Armenia supplying prostitutes for international trafficking – research shows
Arminfo
1 Dec 04
YEREVAN
Armenia is a country that supplies prostitutes for international
trafficking in countries like Turkey, the United Arab Emirates,
Germany, Greece, the USA and other western European countries. This is
the result of research conducted by the Armenian-European centre for
economic policy and legal consultations (AEPLAC).
According to the research, most of these women are being trafficked to
Turkey and the USA (61.4 per cent and 29.5 per cent respectively). A
considerably small number of them are trafficked to Bulgaria and
Poland (2.3 per cent each).
The trafficked women are mainly from Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor – 33
per cent of them are from Yerevan, 30 from Gyumri and 18 from
Vanadzor. The research showed that in most cases, women leaving the
country are planning to work in their new place of residence (76.2 per
cent), including prostitution (18.6 per cent). As usual, the victims
of trafficking are women who have economic difficulties and represent
the poorest strata of urban society.

Armenia, Iran sign memo on construction of third high-voltage power line
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
2 Dec 04
[Presenter over video of signing ceremony] The Armenian and Iranian
energy ministers signed a memorandum in Yerevan today on the
construction of the third high-voltage power line.
The second power line connecting the two countries was commissioned on
30 November [2004]. The third power line is expected to be built in
two years.
Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan said that only this
[gas-for-electricity] formula currently existed between Armenia and
Iran. It is envisaged that the construction of the third high-voltage
power line will cost about 25m dollars. Under the agreement, the
Iranian gas will be used for producing power on the territory of
Armenia and its subsequent export to Iran, in proportion of 1
cu. m. of gas for 1 kW of electricity.
[Armen Movsisyan, captioned] At present, we do not see any need to
sell electricity. If there is a problem, we can sell.
[Iranian Energy Minister Habibollah Bitaraf, captioned, in Persian
with Armenian voice-over] These lines are of great importance for
bilateral economic cooperation. The construction of these lines has
three purposes. First, to create an alternative power source; second,
to ensure a gas-for-electricity formula; third, to provide Armenia
with Iran’s technical and engineering service and equipment.

Existence of Russia’s radar station in Azerbaijan in question
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Moscow
29 Nov 04

The Russian-leased Qabala radar station in Azerbaijan may close down,
if the US plans against Iran come true, Russia’s Nezavisimaya Gazeta
has suggested. Intentions by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Ecology and
Natural Resources to monitor the station’s impact on the environment
and an inquiry by the MP from the ruling party on whether ethnic
Armenian officers serve at the station “could hardly happen without
the nod from the top”, paper said. It quoted “informed sources” as
saying that Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry had initiated the campaign
for the closure of the radar station. However, this scenario is
unlikely in the near future as Russia “has a few secret levers of
influence on Azerbaijan’s leadership”. The following is a text of
report by Rauf Mirqadirov in Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta on
29 November headlined ” The fate of the last Russian military base in
Azerbaijan in question”; subheadings have been inserted editorially:
MPs and ecologists demand closure of radar station
The Azerbaijani parliament demands that the Qabala radar station [in
northern Azerbaijan] be closed down.
The rumours being persistently spread in Azerbaijan, that the
appearance on Azerbaijani territory of US military bases is in the
offing, have made the topic of the withdrawal of Russian installations
from the territory of Azerbaijan timely. The threat applies to the
only Russian military installation remaining in the country, the
Qabala radar station. The issue of modifying the lease terms for this
station has already been raised more than once in Azerbaijan’s
parliament.
The country’s Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources has announced
its intention to monitor the impact of the station’s electromagnetic
emissions on nature and human health. Right after that, the press
service of the Russian Space Troops issued a statement that the radar
station’s impact on the environment did not exceed the established
standards. But the reports of various local ecological organizations
assert the exact opposite. Let us note that, in fact, all these
organizations exist on the grants by Western foundations, above all US
ones.
On the basis of the research conducted, the ecologists claim that the
electromagnetic emissions from the Qabala radar station have an
adverse effect both on the environment and human health. In an
interview with a Nezavisimaya Gazeta correspondent, the director of
the Ecological Prognosis Centre, Telman Zeynalov, has said that “even
such representatives of wildlife as bees and snails, which are
resistant to electromagnetic emissions, have died out in this
region”. The research also showed that a percentage of female
barrenness and male impotence has risen in this region. Moreover, as
the ecologists claim, the settlement where the Russian soldiers live
is not exposed to the radiation, since it is [already] situated in a
so-called “dead zone.”
MPs, largely from the ruling party, are involved in the campaign to
get rid of the radar station as well. That could hardly happen without
the nod from the top. MP Cahangir Huseynov has inquired the minister
of defence about whether ethnic Armenian officers are actually serving
at the Qabala radar station. In the deputy’s opinion, that is
unacceptable, even if these officers are citizens of Russia. His
statement immediately received the support of both his parliamentary
colleagues and a significant part of society.
Defence Ministry reportedly initiated the campaign for closure
We have learned from informed sources that the leadership of the
Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence has initiated a new campaign for the
closure of the Qabala radar station. Formally, the whole problem is
that the decision of leasing the Qabala radar station to Russia was
supposedly made without taking into account the opinion of the
ministry which, as a source in the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence
claims, was against this agreement. But the fact that the Azerbaijani
Ministry of Defence is behind this campaign suggests a lot in
itself. After all, Azerbaijani Defence Minister Safar Abiyev has long
been known as an official who always does everything looking at the
USA.
Of course, supposedly under pressure from internal and, most
importantly, several external factors official Baku may start talks
with Russia on the closure of the military installation. “The
electronic part of the station can be dismantled and taken away. But
it is not this already obsolete equipment that is of most value, but
the building itself as an engineering facility that provides the
electromagnetic emissions. It cannot be dismantled. It can be blown
up, that is destroyed, as was done to a similar station in Latvia,”
believes Casur Mammadov, independent military expert.
The point is not even that Russia did not completely pay off the debts
for the use and energy supply to the Qabala radar station before
signing the 10-year lease agreement that came into effect in
2002. Russia pays only 7m dollars a year to lease the station. At the
same time, Moscow obligated itself to pay off the debt of 30m dollars
for the energy supply to the station between 1992 and 2002, which it
is not yet doing.
Azerbaijan has the necessary legal grounds to start the talks on the
closure of the Qabala radar station. Let us begin with the idea that
nearly a year ago, Azerbaijan adopted a law on national security that
unequivocally prohibits the deployment of foreign military bases on
the country’s territory.
Radar station is formally information analysis centre
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has told Nezavisimaya
Gazeta that the Qabala radar station is operating on the basis of the
leasing contract concluded between the two states, and it would be
wrong to consider it a military base. According to an interpretation
of the parties, the Qabala radar station is an information analysis
centre leased by Russia on the basis of the intergovernment
agreements, he said.
At any moment, the Azerbaijani side may classify the Qabala radar
station as a foreign military base and begin negotiations to close it
down.
US-Russian agreements on closing down former Soviet radar stations not
fulfilled in Qabala
The point is that in the last three decades, the Soviet Union and the
USA, and then Russia and the USA have signed a series of agreements on
strategic weapons (SALT 1 and SALT 2 treaties), strategic offensive
weapons (START 1 and START 2 treaties) and missile defence systems
(ABM Treaty). “These agreements envisioned not only curtailing
missiles with nuclear warheads, but also closing down some of the
early warning radar stations, including the Qabala radar station,
along with the Latvian one. After the radar station in Latvia was
blown up, the parties `forgot’ about Qabala, apparently `by mutual
agreement’. In any case, the provision of the ABM agreement on closing
down the Qabala radar station was not fulfilled, although the parties
did not officially abandon it. That is to say, today the USA formally
has the full right to demand that Russia fulfil this point,” expert
Mammadov claims.
So formally the Azerbaijani side has sufficient grounds to initiate
the start of the negotiations on the closure of the Qabala radar
station. But why start talking about this right now?
US and Russian military’s co-existence in Azerbaijan unlikely
A political analyst, Matin Rasadoglu, believes, that actually it is
unlikely that US servicemen, regardless of under what pretext they are
to be deployed in Azerbaijan, can “be neighbours” to the Russian
servicemen. Reports recently appeared in the Western press that
Washington had begun consultations with official Baku on the
possibility of using the territory of Azerbaijan for delivering
strikes against Iran. If we take into account that Moscow will hardly
want to support this undertaking by Washington, the fate of the Qabala
radar station is obvious: the USA will not allow a “hostile” radar
station to operate in its rear.
The expert believes that developments of this kind are more than
realistic: “Suffice it to recall that right after the appearance of
the abovementioned reports on delivering strikes against Iran using
Azerbaijani territory, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs [Kamal]
Kharrazi announced Tehran’s consent to all the IAEA [International
Atomic Energy Agency] conditions to suspend the programme to enrich
uranium. In the last month, Iranian President [Mohammad] Khatami has
called [Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev twice. Just before that,
Tehran at last made a decision on the opening Azerbaijan’s consulate
in Tabriz [northwestern Iran predominantly populated by ethnic
Azeris], although this question had not been resolved for 10 years. In
that way Iran, on one hand, is bowing to official Baku, and, on the
other, is trying to sound out the intentions of Azerbaijan’s
leadership”.
At the same time, the closure of the radar station will not happen
very soon, since Ilham Aliyev “very much `looks towards’ Russia.” In
the opinion of experts, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has a few
secret levers of influence on Azerbaijan’s leadership.

Azeris may go to European Court against Armenia – human rights experts
Ekho, Baku
2 Dec 04

Text of R. Orucov and N. Aliyev report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho
on 2 December headlined “It is possible to demand compensation from
Armenia” and subheaded “The European Court of Human Rights recently
set a precedent for this”
The European Court of Human Rights [ECHR] has made an interesting
decision on the case of Ilascu and others against Moldova and Russia
(No. 48787/99). Ilascu and his friends from the Popular Front of
Moldova were held captive by Dniester separatists. Later, he was
recognized as a political prisoner, released under foreign pressure,
left the country and became a Romanian senator. The suit was accepted
although Moldova had disavowed responsibility for the violation of the
European Convention on Human Rights [and Fundamental Freedoms] in the
“Dniester Republic of Moldova”, while Russia had nothing to do with
Dniester territorially.
“The matter is that the Russian army, which was deployed in the region
and acted on the side of the separatists, had been involved in the
arrest of Ilascu. It means Russia was responsible,” the director of
the Human Rights Centre of Azerbaijan, Eldar Zeynalov, said.
The European Court issued a resolution to pay Ilascu 180,000 euroes
and other plaintiffs 120,000 euroes each.
“I think a precedent has already been set, which could be used against
Armenia and Russia in the Karabakh issue. One just needs to have a new
court ruling or prove that the chances to go to Armenian or Russian
courts are exhausted. The most relevant occasion for this are the
recent captives and missing persons (in this case, this is a
continuing violation),” Zeynalov noted.
It is clear that besides former captives, Azerbaijani refugees from
Armenia and internally displaced persons from the occupied territories
of Azerbaijan can also file similar lawsuits against Armenia and
Russia, because they were all victims of the aggression by these two
neighbouring states.
The deputy head of the working group of the Azerbaijani state
commission for prisoners of war, [hostages and the missing], Eldar
Samadov, told Ekho that “a good precedent” has been set,
indeed. Around 1,360 citizens who have been in Armenian captivity as a
result of the aggression by Armenia are living in Azerbaijan today, he
said.
“I think not only former POWs, but also all citizens who have in any
way suffered from Armenia’s invasive policy can file suits with the
European Court. Some have lost their relatives, others houses,
property and land plots,” Samadov said.
The renowned international lawyer, Erkin Qadirov, told Ekho that
besides the Ilascu case, the ECHR also examined the case of a Cypriot
citizen of Greek origin, (Luilidu?). “She used to live in Northern
Cyprus. Once she decided to go to the land she earlier owned, but was
denied entry on the border. After that, she filed a suit with the ECHR
against Turkey and won the case. Although Northern Cyprus doesn’t
officially belong to Turkey, it is controlled by the [Turkish]
army. Lawyers have been saying for quite a long time that Azerbaijani
nationals could file a number of suits with the ECHR against
Armenia. The problem is how to formulate these demands. One of the
refugees should make at least an attempt to go to the occupied lands
and get stopped there. In other words, th ere should be a story for
the case.”
“Under the current circumstances and especially against the background
of all recent diplomatic efforts, it would be more realistic and
useful for Azerbaijan to file an inter-governmental suit with the ECHR
against Armenia,” Qadirov said. “Inter-governmental suits also have
precedents. Their advantage is that unlike individual suits, they can
be abstract rather than specific. Azerbaijan can even bring an
inter-governmental suit against Armenia and accuse it of violating the
rights of its own nationals by compelling them to do their military
service in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. These are different
mechanism and Azerbaijan just needs to try them.”
Incidentally, the media recently circulated reports that a group of
Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons filed a suit
with the ECHR against Armenia, demanding that it pay compensation for
the damage inflicted. Thus, we can have another court precedent in our
favour in case of success.

Indonesia, Australia to co-host interfaith conference 6-7 December
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade web site, Canberra
2 Dec 04
Text of media release from the office of Foreign Affairs Minister
Alexander Downer, carried by Australian Department of Foreign Affairs
and Trade web site on 2 December
I will co-host, together with my Indonesian counterpart Dr Hasan
Wirayudha, an “International Dialogue on Interfaith Cooperation” in
Yogyakarta on 6-7 December 2004.
Australia and Indonesia are determined to foster greater understanding
and build harmonious relationships between faith communities in our
region. Neither country wants to let extremists set the agenda with
their deliberate attempts to create discord and incite violence. We
want to do more to empower the moderate majorities who seek peace,
harmony and tolerance in all our communities.
The dialogue will involve 10 faith and community leaders and
interfaith experts from each ASEAN country, Australia, New Zealand,
Papua New Guinea and East Timor.
The Australian participants are: Cardinal George Pell, Catholic
archbishop of Sydney; Rev John Baldock, Anglican Church; Ms Wendie
Wilkie, Uniting Church; Rev John Henderson, general secretary of the
National Council of Churches in Australia; Archbishop Aghan Baliozian,
Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia and New Zealand; Dr Ameer
Ali, president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils; The
Most Venerable Phuoc Hue, president, Buddhist Federation of Australia;
Sister Patricia Madigan OP, Catholic Church, Bishop’s Advisory
Committee (Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations); Ms Peta Jones
Pellach, Executive Council of Australian Jewry; and Dr Appupillay
Balasubramaniam, chairman of the board of directors, Hindu Council of
Australia.
Bringing together faith and community leaders from around the region
will promote mutual understanding. The dialogue will explore regional
case studies where communities have developed harmonious relations. By
promoting understanding and learning from each other’s experiences,
the dialogue will foster a common regional resolve to meet challenges
such as extremism.
This is the first joint Australia-Indonesian government organized
event of this type and will build on our strong record of cooperation
in organizing major regional meetings to facilitate cooperation on
counter-terrorism and people-smuggling.

Azeri chief cleric accuses Muslim countries of aiding Armenia
ANS TV, Baku,
2 Dec 04
[Presenter] There are some Islamic countries among those rendering aid
to Armenia, the head of the Spiritual Board of the Muslims of the
Caucasus, Allahsukur Pasazada, told a press conference today.
[Correspondent] Globalization has caused some debates in various
countries. However, it has been decided that it should be accepted
only on condition that local traditions are preserved, Pasazada
said. Otherwise, the unrestricted penetration of globalization into
the Islamic states will pose a threat to the future of small
countries.
As he has done during all his visits, Pasazada focused on the Karabakh
conflict during this visit [to Libya and Jordan].
[Pasazada, starts mid-sentence] To describe the Karabakh conflict, to
explain to them where Armenia is, where Karabakh is and where the
occupied territories are. Some countries are talking about Islam and
helping Armenia. We told them openly that this should not happen.
[Correspondent] After visiting Libya, Pasazada went to Jordan. In
addition to the aforesaid topics, Pasazada discussed with the king of
Jordan the opening of an Azerbaijani embassy there.
At the end of the press conference, Pasazada floated the idea that
except for two or three places, all 400 pilgrimage places in
Azerbaijan must be closed.

Agence France Presse — English
December 2, 2004 Thursday 6:25 PM GMT
Turkey condemns Slovak parliament resolution on Armenian genocide
ANKARA
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul Thursday denounced as
“unacceptable” a resolution by the Slovak parliament recognising the
1915 massacre under the Ottoman empire of hundreds of thousands of
Armenians as genocide.
On Tuesday, the Slovak parliament adopted a resolution saying: “The
Slovak parliament recognises the genocide of Armenians in 1915 during
which hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were
killed and considers this act a crime against humanity.”
But Gul also sought to downplay the issue, saying the initiative was
spearheaded by the Slovak opposition and not the government.
The resolution was adopted in the same session as another one giving
the green light to opening negotiations on Turkey’s accession to the
European Union but were voted on separately, Slovak parliament
spokesman Michal Dyttert said.
“This is unacceptable… We will take the necessary (diplomatic)
steps,” Gul told reporters, but declined to elaborate.
“I think this development is the result of (Slovak) domestic
politics. Opposition parties sometimes behave irresponsibly… The
Slovak government did not support it,” he said.
The Turkish foreign ministry issued a strongly worded statement,
blaming the Slovak resolution on “a fait accompli by one political
party (to) accept as genocide the tragic events of 1915.”
“Passing judgment on the contested periods of another’s history
cannot be among the duties and responsibilities of national
parliaments,” it said.
“It is clear that this decision, taken for political profit by
distorting events that took place under the conditions of World War I
and caused great suffering to Turks and Armenians alike, does not
constitute a responsible course of action,” the statement said.
The massacres of Armenians during World War I is one of the most
controversial episodes in Turkish history.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen were massacred in
orchestrated killings nine decades ago.
Turkey categorically rejects any claims of genocide and says that
300,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed in what was
civil strife during the dissolution years of the Ottoman Empire when
rebellious Armenians sided with invading Russian troops.
Ankara is also under pressure from the EU, which it is seeking to
join, to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia.
In 2001, France triggered a storm in its relations with Turkey when
its parliament passed a law acknowledging the massacres as genocide.
Ankara retaliated by sidelining French companies from public tenders
and cancelled several projects awarded to French firms.

Tajikistan: Central Asia to adopt unified law on earthquakes
ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow
2 Dec 04
Dushanbe, 2 December: A special unified law “On earthquakes”, like the
one already in force in Armenia and China, will be adopted in Central
Asian states. A agreement on this was reached at the first Central
Asian consultative meeting on reducing the risk of natural disasters
which ended in Dushanbe today, the Tajik deputy minister of emergency
situations and civil defence, Islom Usmonov, has told an ITAR-TASS
correspondent.
He said that all countries in the region were in a high seismic
activity zone. Each of them is potentially exposed to sudden
earthquakes. “However, joint efforts are needed to clean up the
aftermath,” Usmonov said.
He said that representatives from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
and Uzbekistan had also agreed to draw up a joint plan on reducing the
risk of natural disasters. It is planned to develop the necessary
legal base and to conduct constant monitoring and train people in how
to act in the event of an emergency situation.
According to the data from the European Community Humanitarian Office,
natural disasters, including floods and earthquakes, claimed the lives
of 2,500 people and caused damage to 5.5m people in Central Asia over
the last decade, that is, to 10 per cent of the total population of
the region.

Russia: Moscow hosts first international antiterrorist Media Forum
Channel One TV, Moscow
2 Dec 04
[Presenter] The inaugural plenum of the international antiterrorist
Media Forum is taking place in Moscow today. Its founders include the
secretariat of the Collective Security Treaty Organization [CSTO
members are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan], the Nezavisimaya Publishing Group, the National
Association of Television and Radio Broadcasters and the Russian Union
of Journalists.
In the opinion of Nikolay Bordyuzha, CSTO secretary-general, the Media
Forum should be a staunch ally to the law-enforcement bodies in
fighting terrorism and the drugs threat.
[Bordyuzha] As I see it, we need to set up a single information field
to counter these challenges, but across all the area covered by the
CSTO which is, as you know, six states. All these states are worried
by the same problems: political and religious extremism, terrorism and
drugs. We can now take a coordinated approach to work to consolidate
society against these.
As I understand it, the most important issue is having a very firm
link between the information departments of the law enforcement bodies
and the media community.

Azeri defence official dismisses Russian concerns over US presence in Caspian
Zerkalo, Baku
2 Dec 04

Excerpt from C. Sumerinli and C. Bayramova report by Azerbaijani
newspaper Zerkalo on 2 December headlined “Russia will hold joint
exercises with Azerbaijan in the Caspian” and subheaded “The Russians
intend to strengthen their military positions in the Caspian in order
to annoy the Americans”
“It cannot be ruled out that Azerbaijan and Russia will hold joint
naval exercises soon,” the commander of Russia’s Caspian navy,
Vice-Admiral Yuriy Startsev, said in an interview with Krasnaya Zvezda
yesterday [30 November].
The military-political situation in the Caspian region is not stable
because of the protracted settlement of the legal status of the
Caspian, he said. “Theoretically, it allows the littoral states to
define their borders within the water basin.”
The vice-admiral also focused on the aggravation of relations between
the coastal states over the hydrocarbon deposits of the Caspian. He
said Russia is not happy at all with the efforts of the Caspian
nations to set up their own naval forces. The reason for concern is
the fact that these forces are being built with material and
military-technical support from the USA.
Meanwhile, Startsev said that the Russian side is continuing the
dialogue with Kazakhstan to provide its naval forces with two vessels
of the Russian navy. Besides, he said, within the framework of the
“Save the Caspian” programme, Russia intends to conduct joint naval
exercises with Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. The Russian military is
expected to visit Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan shortly to realize this
idea.
[Passage omitted: irrelevant details]
Our northern neighbour also has plans to test its state-of-the-art
vessels in the Caspian, the commander-in-chief of the Russian navy,
Vladimir Kuroyedov, said. The vessels that were manufactured in 2000
and meet the interests of the navy will be tested in 2006. Occupying a
special place among those vessels is the Korvet warship.
It is interesting that Russia’s military presence in the Caspian is
gradually increasing. Quite recently, official Moscow decided to
construct a military facility on the Russian-Azerbaijani border, while
[Russian President] Putin said yesterday that more than 70 border
checkpoints, several border headquarters and training centres would be
set up to ensure security in the North Caucasus.
[Passage omitted: irrelevant details]
In the meantime, experts believe that the establishment of checkpoints
on the Russian-Azerbaijani border is military pressure on
Azerbaijan. However, the head of the press service of the Azerbaijani
Defence Ministry, Ramiz Malikov, doesn’t agree with it, saying that
aggression against our country comes from nowhere but Armenia.
The ministry has no information on the forthcoming naval exercises, he
said. He added that this issue will be clarified shortly.
No agreement was reached at the latest meeting of the defence
ministers of the CIS member states to conduct joint
Russian-Azerbaijani exercises, he said. Nevertheless, he noted that
the exercises of this sort have long become a tradition in the two
countries’ navies.
Besides, Malikov stressed that Russia’s concern about the formation of
naval forces with the financial and technical assistance of the USA is
groundless. Azerbaijan is an independent state and has the right to
decide which country it should cooperate with, he said.