Agency WPS
What the Papers Say. Part B (Russia)
July 16, 2004, Friday
GEORGIA UNLEASHED AN EXPRESS WAR
SOURCE: Kommersant, July 16, 2004, p. 10
Vladimir Novikov, Alexander Gabuyev
The latest round of talks within the framework of the Joint Control
Commission in Moscow yesterday ended with nothing to show for it.
Georgia has finally released the Russian relief aid it sezied. CIS
Executive Secretary Vladimir Rushailo and Stephen Mann, the US
president’s travelling trouble-shooter, have visited Tbilisi.
The envoys of Moscow and Washington envoy never expected to meet each
other in Tbilisi. Both tried hard to make out that their visits were
planned diplomatic events. Rushailo pointed out repeatedly that he
regularly tours CIS capitals and “has just visited some Central Asian
countries.” Mann repeated over and over that he is not visiting
Georgia alone, but “also Armenia and Azerbaijan to discuss
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement there.” Needless to say, the
representatives of Moscow and Washington claimed in practically
identical terms that their visits to Tbilisi had nothing to do with
the situation in South Ossetia. Mann only said on the subject of
South Ossetia that he had exhaustive information on the state of
affairs and reiterated that “the United States supports a peaceful
solution to the problem.”
Rushailo was more communicative. After meetings with President
Mikhail Saakashvili and Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania he said that he
had come to meet new leaders of Georgia and specify the date of the
next CIS summit in Kazakhstan. Rushailo left the positive news for
the end of the news conference. Rushailo said, “Emphasis in the talks
with the president of Georgia was made on facilitation of integration
with neighbors, first and foremost with Russia.”
A day before Rushailo’s visit, however, Saakashvili was in London and
made quite different statements there. “The West should continue
putting pressure on Russia,” he said. “We have to show Russia that
Georgia will not be pushed around.” Should the West follow the
advice, according to Saakashvili, “several thousand people in South
Ossetia will join Georgia within six months.” Saakashvili even
boasted that “the Georgian special forces trained by NATO instructors
are better than any Russian unit.”
Georgia Express 2004 exercise, an element of the British program of
military assistance to the Tbilisi regime and of the NATO’s
Partnership for Peace Program, began on July 3 as though to confirm
Saakashvili’s words. The exercise is taking place at the Vaziani base
near Tbilisi, where almost 170 British and 230 Georgian servicemen,
supported by two helicopters, have until July 18 to capture a village
overrun by hypothetical guerrillas and protect journalists from
terrorist attacks. Iraqi Shiites were chosen for the hypothetical
enemy. This demonstration of strength must have had its effect. The
South Ossetian government Tskhinvali is seriously afraid of an
invasion.
Meanwhile, the confrontation in Ergneti between Russian troops
escorting relief aid to Ossetian villages and the Georgian financial
police continued. Tbilisi went on claiming that the shipment must
clear customs. Saakashvili eventually said that by way of exception
he himself would pay the Finance Ministry. The convoy was about to
continue on its way when the Ossetian side kicked up a scandal. The
Ossetians demanded peacekeeping contingent commander Svyatoslav
Nabzdorov to prevent the Georgian police from escorting the convoy.
Leaving Ergneti, the trucks were supposed to cross the territory of
Georgia before making a turn into South Ossetia, and Nabzdorov could
not very well forbid the Georgian police from escorting the shipment
on the territory of Georgia. It was a dead-end, and the sides got
down to thoroughly unproductive negotiations again.
Translated by A. Ignatkin

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
July 16, 2004, Friday
SAAKASHVILI’S SCENARIOS
SOURCE: Voyenno-Promyshlenny Kurier, No 26, July 14 – 20, 2004, p. 2
by Colonel Anatoly Tsyganok, Candidate of Military Sciences,
Professor of the Academy of Military Sciences
THE GEORGIAN-OSSETIAN CONFLICT: SAAKASHVILI’S SCENARIOS, RUSSIA’S
POSITION, PROBABLE OUTCOME
Escalation of tension in South Ossetia may reach the boiling point
any moment and a shooting war will follow. Meantime, Georgian
newspapers are full of articles on how much Moscow needs a Georgia
without stability and on how Moscow’s tactic is being executed by
Tskhinvali.
Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania said, “Promises of the Russian
leaders to take measures have remained promises so far.” Koba
Davitashvili of the parliament of Georgia agrees with the premier.
“Russian peacekeepers are occupiers. They must immediately leave,” he
said. Interior Minister Irakly Okruashvili doubts the necessity of
the Russian contingent’s presence in the region. “Unless Russian
peacekeepers provide peace in South Ossetia, expediency of their
presence in the conflict area may be questioned,” he said.
In fact, Tbilisi has never lifted a finger to gather the lands around
it. It has Russia to thank for the process. It was Russia that
unified Georgia into an integral formation and saved it from
disintegration in the space of almost two centuries. Moscow finances
the republic all through the history of the Soviet Union. Should
Russia stops exerting political, economic, financial, and military
effort to preserve Georgia, nothing – not even the United States,
NATO, or the European Union – will save it from disintegration into
several states.
According to Western sources, Georgia is the poorest country in the
Commonwealth. Annual per capita income there amounts to only about
$400. Tbilisi’s foreign debts exceed $1.5 billion, and $150 million
of them are owed to Russia for gas and electricity. Economic
dependence of most Georgian families on Russia is colossal. Their
relatives working in Russia send over $1 billion to Georgia. All of
that makes one wonder about statements of Georgian state officials
undermining the system of existence itself of the population of
Georgia and provoking disintegration of the security framework in the
South Ossetian area.
“Peace” option by Saakashvili
Here are some facts enabling observers to judge the option (or plan).
Demonstrating his determination to unify Georgia, its president used
peace-loving rhetoric and propagandistic methods to appeal to the
residents of South Ossetia. Saakashvili spoke of the payment of
pensions as of July 1, free fertilizers and medical services (just
like in Adjaria), broadcasts in the Ossetian language. Along with
that, Georgia began reconstruction of the railroad between Gori and
Tskhinvali and of the detour road bypassing the capital of South
Ossetia and leading to the Georgian villages of Tamarisheni,
Achibeti, Kurta, Kekhvi to the north. This is where the Military
Ossetian Road (30 kilometers of it, at any rate) runs. It is possible
to isolate Tskhinvali from the rest of the world only by cutting the
road there. Three officers of the State Security Ministry of Georgia
were sent to Tskhinvali supposedly to “oversee the construction”.
Defense Ministry of Georgia disbanded its peacekeeping battalion on
January 3, 2004. It was formed again soon, and (according to South
Ossetian sources) its numerical strength increased to 1,500 men by
late May and to between 2,000 and 3,000 by the middle of June.
Battalion of the Internal Troops trained by American instructors was
included in the formation. Internal Troops backed by artillery pieces
and multiple rocket launchers were sent into the conflict area
allegedly for the purpose of a special operation against smugglers.
Additional roadblocks and checkpoints were established in the
villages and along the border with South Ossetia. Tbilisi proclaimed
the move of tank units to Gori. The town is known as the location
where repaired and chalked-off tanks are stored. On July 11, Russian
and OSCE observers noticed two attack and three transport helicopters
(MI-24 and MI-8) in the Georgian army group.
The population of Georgia is brainwashed into believing in existence
of an enemy. The implication is that Russia is the enemy. Society is
constantly updated on what Saakashvili is doing to repel the
potential aggression. TV channels regularly show the motorized
infantry battalion of the Georgian Internal Troops in brand-new NATO
uniforms. The battalion is commanded by Internal Troops Commander
General Georgy Tavtukhashvili.
Resolute and no-nonsense statements made by state officials are
broadcast again and again.
In short, no effort is spared to make the population believe that the
government of Georgia has its own opinion on how the South Ossetian
problem should be tackled, that the government has determination and
a powerful (by standards of the Caucasus) army that would not balk at
anything for the sake of territorial integrity of the country.
The impression is that Georgia is trying to test the level of
Russia’s support (first), gauge the level of Russian peacekeepers’
tolerance (second), and change single-handed the format of the 1992
Dagomys Accords (third). In accordance with them, the
Georgian-Ossetian conflict area should be manned by international
peacekeeping forces comprising Russian, Georgian, and South Ossetian
battalions 500 men each. The Russian battalion should include two
MI-8 helicopters.
Along with everything else, Tskhinvali is irritated by neglect of the
accord to dismantle additional police and customs roadblocks and
checkpoints by Georgia. And that Georgia still retains South Ossetian
vehicles that ferried goods to Georgia.
Nocturnal marches of 200 Georgian servicemen commanded by interior
and state security ministers in South Ossetia may be regarded as a
provocation. These servicemen forced the Russian convoy to pull over
under the threat of weapons. This particular episode persuades some
observers that official Tbilisi deliberately aggravates the situation
in the hope to settle the old conflict to its satisfaction as soon as
possible.
Moscow’s point of view
As far as Russia is concerned, a peaceful solution to the South
Ossetian problem is only possible on the basis of the previous
accords. First and foremost, the matter concerns the 1992 (July 24)
Dagomys Accords on settlement of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict.
Within their framework, the involved parties should discuss the terms
of gradual reduction of the numerical strength of peacekeeping
contingents. Restoration of trust between the warring sides will play
a significant role in the peace process. In March, the European Union
initiated the program of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict area
rehabilitation. The program realization protocol was signed by
Georgia, South Ossetia, North Ossetia – Alania, OSCE, and European
Union. The European Union allotted 2.5 million euro for the program
and Georgia began receiving the few installments.
The situation being what it is, pugnacious statements of Georgian
leaders perplex observers. Particularly since the new foreign
minister of Georgia is called by her former colleagues a seasoned
negotiator.
Over 10,000 people left South Ossetia for North and almost 30,000
Ossetians left Georgia in the war of the early 1990’s. The new
shooting war will probably bring about some similar results. As far
as Russia is concerned, a calm border in the Ossetian direction is a
priority in development of relations with countries of the Caucasus.
If Georgia proceeds in the direction of a forceful annexation of
South Ossetia, state interests of Russia and Georgia will certainly
part company because the war will both deteriorate the situation in
the border regions and echo all over the Caucasus. It is also
important for Moscow that most residents of South Ossetia are
citizens of the Russian Federation.
For the time being, the situation is only beginning to deteriorate
into an armed confrontation. As before, 12 years ago, cars carrying
women and children leave South Ossetia for Russia.
The worst outcome
Does Tbilisi really count on victory in the hostilities? If it thinks
so, it had better think again.
Firstly, the rugged terrain typical of South Ossetia will certainly
cut down combat capacities of the offensive and particularly
efficiency of armored vehicles. Relatively small units – properly
trained, knowing the terrain, camouflaged, and wielding modern
weapons – can hold narrow roads in the foothills for a long time.
Secondly, Tskhinvali is bare kilometers from the southern border of
the republic that is denied recognition by the international
community and its location is not favorable for defense. All the
same, drawing on the experience of the previous war, South Ossetians
will probably emplace their artillery pieces on the tops of the
nearby mountains currently controlled by them. It follows that the
capture of the capital of South Ossetia will take a lot of effort and
losses. Moreover, nobody can give any guarantees that the city will
be held afterwards.
Moreover, even despite Russia’s official statement on non-involvement
in the armed conflict, Ossetians will not abandon their brothers in
the south. They will help offering shelter, providing weaponry,
treating the wounded, and helping families of combatants with
finances.
In any case, the use of force will inevitably split Georgian society
– even despite the brainwashing campaign. Not all Georgians will
support the escapade. It stands to reason to assume that instead of
rallying all of Georgia, the war will accelerate processes of
decentralization in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and even the
Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Dvavakhetia, and Azerbaijani-populated
areas. It will generate instability not even Saakashvili or his
predecessors will manage to do away with in decades.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agence France Presse — English
July 16, 2004 Friday 3:21 AM Eastern Time
Iraqi Christian, Shiite Muslim stand firm in face of extremists
by SEBASTIEN BLANC
BAGHDAD
Attackers wreck five liquor stores along the same Baghdad street but
amid the rubble a Christian and a Shiite Muslim say their friendship
is stronger than the Islamist extremists’ hatred of alcohol.
Vartan Sarkissian, 51, an Iraqi Armenian whose family fled to Baghdad
to escape the 1915 genocide under the Ottoman Empire, lives in a
Christian neighbourhood around Al-Thariba avenue.
The busy shopping street is also home to his Shiite friend, Salah
Abdallah, despite being outnumbered nine-to-one by Christians.
The 38-year-old car salesman has an apartment in a building near
Vartan’s shop, which sells mobile telephones.
The pair, both sporting moustaches, are good friends. Their children
play together. Every now and then they even share a small glass of
something alcoholic.
And Salah, a moderate Muslim, is on occasion invited to the local
church to attend family events.
He has a figure of Jesus at the front of his car as “a present from
my Christian friends”, Salah explained, adding that he really enjoyed
Mel Gibson’s blockbuster, “The Passion of Christ”.
The two friends were, naturally, shocked by the bomb attacks which
took place overnight Wednesday against five liquor stores along their
street. It reduced the shop fronts to rubble and also wrecked several
neighbouring stores.
Vartan’s mobile phone outlet was partially damaged.
“We do not want an extremist in a turban ruling Iraq. It is not
possible to set up an Islamist regime here,” said Salah, who blamed
militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr for the
attack.
Such men adhere to a strict line of Islam and frown on any
association with alcohol.
“Moqtada has divided the Shiites,” who represent around 60 percent of
the Iraqi population, said Salah.
“But these attacks are not going to affect our relationship with the
Christians. They are our brothers and are always welcome here,” he
said.
Despite the strong sentiment, the violence does have an adverse
effect.
Vartan can name five or six families who have recently left the
country for Syria or fled to Iraqi Kurdistan in the north.
“It is sad because they are people we have welcomed for 20 years,”
agreed Salah.
His Christian friend appeared set to weather the storm, however. “I
will repair my shop and pray for those people who have lost their
sense of social responsibility,” Vartan said.
Vartan does not blame Iraqi Muslims for the violence that has raged
in the country for the past 15 months.
“It is simply a case of establishing what their goals are to find who
is pushing from behind: it is Iran,” he said.
Salah and Vartan said they were prepared to begin communal patrols,
armed with Kalashnikov riffles, to help secure the neighbourhood.
“I will protect him and he will protect me. We are not just
neighbours we are friends and brothers,” said Vartan.
“He is like an uncle to my son. There are people who want to break
the bonds in Iraq between Christians and Muslims. They will not
succeed,” said the Armenian.

Agence France Presse — English
July 16, 2004 Friday 3:21 AM Eastern Time
OSCE peace envoys in Azerbaijan for talks
BAKU
International envoys helping to mediate a peace deal between Armenia
and Azerbaijan in a conflict over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh
said Friday they had held useful talks with Azerbaijan’s President
Ilham Aliyev.
The trio of envoys from France, Russia and the United States which
make up the so-called Minsk Group, were in the Azeri capital, Baku,
after a round of meetings with officials in Armenia.
The mediators refused to disclose any of the details of their talks,
saying only they remained committed to helping find a peaceful
solution to the 15-year-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly
Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan.
“We have just come from a very cordial and useful meeting with
President Aliyev,” US mediator Steven Mann told a press conference.
“We will remain active in fulfilling the Minsk Group’s mandate …
which is to support discussions and negotiations between the two
sides,” Mann added.
“We believe that a peaceful resolution to the conflict is possible
and we believe that peaceful ways are the only ways that this
conflict can and must be settled.”
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a four-year war over the enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh, which cost an estimated 35,000 lives and forced
about one million people on both sides to flee their homes.
A ceasefire was agreed in 1994, leaving Armenian forces in de facto
control of the enclave and surrounding Azeri regions. Azerbaijan has
said it is determined to force Armenian troops out of the territory.
Peace talks have been taking place intermittently for 10 years, under
the mediation of the Minsk Group, to hammer out a permanent solution.
But an agreement has proved elusive and insiders say that negotiators
are as far from a deal now as they have been at any point in the
peace process.
In Azerbaijan, which sees itself as the victim of the conflict, there
is growing frustration about the failure to reach a deal, with many
people calling for a return to hostilities.
Criticism has also been targetted at the Minsk Group, which is
operating under a mandate from the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe.
The envoys said Friday they were being made “scapegoats” for the
failure to find a lasting settlement to the conflict, but that they
would not give in to their critics.
“Whether you like us or not, whether you agree or not with the
format, you will have to face our three faces,” French envoy Henry
Jacolin told reporters.
The unresolved conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh is destabilising a
region which is taking on increasing strategic importance for the
West.
A multi-billion-dollar pipeline is being built, with Washington’s
backing, to export crude oil from Azerbaijan’s sector of the Caspian
Sea, through Georgia and Turkey, to the Mediterranean Sea.
In places, the pipeline will pass within a few kilometres (miles) of
the tense front line separating Armenian and Azeri forces, the scene
of frequent firefights.

The Washington Post
July 16, 2004 Friday
Final Edition
House Votes Down Cut In Military Aid to Egypt;
Administration Officials Pressed Hill on Issue
Dan Morgan, Washington Post Staff Writer
The House yesterday rejected a $570 million cut in U.S. military aid
to Egypt after Secretary of State Colin L. Powell issued a
last-minute warning to lawmakers that the action would damage
relations with a close Middle East ally “at a very sensitive moment
in the region.”
Although the 287 to 131 vote was lopsided, the administration and
military contractors who sell U.S.-financed weaponry to Egypt took
seriously the threat of a cut and worked behind the scenes to head it
off.
Before the vote, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice made
calls to some lawmakers, who were also on notice from arms companies
that the shift could result in job losses in home districts. “It was
a full-court press,” said Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), who offered the
amendment to the $19.4 billion foreign aid bill for 2005.
His bill would have shifted the military aid to economic assistance,
which he said is “desperately needed” in Egypt. “The last thing this
society [Egypt] needs is the ultimate in high-tech weaponry,” Lantos
said.
The debate brought out highly ambivalent feelings about Egypt. The
House’s pro-Israel forces used the opportunity to vent frustration
with the Egyptian government’s role during hostilities between Israel
and the Palestinians. Among those supporting the cut was House
Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), one of the strongest supporters
of Israeli interests in Congress.
Lawmakers took the floor to rebuke the Egyptian government for
tolerating anti-Semitism, limiting its cooperation with the United
States in the war on terrorism and failing to prevent gun-smuggling
to militant Palestinian groups.
But Powell and senior lawmakers in both parties warned that the
action would send the wrong signal at a time when Egypt has begun
working closely with Israel to assure a smooth transition as Israel
plans to withdraw from Gaza.
In a letter to Congress, Powell noted that a unilateral reduction
would weaken the balanced military aid to Egypt and Israel that is a
“cornerstone” of the 1979 Camp David peace accords. In 2005, Israel
and Egypt are set to receive $2.2 billion and $1.3 billion in grants,
respectively, under the formula.
“Our credibility in this relationship depends to a great degree upon
being a reliable provider of assistance to the Egyptian military,”
Powell wrote.
“This puts a finger in the eye of our friends in Egypt,” said Rep.
John D. Dingell (D-Mich.)
Jewish House members were divided on the issue. Rep. Nita M. Lowey
(D-N.Y.) questioned why the United States was providing lavish
military assistance to Egypt even though “it has no real enemies” and
its government tolerates “TV shows that perpetuate anti-Semitism.”
But she said she was reluctantly opposing the aid cut because of its
timing, noting that Egypt has lately signaled its intention to play a
more constructive Middle East role.
However, Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.), in backing Lantos’s proposal,
said years of U.S. aid to Egypt have done little to curb anti-Israel
rhetoric in the country’s media.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the principal
pro-Israel lobby in the United States, took no official position on
the issue. Earlier in the day, AIPAC won at least a symbolic victory
when it helped push through the House a resolution that was critical
of a July 9 advisory judgment from the International Court of Justice
holding Israel’s security wall to be illegal. The resolution
indicated that the ruling was a result of improper political pressure
from members of the U.N. General Assembly. The vote was 361 to 45.
Later yesterday, Republican leaders helped the underlying foreign aid
bill get passed by a 365 to 41 vote. Tight budget restrictions forced
the House to cut $2 billion from President Bush’s request, but the
measure still provides a record $2.2 billion to fight HIV/AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis — nearly $60 million more than last year.
The president got only half the $2.5 billion he requested for his
signature foreign aid initiative, the Millennium Challenge
Corporation. The corporation establishes a new way to dispense
foreign aid to countries that qualify by meeting a list of criteria
such as commitment to free-market economies and democratic
institutions.
The bill provides $900 million in aid to Afghanistan, and continues a
waiver that allows continued bilateral economic assistance to
Azerbaijan despite that country’s economic blockage of Armenia.

Federal Information and News Dispatch, Inc.
State Department
July 14, 2004
Helsinki Federation Reports on Elections in Caucasus, Central Asia;
Urges Russia to postpone presidential elections in Chechnya
TEXT: The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF)
has completed a new report focusing on the corruption of elections in
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation
(Chechnya).
The report was prepared for the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting on Electoral Standards and
Commitments July 15-16 in Vienna, Austria.
The report is available online at

Following is the text of an IHF press release on the report:
(begin text)
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
Vienna, Austria
July 14, 2004
ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN, CENTRAL ASIA, AND RUSSIAN
FEDERATION (CHECHNYA) “RIDDLED WITH SERIOUS IRREGULARITIES AND FRAUD”
CHECHEN ELECTIONS SHOULD BE POSTPONED
Vienna, 14 July 2004. The International Helsinki Federation for Human
Rights (IHF) report to the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe meeting on Electoral Standards and Commitments, to be held
on 15-16 July in Vienna, focuses on the corruption of elections in
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation
(Chechnya).
[The report is available online at
)
Most of the elections held since the Central Asia republics became
independent have been characterized by serious irregularities, lack
of transparency, failure to provide equal conditions for all
candidates to promote different political views, and the abuse of
public resources. Turkmenistan has witnessed an almost total erosion
of democratic principles.
In Armenia and Azerbaijan, opposition candidates have been eliminated
from elections, media coverage has been tilted in favor of ruling
parties, opposition demonstrators and campaigners have been
mistreated by police, arbitrarily arrested, detained, and unfairly
tried. Recent elections in both countries were marred by serious and
widespread fraud.
The IHF is urging the Russian Federation to postpone presidential
elections in Chechnya to replace assassinated President Kadyrov,
which have been set for 29 August 2004. The IHF and the Moscow
Helsinki Group have documented serious fraud in the recent
constitutional referendum, presidential elections and Russian State
Duma elections in Chechnya.
“Manipulated elections aimed at creating an image of normalcy have
done nothing to solve the basic political and human rights problems
in Chechnya. But genuine and fair election processes could lead to a
political, rather than a military solution,” according to Aaron
Rhodes, Executive Director of the IHF.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs,
U.S. Department of State.)

Associated Press Worldstream
July 16, 2004 Friday 1:53 PM Eastern Time
No breakthrough for Karabakh mission
AIDA SULTANOVA; Associated Press Writer
BAKU, Azerbaijan
Foreign mediators ended a mission to Azerbaijan and Armenia on Friday
without a breakthrough in the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, and the
U.S. representative told the nations that the main burden in reaching
a settlement is on them.
Comments from the American, French and Russian envoys from the
Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe’s Minsk Group,
which has been mediating the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh for nearly
a decade, suggested their latest twice-yearly visit brought little
progress.
“The progress or lack of progress, whatever it is, rests in Yerevan
and Baku, and that is an important fact,” the group’s U.S.
co-chairman, State Department official Steven Mann, said at a news
conference in the Azerbaijani capital Baku.
Mann and his French and Russian counterparts also visited the
Armenian capital Yerevan and Nagorno-Karabakh, a largely ethnic
Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan that Armenian-backed forces won
control of in a 1988-94 war that killed some 30,000 people were
killed and drove a million from their homes.
Despite a cease-fire, the two countries continue to face off across a
heavily fortified no man’s land, and shooting occasionally erupts. No
final settlement has been reached, and the conflict continues to
aggravate economic troubles and threaten unrest in the two former
Soviet republics.
The Minsk Group’s French co-chairman, Henry Jacolin, said that forces
in Armenia and Azerbaijan sometimes point to the mediators to explain
the lack of progress. “Instead of blaming those who are negotiating,
it is always easier to look for a scapegoat. We know that we have to
play this role,” he said.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev said the international mediators’
role is “very important,” but added that, “for many years, in spite
of the fact of being involved in the process, there is not progress.”

Associated Press Worldstream
July 16, 2004 Friday 1:53 PM Eastern Time
Bush administration opposes House measure on Turkey
by HARRY DUNPHY; Associated Press Writer
President George W. Bush’s administration opposes a measure passed by
the House of Representatives forbidding Turkey to use U.S. aid to
lobby against a separate measure that would officially recognize the
Armenian genocide, a State Department spokesman said Friday.
“The House has passed it, the Senate has not and the administration
is opposed to it,” Richard Boucher said.
The House used a voice vote Thursday to approve language by
Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California on Turkey that was added to
a $19.4 billion foreign aid bill the House approved.
Tens of thousands of Armenians live in Schiff’s district, which
includes Pasadena and other communities east of Los Angeles.
Armenians accuse Turks of a genocide of up to 1.5 million Armenians
between 1915 and 1923. Turks claim the number of deaths is inflated
and say the victims were killed in civil unrest.
“We are another step closer to silencing those who would deny the
murder of 1.5 million Armenians,” Schiff said after the vote. “This
amendment stands true to the memory of the victims.”
House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other House Republican leaders said
in a statement that they oppose the Schiff amendment and “will insist
that conferees drop that provision” should the measure pass the
Senate.
“Turkey has been a reliable ally of the United States for decades,
and the deep foundation upon which our mutual economic and security
relationship rests should not be disrupted by this amendment.”
They said the amendment seems meaningless because by law, foreign
governments are barred from using U.S. aid to lobby.
“But we understand the political motivation behind the amendment and
for that reason we will insist that it be dropped.”
The leaders also said they “have no intention” of scheduling the
Armenian genocide resolution for a vote for the rest of the year.
On a related matter, Boucher said Turkey had withdrawn its candidacy
to chair the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe in
2007 “due to competing obligations by high-level officials.
“They felt they would be unable to devote the appropriate attention
to the position. So we respect that decision.”
Last month Armenian Foreign Minister Vadan Oskanian said his country
would veto Turkey’s chairmanship because it thinks the role can only
be filled by a nation that has diplomatic relations with all the
OSCE’s states.
Armenia and Turkey do not have diplomatic relations, although the
Turks recently have expressed a willingness to improve the situation
between the two countries.
Besides differing over genocide, the two countries also are at odds
over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region within Azerbaijan that has been under
ethnic Armenian control since a war that ended in 1994 without a
political settlement.
Turkey, which shares close ethnic ties with Azerbaijan and supported
that nation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, has maintained and
economic blockage of Armenia, hobbling development in the landlocked
former Soviet republic.

Agence France Presse
July 15, 2004 Thursday
Salah le chiite et Vartan le chretien, amis face aux islamistes
par Sebastien BLANC
BAGDAD
Cinq attentats ont devaste des magasins d’alcool de l’avenue
Al-Thariba a Bagdad: au milieu des gravats, un chretien et un chiite
assurent jeudi que leur amitie est plus forte que les islamistes.
Vartan Sarkissian, 51 ans, est un Irakien d’origine armenienne. Sa
famille vit a Bagdad depuis des decennies, apres avoir echappe au
genocide de 1915 sous l’Empire ottoman. Leur quartier est comme eux,
chretien.
Du moins a 90%. Car Salah Abdallah y habite aussi. Ce chiite de 38
ans, marchand de voitures, reside juste au-dessus du commerce de
Vartan, qui vend des telephones cellulaires.
Les deux moustachus sont amis depuis dix ans. Leurs enfants jouent
ensemble. Ils se refusent rarement un petit verre, y compris
alcoolise.
Salah le musulman modere est parfois invite a l’eglise, pour des
ceremonies importantes. Il a une effigie de Jesus a l’avant de sa
voiture, un “cadeau d’amis chretiens”. Il a aussi beaucoup aime “la
Passion du Christ”, le film de Mel Gibson.
Pas etonnant dans ces conditions que les comperes s’epaulent,
quelques heures apres une serie d’explosions qui ont souffle les
devantures des boutiques d’alcool, au pied des immeubles. Celle de
Vartan a egalement ete endommagee par l’onde de choc.
“On ne veut pas d’un gars avec un turban pour diriger l’Irak. Ce
n’est pas possible d’instaurer un regime islamiste ici”, dit,
rassurant, Salah.
Pour lui pas de doute: les attaques de la nuit sont l’oeuvre de
l’Armee du Mehdi du chef radical chiite Moqtada Sadr. Ces miliciens
pronent une application rigoriste de l’islam et voient d’un mauvais
oeil les debits de boisson generalement tenus par des chretiens.
“Moqtada a divise les chiites. Mais ces attentats ne vont pas
affecter nos relations avec les chretiens. Ce sont nos freres, ils
ont toujours vecu ici”, reprend Salah.
Pourtant, les intimidations ont des consequences. Vartan connait cinq
ou six familles chretiennes qui sont recemment parties en Syrie ou au
Kurdistan irakien. “C’est triste, reagit Salah, des gens avec
lesquels on a vecu sans probleme durant vingt ans”.
Son compagnon chretien assure, lui, vouloir rester. “Je vais reparer
mon magasin et prier pour ces gens qui ont perdu le sens commun”, dit
Vartan. Il dedouane les musulmans irakiens des violences recentes.
“Il n’y a qu’a considerer les cibles pour trouver ceux qui poussent
derriere: c’est l’Iran”.
Salah et Vartan sont prets a reprendre les patrouilles communes
qu’ils menaient, kalachnikov en main, lors des pillages de
l’apres-guerre, afin de securiser les commerces du quartier.
“Je le protegerai. Il me protegera. Nous ne sommes pas seulement des
voisins, nous sommes des amis, des freres. Il est comme l’oncle de
mon fils. Des gens veulent casser la chaine qui unit chretiens et
musulmans, ils n’y arriveront pas”, predit Vartan.
Les attentats contre les debits de boissons alcoolisees se sont
multiplies ces dernieres semaines en Irak. “Avec les troubles, la
situation est plus difficile” pour les chretiens, a recemment estime
le patriarche chaldeen Emmanuel Delly, qui represente la plus grosse
communaute chretienne d’Irak.

Armenianow.com
July 16,2004
Laughing at Ourselves: American artist introduces unique comedy to Armenian
stage
By Vahan Ishkhanyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
“Americans tell each other: ‘It’s not your business’. But can
Armenians say the same? All Armenians are engaged in each other’s
affairs.”
With such observations on Armenian culture, California monologist Vahe
Berberyan kept a sold-out crowd at the Yerevan Chamber Theater
laughing for 90 minutes last Friday evening.
“There is nobody like him in Armenia.”
In a performance titled “So Far”, Berberyan brought standup comedy to
Armenia where, previously, audiences were more accustomed to hearing a
Russian humorist poke fun at Russians. This time, it was an Armenian,
comparing his people with other nationalities.
“The Irish always drink and then beat each other,” Berberyan told the crowd,
“but Armenians first drink then give toasts to each other, praise each other
and only after that they beat each other.”
When Russian humorist Mikhail Zadornov compares Russians and Americans he
says that Americans are surprised at Russians when they see that a man
wearing a tie and coat enters stage, talks and people begin laughing.
In Berberyan’s performance the Armenian audience got a chance to see an
American-Armenian (from Lebanon) enter the stage and make people laugh. But
in this case the actor has a far different appearance. Berberyan, who is
also a painter and writer, has long ponytails and wears earrings – a look
that commands attention in Yerevan.
“I was walking down the street and saw three guys sitting on their
haunches,” the comedian said after his performance. “They were looking at
me very closely and then one of them said, ‘I’m gonna sell my car and buy
earrings’.
“According to existentialism, if nobody pays attention to a man then that
man doesn’t exist. Here people pay so much attention that it is more than
you need.”
“So far” mainly concerns Diaspora Armenians and some of the monologue was in
English.
“It was a wonderful performance,” said Anahit Sargsian, a French-Armenian.
“Most of all I liked his free speech which had nothing to do with literary
Armenian language. In Diaspora there is a tendency to speak literary
Armenian language out of obligation.”
The actor/writer/painter performed one night for a sold out theater.
For locals, it was a mild culture shock to hear words that aren’t normally
said on Armenian stages.
” Armenia is my spiritual parent,” Berberyan, age 49, said in his show. “I
mean mother and father at the same time. That’s why people say mother
fatherland. Lebanon is my biological home because I was born in Lebanon. My
fatherland is USA because I’ve been living there for many years and I’m a
citizen of USA. Canada is my aunt. South America and Arab countries such as
Nicaragua and Palestine are my brothers and sisters because my fatherland
f—-d their motherland.”
After the performance Berberyan said that when he used the “f-word” one of
the audience covered her face and another looked around to see the reaction
of people. When they saw others were laughing they laughed too.
While about 80 percent of the crowd was Diaspora, locals also were delighted
with Berberyan’s one-night show.
I liked his ease, I saw writer and actor in one person. I saw how he was
controlling the entire hall with his energy,” says writer and actress
Armineh Abrahamyan. “There is nobody like him in Armenia.”