Georgian crisis to negatively impact Azerbaijan, politicians say
Zerkalo, Baku
18 Mar 04
Azerbaijani opposition politicians have said that the latest events in
Georgia will have a negative impact on the geopolitical situation in
the region and on Azerbaijan’s economic interests. In an interview
with Zerkalo newspaper, the leaders of the main opposition parties
called on Azerbaijan to maintain neutrality on the issue. The
following is an excerpt from F.Teymurxanli, X. Safaroglu report by
Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo on 18 March headlined “Tension in
Georgian not in Azerbaijan’s interests”, subheaded “Local politicians
think so”; subheadings have been inserted editorially:
For obvious reasons, the Azerbaijani public cannot be indifferent to
the recent developments in Georgia. Baku expressed its stance in this
regard.
[Passage omitted: reported details]
What does the [Azerbaijani] opposition think of the situation?
In an interview with a Zerkalo correspondent, the AMIP [Azarbaycan
Milli Istiqlal Party] chairman, Etibar Mammadov, described the
Georgian events as a crisis, which might have a negative impact on the
whole region. He said that the events may get out of control if they
are not tackled. Touching upon the Ajarian authorities’ attempts to
prevent the Georgian president from entering the area, Mammadov said
that “the head of state has the right to move freely within his
country”. The AMIP chairman said that relations between Tbilisi and
Batumi were rather strained from the very start and therefore, the
attempts to enter Ajaria had just aggravated the crisis.
“The military solution to the issue means a civil war. Two flash
points of conflict already exist in Georgia, that is South Ossetia and
Abkhazia. No sensible president would aim at creating a third seat of
tension,” Mammadov said.
The AMIP leader said one should not draw parallels between Ajaria and
Nagornyy Karabakh, as “the first case is the country’s internal
affair, while the second one is the occupation of Azerbaijani
territory by another state”.
He said that the Georgian events would affect Azerbaijan’s strategic
projects and the geopolitical situation in the region. Mammadov said
that under the circumstances Baku should take a neutral position and
support Georgia’s territorial integrity.
Ali Karimli
The PFAP [People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party] chairman, Ali Karimli,
also said that Azerbaijan should support Georgia’s territorial
integrity. “Of course, we want the conflict between Tbilisi and Batumi
to be resolved peacefully. We hope that the issue will be resolved
through international mediators and efforts of the Georgian and
Ajarian authorities,” he said. He said that any attempts to prevent
President Mikheil Saakashvili from moving freely in his own country
are not logical.
The PFAP leader said that the status of Nagornyy Karabakh should not
be compared to that of Ajaria but of Abkhazia or South Ossetia with
their ongoing military conflicts. He said that unlike the
aforementioned regions, Ajaria supports the territorial integrity of
its country and “it is not talking about ethnic separatism”. He said
that in the worst case scenario the developments in Georgia will make
a negative impact on Azerbaijan’s interests.
“However, the development of communication lines in the region is in
the interests of the international community, of Georgia and Ajaria. I
think the subsequent developments will not have a negative impact on
Azerbaijan’s strategic interests,” Ali Karimli said.
[Passage omitted: other two politicians also do not see parallels
between Ajaria and Karabakh and stress the negative impact of the
situation on Azerbaijan.]
Araz Alizada
The co-chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, Araz
Alizada, was more resolute in his assessment of the situation in
Georgia. He said that a pro-western “sick nationalist” had come to
power in Georgia and he would do no good for his people and first of
all for the Azeris living in that country. Alizada said that nobody
would have tried to ban Saakashvili from entering Ajaria had it not
been with armed people, APCs and tanks. The social democrat thinks
that Saakashvili’s attempt to enter Ajaria with the armed people and
the power-wielding ministers was a coup d’etat.
He joined other politicians in saying that Nagornyy Karabakh and
Ajaria should not be compared, since the latter recognizes Georgia’s
territorial integrity.
He said that the aggravation of the situation in Georgia would
negatively affect Azerbaijan’s strategic interests. As for the
position of the Azerbaijani authorities, Alizada said that Baku should
maintain neutrality.

Karabakh main goal of EU envoy’s visit to Azerbaijan – paper
525 Qazet, Baku
19 Mar 04
Text of unattributed report by Azerbaijani newspaper 525 Qazet on 19
March headlined “Heikki Talvitie has arrived in Baku” and subheaded
“The Baku government wants the European Union to be a mediator in the
Nagornyy Karabakh settlement”
The special representative of the European Union for the South
Caucasus, Heikki Talvitie, arrived in Azerbaijan on 18 March. On the
first day of his visit, Talvitie met Russian ambassador to Azerbaijan
Nikolay Ryabov, US ambassador Reno Harnish, Turkish ambassador Ahmet
Unal Cevikoz and Norwegian ambassador Steinar Gil.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has told Azartac news agency that
Talvitie is to meet state and government officials within the
framework of the visit and discuss Azerbaijan’s integration into the
West, the acceptance of European values and issues of democracy. Ways
to settle the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict will be the main focus of the
discussions.
The ministry also said that the EU might play an important role in the
Nagornyy Karabakh settlement because this organization was of special
importance to the OSCE Minsk Group. The EU might participate in talks
together with the OSCE Minsk Group cochairmen and entitle one of the
cochairmen to speak on behalf of the EU.

Baku Today
March 19 2004
Talvitie visiting Azerbaijan
Baku Today 19/03/2004 17:02
European Union’s special representative for South Caucasus Heikki
Talvitie will meet with Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and
foreign minister Vilayat Guliyev on March 22, 2004.
Talvitie arrived in Baku yesterday on March 18. Talvitie has met with
leader of Karabakh’s Azeri community Nizami Bahmanov today. Bahmanov
has presented Talvitie archive materials on the history of Karabakh
during their meeting.
Whether Talvitie will visit Karabakh remains unreported.

The Daily Star, Lebanon
March 19 2004
Unifil Irish soldiers celebrate their last Saint Patrick’s Day in
Lebanon
Sprigs of shamrock had been flown in from Ireland
By Paul Cochrane
Special to The Daily Star
Saint Patrick’s Day is an event celebrated with a great deal of
gusto wherever the Irish, descendants or citizens, congregate. In New
York the river is dyed green, and in Dublin it is the biggest social
event in between New Year and Easter.
In Beirut, dozens of Irish came together at the palatial Daouk
residence in Ain al-Mreisseh, the home of Ireland’s Consul General
Khaled Daouk, to celebrate the patron saint of Ireland.
Although St. Patrick was born in Wales, the saint first arrived in
Ireland as a slave, where he turned to religion and began his mission
in life to convert Ireland to Christianity. Among the myths
surrounding Patrick’s life, one is that he could raise people from
the dead, and the more widely known is that he drove all the snakes
from the Emerald Isle.
With the death of St. Patrick on March 17, 461 AD, the event has been
commemorated as a Catholic holiday ever since.
Amid numerous Lebanese socialites at the event, the Irish were
conspicuous by the green shamrocks attached to their suit lapels. The
shamrock, which along with the harp are Ireland’s national symbols,
is a small three leafed plant
that is significant in that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain
the Christian trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The shamrocks on display were the real McCoy, with over a 100 sprigs
having been flown in from Ireland with the fiancŽ of an Irish UN
Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) officer. There were seven Irish
officers, currently based in the South, at the event. Commandant
Timmy Daly said, “It is fantastic to be here as a guest, especially
as it is the last St. Patrick’s Day for Irish soldiers in Lebanon.”
The Irish contingent has been with Unifil in Southern Lebanon for the
past 26 years, but has been gradually phased out since the Israeli
withdrawal in 2000.
“When the Irish Army was here in force, I used to go down to Naqoura
every year as there was a big parade by the soldiers, a bagpipe band,
musicians from Ireland and a great banquet,” said Sister Mary
Delourdes, a teacher at Sagesse school. With fewer Irish in Lebanon,
St. Patrick’s Day has become a much smaller event.
Although whiskey and black stout beer are the traditional drinks of
Ireland, the black stuff was very much absent from the function, and
it was rather surprising to be served up Scotch rather than some of
Ireland’s best malts.
The event was celebrated with a buffet, a cake with the Irish
tricolors and an Armenian pianist tickling the ivories in the
background.

Los Angeles Daily News
March 19 2004
LAUSD English learners gaining
Fluency scores show progress
By Jennifer Radcliffe
Staff Writer
Students learning English as a second language in the Los Angeles
Unified School District made huge gains on the state’s
English-fluency exam and have nearly caught up with their peers
across California, officials said Thursday.
About 42 percent of LAUSD students who speak a language other than
English at home scored in the top two levels of the California
English Language Development Test, compared with about 29 percent
last year.
Statewide, 43 percent of English-learning students received the top
scores this year, compared with 34 percent in 2003.
“This is just further evidence that we’re really a district on the
move,” school board member Marlene Canter said.
When the test debuted three years ago, only 16 percent of LAUSD
students were considered proficient, compared with 25 percent
statewide.
Los Angeles Unified has put an emphasis on helping these students
achieve and that effort must continue, board President Jose Huizar
said.
“English-language learners make up 40 percent of our students. If
they succeed, LAUSD succeeds,” he said.
More than 1.4 million English-language learners in the state took the
test, including 276,000 in the LAUSD.
Nearly 95 percent of the LAUSD’s English-language learners have
Spanish as their native language. The next most common languages are
Armenian and Korean.
The test is designed to identify new students who are learning
English, determine their level of fluency and track their progress
annually.
Students are separated into five categories: beginning, early
intermediate, intermediate, early advanced and advanced.
Once students reach the early advanced level, they are usually
reclassified as fluent within a year, said Merle Price, deputy
superintendent of instruction.
LAUSD leaders attribute their success to better textbooks, more
teacher training and the implementation of structured reading
programs.
“The fact that we’re making this degree of progress is really
remarkable in a district that has the overcrowding we do and the
student population we do,” Superintendent Roy Romer said.
The largest gains in Los Angeles Unified were made at the middle
school level, where the number of students with advanced or early
advanced scores increased from 32 percent to 48 percent.
The number of elementary students in advanced or early advanced
levels increased from 27 percent to 39 percent, and the high school
students gained from 35 percent to 47 percent.
Price said it was open to debate whether the scaling back of
bilingual education mandated by Proposition 227 five years ago
contributed to the impressive gains.
Still, he said that while both bilingual and English-only programs
have their pros and cons, the current system under which most
students are taught primarily in English seems to be working well.
About 10 percent of the LAUSD’s English-language learners receive
waivers to attend bilingual classes and the rest receive most of
their instruction in English.
Price said phonics-based programs, such as Open Court, have helped
all student learn English skills.
“It validates the work we’ve been doing and shows we should stay the
course,” Price said. “That’s something new in education, which is so
full of trends, that we’re on to something that continues to show
progress.”
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell said these
test gains rank among the top 10 educational achievements of the
year.
“Progress is our real goal. By any standard, we are seeing progress,”
he said. “This is just another indicator … that public education in
the state of California is on the right track.”
Jennifer Radcliffe, (818) 713-3722 [email protected]

ARMENIANS IN EUROPE REACTED ANGRILY TO BRITISH AMBASSADOR’S
STATEMENT
A1plus | 20:04:23 18-03-2004 | Politics |
The Assembly of Armenians of Europe and its member organizations
reacted to the statement made recently by British Ambassador Thorda
Abbott-Watt in relation with the events of 1915 events by issuing a
common resolution.
The British Ambassador has said in her statement that although the
British Government condemned the massacres as an atrocity at that
time, the evidence was not sufficiently unequivocal that what took
place could be categorized as genocide under the 1948 United Nations
Convention on Genocide and that the debate on this issue continues
among historians and lawyers.
The Assembly expects the British Ambassador in Armenia, Mrs. Thorda
Abbott-Watt to apologize publicly for her statement and officially
retract them. If she refuses, the Ambassador should be declared
persona non grata in the Republic of Armenia, the resolution says.
At the same time, the Assembly demands Armenian Parliament and
Government to adopt all necessary legislative and diplomatic measures
to prevent in the future others from making such offensive statements
against the memory of the Armenian nation.
—

Armenian lawyer to defend murdered officer in Budapest
Noyan Tapan news agency
18 Mar 04
YEREVAN
Nazeli Vardanyan, a defence lawyer and member of the international
union of defence lawyers, will leave for Budapest soon. She will
defend the interests of the murdered Armenian officer, Gurgen
Markaryan, in Budapest both at the investigations stage and in
court. A group of five more lawyers has been set up by Armenia’s Union
of Lawyers to provide the necessary methodological assistance to
Nazeli Vardanyan.
A member of the Armenian Union of Lawyers, Ruben Saakyan, who is also
a member of the support group, told Noyan Tapan that the support group
included other members of the union, Araik Matevosyan and Gagik
Sardaryan and also members of the international union of defence
lawyers, Tigran and Marine Dzhanoyan.

Prosecutor’s appointment restores justice, says Armenian leader
Mediamax news agency
18 Mar 04
YEREVAN
The appointment of Agvan Ovsepyan as prosecutor-general can, in a way,
be regarded as “the restoration of justice”, Armenian President Robert
Kocharyan said today in Yerevan. The president said this while
introducing Ovsepyan to employees of the Prosecutor-General’s Office
today, Mediamax reports.
Kocharyan explained that Ovsepyan’s resignation following the
terrorist act in the Armenian parliament in October 1999 “was caused
by exclusively political motives”.
Kocharyan described the new prosecutor as a “professional,
tough-minded and stern” politician, noting that he had known him since
1981, as Ovsepyan had worked in Nagornyy Karabakh for many years.

Armenian coalition parties slam opposition’s calls for new leader
Mediamax news agency
18 Mar 04
YEREVAN
Representatives of the ruling coalition parties are sceptical about
the intention of the opposition to start a protest action to demand
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan’s resignation.
The leader of the Republican Party’s parliamentary faction, Galust
Saakyan, described this initiative of the opposition as “ridiculous
and far from politics”. He said that the “people are not in a
revolutionary mood”. The MP described as inadmissible any action of
the opposition which could run counter to the constitution, noting
that “things will not reach open confrontation”.
The secretary of the faction of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
– Dashnaktsutyun, Grayr Karapetyan, expressed his concern that “the
opposition is aggravating the situation” and said that “our party will
do its best not to allow confrontation in society”.
A representative of the Orinats Yerkir [Law-Governed Country Party]
parliamentary faction, Mger Shakhgeldyan, said that “many countries of
the world have given up revolutionary approaches to a change of power
as this yields no good results”.

Azeri analyst says Armenian intelligence behind officer’s Budapest killing
Assa-Irada
17 Mar 04
BAKU
Commenting on the killing of Armenian officer Gurgen Markaryan by
Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov in Budapest, the director of the
Centre of Political Innovations and Technologies, political analyst
Mubariz Ahmadoglu, said today that the incident was the result of work
carried out by Armenian intelligence. He said there was sufficient
evidence to substantiate this theory.
According to the analyst, in addition to dealing a blow to
Azerbaijani-NATO relations, the killing has had an impact on
Azerbaijan’s international authority. Therefore, the Armenians are
capitalizing on the incident to put forward theories that Nagornyy
Karabakh cannot be part of Azerbaijan for genetic reasons.
The Armenians are concerned that many international organizations are
no longer taking Armenia seriously and are reluctant to believe
it. For this reason, the theory that Armenian intelligence has tried
to play a trick on Ramil Safarov seems quite probable.
According to Ahmadoglu, it would be right to treat the issue more as a
political and interstate one.