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08/12/2004
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) Azeris Seek US Involvement in Karabagh, Pledge Further Security Cooperation 2) Legendary Olympic Champion Azarian to Lead Armenia in Opening Ceremonies 3) Armenian Writers' Union Fund Established 4) Armenian-Russian War Games To Take Place in Yerevan 5) Georgia, South Ossetia Row Erupts Into Violence 1) Azeris Seek US Involvement in Karabagh, Pledge Further Security Cooperation BAKU (Reuters)--Azerbaijan asked the United States on Thursday to support its bid to regain control over Karabagh, an Armenian-populated enclave which broke away after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But visiting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who pledged to build ties with the Caucasus ally, did not offer any help beyond supporting international mediation which has yet to reconcile Azerbaijan with its ex-Soviet neighbor Armenia. Thousands of people were killed in fighting in Karabagh before a truce was struck in 1994. Karabagh Armenians now control the enclave and a swathe of Azeri territory around it. Azerbaijan, upset by a lack of progress in mediation efforts by the Minsk Group of 11 states, led by France, the United States, and Russia, has urged the European Union and other Western powers to get involved directly. "What we want from the United States as our ally and partner is for it to support Azerbaijan in this conflict and demand that Armenia immediately withdraws its occupation forces," Defense Minister Safar Abiyev told a joint news conference with Rumsfeld. At the start of his visit, Rumsfeld said Washington was committed to developing ties with Azerbaijan--an oil-rich country which should start pumping oil to the West through a pipeline across Georgia and Turkey next year. "I agree completely that the security relationship between our two countries continues to grow and strengthen," Rumsfeld said during a meeting with President Ilham Aliyev. AVOIDS RESPONSE But he avoided responding to Abiyev's call. "As you know the United States supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan," he told the news conference, adding that Washington was involved in the Minsk group. Ties between the United States and Azerbaijan, which is seeking to develop ties with NATO in contrast with its pro-Russian arch-foe Armenia, strengthened after Baku backed the US intervention in Afghanistan by sending 30 troops. "Our relations are growing, and I am sure that in the future we will continue to be mutual friends and allies," Azeri President Ilham Aliyev told reporters. Azerbaijan became the only predominantly Muslim state to send troops to support the US-led military engagement in Iraq. Around 150 Azeri troops are deployed in Iraq. Russian media reported last month that Azerbaijan was considering sending an extra 250 troops to Iraq. Azeri officials denied such plans and Rumsfeld said the issue was not raised during his visit. "We did not discuss the possibility of expansion of Azeri troops in Afghanistan or Iraq," he said. Rumsfeld told Aliyev his country was an important partner in the fight against terrorism. "We value that relationship and the cooperation that your country has demonstrated at the very outset of the global war on terrorism." US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld thanked Aliyev on Thursday for his country's support in the war on terrorism. 2) Legendary Olympic Champion Azarian to Lead Armenia in Opening Ceremonies ATHENS--Olympic champion Albert Azarian, will carry the banner of the Armenian delegation at the August 13 opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Azarian, known as the "king of the rings," was the 1954 and 1958 World Champion, 1955 European Champion, and 1956 and 1960 Olympic Champion. According to the Chairman of the Armenian Olympic Committee Ishkhan Zakarian, Armenia will be represented by 18 athletes in 9 sports in the Olympic Games, including competitions in weight-lifting, wrestling, and boxing. President Robert Kocharian will also be with the delegation leaving for Athens to provide moral support to the Armenian team. The US boxing team includes Vanes Martirosyan from Glendale, CA. Born in Armenia, Martirosyan moved to the US when he was four and started boxing at age 7. Ranked 14th in his weight class in January 2004, Martirosyan persevered and succeeded in making the team. 3) Armenian Writers' Union Fund Established ANTELIAS--Initiated by His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, and through the efforts of the chairman of the Armenian Writers' Union Levon Ananian, a fund has been established in Antelias for the Writers' Union under the auspices of the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia. His Holiness had made an appeal for such a fund during a conference of Armenian writers in the Middle East, held on March 26-28. The meeting, attended by 40 writers from Lebanon and Syria, provided the opportunity to raise the issue, as well as begin the initial fundraising. His Holiness also issued a circular requesting all the prelacies and executive councils of the Holy See of Cilicia to take part in the effort. The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia appeals to all Armenians to participate in the fund, and help Armenia's writers and intellectuals preserve our history and culture. Donations can be made to: FRANSBANK SAL, Antelias Branch, Lebanon ARMENIAN CATHOLICOSATE OF CILICIA 003 035 22 21 532027.87 FSABLBBX 4) Armenian-Russian War Games To Take Place in Yerevan YEREVAN (Armenpress)--The annual war games between Russia and Armenia are set to take place in Yerevan, August 24-27, announced Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Seyran Shahsuvarian. Russia's 102nd base will take part in the exercise. 5) Georgia, South Ossetia Row Erupts Into Violence TBILISI (Reuters/AFP)--An artillery bombardment has left three Georgian soldiers dead and other people hurt as villages in South Ossetia came under fire on Thursday in a violent escalation of Georgia's dispute with its breakaway province. "It's obvious that the South Ossetian leadership and some other forces are trying to involve us in a military conflict," Georgia's parliamentary speaker Nino Burdzhanadze said.  "Our soldiers were defending their positions and peaceful residents. We are going to do our best to keep the peace and to escape war," Burdzhanadze told journalists. Georgia says South Ossetia must submit to rule from Tbilisi, but after a separatist war in 1992, local leaders reject any overtures from the central government, preferring to look to Moscow for support for their de facto independence. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has already overthrown one local strongman since winning a landslide election victory in January, but he faces far stiffer resistance in South Ossetia and in Abkhazia, another separatist region. Russia, Georgia, and the self-proclaimed South Ossetian administration run a joint peacekeeping force in South Ossetia, but mounting rhetoric and easy access to guns had fuelled fears that violence might shatter the fragile peace. "All night Georgian villages and Georgian peacekeepers' positions have been under massive artillery fire, coming from various types of guns," Aleko Kiknadze, the Georgian peacekeepers' commander, told Reuters early on Thursday. "Three are dead from our side," Georgia's Deputy Security Minister Gigi Ugulava said. HOSPITAL BOMBARDED But a spokeswoman for the unrecognized South Ossetian government said the Georgians had opened fire first, bombarding a hospital in the capital Tskhinvali. "They've been shooting at us all night...It's the start of the war," Irina Gagloyeva told Reuters. A member of a local non-governmental organization told Reuters by telephone that some people at the hospital had been wounded, but there was no word on any deaths. Russian television showed the blackened tail-fin of a mortar bomb lying under a smashed apartment window and doctors comforting children in the dilapidated hospital. "We have new-born babies here. We all went down into the basement. I've never seen and heard anything so terrible in my life," Dr. Tinatin Zakharova told the state TV station Rossiya. South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity, dressed in camouflage fatigues, also appeared on Rossiya, calling for emergency talks--a suggestion immediately backed by Russia's Foreign Ministry. Col. Nikolai Baranov, spokesman for Russian peacekeepers in the disputed region, said the force had done all it could to stop the fighting. "Our headquarters held talks with the South Ossetian and Georgian leadership and managed to stop the shooting for a time during the night, but it soon restarted with even greater intensity," he told Russian state television. Russian peacekeepers said they had plotted the firing position of the guns which had bombarded South Ossetian villages, Interfax news agency reported. South Ossetia's defense chief Ibragim Gassiyev told Interfax that Georgian forces had destroyed the South Ossetian village of Andisi, wounding two people. He also said Georgian armor was moving to the border with South Ossetia. President Saakashvili is warning against "ethnic cleansing"  in the region. "We must not allow for ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population or a humanitarian catastrophe," he said. Saakashvili says his government faces three major challenges at present: to ensure the safety of the civilian population in South Ossetia, to halt smuggling and other economic crime, and to prevent the conflict in Ossetia from expanding. "We must not permit outside forces to create a scenario that would drag Georgia into a large-scale military conflict," he said. He did not specify which outside forces he meant. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Loshinin has also sounded an alarm over the latest developments in the region. "The situation is worsening by the hour and could spin out of control at any moment," he said. Russia has proposed an emergency meeting of a tripartite Georgian-Ossetian-Russian commission charged with resolving the dispute. Prime minister Zurab Zhvania said Europe and the US must help resolve the escalating military conflict between his former Soviet republic and pro-Russian forces in separatist South Ossetia. "We are asking the international community to use its influence to help launch high-level negotiations," Zhvania told reporters. He said Georgia still wants to engage in direct negotiations with the separatists in the presence of Russian representatives, as all sides work to figure out a way to end a flare of fighting in the volatile Caucasus. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2004 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets. From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress