Selected News around the web: 13 February 2010

[Circassian World Newsletter]

Selected News around the web: February 13, 2010
 
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1. Sochi 2014 Resistance: Interview with John Hager & Tamara Barsik
VMC, February 12, 2010 - Vancouver, Canada
http://www.channels.com/episodes/show/8711759/Sochi-2014-Resistance

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2. The Sochi Project by Rob Hornstra & Arnold Van Bruggen

 

For five years, Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen will document the area around Olympic Sochi. Never before have the Olympic Games been held in such a turbulent region. We believe it is of great journalistic importance that the run-up to such a major international event can receive sustained and in-depth coverage. Dutch newspapers and magazines do not have the budget or manpower to realise a project of this scale.
http://www.thesochiproject.org/home/
 
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3. Moscow Writers Mistaken in Treating North Caucasus Separately from Russia, KBR Scholar Says
by Paul Goble, Window on Eurasia, February 8, 2010

Moscow writers, including some of the most distinguished, either do not understand or do not want to understand that “the problems of the Caucasus are part of what is taking place in Russia and with Russia and that their resolution must be sought in the general context of the development of the country,” according to a Kabardinian academic.
In an article in “Kabardino-Balkarskaya Pravda,” Khazhismel Tkhagapsoyev, a professor at Kabardino-Balkaria State University, charges that for good motives and bad many journalists and academic specialists in the Russian capital have treated the North Caucasus in ways that many in the West would label as orientalist.
http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2010/02/window-on-eurasia-moscow-writers.html

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4. Medvedev names Khloponin Russian Security Council member
Itar-Tass, February 9, 2010

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has included Presidential Representative to the North Caucasian Federal District and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin in the Russian Security Council, the Kremlin said.
Medvedev formed the North Caucasian Federal District and appointed the then Krasnoyarsk Governor Alexander Khloponin as his representative to the new district and vice-premier on January 19.
“I have changed the pattern of federal districts in Russia. From now on, the North Caucasian Federal District incorporating Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachayevo-Cherkessia, North Ossetia – Alania, Chechnya and the Stavropol territory will separate from the Southern Federal District and have the administrative center in Pyatigorsk,” Medvedev said while promoting Khloponin on January 19.
“I have also appointed Alexander Khloponin as the Deputy Prime Minister – Presidential Representative to the North Caucasian Federal District,” Medvedev said.
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14804268&PageNum=0

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5. Abkhazia to inaugurate incumbent president
Itar-Tass, February 12, 2010

Abkhazia will inaugurate on Friday incumbent President Sergei Bagapsh and Russia will make him a present by restoring regular passenger flights to the ex-Soviet elite resort on the Black Sea after a 15-year break.
Bagapsh, 60, won the presidential election in December with 59.37 percent of votes.
Presidential spokesman Christian Bzhania told Tass Russia, which helped Abkhazia win independence from Georgia, will be represented by Federation Council speaker Sergei Mironov and 14 regional governors, including Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.
President Eduard Kokoity of South Ossetia, which also won independence from Georgia following armed intrusion in August 2008 that was crushed by Russian forces, will also attend, as well as leader of breakaway Dniester region of Moldova Igor Smirnov.
Venezuela and Nicaragua, which recognized Abkhazia’s independence, will be represented by the ambassadors to Russia.
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14814279&PageNum=0
 
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6. Bagapsh inaugurated as president of Abkhazia
Ria Novosti, February 12, 2010

Sergei Bagapsh was sworn in on Friday for his second term as president of Abkhazia, thanking Russia in his inaugural address for helping the republic achieve independence from Georgia.
"With a great power, Russia, which has assumed colossal responsibility before the international community, we have arrived at the recognition of our independence," Bagapsh said.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by some 130 state and government officials form other countries, including Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20100212/157858965.html

 

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7. Abkhazian president taps foreign minister as new premier
Ria Novosti, February 13, 2010

Abkhazian President Sergei Bagapsh named longtime Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba the republic's new prime minister on Saturday.

Shamba replaces Alexander Ankvab, who became vice president after Bagapsh's reelection in December.

Bagapsh was inaugurated for his second term as president on Friday, and announced Shamba's promotion on Saturday at the final meeting of the outgoing Cabinet.

Shamba had served as Abkhazia's foreign minister since 1997, except for a six-month break from June to December 2004.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20100213/157870582.html

 

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8. New PM of Abkhazia appointed
Aysor, February 13, 2010

The President of Abkhazia Sergey Bagapsh has appointed Sergey Shambay a new Prime Minister of Abkhazia. Sergey Shambay was the Foreign Minister of the country, Vzglyad informs.
The President of Abkhazia has signed the corresponding decree today.
http://www.aysor.am/en/news/2010/02/13/abkhazia/

 

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9. Shamba Becomes Abkhazia PM
Civil.ge, February 13, 2010

Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh appointed a long-time foreign minister of the breakaway region, Sergey Shamba, on the post of Prime Minister on February 13, the Abkhaz news agency, Apsnipress, reported.
“He is an experienced politician, who has been in the center of political developments in Abkhazia since 1970s,” Bagapsh said. “Now he will have to deal with the issues of social-economic development of the country.”
Shamba held the post of foreign minister since 1997. He was deputy defense minister during the armed conflict in 1992-93.
Maxim Gvinjia, deputy foreign minister of the breakaway region, is reportedly slated to replace Shamba. Gvinjia is one of the Abkhaz negotiators participating in the Geneva talks.
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=21981

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10. Dmitry Medvedev congratulated Sergei Bagapsh on his inauguration as President of the Republic of Abkhazia.
Kremlin.ru, February 13, 2010

“Today, Abkhazia is developing steadily as an independent democratic state. We are seeing a progressive socio-economic transformation and an increase in people’s living standards. Abkhazia is expanding its international contacts. The support of the people of Abkhazia – who re-elected you as their President – guarantees a continuation of the large-scale, highly responsible work toward which you are channelling all of your energy.
http://eng.kremlin.ru/text/news/2010/02/224293.shtml

 

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11. South Ossetians Warn Against Rearming Georgia
by Ellen Barry, The New York Times, February 4, 2010

Residents of South Ossetia, the tiny separatist enclave at the center of the August 2008 war between Georgia and Russia, petitioned United States Senator Richard G. Lugar on Thursday to warn against supplying the Georgian government with weapons, saying they could be used against civilians.
The petition is a response to a staff report released in late December by Mr. Lugar’s office, which calls into question Washington’s decision to stop providing weapons to Georgia after its brief war with Russia. The report, titled “Striking the Balance: U.S. Policy and Stability in Georgia,” says that the policy has left Georgia “under a de facto arms embargo” that contributes to regional instability.
The report stops short of recommending the resumption of arms supplies, but highlights the quandary Washington has faced for 18 months, as it seeks to improve its relationship with Moscow without abandoning a commitment to help Georgia join NATO, a process that involves upgrading its military. Under current conditions, the report says, “Georgia will not only have difficulty providing for its own territorial defense needs, but remain susceptible to the internal strife and external manipulation that often accompany such national insecurity.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/world/europe/05russia.html

 

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12. Viacheslav Chirikba: “The fact that Abkhazia and South Ossetia speak in the Palace of Nations as equals with other delegations is a positive fact”
Abkhazia Gov., February 8, 2010

The Geneva consultations on security in Transcaucasia has become the main topic of the President’s advisor on international affairs Viacheslav Chirikba’s press conference held in the Association of employees of mass-media of the Republic of Abkhazia on February 8.
According to Chirikba, for the time being within the framework of the Geneva discussions they managed to create the five-sided Mechanism on incident prevention and response. Chirikba called the Mechanism “a useful format”, allowing the parties to exchange information on the situation in the border areas.
“The main problem”, according to Chirikba, is reaching the Agreement on the non-use of force. He emphasized that the Georgian party was interested in two moments: “deoccupation” of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, i.e. withdrawal of Russian troops from there, and introduction of international forces in the zone of the conflict. “It has caused a resolute protest of the Abkhaz, Russian and South Ossetian delegations”, he said. “We declared that “such unexpected about-faces” threw discredit upon the future of the Geneva process as the subject of negotiations disappeared at all”.
http://www.abkhazworld.com/news/413-chirikba-press-conference-feb9.html

 

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13. Tbilisi offers Turkey to join strategic plan on conflicts’ settlement
News.am, February 10, 2010

“Turkey will not recognize independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” PACE President and Turkish MP Mevlut Cavusoglu said at the meeting with Georgian Parliament Speaker David Bakradze in Ankara.
Officials also touched upon Turkish-Georgian and Russian-Georgian relations, Kavkaz press agency reports. Cavusoglu told Bakradze that he would visit Georgia and familiarize himself with situation in the country.
http://news.am/en/news/13970.html

 

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14. Book Review: ''The Guns of August 2008: Russia's War in Georgia by Svante E. Cornell and Frederick Starr''
by Till Brucner, CRIA, From Vol 4 (1), Winter 2010

Till Bruckner has been living in Georgia on and off since 2002. Having worked on shelter projects for displaced people in the past, he is now doing fieldwork for a PhD thesis on the accountability of aid in Georgia at the University of Bristol (UK), in collaboration with Transparency International Georgia. The author would like to thank Stacy Closson, Winston Featherly, Hans Gutbrod, Mary Ellen Hofmann and an anonymous reviewer of CRIA for their extremely useful comments on an earlier draft of this piece. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author alone.
http://www.cria-online.org/10_10.html

 

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News in Turkish

15. İçişleri Bakanı Beşir Atalay KAFFED Yönetim Kurulu'nu kabul etti
KAFFED, 12 Şubat 2010

Kafkas Dernekleri Federasyonu'nun (KAFFED), demokratik açılım sürecinde federasyonun görüşüne başvurulmadığı yönündeki eleştirilerini dinleyen İçişleri Bakanı Beşir Atalay, "Demokratik açılım belli bir bölgeyi ya da etnik grubu değil, tüm Türkiye'yi kapsıyor" dedi.
Atalay, KAFFED Başkanı Cihan Candemir ve beraberindeki yönetim kurulu üyelerini İçişleri Bakanlığı'ndaki makamında kabul etti. Sıcak bir ortamda gerçekleşen görüşmede Türkiye'deki Çerkeslerin en büyük çatı örgütü olan KAFFED hakkında Atalay'a bilgi veren Candemir, Çerkes toplumunun demokratik açılım sürecini heyecanla izlediğini ve gereken her türlü katkıyı yapmaya hazır olduğunu söyledi. "Biz KAFFED olarak açılım sürecine en çok katkıda bulunacak örgütlerden biriyiz" diyen Candemir, Çerkeslerin hükümetten beklentilerini dile getirdi.
http://www.kafkasfederasyonu.org/haber/federasyon/2010/120210_besir_atalay.htm

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16. İtalyan davetiyle Abhazya'dan Roma çıkarması
Ajans Kafkas, 9 Şubat 2010

Abhazya Dışişleri Bakan Yardımcısı Maksim Gvinciya, İtalyan parlamentosundan bir grup vekilin davetiyle Roma’yı ziyaret edip temaslarda bulundu.
Temasları hakkında bilgi veren Gvinciya görüşmelerin karşılıklı anlayış içerisinde gerçekleştiğini belirterek “İtalya’da Kafkasya’daki olaylar ilgiyle takip ediliyor. Gürcistan’ın Ağustos 2008’deki hareketi İtalyanlarda ciddi kaygılara neden olmuş” dedi.
Gvinciya parlamenterle toplantısında “Abhazya da Kosova gibi tanınma hakkına sahip. Uluslararası toplum Abhaz halkının bağımsızlık hakkını görmezden gelmemeli. Kafkasya’daki bölgesel işbirliği ve Abhazya’nın dış dünya ile karşılıklı ilişkiler geliştirmesini önemsiyoruz. Abhazya’nın demokratikleşme çabalarının uluslararası toplum tarafından hak ettiği şekilde değerlendirilmeli. Devlet başkanlığı seçimleri, Abhazya’nın gereken demokratikleşme seviyesine ulaştığını gösterdi.
http://ajanskafkas.com/haber,23508,italyan_davetiyle_abhazyadan_roma_cikarmasi.htm

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17. Gürcistan yeniden savaşa hazırlanıyor
V. Gubri (Çeviri yazısı) Ajans Kafkas, 8 Şubat 2010

Gürcistan’da ‘askeri reformlar’ devam ediyor.
Gürcistan okullarında 2007’de iptal edilen askeri-vatanseverlik eğitim dersleri yapılıyor. 26 Aralık 2009’da yeni milli muhafızlık yönetim binasının açılış töreninde Gürcistan Devlet Başkanı Mihail Saakaşvili, ülkenin ‘düşmanla mücadele için’ yedek asker hazırlamaya başlamaya hazır olduğunu açıkladı. Kendine özgü taşkınlığı ile Saakaşvili “Gürcistan’a karşı savaş yürütülüyor ve her gün bizi tehdit ediyorlar, ama düşman hayal kurmamalı, çünkü herhangi bir macera her bir asker ve aynı zamanda her bir vatandaştan tepki alacak… Alkenin kadınlar dahil her bir vatandaşını düşmana direnç göstermek için silahlı ve hazır hale getirmemiz lazım. Her şehir, ev, cadde ve aile direniş kalesi olmalı, biz hepimizin savaşa hazır olmamız lazım” diyor. Saakaşvili “Yüz bin, iki yüz bin, üç yüz bin, gerekirse bir milyon insan elinde silah ile durmalı. Bizim bunun için yeterli otomatik tabancamız var, mermimiz ise yeterinden fazla bile” dedi.
http://ajanskafkas.com/haber,23501,gurcistan_yeniden_savasa_hazirlaniyor_.htm

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18. Mukba: Abhazya ortak evimiz
Ajans Kafkas, 12 Şubat 2010

Abhazya Geri Dönüş Komitesi Başkanı Anzor Mukba Abhazya Cumhuriyeti gazetesinden Zaire Tsvijba’nın sorularını yanıtladı.
Kafkas Abhazya Dayanışma Komitesi’nin Türkçeye kazandırıp Ajans Kafkas’a gönderdiği röportajda Mukba diasporadan dönüş süreciyle ilgili ayrıntılı bilgiler verdi.
http://ajanskafkas.com/haber,23526,mukba_abhazya_ortak_evimiz.htm

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19. Abhazya-Rusya hava köprüsü için son hazırlıklar
Ajans Kafkas, 12 Şubat 2010

Rusya, 2008’de bağımsızlığını resmen tanıdığı Abhazya ile hava köprüsünün yeniden kurulmasına yönelik hazırlıkların tamamlanması için düğmeğe bastı.
Rusya Başbakanı Vladimir Putin’in verdiği onayın ardından Abhazya ile Rusya arasında sivil havacılık alanındaki anlaşmanın yakında imzalanacağı belirtildi. Putin’in ulaştırma bakanına bu yöndeki hazırlıklarını tamamlanması için talimat verdiği kaydedildi. Ancak imzaların ne zaman atılacağı konusunda şimdilik bilgi yok.
Düzenli sivil havacılık uçuşları başkent Sohum’un 18 km yakınındaki Babuşera havaalanından yapılacak. Sovyetlerin 1960’lı yıllarda yaptığı havaalanı 1992-1993 savaşına kadar günde 5 bin yolcu kabul edebiliyordu. 3.6 kilometrelik piste sahip havaalanı her türlü sivil uçağı kabul edebilecek durumdaydı.
http://www.ajanskafkas.com/haber,23530,abhazyarusya_hava_koprusu_icin_son_hazirliklar.htm

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20. Türkiye'den Gürcistan'a "Gemileri Bırak" Çağrısı
Deniz Haber, 12 Şubat 2010

Abhaz Apsnypress ajansının TRT'ye dayanarak verdiği habere göre; Türk makamları Gürcistan'a tutukladığı 5 Türk gemisini serbest bırakması için çağrıda bulundu.
Habere göre, konu, TBMM Başkanı Mehmet Ali Şahin'in Gürcistan parlamento başkanı David Bakradze'yi kabulü sırasında gündeme geldi.
Görüşmede, Bakradze'ye "Türkiye'nin gemileri bir an önce serbest bırakılmasını umduğu" iletildi. Bakradze'nin görüşmede, Gürcistan tarafının durumun kabul edilebilir bir çözüme kavuşturulmasına hazır olduğunu söylediği belirtildi.
http://www.denizhaber.com/HABER/21338/1/turkiye-gurcistan.html