PanArmenian News
February 23, 2005

PUTIN AND BUSH POSSIBLE TO DISCUSS KARABAKH PROBLEM, ARMENIAN PREMIER
CONSIDERS

23.02.2005 13:52

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margarian did not
rule out that the Karabakh problem will be discussed during the
meeting of Vladimir Putin and George Bush in Bratislava, RFE/RL
reports. In his words, taking into account that Russia and the US are
the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, the Presidents of the two states are
likely to discuss the Karabakh conflict among other regional
problems. “I do not think that the US and Russian Presidents will
come to decisions not known to the conflicting parties so far”,
Andranik Margarian noted.

North Shore Times (Australia)
February 23, 2005 Wednesday

Club gives vandals a spray

GRAFFITI vandals have defaced daily the Armenian Cultural Centre in
Willoughby.

Centre members have repainted the outer wall of the building many
times recently.

“We painted one morning, went in for lunch, and it was there again in
the afternoon,” centre member Berdj Momdjian said.

“We can’t keep painting. It’s cost us a fortune.”

Sergeant Peter Lunney of Chatswood Police said there was not much
they can do.

“It’s just a regular thing people get up to when they’re bored,” he
said. “They paint something on the wall and the community centre
paints over it to make it presentable again. That makes it attractive
to go back and graffiti.”

Willoughby Mayor Pat Reilly recently met Chatswood Police after a
surge in graffiti attacks.

Council said the most effective strategy was to remove the graffiti
as quickly as possible.

“This strategy deprives the graffiti vandals of the exposure of their
handiwork,” a council representative said.

Mr Momdjian said graffiti vandals have recently struck the centre’s
Scout Hall in Naremburn Park but he does not believe the illegal acts
to be racial crimes.

Willoughby residents can report graffiti attacks to council’s
customer service officers on 9777 1000.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The New York Times
February 23, 2005 Wednesday
Late Edition – Final

The Secret Genocide Archive

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF.

Photos don’t normally appear on this page. But it’s time for all of
us to look squarely at the victims of our indifference.

These are just four photos in a secret archive of thousands of photos
and reports that document the genocide under way in Darfur. The
materials were gathered by African Union monitors, who are just about
the only people able to travel widely in that part of Sudan.

This African Union archive is classified, but it was shared with me
by someone who believes that Americans will be stirred if they can
see the consequences of their complacency.

The photo at the upper left was taken in the village of Hamada on
Jan. 15, right after a Sudanese government-backed militia, the
janjaweed, attacked it and killed 107 people. One of them was this
little boy. I’m not showing the photo of his older brother, about 5
years old, who lay beside him because the brother had been beaten so
badly that nothing was left of his face. And alongside the two boys
was the corpse of their mother.

The photo to the right shows the corpse of a man with an injured leg
who was apparently unable to run away when the janjaweed militia
attacked.

At the lower left is a man who fled barefoot and almost made it to
this bush before he was shot dead.

Last is the skeleton of a man or woman whose wrists are still bound.
The attackers pulled the person’s clothes down to the knees,
presumably so the victim could be sexually abused before being
killed. If the victim was a man, he was probably castrated; if a
woman, she was probably raped.

There are thousands more of these photos. Many of them show attacks
on children and are too horrific for a newspaper.

One wrenching photo in the archive shows the manacled hands of a
teenager from the girls’ school in Suleia who was burned alive. It’s
been common for the Sudanese militias to gang-rape teenage girls and
then mutilate or kill them.

Another photo shows the body of a young girl, perhaps 10 years old,
staring up from the ground where she was killed. Still another shows
a man who was castrated and shot in the head.

This archive, including scores of reports by the monitors on the
scene, underscores that this slaughter is waged by and with the
support of the Sudanese government as it tries to clear the area of
non-Arabs. Many of the photos show men in Sudanese Army uniforms
pillaging and burning African villages. I hope the African Union will
open its archive to demonstrate publicly just what is going on in
Darfur.

The archive also includes an extraordinary document seized from a
janjaweed official that apparently outlines genocidal policies. Dated
last August, the document calls for the ”execution of all directives
from the president of the republic” and is directed to regional
commanders and security officials.

”Change the demography of Darfur and make it void of African
tribes,” the document urges. It encourages ”killing, burning
villages and farms, terrorizing people, confiscating property from
members of African tribes and forcing them from Darfur.”

It’s worth being skeptical of any document because forgeries are
possible. But the African Union believes this document to be
authentic. I also consulted a variety of experts on Sudan and shared
it with some of them, and the consensus was that it appears to be
real.

Certainly there’s no doubt about the slaughter, although the numbers
are fuzzy. A figure of 70,000 is sometimes stated as an estimated
death toll, but that is simply a U.N. estimate for the deaths in one
seven-month period from nonviolent causes. It’s hard to know the
total mortality over two years of genocide, partly because the
Sudanese government is blocking a U.N. team from going to Darfur and
making such an estimate. But independent estimates exceed 220,000 —
and the number is rising by about 10,000 per month.

So what can stop this genocide? At one level the answer is technical:
sanctions against Sudan, a no-fly zone, a freeze of Sudanese
officials’ assets, prosecution of the killers by the International
Criminal Court, a team effort by African and Arab countries to
pressure Sudan, and an international force of African troops with
financing and logistical support from the West.

But that’s the narrow answer. What will really stop this genocide is
indignation. Senator Paul Simon, who died in 2003, said after the
Rwandan genocide, ”If every member of the House and Senate had
received 100 letters from people back home saying we have to do
something about Rwanda, when the crisis was first developing, then I
think the response would have been different.”

The same is true this time. Web sites like and
are trying to galvanize Americans, but the
response has been pathetic.

I’m sorry for inflicting these horrific photos on you. But the real
obscenity isn’t in printing pictures of dead babies — it’s in our
passivity, which allows these people to be slaughtered.

During past genocides against Armenians, Jews and Cambodians, it was
possible to claim that we didn’t fully know what was going on. This
time, President Bush, Congress and the European Parliament have
already declared genocide to be under way. And we have photos.

This time, we have no excuse.

Associated Press Worldstream
February 23, 2005 Wednesday 12:53 PM Eastern Time

Azerbaijani president calls for international recognition of
notorious attack during war with Armenia

BAKU, Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan’s president on Wednesday called for world recognition of a
notorious attack during the six-year war with Armenia that
Azerbaijanis say killed hundreds.

Ilham Aliyev said the attack on the village of Khodzhaly in the
Nagorno-Karabakh enclave was “the worst crime not only against the
Azerbaijani people but against all of humanity,” according to a
statement released by the state-run Azertaj news agency.

He said the attack was “part of a 200-year political campaign of
genocide and ethnic cleansing by Armenian nationalists against the
Azerbaijani people.”

Armenian forces rushed into Khodzhaly on Feb. 26, 1992, in an attack
that resulted in the deaths of 613 Azerbaijanis, according to
Azerbaijani authorities. Armenian forces do not deny the attack, but
say the death toll is exaggerated.

The incident appalled Azerbaijanis and the anniversary of the attack
is observed every year with rallies and speeches in Baku.

Ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia drove Azerbaijani troops out
of Nagorno-Karabakh in the 1990s during a six-year war that killed
some 30,000 people and sent 1 million fleeing from their homes. A
cease-fire was reached in 1994, but the final status of the enclave,
whose self-proclaimed sovereignty is not recognized internationally,
is unresolved.

The dispute continues to damage both nations’ economies and the
threat of renewed war hangs over the region.

ARKA News Agency
Feb 23 2005

RAO `UES Russia’ is satisfied with cooperation with Armenia in the
area of energy development

RA President conducts working meeting with the Chairman of State Real
Estate Cadaster

RA President meets with Renato Bruson

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister receives head of International
Committee of Red Cross Eastern Europe Program

RA President meets with head of UNICEF Yerevan office

RA President extends his condolences in connection with Iran
earthquake

********************************************************************

RAO `UES RUSSIA’ IS SATISFIED WITH COOPERATION WITH ARMENIA IN THE
AREA OF ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

MOSCOW, February 23. /ARKA/. RAO `UES Russia’ is satisfied with
cooperation with Armenia in the area of energy development, as stated
Anatoli Chubays, the Chairman of the Board of RAO `UES Russia’, told
ARKA. `We quite positively evaluate what has been done so far’, he
said. According to Chubays, quite different development stage is
meant here, that is not just electric connection and supplies of
electric power, purchase and sale, but `investments, modernization of
the existing facilities and our management’. `We are oriented on
maximal openness with our partners in respect of potential projects’,
he said. Chubays also noted that RAO `UES Russia’ has no goal in
itself `to fill up the whole region with electric power produced by
the company’. `We move towards you and you-towards us. Both are done
when it’s mutually advantageous. It’s sensible and right’, he said.
In Armenia RAO `UES Russia’ monitors financial inflows of Armenian
Atomic Power Plant and owns Sevan-Hrazdan Hydroelectric Power Plant
(HPP) and Hrazdan Heat Power Plant (HPP).
The financial inflows of APP in September 2003 were transmitted into
trusty management of Russian Inter RAO UES, daughter enterprise of
RAO UES Russia (60% of shares) and Rosenergatom (40%) for 5 years.
International Energetic Corporation CJSC was founded in May, 2003 by
RAO UES Russia for exploitation of Sevan-Hrazdan CJSC passed to
Russia to compensate part of debt for supply of nuclear fuel for
Armenian Atomic Power Plant. Hrazdan HPP was passed to Russia to
partially redeem the state debt of Armenia to Russia. The station was
estimated at $ 31 mnl. It will be managed by an operator appointed by
Russian side. The operator will be determined from the mid of March
2005. A.H. -0 –

********************************************************************

RA PRESIDENT CONDUCTS WORKING MEETING WITH THE CHAIRMAN OF STATE REAL
ESTATE CADASTER

YEREVAN, February 23. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharian conducted
working meeting with the Chairman of State Real Estate Cadaster Manuk
Vardanian. Vardanian represented the president present stage of the
process of legalization of illegal constructions. Kocharian assigned
to legally regulate the process of registration of rights on property
at the line of illegal constructions before the completion of the
development of legal package on hypothec.
According to press release, the President also assigned to regulate
the process of conduction of auctions and contests on sale or lease
of lands. The offered changes will include the agreement on deal,
plan of land plot. Given document must be signed not only by the
winner of the contest, but also by the head of the community as
authorized body. L.D. –0 –

********************************************************************

RA PRESIDENT MEETS WITH RENATO BRUSON
YEREVAN, February 23. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharian has met
today with the renowned Italian opera singer Renato Bruson. The RA
presidential press service reports that Renato Bruson intends to give
a solo concert in Yerevan as part of the arrangements on the occasion
of the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The singer shared
his impressions of Yerevan with the Armenian President, expressed his
admiration by the `Aram Khachatryan’ concert hall and the Armenian
orchestra. Bruson expressed his regret that he is too busy to prolong
his stay in Armenia and get to known the country and its people
better. He said that to fill the gap he considers it worthwhile to
come to Armenia once more, but as a tourist. The Ra President thanked
Renato Bruson for his intention to take part in the commemoration of
the Armenian Genocide and assured him that he will `not miss the
chance to listen to [him]’. P.T. -0–

********************************************************************

ARMENIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER RECEIVES HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL
COMMITTEE OF RED CROSS EASTERN EUROPE PROGRAM

YEREVAN, February 23. /ARKA/. Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Tatul
Margaryan received today Head of Program for Eastern Europe of
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Isabel Barras . As
Armenian Foreign Ministry Press and Information Department told ARKA,
during the meeting the sides discussed issues concerning the course
of implementation of arrangements achieved in February 2004 during
Chief Delegate of ICRC in Europe, North and South Americas Beatrice
Megevand-Roggo’s visit to Yerevan.
Margaryan especially stressed the role of ICRC in seeking solutions
for humanitarian problems facing by Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. In
her turn Isabelle Barras informed Armenian Deputy Minister on ICRC’s
future programs. T.M. -0–

********************************************************************

RA PRESIDENT MEETS WITH HEAD OF UNICEF YEREVAN OFFICE

YEREVAN, February 23. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharian has met
today with the newly appointed Head of the UNICEF Yerevan office
Sheldon Yett. The RA presidential press service reports that Mr. Yett
informed the Armenian President that a $17mln. 5-year cooperation
program is shortly to be signed with the RA Government. Yett made a
high appraisal of the reforms in Armenia’s public health and
education spheres.
In his turn, the RA President expressed satisfaction with the current
cooperation, voicing a hope that it will reach a higher level under
Sheldon Yett’s direction. P.T. -0–

********************************************************************

RA PRESIDENT EXTENDS HIS CONDOLENCES IN CONNECTION WITH IRAN
EARTHQUAKE

YEREVAN, February 23. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharian extended
his condolences to Mohammad Khatami, the President of Islamic
Republic of Iran in connection with the destructive earthquake in
Iran. As the Press Service of RA President told ARKA, the message, in
particular, states `With deep sorrow we received the news of the
earthquake which took the lives of many people. Please, accept my
sincere condolences on behalf of Armenian Government and me
personally’. L.V.–0–

PanArmenian News
Feb 23 2005

HEAD OF GEORGIAN DIOCESE OF ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH APPEALED TO
GEORGIA’S PRESIDENT TO PLACE ARMENIAN CHURCHES AT DISPOSAL OF DIOCESE

23.02.2005 17:01

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Head of Georgian Diocese of Armenian Apostolic
Church Vazgen Mirzakhanian requested Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili to clarify the status of the Diocese and place the
Armenian Churches of the country at its disposal, Armenpress news
agency reports. In the words of diocese deputy head, Father Abgar,
the Armenian monuments under the jurisdiction of the Georgian
Ministry of Culture have been left to the mercy of fate and
encroachments upon Armenian Churches have become more frequent
recently.

PanArmenian News
Feb 23 2005

WEBSITE DEDICATED TO 90-TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO BE
CREATED

23.02.2005 16:43

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ About 50 specialists on the problem of the Armenian
Genocide will take part in organization of various measures dedicated
to the 90-th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Armenpress news
agency reports. According to the group director, pro-rector of the
Yerevan State University Aram Simonian, exhibitions of photos and
documents testifying of the Genocide of 1915 will be opened, audio
and video cassettes with the records of those who witnessed that
crime will be issued as well as materials from German, Russian and
French archives will be published. On the initiative of the working
group a website, which is to be continually replenished with
corresponding documents, will be created. A scientific conference
with the participation of student and the teaching staff will be held
in the Artsakh State University in mid-April.

LADWP Science Bowl is Most Successful Regional Competition in U.S.
Department of Energy National Program; 13th Annual Event Set for
Sat. Feb. 26 with 42 Team Field

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)—- North Hollywood To Defend Regional
Title

With the 2005 theme, “Give Me a Place to Stand, and I Will Move the
Earth,” by Archimedes, the 13th Annual LADWP Science Bowl, the most
successful regional high school competition in the U.S. Department of
Energy National Science Bowl program, will be held Saturday, Feb. 26
from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the L.A. Department of Water and Power
downtown headquarters, 111 N. Hope St. The public is welcome to
attend.

A total of 42 teams from 26 public and private high schools throughout
the city of Los Angeles are expected to participate this year. Last
year North Hollywood High School won the LADWP Science Bowl and won
the fifth place trophy at the National Science Bowl in Washington,
D.C. LADWP regional championship teams have won four national titles
and placed in the top five ranking teams eight out of the last 10
years, a record.

Dr. E.C. Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory, will serve as
the celebrity moderator at the final round of the competition.

Also for the first time, an alumni moderator, Adam Diament, PhD, a
former Science Bowl team member, will serve as one of the officials
asking the difficult questions during competition. Dr. Diament is a
post doctoral fellow in genetics at UCLA. He was a member of the 1993
Venice High School Team that was the first LADWP regional champion to
represent the city at the National Science Bowl.

“We are indeed proud that the LADWP Science Bowl has grown to become
an important annual event attracting some of the nation’s most
talented and hardworking students. The amount of knowledge and depth
of understanding that the students possess is amazing,” said Melinda
Rho, chair of the Science Bowl Volunteer Steering Committee.

Rho added that the program encourages participation by students from
all backgrounds and parts of the city. The program, she said, has
attained such high esteem that colleges look to a student’s success at
the event as a hallmark of achievement.

Winning participating team members, she said, at regional and national
levels have gone on to attend some of the most competitive colleges
and universities in the nation including Harvard University, Yale
University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California
Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, Columbia
University, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Stanford
University.

Science Bowl is a fast-paced game-show style competition in which two
teams of four students, with an alternate, answer toss-up questions
from a moderator. Individual students buzz in. The student that
buzzes in the fastest with the correct answer earns four points for
his or her team. Then that team has the exclusive right to answer the
bonus question worth 10 points.

The LADWP Science Bowl buzzer competition is in two parts. In the
morning, from 8:30 a.m. to approximately 12:30 p.m., teams will be
competing in six divisions or leagues of seven teams each. The top two
or three schools from each division will advance to the double
elimination tournament in the afternoon. The final round to determine
the champion is expected to start about 4:30 p.m.

Based on the format of the General Electric College Bowl television
program, Science Bowl questions cover such technical fields as
physics, chemistry, astronomy, earth and physical science, calculus,
trigonometry, technology and current events in math, science and
computer fields.

The winning team members in the LADWP Science Bowl will each receive
the $1000 Hitachi Scholarship. Their school will also receive a trophy
and $2000 toward the purchase of science equipment or materials.
Additional prizes for second to fourth place team members range from
$1,000 U.S. Savings Bonds to $200 gift cards. Also, $1250 to $1750 in
equipment or materials will be awarded to schools for teams placing
second through fourth. The winning team will travel to Washington,
D.C., April 28 to May 2, to represent the city and the regional
competition at the National Science Bowl.

The national grand prize this year is a trip to Australia to attend
the International Science School in Sydney. Other prizes for the
second to fourth place national finishers and to the team winning the
Good Sportsmanship Award include weeklong trips to U.S. Department of
Energy labs and facilities.

In addition to the “buzzer competition,” schools in the Science Bowl
also have an opportunity to participate in the Franklin Lu Hands-On
Competition, which poses a different activity and challenge every
year. A separate group of prizes are provided to student team members
that are successful in this event. The hands-on competition is named
for the late Franklin Lu, a DWP engineer and volunteer, who was
instrumental in establishing this event as part of the LADWP Science
Bowl program.

This year more than 11,000 students in 1800 high from 40 states, the
District of Columbia, the Virgin Island and the Indian Nations will
participate in one of the 66 regional competitions. Since the National
Science Bowl program began in 1991, more than 70,000 students have
participated. Nine regional competitions are held in California
including the JPL Science Bowl for schools outside the city of Los
Angeles and Los Angeles Unified School District areas.

The LADWP Science Bowl is made possible by 100 volunteers, mainly
LADWP employees and their families. In addition to the Department of
Water and Power, other sponsors include the Hitachi Southern
California Regional Community Action Committee, Institute of
Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the Water and Power
Community Credit Union, the San Fernando Valley Engineers’ Council,
and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

The Science Bowl is one of several LADWP educational partnership
programs that include the Youth Services Academy; Teacher Workshop
Series and Adopt-A-Schools. Additional information about LADWP
education programs can be received by logging on to and
clicking on the community and safety section or by calling 1-800-DIAL
DWP.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is the nation’s largest
municipally owned utility. It has provided services to the residents
and businesses of the city for more than a century. LADWP Science
Bowl XIII Participating Schools A.G.B.U. Demirdjian High School
Lincoln High School Arshag Dickranian Armenian School Louisville High
School Birmingham High School Manual Arts High School Bravo Medical
Magnet High School Marshall High School Downtown Magnet High School
Milken Community High School El Camino Real High School North
Hollywood High School Fairfax High School Reseda High School Francis
Polytechnic High School San Pedro High School Gardena High School
Sherman Oaks Center for Granada Hills Charter High School Enriched
Studies Grant High School St. Genevieve High School Hamilton High
School Van Nuys High School Hollywood High School Venice High School
Holy Martyrs Ferrahian High School

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Walter Zeisl, 213-367-1342
cell phone: 213-792-5521 Kimberley Hughes, 213-367-4417 cell phone:
213-792-5521

02/23/2005 15:34 ET

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
02/23/2005
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP://

1) Regional ANC Office to Be Established in Middle East
2) Wall Street Journal Article about Turkey Causes Waves of Shock
3) Georgia and Russia at Impasse Says New Premier
4) Senior Official Arrested on Corruption Charges

1) Regional ANC Office to Be Established in Middle East

YEREVAN (Yerkir)–The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau has
decided to establish a regional Armenian National Committee office in the
Middle East to meet the challenges of ensuring continuity and success of
efforts commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
A fundraising banquet will be held on February 26 in Paris, chaired by
Catholicos Aram I, where upcoming projects will be presented. Public figures
and dignitaries from Armenia, Russia, Europe, and the Middle East have been
invited to attend.

2) Wall Street Journal Article about Turkey Causes Waves of Shock

ISTANBUL (Armenpress)–As the Turkish Daily “Zaman” reported recently, Robert
L. Pollock’s article titled “The Sick Man of Europe–Again,” which appeared in
the February 16 issue of the Wall Street Journal, has sent shock waves
throughout the Republic of Turkey. Given the Journal’s friendly stance towards
Turkey during the past five decades, and its senior editorial page writer’s
personal attitude about the country–Pollock described himself as a friend of
Turkey during an interview–the Turkish newspaper speculates that the article
can only indicate a major shift in American sentiment toward the republic.
In the article, Pollock states that during a recent visit to Turkey he
discovered “a poisonous atmosphere–one in which just about every politician
and media outlet (secular and religious) preaches an extreme combination of
America- and Jew-hatred that…voluntarily goes far further than anything
found
in most of the Arab world’s state-controlled press. If I hesitate to call it
Nazi-like, that’s only because Goebbels would probably have rejected much
of it
as too crude.”
Pollock fills his American audience in on the various rumors spread by
Turkish
newspapers regarding US’s presence in Iraq. “Yeni Safak,” which Pollock states
is Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s favorite, has unveiled a number of
“scoops,” including reports detailing the rape and murder of Iraqi women and
children by US forces, the deployment of 1000 Israeli troops in Iraq, and the
harvesting of the innards of dead Iraqis for the eventual sale on the US
“organ
market.”
Referring to US Ambassador Eric Edelman’s difficulties in light of such
attitudes, Pollock notes, “Never in an ostensibly friendly country have I had
the impression of embassy staff so besieged. Erdogan’s office recently forbade
Turkish officials from attending a reception at the ambassador’s residence in
honor of the ‘Ecumenical ‘ Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, who resides in
Istanbul. Why? Because ‘ecumenical’ means universal, which somehow makes it
all
part of a plot to carve up Turkey.”
After describing several other such examples, Pollock ends his article
with an
ominous warning: “Turkey could easily become just another second-rate country:
small-minded, paranoid, marginal and–how could it be
otherwise?–friendless in
America and unwelcome in Europe!”
According to “Zaman,” Armenian- and Greek-Americans have provided significant
support to Robert L. Pollock, in response to his views on Turkey. A
Greek-American organization, according to “Zaman,” has also distributed copies
of Pollock’s article to members of Congress.
Among the many postings on the Wall Street Journal’s website, was one by a
reader named David Govett, who wrote: “Turkey cannot be the sick man of Europe
because it has never been a part of Europe. Ataturk’s initiatives to modernize
Turkey were as successful as Crazy Peter’s Westernization attempts on Russia.”

3) Georgia and Russia at Impasse Says New Premier

By Arkady Ostrovsky

TBILISI–Relations between Russia and Georgia have reached a stalemate that
jeopardizes Georgia’s efforts to restore stability and its territorial
integrity, Zurab Nogaideli, the country’s new prime minister, has told the
Financial Times.
Georgia’s 15-month-old government, installed after a popular uprising ousted
president Eduard Schevardnadze, is struggling to regain control over the
break-away regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia–both backed by Russia.
US President Bush told European leaders this week that Georgia was one of the
countries that needed assistance in developing democracy.
But Russia, which still has military bases in Georgia, has strongly opposed
Tbilisi’s efforts to establish control over South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Moscow
has also used combative language in relation to Georgia, accusing it of
harboring terrorists from neighboring Chechnya.
In his first interview since taking office, Nogaideli said a recent visit by
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, had failed to achieve a breakthrough
in the relationship between the two countries, which has turned increasingly
sour during the past year.
Nogaideli, former finance minister in the government of Zurab Zhvania, who
died of carbon monoxide poisoning this month, had said: “For us the most
important problem in the relationship with Russia is the resolution of
conflicts on our territory. We want to solve the issue of territorial
integrity
peacefully. But everyone understands that without Russia’s good will, it will
be impossible.”
Lavrov’s visit was overshadowed by a diplomatic spat after the Russian
foreign
minister declined an invitation to lay flowers at the memorial for Georgian
soldiers who died in a military conflict with Abkhazia in the early 1990s.
However, in an interview on Russian television last weekend, Lavrov indicated
that Russia no longer considered Georgia to be under his country’s hegemony.
Both Ukraine and Georgia, he said, were “absolutely sovereign, absolutely
equal
states in the new geopolitical architecture.”
Georgian politicians said there was a risk that Russia would test its strength
against Georgia to compensate for its failings in Ukraine.
One senior official said: “There is a real danger that Georgia will become a
foreign-policy Yukos for Russia, designed to demonstrate its strength.”
Russia suffered a humiliating defeat when it failed to influence the outcome
of Ukrainian elections last year and its tough stance towards Georgia is seen
as part of the Kremlin’s efforts to prove its influence in the former Soviet
space.
However, while the official relationship with Moscow has been difficult,
Georgia has managed to attract Russian investment. “We find talking to Russian
investors easier than talking to the Russian government,” Nogaideli said.

4) Senior Official Arrested on Corruption Charges

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–A former high-ranking official at the Armenian Finance
Ministry who was in charge of overseeing the use of public funds by various
government agencies has been arrested on corruption charges, state prosecutors
announced on Wednesday.
The spokesman for the Prosecutor-General’s Office, Gurgen Ambarian, said that
Levon Shahinian, who headed the ministry’s financial oversight department, was
charged the previous night with large-scale fraud that allegedly allowed
him to
pocket about 40 million drams ($85,000). He said the money was meant to be
paid
to two private auditing firms.
Under Armenia’s Criminal Code the accusations carry between four and eight
years’ imprisonment.
Ambarian alleged that Shahinian forged “financial agreements, reports and
other documents” to defraud the auditors, but refused to detail the
accusations. It was also unclear if the suspect has pleaded guilty to the
charges.
Shahinian, who headed the Finance Ministry department since 2001, was
relieved
of his duties a week ago “at his own request,” according to a ministry
spokesman.
The department inspects ministries and other government agencies that are
financed through the state budget. Some of them are audited by private firms
contracted by the government.

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Caucaz.com, Georgia
Feb 23 2005

Saakashvili dilemma: territorial autonomy and conflict

By Pierre JOLICOEUR, researcher in the Centre of Foreign Policy and
Security Studies – Montreal in Montreal (Canada)

The death of Georgian Prime Minister, Zurab Zhvania, and the debates
for the appointment of his successor held center stage in Georgia
early February. And thus, president Mikhail Saakashvili’s peace
proposal for South-Ossetia conflict, presented on January 26th at the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasburg, was
pushed into the background.

And yet, this is a major breakthrough for the South-Ossetian issue,
especially within the context of heigthened tensions in the
secessionist territory during last year. By doing so, the regime from
the Rose Revolution has drawn up a first formal peace proposal for
the frozen conflict, by offering Tskhinvali a status of autonomy.

By itself the territorial autonomy would be a breakthrough for the
Ossetians. This status was unilaterally taken away from then by
former Georgian president Zviad Gamsakhurdia, and this ended up in
the 1991-1992’s conflict.

With this new proposal, Saakashvili offered to South-Ossetia an
autonomy wider than it was before the conflict, and also an
integration into the Georgian constitution. But this offer is still
not enough for the South-Ossetians. As a matter of fact South-Ossetia
being currently fully out of Tbilisi’s control, integrating Georgia
would be a step back from the point of view of the radicalists. This
would mean giving up their de facto independence.

Indeed Tbilisi’s proposal is quite astonishing since at the time it
was done, the observers were rather expecting that the Georgian
president makes an announcement for the other frozen conflict :
Abkhazia. Rumours had that he would offer Abkhazians to associate
with the Georgian Sate in the framework of a federation, thus
radically changing the Georgian State from a unitary structure into a
multiple structure.

But rather than open the doors to Sukhumi’s leaders, Saakashvili
raised his voice toward them by stating that there was no more
interlocutor on the Abkhazian side since those ones had left the
negotiations table. This statement, in addition of the South-Ossetian
offer, has increased the pressure put up on the Abkhazians.

Generally speaking, federalism and territorial autonomy are
considered as good solutions to secessionist conflict, somekind of
compromise between the contradictory principles of people’s right for
self-determination and the respect of States’ territorial integrity.
However, it may happen that this kind of settlement, instead of
leading to the wished stability, causes a certain instability.

For instance, after the falldown of USSR and former Yugoslavia, the
political elite of the federated republics turned toward local
nationalist movements partly as a result of the federal structure of
those States. Indeed the secessionist movements were able to take off
and organize themselves politically for the very existence of their
political identity and local institutions.

In a certain way, the same happened in the Georgian autonomous
territories – as well as in Nagorno-Karabakh or Chechnya. Those
examples demonstrate that it might turn out to be hazardous to offer
mobilized ethnic groups administrative borders, a local
administration and all kinds of political institutions that may get
used to organize a secessionist movement in case there be a
motivation to do so. In an atmosphere of suspicion, it often takes
only the presence of a manipulating elite to turn the territorial
autonomy into a secessionist logic.

Considering the recent history of communist federations, it is
legitimate to wonder about the mid and long-term stability of federal
and quasi-federal regimes in this region. Nevertheless, given that
the secessionist territories are currently not within Tbilisi’s
jurisdiction, putting back those self-proclaimed republics under the
Georgian aegis, whatever be their special political status, would be
a breakthrough for Georgia in the short-term.
In this context, Saakashvili does not have any other choice than to
opt for the solution of a territorial autonomy in case he is looking
for a common ground with secessionist forces, even if this choice is
risky.