over Russian military
bases in Georgia. They offered the Russian military accommodation in
Abkhazia in exchange for the bases that they are sooner or later sure
to lose in Georgia. The possibility of a Russian base returning to
Gudauta is, in the words of Bagapsh, `a positive factor.’ He
mentioned that Russian and Georgia were negotiating the establishment
of a joint antiterrorism center and, in that connection, he met with
`several law-enforcement officials’ and suggested that `one of those
centers could be a military base in Gudauta, where all the conditions
for it already are in place. That is a normal process and we have
always been in favor of keeping the bases, since the Russian bases in
Abkhazia are a factor for the stability of the republic. Therefore,
our position here is unequivocal.’

Georgia has been insistently raising the issue of replacing Russian
peacekeepers in Abkhazia with contingents from other countries, from
Ukraine or NATO, for instance. `Of course, one side can demand the
withdrawal of the Russian peacekeepers,’ Bagapsh commented. `But it
requires the agreement of both sides to introduce a new contingent.
Our side has a very definite opinion about it and it is very simple.
There is no need to talk about Russian aggression in the
Transcaucasus and so on. It’s just that, when we were having a hard
time after the war in 1992-1993, nobody and came stood along that
line. Only Russia came. No other republic of the CIS sent its
soldiers. The Russian peacekeepers took the hardest part on
themselves. And they left behind 96 dead. We shouldn’t forget that.
That means that we will not let any other peacekeeping forces except
Russian onto our territory. And if it happens that the Russian
peacekeepers leave, we will take up their positions ourselves. But
that will mean an escalation.’ With that statement, the president
ended the months-long discussion of the pro-Georgian position of his
block. It is clear that he had no pro-Georgian position, and never
will now. It can also be seen that his trip to Moscow was even more
productive than he admits.

That may be why Bagapsh has stated very strongly that rumors of
disagreements between him and vice president Raul Khadzhimba, who is
considered a Kremlin puppet, are groundless. And that the recent
attempt on the life of Abkhazian Prime Minister and presidential
adviser Alexander Ankvaba s not the doing of the Kremlin, but of the
local criminal groups that control the political life of the
republic.

`The investigation is continuing, but no one has been arrested so
far,’ Bagapsh said. `Several people from the criminal elements were
taken into custody and then released because investigators think it
was a political act. I hope that the investigation will uncover who
is behind it, although the handwriting is similar to notorious
murders in Abkhazia before it. Therefore, it has been suggested that
it was a directed effort by someone’s henchmen. We’ll find out
whose.’

Bagapsh also met with Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II on
Tuesday. They discussed the participation of the Russian Orthodox
Church in the restoration of the Novoafonsky and Iversky Monasteries.
The Church has actually been involved supporting those monasteries
for a long time already. The Abkhazian president understood, of
course, while talking of the importance of restoring those
monasteries, that, in Russia, where Church and state are practically
inseparable, a meeting with the Patriarch is a strong sign of support
from the Kremlin.

by Olga Allenova

Christian Science Monitor
March 16 2005

In Turkey, taboo lifts over past treatment of Armenians

Last week, Prime Minister Erdogan proposed a joint study into
Armenian claims of genocide.

By Yigal Schleifer | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

ISTANBUL, TURKEY – When Turkish executive Noyan Soyak helped found a
group to bring together businessmen from Turkey and Armenia, the
organization stepped into a gaping void.
“When we started [in 1997], it was difficult even to publicly
pronounce the word ‘Armenia’ or ‘Armenians’ in Turkey,” says Mr.
Soyak, whose group today has some 250 Turkish and Armenian members.

The Armenian issue has long been one of the most fraught in Turkey,
the limits of its discussion strictly controlled by the state. Driven
apart by nearly a century of hatred and accusations of genocide, the
two neighbors became further estranged after diplomatic relations
were broken off by Ankara in 1993, in the wake of Armenia’s
occupation of a large chunk of territory belonging to Turkish ally
Azerbaijan.

But Soyak and others say something has changed – that Turkey’s
increasing democratization and reforms related to its European Union
membership bid have slowly started to soften the country’s historical
stance.

Despite the lack of official relations, a growing number of
nongovernmental Turkish groups – from academics and businessmen to
musicians and women’s organizations – are now meeting with their
Armenian counterparts, in the process helping to redefine the debate
in Turkey and ease the enmity between the two nations.

“Any and all kinds of relationships are important for softening up
the infrastructure for the politicians,” Soyak says. “Governments
can’t move as quickly as we do, so civil society groups are leading
the way.”

Hrant Dink, the editor of Agos, a newspaper serving Turkey’s Armenian
community, says the evolution of what is allowed to be said can be
seen in the pages of his publication. When Agos was launched 10 years
ago, Mr. Dink took an indirect approach to writing about the past.
“Previously, when we talked about history, we didn’t mention things
that happened but focused on culture instead,” says Dink, speaking in
the newspaper’s Istanbul office.

“Slowly we started to ask what happened to the Armenians,” he says.
“Now we’re at the point of telling what happened.”

Even if the subject is “no longer taboo” as Dink says, the debate
still fundamentally divides Turkey and Armenia. Armenians say the
Ottomans killed 1.5 million of their people from 1915 to 1923 through
deportations and mass killings in what is now eastern Turkey.
Armenians have been waging an international campaign to have this
recognized as genocide; more than a dozen nations do so today. Turkey
rejects the genocide claim. It admits that Armenians were killed but
disputes the number and says that the deaths were unorganized and
part of wider regional violence that also affected Muslim Turks.

Until recently, the Turkish state’s official version of events was
all that could be aired publicly. But observers say that democratic
reforms – many of them the result of pressure by the EU – have
created more space for public debate on the topic.

“The level of education has gone up and civil society has expanded,
so the state can no longer dominate and monopolize the public
sphere,” says Muge Gocek, a Turkish sociologist who is the
co-organizer of the Workshop for Armenian-Turkish Studies, an annual
gathering of Turkish and Armenian scholars.

In an unusual turn, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called last
week for a study by Turkish and Armenian historians of claims of
genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turkish troops. The Armenian Foreign
Ministry has rejected Mr. Erdogan’s proposal.

Indeed, those involved in Turkish-Armenian reconciliation efforts
caution that the road towards normalizing relations is still very
bumpy. Turkish officials say they believe Armenian genocide claims
will lead to demands for reparations and territory.

Ustun Erguder, a Turkish political scientist and member of the
Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission, a group of academics and
former diplomats from both sides, says the association of the word
“genocide” with the barbarity of Nazi Germany makes the claim hard
for Turks. “I think Turks have come a long way even to say, ‘We did
something wrong to the Armenians.’ ”

The issue remains explosive. When Orhan Pamuk, a famous Turkish
author, stated in a Swiss paper last month that “a million Armenians
were killed in Turkey,” the response included death threats and
charges of dishonoring the state filed against him in court.

Van Krikorian, a former chairman of the Armenian Assembly of America,
says the only way forward is more dialogue. “On the Turkish side and
the Armenian side, people need to feel they can discuss what happened
and not feel as though somebody is going to attack them,” he says.

IWPR – Institute for War & Peace Reporting
March 16 2005

ARMENIA’S INERT GAS SERVICE

Shoddy installation and lack of government oversight means using gas
at home is a risky business.

By Lana Mshetsian and Tigran Mirzoyan in Yerevan

Energy-starved Armenia is turning to gas, but there are now concerns
that the uncontrolled conversion process is costing lives and causing
chaos.

This winter alone, around 30 people died because of poisoning, fires
and explosions caused by defects in the domestic gas system.

Gevork Danielian, Armenia`s deputy general prosecutor, told IWPR that
figures held by his office show that the number of gas-related
accidents has been growing over the past five years as the country
converts to the use of natural gas. The prosecutor’s office is now
investigating several such cases.

Karine Stepanian, a Yerevan housewife, complained that, “The
long-awaited gas installation has brought a load of problems: there’s
a constant smell of gas in the house, yet the gas service people
insist it’s all OK. If, God forbid, there is some kind of accident, I
bet no one will take responsibility.”

As complaints mounted about the government’s failure to regulate the
changeover, President Robert Kocharian announced he would take
action. Admitted recently that the rapid pace of the switch to gas use
had caught officials, he said, “I have been forced to intervene
personally and put things in order, using extreme measures.” It is not
yet clear what those measures will entail.

The president also said much of the blame should be apportioned to
careless members of the public, and suggested there was an urgent need
for education to tell people how to use gas safely.

Armenia has suffered a severe energy crisis since 1990-91 when the
Nagorny Karabakh conflict resulted in the closure of the border with
Azerbaijan, the traditional route source of were closed off. There was
little or no gas available until 1997 and many people cooked on
primitive stoves.

The controversial re-opening of the Metsamor nuclear power station in
1995 improved the electricity supply, and currently covers 40 per cent
of the country’s energy needs. (See CRS 271, January 26, 2005,
“Armenian Atomic Dilemma.”)

The ArmRosGazprom firm is now re-introducing gas as an energy source,
following the renovation of the decrepit gas network. Company Shushan
Sardarian, a press secretary of the company predicts that by 2007 the
company will have more than half a million customers, even more than
Armenia had in the Soviet period. ArmRosGazprom is 45 per cent owned
by the Armenian government, 45 per cent by the Russian gas giant
Gazprom and 10 per cent by another Russian company, Itera.

ArmRosGazprom is only laying pipelines as far as buildings as a whole,
and other companies are doing the connection to individual
apartments. Experts worry that the connection process is being carried
out in a hurry, without the proper care or coordination. Mkrtich
Abelian, an engineer, told IWPR, “There is no programme for tackling
the problems associated with gas installation in a systematic and
organised manner. There is no scheme that sets out how the gas should
go from the supplier to the consumer.”

Ordinary citizens have little confidence in the installation work.
“The dozens of organisations that install gas supplies within
buildings do the same job for varying prices,” said Ashot Mkrtchian, a
40-year-old teacher. “Each of them works out its own routing for the
pipes.”

Moreover, because the pipes are being laid above ground, many
buildings are now disfigured by webs of metal tubing. This, according
to architect Artsvin Grigorian, is “the most flagrant breach of
building regulations and practices”.

Officials from ArmRosGazprom say the problem is being corrected.
“Even if there have been breaches of construction practice in some
places, ArmRosGazprom will soon switch to using polyethylene pipes
which will be laid underground,” said Sardarian.

In the meantime, the rate of accidents almost doubled in 2004.
According to Nikolai Grigorian, press secretary at the government
department for emergency situations, 29 cases of gas poisoning were
recorded in just the first two months of 2005.

Grigorian urged consumers not to use unauthorised gas stoves to heat
their homes because of the grave risk they pose. “The market is full
of Turkish and Iranian-produced heaters that don’t even have smoke
flues”, he said.

In neighbouring Georgia, Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania died in January
apparently as a result of poisoning from a faulty Iranian gas stove.

Sardarian said consumers are responsible for many of the accidents
because they use cheap, home-fitted appliances without ventilation,
all in the name of saving money.

However, Danielian of the prosecutor’s office says there is a more
fundamental problem of governmental oversight which is now being
looked into.

“In this sector, as in any other, there should be state officials
responsible for monitoring the situation,” he said. “But it is not an
easy matter to work out exactly who is responsible for safety in the
sector, as the state energy watchdog was abolished in 2000 without a
replacement body being put in place…. A state body responsible for
coordinated supervision of the gas sector is essential.”

Twenty four criminal investigations into gas-related accidents are now
under way. No prosecutions have yet been started.

“No state official will shoulder responsibility for the dozens of
deaths,” said teacher Mkrtchian. “But that doesn’t mean they are not
to blame. The government is passing the buck. There is nothing
surprising about that – it happens all the time here. We ordinary
citizens are the ones who suffer.”

The World Bank is now taking an interest in the issue. Gevork
Sarkisian, director of the bank’s programme for heating provision in
Armenia, said that following talks with the government, his bank has
allocated one million US dollars to assist with safety measures in
Yerevan.

“The main aim of the programme is to test – ahead of implementation –
the most effective and least environmentally harmful methods of
heating multi-storey buildings,” said Sarkisian.

Lana Mshetsian and Tigran Mirzoian are freelance journalists in
Yerevan.

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
03/16/2005
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1) ARF Affiliate Organizations Convene Conference in Bulgaria
2) Council of Europe Calls for Release of Azeri Political Prisoners
3) Armenian FM Addresses UN Commission on Human Rights
4) Imperatives for Renewal of Armenian Church Discussed at Etchmiadzin

1) ARF Affiliate Organizations Convene Conference in Bulgaria

SOFIA (ARF Press Office)–Representatives of pan-Armenian organizations met in
the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, March 12-13, during a conference of
ARF-affiliated bodies, organized by the Bureau of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (ARF).
It coincided with commemorative events marking the 100th anniversary of
Armenian Revolutionary Federation co-founder Kristapor Mikaelian’s tragic
death, including a pilgrimage to Bulgaria’s Mount Vitosha where Mikaelian was
killed.
The conference reviewed implementation of projects targeted at the ARF’s 29th
World Congress (February 2004), and also detailed issues that Armenia, along
with the Armenian people currently face. Though approaches to resolving a
variety of issues were discussed, the body identified priorities, stressing
that the ARF must concentrate on implementation of activities in several
locations and regions, and be required to operate on multiple levels and in
various sectors in order to advance certain priorities.
The conference unanimously conveyed its support to ARF Armenia’s policies
that
seek to strengthen democracy in Armenia, as well as struggle against
corruption
and bribery, as part of the country’s internal policy.
The gathering of representatives praised opposition to Turkey’s entry to the
European Union based on its continuous denial of the Armenian genocide,
efforts
to gain international recognition of the Armenian genocide, and Mountainous
Karabagh Republic, as well as efforts to ensure the minority rights of the
people of Javakhk, and guarantee their cultural and socio-economic rights.
Specifically, attendees agreed that the 90th anniversary of the Armenian
genocide must serve as an opportunity to stress modern day Turkey’s political
responsibilities, while stepping-up Genocide recognition efforts. They
stressed
that opposition to Turkey’s entry into the EU must be based on the country’s
poor human rights record, unwillingness to practice democratic norms, and its
continued and vehement denial of its genocidal past.

2) Council of Europe Calls for Release of Azeri Political Prisoners

BAKU (AFP)–Europe’s top human rights body warned Azerbaijan Wednesday that it
would reevaluate its relations with Baku unless authorities released hundreds
of “political prisoners.”
Council of Europe envoy Malcolm Bruce said he expected President Ilham Aliyev
to sign an amnesty and “we expect that such a decree should free the larger
part of the political prisoners and this will be a resolution of the issue in
Azerbaijan.”
“I conveyed to the president (Ilham Aliyev) the opinion of international
observers that the trials of opposition leaders were biased,” Bruce said
during
a three-day visit to the Caucasus nation.
“The president did not admit to this problem,” he said.
If the prisoners were not released, Baku would face the possibility of “a
reevaluation of Azerbaijan and the Council of Europe’s relations,” at the
council’s April session, the Turan news agency reported Bruce as saying.
Hundreds of people opposed to Azerbaijan’s ruling regime were arrested
following riots during presidential elections in October 2003, including seven
of Azerbaijan’s most vocal opposition leaders.
Many have been released but the seven so-called “October detainees,” were
handed sentences of two to five years last year and remain in prison as do
scores of others.
Amnesty International slammed their imprisonment when the seven were given
sentences, saying there were concerns that witnesses were pressured into
giving
evidence that would incriminate the defendants and that allegations of
ill-treatment and torture of the prisoners were not fully investigated.
Bruce said he expected Aliyev to sign an amnesty freeing most of the
political
prisoners interned in the oil-rich Caspian nation in the next two to three
weeks, he told journalists.
They agreed that “the internment of some of the opposition leaders in prison
during parliamentary elections (in November) would be an undesirable
phenomenon,” Azer Press quoted Bruce as saying.
Tensions between the opposition and the authorities have been heating up
ahead
of the November poll with police breaking up every protest the opposition has
organized since the 2003 elections.

3) Armenian FM Addresses UN Commission on Human Rights

YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian addressed the 61st
session of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva on March 15. On May 3,
2001, the UN’s Economic and Social Council elected 14 new members to
three-year
terms on the UN Human Rights Commission, of which Armenia won one of those 14
seats.
Oskanian explained that Armenia’s membership in the Commission is not simply
an organizational matter, but rather “is as much a product of our sense of
responsibility as of our deep, immediate daily awareness that individual human
rights, the basic human rights of a society, and individual and collective
security are all inextricably, inarguably, expressly inter-connected.”
For Armenians, he said “the human rights principle, the concept of man’s
inalienable rights touches a raw nerve…We spent the greatest part of the
last
century under a regime that endured solely because of the absence of human
rights. Immediately prior to that period, we had the dubious honor of being
the
century’s first victims of genocide. At the end of the century, we were still
fighting to secure the rights of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabagh.”
Oskanian then focused on Genocide and the issue of Karabagh’s
self-determination. He explained that for Armenians, “As a minority, living in
the Ottoman Empire, their call for the application of the lofty principles of
liberty, equality and fraternity, led to their death sentence. Today, their
survivors, living within and outside the Republic of Armenia, expect that the
world’s avowal of the universality of those same noble principles will lead to
recognition that Genocide was committed against Armenians.”
Referring to recent calls by the Turkish leadership for a historical debate,
the Minister reiterated Armenia’s readiness for dialogue. “Let’s not confuse
the two kinds of dialogue,” he said. “One is a debate about history. The other
is a political discussion. Periodic calls by various Turkish administrations
for historical debate simply delay the process of reconciling with the truth.”
On the struggle of the people of Karabagh for self-determination, the
Minister
remarked, “Ironically, Mr. Chairman, even as societies have learned to support
the victims of domestic violence, we have not yet graduated to offering the
same support to victims of international or government violence. At best, the
world watches silently as the victims attempt to defend themselves, and if
somehow, against great odds, they succeed, then the world quickly pulls back,
as the state loudly cries foul and claims sovereignty and territorial
integrity… Just as the perpetrator of domestic violence loses the moral
right
to custody, so then, does a government that commits and promotes violence
against its own citizens lose its rights. It is in such instances that the
notion of self-determination is significant and legitimate.”
Oskanian concluded his remarks saying, “Mr. Chairman, for us, defense and
protection of human rights is not an abstract principle. It is the difference
between survival and annihilation. We believe it is the same for many in the
world. Yet, our individual and collective tendency is to ignore or neglect
problems for which we have no immediate answer or prospect for solution. This
is even truer in situations which defy belief, surpass common norms, and shake
our very assumptions and values. For these very reasons, in our ever-shrinking
world, what is required is resolve on the part of the committed in order to
expand the engagement of those still hesitant.”
On the sidelines of the Commission’s annual meeting, Oskanian met with
Dimitri
Rupel, Slovenia’s Foreign Minister and Chairman-in-Office of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He also met with the Foreign Minister
of Finland Laila Freivalds, President of the ICRC Jacob Kellenberger, and
Director General of the Geneva’s office of the United Nations Sergei
Orjonikidse.

4) Armenian Catholicosates Discuss Imperatives for Renewal of Armenian Church

ETCHMIADZIN (Armenpress)–Under the auspices of Catholicos of All Armenians
His
Holiness Karekin II and Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia His Holiness
Aram I, a meeting of delegations of the Catholicosate of All Armenians and the
Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia took place on March 4-5 in
Etchmiadzin with the goal of further strengthening internal solidarity and
preparation of a draft agenda with the theme, “The Imperative for the Renewal
of the Armenian Church.”
On March 4, His Holiness Karekin II received the two delegations in the
Mother
See, gave his Pontifical blessing to the members of the delegations, and spoke
of his and Catholicos Aram I’s expectations of the meeting. Archbishop Oshagan
Choloyan conveyed the warm greetings of His Holiness Aram I.
The meeting commenced after the Lord’s Prayer, the result of which was the
preparation of the draft agenda. Consisting of nine agenda items, it included
the primary spheres of the identity, life, and witness of the Armenian Church:
the canonical condition of the Armenian Church–ecclesiological,
administrative, and canonical definement, Christian and Armenian education,
evangelical mission and preservation of spiritual and cultural values,
liturgical and ritual life, preparation of clergy and reactivation of monastic
life, ecumenical and inter-religious relations, positions on modern social and
moral issues, relations between Church and State, relations between Church and
Social Institutions, pursuit of the rights of the Armenian people, and the use
of modern technologies.
The draft agenda will be presented to His Holiness Karekin II and His
Holiness
Aram I for their consideration and petitioning them for the commission’s work
to proceed.

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FOODnavigator.com

Aluminium foil sales hit all time high while costs rocket

16/03/2005 – Aluminium producers can expect a good year in 2005,with foil
sales hitting an all-time high, but packagers will have to deal with
all-time high costs, writes Anthony Fletcher.

Shipments of aluminium foil reached a record high in 2004 with deliveries
reaching 820,350 tons, an increase of 1.1 per cent over the previous year
(811,400 tons), according to the European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA).
The association claims that the growth figures disguise an even better
picture when the ongoing practice of down gauging – decreasing thickness –
in aluminium foil rolling is considered. Over the last 30 years the average
down gauging effect in packaging applications was around 30 per cent.

However aluminium prices reached a ten-year high this week at $2,016 a tonne
according to the Financial Times, and strong global economic growth and
solid demand could continue to drive prices even higher – bad news for
packaging firms.

The higher metals prices caused both UBS and Merrill Lynch to up their
long-term price forecasts for metals. Merrill Lynch said this week
commodities were in a long-term bull market.

Despite the cost increase, EAFA believes that strong sales were driven as
much by exports as by sales within the EAFA region, which includes Armenia,
Bulgaria, Czech Republic, EU15, Hungary, Norway, Russia, Switzerland and
Turkey.

`We expect this trend to continue in 2005,’ said Bill Morris, president of
EAFA. `The level of demand of aluminium foil especially for exportation
outside the EAFA region underlines the global leadership of the European
foil industry in terms of quality and competitiveness.’

Approximately 75 per cent of aluminium foil is used in packaging where its
characteristics of strength, formability and barrier properties have made it
an essential part of many flexible packaging and container applications.
EAFA argues that the number of new products that feature innovative uses of
alufoil-based packaging indicates a healthy future for the material.

The solid sales figures come after a concerted effort by EAFA to better
communicate to food packagers the benefits of using the material. The
association has consistently argued that many of the benefits that aluminium
foil brings to packaging are hidden from both packer fillers and consumers
because it is often used in association with other packaging materials and
is frequently invisible to the naked eye.

This, says the EAFA, detracts from the fact that aluminium is the one of the
best solutions for any product that requires a barrier material that
provides the extra elements of extended shelf life and true impermeability
to gases, moisture, light and UV rays.

And despite the ten-year price high, the association claims that the
packaging industry should see the value and flexibility of the material.
`Production and manufacturing techniques have led to down-gauging – 20 per
cent decrease in thickness in 10 years – at the same time as maintaining or
even improving machineability and performance characteristics. All of which
provides increased productivity and added value to the conversion process,’
said Morris.

One major selling point of aluminium of course is that it can be recycled
repeatedly at a fraction of its original energy cost and modern separation
techniques mean aluminium foil in household waste can be extracted and
recycled. It is suitable for both separate and multi-material collection
systems according to national and local conditions.

The energy content of foil laminates can also be recovered by thermal
treatment.

With 123 members EAFA is the international body that represents the
interests of the major rollers, converters, household foil rewinders and
container manufacturers in Europe.

PanArmenian News
March 16 2005

TURKISH TV COMPANY DEVOTED 5 BROADCAST HOURS TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
DISCUSSION

16.03.2005 04:26

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Pleif TV Turkish company has devoted 5 broadcast
hours to discussion of the issue of the Armenian Genocide, Regnum
news agency reported. Turks and Armenians were invited for the
discussion, which aimed at the Turkish party denying the Armenian
Genocide reality. The Armenian Patriarchy of Constantinople has
turned down the invitation. Armenian Protestant Church pastor Grigor
Agabaloghlu took part in the TV transmission. As reported by the
Marmara Turkish newspaper, `his speech was so courageous and stumped
Turks so much’ that historian Mehmet Saray asked the emcee: `Where
did you find this man?’