Armenia, Azerbaijan `Close To Karabakh Deal'

[Hovik]

President Kocharyan Says Armenia May Recognize Karabakh

PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN SAYS ARMENIA MAY RECOGNIZE KARABAKH

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
24 Nov 05

Text of report by Armenian Public TV on 24 November

President Robert Kocharyan said that he does not rule out Armenia
recognizing the [self-proclaimed] Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR]
or it joining Armenia if the talks [with Azerbaijan] on the Karabakh
conflict are exhausted without any outcomes.

Kocharyan noted that Armenia has recognized the independence of Artsakh
[Karabakh] a long ago. He recalled that the NKR uses the Armenian
dram and there is a common customs zone.

He said that a serious integration process is under way and
the relations between Armenia and Artsakh can be considered a
non-proportional confederation.

[Gavur]

BSEC MEETING-Armenia Takes Over Presidency

BSEC MEETING CONFIRMS THE NEED OF REHABILITATING KARS-GYUMRI-TBILISI-BAKU RAILROAD

Armenia Takes Over Presidency

At the annual 26th assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), held this year in Tirana, Albania, November 22-24, 12 member states discussed issues the organization faces today.

Migration, the toughest issue for the Black Sea region, topped the meeting agenda. Voluntary and forced migration of the region's population got activated to the degree of creating serious demographic shifts in almost all countries. The heads of national delegations underscored in their speeches the need of united efforts in struggle against migration resultant human and drug trafficking, arms sale etc.
AZG Armenian Daily #216, 26/11/2005

Parliament chairman Artur Baghdasarian, head of the Armenian delegation, said in his speech that growing migration in post-Soviet Armenia made the authorities create prevention mechanisms that will not allow interests of refugees and migrants go against national ones. Baghdasarian emphasized the need of international structures to get involved in all stages of migration. Rounding off he said: "Regardless our desire, migration always was and will be with its all positive and negative outcomes. Our duty is to mitigate negative outcomes with united efforts and work to turn it from a source of interstate tension into a consolidating factor."

The next issue hampering harmonious development of BSEC is the condition of transport infrastructures. This issue was especially vital for Armenia. The participants raised the issue of rehabilitation of Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi-Baku railroad. At the last BSEC meeting in Kishinev Armenian delegates managed to represent this issue in the main document. Now, the 26th assembly issued a special decision to confirm this document. This means that no representative body, be it the European Union, the Council of Europe or OSCE, cannot overlook the assembly's decision.

The railroad is going to transport millions of tones of goods annually. In the initial stage the document foresees transportation of 3 million tones of goods annually. In future it will rise up to 5-8 millions enlarging Armenia's political and economic role as a transit country. The key principle of the BSEC activity is to secure stable development of the region excluding new demarcation lines.

The Kishinev document saw a new, more beneficial, discussion for Armenia at the assembly. The Armenian delegation also put forward the issue of reopening the Abkhazian railway, which met Georgian delegates' opposition. The Georgians said that this issue is connected with refugees and it's pointless to discuss at the assembly.

The fact that Azerbaijan did not take part in the assembly played perhaps positive role in settling this issue. All delegates, including Turkish, unanimously approved the document. The railway has not functioned for 12 years as a result of Turkey's blockade of Armenia. In his speech Artur Baghdasarian underscored that reopening of the railway is important not only for the countries of the region but also for settling present-day conflicts.

Another important event for Armenia at the BSEC assembly was the handing of BSEC presidency for 6 months to Armenia.

The next meeting of the BSEC will be held in Yerevan in 2006.

By Karine Danielian in Albania

[Gavur]

Armenia-Azerbaijan: Those Who Remained

http://www.iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=258296&apc_state=henh

Ethnic identity is a sensitive issue for those Armenians and Azerbaijanis who decided not join the conflict-induced, two-way mass emigration.

By Marianna Grigorian in Yerevan and Zarema Velikhanova in Baku (CRS No. 316, 25-Nov-05)

When Nina Mehdieva and her daughter Nairi parted in 1989, the family were sure they would soon be back together.

Nairi recalls how her stepfather Ali Mehdiev had tears in his eyes as she left the Azerbaijani capital Baku for Armenia. "He hugged me and my daughter and said we'd be back together again in five or six months," she said of the farewell.

Sixteen years later, Nairi was still living in the Armenian capital Yerevan hoping that she would see Nina and Ali again one day.

The family were split in two by the conflict that drove Azerbaijanis and Armenians apart. From 1988, when the whole of the south Caucasus was part of the Soviet Union, there was a growing dispute over Nagorny Karabakh, where local Armenians sought independence against the wishes of Azerbaijan, within whose borders Karabakh lies.

Over the next three or four years, almost all the Armenians who had lived in substantial numbers in and around Baku left for Armenia. Simultaneously, the Azerbaijani community of Armenia emigrated wholesale to a republic that for many was an unfamiliar new homeland.

In 1992, a year after Azerbaijan and Armenia had become independent sovereign states, Karabakh descended into all out war. Further population shifts took place, this time mainly Azerbaijanis who left Karabakh and surrounding districts as Armenian forces gained ground. A ceasefire in 1994 left Karabakh under the de facto control of an autonomous Armenian administration, a position that the Baku government continues to contest. More than a decade on, while the truce has held, there is little sign of a resolution to the territorial dispute.

But not everyone left. In both Armenia and Azerbaijan, there were people like Nina who felt they must stay behind even as the friends and family departed en masse. Nina, a Baku-born Armenian, remained for the sake of her husband Ramiz, an Azerbaijani, and so did their two daughters.

But her eldest daughter Nairi, who has the surname Petrosian and is the daughter of Nina's first husband, an Armenian, took her own child and joined the mass exodus of refugees.

Those who stayed behind tried to blend in, and naturally never had the same kind of political visibility as the emigrants and refugees.

According to Armenian political commentator Alexander Iskandarian, "The Azerbaijanis who stayed were people who had been assimilated, acculturised…. They weren't the sort of people for whom ethnic identity was important.

"The same applies to the Armenians in Azerbaijan."

Although parts of the media in both countries are at fault for maintaining hostile images of the "enemy" group, the Armenians and Azerbaijanis living in the other state escape victimisation because they remain so inconspicuous.

As time goes on, the predominantly middle-aged to elderly members of these communities are keen to see relatives again, even though the political freeze between their respective governments makes that difficult.

STATISTICS SHED LITTLE LIGHT

It is almost impossible to say exactly how many people in either country decided, like Nina, to stay rather than leave. The most recent census data from Azerbaijan show that in 1999 there were 121,000 ethnic Armenians living in the country. That is a dramatic fall on the 390,000 counted in the final Soviet census conducted in 1989.

However, the 1999 figure still includes the population of Karabakh and surrounding areas under Armenian control; in the rest of Azerbaijan the survey showed just 647 people who declared themselves Armenians.

“The statistics agencies are sometimes close to absurd," commented Arif Yunus, an Azerbaijani political analyst. "How could there have been a census in Karabakh in 1999 if the territory is not under Azerbaijani control?”

Yunus has come up with his own estimate that there are between 3,000 and 5,000 thousand Armenians living in Azerbaijan, based on information from the marriage, birth and death records office, and partly also on his own observations. He believes most are women who opted to stay with their Azerbaijani husbands.

“They are almost all elderly people," added Yunus. "Seventy per cent of them live in Baku. In the capital it's easier to lose oneself in the crowd than in the provinces, where everyone knows each other.”

There is a similar lack of clarity in Armenia, where a 2001 census list small minorities such as Kurds, Assyrians and Greeks, but not Azerbaijanis. One possible explanation is that United Nations guidelines advise that ethnic minorities numbering fewer than 1,000 need not be included in data.

According to a study on ethnic minorities published in 2005, the last census uncovered just 29 Azerbaijanis in the country.

Back in 1979, Soviet statistics showed Armenia with an Azerbaijani community of 161,000, while the 85,000 counted in the last USSR-wide census indicated that the exodus was already under way.

As in Azerbaijan, the most accurate census data may under-report the true numbers as people make choices about how they want to identify themselves, given the sensitivities over ethnicity.

That is a point well understood by Karine Guiumjian, head of the census and ethnography department of Armenia's official statistical agency. She says the number of Azerbaijanis in Armenia may be higher than the figures indicate, since the census-taker asks respondents to indicate what "nation" they belong to over and above their citizenship, but does not require them to show proof of this, for example with their parents' Soviet-era passports which indicated "natsionalnost" – literally "nationality" or more accurately ethnic identity – as well as Soviet citizenship.

Gevork Pogosian, head of the Armenian Sociological Association, notes that most of the Azerbaijanis who are left have Armenian families. Citing a 2001 study conducted by a number of non-government groups including his association, he said many have changed their names are now appear on paperwork as Kurds, Yezidis (a non-Muslim Kurdish group), or Russians.

DISCRIMINATION IN DAILY LIFE

The people interviewed for this report reported only coming up against petty discrimination in daily life, despite the sometimes-belligerent rhetoric used by politicians and media in the two countries.

This may show a reluctance to complain too loudly, but also reflects the fact that many are locked into local networks through marriage. The death of a husband can break these ties and leave woman isolated.

One Baku resident told IWPR that as an Armenian, she had found it hard to get official institutions to issue her with various kinds of documents.

“We don’t issue Armenians with papers, they told me in many places, or else they would issue them for a bribe – a bigger one than usual,” said Anjela Muradian, who now goes by the more Azerbaijani-sounding name of Jale Muradova.

Shoila Alekperova, an 85-year-old widow in Yerevan, has had similar encounters with small-mindedness, although the incident she recounted involved not a locally-born person, but a refugee from Azerbaijan.

“I went to collect my pension from the savings bank and there was a new assistant on duty, an Armenian refugee from Baku,” said Alekperova. "She noticed my first and second names, looked me in the eye, and asked, ‘You’re still here?’ I replied that Armenia was my home, I had lost a wonderful Armenian husband, and I wasn’t going anywhere.”

Alekperova says she has never concealed her ethnicity or avoided talking about it. “I'm an Azerbaijani through and through,” she said proudly.

When her husband died, she told his relatives what she planned to do, “I said I would never leave Armenia – my home is here, the grave of my dear husband is here. I will never leave.”

This sense of overriding commitment to the land where they were born was a recurring theme among those interviewed by IWPR.

“In Soviet times I never thought about whether I was Russian or not,” said Svetlana, who had a Russian mother and an Armenian father, who divorced before she was born.

Svetlana's home was seized in 1992 during a wave of anti-Armenian unrest in Baku.

“They labelled me an Armenian,” she recalled sadly. The identification stuck, and she had to keep moving from one rented apartment to another. She even entered into a marriage of convenience with a Russian.

Now retired, Svetlana has no plans to leave, despite invitations from Armenian relatives in the United States. She is still hopeful that things will get better, and even that her house might be returned to her.

“I am from Baku. I was born here, I grew up here… This is where I will stay,” she said.

Even death can highlight ethnic divides. Suren Hobosian, an Armenian ethnologist, recalls a recent case where an ethnic Azerbaijani man died and his daughters could not choose where his final resting place should be. “They didn’t want to bury their father in the [old] Azerbaijani cemetery so as not to stand out, and the villagers wouldn’t let them bury a Muslim in the [Christian] Armenian cemetery. So the girls buried their father somewhere else, but they were left feeling very hurt," said Hobosian.

Interviews conducted by IWPR suggested that at an official level, any discrimination was casual rather than systematic.

According to Sevil Huseinova of the Baku-based think-tank Social, Anthropological and Ethnological Research, “The decision to remove ethnic designation from passports is a big step forward, but unfortunately it doesn’t solve their [Armenians'] problems. In the forms you fill in to start a new job, you have to give the surnames, first names and patronymics of your parents. So if one of your parents has an Armenian name, that gives your ethnicity away.”

The result is, says Huseinova, that Armenians tend to choose the private sector rather than going through the scrutiny that a government job application requires.

Eldar Zeinalov, the director of the Human Rights Centre of Azerbaijan, agrees that Armenians are most likely to encounter problems when they have to give away their identity in dealings with officialdom.

This includes, for example, applying for an ID card or a passport, or seeking restitution of property wrongfully seized during the turbulence of the late Eighties and early Nineties. "In fact it's whenever you have to show your passport: when you start work, engage in property transactions, apply for documents or pensions, or defend one’s interests in court,” added Zeinalov.

In the end, though, Zeinalov believes that "the experience of Armenians in Azerbaijan comes down to individual cases”.

THE INVISIBILITY FACTOR

In Armenia, human rights groups, including the ombudsman's office, say they do get approached for help by local Azerbaijanis.

“We work on ethnic minority issues, and the defence of minority rights. But we've never had a complaint or request from Azerbaijanis living in Armenia," said Mikael Danielian, chairman of the Armenian Helsinki Association. "I don’t know whether they really don’t have problems, or whether they avoid talking about their ethnicity.”

The head of the government's directorate for religious affairs and ethnic minorities, Hranush Kharatian, said the local Azerbaijanis "have the same problems as everyone else, the same as Armenians; there’s no difference. But they do always avoid talking to the press, to representatives of international organisations and even to Azerbaijanis who visit Armenia for seminars and conferences”.

DIFFERING ENVIRONMENTS SHAPE PERCEPTIONS

While the experiences of both minority groups have much in common, commentators in Yerevan and Baku noted that there were some differences, the result of how the minorities lived before the conflict, and how they were perceived after it.

Iskandarian recalled that in the old days, the Azerbaijanis in Armenia mainly lived in rural areas, generally clustered together in villages rather than dispersed. By contrast, Armenians in Azerbaijan (excluding Karabakh) were largely urban.

“Consequently, [in Armenia] there simply weren’t open clashes between Azerbaijanis and Armenians. It was a different situation,” said Iskandarian. “Azerbaijan lost the war. Consequently, the attitudes [to each group] are different.”

Yunus agrees that the outcome of the conflict made a difference, and that popular resentment over the loss of Karabakh remains strong in Azerbaijan.

“The attitude that Azerbaijanis have towards Armenians stems from the fact that they do not consider the war over and do not accept the status quo. In this respect, public opinion differs from the official government line," he said.

MEDIA FUEL HOSTILE ATTITUDES

To the extent that prejudice and hostility exist, much of the blame must be placed on the media.

“Certain media outlets are stoking revanchist attitudes in Azerbaijani society today," said Yunus.

In January-March 2005, the Yeni Nesil Association of Journalists in Azerbaijan, the Yerevan Press Club, and Georgia's Black Sea Press association conducted a joint survey of media in the South Caucasus, which concluded that "in the coverage of matters relating to regional neighbours, the most negative examples are to be found in the Azerbaijani and Armenian media. The media of both countries display aggression and clearly-expressed animosity”.

Huseinova blames her country's media for maintaining the image of Armenians as enemies over the years – a situation she now says is changing.

“Imagine seeing and hearing on TV every day that Armenians are your enemy and that you must annihilate them. That strikes fear into those Armenians who have stayed in Azerbaijan," she said. "But the situation has changed: in the last few years, the Armenians of Azerbaijan have not been afraid in the same way they were before.”

SUCCESS STORIES

A very few minority Armenians and Azerbaijanis have made successful careers without being shy about their origin.

Venera Najafova is one of them, and is certainly the only Armenian to become a human rights lawyer in Azerbaijan.

She closely identifies with Azerbaijanis, since she is married to one. “I love the Azerbaijanis. My son and daughter are Azerbaijani, so how could I not love my children?” she said.

“Where else would I go, and why? I have a wonderful family and I love my city."

In Armenia, Felix Aliev is well-known in sporting circles, where he has coached weight-lifters to Olympic standards for the last 35 years.

Felix Aliev is Azerbaijani on his father's side, a fact which has not deterred his many pupils, the most famous of whom is Yurik Sargsian, a world champion and Olympic silver medallist. His ethnic background seems more of a problem when it comes to representing Armenia abroad.

“He's an great coach. We all have a lot of respect for him," said the director of the sports school in Echmiadzin, the town where Aliev was born and still lives.

"But often he's not included in the national team, he never travels to competitions and never represents Armenia abroad. Yet he really is a first class professional.”

One of Aliev's daughters has taken her mother’s name, the other her husband’s, so as “to avoid too many questions”, says the sports coach. His son Vladek has his surname but has lived in Ukraine since 1989, although he married a local Armenian girl from Echmiadzin.

REUNITED AFTER 16 YEARS

For those still seeking to make contact with friends and relatives despite the frosty diplomatic atmosphere, there is now some hope. Nina Mehdieva and her daughter Nairi were reunited earlier this year under the Where Are You, Friends? project run by the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly, HCA, an international human rights group whose local branches facilitated the contacts.

“People on both sides of the conflict line were given the chance to find their friends, relations, neighbours... write letters, and arrange meetings,” explained Arzu Abdullaeva, who heads the Azerbaijani HCA committee.

HCA arranged two meetings between women who had been corresponding with one another. The meetings took place on neutral ground, in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

"This programme has made it possible for mothers to meet daughters, and for friends to meet each other,” said Marina Kazariants, a member of the HCA committee in Armenia.

Nairi recalls her meeting with Nina emotionally, “When I saw my mother I couldn’t believe my eyes. I couldn’t stop crying. I hugged my mother and didn’t need anything else – neither food nor drink. She joked and wanted to cheer me up. But it was enough just to be with her.

"She hugged me and asked, 'Nairi, is that you? 'It was like a dream.”

Soon after, Nina was able to visit her 94-year old-mother and her granddaughter –Nairi's daughter – in Yerevan.

“In a way we have been reunited. This meeting has given me the will to live,” said Nairi.

The names of the Mehdiev family members have been changed.

Zarema Velikhanova is an independent journalist in Baku. Marianna Grigorian is a correspondent for Armenia Now.

[Gavur]

IISS calls for taking new realities in Nagorno Karbakh

23.11.2005 12:36

YEREVAN (YERKIR) - The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (ISSS), has recently launched its new annual edition of the Military Balance 2005-2006.

The British experts note in parts that the Nagorno Karabakh issue continues to prevail in the politics of both Armenia and Azerbaijan and no significant changes have been made in the positions. The OSCE Minsk Group has no adequate means of settling the issue.
“Neither of the sides to the conflict takes into account that the realities in the disputed territory have changed. Political and social structures have been established and elections were held on June 19.”

The authors also voice concerns over the miniaturization of the region, and first of all in Georgia and Azerbaijan.
Analyzing the report, the Regnum analysts mention that it’s data on the military hardware are incomplete, mainly because Azerbaijan and Georgia hide the real number of their weaponry. In particular, it says that Azerbaijan has 220 tanks, while in reality that number is 500-520.

[Hovik]

Armenia Would Not Dare To De Jure Recognize Nagorno Karanakh, Vafa Guluzade Says

Armenia Would Not Dare To De Jure Recognize Nagorno Karanakh, Vafa Guluzade Says

Prime News Agency, Georgia
Nov. 24, 2005

Tbilisi. November 24 (Prime-News) - Armenia would not dare to de jure
recognize independence of Nagorno Karabakh, an Azerbaijani political
expert Vafa Guluzade said to Trend news agency.

Commenting the news by Armenian Mediamax about intention of Yerevan
to de jure recognize independence of the breakaway region in case the
parties were not able to reach an agreement in the nearest future,
as quoting the president of Armenia Robert Kocharian, Vafa Guluzade
said that it was an attempt to put pressure on Baku.

"A Russian trace can be detected in that. The fact that Russia could
not plunge Azerbaijan into despair like Uzbekistan, now it is Robert
Kocharian's turn to influence Azerbaijan, but they would not prevail",
Vafa Guluzade said.

A colleague of Vafa Guluzade, Aidin Mirzazade partially agreed
with him.

"If Armenia really wanted to de jure recognize independence of
Azerbaijan it would have done so. Armenia has been demanding the
international commonwealth for several years to de jure recognize
independence of the breakaway region. The president of Armenia, who
is well aware of strong determination of the government of Azerbaijan
about that issue, just undertook another attempt to gain what Armenia
is about and made such statement", he said.

According to him, the statement by the president of Armenia would be
a subject for the leading articles in the newspapers for several days
and would be forgotten soon.

"Thus it is an unserious and groundless idea", Aidin Mirzazade said.

[Gavur]

Oskanian: Karabakh Talks Underwent «Drastic Changes» during 10 Years

25.11.2005 10:19 GMT-08:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ During the past 10 years the talks over settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict underwent «drastic changes», Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian stated in Los Angeles. In his words, in case all parties to conflict have political will, «today we can undertake more specific steps to resolve the differences.» The Armenian FM remarked that confirmation of NK people's right and international recognition of that right is a basic principle of the settlement for Armenia. «After the conflict began international developments and processes of self-determination in various parts of the world radically changed the international community's attitude towards the issue in question. We witnessed declaration of independence of East Timor via referendum, signing of an agreement in Sudan, which ended a long-term conflict owing to an agreement over a referendum,» the Armenian FM said. Vartan Oskanian also reminded of the serious discussions of the prospect of holding a referendum on determination of the status of Kosovo.

«Politics and law experts increasingly recognize the opportunity and the actuality of exercising the right for self-determination if certain circumstances are available,» the Armenian FM added. In his words, the NK conflict essence lies in the territorial issue. «When the conflict began, there were no territories controlled by Armenians outside NK. These territories were taken under control of Armenia not only due to the differences over the NK status, but due to Azerbaijan trying to suppress the yearning to self-determination by force,» V. Oskanian summed up.

[Reincarnated Am]

Karabakh will have its own Constitution right after reforms of the Armenian one

The Constitution of Nagorno Karabakh, de-facto, will be similar to the Armenian Constitution, whatever it will be after November 27. “But we must prevent some mistakes and faults, that are presented in the Armenian constitution, which is being reformed right now,” said a trustee of the Compatriots Union “Alguli”, acolyte of Artsakh Eparchy of Armenian Apostolic Church and ex-member of the Nagorno Karabakh Parliament Ashot Sarkisyan.

According to him, after the referendum on amendments to the Armenian Constitution, which is to be held on November 27, Nagorno Karabakh will begin to create their own constitution with competence. “The word ‘constitution’ that in Armenian has a root meaning ‘border’ (‘sakhman’), has nothing to do with the reality, because in the Armenian constitution there isn’t a single word about Armenian borders, as the borders where Armenians live. The constitution of Nagorno Karabakh will surely contain a paragraph similar to the Federal Republic of Germany Constitution of 1949. The lands, conquered with the cost of lives of our patriots must be immortalized in the constitution,” noted the expert.

He also called “paradoxical” the fact that the Armenian Apostolic Church is recognized as the Armenian state church in the law “On the liberty of conscience and religious organizations” and not in the constitution. But one must note, that current constitution recognizes “exceptional mission of the Armenian Apostolic Church as a national church in the spiritual life of Armenian people, in development of its culture and perseverance of national originality”. But according to Sarkisyan, the constitution of Nagorno Karabakh must clearly state that Christianity is the state religion.

http://www.regnum.ru/english/polit/550063.html

[Reincarnated Am]

Armenian Foreign Minister Makes Stunning Statement

AssA-Irada 26/11/2005 12:32

Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oskanian has made a stunning statement, claiming that Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s region under occupation, is allegedly ‘an integral part of Armenia that will never be transferred to Azerbaijan’s jurisdiction’.


“It will never belong to Azerbaijanis, as Armenians in Karabakh and all over the world won’t allow this,” he said in an interview with a local television channel.

“In 1990s, the residents of Karabakh fought for their lands with bare hands. Karabakh is a part of Armenia, a land where Armenians’ forefathers have lived for centuries. It ended up within Azerbaijan only during the Soviet Union times”, Oskanian claimed.

Commenting on the statement, spokesman for the Azeri Foreign Ministry Tahir Taghizada said it is common knowledge that military action that took place in Nagorno Karabakh was not between Azerbaijan and Karabakh, which is an integral part of Azerbaijan. “Its seven districts were occupied as a result of aggression by Armenian armed forces,” he said.

Taghizada condemned Oskanian’s utterance capable of harming the peace process.

“Such statements amid regular meetings of Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents and foreign ministers within the Prague peace talks are based exclusively on Armenia’s domestic policy.”

Taghizada added that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs mediating the conflict resolution will adequately assess Oskanian’s statement.

http://www.bakutoday.net/view.php?d=15175

[Hovik]

Yushenko and Aliev Offended With Each Other

Source: PanARMENIAN.Net
URL: http://www.panarmenian.net/details/eng/?nid=604
Date: 24.11.2005 GMT+04:00


Yushenko and Aliev Offended With Each Other
Deterioration of relations between Kiev and Baku may result in Ukraine’s refusal to support Azerbaijan in the Karabakh problem.
The planned November 23 official visit of Ukrainian president Victor Yushenko to Azerbaijan was postponed for an uncertain period. Experts suppose that the postponed visit testifies to the worsening of relations between Azerbaijan and Ukraine who have considered each other strategic partners for already a long time.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Yushenko’s refusal to visit the capital of Azerbaijan may be caused by the deterioration of both interpersonal and intergovernmental relations, since there are strong grounds for both of the variants. The delay of the official visit is undoubtedly a demarche connected with Azerbaijan parliamentary elections that can hardly be called democratic. “We are going to request Victor Yushenko to refrain from visiting Azerbaijan”, said the representative of ruling “Our Ukraine” party, deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Katerinchuk who proved his appeal by the open neglect of democratic norms and human rights by the government of Azerbaijan. Another reason for the demarche was the decision of Baku leaders on the deportation of 16 Ukrainian observers who had arrived in Baku on the eve of parliamentary elections. Among deported were the chairman of the International Institute of Democracy Sergey Taran and member of the political council of “Pora” party Evgeny Zolotarev. Those people have had a significant input in the victory of “orange revolution” in Ukraine.
Ilham Aliev in his turn supposes that Victor Yushenko sponsors forces that provide direct support to Azeri revolutionists who strive to achieve change of power in Baku at any price. The president of Ukraine has a considerable influence on the leaders of “Pora” movement who openly criticize Aliev’s administration. One of the initiators of Ukrainian revolution Andrey Yusov recently announced that the movement is going support Azeri revolutionists till the victory of democracy. Ukrainian foreign ministry in its turn poured oil on the flames with an announcement mentioning about the serious violations taken place in the course of parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan. Baku leaders are also exasperated at the fact that the city administration of Kiev actually sanctioned a protest action in front of the embassy of Azerbaijan in Kiev. Participants of the demonstration accused Aliev in open falsifications and demanded cancellation of election results.
Relations between Kiev and Baku started deteriorating yet before the elections when despite Ilham Aliev’s expectations Ukrainian authorities did not arrest Rasul Guliev in Simferopol. At that time Kiev faced with a dilemma – strengthening of relations with the GUAM partner or the reputation of a fighter for democracy. It looks like Yushenko chose the second variant. Russian political scientists view this situation as an evidence of the upcoming collapse of GUAM. This opinion is held particularly by the chairman of the Institute of CIS Countries, deputy of State Duma Constantin Zatulin. Even if Zatulin exaggerates, it is quite obvious that the unity of four post-Soviet states will really weaken because of the deterioration of relations between Yushenko and Aliev.

This tendency may be of interest for Armenia since it is the political role of Ukraine that gives importance to doubtful GUAM initiatives connected with the regulation of conflicts on former USSR territories. Three out of four GUAM countries have conflicts. This is why they strive to use any international platforms for the internationalization of Abkhazian, South-Osetian, Prednestrovian and Karabakh conflicts. The readiness of Ukraine to follow the tastes of GUAM countries makes such initiatives quite serious. Being a partner of Baku Ukraine often spoke in international organizations from anti-Armenian positions. Recent contradictions between Ukraine and Azerbaijan may make Victor Yushenko to pursue a more balanced politics in the region.

[Hovik]

Karabakh For Revival Of Artsakh

KARABAKH FOR REVIVAL OF ARTSAKH

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]
Nov 29 2005

The money donated during the annual telethon on November 24 will
be directed at the reconstruction of destroyed settlements and the
economic development of the region of Martakert which suffered most
during the war. The Armenians of Karabakh also make their contribution
to the telethon. Donations in the republic began at the beginning
of November, and already hundreds of organizations, companies,
communities, educational institutions, and people have made their
donations. The preliminary results of the phonethon show that the
estimates were greatly exceeded. And this means that entire Artsakh
took part in the campaign. On November 22 about 85 million drams
(185 thousand US dollars) had been donated. Donations are going on.