Another death of a head of state by heart attack...Armenian PM

[Anders]

Recently the President of Turkmenistan apparently died of a heart attack at the age of 66. Today I noticed that the PM of Armenia has died of a heart attack at the age of 55. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6493229.stm

It puzzled me and let me to look at what is going on in Armenia.

From the US embassy site in Armenia, there are some interesting things that I have highlighted below.

The date of the posting on the website is the 23rd of March 2007

http://yerevan.usembassy.gov/mediareviews.php

According to HAYOTS ASHKHAR and HAYASTANI HANRAPETUTIUN, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili arrived in Armenia yesterday for a one-day private visit at the invitation of Armenian President Robert Kocharian. RFE/RL notes that Saakashvili and Kocharian will rest and ski together in Tsaghkadzor. HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK says that it was unclear yesterday what brought Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to Armenia for a surprise visit. According to the article, after Kocharian and Saakashvili had a private conversation in the resort town of Tsakhkadzor, they were joined by their foreign ministers, Vartan Oskanian and Gela Bezhuashviuli. The daily speculates that Saakashvili might have come to Armenia to ask Kocharian to delay receiving Iranian gas through the pipeline inaugurated last week because once Armenia starts receiving Iranian gas, Russia will immediately toughen its gas shipment terms for Georgia, while as long as Russian gas flows to Armenia through Georgia, the Kremlin is soft on the government in Tbilisi.

Hmmm...surprise visit

HAYOTS ASHKHAR published an article entitled, “The Colored Emissions of NDI,� saying that, as expected, the West is becoming more active in Armenia through a variety of international observers and NGOs. The article mainly speaks about NDI, saying that it was actively involved in the revolutions in Serbia, Georgia, and Ukraine. The author of the article claims that NDI is currently working actively in Armenia and people should be afraid of it. The author says that the country should ban “color technologies.�

In an interview with ARAVOT, Yerjanik Abgarian from the Armenian National Movement commented on Armenian Foreign Affairs Minister Vartan Oskanian's statement that the State Department authorized him to say that the part of the Human Rights Report that says that Armenia "continues to occupy the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories" is "an obvious mistake." Abgarian questioned the truthfulness of the statement, asking, “Sorry, but by whom was he authorized? By the State Department? Are you an employee of the State Department?�

IRAVUNK writes that, according to a source close to the Armenian Foreign Ministry (MFA), the U.S. Embassy in Armenia sent a note to the MFA expressing its concern with last week’s inauguration of the Iran-Armenian gas pipeline, as well as with the decision on the construction of a Hydro Power Station.

Another web site came up with some more information of interest, though it is a year old from what I gather:

http://www.armeniadiaspora.com/ADC/news.asp?id=704

US Ambassador, USAID Director Meet Armenian Prime Minister To Discuss Assistance Issues
Yerevan, February 10, Armenpress: US ambassador to Armenia John Evans and director of USAID Armenia Mission Robin Philips met today with prime minister Andranik Margarian to discuss a string of issues related to US government's aid to Armenia, including also recent developments concerning additional US government's assistance to Armenia within the frameworks of the Millennium Challenges Corporation (MCC) program.
The government's press office said ambassador Evans emphasized that the additional aid to Armenia is of great importance, especially for rural population. Evans said the agreement on the release of $235 million aid will be signed most likely no later than March 27. Evans said though last November's constitutional referendum in Armenia sparked some problems and the US government conveyed its attitude to Armenian authorities, nevertheless the USA is interested in continuing to promote democracy development in Armenia, especially that some of the MCC eligibility criteria are good governance, investing in human resources and promoting economic developments.
Evans expressed hope that the 2007 and 2008 national elections will be free, just and transparent. Margarian was quoted by the government press office as saying that the authorities, including the governing coalition have political will to jointly eliminate the shortcomings and other defects so that to conduct next elections free and justly.
"The government of Armenia stands ready to cooperate with all stakeholders, including the US government to strengthen and develop democracy," Margarian was quoted as saying. Evans added that his government is for evolutionary way of democracy development and consolidation of democratic institutions.

The above led me to doubt that the PM of Armenia died a 'natural death'. I wonder if the good prime minister was starting to get ideas of his own and was unwilling to bend on key points in regards to US interests in the region. Or maybe the US is just getting serious/itchy fingers about making Armenia a democracy.

Anders

 

[Ryan]

Good catch Anders! The numbers are interesting too...

 

[Anders]

To follow up on the above with what has transpired since then:

Today this was posted on globalresearch:

The Iran War Theater's "Northern Front": Azerbaijan and the US Sponsored War on Iran

by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research, April 9, 2007


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In a timely decision, Azerbaijan recently (mid-March) granted NATO the permission to use two of its military bases and an airport to "back up its peace-keeping operation in Afghanistan" including support for NATO's "supply route to Afghanistan". NATO's special envoy Robert Simmons insists that the agreement has nothing to do with US plans to wage aerial bombardments on Iran.

Media sources in Baku have intimated that this timely agreement is directly related to ongoing US-Israeli-NATO war plans. Its timing coincides with US naval deployments and war games in the Persian Gulf.

The airport and two military bases are slated to be "modernized to meet NATO standards". Washington has confirmed in this regard that it would "support the modernization of a military airport in the framework of the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) signed between Azerbaijan and NATO.

Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan released a statement to the effect that "Azerbaijan's territory will not be at the disposal of any country for hostile acts against neighbours [Iran] " (See Mardom Salari (Farsi), BBC translation, 5 April 2007).

This announcement by the Azeri Defense Ministry was in response to an off-the-cuff statement by US Undersecretary of State Matthew Bryza, at a press conference in Georgia (March 30) to the effect that "The United States hopes for permission to use airfields in Azerbaijan for military purposes." (emphasis added).

The position of Armenia, Iran and Azerbaijan can be seen here (from the article above):

and here with a better perspective and also with the oil pipe lines included:

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in conflict over a disputed area from their war in the early 1990's. The area was Nagorno-Karabakh

http://www.cassiopedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Nagorno-Karabakh

In the final years before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the region was again a source of dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, culminating in the Nagorno-Karabakh War. Since the end of the war in 1994, most of Nagorno-Karabakh and several regions of Azerbaijan around it remain under joint Armenian and NKR Defense Forces control. The parties have been holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group ever since.

Relations between the two former Soviet Republics remain tense after Armenian-backed forces drove Azerbaijan's army out of the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s. Despite a 1994 cease-fire ending the war that killed 30,000 people and left about 1 million homeless, no agreement has been reached on the territory's final status. Azerbaijan's newly elected President Ilham Aliev said in January that Azerbaijan reserved the right to use ``all possibilities'' to solve the dispute.

Here is an interesting article about the former pm.

Today.Az » Politics » Analysts speculate Armenian PM Margarian might have been murdered

01 April 2007 [18:19] - Today.Az

The sudden death of Armenia's Prime Minister Andranik Margarian, 55, on March 25 has set off red flags amongst veteran Armenia-watchers, some suggesting foul play.

Whatever the cause, the politician's death resulted in overnight changes for the fragile Armenian democracy and a host of other issues including the European Community's quest for energy security in the Caucasus region and enforcement of international sanctions aimed at Iran.

With Presidential elections approaching, Margarian was increasingly seen as a viable alternative to the powerful Defense Minister Serge Sarkisian, an ally of current President Robert Kocharian, who is moving toward the completion of his term of office. Both men come from Nagorno Karabakh, an enclave inside the territory of neighboring Azerbaijan. Armenia's armed seizure of this area in the 1990's remains a volatile point of contention with Azerbaijan, a flash point in the Caucasus that continues to destabilize the region and slow down cooperation in economic development.

Prime Minister Margarian assumed office in 2000, following the murder of his predecessor. He had lately leaned toward addressing the consequences of Karabakh's occupation to the Armenian economy. This conflict prevents Armenia, among other things, from enjoying normal relations with powerful neighbors such as Turkey and of course Azerbaijan, specifically precluding the option of Armenia's serving as a transit country for Caspian oil and gas.

Margarian's position conformed with the EU's wishes to resolve the conflict and ensure a higher degree of energy security in the area, a stance strongly opposed by Armenia's President and Defense Minister, both of whom had been guerilla fighters in Karabakh, steadfastly rejecting any compromise with the Azeri demands.

Margarian's position also flew in the face of the current President's policy of energy cooperation with Iran, which often skirted international sanctions and the EU approach to Iran that Margarian also supported. Observers report that Magarian and his family have recently received a spate of threatening phone calls and letters, along with others in his Republican Party of Armenia, demanding his resignation as President and head of the party.

There is also talk in Armenia that Margarian had compromising documents regarding corruption in the armed forces, illicit real estate dealings by top military brass and illegal expenditures by the defense establishment which he intended to make public before the upcoming Parliamentary election scheduled for May 12th. Mass Wire Media Association

Taken together with this bit of news from the US embassy in Armenia:

HAYOTS ASHKHAR, AZG, HAYASTANI HANRAPETUTIUN and NOVOYE VREMYA report that First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Sergey Ivanov is visiting Armenia on April 10. IRAVUNK comments that Ivanov’s visit will be used for PR purposes. According to the newspaper, it will not be surprising if Serzh Sargsian’s PR people decide one day to place a large poster of Sargsian on Armenian streets, saying, “My weapon is Sergey Ivanov.�

...

168 ZHAM, GOLOA ARMENII and NOVOYE VREMYA published excerpts a Financial Times article based on its interview with Prime Minister-designate Serzh Sargsian. The article says, "However, Mr. Sargsian said the government in Yerevan would keep pledges made to international bodies after criticism of its rights record and he was hopeful that the May 12 parliamentary elections would be the first to be pronounced free and fair by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the European security watchdog." The article continues, "Mr. Sargsian said that, despite ties to influential exiles in the US, Yerevan would remain friendly to Moscow and would not support a US base in the volatile Caucasus. In a swipe at neighboring Georgia, whose 'rose revolution' against Russian domination has endeared it to the west, he said he did not see it as a model to emulate."

So to sum up.

Armenian prime minister Andranik Margarian dies on the 23rd of March, one week after at NATO/US had signed an agreement with Azerbaijan about use of military bases in Azerbaijan.

Margarian had been in favour of a peace agreement with Azerbaijan and was not in favour of the continued energy cooperation with Iran

Margarian was at odds with the current President Robert Kocharianand his Defence Minister Serge Sarkisian on those issues, both of whom come from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Margarian was seen as having a good chance of winning the presidential elections in 2008, something his Defence Minister had been a favourite to win.

Serge Sarkisian is pro Russia, against US bases in Armenia and also against color democracies.

Serge Sarkisian has now become the prime minister.
http://www.armeniadiaspora.com/ADC/news.asp?id=2173

So it appears that the death of Prime Minister Marganian, if it wasn't accidental, could have been a counter move from Russia's side to strengthen it's position and stop the US empirial tide in the energy rich Caucacus area.

On the other hand, it could also just be what we are meant to believe.

Anders