Official Baku altering pro-Western orientation to embrace Russia – Azeri
daily

Azadliq, Baku
17 Aug 04

Azerbaijani authorities are altering the country’s pro-Western
orientation to embrace Russia in order to protect themselves from
growing pressure from international organizations, the opposition
Azadliq daily reports. Azerbaijani officials’ recent statements urging
the country “to join the free economic zone of the CIS countries” and
the growing trade between Azerbaijan and Russia as compared with the
USA are to prove it, the paper says. Azerbaijan is favouring a
rapprochement with Russia to get rid of demands from the international
organizations to honour commitments to improve human rights situation
and reform the country. The following is the text of Q. Ibrahimli
report entitled “Goodbye, West!”, and subheaded “Official Baku is
again trying to embrace Russia. Russian capital is entering the
Azerbaijani market speedily” published by Azerbaijani newspaper
Azadliq on 17 August, with subheadings inserted editorially:

It is obvious that after the 2003 presidential election, official Baku
has an inclination to the Russian sphere of influence, and the
government’s mouthpiece has already kicked off a campaign to this
effect.

Immediately after the presidential election, the former foreign
minister [now the Azeri ambassador to Poland], Vilayat Quliyev, said
that “it is time to set our watches by Russian time”, hinting at a
change in the government’s foreign policy orientation. Subsequently,
specific steps have been taken in the wake of this.

The Lider TV channel was the first to kick off a campaign to this
effect. The channel specializes in anti-West and US programmes. Now
another government-controlled TV channel, which a short while ago was
disseminating Western values, has joined the anti-US campaign.

Quoting Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, the channel reported that
Azerbaijan wanted to join the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States]
free economic zone and Russia would make compromises to Azerbaijan in
the Karabakh problem. Mammadyarov said that the government was
compelled to reconcile with Russia due to failure to obtain a desired
outcome in talks with Russia.

Mammadyarov’s statement officially proves abandonment of pro-Western
orientation

Mammadyarov’s statement is actually an official recognition of the
government’s decision to abandon the pro-Western policy
course. Actually, this was expected. It is not surprising that Ilham
Aliyev’s government, corrupt from head to toe and ready to violate
human rights at any time, is trying a rapprochement with Russia, which
is close to itself in essence. For Aliyev, integration into Russia,
which pursues merely its political and business interests unlike the
West which demands reforms in line with Western standards, is better.

Incidentally, the Western media have recently published a series of
articles on Baku’s inclination to Russia.

We should also highlight that when pro-Aliyev television channels were
engaged in an anti-Western campaign, Russia’s grey eminence from
political and business elite started paying visits to Baku, namely
Yevgeniy Primakov, head of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, former Russian prime minister and one of the co-authors of
the 20 January tragedy [in Baku, in 1990]; Viktor Chernomyrdin, former
Russian prime minister and current Russian ambassador to Ukraine;
Moscow mayor Yuriy Luzhkov; Kalmyk President [Kirsan] Ilyumzhinov; the
executive secretary of the CIS, Vladimir Rushaylo. Incidentally,
Rushaylo, who stayed in Baku during the [presidential] election, was
doing his best to ensure that the successor is elected.

Trade between Azerbaijan and Russia outstrips the USA

The said men were here to get Ilham Aliyev’s consent to major projects
in Baku and obviously they managed to get it. Mammadyarov’s statement
that “Azerbaijan is planning to join the CIS free economic zone”
proves this. Incidentally, the dynamic of foreign economic relations
between Russia and Azerbaijan shows that the Russian business is
speedily entering the Azerbaijani economy. For example, in 2002 trade
between Azerbaijan and Russia was 375m dollars, in 2003, it rose to
532m dollars, and in the first half of the 2004, it amounted to 317m
dollars.

Now let us compare it to the trade between the USA and Azerbaijan in
the same period: in 2002, it amounted to 150.5m dollars, in 2003 – to
195.4m dollars, and in the first half of this year, the figure was 74m
dollars.

Apparently, the Russian rouble is taking over the Azerbaijani market
more quickly that Western capital. Azerbaijan’s inclination to
Russia’s sphere of influence will not merely cause serious changes in
the country’s foreign policy but also in its domestic
life. Misappropriating a fantastic amount of riches, the clan is
planning to create a more oppressive regime able to guarantee their
properties in Azerbaijan. At present Ilham Aliyev and his entourage
are interested in establishing the Belarus model in Azerbaijan. That
is equal to a refusal from integration into the West and to
unambiguously sidelining oneself from the civil world, in a nutshell,
to a typical despotic regime.

The arrival of the rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe (PACE) Monitoring Committee, Andreas Gross, and
other Europeans who are poking their noses into everything in Baku,
like “unwelcome guests”, irritates official Baku. But Rushaylo’s visit
does not annoy the ruling clan. Because Rushaylo does not talk about
“irrelevant topics” like human rights but comes with specific business
projects, gets I. Aliyev’s consent and goes away.

Russia will not help Azerbaijan in resolution of Karabakh problem

As for official Baku’s hopes that Russia will make concessions to
Azerbaijan over the Karabakh settlement, it is common knowledge that
Russia “laboured” more than Armenia in the occupation of Karabakh and
the disintegration of 20 per cent of Azerbaijani land from under
control of the central authorities. Recently when the OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairs began to call on the Azerbaijani public to reconcile
themselves to a capitulatory peace, the Russian representative was
bending over backwards more than others.

What is official Baku hoping for now? Have ideologists of the
authorities lost the sense of reality and common sense?

Incidentally, at a meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State Richard
Armitage, Ilham Aliyev undertook commitments to introduce radical
changes before September. With one month to go to September, no
positive changes have taken place in the country. On the contrary,
corruption is rife everywhere and violations of human rights have
further intensified. Apparently, to protect himself against similar
“unpleasant” commitments, Ilham Aliyev is pushing the country into
Russia’s embrace again.

Azeri president, German chancellor discuss economic ties, Karabakh

ANS TV, Baku
25 Aug 04

[Presenter Qanira Atasova] Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has
started official meetings in Germany. ANS correspondent in Germany
Qanira Pasayeva has the details. Hello, Qanira. What issues were
discussed during the president’s official meetings?

[Qanira Pasayeva over the phone] Hello, Qanira. President Aliyev met
Germany’s Federal President Horst Koehler. Then he met Federal
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. After this one-to-one meeting, the
parties signed two documents: an agreement on avoiding double taxation
and a contract on the purchase of Airbuses.

After that, President Aliyev and Chancellor Schroeder held a press
conference. Schroeder said that following an exchange of views with
the Azerbaijani president he had come to the conclusion that a
law-governed state has been established in Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani
president is trying to establish law and order in Azerbaijan, certain
progress has been made in this area and as a result of domestic
reforms, there is a steady growth, especially in the economy.

Schroeder said that they had also discussed political issues and said
that Germany, as in the past, supports Azerbaijan and has recognized
and will recognize and respect Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. He
said that he was in favour of a peaceful solution to the Nagornyy
Karabakh problem. As a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, Germany will
try to make its contribution to the resolution of this problem. He
stated that both countries were interested in economic cooperation as
well and said that a contract had been signed on the purchase of four
Airbuses. It is not just an economic deal, it also has a political
meaning. It shows that Azerbaijan is interested in integration into
Europe.

He said that the Azerbaijani president had invited German companies to
work, especially in the area of the energy infrastructure. He said
that agreement had been reached to hold a conference in Berlin this
autumn or at the beginning of the next year, and German businessmen
will be informed of the business environment in Azerbaijan and
specific projects. After that, closer cooperation will be possible.

President Aliyev also said he was confident that relations between the
two countries would deepen after this visit. The president mainly
touched upon the Nagornyy Karabakh problem and said that Azerbaijan is
very satisfied with Germany’s position. Germany respects Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity.

There was a question by a German journalist about how he [the
Azerbaijani president] sees a political solution to the problem. He
said that the problem should be settled within the norms of
international law. It is important that Armenia should withdraw from
the territories it has occupied. He said that Armenians could live in
Nagornyy Karabakh, there are many ethnic minorities living in
Azerbaijan. Like these minorities, they can live in Azerbaijan. But
Azerbaijan will never allow any state to be established [on its
territory] on the pretext of self-determination. That is it, Qanira.

[Qanira Atasova] Thank you, Qanira. On the phone from Germany was
ANS’s special correspondent Qanira Pasayeva.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

$140M NECESSARY FOR RECONSTRUCTION OF YEREVAN TPP WILL BE GIVEN BY
GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN BY THE END OF THE YEAR, RA MINISTER OF ENERGY
HOPES

YEREVAN, August 25 (Noyan Tapan). The program of reconstruction of
Yerevan TPP isn’t delayed. Armen Movsisian, RA Minister of Energy,
reported this to journalists on August 25. He expressed a hope that by
the end of the year the government of Japan will make a decision about
the corresponding financing (about $14m) necessary for the
reconstruction of the TPP. Co-financing of the Armenian side will make
$25m. To recap, by the program of reconstruction of Yerevan TPP it’s
envisaged to build a super-modern steam-gas energy bloc working by a
combined cycle and with natural gas. The basic capacity of the energy
bloc will reach 230 mWt. The presence of the bloc will permit to spend
only 158-226 grams of gas for production of electricity of 1 kWt/h
instead of the current 372 grams. So, only on the part of fuel Armenia
will economize $19.4m a year.

BEST LINE GROUP OF ARMENIA’S POWER NETWORKS TO TAKE PART IN CIS
COMPETITION IN MOSCOW

YEREVAN, AUGUST 25. ARMINFO. The best line group of Power Networks of
Armenia company will compete with their CIS counterparts in Moscow
Sept 20-27, says the company official Romik Haroutyunyan.

The objective of the Moscow competition is to exchange experience. It
will consists of 5 stages: theory – ASOP test of 16,000 questions;
technical standards; first aid; change of high-voltage line; and
connection of a new user to a high voltage sub-station. Haroutyunyan
hopes that the Armenians will win the first prize. The winner will get
a first aid car with all necessary equipment. In 2005 the competition
will be held in Armenia. Groups from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Armenia will take part in the Moscow
competition.

Ukrainian southern group set to take control of capital city’s energy

Zerkalo Nedeli, Kiev
21 Aug 04

The owners of the Zaporizhzhya steelworks are set to take over Kiev’s
energy supply, a serious weekly has said. By agreeing to the creation
of an energy holding, Kiev mayor’s office is giving up control of the
energy supply, according to the weekly. The following is the text of
the article by Ihor Maskalevych entitled “Kyyivenerhokholding: ‘We’
the undersigned, or special features of the sewerage discharge of
current” published in the Ukrainian newspaper Zerkalo Nedeli on 21
August; subheadings are as published:

At the beginning of August a modest decision by the Kiev Council was
published. In general such documents are issued in their hundreds, but
this one will hardly get lost against their background. Because it is
a question of a complete U-turn in the city’s energy. On 24 June the
Kiev Council virtually unanimously decided to set up the
Kyyivenerhokholding Kiev Energy Holding company. The share capital of
the newly created company, according to the resolution, will receive
60 per cent plus one share in Kyyivhaz Kiev Gas , 12.73 per cent of
the stock of Kyyivenerho Kiev Energy and 67 per cent of the stock of
Kyyivodokanal Kiev Water Supply that belong to the Kiev territorial
community. The decision was supported by Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko,
and most deputies automatically voted “as they should”. There were
only four votes against. Thus, quietly and unnoticed, the city turned
its energy policy around 180 degrees.

Pulling the blanket over itself is a fairly traditional principle of
the mayor’s office in relation to state property. The city has taken
control of everything it can and much of what, in principle, it should
not. This is because the fragility of the majority of Ukrainian state
structures has led officials in the mayor’s office to a not unfounded
conclusion that it would nevertheless not be worse than how it is done
by the SPF State Property Fund .

Among the city’s enormous number of assets, the most valuable is
undoubtedly the Kyyivenerho city energy company. There is simply
nothing similar in Ukraine. Two basic city thermal power stations
fully supply the city with electricity. In effect Kiev operates in a
system close to autonomy. And even during the hardest energy crises,
it did not experience scheduled cuts in the early 1990s and
interruptions in hot water supply. The annual volume of Kyyivenerho
sales today has reached 360m dollars.

In general, the city always fought for Kyyivenerho, and for good
reason. The city authorities wanted to add to the company slogan “Heat
and light for Kievites” the words “from city funds”. The numerous
attempts to get hold of the running of the company have seen the use
of all means – targeted privatization, erosion of the state share.

Something succeeded. Under Prime Minister Valeriy Pustovoytenko in
1997-99 the city received the 12.73 per cent. Under Viktor Yushchenko
in 2000-01 it got both major thermal power stations. What is more, for
a whole week an instruction was in force on transferring to the city
the longed-for 50 per cent of the stock. But then everything
ended. The city could not accept it for a long time and countless
letters were written to the very highest instances. At times it seemed
that they were on the verge of winning. But the train left. And, as is
now clear, forever.

Over the past few years the mayor’s office has been running the state
share in Kyyivenerho, but then it had to be handed over to the SPF. In
principle that is not too awful – the SPF cannot run anything and does
not endeavour to. But it means that the package can be put up for
sale. From time to time in the corridors of the Cabinet of Ministers
there were indeed floated ideas of selling either the entire state
share in Kyyivenerho or half of it. Sometimes the EBRD also came with
that idea to the government.

On the one hand, such a step would certainly bring in a very decent
amount of money. The potential value of such a package amounts to many
millions of dollars. But on the other hand, a new investor, especially
a Western one, means entirely different rules of the game. Not to
mention the fact that our Western friends have never suffered from
excessive modesty in revenue planning. And the only attempt to attract
foreign investments into the city’s power engineering cannot in any
way be called successful.

The scheme to modernize Darnytsya thermal power station with the help
of Canada’s Northland Power turned into a fiasco. The Canadians have
been sitting on the power station for eight years now and have not had
the honour of investing not only the promised 150m dollars, but not
even one million. Omelchenko’s attitude to them has long been openly
contemptuous. At the same time, Kyyivenerho, albeit with problems, is
developing its own project with money from the World Bank.

And indeed the privatization of the neighbouring Kyyivoblenerho has
not at all led to a flow of investments into the regional energy
company. At the same time, the charges that even before were higher
than city charges, increased by another 50 per cent.

Pulling the cable across

The city that had been distracted with mergers and absorbtions
actively strove to get everything at once, but it obviously
underestimated threats of a different nature. For example, the
privatization of Kyyivenerho took place with a considerable dispersal
of shares. Under all forms of preferential subscription no more nor
less than 37.3 per cent of them went. This is noticeably more than the
traditional 25 per cent. To a large extent this was explained by the
position of the management of the company headed by Ivan
Plachkov. Credit where credit is due – the top management of
Kyyivenerho personally received very modest share packages. Neither
was there any discernible self-purchase “for the management”. Even
checks by the prosecutor’s office, according to which there were
originally several criminal cases instituted, did not discover
anything especially “dreadful”. Staff at the energy company had indeed
received their share packages and indeed sold them independently. It
is a good thing that there were opportunities and more than enough
firms buying up the shares. One could get a dollar and more for a
20-kopeck share. So the staff received not a bad additional source of
income.

In time the boom died down, but there is still interest in the
shares. In the 2000-03 period individuals bought 12.2m
shares. Naturally, they were bought up not just like that. The
concentration of packages soon became completely evident. The people
behind it were also discovered. The names of shareholders of the
Shelton oil trader firm and Ukrinbank – Serhiy Kryvosheya and Serhiy
Rys – started to surface, as did that of their business partner and
Green Party comrade, Vasyl Khmelnytskyy. Precisely over that period
the “green wave” rapidly took Zaporizhstal Zaporizhzhya-based
steelworks out of the hands of the state.

The aim with Kyyivenerho was also examined absolutely precisely –
first buy a blocking stake and then wait and see. Nobody took any
special counter-measures. First, the shares were expensive, and
self-purchase would require substantial resources. Second, the city
was sure that it would soon get a controlling stake by barter and the
problem would go away of itself. As a result, by 2001 the blocking
stake was successfully bought. Estimates put the cost of that to the
purchasers at 26m-28m dollars.

At exactly the same time, the city’s plans to swap the company shares
for buildings belonging to the Kiev community became entirely
illusory. In addition, by that time the city had pulled in so many
facilities that it clearly did not know what to do with them.

What is more, the campaign to strengthen Kyyivenerho by means of
transferring to it the running of heat networks, a rubbish burning
plant and so forth continued. It would be a big exaggeration to say
that everything went smoothly. A large part of the property being
acquired was in a wretched state.

At that time the last attempt was made to erode the state package in
the company. In 2001 the mayor’s office approved a decision to
increase the authorized capital by 30 per cent (i.e. by 8m
hryvnyas). Considering the fact that the energy company’s authorized
capital is tiny – only 27.1m hryvnyas – this automatically transformed
the state package from a controlling one into a 38 per cent one. Since
at that time the city was managing the state stake, its representative
naturally voted in favour. But… ellipsis as published Private
investors first showed their teeth and voted against. An attempt to
postpone the meeting by a month and coordinate positions on the basic
question produced little. The additional share issue failed.

And although in revenge not one representative of the “green oil
bankers” got on to the management bodies of Kyyivenerho, it became
clear that it would not be possible to ignore their interests. On the
other hand, it is doubtful that the mayor’s office had precisely
calculated how many more various “consideration of interests” it would
have to face. Thus, already in the following year it was forced to
agree the fate of the city’s bakery industry with the same group. The
Fininvesthrup and Haron companies that are friendly with the owners of
Zaporizhstal obtained 49 per cent of the Khlib Kyyiva closed
joint-stock company that is being set up on the basis of Kyyivmlyn)
and Kyyivkhlib. Then another firm that is friendly with the
Zaporizhzhya people, Ukrfinkom, moved into the holy of holies of the
city administration – the Khreshchatyk Bank and gradually started to
build up its share package.

The process reached its logical conclusion in summer this
year. According to the results of the bank’s third additional share
issue, the proportion of Ukrfinkom and structures close to it exceeds
40 per cent of the stock. In general, the Zaporizhstal people have
actively taken over the city, including as a big market for metal. And
although Kryvosheya and Rys later left “city” projects, they were
successfully replaced by Andriy Ivanov (chairman of Zaporizhstal
supervisory board) and Khmelnytskyy.

To be fair, it should be said that the “green” group always professed
the principle of “being, not seeming”, and did not feel the slightest
pull towards publicity. Mentions of it were limited either to football
or light charity. In politics, at the 2002 elections Zaporizhstal was
smart enough to finance unsuccessfully two parties simultaneously. And
then – silence.

It is amusing that a couple of years ago tracks of the Zaporizhzhya
metallurgists were spotted in Armenia. The biggest shareholder in
Zaporizhstal, Midland Resources Holding, bought 100 per cent of local
distribution networks. During the competition, the company said that
it owned, among other things, a blocking stake in
Kyyivenerho. However, they later amended that figure to 12 per
cent. In general, that was the truth.

We remind you that the owners of Zaporizhstal are divided into two
groups. Part of them, historically linked with the Zakhid-Rezerv
company, are represented by the afore-mentioned Messrs Ivanov and
Khmelnytskyy, as well as by Ihor Dvoretskyy (Zaporizhzhya Industrial
Bank). The other part, “the Midland group” is represented by Eduard
Shyfrin (Metallurgical Centre open joint-stock company – the Kiev
office of Midland is actually located at its address) and a Canadian,
(?Alexander Schneider). These shareholders are more oriented towards
foreign purchases. And they are acquiring property in Ukraine fairly
actively, since they have direct access to the president Leonid Kuchma
. Thus they recently acquired the Kremenchuk steel rolling
plant. Companies are being bought up in Russia, Poland, Montenegro and
Armenia.

It is interesting that there has recently been a clear strengthening
of Midland’s position at Zaporizhstal – at any rate two offshore
companies connected with it already control 60 per cent of the plant’s
shares.

For now these two groups of shareholders live in complete harmony. It
is not ruled out that some shareholders will face complete
naturalization in Kiev. Work on that is already being carried
out. And, unlike the United Social Democrats of presidential
administration head Viktor Medvedchuk , who, to put it mildly, have
complex relations with Mr Omelchenko, the Zaporizhzhya people are
fully signed up to local realities. They are correct and moderately
aggressive, and so people are already used to them.

Exploitation of gigantomania

May this excursion into the history of the “Zaporizhzhya group” not be
a digression from the theme. For it is precisely for this reason that
the creation of Kyyivenerhokholding is now taking place. The most
amusing aspect is that the pull of Mr Omelchenko is being successfully
exploited here in the creation of municipal super-structures. The
actual idea of an energy holding on the basis of the capital’s
property hovered in the city administration for several years now. For
that reason, many city deputies and officials simply failed to
understand that there was extremely little in common between what was
proposed, say, in 2002 and the present version.

All the more so in that the mayor’s office was frankly scared by the
situation with the creation of former First Deputy Prime Minister Oleh
Dubyna’s Energy Company of Ukraine ECU . The frantic attempts to
prevent Kyyivenerho joining it got nowhere.

Indeed, there was no point in hoping. Mr Dubyna had fought too
fiercely even for completely “deadbeat” thermal power stations in the
regions to give up the best bit of the country’s power engineering. In
other words, a real prospect had appeared for the city that control of
Kyyivenerho would be enacted not at all from 34 Khreshchatyk Street
mayor’s office . Even the present fate of the ECU is not that
cloudless. It was the prospect of losing control that prompted the
Kiev Council’s June decision. But such medicine may well turn out to
be worse than the disease.

The original plans to set up the company looked like this. The city
package of 12.73 per cent was to be merged with shares of private
investors amounting altogether to 28 per cent. The 40-per-cent stake
obtained would make it possible, if necessary, reliably to neutralize
any external pretensions. At the same time, shares in Kyyivvodokanal
water supply are being sold (33 per cent) and Kyyivhaz (up to 40 per
cent).

Former Zaporizhzhya governor and one-time deputy prime minister for
energy Volodymyr Kuratchenko will head the company. He has recently
been the head of Kiev’s Vodokanal… ellipsis as published

The Zaporizhzhya people laid claim to 49.999 per cent in the company
being set up, but Omelchenko insisted on 39 per cent. In other words,
the idea is that the city can run it itself.

However, practice shows that officials will far from always “taxi”
with such a package. Businessmen as a minimum are no stupider than
they are, and far more mobile. And indeed their incentive is
higher. If anyone thinks that they are ready to part with their stake
for no good reason, they are greatly mistaken.

Incidentally, talking about the stake, its current value according to
stock market quotes, amounts to 25m dollars. However, when there was
talk of selling, completely different figures were quoted of the order
of 68m-70m dollars. So far as is known, at negotiations the talk was
about selling two approximately equal stakes that reflect the
distribution of the assets of Zaporizhstal shareholders. What is more,
precisely for the same amount (400m hryvnyas) the city was prepared in
principle to buy the twice as large state-controlled stake (50 per
cent) from the SPF.

However, most likely it will not get as far as a sale. In that case
the payment will be made precisely in securities, i.e. in the
self-same shares in Kyyivenerho. And perhaps in the freshly bought
shares in Kyyivhaz. The shareholders will hardly come off losers –
instead of 28 per cent of shares in Kyyivenerho, they will get 40 per
cent of a bigger holding. And access to control of colossal resources.

There is so far little belief in the declared goal of attracting
investments. However, according to the first version, it was a
question of attracting about 15m-20m dollars. Which is pitifully
little compared with the requirements of the city’s municipal
economy. For example, modernization of the water supply over the next
six to seven years alone will require 1.9bn hryvnyas. Hundreds of
millions of hryvnyas of investment are needed for Kyyivenerho and
Kyyivhaz. All the more so in that it is still not sure that the Kiev
energy monster being set up will turn out to be viable.

That capacious word “We”

Indeed the actual process of creating Kyyivenerhokholding is
completely non-transparent. After all, to call a spade a spade, it is
a question of transferring property worth a huge amount of money to a
private structure. Forever, what is more… ellipsis as published The
operation being conducted affects the interests of city residents both
on the right bank of the Dnieper and on the left. And at the very
least they deserve to know something more about the aims and plans of
the city authorities. At present it is not even known who thought up
all this.

Things have reached the point of jokes. When in June deputies were
given the plan for the new holding, two sides of the process figured
in it – the Kiev administration and a second group modestly calling
itself “WE”. It is these “we” who were to gain 39 per cent of the
city’s energy infrastructure. Against this background, last year’s
lease for 49 years of the Odessa water supply to the Infoks company
that caused no little scandal there looks almost like a model of
transparency. There they at least presented a plan – to attract 700m
hryvnyas of investment over seven years. The Ukrainian anti-monopoly
committee issued an unflattering statement regarding this. But after
all, Kiev would seem to be a somewhat bigger and richer city.

The author has nothing against Zaporizhstal or whoever is meant there
by the word “we”. But is it not possible to be more specific – who,
why, how much and what will there be? There should be other goals
apart from a reasonable desire to restrict the influence of Dubyna and
provide employment for Kuratchenko. Over recent years the country had
more than enough of playing games with nameless investors from
offshore zones. If we even nominally intend to join Europe, perhaps we
should recall that the word “we” as a rule does not mean offshore
representatives but somewhat broader sections of the
population. Townsfolk, for example.

JOURNALISTS ATTACKED IN TSAKHKADZOR

YEREVAN, AUGUST 24. ARMINFO. Two journalists, the correspondent of the
“Aravot” newspaper Anna Israelyan and the photographer of the
“Fotolur” agency Mkhitar Khachatryan, have been attacked in
Tsakhkadzor, Armenia.

The Radio Free Europe reports that the journalists were preparing a
material on environmental protection. In particular, Mkhitar
Khachatryan had taken a number of pictures of private
houses. Approaching a house, which, as was found out later, belongs to
Vice-Chief of the RA Police Armen Yeritsyan, Khachatryan took one
picture, after which some persons came up to him and demanded that he
stop photographing. When the journalists came to the Writers’ Holiday
Home, the same persons, who were already waiting for them, attacked
the journalists, crying out “Do you know whose territory you have
photographed? Do you know what we will do to you for that?” They
seized the digital camera from Khachatryan and took the memory card
out. The journalist received several blows on the head.

Anna Israelyan said that the attackers were body-guards of the
Parliament member Levon Sargsyan. According to her, Director of the
Holiday Home Movses Manugyan tried to interfere, but one of the
attackers insulted him.

The Yerevan Press Club and the Union of Journalists of Armenia intend
to make a statement.

82 HOUSES BUILT IN ARMENIA WITH HFH SUPPORT

YEREVAN, AUGUST 24. ARMINFO. During a press-conference today the
Diocesan Legate of the Ecumenical Office of the Armenian Church of
America (Eastern Diocese) Bishop Vicken Aykazyan and the President of
Habitat for Humanity Michigan Rev Ken Bensen shared the results of
their meeting with His Holiness Karekin II Catholicos and Supreme
Patriarch of All Armenians during which the partnership possibilities
among Habitat for Humanity, Habitat for Humanity International and the
Worldwide Armenian Church were discussed.

Habitat for Humanity Armenia is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity
International and supports community development in the Republic of
Armenia by assisting in the construction and renovation of simple,
decent and affordable homes. The purpose of the organization is to
help families in need improve their living conditions,m to raise funds
to support the vital work and to give hope to thousands of people
across the country. The organization was formed in Mar of 2002 and to
date has dedicated 82 homes and given shelter to 473 people.

Benson said that the selected target of HFH Armenia is families living
substandard,m over-crowded and unacceptable;e living quarters. This
group comprises more than 50-60% of the country’s current
population. These families are unable to purchase their won homes as
they do not have sufficient income to save to pay for the entire house
cost up front nor can they risk and would they be eligible for a
high-interest loan from a commercial lender.

Middle-income families are given no-interest loan – up to $10,000 for
20 years. $222,000 will be allocated this year for the construction of
40 houses and $300,000 more in 2005 under the direction of the former
US president Jim Carter.

FOUR IRAQI-ARMENIANS ARE GOING TO VISIT ARMENIA FOR FIRST TIME

YEREVAN, August 24 (Noyan Tapan). Four Iraqi-Armenians Khachik
Movsisian, Vardges Minasian (secretary of the Kerkuk district
council), Hovhannes Chibukhchian (a Kerkuk sportsman) and Yurik
Ohannesian (a Baghdad citizen) visited the publishing house of the
“Alik” (“Wave”) daily newspaper of Tehran on August 22. According to
the “Alik” (“Wave”) daily newspaper of Tehran, the Iraqi-Armenians,
receiving visas from the Embassy of Iran in Baghdad, went to Iran by
land with the purpose of visiting their relatives there. During their
first visit they traveled over the city of Tehran, visited the
“Ararat” sport complex, the churches of St. Sargis and St. Virgin. “We
are going to visit our Homeland, Armenia, for the first time, and
Armenian Plenipotentiary Ambassador Mr. Gharibjanian supported us in
this issue…,” mentioned the Iraqi-Armenians.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

“Aztag” Daily Newspaper
P.O. Box 80860, Bourj Hammoud,
Beirut, Lebanon
Fax: +961 1 258529
Phone: +961 1 260115, +961 1 241274
Email: [email protected]

The Challenges Facing the Armenian Church: An Interview with Hratch
Tchilingirian
by Khatchig Mouradian

`The Armenian Church hides, under its each and every stone, a secret path
ascending to the heavens’, wrote the famous Armenian poet, Vahan Tekeyan.
Yet, the Armenian Church is more than a religious institution that has acted
as a `mediator’ between Armenians and their God. Having survived the
shifting tides of time for more than seventeen centuries, this `unique
organization’, as Professor Hratch Tchilingirian calls it in this interview,
has served its people as much as, if not more than, it has served God.
Today, in the age of globalization, secularization and false crusades, the
Armenians – despite their constant boasting about having the oldest
Christian state in the world – are also following this global trend, by
gradually distancing themselves from established religious institutions and,
at times, looking for spiritual answers elsewhere.

What is the mission of the Armenian Church in the 21st century? What are the
challenges that it faces in Armenia and the Diaspora? How effectively is the
Church hierarchy tackling these challenges? I discussed these and a number
of related issues with Professor Hratch Tchilingirian when he was visiting
Beirut in July.

Hratch Tchilingirian is Associate Director of the Eurasia Programme, the
Judge Institute, University of Cambridge. He received his PhD from the
London School of Economics and Political Science and his Master of Public
Administration (MPA) from California State University, Northridge. His
current research covers political and territorial disputes in the Caucasus
and Central Asia, as well as the region’s political, economic and
geostrategic developments. He has authored over 120 articles and
publications on the politics, economy, culture, religion and social issues
of the Eurasia region, especially the Caucasus and the Armenian Diaspora.

Tchilingirian is closely involved in the affairs of the Armenian Church. He
has a Master of Divinity degree from St. Vladimir’s Theological School and a
Diploma in Armenian Church Studies from St. Nersess Armenian Seminary in New
York. He was the Dean of St. Nersess Seminary in 1991-1994. Tchilingirian
was also co-founder and editor of `Window View of the Armenian Church’
(1990-1995), a quarterly magazine dealing with issues related to the
Armenian Church. He has authored many articles on contemporary Armenian
affairs, including those relating directly to the Armenian Church.

Aztag- Currently, people are farther away from religion than they used to
be, perhaps because in a highly secularized world, organized religion is
giving way to other philosophies and teachings. How do you see the situation
of the Armenian Church in this context?

Tchilingirian- This is a major and complex issue, but I would say there are
internal and external reasons for the current situation. As you mentioned,
secularization is part of the general trend globally. There is a steady
decline of organized religion and church attendance. For instance, there are
some studies which show that in Armenia only about 9% of the population
attends church services regularly on Sundays. In America, the percentage is
much higher; it’s about 40%, but in Europe, it’s also low, about 6-7%.
However, this does not necessarily mean that there is a decline of interest
in spirituality. There are alternative religions, as well as various other
philosophies and spiritual teachings that have gained currency in our world
today. So the challenge to institutional churches is how to be relevant in
the 21st century. In the case of the Armenian Church, the question is no
different: How can a 1700-year-old church make itself relevant to Armenians
living around a very-fast paced world in the 21st century? This is the major
challenge. In fact, the Armenian Church has not addressed this issue
collectively and seriously.

Aztag- Can we benefit from the experience of other churches in this respect?

Tchilingirian- Well, virtually all churches are facing great challenges, be
it the Catholic or Orthodox or Protestant churches. They have various
programs or mechanisms to address- not necessarily successfully- these
challenges. For instance, homosexuality and gay marriage is a big issue in
the Anglican Church and it is creating divisions. The Roman Catholic Church
has its own sets of problems, with priests involved in cases of sexual
abuse, and with the issue of celibacy and marriage of the clergy creating
tensions. So, you have churches with particular issues and challenges, and
other problems that are common to all churches.

In the case of the Armenian Church, I believe there is a lack of clear sense
of mission. I have written about this quite extensively. What is the mission
of the Armenian Church in the 21st century? At least personally, I am not
aware of any well-articulated statement or program on the part of the church
that spells out the Armenian Church’s mission. Of course, if you ask the
clergy or the hierarchs, they would tell you that the mission of the church
is very obvious, it’s based on the Gospel; it’s the salvation of souls. But
how do we achieve this? How is this mission carried out? How do you make it
relevant to the Armenian on the streets of Bourj Hammoud, Yerevan or Los
Angeles? How does this translate into the everyday life of the Armenian
faithful?

Each problem is unique and has a unique solution and one cannot take a
one-size-fits-all approach when thinking about solutions. In America, there
are many new ideas. There are churches that play modern music or Christian
rock, but if you try to bring this to Lebanon, for instance, people would be
scandalized; they would find that very foreign and reject it. So you have
to find a solution based on the local culture, on how local people perceive
things, or based on whether a particular community is ready for a particular
change.

One of the most important functions of religion or faith is to provide
meaning to human life. If a religion or a philosophy provides this role in
your life, then you follow its teachings. If the Armenian Church provides
meaning to Armenians from different walks of life, who are looking for
something more than the Sunday liturgy, conducted in a language most people
don’t understand, then it would become relevant to them.

Aztag- The Armenian Church is also regarded as an institution with a
national mission. Is there a lack of planning in that domain as well?

Tchilingirian- I think the church and the clergy feel more comfortable in
the so-called “national mission” of the Church- Azkayin Arakeloutyoun, than
its religious-spiritual mission. And yet when you ask about the national
mission of the Armenian Church in specific terms, you realize that the
answers are very vague. Obviously, the Church has played the role of a
surrogate state in Armenian history and it has preserved our culture, but
today, one has to be more specific also about what the national mission of
the church is. Of course, the church can publish books, discuss Armenian
philology and culture, and so on, but why does the church have to do these
things? Why doesn’t the Church or the hierarchy relegate this role to
other, perhaps more qualified organizations in the community to carry out
such functions – and what could be termed as `non-religious’ services – so
that the Church and clergy can dedicate more talent and resources to their
main religious and apostolic mission?

Aztag- But throughout history, perhaps due to the circumstances, the
Armenian Church has served the people by a number of ways that have little
to do with its apostolic mission.

Tchilingirian- Every organization has its primary raison d’etre. But when
you neglect and do not carry out your primary mission and you engage in
secondary or other peripheral missions, then why exist? If an organization
wants to change its raison d’etre and say, `henceforth, we are not this, but
we are that’, fine! But if you say you’re something, and you are doing
something else, then you’re not being true to your own calling, and you are
not delivering what you say you are going to deliver. This is a matter of
principle; it’s a matter of stating your mission. What is your mission
statement?

The Church is the only national institution that has existed continuously
throughout Armenian history in the last 1700 years. So the church, as an
institution, is beyond the individuals who run it. It is very powerful – it
has an in-built power vis a vis the fact that it is a religious and national
organization that has a very long history. And it will still be here in the
coming centuries. It’s unlike a secular organization which is very temporary
– it is here today, but might not be here in 50 years or 100 years. And yet,
each generation has a responsibility to carry out the mission of the Church.
If we want the Armenian Church to be what it’s supposed to be, then we have
to ask: What are the people who are running the church, namely the clergy
and hierarchy, doing? What are the laymen doing? How are they carrying out
their mission?’

I think this is the problematic issue -whether in Etchmiadzin or in the
Diaspora. I should note that some Hierarchical Sees are more aware of these
issues and are carrying out more serious work in their respective
jurisdictions. The Catholicosate of Cilicia, for instance, is involved with
serious mission work. Yet, collectively, we are still not clear about what
the main purpose of the entire Church is. How do you reach the 90% of
Armenians who are not affiliated with the Church, who do not come to church,
except once or twice a year, for weddings or for funerals?

Aztag- Do you think changing the language of the liturgy into modern
Armenian would make a difference? After all, religion seems to have become
an individual quest for meaning in life, and it seems that the factors
carrying people farther away from the church have little to do with the
language.

Tchilingirian- If you conduct the liturgy in modern Armenian or English,
there is no guarantee that suddenly you’ll have thousands of Armenians
flocking to the church. I think making the language understandable does
help; but it’s not the solution.

In the old times, the church was the center of the community life. There was
a church in every village and it brought the community together. People had
a communal life around their faith, their everyday-life traditions. But in
modern times, when people live in such remote places the situation is
completely different.

I agree that religion has become a very individual matter. In fact, even if
people go to church on Sunday, they go there as an individual; they go there
to light a candle, to say a prayer; they don’t go there from the beginning
of the service, it’s like they go in for 10-15 minutes and they don’t
necessarily feel a sense of commonality with everyone in the church, because
probably they’re not from the same neighborhood or have no meaningful
affiliation with that community.

People choose various philosophies, various kinds of alternative religions
or faiths that fit their particular choice or particular sense of where they
are in their lives. For example, there are different types of Armenian
believers, which I have identified through my own research in Armenia,
Karabakh and the Diaspora. There are what I call Theist Believers, Deist
Believers, `Agnostic Believers’ and `Atheist Believers’. For instance, the
Armenian `atheist believer’ does not believe in the existence of God, but he
may be baptized in the Armenian Church; he may go to church once in a while
for weddings or on holidays, just to feel Armenian or to meet with friends,
so on. And, interestingly, he is considered a `child of the Armenian
Church’, at least by the hierarchy of the Church. If you ask the clergy,
they include every Armenian in the `membership’ of the Armenian Church. But
what is significant here – and generally overlooked – is the fact that if
you are preaching to an atheist Armenian, you have to preach differently
than if you are preaching to someone who is dedicated and attends church
regularly.

Aztag- What are the challenges facing the Armenian Church particularly in
Armenia and Karabakh?

Tchilingirian- As I mentioned, there are common problems facing the Armenian
Church regardless of geography, but there are issues that are specific to
the region where the church finds itself. For instance, in North America,
the Armenian Church has different sets of problems; these problems have to
do with language, the length of the liturgy, ordination of women, and so on.
These are not problems, say, in Karabakh or in Armenia.

In Armenia, the major challenge is what the late Catholicos Karekin I used
to call the
`re-Christianization’ of Armenia, the re-evangelization of Armenia. This is
still a major problem, because after almost seven decades of atheist regime,
people don’t even have the basic knowledge about Christianity and the
Armenian Church. In the last 10-12 years, the Church has tried to educate
the population and yet, as I mentioned earlier, there is the need to further
clarify the mission of the Armenian Church.

As far as the so-called cults are concerned, I think people have exaggerated
the problem. For example, there are about 30-40 Hare Krishnas in Armenia.
It’s not like tens of thousands of Armenians are following these cults. More
important, at least sociologically, is the fact that all of these people who
are following alternative religions are Armenians — they are not foreigners
who are coming and living in Armenia as Hare Krishnas or Jehovah’s
Witnesses. This fact is totally ignored in the anti-cult discourse in
Armenia. The fact that hundreds of Armenians are following alternative
religions indicates that these religions or teachings are appealing to a
certain segment of the population. These are not necessarily brainwashed
people, as anti-cultists would have us believe; in fact, many of them are
highly educated individuals. They are people who are in search of something
and it happens that a particular group or teaching provides them with what
they are looking for, spiritually. My point is that we should not look at
the issue of cults or alternative religions from a very nationalistic point
of view. Some say, `This is causing a problem to our national security’,
that’s too much. One way of addressing this problem is to carry out a
similar mission. If, for example, the Jehovah’s Witnesses are going around
in Yerevan knocking on people’s doors, why isn’t the Armenian Apostolic
Church doing the same thing? Simply sitting in comfortable places and
complaining about it doesn’t resolve the problem. We have to be very
realistic about this.

In Karabakh, I would say the church, headed by Archbishop Barkev
Martirossian, has done a lot of work. The church has provided extensive
pastoral services during the most difficult periods in the life of Karabakh.
Especially during the war, the church has played an important role and, I
believe, it is continuing to do so today. Of course, it has its own
problems, but the clergy are doing their best to provide the type of
pastoral mission and care the people expect from the church. In Karabakh,
generally people are skeptical about any philosophy or any kind of teaching,
so the Church faces a challenge there; but the younger generation, the
children and youth, are much more receptive and open to the teachings of the
church.

Aztag- In the Armenian Church, leaders constantly talk about reforms. What
is your take on that?

Tchilingirian- The issue of reform is not new. There has been a continuous
discussion about reforms in the Armenian Church at least in the last 100
years. There is some literature about this matter, for example, Patriarch
Torkom Koushagian of Jerusalem has written “Paregarkoutyoun hayasdanyayts
yegeghetsvo” (Improvements [or reform] in the Armenian Church), published in
1940. But, again, my point is that if you don’t have a clear sense of
mission, if you don’t have a clear mission statement, you cannot organize
the types of reforms you need to make. What are you trying to do? What are
you trying to change or reform? Where are you trying to go with your
reforms? From what point to what point? And as long as you don’t have a
clear idea about where you want to go and what you are supposed to do, then
all this talk about reform is irrelevant. In business, for instance, people
formulate a clear plan about the goals they want to achieve in, say, 5
years. My question is: Where is the plan in the Armenian Church that says in
5 years or 10 years time this is where we want to go and this is what we are
doing today to reach that point. It’s like a tree. You plant a tree, so that
in 5 years or 10 years you benefit from its fruits. If you wake up in 10
years and say `where are the fruits we need?’ people will tell you that you
should have planted your tree a decade ago.

PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT: Andrew Souvall
August 25, 2004
Jennifer Cannata
(202) 225-4671

ARMENIAN CAUCUS CO-CHAIRS CALL ON BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO CONDEMN THREATENING
REMARKS BY AZERBAIJANI GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Reps. Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Frank Pallone,
Jr. (D-NJ), co-chairmen of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues,
today called on the U.S. State Department to condemn recent statements by an
Azerbaijani government official threatening aggression against Armenia.

In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, the lawmakers cited a
report by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty where the Azerbaijani Defense
Ministry spokesman had called for Azerbaijan’s takeover of the entire
territory of Armenia and removal of the entire Armenian population from the
Caucasus. The Azeri spokesman was quoted as stating, “Within the next 25
years there will exist no state of Armenia in the South Caucasus.”

“Given Azerbaijan’s history of aggression against Armenians, these remarks
cannot be dismissed as mere rhetoric,” the members wrote. “A failure on our
part to forcefully and publicly confront the Azerbaijani government over
these destabilizing threats would, in our view, send extremely dangerous
signals to Azerbaijan.”

Knollenberg and Pallone believe Azerbaijan’s increasingly aggressive posture
toward Armenia demonstrates the need to maintain parity in U.S. military aid
to both countries. Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a
Foreign Operations Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2005 that included
parity in military funding. In their letter to Secretary Powell, the two
lawmakers wrote that any tilt in military spending toward Azerbaijan could
destabilize the region by emboldening the new Azerbaijani leadership to
continue their threats to impose a military solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

“The United States plays a crucial role in the negotiations over
Nagorno-Karabakh, to help the people of this region to find a lasting and
equitable peace,” the members continued. “These threats by Azerbaijan
undermine these efforts and seriously complicate our diplomacy in the
region. It is our hope that the United States takes action to condemn these
remarks, to ensure that all parties involved in this conflict make a genuine
commitment towards peace and stability.”

Text of the letter to Secretary Powell follows.

August 25, 2004

Secretary Colin Powell
U.S. Department of State
2201 C St, NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Secretary Powell,

As Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, we would like
to raise with you a serious issue that, if not compellingly addressed by the
Administration, has the potential to undermine U.S. interests and American
values in the strategically important Caucasus region.

We refer to the remarks by officials in the government of President Ilham
Aliyev calling into question the very existence of Armenia. For example, as
reported by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Azerbaijani Defense
Ministry spokesman called for Azerbaijan’s takeover of the entire territory
of Armenia and removal of the entire Armenian population from the Caucasus.
He went so far as to say, “Within the next 25 years there will exist no
state of Armenia in the South Caucasus.” Given Azerbaijan’s history of
aggression against Armenians, these remarks cannot be dismissed as mere
rhetoric.

Azerbaijan’s threats against Armenia’s survival reinforce our commitment to
maintaining parity in U.S. military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan. This
arrangement means even more today than when it was first put in place,
particularly in light of Baku’s increasingly aggressive posture toward
Armenia. Any tilt in military spending toward Azerbaijan could, in our
view, destabilize the region by emboldening the new Azerbaijani leadership
to continue their threats to impose a military solution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The United States plays a crucial role in the negotiations over
Nagorno-Karabakh, to help the people of this region to find a lasting and
equitable peace. These threats by Azerbaijan undermine these efforts and
seriously complicate our diplomacy in the region. A failure on our part to
forcefully and publicly confront the Azerbaijani government over these
destabilizing threats would, in our view, send extremely dangerous signals
to Azerbaijan.

It is our hope that the United States takes action to condemn these remarks,
to ensure that all parties involved in this conflict make a genuine
commitment towards peace and stability.

Sincerely,
FRANK PALLONE, JR. JOE KNOLLENBERG
Member of Congress Member of Congress

Cc: National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice
Ambassador Steven Mann

Jennifer Karch Cannata
Press Secretary
Office of U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr.
420 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-4671 office
(202) 225-9665 fax