Armenialiberty.org reports on the plight of the 3 Armenian army conscripts accused last year of murdering two fellow soldiers in Karabagh. Whilst the military prosecutors charged the soldiers with murder,one of the conscripts claimed he was forced into confession through torture, and subsequently withdrew his “confession”

Human rights groups have been criticising the trial for a long time, and many believe it was a cover up and the soldiers were infact murdered by Captain Ivan Grigorian, the commander of their unit, and a war veteran. The conscripts were believed to be “scapegoats” for a military cover up.

The soldiers have staged hunger strikes, and protests, and are in very poor health. But it seems justice has been done, and the appeals court ordered the verdict as invalid and the soldiers are free.

This shocked me to a degree, as we are so used to perverted justice in Armenia. I wonder is this a genuine ruling against the military prosectors ( the first in Armenia’s history) or does it have deeper meaning? Perhaps a pre election publicity stunt, although I believe this would be an unlikely explanation.

Any comments?

Go Jemma Go!

Dr. Jemma Hasratian works as President for the Armenian Association of Women with University Education / AAWUE Center for Gender Studies and holds a Ph.D. in Education. She works also for the Armenian National Committee of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) .

Jemma Hasratyan’s engagement in peace building activities was triggered by the Karabakh conflict. Aware of the need for armed hostilities to stop, she became active in women’s dialogue and in a women’s association that was one of the first women’s NGOs established after Armenia gained independence. Within this framework, Jemma persevered in carrying out a dialogue with Azeri women. This took place during the most difficult years of military hostility, when all and any dialogue-oriented efforts seemed to be unrealistic and even dangerous.

Jemma was nominated, with 999 other women, for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.

Here was the idea:

Millions of women work day in day out to promote peace. They care for survivors, help with reconstruction and initiate a new culture of peace. To represent these millions, it is our aim that in the year 2005 a thousand women shall collectively receive the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts in pursuit of peace. This political prize will show that the work they do is valuable and exemplary.

I know this is old news, but it popped up in a blog search today and I wanted to share.

During his November 9 visit to Armenia, NATO South Caucasus Liaison Officer Romualds Razuks declared that NATO is ready to deploy peacekeeping forces to the South Caucasus, if necessary. Razuks stressed that any potential deployment would be within the context of the OSCE Minsk group negotiation process and would be possible only if both Armenia and Azerbaijan agree to it.

Jamestown has an odd collection of quotes on this topic…

Where the heck would they go?

He’s speaking at the Carnegie Foundation. Details here and here.

Since that powerful Serzh is out of town, another powerful Serj came to visit. The other Serj is Serj, lead singer of System of a Down.

He met with FM Oskanyan. I’m not joking. Seriously.

Serzh has a busy schedule. He was in Kansas today! I was wondering what he’d be up to while in the USA!

A delegation led by Armenian Defense Minister and National Security Council Secretary Serzh Sarkisian on Monday held meetings with the adjutant-general of the US state of Kansas, National Guards Head, Major-General Todd Banting and Vice-Governor Dennis More.

Who cares.

During the Sarkisian-Banting meeting the sides reportedly discussed issues related to bilateral cooperation both in the sphere of peacekeeping and military medicine.

What does Kansas know about peace keeping?

We are open in the matter of providing you with any expertise and assistance. I simply want to tell you that we also learn things from you,” Vice-Governor Dennis More emphasized.

Perhaps how to eat khash or do a circle dance, but other than that, what does Armenia have to teach Kansas about?

Argh. Here’s the RFE/RL link.

Serzh “Mr. Orange” Sargysan will be in DC this week. Anyone going to hear him speak?

The Minister of Defense of Armenia and Secretary of the Presidential National Security Council, Mr. Serzh Sargysan, will discuss “Armenia and Developments in the South Caucasus: A Security Perspective.”

Serzh was just in Ukraine and now in the USA? He is becoming a democratic animal!

TOL/Eurasianet has a story on this shift this week.

Check out this excerpt:

Sarkisian also outlined for the first time “defense reforms” that he said will stem from Yerevan’s growing engagement with Western powers and security structures. He said those reforms will result, among other things, in greater civilian control of the Armenian military. The existing organizational structure of Armenia’s Defense Ministry and armed forces essentially mirrors that of the former Soviet defense apparatus, with army officers holding just about every ministerial position. Armenian Foreign Ministry officials have complained that such a system is anachronistic and hampers closer cooperation with NATO.

Caucuz.com has an interview with Ariel Cohen regarding the U.S. military base in Azerbaijan.

Here are some highlights:

Today, the priority for Washington is to determine if the US needs to carry out an active policy in Eurasia or if, on the other hand, they should limit their presence to the absolute minimum in order to focus on the Middle East, in particular Iraq, before worrying about Central Asia and Caucasus.

This debate is ongoing in Washington. Many experts have been discussing the subject and have recommended different approaches. However, for as long as this debate remains open and unresolved, I think that the probability of establishing an American military base in Azerbaijan is slim.

Armenia is not located in the Caspian-Black Sea corridor. Besides that, Yerevan is a member of the CSTO (the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, created on 30 April 2003 during the Dushanbe summit and which is largely dominated by Moscow) and they maintain historical and privileged relations with Russia as well as with Iran. All these factors put Armenia aside and out of the enclosed circle of America’s favourite allies in the region.

In addition, Armenia is not only under the influence of South Caucasian geo-political realities, but also under that of a very powerful pro-Armenia lobby group in the US. Therefore, the relations between Washington and Yerevan are more bilateral than integrated and interdependent of American strategies in the region.

As most of you know, Uzbekistan has requested that the U.S. get out of an airbase in the country. The U.S. is going to need to look elsewhere to house its troops in the region. A number of different sources have named Azerbaijan as a possibility, due in part to the number of recent visits by high ranking U.S. officials and the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister’s recent visit to Washington.

The base currently houses 1,500 military personnel, 30 military helicopters and F-15 and F-16 fighters. In support of operations in Afghanistan U.S. aircraft made 50-60 daily sorties from the base during the military action in Afghanistan. The base also plays an important logistical support role for heavy aircraft ferrying cargo and fuel to U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Is the base moving to Azerbaijan? With the upcoming elections, I doubt it.

But if the base moves to Azerbaijan, what will that mean for Armenia? More on this later.

Registan is also covering this story and has more details on the base itself and Uzbekistan. [1] [2]

more…

Oh, Armenia… why do you do such silly things sometimes?

RFE/RL has quotes from an interview with the Chief of the Military Intelligence Service, Basentsi Azoyan that says:

Armenia ‘Immune To Terrorist Attacks’

“I am confident that no terrorist acts and especially international terrorist acts will take place in Armenia.”

Sure, Armenia is pretty safe, but don’t taunt the terrorist/extremist groups, Baso. Remember when Osama Bin Laden got involved with NK? What about the mujahedin? They know where Armenia is.

What about the PKK in Turkey? Extremist in Iran?

Armenia may not be a target, but there are certainly some folks in the neighborhood capable of doing some damage.

I don’t think that ordinary Armenian citizens need to live in fear. I think I’m safer in Armenia than in Vermont (and Vermont is one of the safest U.S. states!).

And just when you weren’t worried:

“There have been numerous attempts by sabotage or intelligence groups to enter Armenia,” he said. “There have even been cases where some agents reached Yerevan. But they were all exposed and rendered harmless.”

The official claimed that the most recent such incident took place last year. But he refused to given any details.

Oh Baso!

In addition to an earlier post by Katy, on July 29 the Government of Uzbekistan formally asked the U.S. to evacuate the base.

According to BBC,

The notice to leave Karshi-Khanabad air base, known as K2, was given to the US embassy in the Uzbek capital on Friday.

A Pentagon spokesman said the US was “evaluating the note to see exactly what it means”.

A hint for the Pentagon: it means “get out.” This was predictable though. Close cooperation and cozying up to the Karimov regime (known among other things for boiling its opponents, shooting 800+ people in Andijan, and selecting the 15th century ogre Tamerlane as the national hero of Uzbekistan) was not compatible with Bush’s pledge not to work with tyrannies, most recently given in his second inaugural. The Bush people may not take their own words seriously, but Karimov did - he thought U.S. is out there to get him.

Why is relevant for Armenia? The South Caucasus, including Armenia, is an overflight zone for U.S. aircraft en route to Afghanistan. They will now have to go elsewhere (maybe in our region?), or abandon this route completely.

We have posted quite a lot on Vova Arutyunian in Georgia and his adventures in breeding hamsters and throwing grenades at Bush. Now the Georgian newspapers report that a suspect in February terrorist explosion in Gori was formerly a high-ranking military intelligence officer in the Azeri Army.

According to Rezonansi (as reported by Civil Georgia),

Anatoly Sysoev was born in 1950 in Tbilisi and served in the Soviet, and then Russian military intelligence (GRU). In 1992 he officially resigned from service, but left for Azerbaijan the same year and participated in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in 1992-1995 as a head of field intelligence of the Azerbaijani field artillery.

Civil Georgia reported earlier that

Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili alleged on July 25 that agents of Russia’s Main Intelligence Administration (GRU - Glavnoye Razvedovatelnoye Upravlenie) were behind a car bomb explosion in Gori on February 1, which resulted in death of three Georgian policemen.

He said that the law enforcers arrested in the South Ossetian conflict zone two persons who are suspected in carrying out this terrorist act. Merabishvili said that the third person, with links to this explosion is also arrested.

“According to our information, year and half ago colonel of the Russia’s GRU Anatoly Sisoev has set up a group of saboteurs, which, according to our information was trained on the territory of Russia… This group has carried out the terrorist act here in Gori,” Merabishvili said at a news conference which was held in Gori.

Information on Sysoev can be found here:
Azeri “Ekho” newspaper (in English)
Azerbaijan Monitor Newspaper (in Russian)

It isn’t Armenia, sure, but the status of American military bases in the neighborhood certainly is topical.

The New York Times did a Q&A on these bases today.

The United States maintains two bases in Central Asia, one each in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, for its postwar operations in Afghanistan. A regional group led by Russia and China has pressured the United States to remove its forces from Central Asia. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in response to recent political tension over the issue with leaders in both Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, traveled to Central Asia July 25 to discuss the U.S. military’s arrangements in the region. The United States says the bases are necessary for its efforts in Afghanistan and claims it does not intend to have a permanent presence in the region.

more…

U.S. Embassy in Armenia posted a press release about U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick visiting the Armenian troops in Iraq.

Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick departed July 6, 2005 on a trip to Sudan, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq in his third trip to the region in 12 weeks. While at Camp Charlie, Hillah on July 12, Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick thanked Armenian troops for their service in Iraq.

It’s interesting that Armenian Government’s official line was that our mission in Iraq is purely humanitarian but as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Here stand our guys, with guns and all ready to go.

more…

The OSCE Lennmarker Report is up today.

The title itself says a lot “A Golden Opportunity — Some Ideas on the NK Conflict.”

There are 31 points made. Here are some highlights from points 1-18:

2. The alternative of a new war is unthinkable. It would bring new misery, new refugees, and more dead and injured. Whatever trust there is will be lost.

3. Thus, there is an urgent need to find a solution in order to end the personal, economic, and social suffering on both sides. It is important to stress that time is not working in favour of any of the sides.

Obvious, but important to state openly.
_______

Then there are a number of points about how the “norms and values of Europe” are what the solution should be based on and how it can inspire a more permanent solution (also referred to later in point 14). The report basically says, “Hey, Europe’s been through a lot of stuff and has dealt with many conflicts. Respect the experience that Europe brings to the table.
_______

Next the report says, “Hey, Armenia and Azerbaijan, it isn’t either of your faults that the borders of NK were drawn incorrectly, so get over it. The Soviet Union is history, so let’s move on.”
_______

Then the report lets us know that Armenia is concerned with national security (and are Turkophobes, thanks to the past.) Azerbaijan is angry because of the occupation of land. Again, obvious, but important to get it out in the open. WE WILL NOT BE PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE.
_______

The report recommends a “truth and reconciliation committee” because of the different interpretations of history. Sounds smart!
_______

15. A lasting peace must be based on a win-win concept where both Armenia and Azerbaijan come out better. This can only be achieved in a dynamic integration process where national security, democracy, and prosperity are simultaneously enhanced for both parties. This process must happen through co-operation rather than through external pressure. Lasting
cooperation must be voluntary and no-one forced to participate.

_______

17. Experience from European integration points to four central elements that must be satisfied.
• First: participating countries must feel that their national security is not at risk. A secure neighbour means security for oneself.
• Second: high standards of democracy, human rights, and minority rights must be respected. This makes it possible to develop trust in the governments of other countries. Undemocratic governments are inherently unstable.
• Third: economic integration builds a common strong interdependence through shared prosperity, and this is the most solid basis for development, since it affects the whole population. There are no reasons why the citizens of Armenia and Azerbaijan should not enjoy a good European standard of living.
• Fourth: freedom of movement for individuals further underpins integration, particularly for young people.

And NATO and PfP, OSCE, EU, etc. all must support these above four points.
_______

part II

part I

Highlights of points 19-31.

Build, with Georgia, a nicer neighborhood.
_______

The media, the government and the people must be part of the process and everyone needs to be on the same page. If opposition groups fight what is done or the media doesn’t support it, everything could fall apart. They also mention “influential groups abroad.” Hmmm…
_______

A number of points cover demilitarization efforts. Land mine removal, interational forces to protect the demilitarized zone, etc. Any thoughts on this one?
_______

Roads, rail, and all borders will open up.
_______

Returned property and refugee/IDP returns are briefly mentioned but not explicited discussed.
_______

28. The status of Nagorno-Karabakh is at the very center of the conflict. If a solution based on modern integration is found between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it will be far easier to find a solution to the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Open borders and an integrated economy will make control of territory less important and thus less controversial.

Sure, if Armenia and Azerbaijan are integrated, sure, NK’s status is less of an issue. But there are so many people for whom this IS the entire issue. The economic implications, etc. are not a part of NK at all, I think that many people believe. Seeing the forest through the trees, I suppose.
_______

29. Nagorno-Karabakh itself wants to be an independent state. However, the wider Caucasus area has numerous small populations. The breaking up of the area into very small independent states is seen as dangerous and thus not an alternative. This is why the international community is not prepared to grant independence to the various regions in the area, including Nagorno-Karabakh. A possible option, however, remains an arrangement in which Nagorno-Karabakh affiliates with Armenia. This could take many different forms. Armenia desires security for Nagorno-Karabakh, and this would form the highest degree of security.

AFFLILIATES? What the heck does that mean?

30. Separation is one possibility. Autonomy is another. Is it really possible in real life to make an autonomy solution work to both sides advantage? As a Swede I have to say yes out of experience….

Now that could be interesting.

31. Azerbaijan wants, within itself and based on European experience, to give Nagorno-Karabakh the highest degree of autonomy that exists in the world, which – should it be the case – demands a lot: Azerbaijan would have to make Nagorno-Karabakh feel really welcome and not be seen as a conquered enemy or occupied territory. The first step would then be to establish mutual direct contacts. Nagorno-Karabakh would have to be able to keep its identity, and its population would have to be convinced that their rights will be protected by a reliable and independent legal system within Azerbaijan. A very high degree of autonomy would
demand substantial financial support that would put strains on the national budget of
Azerbaijan.

Great point — Azerbaijan couldn’t handle NK. But could Armenia either?

That’s our initial commentary… more to come!

For FY 2006 the U.S. House of Representatives is giving both Armenia and Azerbaijan US$5 million. The Senate version and the House version will have to be reconciled but it looks like this is going to pass through.

PanArmenian coverage
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