Azeri analyst cautiously optimistic about US policy on Karabakh

Yeni Musavat, Baku
3 Feb 05

An Azerbaijani political analyst has said that recent statements by US
President George Bush on resolving conflicts in the post-Soviet area
raise cautious optimism that the USA and Russia will make a serious
effort to find a settlement to the conflict between Azerbaijan and
Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagornyy Karabakh. In an
interview with Yeni Musavat daily, former Azerbaijani foreign minister
Tofiq Zulfuqarov said that events in Georgia and Ukraine showed that
the West was already pursuing an active policy in the region. The
following is the text of Kanan Rovsanoglu report by Azerbaijani
newspaper Yeni Musavat on 3 February headlined “Russia must review its
policy” and subheaded “Tofiq Zulfuqarov ‘The West is already pursuing
its policy in the post-Soviet countries'”; subheadings have been
inserted editorially:

The first month of the year was notable for several interesting
developments concerning Nagornyy Karabakh. US President George Bush
stated in his inaugural speech for a second term of office that he
would try to resolve conflicts in the post-Soviet countries; a
resolution on Nagornyy Karabakh was passed at the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE]; a mission to investigate
cases of settlement in the occupied territories started work; and
finally, the US State Department issued a statement on the
conflict. Is all this enough to say that peace talks will be
intensified in 2005? We tried to find answers to these and similar
questions in an interview with former foreign minister Tofiq
Zulfuqarov.

PACE resolution

[Interviewer] Tofiq bay [form of address], we would like to know what
you think of the PACE resolution? How will this document affect the
negotiations and how will it benefit Azerbaijan?

[Zulfuqarov] Some terms in the part of the resolution dealing with the
assessment of the situation are very positive. Wording is very
important in negotiations and political statements. Wording and terms
used reflect countries’ positions. It is positive that international
organizations use words testifying to the Armenians’ being
occupiers. I also view as positive and in Azerbaijan’s favour that
public representatives of the PACE member states confirm this. PACE is
quite an influential organization in Europe. Therefore, the document
is of great importance.

The resolution does not have a direct link to the negotiations,
because PACE is not involved in the peace process. But in any case a
document that reflects the stance of the European community will
affect the process.

[Interviewer] Some people say that some points in the resolution are
not favourable to Azerbaijan and warn that there will be problems
later on. This is basically a reference to the recommendation that
Azerbaijan should start unconditional negotiations with Karabakh
Armenians… [ellipses as published]

[Zulfuqarov] The Armenian community of Karabakh was a party to the
negotiations under the mandate of the [OSCE] Minsk Group until
1997. But the [Karabakh] Armenians were unhappy with that format and
wanted to be party to the negotiations at the same level as
Azerbaijan. In fact, this recommendation goes against the Armenians,
because the Azerbaijani side has said many times that it is ready to
negotiate with the Armenian community. Such negotiations have been
under way for a long time within the framework of the Minsk Group. At
the moment Azerbaijan is ready for that format. If the discussions are
held according to the Minsk Group format, there cannot be any
conditions attached to contacts with representatives of the Armenian
community.

“Signs”

[Interviewer] Some say that activity in the Karabakh talks and
international attention to the problem will increase in 2005. One
month of the year has gone by. Are you observing any activity?

[Zulfuqarov] There are signs. The most serious are the statements by
US President George Bush and other leaders of the new [US]
administration clearly setting out the main directions of that
country’s foreign policy. The statements stress that conflicts that
have lasted for years in the post-Soviet countries should be
resolved. And the USA wants to cooperate with Russia on that issue.
This is a term containing a very serious meaning. In other words,
Washington wants the Kremlin to have an explicit and unambiguous
attitude to conflicts and their joint resolution. This is more or less
how I understand those statements. It is true that we saw similar
statements before. But now there is more confidence that the USA and
Russian will exert joint efforts to resolve the problem.

[Interviewer] Do you think that the USA will manage to change Russia’s
position and secure its sincere involvement in the resolution of the
conflict?

[Zulfuqarov] Generally, I believe that very serious developments are
taking place in the post-Soviet countries. The changes of power in
Georgia and Ukraine, as well as attitudes to elections in other
republics, show that the West is already pursuing its policy in the
post-Soviet countries. Naturally, democracy and the establishment of
civil society are very important issues. But one of the most important
issues for us is to liberate our occupied territories and see our
refugees return to their lands. From this viewpoint I believe that the
pressure applied by the West on the parties to the conflict and Russia
should yield results, because the Bush administration has said it will
pursue a serious policy to reach the specified goals. This insistence
has proved successful in other regions. Let us hope that the policy on
conflicts will also bear fruit. I do not believe that Russia will opt
for confrontation with the West. Therefore, Moscow will accept the
cooperation to be offered.

“Promising elements”

[Interviewer] However, the Russian co-chairman [of the OSCE Minsk
Group], Yuriy Merzlyakov, has said that the conflict will not be
resolved this year and that there will be some progress in the
negotiations in the years to come. Do you expect any progress shortly?

[Zulfuqarov] The prolongation of the conflict has made the Azerbaijani
public feel somehow accustomed to pessimism. The long absence of any
progress in the negotiations gives certain ground for this. But there
are hopes, too. Among the promising elements, as I have mentioned, are
statements showing the intention of the West to resolve the
problem. The Russian foreign minister [Sergey Lavrov] is visiting
Azerbaijan. It cannot be ruled out that a similar statement will be
made during the visit. Russia is also co-chairing the OSCE Minsk
Group. Like us, they are watching US statements closely. Therefore, I
think some statements are possible during the visit. In any case, I
would like Moscow to issue statements that show a more serious
position on the issue, because the recent statement by Russian
officials that “Azerbaijan and Armenia should resolve the conflict
themselves” cannot be taken seriously.

[Interviewer] The US and Russian presidents are due to meet this
month. Can there be any connection between the visit of the Russian
foreign minister and US plans in the run-up to the meeting?

[Zulfuqarov] The visit is being paid on the eve of the Bratislava
meeting between Bush and [Vladimir] Putin. Reports have been leaked
that conflicts in the post-Soviet countries will be on the agenda of
the meeting. Naturally, there are more conflicts in the South
Caucasus. The visit of the Russian foreign minister to the South
Caucasus before the meeting may be somehow tied to the
issue. Naturally, other issues such as Russian-Azerbaijani relations,
the status of the Caspian and the situation in the region will be
discussed. But I believe that Karabakh will be the focus of the
discussions.

FOREIGN MINISTER MET WITH THE OSCE DELEGATION

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
04 Feb 05

On January 30 the foreign minister of the Republic of Nagorni Karabakh
Arman Melikian met with the OSCE delegation which had arrived there on
the same day. The delegation included the Minsk Group co-chairmen
Youri Merzlyakov (Russia), Stephen Mann (USA) and Bernard Facier
(France), as well as the mission of experts headed by Emily Haber
(Germany). Greeting the members of the delegation Arman Melikian said
that the NKR authorities are interested in the visit of the
mission. Presenting the standpoint of the country’s government
concerning the territories controlled by NKR, the foreign minister
emphasized that the study of the situation in the security area of
Nagorni Karabakh will enablethe international community to have a real
idea of the state of refugees and the repressed. Armen Melikian
mentioned that the NKR authorities are open to cooperation with the
OSCE mission and are ready to provide necessary conditions and enable
them to visit any region that interests the monitoring group. The
representatives of the group of experts touched upon a wide range of
questions concerning the official policy of the NKR government for the
problem of territories under the control of Nagorni Karabakh. During
the meeting arrangements were made concerning the activity of the
group during their visit in Karabakh. The members of the delegation
thanked the minister for a detailed talk and willingness to assist to
the work of the mission.

AA.
04-02-2005

OSCE MISSION IN ARMENIA

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
04 Feb 05

The OSCE mission consisting of 17 members and headed by the head of
the OSCE department of the foreign ministry of Germany Emily Haber
started its work in NKR on January 31 and will stay in Nagorni
Karabakh for 10 days. The monitoring group was set up after Azerbaijan
lodged a complaint in the UN that Armenia fulfills a policy of
re-settlement of the liberated areas adjacent to Karabakh. In this
connection the negotiations for the settlement of the Karabakh problem
is threatened. By the demand of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen
Azerbaijan withdrew the question from the agenda of the UN General
Assembly session. Instead it was decided to set up a monitoring group
in the framework of theOSCE which will check the facts presented by
Azerbaijan. In this connection the NKR foreign ministry made an
official statement emphasizing that Karabakh does not hide anything
from the international community and a small number of refugees from
Azerbaijan live in the territories controlled by Karabakh. Mrs. Haber
told the Karabakh journalists that the group will make a technical and
not political report. Besides, she informed that during the meeting
with the NKR president the members of the group got a lot of important
information for their further work. The monitoring group will start
its work at the region of Karvachar and will visit all the liberated
regions of NKR. The standpoint of Armenia in reference to the arrival
of the OSCE experts group is the following: â=80=9CCome and control.’
This statement was made by the vice speaker of the parliament of
Armenia Vahan Hovhannissian at his press conference on January
28. According to him, in the recent years Azerbaijan keeps raising in
international organizations the question of uncontrollability of the
territories adjacentto Nagorni Karabakh, where allegedly drug
business, trafficking and crime is thriving.` Those international
organizations which are concerned about these questionsmay send their
groups of experts for the thorough study of the situation. We are not
against such missions,’ stated Vahan Hovhannissian. By the way,he
reminded that the population of those regions mainly consists of
Armenians forced out of the towns Dashkesan, Kirovabad, Baku and
Sumgait of Azerbaijan. â=80=9CAnd what else do they have to do?’ asks
Vahan Hovhannissian. `Naturally, people living there take part in the
elections to the municipalities and live a normal life.’ `If this is
a crime then nothing has changed since the beginning of the 20th
century,’ said the parliamentarian, adding that `a correct statement
of the question may have a positive solution for the Armenian party.’
The leader of the Azerbaijani Organization for Liberation of Karabakh
Akif Naghli told the Azerbaijani news agency `Kavkazski Uzel’ that the
visit of the OSCE mission to the region is the achievement of the
Armenian foreign policy because â=80=9Cthere are no representatives of
Azerbaijan and Turkey in the delegation’.Besides, A. Naghi mentioned
that the mission must by all means pass through the territory of
Azerbaijan. Touching upon the problem of security of the mission the
chairman of the OLK said that the OSCE need not lay the responsibility
on Azerbaijan. A. Naghi said that in case of a positive assessment of
the OSCEmission the OLK will organize actions after the report of the
mission in favour of Armenia. The OSCE experts group is headed by the
head of the OSCE department of the foreign ministry of Germany Emily
Margaret Haber. Besides the representatives of the Minsk Group
countries the delegation includes experts from Finland, Italy, Sweden
and Germany. The experts will conduct monitoring in the regions
controlled by the Karabakh armed forces to find out whether the claims
of the Azerbaijanis that those territories are widely populated by
Armenians are true. Commenting on the meetings with the OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairmen and the international group of experts the
Azerbaijani minister of foreign affairs Araz Azimov announced that
re-settlement of the `occupied territories ofAzerbaijan’ is carried
out with the direct involvement of Armenia. He mentioned that during
the meeting with the OSCE delegation and the Minsk Group co-chairmen
the Azerbaijani party presented to the mission video and audio records
which testify to the re-settlement of the `occupied territories’, as
well asgeographic maps. According to him, more than 23 thousand
people have illegally settled in the ` occupied territories’. Azimov
emphasized that this has a negative impact on the negotiations for the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict. Answering the question of the
news agency `Regnum’ what facts Baku presented to the group, Youri
Merzlyakov said that those were `satellite photos testifying to the
existence of settlements in the territories adjacent to Nagorni
Karabakh.’ `We shall find out if there are people, where they came
from, when and whether by their will,’ said the Russian diplomat. The
minister of defence of Nagorni Karabakh Seyran Ohanian said that he
has a normal attitude toward such monitoring.` Those territories are
under the strict control of the NKR government. However, we cannot
forbid our citizens to farm in those territories. As to the fate of
the territories, the great talks are ahead and any decision on these
territories must be made in the framework of this process,’ said the
minister of defence of NKR.

AA.
04-02-2005

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Village Voice, NY
Feb 4 2005

Choose Your Own Encyclopedia
Wikipedia

by Julian Dibbell

In olden times, when music was “sold” on shiny discs called “CDs” and
people took photographs with cameras instead of telephones, there was
this thing called an encyclopedia, which cost as much as a round-trip
to Hong Kong, took up more shelf space than a home entertainment
center, and contained basic information on every topic worth knowing
about. Four years ago, a couple of dotcom dreamers were inspired to
reinvent the encyclopedia in the freewheeling, massively
collaborative image of the Internet itself. The result was
wikipedia.org, today the biggest encyclopedia ever compiled, with
over 1 million copyright-free online articles and growing – every word
of it composed and edited by, literally, anybody who feels like it.
No, really. Go to any Wikipedia entry you choose – “Hindu philosophy,”
“drunk driving,” “pataphysics” – and click on the Edit This Page tab.
Bingo: Whatever you write immediately becomes the last word on the
subject. And if this sounds like a recipe for mob rule, that’s
because it is. But mob rule turns out to be a surprisingly good way
to write an encyclopedia. Typos abound, and especially in articles on
controversial topics like the Armenian genocide or George W. Bush,
the constant wars between opposing camps of revisers can reduce texts
to a state of almost Heisenbergian indeterminacy. But outright
factual errors generally get corrected fast (within minutes, on
average), and in the range and depth of its articles, Wikipedia
handily holds its own against encyclopedias produced the
old-fashioned way. Funny: It’s almost as if the great intellectual
unwashed could be trusted to manage its own culture.

The Courier, TX
Feb 4 2005

Unlikely sidekick flick “Sideways” garners five Oscar nominations

By: Michael Huckaby, Movie reviewer 02/04/2005

“Sideways” is a heartfelt adult comedy about the complexities of
romantic commitment, long-term male friendship and coping with the
disappointments of lost youth.

This charming, sometimes hilarious character study was nominated for
five prestigious Oscars, including Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay
and Director. With a subtle though strong and hopeful ending, this
beautifully-paced film is engaging and provides moving cultural
commentary.
The day-by-day story unfolds when two 40-something best friends begin
a road trip to the beautiful wine-growing Santa Ynez Valley of
California, a weeklong tour of vineyards, restaurants and golf
courses, a coastal vacation the best man arranges in lieu of a
mundane bachelor party. Former college roommates, the pair are
diametrically opposite in appearance, character and personal ethics.
Yet this unlikely friendship between an introvert and extrovert is
rock solid and endures incredible challenges.
A connoisseur of wines, sad-sack Miles Raymond (Paul Giamatti) is a
paunchy San Diego eighth-grade English teacher and struggling
novelist, woebegone over his divorce of two years from Victoria
(Jessica Hecht). Celibate since the breakup, Miles confessed to being
unfaithful, an inebriated one-night transgression he felt
morally-compelled to divulge.
Nominated for Supporting Actor, Thomas Hayden Church plays “Handsome”
Jack, a has-been Los Angeles soap opera star and ladies man who
enthusiastically beds all comers. Genuinely fond of pretty fiancée
Christine Erganian (Alysia Reiner), the daughter of a wealthy
Armenian real estate developer, the marriage promises financial
stability. The future father-in-law has offered Jack a cushy job and
thoughtfully bought him an expensive set of golf clubs for the
journey.
A stop in Santa Barbara, purportedly to wish Miles’ doting mother
(Marylouise Burke) a happy birthday, reveals the mom’s understanding
of her son’s fragile sensibilities. Instead of just handing Miles the
cash he needs, she keeps it in a special hiding place so he can help
himself without the embarrassment of having to ask.
After having devastating Miles with the offhand news that Victoria
remarried a few weeks back, Jack makes a promise he intends to keep.
“My best man gift to you will be to get you laid,” he casually
informs a sullen Miles as the odd couple approaches their hotel. That
evening Jack is quick to note the shy glances Miles exchanges with a
curly-haired blonde waitress at Miles’ favorite valley restaurant.
Earning a Supporting Actress nomination, Virginia Madsen’s portrayal
of Maya is a comforting study of a woman who can come to love a man
for his inner qualities and vulnerabilities rather than his
appearance or accomplishments. A wine aficionado soon to earn a
graduate degree in horticulture, the wholesome Maya was once married
to a boorish philosophy professor.
The following afternoon the buddies meet the motorcycle-riding
Stephanie (Sandra Oh), a wine pourer who believes Jack’s blarney.
When Jack finds out the women know each other, he arranges a double
date, swearing Miles to secrecy about his coming marriage. A
slapstick sequence that finally reveals Jack’s underlying character
involves the misadventures that follow after he goes home with Cammie
(Miss Doty), a chubby waitress married to a truck driver (M.C.
Gainey).
Director Alexander Payne, the real-life husband of Sandra Oh, also
wrote the nominated screenplay.

The Daily Telegraph, UK
Feb 4 2005

Downfall of an elite diplomat
By Francis Harris
(Filed: 04/02/2005)

The damning of Benon Sevan by the interim report on the oil-for-food
scandal is no mere condemnation of an anonymous international civil
servant.

It cuts right to the heart of the United Nations and its highly paid
diplomatic elite.

Mr Sevan, 67, a Cypriot Armenian, has worked for the UN for 40 years,
climbing his way up the ladder in postings as far apart as New York,
Afghanistan and Indonesia. Were it not for the oil-for-food scandal,
he would have retired on a pension estimated at £55,000 a year.

It should not have ended like this. Mr Sevan is judged an
international success story by his own people and is listed on
Armenian websites as a credit to his nation.

The UN bureaucracy wields considerable influence, controls huge sums
of money and is even less accountable than most national
bureaucracies.

For decades critics have alleged that this system has allowed some UN
staff to get rich by milking the generous allowances or, worse, to
become corrupt.

Mr Sevan was appointed head of the oil-for-food programme soon after
it began in 1997. He not only had to deal with one of the bloodiest
tyrannies in the world but also served under the watchful gaze of the
Americans, British, French and Russians, all interested in Iraq but
at odds on how to heal an issue which had soured international
relations for a decade.

Mr Sevan maintains his innocence. He said last year that he had been
unfairly portrayed as a jet-setter.

“I had one day off last year for my daughter’s graduation,” he said.

“I escaped death by a minute in Baghdad in the bombing of the UN
building. When I went on holiday [to Australia], they said I had
disappeared, but I had planned it for two years.”

MENAFN, Middle East
Feb 4 2005

Azerbaijan Gets SR67.5m Saudi Soft Loan Facility

Arab News – 04/02/2005

Saudi Arabia will provide an SR67.5 million soft loan facility to
Azerbaijan. “The loan agreement will be signed tentatively next month
and the funds will be used for building and expanding infrastructure
to boost potable water and power supplies in that country,” said
Naghi Jaabbarov, an Azeri diplomat, here.

On behalf of the Kingdom, Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) will
allocate the loan. “SFD Executive Director Yusuf Al-Bassam and Azeri
Ambassador Dr. Elman Arasli discussed the modalities of this loan
facility here on Tuesday,” said Jaabbarov, who also attended the
meeting. He pointed out that the terms and conditions of the credit
facility are easy with 20-year repayment period besides a five-year
grace period.

The loan and the funds already made available to Azerbaijan are used
to build infrastructural facilities, which were largely damaged
during the Armenian aggression. The diplomat said that Riyadh has
always been extending a helping hand to Baku. A young nation,
Azerbaijan regained independence after the collapse of the Soviet
Union in 1991.

Asked about other SFD-funded projects, he said the Saudi aid
organization has also signed an agreement with the Azeri government
to fund the construction of five schools for 1,280 children in each
of the five densely populated districts of the Azeri capital. More
than 200 schools have been built in that country over the past eight
years using foreign funds including Saudi money. Azerbaijan is also
seeking SFD’s support to execute a multimillion-riyal road project.

Many Arab organizations including the Jeddah-based Islamic
Development Bank (IDB) have come forward to support Azerbaijan in
implementing projects in different sectors, especially
infrastructural projects. A Saudi entrepreneur has also invested in a
major hotel project.

A group of 63 Azeri doctors arrived in Saudi Arabia recently. It was
the third group of Azeri doctors recruited by the Kingdom to be
deployed at different Saudi health institutions.

The Messenger, Georgia
Feb 4 2005

Condolences for Zhvania

President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan
Robert Kocharyan notes in his telegram to Mikheil Saakashvili, “Zurab
Zhvania made a tremendous contribution to democratic reforms in
friendly Georgia. On behalf of the Armenian people and also on my
behalf I express deep condolences to you and to the relatives of
Zurab Zhvania”.
Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vardan Oskanyan, meanwhile,
cancelled his visit to Tbilisi planned for February 3-4. He learnt of
Zhvania’s death on route, his press office said, and decided to
return to Yerevan.

Cyprus Mail, Cyprus
Feb 4 2005

Storm in a teacup
By Jean Christou

English School answers accusers after student protest

THE ENGLISH School Parents Association said yesterday the issue of a
tiny number of pupils objecting to a visit by Gideon bible
distributors had been blown out of proportion.

Chairwoman Magda Nicholson told the Cyprus Mail that the association
did not have any objections to the visit by the Gideon representative
to the school. Gideon bibles are most famous for being placed in
public places all over the world and are distributed free by a
100-year old Christian organisation, which has made it its life
mission to do so.

Earlier this week when a representative visited the English School,
seven Greek Orthodox pupils walked out in protest, claiming it was an
attempt to `convert them’.

The incident was sensationalised in the local press, saying the
pupils had been threatened with expulsion. The school reportedly said
it had received permission from the Church but the headmaster could
not be contacted yesterday.

`Seven pupils out of 900 is not a very representative number,’
Nicholson told the Cyprus Mail. `What was talked about by the
spokesman of these people was not in a religious context. He talked
about love and how love can keep us all together and whoever would
like to read the bible could have one free of charge.’

Nicholson said the Gideon representative did not speak about any
particular religion during his brief talk.

`It wasn’t a bible thing and if anyone had grounds to object it
should have been the Turkish Cypriots,’ she said. `I had a meeting
with the Turkish Cypriot parents on Tuesday night and none of them
mentioned it.’

Nicholson said the English School catered for all of the different
religions of its pupils, who are mainly Greek Orthodox. `There is a
Greek Cypriot Religious Instruction teacher, a Turkish Cypriot
teacher who teaches Islam, and also religious teachers for the
Armenian pupils,’ she said.

She added that the school’s student council had objected to the
actions of the seven pupils and were planning to publish an
announcement about it. `The kids are being punished not on the
grounds of their objections to what they heard but for showing
disrespect to guests at the school,’ she said.

`It’s a tolerance issue. There has to be religious tolerance. The
whole thing was blown out of proportion.’

According to their website the Gideons International, founded in
1899, serves as an extended missionary arm of the church and is the
oldest Christian business and professional men’s association in the
US.

The association has more than 236,000 members, located in 179
countries of the world. They are `united in carrying out the same
program using the same methods to accomplish the one objective of
winning others to Christ’.

The primary function of The Gideons is the placing and distributing
Bibles and New Testaments in as many places as. `Gideons as laymen,
stand shoulder to shoulder as missionaries of local churches and
their pastors in going to the four corners of the world to win others
for the Lord Jesus Christ,’ the mission statement said.
Annually, The Gideons International is placing and distributing more
than 59,000,000 scriptures worldwide. `This averages one million
copies of the Word of God placed every seven days, or 112 per
minute.’

Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Feb 3 2005

Azeri army purge

Is the Defense Ministry weeding out officers for financial
misdemeanors, or because they are viewed as disloyal to the regime?

By Jasur Mamedov in Baku for IWPR (04/02/05)

About 10 officers in Azerbaijan’s army have been arrested and dozens
more demoted for bribery in recent weeks. The defense ministry
advertised the move as the beginning of a sweeping anti-corruption
drive, stated as a response to a new anti-corruption bill which
President Ilham Aliev signed into law by the president on 1 January
2005. But some observers are asking whether the officers who have
been targeted are really thought to be on the take, or whether they
make convenient scapegoats because their support for the regime is
viewed as suspect. `The officers in question are accused of forging
some papers in 2003 to let some draftees dodge conscription,’ defense
ministry spokesman Ramiz Melikov told IWPR. Melikov declined to name
the officers or reveal how many were involved, citing confidentiality
restrictions surrounding the investigation. Without saying that
corruption is a problem in the military, Melikov said the arrests
could be linked to the new anti-corruption law, which applies to all
government agencies including the armed forces. To comply with the
law, the defense ministry is now obliged to run checks on its staff.
`The defense ministry audits its ranks on a regular basis, and
punishes offenders,’ said Melikov said. The new law against
corruption was passed under pressure from international lending
institutions, which set it as a precondition for advancing further
credit to the Azerbaijani government. Azerbaijan set up an
anti-corruption commission in April 2004, headed by presidential
chief of staff Ramiz Mehtiev. Now that the new law has been enacted,
the commission is gearing up for a series of audits targeting
government bodies and the armed forces.

Incidents of bribery?
The incidents of bribery that led to the arrest of the army officers
were exposed on 13 January, when Mehtiev’s commission announced the
findings of an audit of the Barda Corps conducted in December 2004.
The corps is stationed 40 kilometers from the ceasefire line
separating Azerbaijani from Armenian forces around Nagorno Karabakh.
Some details of the case were leaked to the press earlier via a
retired army officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Uzeir Jafarov, who named two
officers who had been arrested. More recently, it transpired that two
other men, who commanded military units belonging to the Barda Corps,
were taken into custody around 20 January. A criminal file has been
opened on another officer in one of the units, and several more
high-ranking officers have been demoted or sacked. Retired army major
Alekber Mamedov, who heads the non-government Centre for Civilian
Supervision of the Armed Forces, agrees that corruption is widespread
in the army. However, Lieutenant-Colonel Jafarov, who dismissed from
the army in 2003, does not believe these arrests mean the defense
ministry is genuinely committed to rooting out corruption. Instead,
he thinks the officers concerned were removed for political reasons.
`The arrests at the Barda Corps were politically inspired,’ he said.
`I know for a fact that many officers in Barda voted for Isa Gambar
in the last presidential elections.’ Gambar is the leader of the
opposition Musavat party who challenged the current president, Ilham
Aliev, in 2003. According to Jafarov, officials were so alarmed by
the level of support for the opposition that Defense Minister Safar
Abiev took steps to get rid of the dissidents. To back up this
version of events, Jafarov says the Barda Corps commander-in-chief
Talib Mamedov tried to protect his subordinates, and was immediately
shunted off to a minor diplomatic post in Kazakhstan. A Defense
Ministry staffer who did the same found himself similarly dispatched
abroad, in his case to Azerbaijan’s embassy in Pakistan. `With these
two out of the picture, they swooped on the other officers,’ said
Jafarov.

Financial insecurity
Alimamed Nuriev, who heads the Azerbaijani parliament’s commission
for defense and national security, believes the anti-corruption drive
is real. `The events at Barda show that the ministry is getting
serious about corruption,’ he said. `I believe that in a month or
two, we will see the results of this anti-corruption initiative
across all government agencies, including the defense ministry.’
Whatever the truth about the accusations made against the Barda unit,
many officers and soldiers in the corps told IWPR that bribery was
rampant. `In return for a monthly fee paid to their superiors, dozens
of soldiers on the payroll were allowed to live in their homes while
officially serving in the unit. This was common practice here,’ a
Barda Corps soldier, who declined to be named, told IWPR. `Hundreds
of soldiers were never paid their wages. Most of our wages were
deducted under various pretexts such as building a new mess hall or
something.’ Major-General Tajeddin Mehtiev, a former defense minister
who now works at the ministry’s Centre for Military Studies,
prescribes reform rather than punishment. `I don’t think punitive
action alone can prevent offences in the army. The root of the
problem is that military servicemen feel financially insecure,’ he
said. `We should give our soldiers a pay rise to at least 100 US
dollars a month [current pay is between four to 10 dollars], and pay
at least 500 dollars a month to our officers, who are now earning
between 100 and 150 dollars. That would be a strong disincentive to
corruption.’

Jasur Mamedov is a reporter for Zerkalo newspaper in Baku.
This article originally appeared in Caucasus Reporting Service,
produced by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR).
Caucasus Reporting Service is supported by the UK Foreign Office and
the US State Department.