ASBAREZ Online [07-20-2004]

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07/20/2004
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1. Turkish EU Entry Poses Nagging Problem for Chirac 2. State Department Says Schiff Amendment Should Not Become Law 3. NATO Exercises in Baltic Sates    4. Georgia Threatens to Drop South Ossetia Peace Deal 5. NEWS BRIEFS 1. Turkish EU Entry Poses Nagging Problem for Chirac PARIS (FT/Reuters)--The three-day visit of Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Paris has drawn attention to an unusual alignment of the planets in the French political environment. Jacques Chirac, the French president and an outspoken advocate of Turkish membership of the EU, is out of sync not just with a majority of voters, but with much of the country's political establishment, including his own center-right UMP party. After a working lunch on Tuesday with Erdogan, the Elysée said Chirac had reiterated his position that Turkish entry into the EU was "desirable." The president has warned that the road to membership may be 10-15 years long, but has made little attempt to mask what he declares to be his "conviction about Turkey's European vocation" in domestic self-interest. "It is an extremely unusual position for President Chirac to find himself in and is seriously explosive," said Eddy Fougier, a research fellow at the French Institute for International Relations. "The last few elections have shown that French voters are already angry that their concerns are not being taken into account. If the government presses ahead with Turkish membership, it could be very problematic." The only parties offering qualified support to Turkey are the Socialists and the Greens. The opposition Socialists support Turkish membership in principle, but party chief François Hollande has linked the start of entry talks to Ankara's recognition of the 1915 genocide of Armenians by Ottoman forces. France is home to a significant Armenian population. Pro-Armenian groups were to demonstrate in Paris later on Tuesday against Erdogan's three-day visit. It is on the right of the spectrum that Turkish membership poses the greatest concern. The UMP governing majority in April came out categorically against starting negotiations, with Alain Juppé, Chirac's closest ally and outgoing chairman, warning that Turkish membership would "fundamentally change the nature of the EU." For the moment the differences between the president and his party are being brushed aside, with Juppé simply saying: "Lui, c'est lui. Moi, c'est moi," (He has his opinions, I have mine), but that defense may be hard to sustain. The real test of Chirac's convictions, however, will come in December when EU leaders decide whether to open membership talks with Ankara, a candidate since 1999. The timing could not be more awkward for the French government. Turkey is likely to loom large over the newly pledged referendum on the European constitution, slated to be held late next year. The last 20 polls in France, the EU country most hostile to enlargement, show around 60 per cent consistently opposing Turkish membership. "People are extremely interested in the question and know what they think," Fougier said. "They worry about Islam and fear immigration. They have not warmed to enlargement since May 1 and show every sign of rejecting Turkey too." One senior UK diplomat says he has little doubt that President Chirac will stick to his support for Turkish membership. "France will not block the opening of membership negotiations with Turkey when the council meets in December, but will probably want to delay starting talks until after it has held its referendum on the constitution in the second half of next year," he said. 2. State Department Says Schiff Amendment Should Not Become Law WASHINGTON, DC (Combined Sources)--US State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher announced last week that the US Administration "strongly opposes" the Schiff Amendment which passed the House last Thursday, and was added to the fiscal year 2005 foreign aid bill that later passed by a vote of 365 to 41. Rep. Adam Schiff's amendment would deny Turkey the use of US foreign aid money to lobby against the Armenian genocide resolution. "It should not become law," the State Department statement said, describing the amendment as detrimental to "reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia in pursuit of regional peace and economic cooperation," goals it referred to as being pursued by Turkey and Armenia "through direct meetings." "Turkey, our key NATO ally, and Armenia, our close friend, are partners in the Global War on Terror and in advancing democracy, prosperity and stability in the Caucasus. Our goal is to bolster cooperation between these two countries rather than to separate them." The statement welcomed House Leadership's (Speaker Hastert, Majority Leader DeLay and Majority Whip Blunt) strong opposition to the amendment and their commitment to crushing it in conference. "We welcome the Leadership's recognition of the important relationship with our reliable ally and friend Turkey and of the need for continued close economic and security relations between our countries," the statement says in closing. In their statement issued immediately after the passage of the Schiff Amendment, the House Leadership announced they would not schedule the Genocide Resolution (HR 193) during the remainder of this Congress. "Our relationship with Turkey is too important to us to allow it to be in any way damaged by a poorly crafted and ultimately meaningless amendment." The foreign aid bill discuss its version of bill, Senate version compared to House version, In the upcoming weeks the Senate will begin consideration of its version of the 2005 foreign aid bill; following its adoption on the Senate floor, House and Senate appropriators will convene a conference to iron out differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. 3. NATO Exercises in Baltic Sates    (Big News Network.com)--NATO has launched massive exercises with former Soviet republics in the Baltic states. The joint international military exercises called Rescuer/Medcuer-2004, have begun in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, under the NATO Partnership for Peace Program. Forces from the former Soviet republics of Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are participating in the exercises, along with troops from the former Soviet satellite nations of Bulgaria, Poland, Croatia and Romania alongside US forces, reported the Ukrainian Defense Ministry press service. The servicemen will train on cleaning up the aftermath of natural disasters, and preventing terrorist acts in the Baltic states, according to Interfax. They are also developing cooperation between military and civilian agencies in the prevention of human and natural disasters. The drill script includes providing medical and humanitarian aid to large groups of people, deploying a peacekeeping force, and setting up sea-based and coastal hospitals. Divers will train on exposing terrorist groups and de-mining sea areas and hydro-technical facilities. The exercises will conclude on July 30. 4. Georgia Threatens to Drop South Ossetia Peace Deal TBILISI (Reuters)--Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili threatened on Tuesday to abandon a deal that has kept the peace for a decade in one of two Georgian regions lost to separatists. Leaders in South Ossetia, immediately responded by saying such a move could lead to a new war. Saakashvili questioned a 1992 accord that sent peacekeepers to South Ossetia, where tension has risen between Georgian authorities and separatist leaders who want to join Russia. Georgia and Russia accuse each other of undermining the deal. The president criticized provisions of the agreement, signed by his predecessor Eduard Shevardnadze, banning the Georgian flag from areas patrolled by peacekeepers. "I heard recently, and one of the Russian peacekeepers confirmed this, that in the center of Kartli (in South Ossetia) raising the Georgian flag is considered illegal," Saakashvili said. "If the previous Georgian authorities, representatives of Shevardnadze's regime, signed such agreements then we intend to withdraw from them and denounce these documents." Since leading a bloodless revolution to oust Shevardnadze and winning election in January, Saakashvili has made restoring central authority over all Georgian territory a policy priority. The president was speaking on Tuesday to the newly elected local assembly in Ajaria, a Georgian region on the Black Sea where he forced local leader Abashidze from office in May. Saakashvili hopes to capitalize on that to bring mountainous South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another Black Sea region, back under central control. But that is proving more difficult as, unlike Ajaria, both areas have formally declared independence and are populated mostly by non-Georgians. Eduard Kokoity, the leader of unrecognized South Ossetia, said Saakashvili's comments "could lead to a new war. "It is thanks to this very agreement that conflict was halted in 1992," he told Russia's Itar-Tass news agency. Russia counseled caution. "All these years, the agreements reached around the Georgian-Ossetian conflict have upheld stability," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said in Moscow. "There are no other mechanisms. Clearly, it would be improper to abandon them." The 1992 agreement set up a peacekeeping force with troops from Russia, Georgia and South Ossetia itself. But the accord has looked shaky in recent weeks, as Georgia has accused Russian peacekeepers of siding with separatists and trying to arm them, while Moscow has accused Georgia of trying to trigger a military confrontation in South Ossetia. Representatives of the three sides met in Moscow last week for talks, which ended with little progress. This week, Saakashvili briefly visited by night, a region adjoining South Ossetia-- a move criticized by Russia as unhelpful in trying to firm up peace. Earlier this month, he told military graduates that Georgia wanted peace, but in the event of outside aggression, "we will meet it with aggression. Great battles await Georgia." 5. NEWS BRIEFS Putin Calls on Security Council to Save CIS From Collapse MOSCOW (RFE-RL)During a July 19 Security Council session devoted to Russia's policy on the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Russian president Vladimir Putin stated, "we are faced with an alternative: either we achieve a qualitative strengthening of the CISor this structure will be washed away from the geopolitical space," ITAR-TASS reported. "We should not let that happen, and Russia's role in boosting the influence and the authority of the CIS is very great," Putin said. He added that Russia faces the challenge posed by increasing "political and economic competition within the CIS space." Putin described the work of the Russian diplomatic corps and economic missions working in the CIS as inefficient and inadequate. He called for Russia to develop a coordinated and consistent policy on the CIS, adding that the Foreign Ministry should actively work to protect the rights of ethnic Russians living in the CIS. Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov announced after the meeting that the council decided at the session to set up a special committee to boost cooperation among the CIS states. The council also directed the Foreign Ministry to set up Russian information and cultural centers in CIS states. Karabagh Hands Over Azeri Prisoner STEPANAKERT (ARMENPRESS)Authorities of the Mountainous Karabagh Republic said Monday that they have handed over an Azeri soldier that had been detained when he crossed a cease-fire line last month. The hand-over of the 19-year-old serviceman, detained on June 30, took place after consultations with representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Yerevan Mayor Favor Appointment of Future Mayors YEREVAN (ARMENPRESS)Current Yerevan mayor Yervand Zakharian stated that he is in favor of converting the mayoral post from an elected position to an appointed post. He believes that such a move would be appropriate, because one third of the country's population lives within the city. Zakharian noted that one of the disadvantages of having an elected mayor is the disagreements that may rise between state authorities and the city head. Georgian Foreign Minister to Visit Armenia YEREVAN (ARMENPRESS)Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili will pay an official visit to Armenia for the first time on July 21-22. According to Foreign Ministry Press Services, she will have meetings with president Kocharian, National Assembly speaker Arthur Baghdasarian, Prime Minister Andranik Margarian and Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian. During her trip, the foreign minister will visit the Armenian Genocide monument, Etchmiadzin and Sergey Parajanov museum. Kotayk Head Commends President for Vacationing Habits YEREVAN (ARMENPRESS) Kotayk Provincial Governor, Kovalenko Shahgeldian, told a news conference on Tuesday that he commends president Kocharian for spending both his summer and winter vacations within the province, rather than traveling abroad. The president spends his summer vacations at Lake Sevan and the winter holidays in the resort town of Dzaghgadzor. The governor added that the visits have positive impacts on provincial authorities "as we have to work more accurately, and, in addition, I am given an opportunity to discuss some pressing problems with the president in an unofficial atmosphere." Citing president Kocharian, the governor said that the anticipated funds from the Lincy Foundation will be used to improve the infrastructure of the region and promote cultural activity amongst its residents. Shahgeldian also noted that significant changes will be made to the region's athletic facilities. Kocharian and Ryazanov Discuss Pipeline to Iran YEREVAN (ARMENPRESS)Armenian President Robert Kocharian and deputy chairman of the board of the Russian company Gazprom, Alexander Ryazanov, discussed the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran to Armenia in Yerevan on July 19. The sides also evaluated the work of ArmRosgazprom. 45 percent of the company is controlled by Gazprom. Shooter Norayr Bakhtamian Set 6 Records in Belarus YEREVAN (ARMENPRESS)Norayr Bakhtamian was among rifle shooters from 5 countries participating in an open competition in Belarus. He set 2 records in the host country. Garnering 575 points in the 50m competitions, Bakhtamian also surpassed the record of Gyumri's Yuri Sahakian, by three points. Overjoyed with his performance, Bakhtamian's coach said that he is confident that the shooter will make a similar showing during the upcoming Olympics. Thailand Parliamentary Delegation to Visit Armenia YEREVAN (ARMENPRESS)A Thailand-Armenia parliamentary friendship group, headed by Senator Sanit Kulcharoen, will pay a visit to Armenia on July 21. According to Parliament Press Services, the delegation will meet Armenian National Assembly chairman Arthur Baghdasarian, Armenia-Thailand parliamentary friendship group members, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, Minister of Trade and Economic Development Karen Chshmaritian and Yerevan Mayor Yervand Zakharian. The trip will end on July 27. Lake Sevan is 1897 Meters above Sea Level GAVAR (ARMENPRESS)According to Sevan Observatory sources, Lake Sevan is currently situated 1897.95 meters above the sea level. Last year, the level was half a meter lower. The observatory also reported that 35 million cubic meters of water from Sevan was used for irrigation purposes between June 24 and July 20. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. 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