ARMENIA THIS WEEK
Friday, June 25, 2004
ARMENIAN OFFICERS ATTEND NATO EVENT IN BAKU AMID SECURITY ‘LAPSES’
Col. Murad Isakhanian and Sr. Lt. Aram Hovanisian of the Armenian Defense
Ministry attended this week a final planning conference for NATO’s
Partnership for Peace exercises set to take place in Azerbaijan this
September. Azeri officials prevented Armenian officers from attending the
first planning event held in Baku last January. The exercises dubbed
Cooperative Best Effort (CBE) – 2004 will test interoperability of NATO and
partner militaries in a potential peacekeeping operation. Georgia and
Armenia hosted similar games in 2002 and 2003.

As the Azeri Deputy Defense Minister Araz Azimov revealed this week, his
government was forced to acquiesce to the Armenian presence or “risk
cancellation of the exercises and cooling of relations with NATO.” Following
the January incident, the Armenian government and organizations, including
the Armenian Assembly, urged NATO officials to make sure that Armenia could
take partner as a full-fledged NATO partner or move the exercise to another
country. Alliance officials ultimately succeeded in winning Azeri President
Ilham Aliyev’s pledge that Armenians could take part. Following last
February’s brutal murder of an Armenian officer by an Azeri at another NATO
event in Hungary, security was expected to be tight.

However, radical Azeri groups linked to the country’s hard-line Ministry of
National Security succeeded in repeatedly disrupting the conference as it
got underway on Tuesday. Both Armenian and Azeri commentators questioned the
reasons behind police failure to provide adequate security. Azeri television
footage showed several protestors breaking into the hotel conference room,
disrupting the NATO event underway, with no police posted outside. One of
the perpetrators told the local daily Ekho that they were able to enter the
room twice and succeeded in “scaring” the NATO officers “who were afraid
that we might bring in explosives.” Police subsequently detained half a
dozen radicals, with some of them receiving two-month sentences for
“hooliganism.”

The same groups of radicals had earlier attacked Azeri peace activists, whom
the government accuses of “betrayal” of national interests and demanded that
they stop meeting with Armenian counterparts.

Most Azeri officials and commentators appeared embarrassed over the
incidents. Rauf Mirkadyrov, a leading commentator for daily Zerkalo, wrote
that while “our glorious police never had a problem quashing mass opposition
protests, [in this case] it failed to stop a few dozen protestors.” Foreign
Minister Elmar Mamediarov said that Azerbaijan must implement its
international obligations and “not fear” the Armenian military’s
participation. Member of the President’s staff Ali Hassanov criticized the
attack and insisted that “Azeris are cultured and civilized” people.

U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Reno Harnish urged Baku to improve security
measures, especially during the actual exercises in September. Deputy
Defense Minister General Artur Aghabekian said that Armenia agreed to scale
back its participation in the September CBE-2004 from a full-fledged
peacekeeping platoon to “five to seven officers,” in an apparent compromise
deal with Azerbaijan. (Sources: Armenia This Week 1-16; AAA Press Release
1-30; Ekho 6-22, 23, 24, 25; R&I Report 6-22; RFE/RL Armenia Report 6-22,
24; Zerkalo 6-22, 23, 25; Azg 6-23; Yeni Zaman 6-24)
ARMENIA REAFFIRMS KARABAKH POLICY
President Robert Kocharian told the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe (PACE) this week that Nagorno Karabakh (NKR) is an
established state and all Azerbaijani claims on its territory are without
basis. Kocharian reminded PACE members that Nagorno Karabakh had legally
seceded from Soviet Azerbaijan at the time the latter became independent in
1991 and then succeeded in defending that choice on the field of battle.

“The solution shall emerge from the substance of the conflict and not from
the perception of possible strengthening of Azerbaijan through future ‘oil
money’,” Kocharian said. The remarks were in reference to the recent claim
by Azeri President Ilham Aliyev that he was not in a hurry to settle the
conflict and would use Caspian oil profits to strengthen the country’s
military. “[This] approach is a formula of confrontation and not of
compromise,” Kocharian added. He further recalled that had Baku agreed to
the most recent peace proposals, it could have regained most of the formerly
Azeri-populated districts now held by Karabakh.

Meanwhile, a survey made public this week by a leading Yerevan think tank
revealed that Armenians are nearly unanimous on Karabakh’s independence from
Azerbaijan. Of 1,950 citizens surveyed by the Armenian Center for National
and International Studies (ACNIS) throughout the country, just over 1
percent would agree to Karabakh’s autonomy within Azerbaijan. Almost 60
percent want Karabakh united with Armenia, while 39 percent agree for it to
be independent. Some 41 percent said that they would agree to ceding some of
the territories outside NKR only in exchange for determination of its final
status, while another 32 percent are opposed to any territorial concessions.
68 percent said that they would be ready to “do their utmost” in defense of
Karabakh should fighting resume. (Sources: Armenia This Week 2-13; Arminfo
6-23; 6-23; 6-25)
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Call to readers: The humanitarian situation in the Sudan continues to
deteriorate. Learn more at and .
_doctors_group_asserts_sudan_is_practicing_genocide
The Boston Globe
June 24, 2004
After visit to refugees, doctors’ group asserts Sudan is practicing genocide
Says world response needed now in Darfur
By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Correspondent
The violence in the Darfur region of Sudan includes systematic killings,
rape, pillaging, and destruction of villages that ”are clear indicators of
genocide,” according to a report issued yesterday by Physicians for Human
Rights.
A delegation from the Boston-based advocacy group visited the neighboring
country of Chad last month and interviewed non-Arab refugees from the Darfur
region, who gave firsthand accounts of being assaulted and chased while
their wells were poisoned, livestock stolen, and villages burned by an Arab
militia known as the Janjaweed, working with the Sudanese government.
”What we determined, based on a number of testimonies, is that there are
clear indicators of genocide,” investigator John Heffernan said. ”The main
point here is a consistent program of targeting non-Arabs.”
Under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide, which the United States has signed, any member country is
obligated to stop or prevent genocide if it is identified. The international
genocide convention, adopted in 1948, defines genocide as actions intended
to destroy a racial, national, religious, or ethnic group.
There is widespread agreement that the humanitarian crisis in Darfur demands
urgent action, but a coordinated international response is coming too slowly
for many critics. The physicians’ group said that by presenting evidence of
genocide, it hoped to instigate a more serious international response.
”Those countries which have signed on to the genocide convention are
committed to prevent and punish those who are perpetrating it,” Heffernan
said.
Darfur has been the center of escalating violence as the Arab-dominated
central government has fought non-Arab rebel groups over the past 18 months.
In April, a UN official called the conflict ”ethnic cleansing.”
The physicians’ group’s report noted that non-Arabs were consistently
attacked while neighboring Arab villages were spared. ”The Janjaweed
attacked us, and then the government helicopters attacked us. They want to
attack all the black people in Sudan, so that Sudan will be for the Arabs
only,” a refugee is quoted as saying.
Tens of thousands of people have died, and roughly 1 million people have
been displaced within Darfur. Most of these displaced people lack food,
clean water, and medical care and some are even living in ”prison
enclaves,” according to Heffernan. For the refugees in Chad, those
conditions will only worsen as the rainy season begins, making transport of
food or other humanitarian aid impossible, the report said.
The study outlines assault methods it said were intended to annihilate the
non-Arab group. They cite systematic attacks on villages, using coordinated
air and land forces.
The Arab militia worked with the Sudanese government’s troops to destroy
property and pursued fleeing villagers in order to kill, rape, or rob them,
the report charges.
The report called on the Sudanese government to halt the violence, and on
the international community to intervene.
A spokesman from the United Nations said yesterday that although the
secretary general is not prepared to call the atrocities ”genocide,” the
flagrant human rights violations occurring in Darfur are a major concern to
the UN.
”The idea is not to wait until it gets to that point,” said Jemera Rome, a
Sudan researcher at Human Rights Watch. ”The Security Council does not need
genocide in order to act.”
She said that the UN should invoke its Chapter VII authority of the UN
charter, which permits the Security Council to take all actions necessary,
including sending a military force, to ”maintain or restore international
peace and security.”
The US government has so far not taken a view on whether the violence
amounts to genocide. In a June 11 interview with The New York Times,
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said, ”I’m not prepared to say what is
the correct legal term for what’s happening. All I know is that there are at
least a million people who are desperately in need.”
Carolyn Johnson can be reached at [email protected].

Armenian defence chief meets diaspora leader from USA
Arminfo
25 Jun 04
YEREVAN
The secretary of the security council under the Armenian president and
defence minister, Serzh Sarkisyan, today met the chairman of the board
of directors of the Armenian Assembly of America, Anthony Barsamyan,
and the regional director of the assembly, Arpi Vardanyan.
The press secretary of the Armenian defence minister, Col Seyran
Shakhsuvaryan, has told Arminfo news agency that during the meeting,
they touched upon the current level of US-Armenian relations and
prospects for their development. The sides also discussed the
domestic political situation in Armenia and the expansion of ties
between Armenia and the state of Kansas.

Armenian parliamentary delegation to visit Bulgaria
BTA web site
25 Jun 04

SOFIA
A delegation of the Armenian National Assembly, led by its Chairman
Artur Bagdasaryan, begins [on] Monday [29 June] a four-day official
visit to Bulgaria, the press office of the Bulgarian National Assembly
said [on] Friday.
On 29 June the Armenian guests are scheduled to confer with Bulgarian
National Assembly Chairman Ognyan Gerdzhikov and the leadership of the
parliamentary foreign policy, defence and security committee.
On 30 June the Armenian delegation will be received by President
Georgi Purvanov. Later on Wednesday the guests will travel to Plovdiv,
southern Bulgaria, where a twinning agreement between Plovdiv and
Gyumri will be signed. The delegation will visit the local Armenian
Church of St Kevork.
On the last day of their visit, the Armenian officials will be
received by Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg and the deputy chair of
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and head of the
Bulgarian delegation to it, Yunal Lyutfi.

Armenian prosecutor, foreign envoys discuss ties
Arminfo
24 Jun 04

YEREVAN
Armenian Prosecutor-General Agvan Ovsepyan and the US ambassador to
Armenia, John Ordway, today discussed Armenian-US cooperation in the
fight against organized crime, trafficking and international
terrorism.
The press service of the Armenian Prosecutor-General’s Office has told
Arminfo news agency that among the issues discussed was the setting up
of an independent expert centre in Armenia with the US government’s
assistance.
On the same day, at a meeting with German ambassador Hans-Wolf
Bartels, the prosecutor-general touched upon the arrests of violators
of public order at opposition rallies and their trials. He assured the
ambassador that the country’s law-enforcement agencies and courts had
acted according to the law and within their authorities.
Ovsepyan and the ambassadors expressed their confidence that such
meetings would promote cooperation between the law-enforcement
structures of their countries.

Armenian premier, German foreign minister discuss economic ties
Arminfo
24 Jun 04

YEREVAN
The fact that the South Caucasus countries have been included in the
Wider Europe: New Neighbourhood programme is very important for
Europe, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said today at a
meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan who is
currently paying a working visit to Germany.
The press service of the Armenian government has told Arminfo news
agency that the German minister noted the possibility of developing
and implementing projects within the framework of the participation of
the South Caucasus countries in the programme.
Commenting on the situation in the South Caucasus at the German
minister’s request, Markaryan said that certain preconditions set
forth by Turkey and Azerbaijan hinder the establishment of effective
regional cooperation.
Noting expanding Armenian-German economic cooperation and experience
gained in this sphere, Markaryan stressed that it was necessary to
further boost joint economic programmes and direct German investment
in the Armenian economy.

Armenian ministry blames border tension on water reservoir
Arminfo
24 Jun 04

YEREVAN
The Armenian Defence Ministry has described as absurd the report in
the Baku-based Zerkalo newspaper that Armenian snipers have killed
Azerbaijani army officers.
The press secretary of the Armenian defence minister, Col Seyran
Shakhsuvaryan, has told an Arminfo correspondent that the tension on
the contact line of the armed forces between Armenia’s Tavush Region
and Azerbaijan’s Qazax District emerged after the Azerbaijani side
attempted to seize the pump station which supplies Armenian border
villages with drinking water. At the same time, the press secretary
roundly denied reports that “the Azerbaijani side has improved its
positions”. “They are where they were,” Col Shakhsuvaryan said.
Apart from this, reports about “numerous casualties on the Armenian
side” do not correspond to reality. “The Armenian side recently lost
two people, and this was reported,” the press secretary said.
He also said that the Azerbaijani village and road mentioned in the
report are located in a different place. Seyran Shakhsuvaryan also
denied that the road had come under fire.
Commenting on the Azerbaijani casualties, the press secretary did not
rule out that servicemen could have fallen victim to internal
clashes. The ministry’s press secretary also said that the Armenian
side had no information about the killing of Azerbaijani officer
Teymur Panahov.
[Passage omitted: quotes from Zerkalo report]

Azeri speaker to take Armenian leader to international tribunal
Lider TV, Baku
25 Jun 04

[Presenter] Azerbaijani Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov has issued a specific
instruction to take Armenian President Robert Kocharyan to the
international tribunal as he confessed to criminal activities from the
rostrum of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
[Alasgarov] I think that Kocharyan is a criminal. He himself admitted
that he had participated in the Karabakh war and was proud of it. As a
criminal, he should be taken to an international tribunal. I am also
in favour of this. I am asking lawyers from both the opposition and
the authorities to learn the procedure and prepare a draft
decision. We will appeal to relevant organizations to make sure that
international courts deal with this issue.

Armenian leader’s speech to Council of Europe turning point for Karabakh –
paper
Hayots Ashkarh, Yerevan
25 Jun 04

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan’s speech to the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe has moved the settlement of the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict to the legal plane, according to an article
in an Armenian newspaper. Kocharyan played Armenia’s “trump card”,
when he said that Karabakh had never been part of independent
Azerbaijan, so recognition of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity had
nothing to do with Karabakh, according to the article. “Europe can use
its real weapon, great international and political authority, and at
one stroke, by means of the NKR’s independence, cut the Karabakh knot
and ensure stable peace in the whole region,” the article concluded.
The following is the text of Vardan Grigoryan’s report in Hayots
Ashkarh on 25 June headlined “The real way of peace”:
It should be said that by means of Robert Kocharyan’s speech in
Strasbourg Armenian foreign policy has made that turning point in the
Karabakh negotiating process, which society was expecting for over 10
years. This was the transfer of the Karabakh settlement process to the
legal plane.
Robert Kocharyan’s strict, full and logical speech from the PACE
[Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe] rostrum and
explanation of separate points of the Karabakh issue during the
briefing with deputies, was a turning point in the history of the
positions adopted by Armenian diplomacy on Karabakh. Saying that
Armenia has always been in favour of a peaceful settlement of the
conflict, has always accepted the proposal of the mediating parties
for a common state, the Paris principles, the Key West accords, at the
same time from the high European rostrum the Armenian president
revealed the trump card of the Armenian party: the legal content of
the Karabakh issue. That is:
a) The NKR has never been within an independent Azerbaijan, for this
reason recognition of the territorial integrity of the latter has
nothing to with Nagornyy Karabakh;
b) Nagornyy Karabakh declared its independence along with Azerbaijan
(and even a little earlier) and on the same legal basis, the USSR
constitution and laws, two independent states were formed on the
territory of the former Soviet Azerbaijan;
c) The legal grounds of the NKR independence are flawless, so in such
conditions, instead of the trite “compromises” often applied by the
world community, these grounds should be discussed and gain their
strict assessment, which have the same meaning;
d) From the point of view of preserving peace only the package option
for a settlement poses a lesser danger than today’s status quo. So any
breaking of the latter, without including all the important problems
connected with the Karabakh conflict, will unavoidably lead to a drop
in the parties’ motivation to reach a final settlement and this may
have unpredictable consequences.
All this complex of questions shows that at the current moment in the
negotiating process Armenia is trying to solve three main problems:
1. In proclaiming its devotion to the Paris principles and Key West
accords, which have become a logical ending of the model for a
political settlement, Armenia has been presented before the world
community as a constructive party which is ready for mutual
compromise;
2. Being ahead of Azerbaijan in terms of constructiveness and
commitment to the accords, at the same time the Armenian party
strictly sets its bottom line – the Key West accords, from which it
cannot retreat;
3. As Azerbaijan is the initiator of revising the accords, the
Armenian party supports the world community in transferring the
problem to the legal plane in order to get out of the deadlock, that
is, in international law not to look for the “golden mean” but to
decide who Nagornyy Karabakh, which is strictly preserving all the
laws proclaimed in its independence, belongs to? We think that in this
way we may reach a quick and fruitful settlement of the Karabakh
issue. That is, by discussing the legal grounds of the NKR’s
independence and establishing that they are flawless Europe may settle
all the problems in one go and enter our region. In these conditions
Azerbaijan will have no option but to recognize the fact, as the main
subject of the argument – Nagornyy Karabakh will be immediately taken
out of the field of competition between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Europe
can use its real weapon, great international and political authority,
and at one stroke, by means of the NKR’s independence, cut the
Karabakh knot and ensure stable peace in the whole region.

Armenian opposition leaders hail president’s address to Council of Europe
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
24 Jun 04

[Presenter] The reaction to [Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan’s
speech in Strasbourg and his news conference have become a subject of
discussion in Armenia. According to our correspondent, irrespective of
their political views, people are talking with admiration about the
president’s speech and his answers during the news conference.
[An unidentified woman in the street] I felt proud that Robert
Kocharyan is the president of our country. He gave clear, correct
answers to all the questions, especially, to the Azerbaijani
journalist’s question on Nagornyy Karabakh. I was simply astonished.
[Another unidentified woman in the street] As a citizen of Armenia, I
was very pleased with the president’s speech and it seems to me that
today there is no other statesman in our political field who could
deliver such a speech in Strasbourg. He is a well-established
politician in our political field.
[Chairman of the Union of Armenian Writers Levon Ananyan in his
office] I think that the republic’s president gave clear, distinct
answers to all the questions concerning our foreign policy,
Turkish-Armenian relations and the genocide. I hope that it will
increase our country’s rating in the international community.
[Presenter] The Armenian president’s speech from the rostrum in
Strasbourg has had a positive influence on the country’s political
field. Even Robert Kocharyan’s political opponents highly spoke of his
speech. For example, speaking about Armenia’s position on the
settlement of the Karabakh problem, Artashes Gegamyan [the leader of
the National Unity Party], said that he was satisfied with Mr
Kocharyan’s assessments and approaches.
The leader of the Democratic Party of Armenia, Aram Sarkisyan, said
that one of the main parts of Mr Kocharyan’s speech concerned the
legal aspect of the Karabakh problem. According to Sarkisyan, the
president expressed the opinion that Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity has nothing in common with the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic
[NKR].
Representatives of the [ruling] political coalition have also said
that after Robert Kocharyan’s speech in Strasbourg, the international
community will have a more accurate impression about Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri minister regrets Armenian leader’s “aggressive rhetoric”
ANS TV, Baku
24 Jun 04

[Presenter] Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has already left
France. His speech at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe [PACE] on 23 June is being analysed as a confession of
occupation at the state level.
[Correspondent over video of Kocharyan speaking at PACE] This is
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan’s confession. Yes, I do not
recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. I participated in the
military operation in Nagornyy Karabakh from 1988 to 1994 and am proud
of this.
The head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, MP Samad Seyidov, said
that the Armenian president’s speech did not cause discontent only
amongst Azerbaijani MPs, but also European MPs.
[Samad Seyidov by telephone from Strasbourg] There was a big scandal
here, because of his statement at the Council of Europe that he had
occupied lands and was proud of it. This is a disgrace. At today’s
discussions on the Nagornyy Karabakh-Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict,
[Secretary-General elect] Terry Davis said that the Armenian president
had said those words yesterday. However, we should bear in mind that
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity has been recognized by the UN.
[Correspondent] Seyidov said that the shorthand report of Robert
Kocharyan’s report was already ready and the speech would be analysed
and reflected in documents and a resolution of the Council of
Europe. A quote: Kocharyan has actually exposed himself with his
statement in Strasbourg. He did not behave like a president, but a
ringleader. He will soon be brought to book at a military court for
his utterances, end quote.
Robert Kocharyan’s scandalous speech is already being debated in all
Council of Europe committees. The MP said that this issue would also
be debated at the autumn session of PACE.
[Samad Seyidov] We both protested against this, are preparing the
necessary documents for the next session, and members of our
delegation are meeting other delegates to prove that the information
given was wide of the mark. At the same time, we are planning to take
several other concrete steps.
[Correspondent] We asked the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry for its next
steps. Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said that the aggressive
rhetoric from the influential Council of Europe rostrum caused regret
and did not serve a peaceful resolution of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict.
Afat Telmanqizi for ANS.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress