Azerbaijan aspires to multi-faceted relations with Italy

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 26 2004

President Ilham Aliyev, receiving a delegation led by Italian Deputy
Foreign Minister Margherita Boniver on Thursday, said Azerbaijan
is rapidly integrating into Europe and is actively involved in the
European Union New Neighborhood Policy.

Aliyev pointed out the successfully developing economic cooperation
between Azerbaijan and Italy, particularly in the oil and gas
sector, and said his country aspires for these relations to cover
the political, social, cultural and other areas as well.

Touching upon Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan, the President
said that the Upper Garabagh conflict has dealt a serious blow on
the peace and security in the region.

Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Boniver said extensive preparations
are under way in her country for President Aliyev’s upcoming visit
to Rome and pointed out the importance of the visit for bilateral
relations. She also emphasized the existing opportunities for expanding
collaboration in the area of agriculture, tourism and other fields.*

Newropeans Magazine
Nov 26 2004

Turkey: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow?
– 2nd Part –

© Newropeans Magazine

An exhibition currently at the German Historical Museum on the Unter
den Linden in Berlin entitled Myths of the Nations has attracted
considerable attention with its displays of how people from different
nations have formed and reformed the narratives of their experiences
both of WWII and the Holocaust over the past sixty years. The purpose
of the exhibition is to impress upon the visitor that national memory
is really the past continuously re-interpreted through the present.

United Kingdom , our partner
For example, the report implied that if the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 –
the basis of the Turkish State and its foreign relations – had been
fully implemented after WWI, the bloodshed between Turks and Kurds
might well have been avoidable. To justify this argument, which is
volatile in Turkey however mild it might be perceived elsewhere, the
report cited article 39 of the treaty that allows Turkish nationals
to use “any language they wish in commerce, in public and private
meetings and all types of press and publication”. It added that those
articles supposedly protecting non-Muslim minorities have been read
too narrowly: as well as covering Jews, Armenians and Greeks, these
articles should have been applied, for example, to Syrian Orthodox
Christians. More controversially, still, it suggested replacing the
term “Turk” with a more inclusive word to cover all ethnicities and
faiths such as Turkiyeli [of Turkey].

This report provoked a furore within the Turkish establishment. The
Turkish authorities have gone so far as to investigate whether the
board members who drafted this report committed treason, and there is
every possibility that both authors of the report might end up being
prosecuted under article 305 of the new penal code approved in
September 2004 providing for up to ten years’ imprisonment for those
who engage in unspecified “activities” against Turkey’s “national
interest”. But what might such activities be? In a footnote, this
discriminatory law deems “anti-national” anyone who describes as
“genocide” the killing of Armenians in 1915 [during the Armenian
Genocide] or advocates a withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus.

A long road of improvements lies ahead of Turkey with respect to
civil liberties and fundamental rights. If it wishes to become member
of the Club of 25, and to be seen as a democracy wherein human and
minorities’ rights are not squelched systemically, it is imperative
that Ankara proceed in its reforms and commitments to include ipso
facto the recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and the
lifting of the economic blockade against Armenia. Instead of
legislating laws in its penal code that would outlaw any mention of
the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by its predecessor Ottoman regime,
it should move forward to recognise this genocide as much as adopt
the recommendations of the panel it set up.

Despite its aspirations toward democracy and its manifestations
toward reform, Turkey still refuses to admit that internal repression
and external emancipation are contradictory dual facets of the same
coin. They create tensions and lead to conflict. Much like the poster
at the German Historical Museum in Berlin, Armenians cannot simply
expunge their collective memories and national sacrifices for the
sake of political expediency. Turkey would be wrong to insist upon EU
membership without coming clean on this chapter, much as the EU would
also be complicit in applying double-standards by obfuscating the
truth and editing history if it goes along with this strategy for the
mere sake of creating an expedient south-eastern EU-drawn insular
zone. Indeed, it is almost axiomatic that nowhere in the world can
human rights be stifled forever since history has a way of unmasking
the truth eventually. For instance, an international conference In
History and Beyond History – Armenians and Turks: a thousand years of
relations organised by The Institute for Venice & Europe of the
Giorgio Cini Foundation took place in Venice from 28-30 October 2004.
Eminent scholars from different countries focused on the placement of
the Armenian case within the frame of the genocides of the 20th
century, the sense of guilt associated with this genocide and how
best to explain this genocide to the Turkish public opinion after
years of denial and amnesia.

Some commentators have recently opined that Turkey’s adhesion to the
EU would constitute a message of hope, peace, prosperity and
democracy. I welcome hope, peace, prosperity and democracy, and I
hail those lofty ideals anywhere in our broken and polarised world.
Nor, for that matter, am I impermeable toward Turkish membership of
our European Union.

However, I simply cannot accept such membership that is spun at the
expense of another people or their history. To make the point
clearer, let me refer to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the
European Parliament that examined last week a brief seven-page
provisional report (to be voted on in Brussels on 22 November 2004)
entitled Turkey’s progress toward accession. Presented by the Dutch
MEP Camiel Eurlings, the report calls upon the Governments of Turkey
and Armenia to start a process of reconciliation [] in order to
overcome the tragic experience of the past. It also requests the
Turkish government to reopen the borders with Armenia as soon as
possible. Currently under review are 483 amendments to the Eurlings
Report that were tabled by five different groups at the European
Parliament. They include demands for the explicit recognition of the
Armenian Genocide in accordance with the European Parliament
resolution of 18 June 1987 (Doc. A2-33/87) that called upon Turkey to
recognise the Armenian Genocide as a pre-condition to its European
candidacy.

In one of his first articles entitled Vous êtes formidables that
addressed French colonialism in Algeria, the philosopher and
existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre wrote in 1956 that crimes committed
in our name imply by necessity our personal responsibility since it
will have also been in our power to stop them. As far as the Armenian
Genocide of 1915 is concerned, Ottoman Turkey was capable of stopping
those massacres. It did not do so, and thereby bears responsibility
for them. I therefore hope that Turkey will no longer shirk away from
this onus when it is knocking at the EU doors and when Armenians
across the world are preparing to commemorate in 2005 the 90th
anniversary of their sorrowful tragedy.

Dr Harry Hagopian, Ecumenical, Legal & Political Consultant
Armenian Apostolic Church – London

–Boundary_(ID_iniGeTIiUk+PpIb3p01xNQ)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

UN official visiting Azerbaijan to inquire about refugees’ problems

ANS TV, Baku
25 Nov 04

[Presenter] Azerbaijan’s internally displaced persons have asked UN
High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers to mediate the settlement
of the Nagornyy Karabakh problem. The UN official who is on a visit
to Baku has started his first meeting with refugees in Barda [central
Azerbaijan].

[Correspondent over a group of people and Lubbers] UN High Commissioner
for Refugees Ruud Lubbers visited the refugees in Barda’s Arab-1
refugee camp. As the guest flew to Azerbaijan via Georgia, he missed
the planned meetings, and therefore, he managed to visit only one
family. Although he said that he was visiting Azerbaijan to learn
about the living conditions of the internally displaced persons and
refugees, the high commissioner could have only brief conversations
with some refugees.

In turn, the refugees urged Lubbers and the UN to specify their
positions on the return of the occupied territories.

[An unidentified refugee] The UN Security Council has passed four
resolutions, i.e. the Armenian aggressors must liberate the occupied
Azerbaijani lands. None of these resolutions have been fulfilled.

[Correspondent] Ruud Lubbers’s meeting in the tent camp lasted only
for 10 minutes. The guest hastily left Barda for Bilasuvar. The
high commissioner’s meeting in Bilasuvar lasted for less than 10
minutes. He visited a school in a settlement where refugees from
Cabrayil are settled.

Speaking to the refugees, he said that he was in Azerbaijan to meet
and help them.

Etibar Ibrahimov, Sahin Rzayev and Aladdin Azimov for ANS.

Following in the footsteps of Georgia, or Belarus?

The Messenger, Georgia
Nov 26 2004

As the first anniversary of the Rose Revolution passes, a situation
with many parallels to Georgia’s is developing in Ukraine. A liberal,
pro-Western leader with the backing of the majority of the population
loses the presidential election to the Moscow-backed prime minister
amid cries of election falsification. Thousands of people take to the
streets to protest the apparent electoral fraud, and the situation is
balanced on a knife-edge, between peaceful resolution and civil war,
and between Russia and the West.

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian Central Election Committee announced the
official results of Sunday’s presidential election, giving pro-Moscow
prime minister Victor Yanukovych 49.46 and opposition leader Victor
Yushchenko 46.61 percent of the vote. However, Yushchenko points to
what he describes as widespread election violations in claiming that
he won the election, his arguments echoed by election observers and
supported by exit polls, which according to The Moscow Times give
Yushchenko 54 percent of the vote compared with 43 for Yanukovych.

The international community has responded in markedly different ways
to the election results. While President Vladimir Putin of Russia
congratulated Yanukovych on his victory even before the results were
announced; in Washington U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said
the United States would not accept the official result, adding that
“there will be consequences” for Ukraine. EU President Jose Manuel
Barroso echoed Powell’s comments, adding that the EU would “make our
position clear” with Putin at an EU-Russia summit on Thursday.

While there are many parallels with the situation in Georgia
twelve months ago, there are several differences, differences
which make the possibility of violence a more real threat. For one,
although Yushchenko appears to have the backing of the majority of
the electorate, Yanukovych also has a great deal of support: across
the whole of Eastern Ukraine the largely Russian-speaking population
support the prime minister’s pro-Moscow politics. Furthermore, Russia
is less prepared to see a pro-Western president in Ukraine, which
is a much larger country, and of greater strategic importance, given
that it stands between Russia and the European Union, than Georgia.

Given the importance of Ukraine, the current developments will have an
enormous influence both on Europe and post-Soviet space. A pro-Russian
president of Ukraine will strengthen President Putin’s position in
the region, while a pro-Western president, with opinions and aims not
dissimilar to Mikheil Saakashvili’s, will inevitably provide Georgia
with a natural ally. Ukraine has historically been a good friend of
Georgia (it was the only country to provide Georgia with aircraft
to ferry refugees out of Abkhazia during the Georgian-Abkhaz war)
and there are huge prospects of collaboration should their internal
and foreign policy priorities coincide.

The president is aware of this, and although in an interview on Tuesday
he said that he as president should maintain neutrality no matter what
his opinions, earlier in the day at the opening of Sameba Cathedral,
the president congratulated the people of Ukraine in their own language
(he speaks fluent Ukrainian from his student days in the country)
and wished them a happy future.

As Saakashvili also noted, some supporters of Yushchenko were
carrying Georgian flags, a sign that the Rose Revolution has set a
precedent of peaceful overthrow of corrupt regimes that they hope to
follow. Indeed, last November’s events in Tbilisi were very significant
for all post-Soviet countries, providing a possible answer to the
questions of what the opposition should do when the state authorities
manipulate election results, and how can the opposition force the
state authorities to retreat and give up.

However, there is no certainty that a Ukrainian ‘Chestnut Revolution’
will follow Georgia’s ‘Rose.’ After all, looking at other post-Soviet
countries, we can see that the same scenario did not happen in
neighboring Armenia, while in Belarus the issue was not even on the
agenda. The President of Kyrgyzstan Askara Kaev even dedicated a
whole book to formulating and defending against the threat posed by
the Georgian Rose Revolution for other post-Soviet countries.

Whether a chestnut revolution brings Yushchenko to power or not remains
to be seen. There is a real possibility that the opposition protests
could lead eventually to open conflict between the sides, which would
be a disaster for the country. As with Georgia, the eventual outcome
may depend more on the role played by external forces – by Russia
and the West.

It is precisely these external forces that are at the root of the
conflict, which is all about, in the end, whether Ukraine is to be
come an authoritarian, Russia-orientated country like Lukashenko’s
Belarus, or whether it is to tread the path, as Georgia hopes to do,
towards democracy and European integration.

At crossroads, Georgia faces dueling interests
By M. Alkahzashvili

The Messenger, Georgia
Nov 26 2004

Thanks to its geographic location, Georgia is actively involved in
various transit-energy projects. But in addition to certain benefits,
the projects bring complications as well. Neighbors, both near and
far have their own interests in projects and their interests are
often unpredictable.

Most recently Azerbaijani media has expressed dissatisfaction over the
increase of Turkmenistan’s armed forces, an event also connected to
Georgia. The issue stems from the fact that the status of the Caspian
Sea remains vague, and Turkmenistan has put forward claims over oil
deposits in the sea that Azerbaijan has already begun to exploit.

A deputy to in Azerbaijan’s legislative assemble, the Mili-Mejlis,
was recently quoted by the Georgian newspaper Rezonansi as saying
Turkmenistan is taking an aggressive posture over the Caspian.

“The issues of the judicial regulation of the Caspian Sea are still
not completed. I think that Ashkhabad makes this move so it can be
more self-confident during negotiations and to defend its positions
regarding the Caspian Sea,” states deputy, and general, Vladimir
Timoshenko.

At the same time it is widely mentioned that Georgia contributes
in the increase of Turkmenistan’s armed forces. Between 1994-1995,
Georgia’s aviation factory Tbilaviamsheni began covering the costs of
importing natural gas from Turkmenistan by renovating the country’s
military airplanes. So far, 43 military planes and 6 helicopters
have been repaired. In addition to this Turkmenistan bought the SU-25
Scorpion fighter modernized by Tbilaviamsheni.

Azerbaijan is a key partner for Georgia, particular in its Caspian
energy projects. Thus Georgia has no interest in upsetting one of
its closest neighbors, friends and allies. Georgia hopes that the
tension between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan will be solved without
any conflicts.

It is of no interest to any country in the region rich with energy
resources to further aggravate the situation. On the other hand Georgia
has its commercial interests in particular when Georgia has enormous
debts from natural gas to Turkmenistan.

Meanwhile, Russia’s RAO-UES has initiated a new transit project
through Georgia. Chair of the board of the local Telasi distributor
and member of the executive board of RAO-UES, Andrei Rappoport,
announced this week that his company is considering expansion into
the Iranian energy system.

To successfully implement the project, RAO-UES needs to build an
additional electric transmission line through Georgia. Negotiations
with the Iranian side are underway and as Rappoport said the project
will enable Georgia to better regulate its electricity supply system:
in case of a surplus, to export to Iran, and in case of a deficit,
to import from Iran.

But the question arises, since Russia is taking so much care of
Georgia, one can assume that this project as political background
as well. Here too diverse interests are at stake: Russia wants to
include its ally Armenia in the project and extend its reach further
to middle eastern markets.

Mark Thatcher’s questioning about coup plot postponed until February

AP Worldstream
Nov 26, 2004

ELLIOTT SYLVESTER — A magistrate on Friday postponed a court
appearance by Sir Mark Thatcher to give his lawyers time to try to
appeal a high court judgment requiring him to answer questions from
Equatorial Guinea about an alleged failed coup attempt.

Thatcher, the son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher,
had been ordered by a high court on Wednesday to appear in magistrate’s
court Friday to answer the questions under oath posed by Equatorial
Guinea.

Magistrate Helen Alman postponed the appearance until Feb. 18 to give
Thatcher’s lawyers time to appeal the high court ruling.

“We are currently drafting our appeal to address various errors in
the judgment and contend strongly that we have a good prospect for
success,” said Peter Hodes, an attorney for Thatcher.

The postponement of the questioning about the coup came one day after
another magistrate postponed the start of Thatcher’s trial in a South
African court on charges he helped finance a foiled coup attempt in
oil-rich Equatorial Guinea until April 8 for further investigation.

Magistrate Awie Kotze granted the delay at the request of
prosecutors. He also extended Thatcher’s bail conditions, which require
that he remain in the Cape Town area and report daily to police.

Thatcher, who has lived in South Africa since 1995, was arrested at
his suburban Cape Town home on August 25 and charged with violating
this country’s anti-mercenary laws.

He also faces charges in Equatorial Guinea, where 19 other defendants
are already on trial in connection with an alleged plot earlier this
year to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled
Africa’s third-largest oil producer for the past 25 years. Officials
there have said they will seek Thatcher’s extradition from South
Africa.

Equatorial Guinea alleges Thatcher and other, mainly British,
financiers worked with the tiny country’s opposition figures, scores
of African mercenaries and six Armenian pilots in a takeover attempt
foiled in March. Thatcher maintains he played no part in the alleged
conspiracy.

Simon Mann, a former British special forces commander accused of
masterminding the plot, was arrested and convicted with 67 accused
accomplices in Zimbabwe on weapons and other minor charges. Three
others later pleaded guilty to violating South Africa’s Foreign
Military Assistance Act as part of a plea bargain under which
they agreed to give evidence in court against other alleged coup
participants.

14 YEARS FOR THE ARMENIAN PILOTS

A1 Plus | 20:28:14 | 26-11-2004 | Social |

In Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, the court verdict for the persons charged
with an attempt for making a coup d’etat against the country was read
out. 6 Armenian pilots are among the accused.

Court sentenced Armenian pilot-in-command to 24-year-long imprisonment,
and 14 years to each Armenian pilot.

Advocate of the Armenian pilots is going to appeal against the unjust
verdict to Supreme Court of Equatorial Guinea and to the international
court instances in case of necessity, too.

Armenian official delegation in Malabo that has been to Equatorial
Guinea for many times and taken all the steps possible will keep
staying in that country to discuss with the local authorities issues
on handing the Armenian pilots over Armenia.

“Government of Armenia will make all the efforts to the proper bodies
of Equatorial Guinea to reach the fair decision for our citizens,
right up to release of them”, the press release of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Armenia says.

Armenian MPs’ Planned Visit Fails

AssA-Irada 26/11/2004 16:06

Armenian parliament members did not arrive in Baku to attend the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly Rose Roth seminar which started on Thursday.

Chairman of the Armenian parliament commission on defense, security
and internal affairs Mger Shahgeldian stated that this is due to
Baku’s failure to provide safety guarantees for Armenian MPs.

Director of the Milli Majlis (parliament) international relations
department Namig Aliyev says that Azerbaijani authorities guaranteed
security for all participants, including Armenian MPs, and that
the latter decided not to travel to Baku at the last minute, while
in Moscow.

Aliyev continued that NATO representatives disapproved of this step by
Armenian parliament members. “Armenians want us to deny them entry
to the country and thus deal a blow on us. In reality, they are the
ones who were hurt by this.”

Shahgeldian and another Armenian MP, Karapetian, were initially
expected to attend the NATO seminar. Pan-Armenian news agency reported
that the reason for the Armenian MPs’ not attending the event was
Azerbaijan’s refusal to admit Armenian officers to a NATO seminar and
an ethnically Armenian Bulgarian journalist, who was denied entry at
the Baku airport, and killing of an Armenian serviceman by an Azeri
officer in Budapest, Hungary.

Central Asian, Armenian Leaders Congratulate Yanukovich on Victory

MosNews, Russia
Nov 26 2004

MosNews

The leaders of Kazakhstan, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have
congratulated Viktor Yanukovich on his victory in the Ukrainian
presidential elections. Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Belarus’
Alexander Lukashenko are the only other world leaders to congratulate
Yanukovich. All six states belong to the CIS, as does Ukraine itself.

However, the Supreme Court of Ukraine has forbidden the publication
of the official results of the Central Election Commission which
has hampered Yanukovich’s inauguration. At the same time, the court
agreed to consider the claim against the commission brought by the
opposition candidate for president, Viktor Yushchenko.

Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev said in his congratulation letter
that Yanukovich’s victory “is evidence of the Ukrainian people’s
choice in favor of national unity, a democratic way of development
and economic progress.”

Armenia’s Robert Kocharyan, quoted by the Ukrainian governmental press
service, expressed confidence that friendship and mutual understanding
between the two countries “will develop successfully and deepen the
welfare of our states and peoples”.

Equatorial Guinea court to rule in coup plot case
By Estelle Shirbon

Reuters, UK
Nov 26 2004

MALABO (Reuters) – An Equatorial Guinea court is due to give its
verdict on 14 suspected foreign mercenaries accused of plotting a coup
in the tiny country, sub-Saharan Africa’s third biggest oil producer.

Prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for Nick Du Toit, a
South African accused of leading an advance party of mercenaries
bent on ousting President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. The verdict
was originally expected at 9 a.m. British time on Friday but court
officials said it would now be announced 1 p.m.

Obiang has ruled Equatorial Guinea, split between volcanic islands
and a mountainous jungle mainland in central Africa, since 1979 when
he seized power in a coup against his uncle.

Many foreign critics say Obiang and his allies have pocketed much of
the country’s recently acquired oil wealth, and human rights groups
say abuses are rife — charges Obiang dismisses.

Du Toit at first admitted he had taken part in a coup plot, but later
retracted his confession in court, saying it had been extracted by
torture. Several of the men on trial with him also said they were
tortured.

State prosecutor Jose Olo Obono denied their allegations, saying all
their rights had been respected.

Obono has named a group of foreigners as financial backers of the
planned putsch, including Mark Thatcher, son of former Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher.

Thatcher, who denies any involvement, was arrested in South Africa
on August 25 on charges related to the alleged plot. A court there
on Thursday delayed his trial until April.

Thatcher had also been due to answer questions about the case from
Equatorial Guinea in South Africa on Friday but a Cape Town magistrate
postponed that hearing until February 18.

The prosecutor says the plot aimed to replace Obiang with exiled
opposition politician Severo Moto, with backing from an international
web of financiers lured by Equatorial Guinea’s lucrative offshore
oil deposits.

PLOT ALLEGATIONS DENIED

Moto, who lives in Spain, denies all involvement in the plot. The
prosecutor has asked for him to be sentenced to death in absentia
and has called for 102-year jail terms for eight members of Moto’s
self-proclaimed government in exile.

Besides Thatcher, the prosecutor named several other British or
London-based people as alleged financiers of the coup plan.

Malabo last week said it wanted an explanation from London after
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the British government had first
heard about the plan in late January — more than a month before it
was foiled.

The Malabo trial has been under international scrutiny, with diplomats,
foreign journalists and observers from Amnesty International and the
International Bar Association following every court session.

Seven other South Africans and six Armenians, all arrested at the same
time as Du Toit, are on trial with him. The South Africans could face
86-year prison terms while the Armenians could be jailed for 26 years.

Five Equatorial Guineans are also defendants in the same trial. The
prosecutor has requested jail terms for two of them, and has dropped
charges against the other three.

All of the accused told the court they were innocent.