PROGRAM ON QUESTIONS OF SETTLEMENT OF CONFLICTS AND PEACE DISCUSSED
[June 18, 2004, 22:12:37]
Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
June 18 2004
In the frame of project “Women for conflict prevention and peace
building in the Southern Caucasus”, the Fund for Development of Women
(UNIFEM) jointly with the Ministry of education of Azerbaijan held
a conference dedicated to teaching at the educational institutions
questions of the program and courses related to settlement of conflict
and peace.
Opening the action, attended by professor and tutor staff of numerous
higher schools, representatives of international organizations,
minister of education Misir Mardanov spoke of importance of the
realized project. In the condition existence of the painful question
for Azerbaijan – Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorny Karabakh conflict, pushing
forward on the agenda a question on peace has great importance. The
program has already been realized in 6 higher schools of the Republic
with participation of 450 students and reached success.
National coordinator of the UNIFEM project Gulshen Pashayeva, senir
technical adviser of the project Patricia McPhilips, Azerbaijan
Commissioner for human rights Elmira Suleymanova and chairperson
of the State Committee for Women Affairs Zahra Guliyeva spoke at
the conference.

Global Watchdog Skeptical About Armenian Anti-Graft Body
By Ruzanna Stepanian 19/06/2004 01:12
Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
June 18 2004
A special body formed recently to coordinate the Armenian government’s
promised fight against endemic corruption is likely to be ineffectual
because of its dependence on the executive branch, a top representative
of the world’s most renowned anti-graft watchdog said Friday.
“What I know about this suggests that it is not an independent body.
We know from the international experience that only independent
bodies can accomplish anything,” Miklos Marschall, Transparency
International’s regional director for Europe and Central Asia,
told RFE/RL.
The Council on Combating Corruption was set up by President
Robert Kocharian on June 2 with the stated aim of overseeing
the implementation of actions stemming from the government’s
anti-corruption strategy unveiled last November. It is headed by
Prime Minister Andranik Markarian and comprises Justice Minister
David Harutiunian, Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian, Central Bank
Chairman Tigran Sarkisian and other high-ranking officials.
Marschall voiced skepticism about the Armenian authorities’ repeated
promises to tackle bribery, favoritism and other rampant corrupt
practices “There is much talk about corruption but you haven’t
seen real cases prosecuted by the appropriate authorities,” he said,
speaking on the sidelines of an international conference on corruption
in the region which was organized by Transparency International.
Marschall argued that if an anti-corruption effort is to be successful
in Armenia it must primarily target the highest echelons of state
power because graft has become an “elite business” in the country
since the Soviet collapse.
No serving senior government officials are known to have been
prosecuted on corruption charges in Armenia in recent years.
According to Kocharian’s anti-corruption aide, Bagrat Yesayan, its
government has finally realized the seriousness of the problem and
is now committed to addressing it in earnest.
The government’s anti-corruption plan contains a long list of mostly
legislative measures which are to be taken in the next three years.
Government critics dismiss the document as a public relations stunt
meant to mislead Western donors. The latter have for years been
pressing Yerevan to take serious action against what they see as a
key obstacle to Armenia’s economic development.
In Transparency International’s most recent global survey of
“corruption perceptions” released last fall, Armenia was ranked 78th
out of 133 countries surveyed, the last one being considered the
most corrupt. Neighboring Azerbaijan and Georgia were rated even more
poorly by the Berlin-based group.

EURASEC A STRONG INCENTIVE TO RESTORE BROKEN TIES, ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SAYS
ArmenPress
June 18 2004
ASTANA, JUNE 18, ARMENPRESS; Speaking at the session of the Inter-State
Council of the Eurasian Economic Community (EURASEC) that opened
in Kazakhstan capital Astana today here, Armenian president Robert
Kocharian said EURASEC is a strong incentive to restore the broken ties
and build a cooperation of quite a new quality. He said the outcome of
this cooperation will be higher economic growth rates of its member
countries and higher living standards of their population. Kocharian
was speaking, as an observer, an international conference here,
titled Eurasian Integration-New Development Trends and Globalization
Challenges.
According to Armenian president, apart from playing a significant
role in political and economic stability of this region, EURASEC
is a weighty component of the regional security. “Having in mind
the diversity of this region, effective models of inter-ethnic and
inter-faith dialogue may be developed here,” he said, adding that no
country can conduct an effective economic policy in isolation.
In a reference to the ongoing political and economic reforms in
Armenia Kocharian said the great majority of problems, typical of
all transitional countries, were surmounted. “Armenia’s economy is
shifting toward dynamic and sustainable development and our focus is
on entrepreneurial initiatives, market mechanisms and competition,”
he said, citing the latest years’ steady economic growth rates of
12 percent.
Kocharian also noted that the conflicts in the South Caucasus remain
major obstacles to development of its countries. “As advocates of
regional cooperation we believe that deeper economic integration
processes will help regulate these conflicts and build stability and
peace,” he said. President Kocharian has arrived in Astana to attend
a summit of heads of states of Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO).
The EURASEC session’s agenda has about 20 items. These include the
coordination of positions at the negotiations for accession to the
World Trade Organization, the implementation of the basic orientations
of the earlier approved fundamentals of the EURASEC cross-border
(cooperation) policy, a draft agreement on cooperation on the markets
of securities, and EURASEC interaction in the development of water
and energy resources in the catchments areas of the Amu-Darya and
Syr-Darya rivers.

PM MEETS ASSEMBLY DELEGATION
ArmenPress
June 18 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 18, ARMENPRESS: Prime minister Andranik Margarian
received today an Armenian Assembly Board of Directors delegation,
headed by Chairman Anthony Barsamian that arrived in Yerevan June
17 for a 10-day visit to Armenia, Nagorno Karabagh and Georgia for
high-level meetings with government officials.
Government press office said, delegation members introduced the prime
minister to the goal of their visit. They were eager to learn what
kind of joint projects could be implemented with Georgia and what
kind of relationships are between the two countries.
Also discussed were current developments in Armenia and Nagorno
Karabagh, the future cooperation between the govenrment of Armenia
and the Assembly, US aid to Armenia, particular issues concerning
Armenia’s inclusion in the list of 16 countries eligible to Millennium
Challenges Account and the Assembly’s assistance in that respect.
Margarian introduced the delegation members to recent economic
developments, projects underway and what the government is doing
to meet the requirements of the Millennium Challenges Account, that
is expected to help the government carry out its Poverty Reduction
program.

WE HAVE BUILT FOUNDATIONS OF DEMOCRACY, FM SAYS
ArmenPress
June 18 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 18, ARMENPRESS: Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian
said today the main task set by Armenia is to build a democratic,
economically prospering state, living in peace. Speaking at he first
meeting of the Armenian Assembly of Parliamentary Friendship, uniting
Armenians, elected to various countries’ legislative bodies, Oskanian
said Armenia has progressed in all these directions since restoring
its independence, reaching a point requiring additional efforts to
continue and consolidate the progress.
Oskanian said despite weighty achievements on the road of building
a truly democratic state, Armenia is still half-way from this
destination, having passed only the easiest part of it.
According to the minister, the two-digit economic growth rates of
the recent years is not yet sufficient to have a positive impact on
the lives of all segments of the population. “This means we have to
exercise greater efforts year after year to be able to maintain the
onward trend,” he said.
In a reference to Karabagh problem Oskanian said negotiations go on
to reach a final peace deal with Azerbaijan. “Armenia has entered in
a stage that it needs every kind of assistance. We have built the
foundations on which we have to construct our home of democracy,
economic development and peace,” he said.

PRIORITIES FOR WB PROJECT ON SCM DEFINED
ArmenPress
June 18 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 18, ARMENPRESS: According to Armenian trade and economic
development deputy minister Garnik Badalian, World Bank (WB) technical
assistance for Armenian standardization, certification and measurement
(SCM) in the amount of 1.5 mln dollars will be received this September
which will be provided within the framework of respective credit
project.
Badalian also said that WB representatives have conferred with the
heads of the system for prioritizing the necessary equipment. They
also agree that 1.5 mln is a small sum but some priorities have been
established. “We have decided to establish one very well equipped
laboratory against which other laboratories will be measured,” he said.
The deputy minister said that other donor organizations including
USAID are applied for technical support to SCM.

Armenia to help in Iraq reconstruction
United Press International
6/18/2004
WASHINGTON, June 18 (UPI) — Armenia is the latest country to join
President Bush’s “Coalition of the Willing,” in rebuilding Iraq.
In an interview with UPI earlier this week, Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanian said his country would contribute, albeit in “a very
symbolic” way.
“We are ready to become engaged in rebuilding Iraq, but our resources
are very modest, so it’s going to be a very modest contribution,
nevertheless, the willingness is there.”
Armenia, Oskanian said, will be contributing doctors, medical personnel
and experts to help clear mines, as well as trucks, drivers and
technicians. The force amounts to about 100 people.
The minister said he believes all neighboring countries in the region
should contribute to the normalization of Iraq. Iraq’s Armenian
community is comprised of roughly 25,000 people.

Agency WPS
What the Papers Say. Part B (Russia)
June 18, 2004, Friday
THE SKINHEADS ARE COMING
SOURCE: Russkii Kurier, June 18, 2004, pp. 12-13
By: Alexander Tarasov
Disastrous economic depression has left millions of Russians out of
work since 1991. The education system collapsed. Between 400 and 450
schools have been shut down nationwide every year the last several
years – for financial reasons only – and most their students found
themselves unable to continue their education. According to the
official data compiled by army enlistment and recruitment offices in
Siberia, between 7% and 11% of conscripts were illiterate in 1997.
Every third offender of high school age lacked even a basic education
in spring 1999. Crime, alcohol abuse, and drugs have inundated Russia –
and particularly its youths.
The new generation was an ideal target group for primitive ideologies
based on violence and individualism – criminal and politically criminal
(xenophobic, racist, anti-Semitic).
Skinheads in Russia did not have a systematic ideology at first. They
were but impromptu racists, xenophobes, macho, militarists, and
anti-intellectuals. Constant propagandistic campaigns mounted
one after another by ultra-right parties, however, are turning
skinheads into conscious fascists, anti-communists, orthodox
fundamentalists, and anti-Semites. In fact, Russian skinheads were not
extremely anti-Semitic at first. Their racism was directed against
representatives of non-Caucasians – Negroes, mulattoes, Mongoloids.
Attacks at Jews were infrequent. Brainwashed by the ultra-right,
however, skinheads learned the major anti-Semitic myths – concerning
the Jid conspiracy, Bolsheviks as agents of the world Zionism, and
the Russian people oppressed by the Jids.
Russism, a fairly exotic ultra-right ideology, is quite popular
with skinheads. Boasting of their Orthodox roots, Russism is
fairly indulgent towards Aryan paganism (in the spirit of national
socialism, that is) because “the race is above faith” and “blood
unites while religions separate.” Russism creates a bridge between
pre-revolutionary Orthodox monarchism and national socialism. According
to this ideology, there were two “great Aryan leaders in the 20th
century” – Tsar Nicholas II and Adolf Hitler. Moreover, Hitler was an
avenger for Nicholas II, “ritually sacrificed by Bolsheviks and Yids”
and tried to bring “the Cross-Swastika into Yid-oppressed Russia.”
It should be noted that there are three major directions of skinhead
movement in the world – neo-Nazis, communist skinheads, and traditional
skinheads. Most Russian skinheads are neo-Nazis, while throughout
the rest of the world the traditional ones prevail.
The first skinheads in Russia were teenagers aged 13 to 19,
students of technical colleges, pupils of secondary schools, or
unemployed. The situation eventually changed. Equipment alone with all
necessary trimmings (boots, the bomber, stripes, tattoos, etc) costs
approximately 15,000 rubles. The poor do not have this sort of money to
throw around. A skinhead nowadays is frequently an owner of a pocket
computer and cell phone. Skinheads form small groups, essentially
gangs of three to ten men. On the average, such gangs last several
years. There are, however, larger and better-organized structures.
Skinlegion and Blood & Honor – Russian Subsidiary (B&H) were the
first to appear in Moscow. B&H is an international organization of
Nazi skinheads outlawed in some countries as extremist or fascist.
B&H – Russian Subdivision and Skinlegion included between 200
and 250 activists each. There was some sort of discipline in the
organizations, hierarchy, etc. United Brigades 88 (UB 88), the
third large organization, appeared in 1998, when fairly small White
Bulldogs and Lefortovo Front merged. The name of the organization
is quite revealing. The figure 8 stands for H, the eighth letter
in the Latin alphabet – therefore 88 stands for HH or Heil Hitler!
Hammerskin Nation appeared shortly afterwards – calling itself a
subdivision of the namesake international organization.
Skinhead gangs appeared precisely in the largest and best developed
cities – where social split of the population is particularly
noticeable. “The second wave” has inundated small provincial townships
as well.
No one fought the movement. OMON busy tackling residents of the
Caucasus, skinheads “gallantly” chose their own targets – people from
Central Asia or the Third World. Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Nizhny
Novgorod are known as the centers of skinhead movement in Russia. In
Moscow, skinheads concentrate on Africans and Indians. St. Petersburg
skinheads attack Africans, Nepalese, and Chinese. In Nizhny Novgorod,
it is men from Central Asia (mostly Tajik refugees) who are in the
focus of attention.
The police were always unbelievably indulgent. In Nizhny Novgorod,
Tajiks feared going to the police because every such approach
inevitably ended in their own arrests (with traditional references to
“illegitimate presence on the territory of the Russian Federation”)
with the following extortion of bribes or – whenever there was nothing
to be extorted – a beating and deportation. Feeling impunity, skinhead
movement grew up fast. These days, there are 50,000 skinheads in
Russia. Between 5,000 and 5,500 skinheads live and operate in Moscow
and the region, up to 3,000 in St. Petersburg and the environs, over
2,500 in Nizhny Novgorod, more than 1,500 in Rostov-on-Don. There
are over 1,000 skinheads in Pskov, Kaliningrad, Yekaterinburg, and
Krasnodar each, and several hundred in each of the following cities
– Voronezh, Samara, Saratov, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Omsk, Tomsk,
Vladivostok, Ryazan, Petrozavodsk. Back in 1992, there were just a
dozen skinheads in Moscow and five or so in St. Petersburg. Skinhead
gangs exist in approximately 85 Russian cities nowadays.
Ultra-right and nationalist parties and organizations view skinheads
as their potential recruiting pool. In Moscow, the Russian National
Socialist Party (Russian National Union before 1998) was the first
to turn its attention to skinheads.
Liberty Party (Russian National Republican Party before 2000) handles
skinheads in St. Petersburg, and Russian National Unity and the Russian
Guard (a splinter group) in the Trans-Volga region and Krasnodar.
It should be noted as well that most ultra-right parties began
working with skinheads only when advised to do so by their Western
counterparts. Emissaries of neo-fascist groups have been regularly
coming to Russia since 1997 from the United States, Germany, the Czech
Republic, and Austria. They came with recommendations on how skinheads
should be handled, The United States for example was represented
by KKK, Germany by Viking Youth (banned in Germany itself), German
People’s Union, Steel Helmet (also banned), National People’s Front,
Right Union, etc. Fascist emissaries know no visa barriers.
Skinheads feel at home in most Russian cities. The police and the
authorities are clearly on their side. Choi Yun Shik (President of the
Association of South Korean Students studying in Moscow) and Gabriel
Kotchofa (President of the Moscow Association of Foreign Students)
claim that the Moscow police refused to press charges against
skinheads in literally hundreds episodes. Colonel Mikhail Kirilin
of the Public Relations Center of the Federal Security Service and
Vladimir Vershkov of the PR Department of the Moscow Municipal Internal
Affairs Directorate told The Moscow Times that these services do not
regard skinheads as something dangerous. Perhaps, existence of the
skinhead movement is even beneficial to some because they are someone
on whom blame for the crimes committed by others may be pinned. The
raid to the camp of Tajik refugees in the Moscow region in 1997 (when
an infant was murdered) was pinned on skinheads, but it was clear
from the very beginning that the operation was much too professional.
There are numerous reports that Nazi skinheads are encouraged,
organized, and used by ruling circles of Russia. There were the
reports in the past that the Nazis had the protection of the regional
authorities (Krasnodar and Stavropol territories, Pskov region)
and law enforcement agencies (Saratov, Voronezh, Nizhny Novgorod,
Volgograd, Samara). It was established in 2002 that Nazi skinheads
were trained at the camp of the Moscow OMON. It would have been
impossible without permission from the upper echelons of the federal
Interior Ministry. In fact, close contacts between the Moscow police,
Russian National Unity, and skinheads were exposed in November 2001
when racist policemen Adanjaev and Yevdokimov were facing trial.
Dismissed by the authorities and ignored by the media, skinheads
progressed to pogroms. The first pogrom took place at the Vietnamese
hostel near Sokol metro station in Moscow on October 21, 2000. The
authorities and the media kept the matter under the lid, and
skinheads smashed up the Armenian school on March 15, 2001. The
police – when they came – merely dispersed skinheads. Not a single
arrest was made. Ignoring protests of the Moscow Armenian community
and official structures of the Republic of Armenia, city fathers did
not lift a finger to do anything about it.
A pogrom at the marketplace in Yasenevo was next. It was too serious
an incident to keep under the lid. Six skinheads were eventually
brought to trial.
The following pogrom began at the marketplace near Tsaritsyno metro
station and ended by the Hotel Sevastopol where Afghans reside. At
least 300 skinheads participated. Over 80 people were injured, 22 ended
up hospitalized, 4 were killed (a Moscow Armenian, citizen of India,
citizen of Tajikistan, and a refugee from Afghanistan). A public outcry
followed. Moscow authorities were forced to set up a special division
to fight youth extremism. The Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed
a lack of any information on the problem and was very uncooperative
when approached for help.
Only five skinheads faced trial.
Yasenevo and Tsaritsyno pogroms set the example. A wave of pogroms
swept the country.
Before “the second wave,” skinheads in Russia numbered between 35,000
and 40,000. When the wave is finally over, they will number between
75,000 and 80,000. And since youth subcultures never disappear in
Russia completely (not like in the West), it is reasonable to assume
that skinheads are here to stay.

Associated Press Worldstream
June 17, 2004 Thursday
Putin to attend back-to-back summits of former Soviet republics to
step up security, economic cooperation
by BAGILA BUKHARBAYEVA; Associated Press Writer
ASTANA, Kazakhstan
Russian Vladimir Putin and leaders of several other former Soviet
republics plan to boost security and economic ties at back-to-back
summits in the Kazakh capital, wrapping up a week of intense regional
diplomacy in strategic Central Asia.
The meetings Friday of presidents from member states of the
Russia-dominated Collective Security Treaty and Eurasian Economic
Community come after the summit in the Uzbek capital Tashkent a
day ago of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security group
including China, Russia and four Central Asian nations.
As members of the Collective Security Treaty, the leaders of Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan are expected
to discuss regional security and plans to beef up their collective
rapid reaction forces.
The alliance has nine battalions based in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan,
Kazakhstan and Russia and plans by 2010 to form a mobile force intended
to quickly respond to security threats to its members.
Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Ministry said treaty members will sign an
agreement on joint use of one another’s military facilities.
Russia has been recently seeking closer military and security
ties with former Soviet Central Asia, apparently trying to counter
increased U.S. influence here. The United States set up military
bases in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to back its anti-terror campaign
in neighboring Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks nearly three
years ago.
Last year, Russia opened a military base in Kyrgyzstan under
the Collective Security Treaty to provide air support for future
anti-terrorist operations.
Russia’s moves have also been prompted by security concerns because
of the spread of radical Islam in Central Asia after the 1991 Soviet
collapse.
After the security summit, leaders of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will on Friday sign agreements on adopting
unified laws and circulation of securities among the Eurasian Economic
Community.
The group was created in 2000 to restore lost economic ties after the
1991 Soviet collapse. Russia has 40 percent of the voting rights in
the organization and covers 40 percent of its budget.
In February, the countries agreed to form a customs union by 2006.
They are also working on creating a transport union and coordinated
migration policies, and are discussing unified energy and agricultural
markets.
At Thursday’s summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, China
offered US$900 million in credit to other treaty countries, which also
include Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The
group also inaugurated an anti-terrorism center in Tashkent.
That summit was preceded by official visits here by Chinese President
Hu Jintao and Putin, who signed separate bilateral cooperation
agreements with Central Asia’s most populous country.

Former Soviet republics put finishing touches on Eurasian integration deal
by BAGILA BUKHARBAYEVA; Associated Press Writer
Associated Press Worldstream
June 17, 2004 Thursday
ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Senior officials from five former Soviet
republics put the final touches Thursday on draft agreements aimed
at pushing forward their economic integration.
The agreements on adoption of unified laws and circulation of
securities among the Russia-dominated Eurasian Economic Community
will be signed by the nations’ leaders Friday in the Kazakh capital
Astana. The group also includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
and Tajikistan.
Gregori Rapota, the group’s secretary-general, said Thursday the
agreement on common laws would be a “first step toward handing
over some (lawmaking) functions to a supranational parliament.” The
securities agreement would help ensure free capital flow between the
countries, he said.
The nations’ deputy prime ministers also discussed plans to
introduce favorable railway tariffs and create a joint water and
energy consortium to end regional disputes over sharing resources,
said Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Sauat Mynbayev.
The Eurasian Economic Community was founded in 2000 to restore lost
economic ties after the 1991 Soviet collapse. Russia has 40 percent
of the voting rights in the organization and covers 40 percent of
its budget.
In February, the countries agreed to form a customs union by 2006.
The nations have a total population of more than 180 million.
The five countries are also working on creating a transport union and
coordinated migration policies, and are discussing unified energy and
agricultural markets. They also plan to move toward a single currency.
Three other former Soviet republics – Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine –
have observer status in the group.
The group’s summit Friday will be followed by a meeting of leaders
of the Collective Security Treaty, a security alliance including the
five economic community members and Armenia.
Friday’s meetings in Astana come after a summit Thursday of a security
grouping of China, Russia and four former Soviet republics in Central
Asia in the Uzbek capital Tashkent.