Azeri defence minister, outgoing Greek envoy discuss ties

MPA news agency, Baku
12 Jan 05

Baku, 12 January: “Greece intends to cooperate with Azerbaijan in the
defence sphere,” the Greek ambassador to Azerbaijan, Mercurios
Karafotias, has told Azerbaijani Defence Minister, Col-Gen Safar
Abiyev, at a meeting held on completion of his mission to Azerbaijan.

Abiyev pointed to the development of Azerbaijani-Greek relations
during this period. Greece wants to cooperate with Azerbaijan in all
areas, including in the sphere of defence, Karafotias said.

The ambassador said that his country supports the efforts of the
Azerbaijani president and the OSCE to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict. He said Greece wants this problem to be resolved within the
framework of international law and Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.

Armenia not to compromise with Azerbaijan over Karabakh – expert

Yeni Musavat, Baku
12 Jan 05

Excerpt from Elsad’s report by Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni Musavat on
12 January headlined “Karabakh discussions in Prague” and subheaded
“Rasim Musabayov: Armenia will not overcome its desire”

Another meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers
initiated and attended by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen was held in
Prague yesterday [11 January].

[Passage omitted: Azeri minister said that the country’s territorial
integrity and a swap of territories had not been discussed]

Specific details of the talks were not made public this time
either. It seems that the Azerbaijani people will again have to wait
for revelations by Armenian sources in order to get detailed
information.

To recap, in his statements before the meeting, [Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister] Elmar Mammadyarov said that time had expired for the
exchange of opinions and the sides should hold logical discussions. We
wonder if the Azerbaijani minister could get what he had expected from
the Prague talks.

[Passage omitted: the Armenian minister said that “we have to be ready
for compromises”]

Political analyst Rasim Musabayov had difficulty commenting on the
talks since its details are not known. In his opinion, since Armenians
gave their consent to the stage-by-stage settlement plan a few days
ago, one can think that a territorial swap, the status of Nagornyy
Karabakh and the complete pull-out of Armenians from Azerbaijan were
not the focus of the talks.

“It is difficult to say whether the co-chairmen will submit a specific
document to the sides after the talks. It is easy to reach general
agreement rather than to submit a specific document and agree on it.”

Musabayov also touched on [Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan]
Oskanyan’s opinions about compromises.

“Armenia will not overcome its desire. The talk might be only about
their pull-out from a certain area in exchange for guarantees that
Azerbaijan will never start a war. This means that we admit the
Armenian occupation of Nagornyy Karabakh and adjacent districts.
Armenia wants Azerbaijan at least to sign such a document but this
cannot be done.”

The next meeting of the ministers has been set for late February.

Armenian president congratulates Palestinian leader on election victory

Armenian Radio First Programme, Yerevan
12 Jan 05

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today sent a congratulatory
message to Mahmud Abbas, chairman of the Executive Committee of the
Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO], on his election as the chief
of the Palestinian National Authority.

The Armenian president wished the newly-elected chairman good health
and success in his work and expressed confidence that the vote of
confidence gained during his election will be the main basis for
maintaining peace and stability in the region during his
administration.

Agence France Presse
Jan 11 2005

Russian, Turkish leaders celebrate booming trade

Alexander Nemenov – (AFP)

MOSCOW (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Erdogan celebrated booming trade relations between the
two Cold War foes during Kremlin talks in which the two struck new
energy and military agreements.

Putin — who invited Erdogan for a private dinner at his lavish
suburban Moscow estate Monday evening — told the Turkish prime
minister that economic ties were growing by the best possible
scenario as old tension wanes.

Erdogan, accompanied by a swarm of 600 businessmen, was paying a
return visit to Moscow after Putin in December became the first
Moscow leader to appear to great fanfare in Turkey in 32 years.

“Our most optimistic forecasts about economic cooperation have come
true,” Putin told Erdogan as the two sat around a small table with
their translators in the Kremlin’s gilded oval reception hall.

“According to our forecasts, trade volume could reach 15 billion
dollars (annually) very soon,” Putin said.

Erdogan had forecast bilateral trade reaching up to 25 billion
dollars by 2007 on his arrival to Moscow on Monday.

Trade between the two countries reached 10 billion dollars last year
to make Russia Turkey’s second-largest trading partner after Germany.
NTV television reported that Putin was “surprised” to hear the news.

The two Black Sea states have a raft of diplomatic disagreements that
the two sides try to hide at public meetings at which prized economic
trade — in both private and public sectors — takes center stage.

Both sides have previously accused the other of hiding enemy rebels
— Moscow charges that Chechen guerrillas hide in Turkey and Ankara
counters that its independence-driven Kurdish minority finds support
in Russia.

Diplomatic ties have also been complicated by Armenia: a former
Soviet republic which remains a close Moscow regional ally but which
demands that the world accept that Turkey committed “genocide”
against its people during World War I.

But Putin made it clear he thought these disputes paled in comparison
to the size of potential trade.

Turkey relies heavily on Russia’s natural gas supplies that run
through the Blue Stream pipe under the Black Sea that Moscow hopes
one day to stretch to Israel.

Ankara already negotiated a discount in 2003 for the gas supplies and
Turkish media reports said it was hoping to do the same for the
coming year.

Putin said vaguely that an agreement on an increase in gas supplies
had been reached Tuesday but made no mention of the price.

He also tried to appease his guest by saying he would press the
international community to speed up its effort to lift an
international blockade on the unrecognized Turkish-controlled
northeastern half of Cyprus.

The Russian leader said he spoke to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
on Tuesday morning about “plans for developing economic cooperation
with the northern part of Cyprus and the lifting of its economic
blockade.

“We do not think that the political isolation of Northern Cypriots is
fair,” Putin said.

Speaking in broader terms on the two sides’ relations, Erdogan said:
“Both sides have the political will to move forward.”

It remained unclear however what military agreements may have been
struck by the two sides.

Putin said only that “we have had previous plans concerning
military-technological cooperation. I would like to say a few words
about this issue, too.”

Erdogan replied that “we will have a chance to discuss the expansion
of military-technological cooperation” before reporters were ushered
out of the Kremlin hall.

Erdogan will attend a meeting of Russian and Turkish businessmen
Wednesday and inaugurate a Turkish Trade Center — a
9,000-square-meter complex of shops and business, in central Moscow.

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Jan 11 2005

GREECE WANTS MILITARY COOPERATION WITH AZERBAIJAN
[January 11, 2005, 21:41:35]

Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan, Colonel-General Safar Abiyev met
with Ambassador of Greece to Azerbaijan Mercurios Karafotias on the
occasion of completion of his diplomatic mission in the country,
press-service of the Ministry announced. Ambassador Karafotias noted
that much work had been done to foster development of the bilateral
relations, stressing his country intends to cooperate with Azerbaijan
in all spheres including military area. Colonel-General Safar Abiyev
touched on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict stating that Armenia is
pursuing aggressive policy, carries out illegal settling in the
occupied territories, ignores UN SC resolutions. He expressed
disappointment that the international community has not yet
recognized Armenia as a state-aggressor.

Probability of resuming the war increases with every past day, he
said.

The Ambassador stressed his country support efforts by President of
Azerbaijan, and OSCE to settle the conflict. We want the problem to
be resolved on the base of the principles of the international law
and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. This is our final stance,’
he said.

Central Asian and Southern Caucasus Freedom of Expression Network
(CASCFEN), Azerbaijan
Jan 11 2005

Jewish community reports incidents of verbal harassment

ArmInfo, Yerevan, 11.01.2005 — The Jewish community reported several
incidents of verbal harassment during the reporting period [2004].
The director of ALM TV frequently made anti-Semitic remarks on the
air, and the Union of Armenian Aryans, a small, ultranationalist
group, called for the country to be ‘purified’ of Jews and Yezidis.

On September 17, offices of the Jewish community in Yerevan received
a message that vandals had damaged the local memorial to the victims
of the Holocaust. Several photographs of the memorial were taken and
the vandalism was immediately reported to the local police, the
Ministry of Religious Affairs, and the government-owned television
channel. A television crew arrived at the site together with an
official from the Jewish community in Yerevan and to their surprise
discovered that the memorial had been wiped clean, apparently by the
park guard.

In May, Jewish groups complained to several government authorities
about the distribution and importation of hate literature. Each
government agency they contacted responded that the literature was in
apparent violation of the “Law on Distributing Literature Inflaming
National Hatred” and suggested they press formal charges with the
Prosecutor General’s office. Jewish leaders have not yet decided
whether to press charges.

Islam Online, UK
Jan 11 2005

Jewish Group Says US `Soft’ on Arabs

Bush signed in October into law a controversial bill on combating the
so-called global `anti-Semitism.’ (Reuters)

By Adam Wild Aba, IOL Correspondent

WASHINGTON, January 11 (IslamOnline.net) – A US Jewish organization
has criticized the State Department’s first annual report on
anti-Semitism, saying it has taken a soft line with `anti-Semitic’
Arab governments.

The Philadelphia-based Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies said in
a press release that the US report only concentrated on anti-Semitic
practices in South America and Europe while it turned a blind eye to
the `anti-Semitism sponsored by some Arab governments.’

`It is encouraging that the report includes Israel-Nazi analogies in
its definition of anti-Semitism, but it is disappointing that the
report says so little about some Arab governments which promote such
analogies and other types of anti- Semitism,’ the institute said in a
press release on its website.

The US State Department issued on January 5 its first annual report
on anti-Semitism around the globe.

The 37-page report claimed that anti-Jewish practices were mounting
in Europe and other parts of the world since the outbreak of the
second Palestinian Intifada four years ago.

On October 17, US President George W. Bush signed into law a
controversial bill on combating the so-called global anti-Semitism.

The law commits the US State Department to documenting acts of
physical violence against Jews, their property, cemeteries and places
of worship abroad, as well as local governments’ responses to them
and take note of instances of anti-Jewish propaganda and governments’
readiness to promote unbiased school curricula.

`Soft’

The institute claimed that the US report was `soft’ on addressing
`anti-Semitic’ practices in the Arab world.

`The section about Iceland, for instance, is 387 words long, even
though the report notes only one instance of anti-Semitic harassment
and one hostile cartoon there.

`By contrast, Saudi Arabia is given just 182 words, including the
apparently contradictory statements that `Anti-Semitic
sentiments…were present in the print and electronic media. The
local press rarely printed articles or commentaries disparaging other
religions,” the institute said.

It said the report only mentioned 86 words about the Palestinian
Authority, more than half of which cited a sermon broadcast by the
Palestinian television pressing for tolerance `but without mentioning
Jews.’

`That sermon unfortunately was not typical of sermons that are
broadcast on PA TV and radio, which often contain anti-Semitic
themes, including denial of the Holocaust. Additionally, the State
Department report does not mention instances of anti-Semitism in the
PA-controlled press,’ the institute added.

The press release further alleged that the government-sponsored
anti-Semitic practices in countries such as Armenia (194 words),
Brazil (149) and Azerbaijan (142) were given more space in the report
rather than anti-Semitic practices of some Arab countries.

`Anti-Semitism’

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, anti-Semitism is hostility
toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious or racial group.

It was coined in 1879 by German agitator Wilhelm Marr to designate
the anti-Jewish campaigns underway in central Europe at that time.

However, Richard Levy, a professor of History in Chicago, had told
IslamOnline.net the term was often misused when Jews and others
`refuse to see any difference between criticism of Israeli policies
and anti-Semitism’.

Pundits and linguists also believe that Israeli officials and US
neo-conservatives are using now `anti-Semitism’ to stifle any
criticism of the aggressive Israeli practices against the Palestinian
people.

Former Israeli immigration minister Natan Sharansky had said that the
`specious line between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism has now become
completely blurred.’

Norman Podhoretz, a prominent US neo-conservative writer, agreed that
anti-Zionism was not the other side of the coin.

`Anti-Zionism has become the main and most relevant form of
anti-Semitism,’ he had said.

A leading American civil rights organization kept pressure on the
publishers of an edition of a Merriam Webster’s dictionary for
linking anti-Semitism to Zionism and Israel.

Sofia Echo, Bulgaria
Jan 11 2005

Restaurant Review-A few of our favourites
Clive Leviev-Sawyer

In addition to this week’s special 2004 in Review pages of this
newspaper, it is also an appropriate time to honour the tradition
established last January of asking The Sofia Echo restaurant
reviewers to say which restaurants they found most memorable during
the course of their visits last year.

Marlene Smits said of restaurant Bvlgaria (4 Tsar Osvoboditel Street,
Phone 988 53 07), “The food, service and atmosphere definitely stand
out for me. It’s calm and modern, the food is really up to standard
and the service is great. Its personnel know about etiquette, but are
absolutely not stiff. After having dinner there, I went back several
times just for some dessert or a meeting.”

Of The Thirsty Dragon (2, 13 Mart Street, 964 06 40), Marlene noted:
“This is one of my all time favourite restaurants in Sofia. I visit
it almost weekly. The food is great except for some exotic dishes
that they simply don’t know how to prepare properly. Apart from that
the atmosphere is cosy and nice and that makes it a great place for
informal dinners.”

Her view on Pod Lipite (1 Elin Pelin Street, 866 50 53 or 866 50 59):
“This restaurant is definitely a great way to have real traditional
Bulgarian food in an old fashioned, but quite classy, environment.
The food is great! And that’s why it’s a good start for foreigners to
acquaint themselves with Bulgarian cuisine.”

Of Hua Sing Sin Low (113 Vassil Levski, Telephone 943 34 83), she
said:

“Here I simply had the best Chinese experience in Bulgaria. It’s not
a place one chooses to dine in for its looks, but the food is great.”

Marlene’s view on Komara (on Edison Street and Trudolubie Street,
behind the parking of block nr. 9, 0887 265 021): “Komara is
certainly also not on my list in terms of beauty. The food however,
and in summer the tranquillity of the garden, is really a pleasure. I
went back many times after the review and every single time I had a
nice meal.”

Gersende Schubert gave Pizza Victoria (7 Tsar Osvoboditel Street)
four stars “for a terrific quality restaurant that is simply and
neatly decorated” and she liked Pizzeria Ugo (45 Vitosha Boulevard
and on William Gladstone Street), noting the careful thought that
went into the decor, a diverse selection of dishes and pizza sizes
that were “just right” as Goldilocks might have put it.

David McMullin gave Opera (113 Rakovski Street) five stars, as well
as describing it as trendy and tasteful, and giving it a “bravo!”

Julia Terlinchamp had her first experience of Russian food at Gara Za
Dvama (18 Benkovski Street) and said it had “eliminated any bad
thoughts I once had about Russian cuisine”.

Gus Worth awarded four stars to Amber (70 Burel Street in Ivan
Vazov): “We can definitely say go to Amber and prepare to stop,” and
four stars to Rio (1 Bulgaria Boulevard, near the National Palace of
Culture), which he thought to be good value for money, even with a
bill for two of 64.40 leva.

Danny Dresser gave Awadh (41 Cherkovna Street) three stars, an Indian
restaurant that he praised as a “highly welcome newcomer to the Sofia
scene…even those who don’t like very spicy food should give it a
try, as the chefs are very happy to hold back on the chillis”.

David Toal said of Bistro Boné, “the restaurant is basically a
quaint, simple place favoured by locals. Much of the menu features
the standard Bulgarian fare, but there are some interesting
variations on traditional recipes and a few unique offerings. I’ve
visited the restaurant three times, and each time found that the
kitchen took care in consistently producing attractive, well-prepared
meals.”

Christine Milner said: “The best one I reviewed this year was the At
the Fountain (17 Yanko Sakuzov Boulevard) where we had a really good
meal that stood out from so many mediocre places. They obviously have
an excellent chef and I hope it stays that way. The interior was just
right – fairly trendy and tasteful but still cosy and we had a very
good waiter who behaved naturally.

“The health food restaurant Kibea (2a Dr G Valkovich Street) is also
a good restaurant and I regret being a little down on them in my
review, they were the victim of circumstance and the fact that I
chose something to eat that I should have known I wouldn’t like. I
know lots of people who really like the place and the standard of
cooking has remained very high. Kibea also has a bookshop and a
health food store downstairs, which I use quite frequently”.

Looking back over the 15 restaurants he reviewed in 2004, Clive
Leviev-Sawyer named his favourites as Armenian restaurant Egur, Egur
(18 Sheinovo Street), Maharaja (65 Kiril and Metodii Street) for its
Indian cuisine, and Retro (2 Dobromir Hristov Street) for its
sophisticated atmosphere and decor, and excellent food and service.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Mehr News Agency, Iran
Jan 11 2005

Vatican artists to help renovate Isfahan’s Saint Mary Church

TEHRAN, Jan. 11 (MNA) — A number of Vatican artists will join an
Iranian team renovating Isfahan’s Saint Mary Church to restore the
murals and plasterwork of the monument, an official of the Isfahan
Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department announced on Tuesday.

`The artists have visited the church several times and discussed the
issue with the Iranians working on the project. They are to restore
the murals and plasterwork of the historic church,’ Ali Khajavi
added.

Located in the Armenian district of Jolfa, the Saint Mary Church was
constructed in 1613 and is known for the beauty of its dado
tile-work, completed several years after the original building
between 1651 and 1676, which reveals a high degree of naturalism and
depicts a landscape of evergreens and peacocks.

The construction was financed by an Iranian Christian merchant, Avdik
Babakian. Inside there are four significant Venetian paintings, one
of which shows the beheading of John the Baptist and includes a
portrait of the donor, Grak Agha, praying in the lower left-hand
corner. These paintings are interesting because they show the close
links that existed between the Safavids and Venetian merchants,
principally based upon the trade in silk and spices.

Armenians were settled in Isfahan by Safavid king Shah Abbas I who
wanted to take advantage of their trading skills.

Khajavi did not announce when the Vatican artists would be arriving.

The Bethlehem (1628) and Vank churches are also located in the Jolfa
district of Isfahan.

Eurasianet, NY
Jan 11 2005

POLLS SHOW PRO-WESTERN SHIFT IN ARMENIAN PUBLIC OPINION
Emil Danielyan 1/11/05

Armenians, traditionally oriented toward Russia, are increasingly
losing faith in the benefits of a special relationship with Moscow
and are becoming more pro-Western in their outlook, according to
recent opinion polls.

Analysts in Yerevan say the pro-American shift in public perceptions
over the past year is connected with a host of factors, not the least
of them being the resounding success of Western-backed popular
revolts in Georgia and Ukraine. [For additional information see the
Eurasia Insight archive]. Popular views have also been greatly
affected by the discourse of large sections of the country’s
post-Soviet intellectual and political elites that regard the United
States and the European Union as the ultimate guarantors of their
country’s independence and prosperity.

The change is particularly visible among Armenia’s opposition
political activists, who are buoyed by the success of opposition
movements in Georgia and Ukraine, while continuing to seethe over
Russia’s ongoing support for President Robert Kocharian’s
administration. Some of them are now openly calling for an end to
Armenia’s military alliance with Russia and its accession to NATO and
the EU.

“In the past, no political forces would openly call for Armenia’s
membership in NATO, safe in the knowledge that they would not only
fail to get public support but also face harsh criticism. The
situation is markedly different now,” says Stepan Safarian, an
analyst at the Armenian Center for National and International Studies
(ACNIS), a private think-tank.

“It is the opposition that enjoys the greatest popular support in
Armenia. So naturally, its mood is being passed on to the general
public,” he adds.

This assertion seems to have been born out by a nationwide opinion
poll conducted by the ACNIS in December. Nearly two thirds of 2,000
respondents said they want their country to eventually join the EU
and only 12 percent were against. A similar survey conducted by the
Vox Populi polling organization in October found that 72 percent of
Yerevan residents preferred the expanding union to the
Russian-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States.

Support for Armenia’s entry into the EU was practically unanimous
among 100 political and public policy experts separately questioned
by ACNIS. They were also overwhelmingly in favor of NATO membership.

The figures are remarkable for a small Christian nation that has for
centuries viewed Russia as its main protector against hostile Muslim
neighbors, notably Turkey and Azerbaijan. This sense of insecurity
has been key to Armenia’s heavy reliance on Moscow for defense and
security since the Soviet collapse. The conflict with Azerbaijan over
Nagorno-Karabakh only reinforced it. [For additional information see
the Eurasia Insight archive].

“I think that over the past two or three years our society has become
much more realistic and is beginning to understand the external
challenges facing our state,” said Suren Sureniants, a senior member
of Armenia’s most radical opposition party, Hanrapetutiun (Republic).

Hanrapetutiun is currently in talks with two other opposition groups
over the formation of a new alliance that would not only strive to
force Kocharian from power, but also offer Armenians a pro-Western
alternative to policies pursued by incumbent authorities. Failure to
come up with such “ideological alternative,” in Sureniants’s words,
was the main reason for the opposition’s inability to topple
Kocharian with a campaign of street protests last spring. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Unlike its counterparts in Georgia and Ukraine, the Armenian
opposition found little support from Western governments, which
appeared to be wary of the Armenian opposition’s vague agenda and
past Russian connections. The oppositionists appear to have studied
the lessons of the “Orange Revolution” in Kyiv, and are now changing
tack. One of the most popular of them, Artashes Geghamian, was
calling for Armenia’s accession the Russia-Belarus economic union as
recently as two years ago. Geghamian now is an opponent of the idea.
His National Unity Party voted for the dispatch of Armenian
non-combat troops to Iraq during parliamentary debates in late
December.

The opposition leaders’ “vehement desire to demonstrate their
pro-Western stance” was denounced by a leading pro-Kocharian daily,
Hayots Ashkhar. The paper voiced confidence that the pending Armenian
troop deployment in Iraq should boost Kocharian’s pro-American
credentials in Washington.

US President George W. Bush recently signed a proclamation
authorizing the immediate implementation of “normal trade relations”
with Armenia. The presidential action is the reflection of a steady
improvement in US-Armenian ties in recent months. The proclamation,
signed January 7, said that normal trade ties were made possible by
the fact that Armenia had “made considerable progress in enacting
market reforms” and had “demonstrated a strong desire to build a
friendly and cooperative relationship with the United States.”

Other Kocharian loyalists are less sanguine. Vahan Hovannisian, a
leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, a traditionally
pro-Russian party represented in government, warned of a potential
“dangerous” export of Western-backed revolutions to Armenia. “I don’t
think that Armenian voters are today prepared to trust extreme
anti-Russian forces,” Hovannisian said at a recent news conference.
“Having said that, it is evident that anti-Russian sentiment in
Armenian society is growing and there are objective reasons for
that.”

According to Safarian, the analyst, Russia’s hasty endorsement of a
rigged presidential ballot in Ukraine and its ensuing humiliation is
one of those reasons. “There is a growing number of events testifying
to Russia’s weakness, and the Armenian public does not fail to notice
them,” he says.

Safarian believes that Moscow’s unequivocal acceptance of Kocharian’s
disputed reelection nearly two years ago, its hard bargain on
Armenia’s debts and the closure last fall of Russia’s borders with
Georgia also alienated many Armenians. [For background see the
Eurasia Insight archive]. Indeed, the two-month transport blockade,
ostensibly aimed at preventing cross-border attacks by Chechen
militants, hit landlocked Armenia hard by cutting off one of its main
supply lines. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight
archive]. The Russians faced an unprecedented barrage of criticism
from Armenian politicians and media at the time.

“The Russian factor is now one of the key challenges that threaten
the sovereignty, security and democratization of our country,”
Sureniants charged. He claimed that a key element in the Kremlin’s
strategy of maintaining Russian foothold in the South Caucasus and
elsewhere in the former Soviet Union is to prop up illegitimate
regimes and thwart the resolution of ethnic disputes.

The changing popular mood means that such views are not considered
extreme and marginal in Armenia anymore.

Editor’s Note: Emil Danielyan is a Yerevan-based journalist and
political analyst.