Four detained in anti-Armenian picket in Azeri capital
Turan news agency
3 Sep 04
Baku, 3 September: A group of activists of the United People’s Front
of Azerbaijan Party [UPFAP] attempted to stage an unsanctioned picket
outside the French embassy in Baku at 1200 [0700 gmt] today.
The action aimed to protest against the participation of Armenian
officers in the upcoming NATO exercises in Azerbaijan in September.
Police did not let the pickets gather outside the embassy. Four of
the pickets were detained and taken to police station No 9 of the
Sabayil district police department, the UPFAP press service reported.

Armenian aide calls for systematized fight against terrorism
Ayots Ashkhar, Yerevan
3 Sep 04
Text of Vaan Vardanyan report by Armenian newspaper Ayots Ashkhar on
3 September headlined “International terrorism threatens everybody”
An interview with the president’s advisor on security issues, Garnik
Isagulyan.
[Garnik Isagulyan] The fight against international terrorism should
be systematized. First of all, superpowers should accept that it is
inadmissible to use such groups in the fight against each other. When
they get out of hand, they start acting against their former sponsor,
i.e. a boomerang effect takes place.
The second important problem is to prevent the phenomena that feed
international terrorism. First of all, this envisages the strict
registration of people who have served in special units of the armies
or other structures of different countries. Because if such people
fall under the influence of any ideological or religious sect, they
become very dangerous.
And finally, stable cooperation is necessary between the special
services on all issues related to terrorism – ranging from information
exchanges to joint actions. No country of the world is insured against
terrorism today.
[Ayots Ashkhar correspondent] Let’s take Armenia. We are going to send
sappers and drivers to Iraq. Do you not worry that as representatives
of other nations, they might be taken hostage as well?
[Isagulyan] We have only expressed our readiness to take part in the
reconstruction of Iraq, sending there sappers and drivers who will
not participate in the armed actions by the coalition forces against
local groups. Certainly, one may object to this in the sense that even
journalists of different countries have been taken hostage. But this
is being done mainly against the countries whose armed forces have
participated in the war. For this reason, they traditionally demand
the withdrawal of their armed forces from Iraq as a condition for
releasing the hostages. I think that Armenia’s top leadership took
these conditions into account when taking such a decision.
Although it is not right to say that we are absolutely insured against
danger. That’s to say, countries that are hostile to us may try to plan
any terrorist acts and then justify them by the fact that Armenia has
sent troops to Iraq. But I do not think such a danger is realistic.
[Correspondent] Does it mean that Armenia is more protected than the
powerful countries of the world?
[Isagulyan] No, it does not. Our privilege is that we are comparatively
a monoethnic country. If in Russia they link terrorism mainly to the
Chechens, it is very difficult to differ them from representatives of
other Caucasus nations living in Russia. This complicates the work of
the special services because they cannot arrest all the dark people
in order to expose just one terrorist.
In Armenia it is easier to notice and register foreigners entering
Armenia. Of course, this does not mean that we are in a perfect state
and are simply insured. Our special services should be very attentive
in this matter. Over the past 15 years, the national security system
in Armenia has not reached a flawless level. On the contrary, there
was an outflow of professional personnel, and it is difficult to say
that those who came instead are quite professional. We should pay
special attention to the national security service. Because today,
as well as in the future, much depends on the ability of this service
to ensure national security.
[Correspondent] And finally Karabakh. For many years, Azerbaijan has
been trying to present Karabakh to the world community as a centre
training terrorists. How “fruitful” is such propaganda by Azerbaijan?
[Isagulyan] Neither the special services of Azerbaijan, nor Azerbaijan
itself are at a level where their “information” and reports would
mean anything to the special services of superpowers.
The world community differs Karabakh from other unrecognized countries.
Although the world community’s attitude towards Karabakh may be
compared with their position on Northern Cyprus and Kosovo. That’s
to say, the world accepts the NKR as a well-governed territory with
all the attributes of a state, where the situation is under control
and normal elections are conducted. This is a country which has taken
the path of democratic development, not a territory where some groups,
which have unclear goals, have become masters, while the same cannot
be said for Azerbaijan.
Under the Soviets, there was a brunch of the KGB in Baku and a special
training centre where representatives of “Islamic” countries were
trained. I do not think that this fact is so imperceptible that it
does not lead to certain conclusions in the world community.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri ANS TV, radio to suspend broadcasts in protest at Armenians’ visit
ANS TV, Baku
3 Sep 04
Azerbaijani media outlets have issued a statement in protest against
Armenian officers’ visit to Baku [to attend NATO exercises].
[Passage omitted: Reported details of statement]
We would like to inform our viewers and listeners that ANS TV and
radio will suspend their broadcasts between 1000-1100 [0500-0600 gmt],
1600-1700 [1100-1200 gmt] and 2000-2100 [1500-1600 gmt] on 4 September.

Azerbaijan believes Nagorno-Karabakh talks necessary – Aliyev
Interfax
Sept 3 2004
Baku. (Interfax-Azerbaijan) – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
has said he believes negotiations on settling the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict should be continued.
“The fact that I have not yet abandoned negotiations on Nagorno-
Karabakh means that I believe in their productivity. I have said
repeatedly that I am not going to take part in negotiations just
to imitate them. If we see at some point that negotiations are
inefficient, Azerbaijan will be the first to stop this process. Now
I believe there is a need for negotiations,” Aliyev told the press
in Naxcivan on Thursday.
“The negotiations are underway, and foreign ministers continue
to meet. But we have so far been unable to reach any agreement,”
Aliyev said.
He said he hopes “the negotiations will bring about a result.”
Touching on criticism that some CIS countries leveled at the OSCE at
the latest summit in July, the Azerbaijani president said, “Our opinion
was expressed at the summit in July, when Azerbaijan did not sign this
statement. We are pursuing a policy independent from anybody,” he said.
“This independence is above all for us. Therefore, relations between
us and the OSCE concern only us. We could also be critical about the
OSCE activity, and we have expressed this criticism. I personally
expressed our displeasure in a very harsh form right after elections.
But these issues concern only us,” he said.
“The issue that was raised at the July summit is of a political nature,
and Azerbaijan is not going to join this issue,” he said.
Baku lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and areas adjacent to it in
a bloody conflict with Armenia in the early 1990s. Co-chairmen of
the OSCE Minsk Group representing the U.S., Russia, and France are
mediating in the conflict settlement.

Azeri ministry denies protest at Armenian presence at NATO drills
Turan news agency
3 Sep 04
Baku, 3 September: The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has denied
reports by some media outlets that the ministry has sent a note to
NATO protesting a visit by Armenian officers to Baku to attend NATO’s
Cooperative Best Effort 2004 exercises (13-26 September).
Turan was told by the Foreign Ministry that the Azerbaijani side had
issued no protest. “Our representatives in Brussels are continuing
consultations with the NATO headquarters, explaining our position on
the participation of Armenian officers in the Baku-hosted exercises,”
a Foreign Ministry press service official said.
At the same time, he noted that Azerbaijan should follow its
commitments assumed within the framework of NATO’s Partnership for
Peace programme.

Azerbaijani Media Protest Visit of Armenian Officers
Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Sept 3 2004
Media in Azerbaijan released a statement protesting visit of Armenian
officers to Baku to attend training to be held within NATO
Partnership for Peace Program on September 12, 2004.
The statement considers visit of Armenian officers who occupied
Azerbaijan’s almost 20 per cent of territory as a stab against
independence of Azerbaijan.
“Letting the officers of occupational forces in the training
facilities of Azerbaijan, letting them train together with our
soldiers means disrespect towards the military interests of the host
country and playing with the nerves of the Azerbaijan nation,” reads
the statement.
“We think that admission of the Armenian forces to Baku is insult to
Azerbaijani nation, which lost thousands of its sons, aggravates a
political situation in the country, causes mass protest, and creates
ground for infringement of existing stability and unpredictable
negative consequences.”
“Considering all of the above mentioned, we, undersigned media
representatives of Azerbaijan categorically condemn planned visit of
the Armenian militants to Baku. We declare that as a sign of the
protest and not being beyond our professional activity, on Saturday,
September 4th, as an action of protest electronic media will suspend
its broadcast for three hours and newspapers will publish the first
pages empty.”
The statement further reads: “Depending on development of events we
reserve the right to broaden our protest activities even further and
to suspend our activity for longer term. This statement is available
for other media representatives to join.
ANS Group of Companies, Vahid Mustafayev, President
Ayna-Zerkalo, Elchin Shikhli, Editor-in -Chief
Yeni Musavat, Qabil Abbasoglu, Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Azadliq, Qanimat Zahidov, Editor- in-Chief
Azer.Net Group of Companies, Ramin Iskenderov
Echo, Rauf Talishinski, Editor-In-Chief
Iki Sahil, Vugar Rahimzadeh, Editor-in-Chief
525-ci, Rashaf Majid,Editor-In-Chief
Sharg, Akif Ashirli

Germany gets active in settlement of Karabakh conflict
Messenger.com.ge, Georgia
Sept 3 2004
According to the Azeri newspaper 525 Gazeta.Baku, President of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev went on an official visit to Germany and met
with German President Horst Kohler. President Kohler thinks that
official Berlin supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and
that this position is unwavering. Kohler highly assessed the first
official visit of Aliev to Germany, stressed that the visit has
positively influenced cooperation of the two countries, including
further development of the economic ties.
For his part, Aliev talked about the necessity to start attempts
to strengthen bilateral relations. The issues regarding cooperation
between Azerbaijan and Germany within the framework of international
organizations, integration of Azerbaijan into the European structures,
strengthening of activities of German companies in Azerbaijan and
others were discussed at the meeting.
Attention to the issue of the Armenian-Azeri conflict was
significant. Kohler said that Germany always supported the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan and that the country always will follow
this standpoint. According to him, Germany as a member of OSCE will
strengthen its attempt to settle this problem. Aliev also highly
assessed Germany’s standpoint and thanked President Kohler. Aliev
also invited Kohler for an official visit to his country and the
invitation was accepted.
Aliev also met with Chancellor Gerhard Schroder. According to the
results of the negotiations, two documents were signed: an agreement
regarding the avoidance of dual taxation and the purchase of 4 Airbus
A319’s by Azerbaijan. The chancellor also confirmed the standpoint
of Germany regarding the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
As Schroder said, Germany and European Union are interested in
cooperation with Azerbaijan and Germany supports the integration of
Azerbaijan into European structures in every possible way. Aliev also
noted that Azerbaijan considers the development of relations with
Germany as an important element in cooperation with the European
Union. As for the Karabakh conflict, Aliev stated that after the
withdrawal of Armenian occupying forces from the Azeri territory,
a peaceful agreement can be signed and relations can be normalized
between two countries as well.

San Diego Union Tribune, CA
Sept 3 2004
Sargsian captures five-set marathon
Match is second-longest in Open history By Jerry Magee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
NEW YORK – They don’t pass out gold medals at the U.S. Open, cash
being preferred, but Nicolas Massu of Chile, a gold medalist in
tennis at Athens, and Sargis Sargsian staged a match last night that
was truly Olympian.
Sargsian, from Armenia, finally won it, but only after he and Massu
had struggled through the second-longest match in Open history – 5
hours and 9 minutes.
The longest match on record at the Open was a 1992 men’s semifinal
between Stefan Edberg of Sweden and Michael Chang that lasted 5
hours, 26 minutes. Edberg won 6-7, 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4.
Before the Sargsian-Massu match, the second-longest match also
occurred in 1992, with Ivan Lendl defeating Boris Becker 6-7, 6-2,
6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in 5:01 in the round of 16.
The Sargsian-Massu get-together was a stormy one, with Massu,
supported by a noisy, flag-waving contingent of Chileans, carrying on
several dialogues with the chair umpire, who twice warned him for
slamming his racket and later penalized him a game for another such
abuse.
“Three violations,” Massu said. “The first two were OK. Nothing to
say. But the third one, I can’t believe.”
Massu did not dispute that he had thrown his rackets; he shattered
two of them. “Yeah, but normally all the players throw the racket,”
he said. “This umpire (Carlos Ramos) should not umpire anymore. He
unbelievable. He’s never going to umpire me again.”
Ted Schroeder of La Jolla, meantime, remembered that in the final of
the 1949 U.S. Championships, he and Pancho Gonzalez played a five-set
match that went on for 5 hours, 15 minutes. Schroeder said there were
no chairs on the court and changeovers had to be completed in 30
seconds.
In his three previous matches in that tournament, Schroeder said, he
had played five-setters on consecutive days against Gardnar Mulloy,
Frank Sedgman and Billy Talbert.
Massu being eliminated left the men’s phase of the tournament without
any of the Athens medalists. Silver medalist Mardy Fish of the United
States failed yesterday against Michal Tabara, the player from the
Czech Republic winning 6-3, 3-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3. Bronze medalist
Fernando Gonzalez of Chile had been beaten in the opening round by
Robin Soderling of Sweden.
The women’s field has lost bronze medalist Alicia Molik of Australia,
but gold medalist Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium and silver
medalist Amelie Mauresmo of France are still around.
Marathons aside, this week at the Open has been marked by
retirements, with first Todd Martin, then Wayne Ferreira saying
farewells. Andre Agassi, of their generation, presses on. He did
yesterday, gaining the tournament’s third round when a muscle problem
in the left leg forced Florian Mayer of Germany to retire in the
fourth set. Agassi advanced 7-5, 2-6, 6-2, 1-0 (ret).
Agassi, 34, said he misses many of the players against whom he
competed when he was in his 20s.
“In some cases, these are guys you grew up with and competed with
since you were 8 years old,” Agassi said. “So you do miss them; you
feel as if the game misses them.”
Agassi said he has not made any plans after the Open. He said he may
play a full fall schedule, he may not. On one point, he was clear: He
has no plans to retire should he win the Open.
No. 3 seed Carlos Moya took last night’s concluding match in Arthur
Ashe Stadium with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 conquest of American Amer
Delic. Earlier, French Open champion Gaston Gaudio of Argentina fell
to Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Delegation hails successful visit to Turkey
swissinfo, Switzerland
Sept 3 2004
A delegation of Swiss parliamentarians is winding up a visit to Turkey
following meetings with the country’s leaders and opposition figures.
Peter Briner, the head of the group, told swissinfo that there was
nothing now to prevent foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey from
visiting Ankara.
Calmy-Rey and the foreign affairs committee delegation had been due
to make scheduled trips to Turkey last year, but these were called
off at short notice.
Turkey was angered when two Swiss cantonal parliaments officially
recognised as genocide the 1915 killings of hundreds of thousands
of Armenians in Turkey. The federal parliament followed suit last
December.
But Briner said that Turkey now had “no bad feelings” towards
Switzerland.
swissinfo: How successful has the visit been?
Peter Briner: I think it has been a very successful trip. Our objective
was to get acquainted with Turkey and to meet parliamentary colleagues
of the foreign policy committee, because if we want to understand
each other we first have to get to know each other.
We met with open doors and an extraordinary hospitality from our
Turkish friends.
swissinfo: You met Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül. What subjects
did you discuss with him?
P.B.: We discussed mutual cooperation. There is a lot of cooperation
in business, in culture and in technology. They [our Turkish partners]
stressed their wish to strengthen our business relationship.
On our side we had problems to be resolved too. It seems that Turkish
customs discriminate against Swiss imports due to European Union
certification, even though we have a free trade agreement with Turkey
and with the EU. We are discussing this problem at various levels
and I’m hopeful that it can be resolved.
swissinfo: Did you raise the issue of human rights?
P.B.: We did mention human rights. We also met a small delegation of
opposition leaders led by [Kurdish human rights activist] Leyla Zana.
She said she wants to see a stable Turkey living in peace, democracy
and justice. She therefore welcomes the focus on reform due to
[Turkey’s application for] membership of the European Union.
She is encouraged, but of course she would like to speed things up.
She will fight with democratic means, we hope, because violence is
no way to reach goals. We stressed the fact that democracy can be
reached only through legal means.
swissinfo: A year ago you wanted to go to Turkey and weren’t able to.
In the meantime relations between Bern and Ankara appear to have
improved. How would you describe them now?
P.B.: We have a very open, friendly relationship. We discussed the
disagreements which made us postpone our trip. We explained things
in Switzerland, and finally I think we did finish that discussion to
the satisfaction of both sides.
swissinfo: Do you think that your visit might pave the way for Swiss
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey to visit Turkey finally?
P.B.: Yes, absolutely. Foreign Minister Gül said there were no
obstacles whatsoever to a visit by Calmy-Rey, and that the chiefs of
protocol would try to find a suitable date. There is no bad feeling
left whatsoever.
swissinfo-interview: Morven McLean

Protesters sentenced to prison
By Jahan Aliyeva (Sun Staff Writer)
Baku Sun, Azerbaijan
Sept 3 2004
BAKU — Nasimi district court handed down prison sentences to six
members of the Organization for Liberation of Karabakh (QAT) on Monday.
Judge Famil Nasibov handed out various prison sentences ranging from
three years to five years to QAT chairman Akif Nagi, deputy chairman
Firudin Mamedov, and Ilkin Gurbanov, Mursal Hasanov, Rovshan Fatiyev
and Manaf Kerimov. QAT activists and relatives of the defendants who
protested this decision in the court were forced out and dispersed
by police.
The six men were sentenced to imprisonment for their participation
in a protest against the presence of two Armenian military officers
at a NATO-sponsored conference called Best-Efforts-2004 held in Baku,
June 21.
According to the indictment, the imprisoned QAT members are charged
with attempting to enter Grand Hotel Europe, where a NATO conference
was being held, by using force against police and guards, interfering
with traffic and attempting to prevent the NATO event. The court
sentence noted that as a result of the QAT protest, Grand Hotel Europe
suffered 1 million 700 thousand AZM ($347) in damages.
Parties from across the political spectrum have condemned the
verdict as “unjust”, including political organizations, public
activists, members of the Parliament, pro-governmental and opposition
organizations.
On September 1, the first day of the autumn parliament session,
several pro-governmental deputies and MP’s criticized the sentencing
of the convicted QAT activists.
MP, Jahangir Huseynov, said that “it was necessary to arrest not OKL
activists, but employees of the prosecutor’s office and the court”,
while Zeynab Khanlarova, also a pro-governmental MP, said that “these
persons (from the court) have Armenian blood in their veins”.
Some MP’s stressed that they are ready to reimburse the amount of
damages that was suffered by Grand Hotel Europe during the protest.
Murtuz Aleskerov, speaker of the parliament also supported the QAT
protest against the arrival of Armenians to Baku.
“However, this is the NATO requirement. If we consider NATO assistance
to settle the Karabakh conflict, then we are the subject to this,”
he added.
However, Zahid Oruj, MP from the pro-governmental Ana Vatan (HomeLand)
Party thinks that there has been a certain misunderstanding between
the government, NATO and the people of Azerbaijan that led to the
sentencing.
“There is a simple thing in the heart of the matter. Azerbaijan
has been a member of the Partnership for Peace Program within NATO,
since 1994, and actively is taking part in all of the events in the
framework of this program. In general, NATO applies to the nations that
want to take part. It contradicts NATO’s principles to force nations
to take part in such events. Armenia, which has no interest in NATO,
had special interests for taking part at NATO’s seminar that was held
in Azerbaijan,” Oruj told Baku Sun.
Oruj explained that Armenian Defense Minister Serge Sarkissian
repeatedly stated that Armenia not only doesn’t want to become a
member of NATO, but that it also contradicts Armenia’s strategy in
its foreign policy. Defense cooperation with Russia is more of a
priority for Armenia than becoming a member of NATO.
“The point is that Armenia was worried about the developing relations
between NATO and Azerbaijan, thus they planned to make troubles with
these relations. They tried to tarnish the Azerbaijani people’s image
in front of NATO and the member countries. It was the information war
and Armenia managed to cause problems. Two Armenian officers came
and left, but the entire nation is at odds, the relations between
the government and people are weakened.”
Shamil Mehdi, deputy chairman of QAT, who thinks that the court’s
verdict is a “political order” said in an interview with Baku Sun
that “this verdict is not against QAT members, but against the entire
Azerbaijani nation.”
Mehdi believes that the imprisoned QAT members are playing the role
of catalysts in Azerbaijan’s society.
“The Azerbaijani community has been in something like a deep depression
for a long time, in terms of the Karabakh issue, but these six people
proved enough that Azerbaijanis will never concur to the occupation
of their lands. No one can force the nation to accept this.”
“Actually, there should have been nation-wide protests against this
unjust verdict, but it didn’t happen because, people are afraid to
be intimidated. The real situation is that people know that if they
protest even once, all of their family members will suffer.
We have information that high-ranking officials from government
organizations oppose this verdict too. But we all know the reasons
why they keep silent,” Mehdi said.
He added that the government does citizens to hold any protests that
openly show their disagreement.
“So, what should we do? Then let us greet the Armenians with flowers
and make sacrifices at their feet next time they arrive at the
airport,” he said ironically, referring to the planned arrival of
Armenian officers in Baku later this month to take part in NATO’s
military training later this month.