Eurasianet Organization
April 23 2004
AZERBAIJAN AND TURKEY COORDINATE NAGORNO-KARABAKH NEGOTIATING
POSITION
Mevlut Katik: 4/23/04
Turkish and Azerbaijani officials have defused a simmering bilateral
dispute concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, jointly endorsing a
“gradual approach” on a negotiated settlement of the conflict between
Azerbaijan and Armenia. The announcement came amid new international
efforts to jump-start the peace process.
Turkey and Azerbaijan have long had a special relationship, and
Ankara has been Baku’s staunchest supporter in the effort to reach a
political settlement to the Karabakh conflict. [For additional
information see the Eurasia Insight archive]. But in early 2004,
bilateral ties became strained after Ankara indicated that it might
re-open the Turkish-Armenian border to trade. Azerbaijani officials
reacted furiously to the Turkish suggestion, warning that it might
withdraw from the peace process if Ankara went through with the move.
[For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive].
The recent visit by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to Turkey
appears to have restored a sense of equilibrium in relations. A joint
statement issued April 14 by Aliyev and Turkish President Ahmet
Necdet Sezer emphasized bilateral unity concerning the Karabakh peace
process. It reiterated a call for the “withdrawal of Armenia from
Azerbaijani occupied territories,” adding that a Karabakh settlement
would have to based on “respect for territorial integrity and
borders.”
Addressing the Turkish Parliament, Aliyev expressed a desire to
strengthen Azerbaijani-Turkish ties. “We believe that our countries
will continue to support each other in the future,” adding that “our
power depends on our unity.” Aliyev staked out a hard-line stance on
the Karabakh question, saying Azerbaijan would not accept any peace
deal that left the territory outside of Baku’s jurisdiction.
“Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan and will belong to us in the future,”
he said. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Karabakh peace talks have been stalled for years. [For background see
the Eurasia Insight archive]. The United States recently attempted to
build fresh momentum for negotiations by appointing Steven Mann as
the new US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, which oversees the peace
process. Mann, the former US envoy to the Caspian for energy-related
issues, replaced Rudolf Perina.
Azerbaijani media praised Mann’s appointment. The appointment “shows
that the United States will soon invest more effort to resolve” the
Karabakh issue, political analyst Khaladdin Ibrahimli wrote in the
Azerbaijani newspaper Azadliq. Armenian leaders also cautiously
welcomed the appointment.
Mann participated in a “fact-finding meeting” on April 16 in Prague
between Azerbaijan’s new foreign minister, Elmar Mammadyarov, and his
Armenian counterpart Vardan Oskanian. Both foreign ministers
confirmed that no new proposals were presented during the meeting.
Oskanian indicated that his next meeting with Mammadyarov had been
tentatively scheduled for mid May.
Editor’s Note: Mevlut Katik is a London-based correspondent and
analyst. He is a former BBC correspondent and also worked for The
Economist group.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
April 23 2004
HUNGARY ATTACHES GREAT IMPORTANCE TO DEVELOPMENT OF RELATIONS WITH
AZERBAIJAN
[April 23, 2004, 12:48:01]
As was informed to AzerTAj from the press center of the Ministry for
Foreign Affairs of the Azerbaijan Republic, on April 22, Minister for
Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov has met the assistant to the state
secretary of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Hungary Iene Boros.
At the meeting, minister Elmar Mammadyarov, having emphasized
importance of expansion of legal ground between the two countries,
has noted that mutual visits stimulate development of bilateral
relations.
The visitor from Hungary, having noted that his country attaches
great importance to expansion of relations with Azerbaijan, has
emphasized importance of the further development of links between our
states in economic, power, non-oil, agrarian and other sectors.
Further the head of the foreign policy department of our country
Elmar Mammadyarov has in detail informed the visitor on the reforms
conducted in the Republic after gaining state independence, on
integration of Azerbaijan into the European institutions, about the
obligations taken by our country before the international
organizations, and their successful performance. Having stopped on
prospects of development of mutual relations, the Minister has noted,
that the question of expansion of economic relations has great value
for Azerbaijan.
Then, Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has highlighted the visitor on
conditions of the refugees and IDPs ousted from the native lands as a
result of the Armenian-Azerbaijani, Nagorny Karabakh conflict, about
the work done for settlement of the conflict. Having taken an
interest in the course of the investigation connected to the officer
of Azerbaijan army Ramil Safarov, arrested person as a suspected in
murder of the Armenian officer, the Minister has expressed confidence
that the process would pass impartially.
At the meeting, also were focused a number of other issues
representing mutual interest.

Daily Nexus
April 23 2004
Event Recognizes Armenian Genocide
By Vinicio Field – Reporter

Students and the community were invited to attend a commemoration of
the Armenian genocide Thursday night at Embarcadero Hall.
More than 50 people attended the event – hosted by the Armenian
Student Association (ASA) – which was held in remembrance of the
genocide perpetrated against Armenians by Turkey in 1915. The
commemoration began at 8 p.m., and included a lecture, videos and
photographs addressing the refusal of many countries to officially
recognize that the genocide actually occurred. Armenian Genocide
Remembrance Day officially takes place worldwide Saturday.
According to estimates made by online information centers such as
TheForgotten.org, around 1.5 million Armenians – 80 percent of the
Armenian population in Turkey at the time – were murdered during the
genocide. Event co-organizer Ara Keshishian of the ASA said the goal
of the event was to force people to remember what history has
forgotten.
“Imagine if your grandma were shot in front of you and no one
recognized it,” he said.
A number of audience members had tears in their eyes as Mariette
Soudjian sang both the U.S. and Armenian national anthems to begin
the commemoration.
Global and international studies visiting professor Richard Falk gave
a speech about the implications of the genocide’s lack of
recognition. Falk said he believed that official acknowledgement of
the incident would be crucial to the healing of Armenian people.
“The denial of the genocide of the Armenian people persists as an
open wound,” Falk said. “It is as important to overcome the Turkish
denial as it is for those of Armenian descent to receive the apology
in order to heal their wounds.”
Falk encouraged the audience to question whether any progress has
been made toward stopping genocide around the world.
“We have to ask ourselves: Is the world safer now?” Falk said. “How
far has the legal development against ethnic cleansing come when the
Armenian genocide is not even recognized; where countries, including
the United States, have ordered their bureaucrats not to use the word
‘genocide’ regarding events in places like Rwanda?”
Falk then recited portions of a poem written during the genocide
entitled “The Dance,” by a German eyewitness named Siamanto. The poem
details rape, torture and women being burned alive after being
ordered to dance nude. ASA members Carolyn Lee and Hermine Barseghian
also read from “The Dance,” and violinist Hagop Barseghian played a
song in tribute.
Diana Magpapian, ASA member and political science graduate student,
echoed Falk’s desire for acknowledgement of the genocide.
“Our presentation is not about money, it’s not about anything except
recognition. Most countries officially deny or ignore the Armenian
genocide. Denial is ignorance. We are trying to correct ignorance and
stop the denial,” Magpapian said.
ASA president and psychology major Talin Nazarian said he especially
wanted scholars to recognize the historical significance of the
genocide for the Armenian people.
“Armenians exist on all sides of the globe, but the genocide isn’t in
textbooks,” Nazarian said. “Until our history is in textbooks, it is
important for us to show the history of our people.”
From: Baghdasarian

ZAMAN Turkey
April 23 2004
Three-Way Meeting on Karabag to be Held at NATO Summit
Turkey is preparing for a three-way meeting to discuss the re-opening
of the Turkish-Armenian border and a solution for the Nagarno-Karabag
(Karabakh) issue during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
summit to be held in Istanbul this June.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul invited his Azerbaijani and Armenian
counterparts during his trip to Baku last week. Meanwhile, Armenian
Foreign Minister, Vartan Oskanyan, announced that Armenia supports a
three-way meeting on the condition that they take up “regional
issues.” Oskanyan argued that a meeting only on the Karabakh issue
would be meaningless since Turkey cannot be a moderator.
Now, with Turkey’s involvement in the Nagarno-Karabakh issue, a
multi-phased transition plan will be the focus. Thus, Armenia will
retreat from the five regions that it occupied, the
Azerbaijani-Armenian border will be re-opened, and Turkey will
overcome the border issue with Armenia using the Syrian model.
04.23.2004
Salih Boztas
From: Baghdasarian

Providence Journal , RI
April 23 2004
Metro digest

PROVIDENCE — Ceremony marks Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Martyrs Memorial Committee will hold the 89th
commemoration of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, Sunday, at North Burial
Ground.
Simon Payaslian, chair of Armenian History and Armenian Genocide
Studies at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., is scheduled to be
the keynote speaker. Sen. Jack Reed, Rep. James Langevin, Lt. Gov.
Charles Fogarty, Mayor David N. Cicilline and Warwick Mayor Scott
Avedisian are scheduled to attend the 12:30 p.m. ceremony.

Canoe.ca, Canada
April 23 2004
Grits get ripped
Private member’s bill approved, but not ‘official’
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, Parliamentary Bureau, Sun Media

Prime Minister Paul Martin is under fire for reneging on his promise
to empower MPs and tackle the “democratic deficit.” This week, the
House of Commons supported a private member’s bill formally
recognizing the genocide of Armenian Turks during WWI. But just hours
after the 153-68 vote, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham issued a
statement declaring the motion doesn’t reflect the government’s
official position.
Debates and votes on private members’ business in the House is an
“integral” part of the democratic process, but motions aren’t binding
on the government, he said.
NDP MP Alexa McDonough blasted Martin and his “gutless” cabinet
ministers, accusing them of putting economic self-interest before
principle. Turkey is a key ally and had warned of economic
consequences.
‘ARROGANCE’
“I think it’s unspeakable arrogance and proves that their commitment
to actually addressing the democratic deficit is virtually
non-existent,” she said.
Turkey called Canadian MPs who supported the motion condemning the
genocide “narrow-minded.” In Ottawa, a top diplomat said there would
be consequences for judging Turkish history.
“Parliamentarians shouldn’t be judges or historians,” said Fazli
Corman, consul at the embassy. “But when they act because of their
ridings, because of their need for votes, they are acting.”
Ara Pappin, Armenia’s ambassador in Ottawa, wasn’t upset the motion
wasn’t formally adopted.
“We are more concerned about the opinion of Parliament, because
Parliament is a reflection of people’s opinion,” he said.
Conservative MP Stockwell Day accused Martin of being hypocritical
for ordering his cabinet ministers to vote against a “painful” motion
then failing to show up.
“I don’t think this reflects well on him, that on a vote of
conscience, a vote of the heart, he refused to allow his ministers to
vote with the heart and didn’t appear with them to share the grief,”
he said.

Workpermit.com, UK
April 23 2004
UK – Change to nationalities exempt from IED charge
The Home Office has announced that from 1 May 2004, three new
countries will be added to the list of countries whose nationals are
exempt from the charge for Immigration Employment Documents (IED)
(work permit) applications. These countries are:
Albania
Armenia
Croatia
It has been realised that these countries are indeed signatories to
the Council of Europe Charter or the Social Charter when this IED
charge was introduced on 1 April 2003. These countries were never
included on the original list of exemptions, and Armenia should have
been included on this list from 1 March 2004.
Those employers, individuals or representatives who have been charged
incorrectly will be refunded in full by the end of June 2004.

Baku Today
April 23 2004
Apresyan, Teryan might leave Azerbaijan
Baku Today 23/04/2004 19:50
Leaders of an international group which functions for release of
prisoners of war and hostages Bernhard Clasen and Paata Zakareishvili
have met with Artur and Roman in Baku today.
The two ethnic Armenians have asked Clasen and Zakareishvili to
assist them in getting residence `in a third country’, according to
ANS.
Apresyan and Teryan had fled to Azerbaijan from Armenia in quest of
refuge against constant abasement to their personalities on the part
of Armenians.
Clasen said, his group will help and to leave Azerbaijan for another
country.
`We hope to settle their problems with humanitarian methods,’ said
Clasen.

Sunday Times, Australia
The Mercury, Australia
Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia
Advertiser, Australia
April 24 2004
On This Day
1915 – The Ottoman Turkish Empire begins the brutal mass deportation
of Armenians during World War I.
Highlights in history on this date:
1514 – Selim I, Sultan of Turkey, begins marching his army to Persia.
1521 – Spanish rebels are defeated at Villalar, Spain, and leaders of
anti-Hapsburg movement are executed.
1558 – Mary Queen of Scots, aged 16, marries the Dauphin of France,
the future Francois II.
1617 – Concino Concini, Marquis d’Angre, is assassinated by order of
France’s King Louis XIII, and Charles d’Albert, Duke of Luynes, takes
charge of government of France.
1671 – Defeated Cossack rebel leader Stenka Razin is captured by
loyalist Cossacks in Russia and turned over to the czar’s forces.
1704 – The first regularly issued American newspaper starts
publication.
1731 – Death of Daniel Defoe, British journalist and author of
Robinson Crusoe.
1792 – France’s national anthem, La Marseillaise, is composed by
Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
1819 – Turkey, after lengthy negotiations with Britain, the protector
of the island, obtains Parga from Ionian Republic.
1833 – The soda fountain is patented by Jacob Ebert and George
Dutley.
1877 – American Federal troops are ordered out of New Orleans, ending
the North’s post-Civil War rule in the South.
1898 – Spain declares war on United States after receiving US
ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba.
1915 – The Ottoman Turkish Empire begins the brutal mass deportation
of Armenians during World War I.
1916 – Some 1,600 Irish nationalists launch the Easter uprising by
seizing several key sites in Dublin. The rising is put down by
British forces several days later.
1939 – Robert Menzies becomes Australian prime minister, succeeding
Joseph Lyons, who died earlier in the month.
1945 – US forces liberate Dachau concentration camp.
1953 – British statesman Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen
Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
1962 – The Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieves the first
satellite relay of a television signal, between Camp Parks,
California, and Westford, Massachusetts.
1967 – Soviet Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov is killed when parachute
straps of his spacecraft get entangled and he plunges to earth.
1969 – Lebanon’s Premier Rashid Karami resigns amid dispute over
government’s restrictions on Palestinian guerrillas.
1970 – China launches its first satellite.
1971 – Soviet cosmonauts link up with unmanned satellite prior to
attempt to build world’s first orbiting space laboratory.
1975 – Terrorists from the German Red Army faction occupy the West
German Embassy in Stockholm, taking 12 people hostage and killing two
of them; Thousands of Vietnamese refugees are flown to US island of
Guam as communists move rapidly in their takeover of South Vietnam.
1980 – The United States launches an abortive attempt to free
American hostages in Iran, a mission that results in the deaths of
eight US servicemen. President Jimmy Carter announces the failed
mission to the American people.
1986 – Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, for whom King Edward
VIII gave up the British throne, dies in Paris at age 89; Paul Hogan
film Crocodile Dundee premieres in Australian cinemas.
1989 – Rebels shell eastern Afghanistan city of Jalalabad, killing at
least 54 people.
1990 – The US space shuttle Discovery takes the Hubble Space
Telescope into orbit.
1991 – South African government announces it will uphold agreement
with African National Congress to free all political prisoners by
April 30.
1992 – OPEC nations reject a demand by Iran for increased production.
1993 – Commandos break into a cockpit of a commandeered Indian
Airlines plane in Amritsar, India, shoot dead the lone hijacker and
free all 141 people aboard.
1994 – Cuban exiles are received by President Fidel Castro, the man
some have long wanted to overthrow.
1995 – The British government upgrades its talks with Sinn Fein, the
political ally of the IRA, by assigning a minister to negotiate.
1996 – The Palestinian parliament declares in Gaza City that it no
longer seeks Israel’s destruction and has abandoned armed struggle.
1997 – Islamist militants armed with sabres and axes strike two
villages in Algeria, butchering 47 people in a pre-election terror
wave that leaves an estimated 420 dead in a few weeks.
1998 – In front of a cheering crowd, 22 Rwandans convicted of
genocide are executed by firing squad in Kigali.
1999 – A car bomb explodes in one of London’s biggest Bangladeshi
communities, injuring seven people. A racist group claims
responsibility.
2000 – Iranian hardliners close down 14 pro-democracy publications in
a strike against a major pillar of the reform movement.
2001 – A jury is chosen in the murder trial of a former Ku Klux
Klansman charged 38 years after the church bombing that killed four
black girls in Birmingham, Alabama.
2002 – Sweden’s National Food Administration reports that potentially
harmful amounts of a chemical suspected of causing cancer are
produced when starchy foods are baked or fried at high temperatures.
2003 – Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the former wife of Nelson Mandela,
is convicted of fraud and theft by a regional court in South Africa
and sentenced to five years in prison.

The Australian, Australia
April 24 2004
Food-for-oil claims shake UN
>From The Times
SIMULTANEOUS investigations of the former United Nations oil-for-food
program aim to expose how Saddam Hussein used Iraq’s oil wealth to
buy political influence around the world.
The US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, the US Congress and an
independent panel established by the UN have started investigating
claims the Hussein regime used oil to bribe politicians, political
parties, journalists and a leading UN official.
The inquiries are examining Iraq’s system of kickbacks, which Baghdad
used to break sanctions, fund his military and sustain his regime.
The scale of the alleged corruption is huge. The investigative arm of
the US Congress estimates Saddam earned $US4.4 billion ($5.7 billion)
in illegal surcharges and after-sale service fees on contracts
overseen by the UN. Individual bribes allegedly ran into millions of
dollars.
The claims have created an atmosphere of dread at the UN, which ran
the oil-for-food scheme, at a time when the world organisation is
being urged to play a larger role in the political transition in
Iraq.

The allegations have also sent shockwaves around the world, because
hundreds of prominent figures in two dozen countries are accused of
involvement in the oil deals.
The overthrow of Saddam has made available hundreds of documents that
contain some of Iraq’s most closely guarded secrets. Few have been
made public, but coalition officials have secured the evidence they
need.
The UN oil-for-food scheme was the largest UN humanitarian program in
the organisation’s history, handling a total of $US64 billion worth
of Iraqi crude from December 1996 until it was wound up last year.
The program was established after the first Gulf War to mitigate the
effects of the economic embargo imposed on Iraq after the 1990
invasion of Kuwait. Britain and the US played a leading role in its
creation because they did not want to be accused of starving the
Iraqi people.
At times both powers bent to pressure from other countries to turn a
blind eye to corruption and mismanagement so that Iraq continued to
co-operate with the scheme.
The UN exercised oversight through its control of Iraqi oil revenues.
Money generated from approved Iraqi oil sales was deposited in a UN
holding account. The UN then released funds to pay for approved
imports of food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies.
The price was set by a panel of UN oil overseers, and all contracts
had to approved by the UN Security Council’s 15-member sanctions
committee, operating by consensus so any single member could block a
decision.
But Iraq found ways to circumvent the monitoring, enabling it to
demand billions of dollars in kickbacks.
The first weakness of the UN system was the mechanism to set the oil
price.
Although there were originally three oil overseers, retirements and
resignations reduced this to one — a relatively young former Russian
insurance executive. And for more than a year, Russia blocked the
appointment of new overseers to replace those who had left.
Until late 2000, the UN’s price for Iraqi oil was set at the start of
each month. That allowed Iraq to time its sales under the program to
exploit the ups and downs of the world oil market. A higher world
price meant a higher margin over the price set by the UN, allowing
Iraq a greater profit, which it could then demand be paid over to
Baghdad.
Congressional investigators estimate Iraq levied an illegal surcharge
of US10c to US35c a barrel on crude oil shipped under the UN program,
providing millions to cash-strapped Baghdad
Iraq also made money by demanding kickbacks on contracts to supply
Baghdad with humanitarian goods under the UN scheme.
US officials say the customary kickback was 10 per cent. A vendor
selling Iraq $US100 of goods would notify the UN that the shipment
was worth $US110 and give the $US10 to Iraq. The money generated was
deposited in front companies, bank accounts or Iraqi embassies abroad
and transported back to Iraq as cash. But some was also used to
rebuild Iraq’s military and buy prohibited equipment abroad.
Charles Duelfer, the former UN inspector who is leading the CIA
search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, told Congress last
month that Iraq funnelled oil-for-food money to its Military
Industrialisation Commission, which worked with the Iraqi
intelligence services to set up front companies overseas to procure
arms.
The commission budget increased nearly 100-fold from 1996 to 2003,
totalling $US500million in 2003.
Iraq’s demands for kickbacks were long known to British and US
officials, who tried to fix the UN system to counter them.
Eventually, Russia allowed the replacement of the departed oil
overseers and the UN sanctions committee changed to “retroactive
pricing” to cut Iraq’s possible margin on the program’s oil sales.
But what really ignited the issue was the publication by Iraq’s
Al-Mada newspaper in January of a list of 270 politicians,
journalists, businessmen, and even a UN official, who were allegedly
given vouchers to buy Iraq oil.
There are some doubts about the veracity of the list, but it
nevertheless includes powerful figures in key UN powers, such as
Russia and France, as well as a range of Middle Eastern countries.
Among the alleged recipients are the Russian Peace and Unity Party of
President Vladimir Putin, as well as the Russian Communist Party and
companies linked to the party of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a Russian
nationalist.
Charles Pasqua, the former French interior minister, and a former
French ambassador to the UN are on the Al-Mada list. Also named by
the paper was Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who is said
to have received 1 million barrels of oil as the daughter of
President Sukarno, and 1 million barrels as herself.
Recipients of the vouchers did not have to trade the oil themselves.
They could sell the vouchers to oil traders for US10c-US30c a barrel.
An example of how the system was used to peddle influence is the case
of Shakir Khafaji, one of two Iraqi-American businessmen on the list.
Khafaji told the London Financial Times last week he had been awarded
oil allocations by the Saddam regime and sold them to an Italian firm
on his family’s behalf.
Khafaji provided $US400,000 to fund an anti-sanctions documentary by
former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter that was shown around the
world.
The UN’s investigation, led by former US Federal Reserve chairman
Paul Volcker, is initially focusing on allegations against Benon
Sevan, the Cypriot Armenian UN official who ran the oil-for-food
program. A “Mr Sevan” named on the Al-Mada list was allegedly
allocated 14.3 million barrels of crude. The UN official has denied
the claims.
US television network ABC reported this week, citing US and European
intelligence services, that three unnamed UN officials had taken
bribes from Saddam. “The UN oil-for-food program provided Saddam
Hussein and his corrupt and evil regime with a convenient vehicle
through which he bought support internationally by bribing political
parties, companies, journalists and other individuals of influence,”
a British consultant for the Iraqi Governing Council, Claude
Hankes-Drielsma, told the US Congress this week.