FIGHTING ROCKS AZERBAIJAN VILLAGE

Residents of a village with Islamist sympathies are in defiant mood, several days after police opened fire on local protestors

By Zaur Mamedov in Nardaran and Lia Bairamova in Baku

Police opened fire on angry protestors in a village close to Baku this week, leaving one man dead and dozens wounded, in violent clashes of a scale unseen in Azerbaijan for several years.

While the villagers blamed the fighting on police aggression against unarmed civilians and the authorities accused the village of harbouring Islamic extremists, many observers were in agreement in regarding the violence as a symptom of rising discontent with the governing regime of President Heidar Aliev.

Tensions began on the morning of Monday June 3, when hundreds of soldiers and interior ministry troops with dogs entered Nardaran, a village some 40 km north of Baku on the Caspian Sea coast. Nardaran, which has 7,000 inhabitants, is well known for its strong Islamist sympathies and is the site of a famous Muslim shrine.

People in Nardaran have twice held protest rallies this year. They have put forward a series of demands for improvements in social conditions, including the building and repair of roads, regular gas and electricity supplies and the provision of new jobs.

An IWPR correspondent was in the village from Sunday evening until Monday afternoon and saw the trouble develop. Before the police arrived, eight village elders had set off for a meeting with the regional prosecutor about the appointment of a new representative from the village to the Sabunchi region. The villagers wanted to see their own local candidate, Inayat Rustamov, in the post rather than the official appointee Fazilet Mirzoyev.

"We want the representative from the village for the Sabunchi region to be a man respected by the whole of Nardaran," said Haji Mursal, an elder who remained in the village. "We want to choose our own head. That's not illegal is it?"

However, news later reached the village that the delegation of elders had been arrested. The villagers delivered an ultimatum for them to be freed within two days, threatening to respond with unspecified radical measures if their demands were not met.

By midday, hundreds of villagers had gathered in the central square of Nardaran to voice their complaints. However, all was quiet until darkness fell and additional security forces arrived.

The police took the decision to attack the demonstrators at the very moment that they were heeding the call to prayer and heading to the mosque for evening worship. Fighting erupted when between 150 and 200 enraged men of all ages rushed towards the police, despite warnings that they were about to open fire. Shots rang out and several men crashed to the ground. The crowd became even angrier and threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the officers.

At one point the protestors managed to push back the police cordons, overturning their cars and setting them alight. The clashes continued for several hours, after which the security forces began to leave the village. When relatives began to take the wounded to hospital they were arrested and taken away; the exact number of detainees is unknown. After that, the Nardaranis decided to treat their wounded - estimated to number around 20, some of them with serious injuries - at home.

An official statement by Azerbaijan's interior ministry and prosecutor's office the next day declared that, "in the course of rioting four police cars were burned and eight more were destroyed, 35 policemen received serious injuries. As a result of the shooting, one local resident, Alihasan Agayev, was killed."

When the fighting ended, Nardaran continued its defiance and declared three days of mourning. Alihasan Agayev was declared a shehid, or martyr, "in the fight against Heidar Aliev's regime". Villagers erected barricades of burnt-out cars on the roads leading to the centre of the village, keeping the security forces out.

The villagers continued their rallies, demanding the release of arrested elders and that action be taken against the Sabunchi region's chief prosecutor. "Until the men guilty of the death of Alihasan Agayev are punished, Nardaran will not submit to the official authorities," said Haji Mursal.

"We have all the means we need to respond to the police," said Hussein, a young man in Nardaran. "But so far our elders have not allowed us to do that. Let someone try to attack Nardaran today. No one will stop us and the blood of our martyr will not remain unavenged."

Two days after the fighting, several hundred men were still reported to be demonstrating in the central square, which had been spread with carpets and flowers in honour of the casualties from the fighting. The authorities appeared to take the events very seriously and sought to prevent Nardaran's defiance spreading to neighbouring areas. Special checkpoints, manned by armed men, were set up on all roads leading to the village.

President Aliev refused to comment on the violence the next day, as Baku's annual oil and gas exhibition opened in the capital. "Today I am dealing only with the oil exhibition," he said. The authorities blamed the trouble on provocateurs, claiming that they were trying to disrupt Azerbaijan's annual gathering of foreign investors, with Iranian backing.

Interior ministry spokesman Sadik Gezalov told IWPR that "these actions had the aim of paralysing the work of the local authorities and establishing in the village a religious order, based on Islamic fundamentalism."

Azerbaijani opposition politicians were quick to condemn the police violence in Nardaran. "The use of the army against the civilian population is proof of an attempt to establish a police state in the country," said Ali Kerimov, head of the Popular Front of Azerbaijan.

Some local elders are seeking to mediate in the dispute and are even inviting officials to come to the village. "They have no need to be afraid," said Haji Alikram, the leader of the Islamic Party in the village. "We are not cut-throats. We do not want blood. We want to see them come to Nardaran. No one will even lay a finger on them. But if they

want war, they will get it."

Zaur Mamedov and Lia Bairamova are correspondents with Zerkalo newspaper

in Baku.

GEORGIA: RULING PARTY ROUTED IN POLLS

Parties loyal to President Shevardnadze were humiliated in Georgia's local elections, amid scenes of chaos and claims of vote-rigging.

By Keti Bochorishvili in Tbilisi

In an ominous sign for President Eduard Shevardnadze, his party, the Citizens Union of Georgia, was humbled in local elections on June 2. The pro-presidential party, one half of what used to be the governing party in the country, failed even to muster the four per cent of the vote it needed to be represented in the city council in the capital Tbilisi.

The population gave its support instead to opposition candidates, in particular to the left-leaning Labour Party and a party formed by popular former justice minister Mikhail Saakashvili.

Most of the city councils, known as "sakrebulos", are not as powerful as governors or mayors, appointed by the president. But the election had wider significance as the first test of a new political line-up in Georgia, caused by a string of resignations and the collapse of the former ruling party last year.

Initial results suggested that the opposition is on course for success in next year's parliamentary elections and perhaps the presidential vote, due in 2005, when Shevardnadze is bound by the constitution to step down. The president, speaking in his weekly radio interview, said he accepted the results and was ready to work with the winning parties "provided they act according to the constitution".

Ironically, the only crumb of comfort for the government was that the polls were so badly organised that doubt was cast on their validity by all sides. Saakashvili was amongst those calling for a re-count of votes for the 49-seat Tbilisi city council.

Local and international observers recorded violations and falsifications on a massive scale. A delegation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe said it was "shocked by the deplorable state of the voters' lists". "The CLRAE delegation is disappointed that the democratic process in Georgia has so far failed to

match the people's aspirations," said Louis Roppe, leader of the observer delegation. "The people of Georgia deserve better."

Many voters expended considerable time and effort going between polling stations, looking for lists, where they might be registered. More than a third of the Tbilisi electorate did not even receive an invitation to vote.

"Neither my neighbours nor I received a voting card," said Natela Nebieridze, who turned up at Polling Station No 12. "I am registered in Saburtalo and I live with my husband on Gogebashvili Street. I went to vote at the polling station on Gogebashvili, but I wasn't there either. Whoever I turn to throws up their hands. What am I to do, where can I vote? I decided that I won't leave until I do!"

"Yesterday I found a whole bundle of voting cards thrown onto the landing of my staircase by someone," complained Leila Gvatua, at Polling Station No 115. "I looked and gasped! They were cards for voters in the three neighbouring buildings and half of them were in the names of people who died long ago."

Observers also noted many cases in which electoral officials and policemen put pressure on voters. Many ballots were put into boxes, without the stamps or signatures of voting officials.

The election was declared invalid in three towns: Rustavi, Zugdidi and Khashuri. In Rustavi, around 40 armed men stopped and robbed a vehicle full of ballots on the edge of town. The vote will be held again there on June 9. In Zugdidi, gangs smashed ballot boxes and scattered the ballots in 18 of the 31 polling stations.

In Tbilisi, two parties scored well: the Labour Party led by Shalva Natelashvili and Mikhail Saakashvili's National Movement-Democratic Front, which received 25.97 per cent and 24.23 per cent of the vote respectively. Another former ally of Shevardnadze, former speaker of parliament Zurab Zhvania, won only a modest 7.27 per cent of the vote for his new party.

The success of Labour Party came from a campaign aimed at changing the government's social policies and improving the lot of the most deprived members of society, such as pensioners, doctors and teachers. Paradoxically, it may have been helped by the phenomenon of second-placed Saakashvili.

The former justice minister resigned from government last year, accusing the president and his team of corruption. His dynamic populism soon won him widespread support. But, it may be that Saakashvili, by drawing the attention of the electorate to social issues, made people notice that the Labour Party had a more consistent record on these questions than did a former member of the government.

Despite his success, Saakashvili called for the polls to be re-run, due to the mass irregularities. However, the Central Electoral Commission resisted the calls.

Political scientist Ramaz Sakvaredlidze said it was a positive development that both left- and right-wing opposition parties would be represented in the new city council. But he said there was a danger of a tilt to the left, which bases its appeal on a rejection of the existing state order. None of the parties in the elections presented a clear programme, contenting themselves with attacks on the governing regime.

Much depends on the course taken by Saakashvili's National Movement, said

Sakvarelidze. If he chooses a path of cooperation - not only with the Labour Party but also with other parties in the council - and uses legal methods, then its youthful leadership could have a positive impact on Georgia.

Keti Bochorishvili is Tbilisi correspondent for the BBC Caucasus and Central Asia Service.

ARMENIAN DIASPORA CRITICAL OF YEREVAN AUTHORITIES

The once-solid relationship between the Armenian government and the diaspora appears to be under strain.

By David Petrosian in Yerevan

Billed as a harmonious reunion of Armenians from the homeland and those living abroad, the Second PanArmenian Forum in Yerevan last week exposed diaspora disgruntlement over the government's political and economic record.

The official Armenian media portrayed the conference, a gathering of 3,000 Armenians from 48 countries, as a successful event, but several prominent diaspora representatives used the occasion to criticise the government for corruption and inefficiency.

The forum, held on May 27-28, was the biggest get-together of Armenians from all over the world since the inaugural meeting in 1999. Estimates of the total number of Armenians worldwide vary between six and a half and eight million, with the majority of them living outside Armenia.

The first rumblings of discontent emerged prior to the conference, at a board meeting of the most powerful diaspora organisation, the Hayatsan All-Armenian Fund - which has spent more than 75 million US dollars in Armenia and Nagorny Karabakh over the last ten years. Two of the group's most famous trustees, the benefactors, Louise Simon Manoogian and Vatche Manoukian, failed to turn up. Both have poor relations with the governing regime of Robert Kocharian.

In the conference's opening speeches the head of the Armenian church, Catholicos Garegin II, sounded the first critical note. In remarks clearly aimed at the current leadership of the country, he said that his joy at the establishment of Armenian statehood had been eclipsed by Armenia's serious unemployment and emigration problems. Poverty and abuses of power were causing lack of trust and alienation

amongst the population, the patriarch said, and "it seems that we do not value our statehood, which we paid for with the blood of our sons and for which we endured such privations". He said the country was suffering from a loss of its cultural and moral values.

It was significant that these sections of the Catholicos' speech were not shown by any of the Armenian television channels, all of which are now loyal to the governing regime.In his speech, President Kocharian made a special appeal for greater

involvement by the diaspora in the Armenian economy, which needed massive

investments. He grudgingly admitted that his government suffers from corruption, malpractice and red tape.

Two leading diaspora delegates were more blunt. In the first plenary session, Ara Abramian, a well-known businessman and the leader of the Union of Armenians of Russia, which represents the largest Armenian community outside the homeland, declared the country's leadership must reduce levels of corruption, clan protectionism and bureaucracy.

Abramian was echoed by the chairman of the board of directors of the powerful Armenian Assembly of America, Peter Vosbikian, who urged the Armenian leaders to make transparency of government a strong priority. He proposed the creation of an authoritative body bringing together members of the diaspora and the homeland to formulate ways of pulling Armenia out of its current crisis and encourage emigrants to return.

"The crisis cannot wait, the time has come to act," said Vosbikian. However, his call went unheeded, as the government is reluctant to call the current situation in Armenia a crisis. More scepticism surfaced in discussions on the media. When the chairman of

state television Tigran Nagdalian proposed the creation of an "Armenian CNN", the diaspora reaction was cautious. That was not just because the latter has doubts about the objectivity of state television but because the top officials who would be put in charge of the proposed station are all presidential appointees.

When the editor of the pro-government newspaper Aiots Ashkhar said that the channel was needed "for the propaganda of national ideas" it virtually killed off the project. Other diaspora delegates expressed their worries about the closure of two non-state television companies, A1 Plus and Noyan Tapan.

On the whole, however, most guests refrained from open criticism of the authorities, out of deference to their hosts. This led some observers to say that greater openness was required, if Armenia and its diaspora are to work together better in the future and overcome the misunderstandings and stereotypes that have grown up between them.

"Representatives from the diaspora should say openly that they are fed up with Armenia and that corruption here is widespread," said Viken Cheterian, a Swiss Armenian who is director of the recently-opened Caucasian Media Institute. "Everyone is aware of it, but they do not say it. The issue is a taboo subject. If we don't overcome the existing problems together, it will be impossible to define the borders of

cooperation between Armenia and the diaspora."

Despite the differences, the forum took the decision to implement seven new projects. They were: the computerisation of schools in Armenia and Nagorny Karabakh; the opening of a research centre on the Armenian Genocide; the creation of an on-line "university" of Armenian studies; a joint commission, where local and diaspora scholars can meet to discuss academic projects; a new project to help Armenian students; the creation of a new medical centre in Yerevan; and the opening of a Diaspora Museum in Yerevan.

Overall, the official Armenian media, presented the forum as a completely successful pre-election venture for Kocharian, who is standing for president again next year. To those who participated in the conference, a different picture emerged; they had no chance of engaging in proper discussion, because of poor organisation and strongly polarised views. Serious work needs to be done to overcome these problems ahead of the next gathering, planned for three or four years' time.

David Petrosian is a correspondent with Noyan Tapan news agency in

Yerevan.

Copyright (c) 2002 The Institute for War & Peace Reporting