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Subject: US concerned over Russia's growing presence in the So Caucasus - Az
`The US is concerned over Russia's growing presence in the South
Caucasus': Azeri press digest
www.regnum.ru/english/625801.html
16:46 04/21/2006
Mamed Suleymanov
The country that tries to solve the Karabakh problem by force will be
expelled from the Council of Europe, Azeri Press reports PACE
President Rene van der Linden as saying. Van der Linden does not
consider the CE membership possible for the country that would use
armed force to resolve the conflict, if a new war breaks out in
Nagorno Karabakh. In this case PACE will have to discuss the
possibility of that country's further membership in the CE. Van der
Linden urges the parties to the Karabakh conflict to stop their
bellicose statements and to realize that the conflict can be resolved
only by peaceful measures. Van der Linden also says that if Azerbaijan
holds non-democratic elections, the mandate of its PACE delegation
will be reviewed.
In his turn, head of the public and political department of the Azeri
president staff Ali Gasanov says: `If they in the Council of Europe
want to freeze the powers of our delegation, let them do that. But
nobody has the right to threaten us.' `Azerbaijan is an independent
state and has its own state interests. And nobody, including PACE
President Rene van der Linden, has the right to threaten us,' says
Gasanov. (Echo)
The two radar stations built in Azerbaijan with the US' support are
intended for strengthening the frontier control, Trend reports Azeri
Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov as saying in Washington. He says
that `those stations are part of our program to protect Azerbaijan's
state frontier.' Mamedyarov explains that the problem of frontier
control arose after the collapse of the Soviet Union. `Now we are an
independent state and must do it by ourselves, particularly, protect
our sector of the Caspian Sea. And here we certainly cooperate with
the US.' Mamedyarov confirms that in the framework of this cooperation
Washington provides Baku with special equipment. `All this equipment
will go into Azerbaijan's property.' He notes that the project to
build radar stations has no direct relation to the security of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and the energy projects in the
republic. `We do cooperate to ensure the security of the BTC, we have
several programs. But they are parts of the general measures to fight
terrorism and to protect oil platforms, as most of our oil comes from
the sea. We are interested in the US' experience, and the Americans
share it with us,' says Mamedyarov. He says that the Azeri-US military
cooperation is `quite good in principle.' `The US helps us to reform
our army so that we can face the present risks and challenges in the
region.' `In this context our cooperation is quite active,' says
Mamedyarov.
The US is concerned over Russia's growing presence in the South
Caucasus, US congressman, chairman of the sub-committee on foreign
assignments Jim Kolbe said at a news conference in Baku on April
13. One of the first questions was about Section 907 (Adopted in Oct
1992 and cancelled by the Senate in 2001, Section 907 of the Freedom
Support Act forbade the US government to provide direct assistance to
Azerbaijan because of that country's blockading Armenia and Nagorno
Karabakh ' REGNUM).
The author of the question called Kolbe the architect of the
section. Kolbe said right away that he is not. He said that now that
the Karabakh agreement is not far off, one can well take time with the
full abrogation of the section. But the next moment he said that after
the peace agreement the US Congress may provide financial assistance
for the recovery of the territories devastated by the conflict, says
Zerkalo.
The daily continues: `Explaining why Azerbaijan has not been involved
in the Millennium Challenge program, Kolbe said that the JCC criteria
were the quality of government and the rate of corruption in the
applicant countries. At the same time, he noted that Azerbaijan has
made certain progress in the above criteria. Concerning the
authoritarian growth of Russia's presence in the South Caucasus, Kolbe
said that the US is actually concerned over Russia's growing presence
in the region. But this growth is due to not only military but also
economic motives, and Russia, certainly, has ones in the region. In
conclusion, Kolbe said that the US supports the independence of the
region's countries and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the
Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline are the factors that will strengthen
their independence.' (Zerkalo)
Zerkalo concludes: `We must finally stop just declaring reforms. Only
by fully renouncing `National Declarativism' and by going from words
to actions in the democracy and market economy building, will
Azerbaijan be able to qualify for a full value role in the
Euro-Atlantic space. Only true reforms will make us real partners to
the US, who will help us to free Shusha from the Russian-Armenian
captivity¦'
The split in the Azeri opposition is the evidence of its weakness, the
head of the OCE office in Baku Maurizio Pavesi says on April 14. He
says that the OSCE is not going to arrange a dialogue between the
Azeri authorities and opposition. This process will be resumed
later. Concerning the Mar 13 parliamentary reelections in Azerbaijan,
Pavesi says that an OSCE mission, led by Ambassador Irens, will
monitor this process. (Trend)
`The authorities are enlarging the list of means that can be used in
dispersing rallies,' reports Real Azerbaijan. The objective of the
bill submitted by the presidential administration to the parliament is
to enlarge the list of means allowed for dispersing rallies and
pickets. The authors of the bill want to add to rubber clubs,
tear-gas, water-jets and dogs ` electric shock, rangers and rubber
bullets. They also propose allowing interior troops to take part in
the dispersal of illegal actions. The opposition MPs said that the
bill will, in fact, allow the authorities to legalize the measures
they have already used for dispersing rallies. For example, the
interior troops have already been used in such measures even though
the law says nothing about that. The oppositionists noted that such
measures might be good for riots in penitentiaries, but never for
peaceful rallies. After such criticism by the opposition, the
parliament decided to send the bill back to the authors for revision.
On April 13, the Azeri Committee against Tortures published its report
for 2005. The chairman of the committee Elchin Behbudov says that
80,000 people ` including political prisoners ' were tortured in Azeri
remand cells in 2005. Three persons died as a result: former candidate
for deputy Etibar Asadov, serviceman from Ganca Elnur Bagirov and
resident of Sumqayit Nadir Veliyev. 29 people arrested during the May
21, 2005 opposition rally were beaten in custody. The report also
gives the names of those who applied violence against citizens: the
investigator of the Baku municipal prosecutor's office Maherram
Azizbekov, the head of the 30th police department of Surahan district
Fuad Mamedov, deputy head of the police department of Zaqatali
district Javanshir Babayev, the employee of the Jalilabad district
police department Ibrahim Ibishev, the deputy head of the Saliani
district police department Mirzaga Gafarov, the employee of the Agdash
district police department Mehman Pashayev and the former warrant
officer of the N military unit of Terter district Altay Bayramov. The
ACAT's report gives a generally negative assessment of the custody
conditions in the Azeri jails. (Real Azerbaijan)
Azerbaijan-PACE
Bulgarian MP Alexander Arbajiyev has reported to PACE on the human
rights situation in the army. He says that human rights are violated
in many CE armies. He says that 5,000 Azeri soldiers have died of
various diseases and malnutrition. (Azeri Press)
Azeri delegate to PACE Elmira Akhundova says that the 5,000 toll in
the report is not true. This is unverified statistics by NGOs. She
admits that Azeri soldiers die on a daily basis but not of ailments or
hunger but from Armenian bullets. Akhundova advises to be careful with
some of the report's recommendations and objects to the proposal to
allow soldiers to join political parties. She says that in some
countries the call-up of women is undesirable due to local mentality
and historical traditions. (Echo)
Excerpts from the interview of military expert, former political
prisoner Janmirza Mirzoyev to Day.Az:
`Bulgarian MP Alexander Arbajiyev has verbally reported to PACE on the
human rights situation in the army. The section on Azerbaijan says
that 5,000 soldiers have died of various diseases and malnutrition in
the Azeri army. Is this figure true?'
Honestly, I have no such figure. I can just say that 800 dystrophic
youths were called up in 1996-2000. I am very careful with figures. In
my opinion, Arbajiyev's figure is very much.
And did anybody of those 800 youths die?
I have no precise figures. I just can say what I know. I know that 4
people died in the night of Nov 10-11 1998 ` reportedly of alimentary
dystrophy ` that is, of hunger. Later `alimentary dystrophy' was
replaced by `frostbite.' But there is an original document by
pathologist. Besides, a person suffering from alimentary dystrophy can
well die of cold, high temperature and also of frostbite¦"
`In the last 5 years I have visited Azerbaijan 25 times. I will not
take part in the parliamentary reelections because I am not satisfied
with the results of the past elections. There should have been
reelection in, at least, 50 districts. My long silence and absence
from Azerbaijan were due to this very fact. Sometimes, such composure
also takes strength,' the co-rapporteur of the PACE monitoring
committee on Azerbaijan Andreas Gross says in an interview to Azeri
Press. Asked if he is going to quit as co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan,
Gross reminds APA that some time ago he was declared almost persona
non grata by the Azeri authorities: `Then I observed the
referendum. They tried to turn me out as early as Aug 2002. The Azeri
government has long been appealing to the CE for stopping my
activities as co-rapporteur. But my mission can be stopped by me or my
colleagues. I will continue my work because I work, first of all, for
the benefit of the Azeri people.'
The statements on the necessity to defend the rights of national
minorities are used by some states as a tool of aggression against
other states, which is a form of Fascism, Trend reports Aydin
Mirzazadeh, member of parliamentary delegation of Azerbaijan to PACE,
as saying at the Assembly's session on preventing the dissemination of
the Fascism ideology. `Fascism is widely spreading in the world
today,' Mirzazadeh said.
`For instance, Armenia, covering its true intentions by the wish to
protect the rights of the Armenians living in Azerbaijan, has occupied
part of the country's territory and has expatriated over million of
people just because they were Azeris.' Mirzazadeh also mentioned the
devastation of numerous historical and cultural monuments by
Armenians. `They destroyed even monuments to well-known Azeri poets.'
Mirzazadeh urged the PACE MPs to come to Baku and to see with their
own eyes the shelled monuments. Mirzazadeh meant the fragments of the
statues of three Azeri dramatists, which were brought from Shusha and
mounted in front of the presidential residence. "The tolerance of such
steps by Armenia may become a precedent for the recurrence of such a
form of `Fascism,' Mirzazadeh said.
Azerbaijan-US
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev will meet with US President George Bush
in the White House Apr 28. While announcing the meeting in a
traditional morning briefing then-White House Press Secretary Scott
McClellan called Azerbaijan the US' `key ally' in a strategically
important region of the world and `a valuable partner on Iraq.'
(AzerTag)
Commenting on Aliyev's visit to the US, Real Azerbaijan says: `In late
April the neo-monarchic regime of Azerbaijan will finally `discover
America.' Unlike the former Azeri president, whom the White House gave
a vote of confidence and a wing of protection at once, the present one
faced paradoxical ambiguity from the very beginning. On the one hand,
the US authorities did their best to ensure succession of power in
Azerbaijan and have actively supported Ilham Aliyev's non-democratic
regime from the very first day of his `enthronement' (one example is
the last parliamentary elections), but, on the other hand, they have
demonstratively kept him away from the White House and have
permanently slated him in public for conducting policies that strongly
compromised the attractive inauguration calls of the US president.'
`The unexpected news about the forthcoming visit has been snatched by
all media and has inspired analysts into theorizing about why Aliyev
was invited to the US and why he was boycotted by Washington for so
long. This is the first official visit of the new Azeri president to
the leading world power. For several days the Azeri propaganda kept
hinting that the US experts have realized the importance of Aliyev's
visit. The ruling elite were just happy that the Bush team had finally
allowed the new Azeri president to visit the White House. This story
has `a strange prehistory,' where the Bush team was openly reluctant
to disavow `its complicity' in the enforcement and legitimization of
neo-monarchy. The point is that October 2003, the end of the
`scandalous' presidential election was, in fact, the birth of the
first post-Soviet neo-monarchy. Since then `to get an official
invitation from President Bush' has been a kind of `idee fixe' for
President Aliyev. Every year his team played the `supposed US visit'
game, but every time their wish to pass the desirable for reality came
to grief: for over two years the Azeri president failed to find the
key to the gate of the White House,' says Real Azerbaijan.
`The key question we should find an answer to is: why has Washington
ignored the reality of Aliyev's presidency for so long and why does it
want to meet with him now, after one more electoral disgrace?
Probably, after the fiasco of the Paris peacemaking initiative, Bush's
experts have got ambitious to show their imperial will for actually
resolving the Armenian-Azeri conflict. Lately the US experts have kept
saying that the problem can and even must be solved this year. Quite
naturally. With the launch of the strategic Baku-Ceyhan and
Baku-Erzerum pipelines in the offing, the US is hurrying to bring the
Karabakh conflict under its control and to enforce its peaceful
resolution for reducing the risks of the global energy projects. The
White House's `Karabakh initiative' is also due to the US'
`anti-Tehran plans': before its possible war with Iran, the Bush
administration wants to settle or freeze all the other conflicts along
the Iranian border so as to minimize other threats and to avoid
unnecessary surprises. The media are already rumoring about some
`special peacemaking project,' a plan by the Americans to force the
conflicting parties into mutual concessions. And so, they interpret
Aliyev's forthcoming visit to the US as an indirect proof of that. The
`Iranian version' is also convincing. This version says that Bush
wants to force his satellite into implicit obedience in his
blitzkrieg. Moreover, the very fact that Aliyev was invited to
Washington (that he is no longer an `unwanted guest') is interpreted
by many as a proof that Baku has accepted Washington's terms on Iran
(and possibly on Karabakh too).'
"Some Azeri analysts say that the invitation is due to the US' wish to
stop Azerbaijan's re-Sovetization and the constantly growing Russian
influence on the country. The US experts may well be worried lest
Azerbaijan might follow Uzbekistan's example of geo-political
transformation and may just want to show the whole world that our
country is still the US' strategic partner and that this partnership
cannot be replaced by the neo-Soviet friendship between Putin and
Aliyev. The `offended' regime is getting increasingly neo-Soviet,
reactionary and corrupt and sometimes even shows some dangerous
`geo-political flirt' with Moscow and Tehran. So, the White House may
have revised its strategy on Aliyev: it may have decided to temper
justice with mercy and to keep the Azeri neo-monarchy on as short a
leash as possible so as to provide against any possible `geo-political
betrayal¦' (Real Azerbaijan)
Azerbaijan-Armenia. Karabakh problem
`The Azeri authorities will give the green-light to the mission of the
European Parliament's 10-experts, sent to Armenia to investigate the
alleged destruction of an Armenian cemetery in Naxcivan, only if a
two-sided investigation is held,' says the head of the public and
political department of the Azeri president staff Ali Gasanov. He says
that the proposal to send a mission to Naxcivan was made by a British
MP: `Azerbaijan is open for all. We want the whole world to know what
atrocities Armenians committed in Azerbaijan and what Azeris did in
Armenia. But this must be done on a mutual basis. Why are the European
Parliament experts checking the places of alleged destruction of
Armenian monuments but are closing their eyes on the destruction of
our cultural pearls in Shusha and elsewhere? We suggest setting up an
EP fact-finding mission for examining the occupied and not occupied
territories of Azerbaijan and the territory of Armenia. But we will
object if they hold such an investigation only in Naxcivan.' (Echo)
`We can't decide for your two countries. These will be very difficult
decisions to make, as no peace agreement can be 100% good for both
sides. But I can say that there is a solution that can justify the
hopes of both sides by more than 50% and even by 80%. But the final
decision is up to your presidents and governments,' the French
co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Bernard Fassier says at a news
conference in Baku on April 11. On behalf of the MG, he regrets that
the meeting in France has given no results. `2005 was very hard, we
held many meetings and talks to resolve the Karabakh conflict. As a
result, we determined the key principles of the peace agreement. The
presidents were supposed to agree on the remaining principles. But
unfortunately they didn't.' (Zerkalo)
During the PACE spring session the chairman of the PACE ad hoc
committee on Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Lord Russell-Johnston
expressed his concern over the possibility of a new war in the
Karabakh conflict zone. He noted that the formation of the PACE
committee on Karabakh does not mean that PACE is going to become a
full mediator in the peace process. He said that the OSCE MG has
professionally mediated in the process for already 10 years and the CE
can hardly replace it therein. `Our task is to provide the OSCE MG
co-chairs with any necessary assistance,' Johnston said. (Azeri Press)
The Halotrust organization, registered in the US and the UK, is
engaged in illegal activities in the occupied Azeri lands under the
guise of mine clearance, says the first secretary of the Embassy of
Azerbaijan in Belgium Fuad Gumbatov. He says that by its statements
and official activities The Halotrust questions the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan: `We know for sure that The Halotrust has been
founded by retired officers and that representatives of that
organization hold military trainings with Armenians in Karabakh.'
Gumbatov urges `all patriots of Azerbaijan' to come out against the
activities of that organization. (Azeri Press)
Azerbaijan and Armenia have undertaken similar commitments to resolve
the Karabakh conflict by peace, CE Secretary General Terry Davis says
in an interview to Azeri Press. He says that if Azerbaijan tries to
solve the problem by war, it will grossly violate the commitments it
undertook when joining the CE. Davis is sure that Azerbaijan will
honor its commitments. Otherwise, it will face big difficulties.
Subject: US concerned over Russia's growing presence in the So Caucasus - Az
`The US is concerned over Russia's growing presence in the South
Caucasus': Azeri press digest
www.regnum.ru/english/625801.html
16:46 04/21/2006
Mamed Suleymanov
The country that tries to solve the Karabakh problem by force will be
expelled from the Council of Europe, Azeri Press reports PACE
President Rene van der Linden as saying. Van der Linden does not
consider the CE membership possible for the country that would use
armed force to resolve the conflict, if a new war breaks out in
Nagorno Karabakh. In this case PACE will have to discuss the
possibility of that country's further membership in the CE. Van der
Linden urges the parties to the Karabakh conflict to stop their
bellicose statements and to realize that the conflict can be resolved
only by peaceful measures. Van der Linden also says that if Azerbaijan
holds non-democratic elections, the mandate of its PACE delegation
will be reviewed.
In his turn, head of the public and political department of the Azeri
president staff Ali Gasanov says: `If they in the Council of Europe
want to freeze the powers of our delegation, let them do that. But
nobody has the right to threaten us.' `Azerbaijan is an independent
state and has its own state interests. And nobody, including PACE
President Rene van der Linden, has the right to threaten us,' says
Gasanov. (Echo)
The two radar stations built in Azerbaijan with the US' support are
intended for strengthening the frontier control, Trend reports Azeri
Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov as saying in Washington. He says
that `those stations are part of our program to protect Azerbaijan's
state frontier.' Mamedyarov explains that the problem of frontier
control arose after the collapse of the Soviet Union. `Now we are an
independent state and must do it by ourselves, particularly, protect
our sector of the Caspian Sea. And here we certainly cooperate with
the US.' Mamedyarov confirms that in the framework of this cooperation
Washington provides Baku with special equipment. `All this equipment
will go into Azerbaijan's property.' He notes that the project to
build radar stations has no direct relation to the security of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and the energy projects in the
republic. `We do cooperate to ensure the security of the BTC, we have
several programs. But they are parts of the general measures to fight
terrorism and to protect oil platforms, as most of our oil comes from
the sea. We are interested in the US' experience, and the Americans
share it with us,' says Mamedyarov. He says that the Azeri-US military
cooperation is `quite good in principle.' `The US helps us to reform
our army so that we can face the present risks and challenges in the
region.' `In this context our cooperation is quite active,' says
Mamedyarov.
The US is concerned over Russia's growing presence in the South
Caucasus, US congressman, chairman of the sub-committee on foreign
assignments Jim Kolbe said at a news conference in Baku on April
13. One of the first questions was about Section 907 (Adopted in Oct
1992 and cancelled by the Senate in 2001, Section 907 of the Freedom
Support Act forbade the US government to provide direct assistance to
Azerbaijan because of that country's blockading Armenia and Nagorno
Karabakh ' REGNUM).
The author of the question called Kolbe the architect of the
section. Kolbe said right away that he is not. He said that now that
the Karabakh agreement is not far off, one can well take time with the
full abrogation of the section. But the next moment he said that after
the peace agreement the US Congress may provide financial assistance
for the recovery of the territories devastated by the conflict, says
Zerkalo.
The daily continues: `Explaining why Azerbaijan has not been involved
in the Millennium Challenge program, Kolbe said that the JCC criteria
were the quality of government and the rate of corruption in the
applicant countries. At the same time, he noted that Azerbaijan has
made certain progress in the above criteria. Concerning the
authoritarian growth of Russia's presence in the South Caucasus, Kolbe
said that the US is actually concerned over Russia's growing presence
in the region. But this growth is due to not only military but also
economic motives, and Russia, certainly, has ones in the region. In
conclusion, Kolbe said that the US supports the independence of the
region's countries and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the
Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline are the factors that will strengthen
their independence.' (Zerkalo)
Zerkalo concludes: `We must finally stop just declaring reforms. Only
by fully renouncing `National Declarativism' and by going from words
to actions in the democracy and market economy building, will
Azerbaijan be able to qualify for a full value role in the
Euro-Atlantic space. Only true reforms will make us real partners to
the US, who will help us to free Shusha from the Russian-Armenian
captivity¦'
The split in the Azeri opposition is the evidence of its weakness, the
head of the OCE office in Baku Maurizio Pavesi says on April 14. He
says that the OSCE is not going to arrange a dialogue between the
Azeri authorities and opposition. This process will be resumed
later. Concerning the Mar 13 parliamentary reelections in Azerbaijan,
Pavesi says that an OSCE mission, led by Ambassador Irens, will
monitor this process. (Trend)
`The authorities are enlarging the list of means that can be used in
dispersing rallies,' reports Real Azerbaijan. The objective of the
bill submitted by the presidential administration to the parliament is
to enlarge the list of means allowed for dispersing rallies and
pickets. The authors of the bill want to add to rubber clubs,
tear-gas, water-jets and dogs ` electric shock, rangers and rubber
bullets. They also propose allowing interior troops to take part in
the dispersal of illegal actions. The opposition MPs said that the
bill will, in fact, allow the authorities to legalize the measures
they have already used for dispersing rallies. For example, the
interior troops have already been used in such measures even though
the law says nothing about that. The oppositionists noted that such
measures might be good for riots in penitentiaries, but never for
peaceful rallies. After such criticism by the opposition, the
parliament decided to send the bill back to the authors for revision.
On April 13, the Azeri Committee against Tortures published its report
for 2005. The chairman of the committee Elchin Behbudov says that
80,000 people ` including political prisoners ' were tortured in Azeri
remand cells in 2005. Three persons died as a result: former candidate
for deputy Etibar Asadov, serviceman from Ganca Elnur Bagirov and
resident of Sumqayit Nadir Veliyev. 29 people arrested during the May
21, 2005 opposition rally were beaten in custody. The report also
gives the names of those who applied violence against citizens: the
investigator of the Baku municipal prosecutor's office Maherram
Azizbekov, the head of the 30th police department of Surahan district
Fuad Mamedov, deputy head of the police department of Zaqatali
district Javanshir Babayev, the employee of the Jalilabad district
police department Ibrahim Ibishev, the deputy head of the Saliani
district police department Mirzaga Gafarov, the employee of the Agdash
district police department Mehman Pashayev and the former warrant
officer of the N military unit of Terter district Altay Bayramov. The
ACAT's report gives a generally negative assessment of the custody
conditions in the Azeri jails. (Real Azerbaijan)
Azerbaijan-PACE
Bulgarian MP Alexander Arbajiyev has reported to PACE on the human
rights situation in the army. He says that human rights are violated
in many CE armies. He says that 5,000 Azeri soldiers have died of
various diseases and malnutrition. (Azeri Press)
Azeri delegate to PACE Elmira Akhundova says that the 5,000 toll in
the report is not true. This is unverified statistics by NGOs. She
admits that Azeri soldiers die on a daily basis but not of ailments or
hunger but from Armenian bullets. Akhundova advises to be careful with
some of the report's recommendations and objects to the proposal to
allow soldiers to join political parties. She says that in some
countries the call-up of women is undesirable due to local mentality
and historical traditions. (Echo)
Excerpts from the interview of military expert, former political
prisoner Janmirza Mirzoyev to Day.Az:
`Bulgarian MP Alexander Arbajiyev has verbally reported to PACE on the
human rights situation in the army. The section on Azerbaijan says
that 5,000 soldiers have died of various diseases and malnutrition in
the Azeri army. Is this figure true?'
Honestly, I have no such figure. I can just say that 800 dystrophic
youths were called up in 1996-2000. I am very careful with figures. In
my opinion, Arbajiyev's figure is very much.
And did anybody of those 800 youths die?
I have no precise figures. I just can say what I know. I know that 4
people died in the night of Nov 10-11 1998 ` reportedly of alimentary
dystrophy ` that is, of hunger. Later `alimentary dystrophy' was
replaced by `frostbite.' But there is an original document by
pathologist. Besides, a person suffering from alimentary dystrophy can
well die of cold, high temperature and also of frostbite¦"
`In the last 5 years I have visited Azerbaijan 25 times. I will not
take part in the parliamentary reelections because I am not satisfied
with the results of the past elections. There should have been
reelection in, at least, 50 districts. My long silence and absence
from Azerbaijan were due to this very fact. Sometimes, such composure
also takes strength,' the co-rapporteur of the PACE monitoring
committee on Azerbaijan Andreas Gross says in an interview to Azeri
Press. Asked if he is going to quit as co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan,
Gross reminds APA that some time ago he was declared almost persona
non grata by the Azeri authorities: `Then I observed the
referendum. They tried to turn me out as early as Aug 2002. The Azeri
government has long been appealing to the CE for stopping my
activities as co-rapporteur. But my mission can be stopped by me or my
colleagues. I will continue my work because I work, first of all, for
the benefit of the Azeri people.'
The statements on the necessity to defend the rights of national
minorities are used by some states as a tool of aggression against
other states, which is a form of Fascism, Trend reports Aydin
Mirzazadeh, member of parliamentary delegation of Azerbaijan to PACE,
as saying at the Assembly's session on preventing the dissemination of
the Fascism ideology. `Fascism is widely spreading in the world
today,' Mirzazadeh said.
`For instance, Armenia, covering its true intentions by the wish to
protect the rights of the Armenians living in Azerbaijan, has occupied
part of the country's territory and has expatriated over million of
people just because they were Azeris.' Mirzazadeh also mentioned the
devastation of numerous historical and cultural monuments by
Armenians. `They destroyed even monuments to well-known Azeri poets.'
Mirzazadeh urged the PACE MPs to come to Baku and to see with their
own eyes the shelled monuments. Mirzazadeh meant the fragments of the
statues of three Azeri dramatists, which were brought from Shusha and
mounted in front of the presidential residence. "The tolerance of such
steps by Armenia may become a precedent for the recurrence of such a
form of `Fascism,' Mirzazadeh said.
Azerbaijan-US
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev will meet with US President George Bush
in the White House Apr 28. While announcing the meeting in a
traditional morning briefing then-White House Press Secretary Scott
McClellan called Azerbaijan the US' `key ally' in a strategically
important region of the world and `a valuable partner on Iraq.'
(AzerTag)
Commenting on Aliyev's visit to the US, Real Azerbaijan says: `In late
April the neo-monarchic regime of Azerbaijan will finally `discover
America.' Unlike the former Azeri president, whom the White House gave
a vote of confidence and a wing of protection at once, the present one
faced paradoxical ambiguity from the very beginning. On the one hand,
the US authorities did their best to ensure succession of power in
Azerbaijan and have actively supported Ilham Aliyev's non-democratic
regime from the very first day of his `enthronement' (one example is
the last parliamentary elections), but, on the other hand, they have
demonstratively kept him away from the White House and have
permanently slated him in public for conducting policies that strongly
compromised the attractive inauguration calls of the US president.'
`The unexpected news about the forthcoming visit has been snatched by
all media and has inspired analysts into theorizing about why Aliyev
was invited to the US and why he was boycotted by Washington for so
long. This is the first official visit of the new Azeri president to
the leading world power. For several days the Azeri propaganda kept
hinting that the US experts have realized the importance of Aliyev's
visit. The ruling elite were just happy that the Bush team had finally
allowed the new Azeri president to visit the White House. This story
has `a strange prehistory,' where the Bush team was openly reluctant
to disavow `its complicity' in the enforcement and legitimization of
neo-monarchy. The point is that October 2003, the end of the
`scandalous' presidential election was, in fact, the birth of the
first post-Soviet neo-monarchy. Since then `to get an official
invitation from President Bush' has been a kind of `idee fixe' for
President Aliyev. Every year his team played the `supposed US visit'
game, but every time their wish to pass the desirable for reality came
to grief: for over two years the Azeri president failed to find the
key to the gate of the White House,' says Real Azerbaijan.
`The key question we should find an answer to is: why has Washington
ignored the reality of Aliyev's presidency for so long and why does it
want to meet with him now, after one more electoral disgrace?
Probably, after the fiasco of the Paris peacemaking initiative, Bush's
experts have got ambitious to show their imperial will for actually
resolving the Armenian-Azeri conflict. Lately the US experts have kept
saying that the problem can and even must be solved this year. Quite
naturally. With the launch of the strategic Baku-Ceyhan and
Baku-Erzerum pipelines in the offing, the US is hurrying to bring the
Karabakh conflict under its control and to enforce its peaceful
resolution for reducing the risks of the global energy projects. The
White House's `Karabakh initiative' is also due to the US'
`anti-Tehran plans': before its possible war with Iran, the Bush
administration wants to settle or freeze all the other conflicts along
the Iranian border so as to minimize other threats and to avoid
unnecessary surprises. The media are already rumoring about some
`special peacemaking project,' a plan by the Americans to force the
conflicting parties into mutual concessions. And so, they interpret
Aliyev's forthcoming visit to the US as an indirect proof of that. The
`Iranian version' is also convincing. This version says that Bush
wants to force his satellite into implicit obedience in his
blitzkrieg. Moreover, the very fact that Aliyev was invited to
Washington (that he is no longer an `unwanted guest') is interpreted
by many as a proof that Baku has accepted Washington's terms on Iran
(and possibly on Karabakh too).'
"Some Azeri analysts say that the invitation is due to the US' wish to
stop Azerbaijan's re-Sovetization and the constantly growing Russian
influence on the country. The US experts may well be worried lest
Azerbaijan might follow Uzbekistan's example of geo-political
transformation and may just want to show the whole world that our
country is still the US' strategic partner and that this partnership
cannot be replaced by the neo-Soviet friendship between Putin and
Aliyev. The `offended' regime is getting increasingly neo-Soviet,
reactionary and corrupt and sometimes even shows some dangerous
`geo-political flirt' with Moscow and Tehran. So, the White House may
have revised its strategy on Aliyev: it may have decided to temper
justice with mercy and to keep the Azeri neo-monarchy on as short a
leash as possible so as to provide against any possible `geo-political
betrayal¦' (Real Azerbaijan)
Azerbaijan-Armenia. Karabakh problem
`The Azeri authorities will give the green-light to the mission of the
European Parliament's 10-experts, sent to Armenia to investigate the
alleged destruction of an Armenian cemetery in Naxcivan, only if a
two-sided investigation is held,' says the head of the public and
political department of the Azeri president staff Ali Gasanov. He says
that the proposal to send a mission to Naxcivan was made by a British
MP: `Azerbaijan is open for all. We want the whole world to know what
atrocities Armenians committed in Azerbaijan and what Azeris did in
Armenia. But this must be done on a mutual basis. Why are the European
Parliament experts checking the places of alleged destruction of
Armenian monuments but are closing their eyes on the destruction of
our cultural pearls in Shusha and elsewhere? We suggest setting up an
EP fact-finding mission for examining the occupied and not occupied
territories of Azerbaijan and the territory of Armenia. But we will
object if they hold such an investigation only in Naxcivan.' (Echo)
`We can't decide for your two countries. These will be very difficult
decisions to make, as no peace agreement can be 100% good for both
sides. But I can say that there is a solution that can justify the
hopes of both sides by more than 50% and even by 80%. But the final
decision is up to your presidents and governments,' the French
co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Bernard Fassier says at a news
conference in Baku on April 11. On behalf of the MG, he regrets that
the meeting in France has given no results. `2005 was very hard, we
held many meetings and talks to resolve the Karabakh conflict. As a
result, we determined the key principles of the peace agreement. The
presidents were supposed to agree on the remaining principles. But
unfortunately they didn't.' (Zerkalo)
During the PACE spring session the chairman of the PACE ad hoc
committee on Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Lord Russell-Johnston
expressed his concern over the possibility of a new war in the
Karabakh conflict zone. He noted that the formation of the PACE
committee on Karabakh does not mean that PACE is going to become a
full mediator in the peace process. He said that the OSCE MG has
professionally mediated in the process for already 10 years and the CE
can hardly replace it therein. `Our task is to provide the OSCE MG
co-chairs with any necessary assistance,' Johnston said. (Azeri Press)
The Halotrust organization, registered in the US and the UK, is
engaged in illegal activities in the occupied Azeri lands under the
guise of mine clearance, says the first secretary of the Embassy of
Azerbaijan in Belgium Fuad Gumbatov. He says that by its statements
and official activities The Halotrust questions the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan: `We know for sure that The Halotrust has been
founded by retired officers and that representatives of that
organization hold military trainings with Armenians in Karabakh.'
Gumbatov urges `all patriots of Azerbaijan' to come out against the
activities of that organization. (Azeri Press)
Azerbaijan and Armenia have undertaken similar commitments to resolve
the Karabakh conflict by peace, CE Secretary General Terry Davis says
in an interview to Azeri Press. He says that if Azerbaijan tries to
solve the problem by war, it will grossly violate the commitments it
undertook when joining the CE. Davis is sure that Azerbaijan will
honor its commitments. Otherwise, it will face big difficulties.