OWING TO LAST ELECTIONS OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT BODIES ARTSAKH OBTAINS TRUMP
CARD IN NEGOTIATION PROCESS, NEW STEPANAKERT MAYOR ASSURES

STEPANAKERT, August 31 (Noyan Tapan). “The elections of local
self-government bodies held in August in NKR became one more step
on the way of construction of democracy and civil society in the
country,” Eduard Aghabekian, the new Stepanakert Mayor, mentioned
in his interview to Noyan Tapan. Owing to this political event,
Aghabekian emphasized, “we obtained a trump card in the negotiation
process.” On the background of Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Abkhazia,
Ossetia, Adzharia and a number of other countries Stepanakert is the
only capital where the post of a community head is elective, this is
a fact that “proves the firmness of the political will of our people
and activization of democratic processes in Karabakh.” Meanwhile the
Mayor expressed anxiety in connection with the fact that insufficient
degree of development of the institute of council of elders, which
is a counterbalance to the community head, hampers establishment
of local self-government bodies in Artsakh. In his affirmation, the
council of elders shouldn’t become the adjunct of the community head,
which may threaten to development of democracy.

PETER BALAKIAN: “THE STUDY OF THE GENOCIDE TOPIC MADE MY ART MORE COMMON TO ALL MANKIND”

YEREVAN, August 31 (Noyan Tapan). Peter Balakian, an American
well-known writer of Armenian origin, visited our country on the
invitation of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) and the
Writers’ Union of Armenia. It is the writer’s second visit to the
Homeland. Peter Balakian said during the August 30 meeting with
journalists and the AGBU leadership that he first visited Armenia
in 1987. “It was a journey that has changed my life, I would never
started writing so, if there wasn’t this visit.” Hailing the writer,
Levon Ananian, Chairman of the Writers’ Union of Armenia, stressed that
regardless of the loss of the Armenian language, Balakian remained
an Armenian, he has searched his roots and presented the tragedy of
the beginning of the century, the Armenian Genocide, to the world
community. “The study of the Genocide topic made my art more common
to all mankind,” said Peter Balakian. He also said that his book “Sad
Days of the World” translated by Artem Harutiunian will be published
this year. Levon Ananian confered the rank of the honored member
of the Writers’ Union of Armenia to Peter Balakian. Peter Balakian
is the author of eight books. His book entitled “Tiger in Fire”,
which was awarded with several American prizes, was released in 2004,
and the “Black Dog of Fate” book was awarded with “The New York Times”
prize as the best book of the year.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN POLITICAL STANDOFF DRAGS ON AS OPPOSITION SHUNS PARLIAMENT

EurasiaNet.org
8/31/04

Eurasia Insight
**
By Emil Danielyan

Armenian opposition leaders recently announced they would prolong their
boycott of parliament. The announcement appeared to dash President
Robert Kocharian’s hopes of putting to rest questions about his
administration’s legitimacy.

Kocharian and his critics have been at odds since the 2003 presidential
election, which was tainted by numerous voting irregularities. The
defeated opposition candidate, Stepan Demirchian, has refused to
recognize the election results. To draw attention to their complaints,
Demirchian and other opposition leaders have maintained a boycott
of the legislature. Opposition MPs have already refrained from
participating in parliamentary sessions for seven months.

On August 27, the executive board of the opposition Justice alliance,
headed by Demirchian, decided to continue the boycott during the next
legislative session. The alliance bloc’s key ally, the National Unity
Party (AMK), is expected to follow suit. Justice and the AMK are the
only opposition forces represented in Armenia’s National Assembly,
holding 23 of its 131 seats.

Justice leaders complain that Kocharian’s administration has not met
any of their demands. “None of the reasons for our walkout from the
National Assembly has been addressed,” one of them, Victor Dallakian,
said, singling out the authorities’ refusal to hold a “referendum of
confidence” in Kocharian.

The Armenian Constitutional Court, in a non-binding decision concerning
the 2003 presidential election tally, had suggested a referendum on
Kocharian’s authority. However, the parliament, which is dominated by
Kocharian loyalists, refused in February to debate the issue. That,
in turn, prompted Justice alliance and AMK lawmakers to launch their
boycott.

The continuation of the boycott keeps open the possibility of renewed
street protests against Kocharian. In March, Justice and AMK began
organizing mass demonstrations in an effort to force Kocharian’s
resignation. The protest effort, however, never gained enough political
momentum to pose a serious danger to Kocharian’s hold on power.
Ultimately, the protests ran out of steam in May, amid a government
crackdown. The opposition formally abandoned the protest strategy in
late spring, but has remained defiant, pledging to continue to fight
for “the restoration of constitutional order” in Armenia.

Authorities, mindful of the boycott’s negative impact on their
democratic credentials abroad, have tried hard to get the opposition
minority back to the parliament. They have offered, in particular,
to give the opposition a voice in the planned reform of Armenia’s
constitution and in the writing of new electoral legislation. At the
same time, the Kocharian majority has threatened to strip opposition
members of their parliament seats. Under Armenian law, parliamentarians
can be expelled from the legislature for absenteeism.

The threats do not seem to be taken seriously by Justice and the
AMK, though. “Are they so stupid to do that? I don’t think so,” said
Justice lawmaker Shavarsh Kocharian (no relation to the president).

The boycott aside, opposition leaders appear to be struggling to
formulate new political tactics. Opposition leaders acknowledge
that their spring protest tactic was ineffective and is now being
reconsidered. The AMK’s outspoken leader Artashes Geghamian, for
example, now believes that Armenians should be urged to take to the
streets only for a decisive and quick push for power.

Most local analysts doubt the opposition has the ability to organize
crowds big enough to force Kocharian’s resignation. Still, the
government is taking no chances. In late August, officials tightened
rules for the holding of public gatherings. Those rules are grounded
in a new Armenian law that Council of Europe legal experts believe
violates European standards on freedom of assembly.

Meanwhile, there is mounting speculation about Kocharian’s political
future. The Armenian constitution bars the president from seeking
a third term. But some presidential supporters have suggested that
Kocharian, now in his second term, could be a candidate in the next
presidential vote, scheduled for 2008. A package of constitutional
amendments drafted by Kocharian and his top allies would keep the
two-term restriction. However, the proposed amendments may still
undergo changes before being put to a referendum next year.

Assuming that the 50-year-old Armenian leader will voluntarily quit in
2008, he must already be thinking about a successor. The most obvious
choice seems his most trusted lieutenant, Defense Minister Serge
Sarkisian. Both men are natives of Nagorno-Karabakh and have worked
in tandem ever since moving to high positions in Yerevan in the 1990s.

With his pervasive influence on economic affairs, Sarkisian is widely
regarded as the second most powerful official in Armenia. However,
his presidential ambitions would not sit well with at least one of
the three parties represented in Kocharian’s coalition government,
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

Among other potential successors are parliament speaker Artur
Baghdasarian and Justice Minister David Harutiunian. They publicly
clashed during a parliament session earlier this year after
Baghdasarian accused Harutiunian’s ministry of misusing a World Bank
loan to strengthen Armenia’s judiciary. The accusations were construed
by some commentators as a sign of unfolding personal rivalry between
the two relatively young politicians.

A new influential government faction, headed by Prosecutor-General
Aghvan Hovsepian, has also emerged in recent months. Hovsepian is close
to Kocharian, and has cobbled together a strong support base in Aparan,
his home region in central Armenia. Hovsepian’s ostensibly apolitical
organization already has several representatives in the parliament
and is aspiring to amass greater political clout. A leading Yerevan
daily, Haykakan Zhamanak, has described him as another potential
presidential nominee.

The presidential succession question has not generated much interest
among ordinary Armenian citizens, many of whom doubt the fairness of
the electoral process. As another newspaper, Aravot, editorialized
in late August; “The next president will be the one who will have
the security structures and gangs of [government-connected] thugs at
his disposal.”

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

“ORRAN” GIVES STATIONERY TO 60 PUPILS CARED BY IT

YEREVAN, August 31 (Noyan Tapan). In connection with the Knowledge Day,
September 1, the “Orran” benevolent public organization gave bags,
stationery, clothes to 60 pupils cared by it. Armine Hovhannisian,
the Founder-Director of the organization, mentioned at the August 31
event that “Orran” is called up to keep the vagrant children away from
streets, to contribute to prevention of growth of beggary, to help to
vulnerable children. According to her, each child should begin his
“educational race” in equal conditions and these presents will give
the children an opportunity of being psychologically ready for the new
school year. Raffi Hovhannisian, the Co-Founder of the organization,
the Head of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies,
assured that “Orran” will continue implementing benevolent programs for
pupils in the future. Meanwhile he expressed a hope that “there will
be time when there will be no need in such institutions in Armenia.”

RA PRIME MINISTER STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF BOOSTING INTERACTION OF ARMENIA AND
GERMANY IN PROCESS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

YEREVAN, August 31 (Noyan Tapan). Armenia reported about its wish
and readiness to participate in the NATO military trainings to be
held in Azerbaijan, but some political forces of this country try to
put obstacles. RA Prime Minister Andranik Margarian said about it,
receiving Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Germany
to Armenia Mrs. Haikei Renatei Paichi on August 31. According to
the RA Prime Minister, judging by available information, the Azeri
authorities undertake steps for their calling to account, which
is the evidence of Azerbaijan’s interest in the participation of
Armenia in these trainings. The RA Prime Minister congratulated
the new Ambassador with the appointment and wished her every
success in her work, giving assurance that the RA government is
ready to render any support. Boosting participation of Ambassador
Paichi, who hasn’t entered upon her duties yet, in the work of the
Armenian-German economic forum, according to Andranik Margarian,
witnesses her interest in the strengthening and deepening of the
Armenian-German relations and gives hopes that she will achieve
new successes during her tenure. According to the RA government’s
press service, the participants of the meeting stressed that though
the German government implements a number of programs in different
spheres of the economy of Armenia, there are still many not used
possibilities between the two countries both in the matter of the
widening of political and economic cooperation. Besides bilateral
partnership the RA Prime Minister stressed the importance of the
balanced economic policies in the region carried out by Germany
within the framework of the development programs. Mentioning that
Armenia highly estimates the tendencies of the boosting political
and economic attraction of the European Union in the Transcaucasian
region, Andranik Margarian stressed the importance of the boosting
interaction of Armenia and Germany, one of the most important members
of the European Union, in the process of the European integration. The
sides again confirmed readiness for the joint work in the matter of
the deepening of the Armenian-German relations.

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
08/31/2004
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1) Kerry Message to ‘Armenstock’ Music Festival Vows Continued Fight Against
Armenian Genocide Denial
2) Straw Backs Launch of Turkey-EU Accession Talks
3) Trial of Armenian Mercenaries Halted Pending Investigation From Abroad
4) Ossetia Offers Equal Negotiations to Georgia

1) Kerry Message to ‘Armenstock’ Music Festival Vows Continued Fight Against
Armenian Genocide Denial

“There can be no compromise on the clear moral imperative to end genocide.”
–John Kerry, August 28, 2004

WASHINGTON, DC–In his strongest campaign statement to date on Armenian
issues, John Kerry publicly committed this weekend that a Kerry-Edwards
administration would “fight against the denial of the Armenian Genocide,”
reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
The strongly worded statement was read by a long-time friend of the Armenian
American community, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) at the “Armenstock–Kef
for
Kerry” music festival on August 28 in Franklin, Massachusetts. In the
statement, Senator Kerry thanked the “organizers of Armenstock, Armenians for
Kerry, and the Armenian National Committee of America, for bringing so many
Armenian Americans together,” for the music festival.
Joining Congressman Frank in making presentations at the program were US
Representative James McGovern (D-MA), who represents the Franklin area, and
State Representatives Peter Koutoujian (D-Waltham) and Rachel Kaprielian
(D-Watertown). The all-day concert and rally in celebration of the
Kerry-Edwards campaign attracted over eight hundred Armenians to hear Armenian
musicians and to kick-off a nationwide voter mobilization and
“get-out-the-Armenian-vote” campaign for the fall of 2004.
In his statement, Senator Kerry explained that it has been his “privilege
over
the past two decades to work with the Armenian community on important issues
including US recognition of the Armenian Genocide, strengthening US-Armenia
relations and trade, lifting the devastating blockades of Armenia, and working
for a fair and lasting peace in Karabagh.”
He added that he is “honored to have the endorsement of the ANCA,” and
appreciates the organization’s “work to encourage Armenian Americans around
the
country to go to the polls in record numbers for the Kerry-Edwards ticket on
November 2.” The ANCA endorsed the Kerry-Edwards ticket on July 25 of this
year.
Addressing concerns about the actions of a future Kerry-Edwards
administration, Senator Kerry said, “I want to assure you that, as
President, I
will continue to fight against the denial of the Armenian Genocide. My
administration will recognize April 24, 2005 as the 90th Anniversary of this
atrocity and will work to ensure that the lessons of this crime against
humanity are used to prevent future genocides. There can be no compromise on
the clear moral imperative to end genocide.”
During his long tenure in the US House and Senate, Senator Kerry has
consistently been a leading advocate of issues of concern to Armenian
Americans. As a US Senator, Kerry has forcefully fought for US recognition of
the Armenian Genocide, and is currently a cosponsor of the Genocide
Resolution,
S.Res.164. In 1990, Senator Kerry voted on the Senate floor for Senator Bob
Dole’s (R-KS) Genocide Resolution.
The Massachusetts Senator has been a vocal and effective champion of stronger
US-Armenia relations and has consistently backed legislative initiative to
increase aid and expand trade with Armenia. He is currently a cosponsor of
legislation, S.1557, which would grant Armenia permanent normal trade
relations
status.
Senator Kerry has spearheaded a number of initiatives to lift the Turkish and
Azerbaijani blockades. In 1991, he was the lead sponsor of legislation, which
was later enacted as Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, restricting US
aid
to the government of Azerbaijan until its blockades of Armenia and Mountainous
Karabagh are lifted. He also worked for the adoption of the Humanitarian Aid
Corridor Act, which called for US aid to Turkey to be cut off unless Turkey
lifted its blockade of Armenia. As recently as this January, Senator Kerry
formally called on President Bush to press the visiting Prime Minister of
Turkey to lift his nation’s illegal blockade of Armenia.
The program was produced by “Armenians for Kerry” and Pomegranate Music
Events
(). For additional information, visit:

For more information about the ANCA’s endorsement, visit:

For information about Armenians for Kerry, visit:

Complete coverage of Armenstock will be forthcoming. The full text of the
Kerry-Edwards statement is provided below.

2) Straw Backs Launch of Turkey-EU Accession Talks

PRAGUE (AFP)–Turkey should be allowed to open membership talks with the
European Union (EU) since isolating the country would not be in anyone’s
interests, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw said during a visit to Prague.
“I know that views differ on this but people need to think very carefully
about the strategic implications of pushing Turkey away, of pushing Turkey to
the east and to the south. I don’t think that’s in anybody’s interests in
Europe,” Straw told AFP.
The European Commission is due to announce on October 6 whether it would
recommend opening EU accession negotiations with Turkey, whose membership
aspirations have sparked controversy.
And EU leaders will decide in December whether to begin membership talks with
Ankara based on progress made by Turkish leaders on individual liberties and
respect of human rights.
“We have long supported Turkey’s membership of the European Union. Turkey
is a
European nation and part of Europe’s history, it is entitled as a member of
the
Council of Europe and NATO to make an application for membership of the
European Union and I hope a decision will be made in December for a start to
negotiations,” Straw said.
“The country has made very considerable progress particularly in the past two
years towards meeting the necessary pre-conditions before negotiations can
begin,” he added.
Straw emphasized that the current debate was only about opening negotiations.
“We are not talking about a finishing date or an accession date,” he said.
Earlier, in a speech delivered to a meeting in Prague of Czech ambassadors,
Straw backed opening negotiations with Turkey and linked it with
Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution in 1989 that brought down the communist
regime and brought “values of freedom, tolerance and democracy.”
“There would be no better signal of Europe’s wish to support the spread of
those universal values than a positive decision to open accession negotiations
with Turkey this December,” he told delegates.
Czech Prime Minister Stanislav Gross said Monday he supported Turkey’s
accession to the EU.

3) Trial of Armenian Mercenaries Halted Pending Investigation From Abroad

LIBREVILLE (allAfrica.com)–A court in Equatorial Guinea on Tuesday suspended
the trial of 14 suspected foreign mercenaries who are accused of trying to
topple the president, because more time was needed to weigh evidence from
abroad, witnesses said.
The 14 defendants–eight South Africans and six Armenians–were arrested in
Malabo on March 6. They were charged with paving the way for a planeload of
South African mercenaries who were arrested 24 hours later in Zimbabwe,
allegedly on their way to Equatorial Guinea.
Since the trial kicked off last Monday only one of the defendants, South
African arms dealer Nick du Toit, had admitted taking part in the coup plot
against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema in the tiny oil-rich state split
between a square of mainland jungle and a volcanic island.
“The trial has been suspended to wait for outside elements,” Celestino Edou,
an adviser to the mayor of Malabo, told IRIN by telephone from the capital
after watching the court proceedings.
The judge did not say when proceedings would resume, he said.
The prosecution, which has demanded the death penalty for du Toit, asked for
the indefinite suspension in light of evidence emerging from outside
Equatorial
Guinea, like last week’s arrest of Mark Thatcher in South Africa.
Authorities in Equatorial Guinea have asked for permission to interview the
51-year-old son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who they
suspect helped finance the plot to overthrow Obiang with the aim of installing
exiled opposition leader Severo Moto.
The government has also requested international arrest warrants for Moto and
other suspects including Greg Wales, a London-based businessman and Elie
Khalil, an international oil dealer of Lebanese origin.
But observers within the Equatorial Guinea government and civil groups say
the
trial has really been suspended because the prosecution realized that it could
not convict Du Toit and his 13 co-defendants.
“Most of the elements brought forward to prove the mercenaries’ guilt have
not
been able to link them strongly enough to the attempted coup d’etat to impose
the maximum penalties,” a senior official in the Ministry of Information told
IRIN by telephone.
And Ange Ichaito, a human rights advocate, agreed the prosecution had
presented a weak case.
“The Malabo trial, which was only supposed to last three days, has still not
come up with details of how each of the suspects was involved in the
attempt to
topple Obiang’s regime,” he said.
Last Friday all but one of the 67 suspected mercenaries held in Zimbabwe were
absolved of attempting to procure arms for the alleged coup in the former
Spanish colony which is Africa’s third-largest oil producer.
Residents in Malabo quoted state radio as saying that Friday’s acquittal had
seriously influenced the Malabo judge’s decision to suspend the trial.
Obiang, who came to power by executing his uncle in a 1979 coup, has been
widely accused of spending Equatorial Guinea’s oil wealth on his own family
and
friends while leaving the country’s 500,000 inhabitants in a state of dire
poverty.

4) Ossetia Offers Equal Negotiations to Georgia

TSKHINVALI (Civil Georgia/Itar-Tass)–South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoev
called on the Georgian administration to begin equal negotiations to discuss
problems of concern to Ossetia and Georgia.
“We will do our best to retain the fragile peace we have achieved thanks to
the agreements, but we will have to take adequate measures if Georgia breaks
the accords,” Kokoev told the press in Tskhinvali on Tuesday.
The situation around South Ossetia is tense, Kokoev told Itar-Tass. “Georgia
has simply imitated a pullout. The units are stationed in direct proximity to
the South Ossetian border, they have not been withdrawn outside the conflict
zone,” he said. Kokoev said that provocations had not ceased, referring to the
Tuesday seizure of Ossetian buses in the Georgian village of Eredvi.
“Our opponents are not ready for political dialogue. They are inclined to
solving the problem of South Ossetia by force,” he said.
“We can provide for security of all residents of South Ossetia regardless
their nationality,” Kokoev said.
Meanwhile, Senior Russian MP Dmitri Rogozin, the leader of the parliamentary
faction “Rodina” (Homeland), met with Kokoev in the capital of breakaway
region
Tskhinvali on Tuesday. “Residents of South Ossetia are citizens of the Russian
Federation; hence the Russian Duma Council [lower chamber of the Parliament]
can not remain indifferent towards the situation here,” the Press and
Information Committee of South Ossetian reported quoted Rogozin as saying.
Rogozin emphasized that the South Ossetian conflict can be solved only
through
political means.
“And the priority in the settlement process should be the right of rejoining
of the Ossetian people,” MP Rogozin added, referring to the Tskhinvali’s
demands over unification with Russia’s North Ossetian Republic.

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Dogs of war? These men in shackles have been whipped into submission
By Raymond Whitaker in Malabo

Independent/UK
01 September 2004

Their wrists and feet shackled, the accused half-crawled, half-fell
out of the high four-wheel-drives that had delivered them to a garish
conference centre-turned courtroom in Equatorial Guinea’s capital.

The flashing lights, blaring sirens and escort of camouflage-clad
troops merely made the gaunt, grey crocodile of men, shuffling silently
through the rain in their T-shirts, shorts and rubber sandals, seem
more pathetic. If these were dogs of war, they had been whipped into
submission long ago.

Since their arrest on 8 March on charges of attempting to overthrow
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, eight former members of South Africa’s
apartheid-era special forces, six Armenian air crew and five local
men have been kept chained 24 hours a day in Malabo’s notorious Black
Beach prison.

Although their leader, Nick du Toit, faces a possible death sentence,
even he must have welcomed the start of their trial last week as an
escape from the uncertainty. But, yesterday, Mr du Toit and his 18
co-accused were thrust back into limbo.

Diplomats and lawyers gathering at the conference centre were expecting
yesterday’s hearing to be the last, with the defence team making
their final pleas before the three judges retired to consider their
verdict, possibly as early as Friday. But after a delay lasting well
over an hour, Equatorial Guinea’s Attorney General, Jose Olo Obono,
began by asking for the case to be suspended indefinitely. All the
proceedings were conducted in Spanish, the language of the country’s
former colonial rulers, but in the midst of the unfamiliar legalese,
the name “Mark Thatcher” could clearly be understood.

The defence objected that it would be inhumane to keep the alleged
mercenaries locked up in harsh conditions with no knowledge of when
they might be freed, but after an adjournment lasting only a couple
of minutes, the judges granted the suspension. Their spokesman, Judge
Salvador Ondo Ncumu, said the case had acquired an “international
dimension”, and it should not continue until investigations elsewhere
had been completed.

The misfortune for Mr du Toit and his colleagues is that two days after
their trial began last week, it was upstaged by the arrest in Cape
Town of Baroness Thatcher’s son. Even though the Equatorial Guinea
arrests coincided six months ago with the seizure of a planeload
of private soldiers in Zimbabwe, led by Simon Mann, an Old Etonian
former SAS officer, the affair generated only moderate international
interest until South Africa’s elite Scorpions crime-busters turned
up at Sir Mark’s mansion in Cape Town.

President Obiang’s regime, which wants to demonstrate the conspiracy
against him went to the highest levels, suddenly found it might be
able to land a much bigger fish. With Mr Thatcher under house arrest
in South Africa and Mr Mann on trial in Zimbabwe – he was convicted of
illegally attempting to buy arms, though the rest of the 90 arrested
with him were acquitted or found guilty of minor offences – the Malabo
case risked becoming a sideshow.

Equatorial Guinea wants Mr Thatcher and Mr Mann to be extradited
but it has received little encouragement from the South Africans or
the Zimbabweans.

Like Britain, South Africa refuses to send suspects to countries
that retain the death penalty, although it may allow lawyers from
Equatorial Guinea to question Sir Mark in Cape Town. But the whole
affair has already drawn more attention to this tropical dictatorship,
which consists of a few lush volcanic islands and a jungle-covered
strip of the African mainland, than it has enjoyed since the Spanish
loosened their grip in the 1960s.

President Obiang appears to be revelling in it. Yesterday he summoned
the foreign press for what turned out to be little more than an
opportunity for him to be photographed giving them an audience. The
men on trial, he told us, were “individuals without morals who
attempted a crime against our country which would have resulted in
blood being spilt”.

But since he deposed and executed his despotic uncle in 1979, the
President has been accused of spilling plenty of blood on his own
account, and even of eating the testicles of his murdered enemies to
imbibe their masculinity.

The accused were not in the courtroom to hear the debate that will
prolong their uncertainty. But a door to their holding room was ajar
as they were told the news, and one could see the looks of defeat
as they shuffled back out to the prison vehicles, a young soldier
clapping his hands to speed them up.

Mr Mico, their defence lawyer, said: “All the accused apart from Mr
du Toit have told me they were tortured.” Belinda du Toit, who says
her drawn, grey-bearded husband was once the same, ample shape as her,
looked on wondering when she would see him again.

Iran, Azerbaijan seem destined for more tension
By Mahan Abedin

Special to The Daily Star
Wednesday, September 01, 2004

The visit of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to the former Soviet
republic of Azerbaijan in early August raised hopes both in Tehran and
Baku for an improvement in relations between the two countries. It was
hoped that the visit would ease bilateral tensions, since Tehran has
viewed Azerbaijan with increasing suspicion since the latter gained
independence in 1991.

Khatami’s three-day trip started well after he met with his Azeri
counterpart Ilham Aliyev. In a deceptive and grandiose statement so
typical of high officials in the Islamic Republic, Khatami declared:
“The border between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of
Azerbaijan is a border of peace, friendship and brotherhood.” However
this could not mask the continued strained relations between Iran
and Azerbaijan, which may be the basis for a major conflict in the
southern Caucasus in the medium to long term.

The rapid break-up of the Soviet Union in the fall of 1991 raised
alarm bells in Tehran. Although Iran was happy to see the Central
Asian Muslim republics free from the shackles of Soviet communism,
this attitude did not apply to Azerbaijan. The primary Iranian worry
was that an independent Azerbaijan would be a magnet for Iran’s
7-million-strong Azeri minority.

However these worries proved to be unfounded. Iran’s Azeris are well
integrated into Iranian society and punch well above their demographic
weight – ethnic Azeris have dominated the political and military
elites in Iran since the beginning of the 19th century. Even today,
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is an ethnic Azeri. The
same applies to the commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards,
Ali Safavi. Moreover, most Iranian Azeris live in Tehran rather than
in Iranian-Azerbaijan in the northwest of the country. This has
tended to dilute the Azeris’ cultural idiosyncrasies, despite the
fact that many continue to cherish their own language. Furthermore,
Iran’s Azeri population is markedly different than Azeris in the former
Soviet republic in terms of political consciousness, socio-economic
structures and popular culture – not least because the two peoples
have been separated for more than 150 years.

The upshot is that Iran’s Azeri minority is in every way unreceptive
to the irredentist slogans of pan-Turks and Azeri nationalists in
the republic of Azerbaijan. However this has not stopped pan-Turks
and other political agitators from trying to sow dissent across the
border. The election of Abulfaz Elchibey to the Azerbaijan presidency
in June 1992 proved disastrous for Iranian-Azeri relations. Elchibey
campaigned on a platform of moving Azerbaijan closer to Turkey,
America and Israel, arousing suspicion in Tehran. However it was
Elchibey’s political irresponsibility that most irked Iran’s political
and security elites. Elchibey openly called for Iranian Azeris to
struggle for their independence. A combination of ineptitude and
arrogance finally forced him to flee his capital a little more than
a year after assuming office.

Elchibey’s posturing against Iran and his suppression of pro-Iranian
political forces in Azerbaijan resulted in the Iranians’ tacitly
backing Armenia in the war over Nagorno-Karabakh. This produced an odd
geopolitical landscape, with ultra-secular Turkey, a member of NATO
and a reliable ally of the United States, supporting Muslim Azerbaijan;
and Iran, an Islamic state with a passionately anti-American ideology,
backing pro-Western and Christian Armenia.

Iran’s backing of Armenia was far-reaching. This support destroyed the
myth that Iran had developed an exclusively “Islamic” foreign policy
after the 1979 revolution. For the first time since the revolution,
Iranian political elites accepted that when Iranian national interests
were at stake, Islamic sensibilities would not be accorded top
priority. Moreover, in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, Iran’s
support for the Armenians helped them score an overwhelming military.

The rise of Haydar Aliyev, following the overthrow of Elchibey, did
not significantly ease tensions with Iran. A former high-ranking KGB
official and first secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan,
Aliyev was an experienced and shrewd politician. However,
his authoritarian and ultra-secular instincts brought him into
conflict with Iran. Aliyev cracked down on pro-Iranian parties and
attributed any form of Islamic revival in the republic to Iranian
interference. The newly reconstituted Azeri security services regularly
rounded up pro-Iranian political activists on charges of “spying”
for the Islamic Republic.

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For its part Iran stepped up covert and intelligence activities in
Azerbaijan, and from early 1995 onward dedicated an entire department
of its Intelligence Ministry to espionage operations in the former
Soviet republic. As in other parts of the Muslim regions of the former
Soviet Union, the Iranians were much less interested in spreading
militant Islam than in penetrating the political, military, security
and economic institutions of these emergent states.

Another point of Iranian-Azeri contention has been the legal status
of the Caspian Sea and the energy resources contained in it. Iran
insists that relations there must be based on the Iranian-Soviet
treaties of 1921 and 1940. The latter treaty stipulates that the
Caspian is an “Iranian and Soviet Sea,” where the “principles of
equality and exclusivity” prevail. However, in March 1998 the Russian
government communicated to the Aliyev regime that Moscow no longer
had any objections to unilateral offshore oil and gas development
by Azerbaijan.

The arrival of Western oil companies in Azerbaijan and the development
of that country’s offshore energy infrastructure were treated with
alarm in Tehran. This was accentuated by Iran’s missing out on a
lucrative deal to act as a transit route for the export of Azeri oil
via the Gulf. The Americans applied intense pressure to persuade all
parties concerned to replace the most convenient and economically
efficient route, through Iran, with an alternative route through
the Turkish port of Ceyhan. Moreover, the Iranians feared that oil
exploration activities in the Caspian were beginning to encroach
on its yet-to-be-determined territorial waters. Thus, in early 2001
the Iranian Navy fired warning shots at a ship belonging to British
Petroleum and forced it to sail away.

The realization that Azerbaijan has possession of considerable stocks
of oil and natural gas has brought the country under tighter American
influence. This relationship has been reinforced since the attacks
of Sept. 11, 2001, and the US-led “war on terrorism.” The Iranians
are fearful that Azerbaijan might allow American forces to strike at
Iran in the event of an Iranian-American military confrontation over
Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program.

In order to avoid this scenario the Iranians have communicated
to the Azeris in no uncertain terms that, in the event of such
collaboration between Baku and Washington, Tehran would provide
direct and unqualified support to the Armenians in a future war over
Nagorno-Karabakh, thus ensuring the demise of the Azeri republic. These
threats have a chilling resonance in Baku: The Armenians seized more
than 20 percent of Azeri territory in the war of the 1990s.

These complex geopolitical and historical forces mean that Iran and
Azerbaijan are likely to experience tense relations for many years
to come. The Azeri opposition daily Muxalifat got it about right when
it dismissed Khatami’s reference to a border marked by “brotherhood”
as a deceptive statement made by the leader of an unfriendly country.

Mahan Abedin is the editor of Terrorism Monitor, which is published
by the Jamestown Foundation, a non-profit organization specializing
in research and analysis on conflict and instability in Eurasia. He
wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR

Azerbaijan, Belarus to sign military agreement

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 31 2004

31/08/2004 22:14

Belarus is interested in military cooperation with Azerbaijan,
Belarusian Defense Minister, Colonel-General Leonid Maltsev said in
a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Safar Abiyev during the
latter’s visit to the country on August 27-28.

AssA-Irada — Touching upon the policy of aggression pursued by Armenia
against Azerbaijan, Defense Minister, Colonel-General Safar Abiyev said
“Azerbaijan does not want war but is being instigated to war,” he said.

Maltsev said the conflict should be resolved based on the United
Nations principles and international legal norms. The two ministers
extensively discussed bilateral military cooperation and outlined
its key facets, in particular, military and technical collaboration,
joint military and scientific research, training of personnel and
other fields.

Minister Abiyev invited his Belarusian counterpart to Azerbaijan and
said that “before you visit Baku, the agreement on cooperation between
the two ministries will be prepared and signed”. During the visit,
Abiyev also became familiar with military production facilities and
their products.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
Aug 31 2004

FOREIGN MINISTER OF AZERBAIJAN MET SENIOR INSPECTOR OF UN HIGH
COMMISSIONER ON REFUGEES
[August 31, 2004, 22:13:59]

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Azerbaijan Republic Elmar
Mammadyarov has met the senior inspector of the UN High Commissioner
on refugees Mr. Tahir Ali, 31 August.

As was informed to AzerTAj from the press-service of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, at the meeting Minister Elmar Mammadyarov highly has
estimated activity of the High Commissioner of the United Nations
on affairs of refugees in our country, has emphasized importance
of continuation and henceforth connections with the United Nations
within the framework of the mentioned structure.

Having noted also heavy plight of refugees and IDPs ousted from the
native lands as a result of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh
conflict, the Minister has expressed hope for expansion of cooperation
in the direction of elimination of problems by mediation of the High
Commissioner of the United Nations on refugees.

Senior inspector Tahir Ali has expressed confidence that the
Organization represented by him would continue and henceforth the
activity in Azerbaijan and render help in solution of problems.

At the meeting also were focused other questions, representing mutual
interest.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress