Armenia’s opposition throws down gauntlet to President Kocharian
By CHRISTIAN LOWE
Agence France Presse
April 16, 2004
YEREVAN, April 16 – Opposition supporters in the tiny former Soviet
republic of Armenia were preparing on Friday to stage a mass rally
calling for the resignation of President Robert Kocharian, in defiance
of a government ban on the protest.
The demonstration in the capital Yerevan is the first show of strength
by the opposition since a sit-in protest was dispersed by police
wielding truncheons, stun grenades and water cannon in the early
hours of Tuesday morning.
Opposition leaders have called on their supporters to gather
in the city’s Freedom Square, and may march from there on the
government compound housing the parliament building and presidential
administration — the scene of last Tuesday’s clashes with police.
“For as long as the regime of Robert Kocharian exists there will not
be a day without demonstrations. Things are not going to be quiet,”
said Aram Sarkissian, a former Armenian prime minister who is now an
opposition leader.
As the authorities readied for trouble, several busloads of police
and interior ministry troops were stationed at Freedom Square Friday
afternoon. The parliament building was being patrolled by police with
Kalashnikov automatic weapons.
Armenia’s wave of opposition rallies has been fuelled by discontent
about low living standards and claims that Kocharian rigged a
presidential election last spring which secured him a second term
in office.
The protest movement has been compared to the “rose revolution” in
neighbouring Georgia last year which ousted that country’s president
Eduard Shevardnadze.
Analysts say Kocharian is too strong, and the opposition too weak,
for that scenario to be repeated in Armenia. But Friday’s protest,
scheduled to start at 6:00 pm (1300 GMT), puts the demonstrators in
a potentially explosive stand-off with police.
The authorities have so far not granted permission for the rally in
Freedom Square, and the president has designated the area around the
government compound as strictly off limits to demonstrators.
Speaking earlier this week, Kocharian, a 50-year-old former factory
worker, said he would take a tough line with the protesters, who he
described as “extremists.”
Kocharian’s supporters say the opposition is recklessly trying to
provoke a confrontation to revive its flagging popularity.
The opposition though, is defiant. “We want to go (to the presidential
administration) to express our view to the president that he should
resign,” said Albert Bazeyan, a leading opposition figure. “No one
has the right to stop us.”
Kocharian’s government has come under fire from the international
community after the strong-arm tactics used by police at the last
rally. Dozens of people were injured.
“Physical assaults, raids on political party offices and widespread
arrests and detentions of opposition activists by the police do not
contribute to creating an atmosphere conducive to political dialogue,”
the US State Department said in a statement.
Armenia, a nation of three million people in the Caucasus mountains,
was the world’s first state to adopt Christianity.
Its economy is now crippled by an economic blockade imposed by two
of its neighbours, Turkey and Azerbaijan, because of historical
disagreements.
Kocharian has won credit for stabilising the economy. But critics
say he has trampled on democratic freedoms and surrounded himself by
corrupt cronies while ordinary people live in poverty.
Armenia has a history of political violence. The speaker of parliament
and prime minister were killed in 1999 when gunmen burst into the
parliament chamber.
Western governments are anxious to see stability in the region. The
Caucasus is becoming a strategic crossroads for oil exports from the
landlocked Caspian Sea to western markets.

German FM to visit Afghanistan, south Caucasus
Agence France Presse
April 16, 2004
BERLIN, April 16 – German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer will hold
talks with Afghan leaders and visit German troops and aid teams during
a visit to Afghanistan next week, his office said Friday.
Fischer, who flies out Monday, will meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai
and Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah as well as UN special envoy
Jean Arnault.
The theme of their talks will be how to turn the promises of donations
and support made at a March 31-April 1 international conference here
into reality on the ground.
At the conference, the international community promised 8.2 billion
dollars for Afghanistan over the next three years, more military
support to stabilise the country and continued backing for Karzai’s
fragile government.
Fischer’s talks will include Afghanistan’s upcoming presidential and
legislative elections and the pace of disarmament.
He will also visit a German-led provincial reconstruction team in
the northern region of Kunduz and German troops in the international
peacekeeping force based in and around the capital Kabul.
Germany has around 2,000 soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
Afterward Fischer will visit Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia for
talks that will take in regional security in the southern Caucasus.
In Azerbaijan he will meet President Ilham Aliyev and new Foreign
Minister Elmar Mamedyarov. In Armenia, he will meet President Robert
Kocharian.
In Georgia, Fischer will meet with President Mikhail Saakashvili
and Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and open a regional conference of
German ambassadors.

Armenia To Reject Karabakh Talks If Azerbaijan Starts ‘From Scratch’ – Minister
Mediamax news agency, Yerevan
14 Apr 04
YEREVAN
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan announced in Yerevan today
that “if Baku agrees to continue the talks on the Karabakh settlement
on the basis of the agreements reached by President Robert Kocharyan
and (former Azerbaijani) President Heydar Aliyev, Armenia is ready to
take part in the negotiations at the level of heads of state”.
As Mediamax news agency reported, Vardan Oskanyan said this speaking
at a seminar today, which discussed foreign political priorities
of Armenia.
“If Azerbaijan insists on starting everything ‘from scratch’, Armenia
will not take part in the negotiations process and will raise the
issue with the mediators of holding negotiations between Azerbaijan
and the Nagornyy Karabakh authorities,” Vardan Oskanyan said.
The foreign minister said that President Robert Kocharyan’s
participation in the negotiations had been justified as long as
“discussions of Nagornyy Karabakh’s status immediately concerned
Armenia”.
“If the content of the negotiations is changed, this means that the
rules of the game are also changing,” Vardan Oskanyan stressed.
The Armenian foreign minister said that he was leaving for Prague
tomorrow where he would hold his first meeting with Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

Armenian National Committee of America
Eastern Region
80 Bigelow Avenue
Watertown, MA 02472
Tel: 617-923-1918
Fax: 617-926-5525
[email protected]
The ANCA Desk
April 17, 2004
Contact: Arin Gregorian
617-923-1918; [email protected]
ONE VOTE REVISITED
Every so often around election time, ANCA Eastern Region urges Armenian
Americans to exercise their right and duty to vote. Our office receives a
phone call or two asking us if we really believe that one vote really
counts. The answer is absolutely.
Exercising your right to vote-at all levels of elections, from local to
national, primary to general-is extremely important.
Does your vote really matter? The answer is, Yes! In fact, one vote has
played a key role in the course of history in many elections. Here is proof:
* In May 1765, Patrick Henry introduced his famous anti-stamp tax resolution
to the Virginia House of Burgesses. One of the greatest patriots of the
American Revolution, Patrick Henry denounced England’s policy of taxation
without representation. His resolution was the first step toward America’s
independence, and the Virginia Assembly adopted the resolution that day-by
just one vote!
* In the presidential race of 1824, there were three major candidates, but
none gained the electoral college majority needed to win. The final decision
had to be made in the US House of Representatives. The House, voting by
states, required a clear majority (13 of the then 24 states) to win. John
Quincy Adams received 12 votes, seven for Andrew Jackson, and four voted for
Robert Crawford. New York held the key vote but had to delay casting its
ballot because its delegates were evenly divided between Adams and Jackson.
In the end, one vote was switched to Adams, which gave him the one state
vote he needed to become the sixth President of the United States.
* The purchase of Alaska from Russia was ratified in 1867 by just one vote.
* Texas was annexed to the Union in 1845 by just one vote in the US
Congress. That same vote also resulted in the United States’ acquisition of
Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, California, and part of Colorado.
* One of the most important-and least cited-one-vote decisions took place
shortly after the American Revolution. In 1776, one vote gave America the
English language instead of German.
* In 1645, one vote gave Oliver Cromwell control of England.
* In 1868, Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives for
abusing his executive powers. He was tried in the US Senate, which found him
not guilty–by one vote.
* In 1875, one vote changed France from a monarch to a republic.
* In 1876, one vote in the Electoral College gave Rutherford B. Hayes the
Presidency of the United States.
* In 1923, one vote gave Adolf Hitler leadership of the Nazi party.
* In 1960, Richard Nixon lost the presidential election and John F. Kennedy
won it by a margin of less than one vote per precinct.
* In 1968, Hubert Humphrey lost – and Richard Nixon won – the presidential
election by a margin of fewer than three votes per precinct.
* In 2000, the U.S. Presidential election was decided by an extremely narrow
margin. George W. Bush won the state of Florida by just 537 votes, making
him the next President of the United States. Close to 6 million voters went
to the polls in Florida. It might not have been one vote, but certainly
every vote counted!
*In 2001, the Mayoral election in Melrose, Massachusetts was decided by one
vote (Mayor Richard Lyons).
####

Barbara Bejoian, at 49; playwright, Red Sox fan*
The Boston Globe
4/14/2004
By Gloria Negri
The last play Barbara Bejoian wrote was about an elderly man who is
taken from his nursing home to attend what he knows will be his last Red
Sox game.
Like him, Ms. Bejoian, an accomplished playwright whose works have been
performed in the United States, Britain, and Armenia, was a lifelong Red
Sox fan.
Like him, she was also looking forward to what she sensed might be her
last Red Sox game, this Sunday, against the Yankees.
Ms. Bejoian, 49, formerly of Watertown, died Saturday at her home in
Barrington, R.I., after a long battle with metastatic rectal cancer.
A fleece Red Sox blanket given to her by a godchild kept her warm during
her final illness, her husband, Newell Thomas, said yesterday. It will
be buried with her.
Ms. Bejoian, winner of 10 National Endowment for the Arts awards, was a
professor of playwriting, English, and creative writing. Her students
ranged from children whose second language was English to undergraduates
and graduate students at Brown University, New York University, Rhode
Island School of Design, and Rhode Island College. One of her plays will
appear in a future anthology of Armenian writers, to be published by
Columbia University Press.
No matter what Ms. Bejoian undertook, friends said, she did it with a
zest for life, and always succeeded. “Barb was gorgeous inside and out,”
said Majorie Hatten of Medfield, a friend since both were 12. “She would
decide she was going to achieve something and, then, reach to the top
ring before figuring out how she was going to get there.” (One time Ms.
Bejoian was determined to meet playwright Neil Simon, and she did.)
She would always go the extra mile for a friend, Hatten said. “Barb
always brought out the best in people,” she said. “If she told you that
you were beautiful and talented, you believed it because she did.”
Ms. Bejoian was born and raised in Watertown. Her brother, Robert, still
of Watertown, said their mother made her take ballet lessons as a child,
“because with three brothers, mother didn’t want her to become a
tomboy.” Ballet is what got her started in a career in the arts, he said.
A cheerleader for the Watertown High School football team, Ms. Bejoian
was the school’s homecoming queen in 1972 and graduated a year later.
She was chosen as one of two women in the state to attend the Girl’s
Nation Assembly in Washington, D.C.
She was also an award-winning speaker at Voice of Democracy contests —
writing her speeches and then reciting them from memory. In the early
1970s, she played lead roles in Boston Children’s Theatre productions.
She graduated from Wheaton College in 1977 with a degree in English. She
held a variety of jobs in publishing and in television as an advertising
executive. During one period, she worked for the BBC in London while
researching a play about Virginia Woolf. Her works were later performed
at the New End Theatre.
Her “true love was always playwriting,” her brother said, and she
enrolled in courses at Radcliffe College. When she decided to get a
master’s degree in fine arts, Ms. Bejoian moved from Boston to
Providence and received her degree from Brown University in 1984.
She won many awards for her plays, including several artist-in-residence
posts, the Brown University Creative Writing Fellowship, a Rockefeller
grant, and the Critics Choice Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
She won a Fulbright Scholarship in 1995 to teach creative writing at the
American University in Yerevan, Armenia, where she was accompanied by
her husband and their two sons. Her plays were performed at Yerevan
State University and at the American Embassy in Armenia.
While there, the US Embassy asked Ms. Bejoian, who was fluent in
Armenian, to travel to the remote towns of Gumri and Vanadzor, which had
been devastated by an earthquake in the mid-1980s, to teach children
about democracy and other classroom subjects.
Before her illness was diagnosed in 2002, Ms. Bejoian traveled to New
York several days a week from Providence to teach at New York
University; she was an adjunct professor there at the time of her death.
The family moved to Barrington last year.
She wrote her Red Sox play three years before her diagnosis, ending it
with the old man’s words to the young man who had brought him to the
game. “Don’t worry, Tom,” the older man said. “Nobody can live forever.
We just have to make the most of every moment on earth.”

Security stepped up at Armenian nuclear plant, president says
Mediamax news agency
16 Apr 04
YEREVAN
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said in Yerevan today that “the
work to step up security at the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is
proceeding”.
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said this addressing a meeting of
the council on nuclear power security under the president, Mediamax
reports.
“A number of important measures from the point of view of security
have been carried out at the NPP recently,” the Armenian president
said.

Russian company buys Armenian chemical giant
Mediamax news agency
16 Apr 04

YEREVAN
The [Russian] International Volgaburmash Holding company has become
the new owner of the Nairit closed-type joint-stock company, one of
the giants of the Armenian chemical industry that specializes in the
production of synthetic rubber.
The agreement on the purchase of 100 per cent of the enterprise’s
shares was signed between Volgaburmash and Haykap Bank at the Armenian
Central Bank today, Mediamax reports.
Addressing a briefing after the signing of the agreement, Volgaburmash
representative Mikhail Zavertyaev said that the restoration of
Nairit’s positions on the Russian market of synthetic rubber would
become the priority task for the holding. Due to commercial
confidentiality, Zavertyaev refused to disclose the cost of the deal
on the purchase of Nairit’s shares. He said that Volgaburmash had
drafted a project of reconstruction of the enterprise aimed at
resuming the production of butadiene at Nairit. The project is
estimated at 5m dollars. According to Mikhail Zavertyaev, since 2003
Volgaburmash Holding has invested 3.5m dollars in Nairit.
[Passage omitted: minor details]

Armenian, Russian premiers discuss economic issues in Kyrgyzstan
Mediamax news agency
16 Apr 04
YEREVAN
The Armenian and Russian prime ministers, Andranik Markaryan and
Mikhail Fradkov, held a meeting today within the framework of the
session of the council of CIS heads of government in Kyrgyzstan.
Mediamax news agency learned from the Armenian government’s press
service today that Andranik Markaryan and Mikhail Fradkov highly rated
the activities of the Armenian-Russian intergovernment commission on
economic cooperation, stating at the same time that it is necessary to
step up relations between individual ministries.
The heads of the Armenian and Russian governments expressed their
satisfaction with the completion of the process of handing over five
Armenian enterprises to Russia under the property-for-debt
agreement. Andranik Markaryan expressed his confidence that all these
enterprises will be working at full stretch.
Andranik Markaryan and Mikhail Fradkov also discussed Armenia’s
integration into the North-South international transport corridor and
prospects for restoring railway communications via Abkhaz territory.
In this connection, the head of the Armenian government stated
“official Yerevan’s readiness to assist the swift and positive
completion of the Georgian-Russian talks on this problem, as its
settlement is of vital importance to Armenia”.
Andranik Markaryan invited his Russian counterpart to visit Armenia at
any convenient time.

Jailed Armenian gunman commits suicide
Mediamax news agency
16 Apr 04
YEREVAN
Vram Galstyan, one of the executors of the terrorist attack in the
Armenian parliament on 27 October 1999, committed suicide in
Nubarashen jail today.
During the regular morning check Vram Galstyan was alive and was in a
normal state, Mediamax was told at the press service of the Armenian
Ministry of Justice. According to the provided information, he hanged
himself at about 1100 [0600 gmt] using a sheet for this purpose.
Several days ago, Vram Galstyan was moved to a solitary confinement
cell at his own request, the press service of the Ministry of Justice
reported.
Vram Galstyan was the uncle of the terrorists’ ringleader Nairi
Unanyan. On 2 December 2003, the court of Yerevan’s Kentron and Nork
Marash communities sentenced five executors of the terrorist attack in
the Armenian National Assembly on 27 October 1999 to life
imprisonment. Those were Nairi and Karen Unanyan, Derenik Bedzhanyan,
Vram Galstyan and Eduard Grigoryan.
[Passage omitted: background details]
On 26 November 2003, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan signed a law
on amendments to the Criminal Code adopted by the Armenian National
Assembly.
Under the law, people sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorist
attacks and assassination of political and public figures are not to
be granted amnesty.
The draft law was submitted by the Justice opposition faction and
adopted by the Armenian parliament on 4 November 2003.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkish minister denies EU pressure to open Armenian border – Azeri TV
ANS TV, Baku
15 Apr 04

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has dismissed reports about EU
pressure on Turkey to open its border with Armenia. The border will
not be opened unless there is a breakthrough in the Nagornyy Karabakh
talks, Gul said in an interview with Azerbaijan’s commercial ANS
TV. The presenter concluded by saying that the Azerbaijani president’s
visit to Ankara had dispelled concern in Azerbaijan regarding the
Turkish-Armenian relationship. The following is an excerpt from report
by Azerbaijani TV station ANS on 15 April; subheadings inserted
editorially:
[Presenter] Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has expressed his
opinion on arguably the most important aspects of the relationship
between Turkey and Azerbaijan. We will now broadcast the interview for
you.
Azerbaijani-Turkish ties to improve further
[Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, in his office, in Turkish]
Relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan have a long history. Everyone
in the government before us did their best, and the government before
that too vested a lot of effort into cultivating this
relationship. Hence, friendship with Azerbaijan is something above the
governments.
There has been a lot of important meetings. The late president Heydar
Aliyev has frequently visited Turkey, and we paid visits to Azerbaijan
regularly. Many agreements have been signed, and our political
relations are quite good. However, this does not mean that they
cannot be improved.
We must further improve our relationship and make it stronger. For
that, many economic agreements have to be signed, and many economic
projects have to be implemented. Both the Turkish and Azerbaijani
governments have the will, intention and desire to do so. From this
view, we deem such visits very important.
We are not going to just seat next to each other and have a nice
time. We are having meetings, signing agreements. That is, we are
striving to make our relationship stronger, to take it further. From
this view, I am very hopeful and I believe that we will accomplish
much more.
[Correspondent Qanira Pasayeva] One of the meetings – an expanded
meeting, and you took part in it – has been completed. Which topics
were top of the agenda, and which proved to be the most debatable?
[Gul] There are two issues which we reckon are the most important at
this juncture. One of them is political, including naturally relations
between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the invasion of Nagornyy Karabakh and
ways to end that occupation. Second, there are economic topics,
concerning the ways to further develop our economic ties and realize
new economic projects. Undoubtedly, democratization and further
integration of our countries into Europe are also on the agenda of the
talks, but those two issues are at the top of the current agenda.
Trilateral meetings on Nagornyy Karabakh
[Correspondent] You said that there were talks on Nagornyy
Karabakh. When you came to office, it seemed that you will spend more
effort trying to resolve the conflict. You even suggested holding
trilateral meetings between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Why did
those meetings not take off and do you think they could be fruitful?
[Gul] No, they did take place and they are continuing. We are indeed
placing great importance on the talks, not only in appearance but also
in essence.
On behalf of our government, I spend a lot of effort on this
issue. When trying to resolve other problems in the world, we cannot
leave this conflict in a frozen condition. We cannot say – let us put
it in a refrigerator and leave it there. We must try hard to resolve
it and for that I paid two visits to Azerbaijan and had three meetings
with Armenian Foreign Minister [Vardan Oskanyan] over this period. I
will continue to have those meetings.
As you put it, let us have a trilateral meeting and Turkey will play
the role of a catalyst. Because resolving this issue peacefully will
benefit everyone.
We are not neglecting this issue.
[Correspondent] But ex-Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, too, tried hard to
do that and he did not succeed. They only had a few meetings and then
there was a statement saying that there was a standstill this
way. What is your opinion?
[Gul] Difficult issues are not resolved by one single meeting. To
resolve difficult and complicated issues, one has to spend a lot of
effort. We must try very hard.
[Correspondent] You have had three meetings with Oskanyan. What is
their standpoint on Nagornyy Karabakh? Did you sense any give and take
attitude?
[Gul] Certainly, everyone has his own viewpoint. Some common ground, a
compromise, has to be reached in this regard. And that has to be a
just solution. >From this view, everyone may have their own
positions, but we must hold meetings and discuss this, not leave the
issue on its own.
[Correspondent] Were you satisfied by meetings with Oskanyan? Did he
have a position suitable for reaching such a common ground?
[Gul] From his view, he also wants the conflict to be resolved. But
naturally based on his standpoint.
[Correspondent] How does he propose to resolve it? Make Nagornyy
Karabakh independent?
[Gul] There are topics that we discuss in private because if we want
to try to resolve the issue, we have to keep something
confidential. But we must be determined and strive to resolve the
conflict.
Take Cyprus, for instance, where an important breakthrough has been
made. Why would that be impossible in this case?
EU stance on Nagornyy Karabakh
[Correspondent] You are also conducting talks with the European
Union. What is their stance on these problems?
[Gul] They are rather aloof from this issue, but we seek to involve
them closer. Because they, too, are members of the OSCE Minsk Group
and the Council of Europe – Azerbaijan and Armenia are there as
well. Therefore, the Caucasus already seems to be part of Europe, and
we must try to turn their attention in this direction.
[Correspondent] The EU is putting pressure on Turkey to open the
border with Armenia. This issue has come into the limelight lately.
[Gul] There is no such thing. To be frank, I lament those reports. All
journalists from Azerbaijan pose us this question whenever we
meet. This makes us a bit uncomfortable because there is no such
thing.
[Correspondent] And it cannot enter the agenda soon?
[Gul] No. There is no such problem.
[Correspondent] What are the conditions under which Turkey could open
its border with Armenia?
[Gul] If this issue is resolved.
[Correspondent] So, only after the Karabakh [conflict is resolved]?
[Gul] When this issue is resolved, when there are breakthroughs in
this regard, when there are mutually acceptable approaches.
Armenian claims
[Correspondent] You have meetings with Oskanyan and discuss not only
Azerbaijan. I mean, the Armenian Constitution contains territorial
claims to Turkey and the Armenian lobby, as well as the Armenian
government, also makes claims about genocide. What do you think about
this?
[Gul] Those issues are all just fictions. While Armenia is grappling
with its own problems, it is only laughable that it might lay a
territorial claim to part of Turkey.
[Correspondent] What about genocide claims?
[Gul] As for the genocide claims, they belong to the Armenian
diaspora, some rich Armenians residing in America. I tell them: then
go and leave in Armenia, if you love it that much. Do not just seat
there and stir things up. I tell them this. I hope that they will see
and realize this themselves.
There have been certain events at the time, but many Turkish lives
were lost as well. Under conditions of war, there can be casualties on
both sides but the Turks have never systematically killed people. Nor
does our history contain anything like that or our religion allows us
to do that. Massacre of civilians, genocide against them – such things
have never occurred in our history. The Turks, the Muslims, have never
done anything like that.
Hence, there may be some slander. We are always ready to reply to
those claims.
[Passage omitted: Turkey sent its envoy to USA to resolve this issue]
[Correspondent] Turkey is also a member of the OSCE Minsk Group. Why
does it not discuss the reasons for the Minsk Group’s failure to
resolve the Nagornyy Karabakh issue by now?
[Gul] Indeed, this issue has to be raised and I am spending a lot of
effort in this regard. During my visits abroad, I tell heads of state
that they are not paying as much attention to this issue as to other
conflicts. This conflict cannot be left in a frozen condition. They
have to pay attention to it and this conflict has to be resolved. We
are trying hard, but of course Azerbaijan has to try hard as well. It
is Azerbaijan’s lands which have been invaded.
On the other hand, Azerbaijan has to become stronger in every sense:
economically, militarily, democratically. To become stronger, the
country not only needs to reinforce its army, it also has to boost its
democracy and its economy. Then it will be better positioned to
defend its rights and interests.
Caucasus policy
[Correspondent] Some of your opponents are heavily criticizing
you. The EU is the priority for the incumbent government, and the
Caucasus policy is too weak, they say.
[Gul] Who are they?
[Correspondent] From the CHP [Republican People’s Party] and
others. Do you think Turkey’s current Caucasus policy is on the
necessary level?
[Gul] Certainly, it is. We place much importance on our Caucasus
policy. Turkey tries to resolve not only the Nagornyy Karabakh
problem, which we have discussed, but also some issues in Georgia. We
are closely watching the developments and are being effective. The
Caucasus is very important for us and the statements from the
opposition are engendered by envy.
[Correspondent] You have visited Georgia. The northeastern part of
Turkey is now well-off and there is a plan to build a railway between
Tbilisi and Kars. It would also connect Turkey and Azerbaijan. It was
talked about for a year but nothing happened.
[Gul] Large resources are needed for that. Not everything can be done
immediately. We also want to do that but we are unable so far to raise
enough funds. But it will be implemented.
[Passage omitted: Speculation on results of the referendum on
reunification in Cyprus]
[Presenter] Prior to Azerbaijani President [Ilham Aliyev’s] visit to
Turkey, there were some points in the Turkish-Armenian relationship
that caused concern in Azerbaijan. Now, those concerns can be
dismissed. It can be said that the positions of Turkey and Azerbaijan
on all issues concur.