Tweet
Eurasia Daily Monitor -- The Jamestown Foundation
April 12, 2012 -- Volume 9, Issue 73
IN THIS ISSUE
President-elect Putin sees increasing political opposition to his rule
Azeri SOCAR is poised to lead foreign direct investment in Turkey
while `Forest Brothers' launch attacks in Azerbaijan on eve of Eurovision contest
Belarusians grow more cynical rather than supportive of the Lukashenka regime
------------------------------
Azerbaijani Jamaat Cooperates With Caucasus Emirate
The Republic of Azerbaijan is inarguably one of the fastest developing
countries in the post-Soviet space. Large revenues from exports of oil and
gas have obscured all of the problems of this Caucasian republic. As in all
other republics of the Caucasus, there are also acute, unresolved issues in
Azerbaijan that it inherited from the former USSR. The deadlock over talks
on the future of Karabakh, the Lezgin ethnic group divided by the
Russian-Azeri border, Avar enclaves in northern Azerbaijan and the Sunni
minority are among the main problems.
However, the security services' operation against radical Muslims in the
city of Ganja in the northwestern part of Azerbaijan has attracted the most
attention recently. Ganja is situated in the Ganja-Kazakh lowlands in the
northeastern foothills of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range and is very
close to the North Caucasus. Ganja is Azerbaijan's second largest city in
terms of area and third largest in terms of population. On April 6, clashes
took place between Azeri Ministry for National Security forces and a group
of militants who ended up killing one member of Azerbaijan's elite
special forces. The militants were called different things in different
media outlets, including `Forest Brothers,' `Salafis,' `Wahhabis' and so on
(http://ummanews.com/news/kavkaz/6377-2012-04-07-10-45-42.html).
The very first news from the site of the clashes indicated the significance
of the incident. Despite severe censorship, the government failed to hide
the losses sustained by the Ministry for National Security forces,
including the killing of Lieutenant Colonel Elshad Veli oglu Guliev (
www.trend.az/news/incident/2011429.html). The Azeri version of events,
which says that government forces attacked the rebels because they had
received information about the arrival of Salafis and their preparations
for a terrorist attack in Ganja, does not appear to hold up. The residents
of the house where the militants stayed said the suspects had been there
for a long time and had caused no trouble (
www.radioazadlyg.org/content/article/24539448.html). Yet, the authorities
decided to storm their apartment building on Tebriz Street on April 6. As a
result, three people on the government side were killed and three to five
were wounded, while one militant was killed and two wounded. Two people
were arrested during the operation in Ganja: 25-year-old Amir Muradov, a
native of Gusar district who had Sumgait as his place of permanent
residence; and Faik Sultanov, a resident of the Nizami district of Baku and
a student at the Academy of Physical Education (
www.regnum.ru/news/polit/1518530.html).
Following the firefight in Ganja authorities in Azerbaijan on April 7 began
mass arrests of people suspected of involvement in or sympathy for radical
Islam. The arrests were carried out in the border areas with Russia, as
well as in Baku, Ganja, Sumgait and Gakh. Ammunition and illegal literature
calling for jihad (holy war) were confiscated (
www.radioazadlyg.org/content/article/24540144.html). It should be noted
that special operations against jamaat members are carried out in the north
of the country on a regular basis (http://janarmenian.ru/news/4229.html).
These areas are populated mainly by Azerbaijan's Sunni minority and natives
of Dagestan. It is no coincidence that the city of Sumgait, one of the
larger suburbs of Baku, is mentioned frequently, because it has been the
place of residence for many people of Dagestani origin since the Soviet
period, when the city was promoted as a multicultural project. Cases of
conversion from Shiism to Sunnism are increasingly common among the youth.
By default, the authorities tend to regard such cases as the equivalent of
adopting radical Islamic teachings, which is hardly the correct way to deal
with the issue (http://iwpr.net/ru/report-news, April 14, 2011).
The latest operation by Azerbaijan's security services illuminated a
problem that has been persistently suppressed by the country's authorities:
the fact that Azerbaijan's jamaat closely cooperates with the North
Caucasian jamaats - the so-called Caucasus Emirate, the organization of the
North Caucasian armed resistance.
Azerbaijan's jamaat was founded in Sumgait when Ildar Mollachiev (aka Emir
Abdul-Mejid) was still was in charge of the Dagestani jamaat. Mollachiev,
who became Emir in September 2007, came from the city of Zagatala in
northern Azerbaijan and was an ethnic Tsakhur, a Sunni ethnic group that
resides on both sides of the Azeri-Russian border that is closely related
to the Lezghians. The Azerbaijani Tsakhurs live mainly in the region of
Zagatala and Kakh, a multi-national zone full of small ethnicities, such as
the Tsakhurs, Ingiloy and Tabasars.
To provide a base of support in Azerbaijan for his operations, Mollachiev
set up an organization in Sumgait in 2008 that subsequently closely
cooperated with the North Caucasian jamaats, although it has been
completely independent from them. In Azerbaijan, this jamaat is called the
`Forest Brothers,' but more correctly it should be called the `Sumgait
Jamaat,' since it started off in Sumgait and then spread to other regions
of Azerbaijan (www.centrasia.ru/newsA.php?st=1239135120).
Members of this jamaat are persecuted across the republic. Thus, in 2011,
some of its members were charged with serious crimes, including a bomb
attack on the Abu-Bekr mosque in Baku on August 17, 2008 (
www.rosbalt.ru/exussr/2009/06/29/651007.html). Twenty-six members of the
jamaat received various sentences at the conclusion of the trial, and this
was not the only case of sentencing of members of an Azerbaijani jamaat.
Azerbaijan's authorities face not only the presence on its territory of a
jamaat that sympathizes with the militarized North Caucasian resistance
movement, but also a more delicate issue, which is the conflict between the
Shia and Sunni branches of Islam. The vast majority of Azerbaijanis are
Shias and, after gaining independence in 1991, the number of Shias in
Azerbaijan was estimated to be 85 percent (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Azerbaijan). However, in recent years
this gap reportedly has been narrowing and according to some estimates the
total number of Shias in Azerbaijan has dropped to 70 percent. By language,
culture and spiritual proximity, Azerbaijan is much closer to Sunni Turkey
than to Shia Iran. This divide makes Azerbaijan a target for both Iran and
Turkey, and the friction between the Shia and the Sunni makes the country
particularly vulnerable to its neighbors. That is why the Azeri authorities
are trying to limit information about the Azerbaijani jamaat in the best
traditions of the Soviet period.
Thus, the authorities' actions in Ganja should be regarded as confirmation
of the existence of a jamaat (aka the `Forest Brothers') that closely
cooperates with the North Caucasian armed resistance. This organization is
very dynamic and has multiple cells not only in the north of the country,
but also in Baku, Sumgait and Ganja. In the future we should expect more
government actions aimed at uprooting the structure that was established by
Dagestani militant leader Ildar Mollachiev in 2008, particularly as
Azerbaijan moves closer and closer to the Eurovision contest at the end of
May. Increasingly there are signs in Islamic forums that some militant
group in Azerbaijan might pose a threat to the thousands of foreigners who
will descend upon Baku (http://ummanews.ru/feedback.html).
--Mairbek Vatchagaev
Azerbaijan's Petkim Takeover To Overhaul Turkey's Petrochemical Industry
Azerbaijan's State Oil Company (SOCAR) is poised to become the largest
direct foreign investor in Turkey. According to company president, Rovnag
Abdullayev, and foreign investment department chief Vahit Aliyev, SOCAR
plans to invest $17 billion in Turkey in 2012-2017, concentrated on two
flagship projects: construction of the Trans-Anatolia Gas Pipeline and
expansion of the petrochemicals holding Petkim (Today.Az, Trend, April 4,
10, 12).
SOCAR recently acquired the majority of shares in the Izmir-based
Petrokimya (Petkim) Holding. This is the sole large producer of plastics of
all descriptions, packaging materials, fabrics, dyes and detergents, in
Turkey's market of 80 million people. Petkim currently covers about one
quarter of Turkish demand for those chemical products. Dependent on
imported oil derivatives for raw materials, Petkim's production is not
among the most competitive. SOCAR's investment program aims to supply
Petkim directly with oil-based raw materials from a refinery of its own,
boost Petkim's output and its competitiveness, increase its internal market
share to as much as 70 percent, expand into Near Eastern markets, and turn
Petkim's port near Izmir into Turkey's largest logistics center (1News.Az,
Trend, April 4, 5).
Azerbaijan's state oil company acquired control of Petkim Holding through
two competitive bids: 51 percent for $2.04 billion in 2008 (through the
SOCAR-Turcas joint venture, renamed SOCAR-Turkey Energy since then); and
another 10 percent for $169 million in March 2012, for a total of 61
percent and the operating rights. SOCAR's subsidiary, SOCAR-Turkey Energy,
holds those shares (while 39 percent of the shares remain in free-float)
(Anatolia news agency, April 1).
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyp Erdogan and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Alyiev jointly made the final political decision to launch this project. On
October 25, 2011, Alyiev and Erdogan broke ground for construction of the
Star Refinery near Izmir. The overall site, Aliaga, is scheduled for
development as Turkey's most modern manufacturing and trading hub on the
Aegean-Mediterranean coast.
The refinery is designed for a processing capacity of 10 million tons of
oil per year; construction of the first stage is planned for completion by
2015. Attached to it, a technical industrial lyceum named after Haydar
Aliyev is planned to train a local work force.
SOCAR expects to invest approximately $7 billion in the overall project,
including $5.5 billion for the two-stage construction of the Star Refinery.
Of this amount, Baku plans to raise $2.5 billion from export-crediting
banks of countries that will deliver the oil-refining equipment; $1.5
billion from commercial loans; and another $1.5 billion from the
shareholders themselves (mainly, SOCAR's equity capital). (1News.Az, Trend,
April 10).
A state-of-the-art port is planned for construction by APM Terminals at
this site. In February of this year, Petkim and its fully-owned subsidiary,
Petkim Port [Turkish: Petkim Liman (Petlim)], signed a framework agreement
with APM Terminals to build and operate this port in Aliaga, a natural
deep-water site. A. P. Moller-Maersk (APM) is a Netherlands-based affiliate
of the Danish Moller-Maersk, a world leader for port and terminal
operations and container transportation.
The plan for Aliaga envisages a vertically integrated,
refinery-petrochemicals-energy-logistics complex, to become operational by
2015 (with the oil refinery's first stage). In Turkey, overall, the
development of modern port capacities lags behind the country's rapid
industrial development. Petkim's port is designed to become the largest
integrated logistics center in Turkey for petrochemicals, container, and
general cargo transportation, under the agreement with APM Terminals
(Journal of Commerce, February 13).
Azerbaijan's other flagship investment project in Turkey is the
Trans-Anatolia Gas Pipeline (TANAP). The investment is estimated at $5
billion to $6 billion for the first stage of construction and operation.
Under the December 26, 2011 inter-governmental memorandum of intent, SOCAR
shall hold 80 percent of the shares and the operating rights; Turkey's
state pipeline company Botas, 10 percent; and Turkish Petroleum another 10
percent. SOCAR has the right to sell shares to possible minority partners,
out of its 80 percent package; but shall in any case retain the majority of
shares and operating rights. SOCAR's own investment shall be proportionate
with its shares in the project. TANAP is designed for a first-stage
capacity of 16 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Azerbaijani gas per year from
2017 onward, with possible expansion up to 30 bcm per year in a follow-up
stage.
With these projects, Azerbaijan is surging to the top of foreign direct
investors in Turkey's high-growth economy. SOCAR's capacity to invest in
projects of Petkim's and TANAP's magnitude testifies to its effective use
of oil revenues for re-investment in other projects, only four or five
years after oil revenues had begun accruing to Baku.
Azerbaijan's west-oriented oil export strategy turned Turkey into an oil
transit country, albeit without the means to invest in Turkey at that time.
Now emerging as a gas exporter with the same west-oriented strategy,
Azerbaijan is turning Turkey into a gas transit country - as well as
overhauling Turkey's petro-chemical sector. Turkey had long aspired to
become a transit country for both oil and gas pipelines. Thus far, only
Azerbaijan makes this possible. Additionally, Azerbaijan's investment in
the Georgian section of the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railroad, expected for
completion by November 2012, will connect Baku and Ankara within an
inter-continental transport system. These developments are apt to reinforce
Turkish-Azerbaijani political solidarity on all issues of regional
importance.
--Vladimir Socor
From: A. Papazian
April 12, 2012 -- Volume 9, Issue 73
IN THIS ISSUE
President-elect Putin sees increasing political opposition to his rule
Azeri SOCAR is poised to lead foreign direct investment in Turkey
while `Forest Brothers' launch attacks in Azerbaijan on eve of Eurovision contest
Belarusians grow more cynical rather than supportive of the Lukashenka regime
------------------------------
Azerbaijani Jamaat Cooperates With Caucasus Emirate
The Republic of Azerbaijan is inarguably one of the fastest developing
countries in the post-Soviet space. Large revenues from exports of oil and
gas have obscured all of the problems of this Caucasian republic. As in all
other republics of the Caucasus, there are also acute, unresolved issues in
Azerbaijan that it inherited from the former USSR. The deadlock over talks
on the future of Karabakh, the Lezgin ethnic group divided by the
Russian-Azeri border, Avar enclaves in northern Azerbaijan and the Sunni
minority are among the main problems.
However, the security services' operation against radical Muslims in the
city of Ganja in the northwestern part of Azerbaijan has attracted the most
attention recently. Ganja is situated in the Ganja-Kazakh lowlands in the
northeastern foothills of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range and is very
close to the North Caucasus. Ganja is Azerbaijan's second largest city in
terms of area and third largest in terms of population. On April 6, clashes
took place between Azeri Ministry for National Security forces and a group
of militants who ended up killing one member of Azerbaijan's elite
special forces. The militants were called different things in different
media outlets, including `Forest Brothers,' `Salafis,' `Wahhabis' and so on
(http://ummanews.com/news/kavkaz/6377-2012-04-07-10-45-42.html).
The very first news from the site of the clashes indicated the significance
of the incident. Despite severe censorship, the government failed to hide
the losses sustained by the Ministry for National Security forces,
including the killing of Lieutenant Colonel Elshad Veli oglu Guliev (
www.trend.az/news/incident/2011429.html). The Azeri version of events,
which says that government forces attacked the rebels because they had
received information about the arrival of Salafis and their preparations
for a terrorist attack in Ganja, does not appear to hold up. The residents
of the house where the militants stayed said the suspects had been there
for a long time and had caused no trouble (
www.radioazadlyg.org/content/article/24539448.html). Yet, the authorities
decided to storm their apartment building on Tebriz Street on April 6. As a
result, three people on the government side were killed and three to five
were wounded, while one militant was killed and two wounded. Two people
were arrested during the operation in Ganja: 25-year-old Amir Muradov, a
native of Gusar district who had Sumgait as his place of permanent
residence; and Faik Sultanov, a resident of the Nizami district of Baku and
a student at the Academy of Physical Education (
www.regnum.ru/news/polit/1518530.html).
Following the firefight in Ganja authorities in Azerbaijan on April 7 began
mass arrests of people suspected of involvement in or sympathy for radical
Islam. The arrests were carried out in the border areas with Russia, as
well as in Baku, Ganja, Sumgait and Gakh. Ammunition and illegal literature
calling for jihad (holy war) were confiscated (
www.radioazadlyg.org/content/article/24540144.html). It should be noted
that special operations against jamaat members are carried out in the north
of the country on a regular basis (http://janarmenian.ru/news/4229.html).
These areas are populated mainly by Azerbaijan's Sunni minority and natives
of Dagestan. It is no coincidence that the city of Sumgait, one of the
larger suburbs of Baku, is mentioned frequently, because it has been the
place of residence for many people of Dagestani origin since the Soviet
period, when the city was promoted as a multicultural project. Cases of
conversion from Shiism to Sunnism are increasingly common among the youth.
By default, the authorities tend to regard such cases as the equivalent of
adopting radical Islamic teachings, which is hardly the correct way to deal
with the issue (http://iwpr.net/ru/report-news, April 14, 2011).
The latest operation by Azerbaijan's security services illuminated a
problem that has been persistently suppressed by the country's authorities:
the fact that Azerbaijan's jamaat closely cooperates with the North
Caucasian jamaats - the so-called Caucasus Emirate, the organization of the
North Caucasian armed resistance.
Azerbaijan's jamaat was founded in Sumgait when Ildar Mollachiev (aka Emir
Abdul-Mejid) was still was in charge of the Dagestani jamaat. Mollachiev,
who became Emir in September 2007, came from the city of Zagatala in
northern Azerbaijan and was an ethnic Tsakhur, a Sunni ethnic group that
resides on both sides of the Azeri-Russian border that is closely related
to the Lezghians. The Azerbaijani Tsakhurs live mainly in the region of
Zagatala and Kakh, a multi-national zone full of small ethnicities, such as
the Tsakhurs, Ingiloy and Tabasars.
To provide a base of support in Azerbaijan for his operations, Mollachiev
set up an organization in Sumgait in 2008 that subsequently closely
cooperated with the North Caucasian jamaats, although it has been
completely independent from them. In Azerbaijan, this jamaat is called the
`Forest Brothers,' but more correctly it should be called the `Sumgait
Jamaat,' since it started off in Sumgait and then spread to other regions
of Azerbaijan (www.centrasia.ru/newsA.php?st=1239135120).
Members of this jamaat are persecuted across the republic. Thus, in 2011,
some of its members were charged with serious crimes, including a bomb
attack on the Abu-Bekr mosque in Baku on August 17, 2008 (
www.rosbalt.ru/exussr/2009/06/29/651007.html). Twenty-six members of the
jamaat received various sentences at the conclusion of the trial, and this
was not the only case of sentencing of members of an Azerbaijani jamaat.
Azerbaijan's authorities face not only the presence on its territory of a
jamaat that sympathizes with the militarized North Caucasian resistance
movement, but also a more delicate issue, which is the conflict between the
Shia and Sunni branches of Islam. The vast majority of Azerbaijanis are
Shias and, after gaining independence in 1991, the number of Shias in
Azerbaijan was estimated to be 85 percent (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Azerbaijan). However, in recent years
this gap reportedly has been narrowing and according to some estimates the
total number of Shias in Azerbaijan has dropped to 70 percent. By language,
culture and spiritual proximity, Azerbaijan is much closer to Sunni Turkey
than to Shia Iran. This divide makes Azerbaijan a target for both Iran and
Turkey, and the friction between the Shia and the Sunni makes the country
particularly vulnerable to its neighbors. That is why the Azeri authorities
are trying to limit information about the Azerbaijani jamaat in the best
traditions of the Soviet period.
Thus, the authorities' actions in Ganja should be regarded as confirmation
of the existence of a jamaat (aka the `Forest Brothers') that closely
cooperates with the North Caucasian armed resistance. This organization is
very dynamic and has multiple cells not only in the north of the country,
but also in Baku, Sumgait and Ganja. In the future we should expect more
government actions aimed at uprooting the structure that was established by
Dagestani militant leader Ildar Mollachiev in 2008, particularly as
Azerbaijan moves closer and closer to the Eurovision contest at the end of
May. Increasingly there are signs in Islamic forums that some militant
group in Azerbaijan might pose a threat to the thousands of foreigners who
will descend upon Baku (http://ummanews.ru/feedback.html).
--Mairbek Vatchagaev
Azerbaijan's Petkim Takeover To Overhaul Turkey's Petrochemical Industry
Azerbaijan's State Oil Company (SOCAR) is poised to become the largest
direct foreign investor in Turkey. According to company president, Rovnag
Abdullayev, and foreign investment department chief Vahit Aliyev, SOCAR
plans to invest $17 billion in Turkey in 2012-2017, concentrated on two
flagship projects: construction of the Trans-Anatolia Gas Pipeline and
expansion of the petrochemicals holding Petkim (Today.Az, Trend, April 4,
10, 12).
SOCAR recently acquired the majority of shares in the Izmir-based
Petrokimya (Petkim) Holding. This is the sole large producer of plastics of
all descriptions, packaging materials, fabrics, dyes and detergents, in
Turkey's market of 80 million people. Petkim currently covers about one
quarter of Turkish demand for those chemical products. Dependent on
imported oil derivatives for raw materials, Petkim's production is not
among the most competitive. SOCAR's investment program aims to supply
Petkim directly with oil-based raw materials from a refinery of its own,
boost Petkim's output and its competitiveness, increase its internal market
share to as much as 70 percent, expand into Near Eastern markets, and turn
Petkim's port near Izmir into Turkey's largest logistics center (1News.Az,
Trend, April 4, 5).
Azerbaijan's state oil company acquired control of Petkim Holding through
two competitive bids: 51 percent for $2.04 billion in 2008 (through the
SOCAR-Turcas joint venture, renamed SOCAR-Turkey Energy since then); and
another 10 percent for $169 million in March 2012, for a total of 61
percent and the operating rights. SOCAR's subsidiary, SOCAR-Turkey Energy,
holds those shares (while 39 percent of the shares remain in free-float)
(Anatolia news agency, April 1).
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyp Erdogan and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Alyiev jointly made the final political decision to launch this project. On
October 25, 2011, Alyiev and Erdogan broke ground for construction of the
Star Refinery near Izmir. The overall site, Aliaga, is scheduled for
development as Turkey's most modern manufacturing and trading hub on the
Aegean-Mediterranean coast.
The refinery is designed for a processing capacity of 10 million tons of
oil per year; construction of the first stage is planned for completion by
2015. Attached to it, a technical industrial lyceum named after Haydar
Aliyev is planned to train a local work force.
SOCAR expects to invest approximately $7 billion in the overall project,
including $5.5 billion for the two-stage construction of the Star Refinery.
Of this amount, Baku plans to raise $2.5 billion from export-crediting
banks of countries that will deliver the oil-refining equipment; $1.5
billion from commercial loans; and another $1.5 billion from the
shareholders themselves (mainly, SOCAR's equity capital). (1News.Az, Trend,
April 10).
A state-of-the-art port is planned for construction by APM Terminals at
this site. In February of this year, Petkim and its fully-owned subsidiary,
Petkim Port [Turkish: Petkim Liman (Petlim)], signed a framework agreement
with APM Terminals to build and operate this port in Aliaga, a natural
deep-water site. A. P. Moller-Maersk (APM) is a Netherlands-based affiliate
of the Danish Moller-Maersk, a world leader for port and terminal
operations and container transportation.
The plan for Aliaga envisages a vertically integrated,
refinery-petrochemicals-energy-logistics complex, to become operational by
2015 (with the oil refinery's first stage). In Turkey, overall, the
development of modern port capacities lags behind the country's rapid
industrial development. Petkim's port is designed to become the largest
integrated logistics center in Turkey for petrochemicals, container, and
general cargo transportation, under the agreement with APM Terminals
(Journal of Commerce, February 13).
Azerbaijan's other flagship investment project in Turkey is the
Trans-Anatolia Gas Pipeline (TANAP). The investment is estimated at $5
billion to $6 billion for the first stage of construction and operation.
Under the December 26, 2011 inter-governmental memorandum of intent, SOCAR
shall hold 80 percent of the shares and the operating rights; Turkey's
state pipeline company Botas, 10 percent; and Turkish Petroleum another 10
percent. SOCAR has the right to sell shares to possible minority partners,
out of its 80 percent package; but shall in any case retain the majority of
shares and operating rights. SOCAR's own investment shall be proportionate
with its shares in the project. TANAP is designed for a first-stage
capacity of 16 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Azerbaijani gas per year from
2017 onward, with possible expansion up to 30 bcm per year in a follow-up
stage.
With these projects, Azerbaijan is surging to the top of foreign direct
investors in Turkey's high-growth economy. SOCAR's capacity to invest in
projects of Petkim's and TANAP's magnitude testifies to its effective use
of oil revenues for re-investment in other projects, only four or five
years after oil revenues had begun accruing to Baku.
Azerbaijan's west-oriented oil export strategy turned Turkey into an oil
transit country, albeit without the means to invest in Turkey at that time.
Now emerging as a gas exporter with the same west-oriented strategy,
Azerbaijan is turning Turkey into a gas transit country - as well as
overhauling Turkey's petro-chemical sector. Turkey had long aspired to
become a transit country for both oil and gas pipelines. Thus far, only
Azerbaijan makes this possible. Additionally, Azerbaijan's investment in
the Georgian section of the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railroad, expected for
completion by November 2012, will connect Baku and Ankara within an
inter-continental transport system. These developments are apt to reinforce
Turkish-Azerbaijani political solidarity on all issues of regional
importance.
--Vladimir Socor
From: A. Papazian