The Caucasus press review (April 29-May 5)

Author: VK

At the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the United States a conference "Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran and strategic competition in the Caucasus” was held. According to Azerbaijani newspaper "Aina", Director of the Center for Strategic Studies of Azerbaijan Farhad Mammadov, speaking at the conference, said that if in 1990, Iran was one of the main trade partners of Azerbaijan, in 2011, its share in foreign trade transactions between the two countries was only 0.8% of the total trade of Azerbaijan, and in terms of trade, it was only 19th, and in 2012, 23th among the trading partners of its northern neighbor. According to statistics from Iran, Azerbaijan is also not included in the top ten of its largest trading partners. Meanwhile, Iran in recent years has dramatically increased trade with Armenia, which in the last year has increased from $335 million to $500 million. Trade with Iran is about 20% of the total trade of Armenia. Also, in Armenia there are about five hundred Iranian companies, and in Azerbaijan there are only two hundred Iranian firms. The reason for this change in Iranian priorities, according to political analyst, is Tehran's intentions to get access to the Black Sea through Armenia, as well as the ability to use the Armenian diaspora to achieve its foreign policy goals. In addition, some official circles in Iran, trying to create the "enemy image", provocatively state that if military action against Iran is launched, a blow would be made from the territory of Azerbaijan. However, according to Farhad Mammadov, these statements are completely unfounded.

As for the position of Azerbaijan, local newspaper "The Mirror" reports referring to the opinion of political scientist Ramiz Musabekov that Baku wants to have good neighborly and mutually beneficial relations with Iran and the visit of head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev to Tehran can be considered as evidence of this. In statements made during meetings with Iranian officials, he called Iran brotherly and friendly country. "Our common cultural, geographical, historical, and religious ties have created fertile ground for our cooperation, and we must take advantage of it. From our side we will do our best to develop these relations”, Mehdiyev said. "The Mirror" characterizes Azerbaijan's policy towards its northern neighbor as a peace-loving and too flexible, especially given that Iran could contribute to ensuring the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, but did not do this. Moreover, on the one hand, developing comprehensive relations with Armenia, on the other hand, it tries to derail strategic initiatives coming from the only relatively reliable ally of Azerbaijan in the region, Turkey, seeking to destabilize the political situation in the country in all possible ways.

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The newspaper "Voice of Armenia" in the article "Labels and compliments” comments on the newly published annual report of the U.S. human rights organization Freedom House, according to which in 2012 only in 63 countries out of 197 the press is free, 70 states are in the group of countries with a partly free press, and in 64 countries the press is rated as not free. According to the article, Armenia over the last decade appears in the category of countries with a free press, although this time, according to the authors of the report, the country is among the countries that have recorded the most significant progress. In 2012, Armenia improved its position by 4 points, getting 61 points instead of 65 recorded in the previous report. "The mere fact that this time we got positive comments is pleasant", - “Voice of Armenia " says. - And if you compare the mark of Armenia with scores of post-Soviet countries, particularly Azerbaijan, this is a doubly pleasing compliment." Nevertheless, according to the newspaper, the assessment of the Armenian press is biased, and the parameters used by Freedom House are untenable. In particular, speaking about the option of balance in the coverage of events by the media, the paper argues that it is not a measure of freedom: "Is this freedom when, let us say, governmental edition is forced to cover any event of the opposition nature in order to avoid accusations of bias, or when the gossip and rumors become the basis of the editorial policy of the publication positioning itself as independent? " Unsuitable parameter for the assessment of press freedom used by Freedom House, in the opinion of the newspaper, is also an indicator of the number of lawsuits against the media for libel. According to the logic of the report's authors, even attempt to call for libel can be regarded as a restriction on freedom of the press. The publication encourages its readers not to take to heart this and other reports claiming to objectivity and credibility and in fact giving labels that are used as another instrument of political pressure.

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Armenian newspaper "Aravot" published the results of telephone survey conducted by the "Sivilitas" foundation on the eve of elections to the Council of Elders. As for the main problem facing the city, 27% of respondents considerate to be garbage disposal and cleanliness of the city, 20% - unemployment, 6% - poverty and poor socio-economic status. Commenting on these figures, "Aravot" writes that although these problems are not "specific", but just the opposite - outside Yerevan are expressed much brighter, social discontent is the foundation upon which all others are layered – both in Yerevan and throughout Armenia. However, expecting that the Council of Elders or the mayor of Yerevan will dramatically impact the situation is not realistic. It is unlikely that at the city level the problems of red tape and eliminating queues at clinics, corruption among doctors, reducing the cost of treatment, for which 42 percent of respondents voted, can be resolved. But issues relating to improving transportation (7% of respondents), according to the author, are quite solvable for the city authorities. But for this, the reporter believes, the mayor, deputies and other influential people - the "masters of routes," should not be so greedy and must give up their bus routes. Then buses, according to the author, would not gather in three rows at the stations holding crazy races but will run on schedule. Lack of complying with traffic is considered to be the main problem of the city by about 10% of the respondents.

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The Georgian Times published a concept of employment of persons prepared by the United National Movement Party. Employment plan of the former ruling team of Georgia consists of four main points, among which in the first place there are tax cuts. According to the publication, UNM turned with its concept to the Georgian authorities and believes that the government should take it into account to improve the economic situation in the country. In particular, the party authorities state that to change the situation for the better, the government need to implement the following changes:

1. Stimulating the creation of new jobs, reducing taxes, as planned in the tax code, according to the changes adopted in December 2012, and the freedom of the labor market should be preserved;

2. Business creates jobs. Therefore, for the promotion of employment, the business should have a sense of security and stability. Therefore, a two-year moratorium on legislative changes that have an impact on the economic situation of the country should be declared, and other related activities should be conducted.

3. Improvements in employment are not possible without foreign investment, and for this the preservation of macro-economic parameters of the country should be ensured, and, if possible, they should be improved.

4. The opening of new export markets will be a good incentive to create jobs. Therefore, there must be accelerated clearance of agreements on deep and comprehensive trade with the EU and negotiations on free trade in the United States.

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The newspaper "South Ossetia" published a conversation with a member of the International Pedagogical Academy, head of the department of the Faculty of Education of the North Ossetian State University Klavdia Dzhusoyty. Talking about the place of the mother tongue in modern life of Ossetia, she said: "I really want us not to forget both in the south and in the north that we are all Ossetians. The great scientist Vasily Abaev said: “As long as we have our Ossetian language, we will be Ossetian people "Dzhusoyty regretted that today among people calling for a revival of Ossetia there are many of those who do not speak the Ossetian language, or do not consider it necessary to speak it themselves. These include many senior officials. And those writers who do not write in their native language, in her view, can hardly be considered Ossetian writers. According to scientist, Ossetian linguists in this area met with many problems. Specifically, according to head of the department, neither in South nor North Ossetia there are textbooks for the teaching of the Ossetian language. She considers it necessary for linguists of the institutions of higher education to work together to address this issue. Dzhusoyty recalled another important issue – weak professional work, resulting in a decreasing number of applicants wishing to enter the Faculty of Ossetian Philology.