Month: October 2006

GEORGIA . . . ON RUSSIA’S MIND
By Ariel Cohen

Washington Times, DC
Oct 19 2006

Amid great power fretting over North Korea’s nuclear test and
continuing Iranian truculence against the West, Russia escalated its
confrontation with the neighboring Georgia. The arrest of five Russian
alleged intelligence officers two weeks ago was a pretext for Moscow
to further escalate an already difficult relationship with Tbilisi,
now affecting the 1 million Georgian Diaspora in Russia.

Ethnic Georgians, including children, were loaded on cargo planes
and expelled from Russia, citing their illegal immigration status.

Prominent Georgian intellectuals, who are Russian citizens, are being
harassed by the tax police. Georgian businesses in Moscow are singled
out by law enforcement authorities. The handling of the crisis is
threatening Russia’s international standing as a responsible and
constructive great power.

Georgia may have overplayed its hand by arresting the military
intelligence officers, whom it accused of sabotage, and not just
expelling them quietly — an acceptable modus operandi in such cases.

In response, Moscow recalled its ambassador from Tbilisi, evacuated
diplomats and their families and halted issuing visas to Georgian
citizens. The Russian military forces stationed in Georgia have gone
on high alert. Russia cut air and railroad links, and blocked money
transfers from Georgians working in Russia, denying an important
source of income for many Georgian families.

Since Mikheil Saakashvili came to power in the Rose Revolution of
2003, anti-Russian statements by Georgian leaders, a relentless
push to evacuate Russian military bases (to which Russia has agreed
previously), an attempt to join NATO, and opposition to Russian
membership in the World Trade Organization, have caused the Putin
administration to embargo the two key imports from Georgia. These
are Borjomi mineral water and wine, much beloved in Russia.

It did not end there. In September, South Ossetian separatists, who
receive Russian military support, have fired on Georgian helicopter
carrying the defense minister. This was a provocation, which, if
successful, could have led to conflagration of hostilities in the
small secessionist territory that belongs to Georgia. However, Russia
made little secret of its desire to start a war in the Caucasus that
would lead to a regime change in Tbilisi.

There are regional and global reasons why Moscow is escalating the
crisis over Georgia: c? To begin with, this is not the first time
Russia is trying to stop NATO enlargement into the formerly Soviet
territory. In 1999, Russia fulminated against the Baltic States’ NATO
membership. But at that time, Russia was extricating itself from the
1998 economic crisis while a power struggle was afoot in Moscow to
succeed President Boris Yeltsin. As energy prices were much lower
in 1999, Western European countries supported the Baltic States’
NATO bid despite Russian protests. However, today, Western Europe is
increasingly energy-dependent on the Gazprom and so is taking Russian
foreign-policy positions much more seriously.

c? Second, the Kremlin is now buoyed by $250 billion in petrodollar
reserves. These funds buy a lot of hardware for the Trans-Caucasus
Military District and for pro-Russian separatists in Abkhazia and
South Ossetia.

c? Third, Russia is uneasy over the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export
pipeline, which takes Azeri oil to the Mediterranean markets, and
crosses Georgia but bypasses Russia. The Absheron-Erzurum gas pipeline
will be coming online, bringing Azeri gas to Turkey and Europe. Gazprom
is concerned that this gas pipeline may eventually allow export of
Turkmenistan and Kazakhstani gas to Europe, circumventing Russia’s
pipeline network.

If Georgia comes under the Russian sway, neighboring Azerbaijan
and Armenia will feel the full weight of Russian presence. Leading
foreign policy experts in Moscow believe Azerbaijan has not allocated
enough oil patches to Russian companies and facilitated oil exports
via Turkey instead of Russia, which may explain why Russia is leaning
on Georgia so much.

The Armenian opposition openly demands a more pro-Western and less
pro-Russian policy, noting close ties with Moscow did not improve
Armenia’s abysmal living standard and did not allow it to receive
international recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence.

A pro-Russian Georgia in the Collective Security Treaty Organization
of the Commonwealth of Independent States would permit Russia and
Iran to dominate Azerbaijan and Armenia, severely limiting the U.S.

policy options there. Furthermore, such a development would put to
rest U.S. ambitions in Central Asia and may cut off strategically
important Kazakhstan from Western energy markets.

Russia has warned repeatedly it will retaliate severely in case
Kosovo is granted independence against the will of Serbia, a
historic ally. Mr. Putin has called for imposition of the Kosovo
criteria on separatist enclaves in the former Soviet Union, including
Transnistria, which is a part of Moldova, Abkhazia, South Ossetia
and Nagorno-Karabakh. Russia would enforce a referendum in these
territories, and would recognize their independence, opening the door
to their eventual incorporation in the Russian Federation. Moreover,
such an approach would create dangerous precedents vis-a-vis the
Crimea, where a majority of the population is pro-Russian; for
Russian-speaking Eastern Ukraine; and even for predominantly Slavic
Northern Kazakhstan.

Violations and alternations of the existing borders of the former
Soviet Union may generate severe tensions in Europe and open the
Pandora’s box of territorial claims and ethnically based border
challenges there and elsewhere, for example in Iraq and Kurdistan.

The United States today is preoccupied with major crises, such as
Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea. Russia is a key player in all
these. Its true and real cooperation would be welcome, although so far
it is not sufficient. It is vital for the future of the U.S.-Russian
relations and for global security that Moscow behaves responsibly and
constructively. Quickly defusing the Georgian crisis via diplomacy
is a good place to start. Washington should encourage the European
powers, the European Union and Turkey to become more engaged in
diffusing the Georgian-Russian confrontation. It should also advise
Georgia not to escalate rhetoric and performance vis-a-vis Russia
unnecessarily. After all, a peaceful and prosperous Caucasus is in
the Russian, Georgian and American interests.

Ariel Cohen is senior research fellow in Russian and Eurasian studies
and international energy security at the Heritage Foundation.

HISTORY A PART OF IMAGINATION
Laura Aylesworth

Royal Purple News, WI
Oct 19 2006

UW-Madison professor and historical writer is the most recent author
to visit campus

Mitchell

"If you’re not a writer and you spend hours and hours in a room
filled with imaginary people – people might think you are a little
weird." This is an serious statement given by UW-Whitewater’s most
recent visiting author, Judith Claire Mitchell.

Mitchell, author of the historical novel "The Last Day of the War,"
associate creative writing professor and director of the MFA Program
at UW-Madison, came to campus on Tuesday, Oct. 10. She first visited
professor Alison Townsend’s current writing scene class to share her
insight on the writing life to eager students.

The novel took her six years to write and publish. It is based upon
her friend’s great-aunt’s letters describing her work as a Young
Mens Clubs of America volunteer in France in 1919, where she met an
Armenian who had lost his family. The story is of a Jewish girl from
St. Louis and an Armenian- American soldier at the end of World War I.

Mitchell had some Armenian friends and was inspired through them
to write a story about the Armenian massacres as well as the YMCA’s
efforts at that time. While researching the book, she noticed there
were no books on the Armenian genocide. After she realized this, she
felt it was important to write a story about this particular moment
in history.

At the Works in Progress Cafe, Mitchell unleashed what could be the
first chapter of a novel she is working on, with the tentative title
"On This Day in History." The novel features three narrators who
were all real people in history, only they are now speaking from the
dead. Mitchell admits that it’s easier to "tell the story from the
dead" because you can pretty much make up anything.

The next guest author, Amaud Johnson, is the assistant creative
writing professor at UW-Madison and author of the book "Red Summer".

Johnson will speak at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in 214 Heide Hall. Johnson
is also scheduled to speak at the Works in Progress Cafe at 4:30 p.m.
at Bassett House located at 708 W. Main St. Jesse Lee Kercheval is
the final guest lecturer and will speak Nov. 14.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IT WAS A BAD MISTAKE, CORRECT IT IMMEDIATELY

Sabah. Turkey
Oct 19 2006

EU term President Finland warns France harshly: French parliament
has made a big mistake with the Armenian genocide bill.

EU term President Finland’s minister of foreign affairs Erkki
Tuomioja criticized France harshly for the Armenian bill in the
article published in presidency website. The title of the article was
"Parliaments should not make laws regarding historical facts."

EU warns France: Withdraw the law immediately

EU term President Finland’s minister of foreign affairs Erkki Tuomioja
warned France and demanded France to correct this bad mistake.

EU term President Finland’s minister of foreign affairs Erkki Tuomioja
warned France once again and demanded France to correct this bad
mistake. EU term President has referred as "silly" to France’s approval
of the bill which anticipates denial of the Armenian genocide as a
crime. EU term President stated: "I do not find the term genocide
exaggerated for the events experienced at that period."

PRESIDENT: COOPERATION WITH WORLD BANK HAS PRODUCED SIGNIFICANT RESULTS FOR ARMENIAN ECONOMY’S DEVELOPMENT

Regnum, Russia
Oct 19 2006

On October 18, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan met with World
Bank Yerevan office head Roger Robinson, who finished his official
mission in Armenia.

As a REGNUM correspondent was informed at the Armenian presidential
press office, Robert Kocharyan stressed that cooperation of the last
years with the WB produced significant results in the process of
Armenian economy’s development. Especially, the president stressed
that programs aimed at reforming structure of state governing,
infrastructural development, poverty reduction calling them important
factor for guaranteeing the country’s progress.

In his turn, Roger Robinson stressed with satisfaction the changes
in Armenia, to which the WB had contributed, too.

Robert Kocharyan wished Roger Robinson good luck in his further work,
stressing with assurance that it would be as efficient as it was
in Armenia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SPIELBERG CALLS HOME FOR POIGNANT PREMIERE
>From Tony Halpin in Kiev

The Times, UK
Oct 19 2006

HIS films have brought home the horror of the Holocaust to millions.

Yesterday Steven Spielberg came home to Ukraine to launch a film
about survivors of the Holocaust in his ancestral homeland.

The Hollywood director’s grandparents all came to the United States
from Ukraine, but Spielberg had not visited the country before last
night’s premiere of the documentary Spell Your Name, by the Ukrainian
director Sergei Bukovsky.

Spielberg told The Times that he feared that the "epidemic" of racism
would lead the world into a new era to match the mass slaughters of
the 20th century.

"Hatred comes from fear and we have experienced a century of fear and
I fear that we are going into another century of heightened fear,"
he said.

"Until we get to the bottom of what makes people so afraid of
the differences in others, and what we look like, we are going to
experience an even greater century of fear."

Spielberg’s arrival in Ukraine came a month after commemorations
marking the 65th anniversary of the Babi Yar massacre in Kiev, when
the Nazis murdered 33,771 Jews in two days. He said he had visited
Babi Yar earlier in the day and placed stones at the memorials to
those killed – a traditional Jewish act of remembrance. It and other
massacres had happened, he said, because people had allowed them to.

Tolerance was born of education through films such as Spell Your Name.

"It happened in the 20th century with the Armenians, it happened in
Rwanda, it happened in Sarajevo," he said. "What is inconceivable
to me is that as I look around at what technology has given us to
shrink the world and make us better neighbours and friends, we often
are not better neighbours and friends."

The 90-minute documentary records testimonies of Jews who survived the
Nazi occupation of Ukraine. The $1 million project was funded by Victor
Pinchuk, a billionaire Ukrainian industrialist whose grand-father
left Kiev with his family shortly before the Nazis invaded.

"My parents told me that they knew friends and neighbours who found
themselves at Babi Yar," Mr Pinchuk said.

He had been inspired by Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List to approach
the director with the idea for the documentary.

Spielberg, 59, whose Shoah Foundation co-produced the film, said he
was happy that it had given him an opportunity to visit Ukraine.

"I grew up in a home where my grandparents spoke Russian and Yiddish.

I kind of felt that I had a piece of Ukraine in my own home, especially
around dinner time," he said.

A CELLULOID LIFE

Steven Spielberg, born December 18, 1946, has won three Oscars and
is the most commercially successful film director

Wrote and directed his first large-scale movie at 16 while attending
Arcadia High School in Phoenix, Arizona

Applied unsuccessfully three times to the University of Southern
California’s School of Cinematic Arts

Attended California State University, Long Beach, majoring in English,
but dropped out in 1969 to take a television directing contract at
Universal Studios

Finished his degree by correspondence in 2002, 35 years after starting

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OUTSIDE VIEW: TURKEY’S ARMENIAN PROBLEM
By Pyotr Romanov – UPI Outside View Commentator

United Press International
Oct 19 2006

Denying its own Holocaust

MOSCOW — Armenian genocide is in the news again. There are two
reasons for this.

First, the Nobel Prize for literature was awarded this year to
brilliant Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, who had barely escaped prison for
publicly acknowledging the 1915 Armenian genocide. This is qualified
as treason by Turkish law.

He was saved by international solidarity but the pressure exerted on
him by the Turkish government had its effect. Pamuk flatly refused to
talk on the subject when he arrived in Moscow for the presentation
of his book in Russian translation. On a human plane, this is easy
to understand — the author wanted to return home to Istanbul, the
main character of all his books.

To sum up, the Nobel Committee’s decision has caused mixed feelings
in Turkey; it is not often that it gives such a prestigious award to
someone who is guilty of "high treason" at home.

The law that has just been passed by the lower chamber of the French
Parliament has evoked an even bigger uproar. In a way, this is a mirror
image of the Turkish law on Armenian genocide; in Istanbul the crime
is to admit genocide, whereas in France it is illegal to refute it.

The adoption of this law in France was generated by domestic
pre-election considerations rather than international motives. It
is highly dubious that the upper chamber will approve this law,
and even less likely that the President will sign it. Moreover,
France officially acknowledged the Armenian genocide by passing a
relevant law in 2001. President Jacques Chirac was laying a wreath
to the monument to the victims of genocide at almost the same time
as the Parliament voted for the recent law.

Incidentally, the official date of the Armenian genocide — 1915 — is
largely a convention. There had been atrocious anti-Armenian pogroms
much earlier than that. Thus, the Turkish theory of attributing the
events to the excesses of the war is not convincing.

Moreover, the Turks were also slaughtering Greeks, Serbs, and many
other Christians.

The wave of indignation which has swept Turkey because of Europe’s
renewed attention to the genocide is remarkable. The recent protests
in Turkey suggest many questions. The main one is whether it is worth
admitting to the EU a country that does not want to acknowledge its
guilt for heinous past crimes and repent for them? Respect for Germany
only grew when it was honest about the Holocaust. What prevents Turkey
from telling the truth?

Can Europe fling its doors open to Turkey?

I think it would not be an exaggeration to say that the survival of
European civilization in the 21st century depends on what decision
the EU adopts on Turkey’s admission. The excessive flow of migrants
is already a heavy burden for Europe. The migrants may contribute to
its culture, but every year the Europeans lose much more, and their
identity is fading away amidst this carnival of newcomers. If Europe
cannot absorb the migrants it already has, what will happen when it
flings open its doors to Turkey? Fairy tale writers may hope that
Europe stands to gain from this, but others will have to face reality.

On top of it all, there is also the religious aspect, from which
Europe is trying to disassociate itself as much as possible.

Meanwhile, political correctness is only indispensable in everyday
life but very counterproductive when it comes to serious analysis.

Looking at life through rose-tinted glasses means deliberately
distorting reality, and making wrong decisions.

Speaking Aesopian language may help one avoid the "uncomfortable" word
— Islam. But if you want to survive in the real world, you had better
look through old newspapers, recall the names of terrorists, find out
who taught them, whom they prayed to, and who gave them money. Only
in this way will you be able to protect yourself and your children.

As Orthodox Father Kurayev put it, instead of going into the future,
rethinking and reassessing its past, elements within the Islamic
world have convulsed under any excuse imaginable. On one occasion,
it may be the problem of hijab, on another, the cartoon scandal, and
on still other, a deliberate misinterpretation of an ancient quotation
mentioned by Pope Benedict XVI. Fits of hatred are frequently directed
at Christians, who are attacked and often murdered.

German opera directors have recently decided to cancel a performance
with a Muslim motive for fear that Muslim fanatics might go crazy.

Angela Merkel made a statement against this decision, but it did not
help. Europe is already filled with fear.

Of course, it would be incorrect to say that most Muslim likes these
fits of hatred. But the general goal of Islam is clear — to unite the
Muslim world along obvious lines. It is an indisputable fact that in
the 21st century the non-Muslim world has developed serious problems
with fundamentalist Islam.

Some people believe that these are growing pains rather than the
gist of Islamic doctrine. I’d like to hope this is so. But even in
this case, it is more sensible to wait until teenage aggressiveness
is over before inviting such a guest home.

Others attribute Islamic extremism to impudence towards Muslims on
behalf of people professing other religions. This also happens from
time to time. Impudence is evil, but it should not be mixed with the
right to speak the truth. Hard-line Muslims must learn to appreciate
freedom of speech, and respect the opinion of others. Otherwise, we
will get nowhere. This is absurdity rather than political correctness.

Still others think that social inequality is the root of all evil.

This opinion is justified. We should end social inequality by all
reasonable methods.

What we should not do is to fling European doors wide open without
first thinking about the consequences. The times have changed.

— (Pyotr Romanov is a political commentator for RIA Novosti. This
article was reprinted with permission from the news agency.) —
(United Press International’s "Outside View" commentaries are written
by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important
issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of World
Peace Herald or United Press International. In the interest of creating
an open forum, original submissions are invited.)

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGES FRANCE TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

Amnesty International USA
Oct 19 2006

France: Amnesty International urges France to protect freedom of
expression

Amnesty International is deeply concerned by the fact that on 12
October 2006 the French National Assembly adopted a bill which would
make it a crime to contest that the massacres of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire in 1915 constituted a genocide. The organization
considers that this bill poses a serious threat to the right to
freedom of expression. Should the bill be enacted into law, those
who contravene it would face up to five years’ imprisonment and a
45,000-euro ($56,400) fine. Amnesty International urges the French
Senate and President to reject the bill when it comes before them.

The right to freedom of expression is enshrined in Article 10 of the
European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms (ECHR) and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR), to both of which France is a party. The
French government is therefore obligated to ensure that freedom of
expression is upheld and observed for all those under its jurisdiction.

International human rights law treaties contain provisions
permitting states parties to restrict freedom of expression in
certain circumstances, as provided in Article 10(2) of the ECHR and
Article 19(3) of the ICCPR. However, these treaties make clear that
any restriction on the exercise of the right to freedom of expression
must be prescribed by law and be necessary in a "democratic society"
for one of the grounds expressly identified by human rights law which
include those necessary, inter alia, "for respect of the rights or
reputations of others" and "for the protection of national security
or of public order".

Amnesty International does not consider that this bill can be
interpreted as falling under the restrictions permitted in these human
rights treaties. Amnesty International is concerned that the vague
wording of the proposed bill may be interpreted as prohibiting peaceful
debate as to whether the massacres of 1915 would have constituted
genocide under the 1948 Convention for the Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide had it been in force at the time.

This bill, if it were to be enacted into law, might lead to people
being imprisoned solely for exercising their right to freedom of
opinion and expression, thereby becoming prisoners of conscience.

Furthermore, Amnesty International does not consider that the bill
can be justified under Article 20 of the ICCPR which states that
advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred should be prohibited
by law. In this respect it differs from the existing Holocaust denial
law in France (Loi no 90-615 du 13 juillet 1990 tendant a reprimer tout
acte raciste, antisemite ou xenophobe) which relates to challenging
the occurrence of crimes against humanity as defined by the statute
of the International Military Tribunals at Nuremberg, that is to say,
denying that mass killings were ever committed by Nazi forces. In
contrast, the proposed law has the effect of criminalising those who
question whether the Armenian massacres constituted a genocide —
a matter of legal opinion — rather than whether or not the killings
occurred — a matter of fact.

id=ENGEUR210092006

AZERBAIJAN: RUSSIA TO BLAME FOR DELAYED GAS DELIVERIES TO GEORGIA?
Rovshan Ismayilov

EurasiaNet, NY
Oct 19 2006

Azerbaijan will not be able to supply Georgia this year with the
additional gas supplies that the Georgian government is seeking in
order to forestall the possibility of an energy crisis. Some experts
in Baku believe that Russia’s ongoing diplomatic row with Georgia is
influencing Azerbaijani policy decisions.

Wanting to build its strategic reserves for what could prove a tense
winter, Georgia sought to secure an additional 300 million cubic meters
of gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field by the end of 2006, Georgian
Energy Minister Nika Gelauri told a September 30 news conference in
Tbilisi. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Talks held
October 10-11 in Baku appeared to yield positive results. But just days
later, Azerbaijani officials revised their position, saying they could
not guarantee the desired gas deliveries within Georgia’s timeframe.

"Azerbaijan might need the gas for itself," the Trend news agency
reported Azerbaijani Energy Minister Natik Aliyev as saying. "We
cannot give a concrete promise yet because we do not know yet what
Azerbaijan’s energy balance will be next year." Azerbaijan itself
imports between 4.0 billion and 4.5 billion cubic meters a year from
Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled conglomerate that also supplies
the bulk of Georgia’s gas.

It is Georgia’s energy dependency on Russia that has President
Mikheil Saakashvili’s administration worried in Tbilisi. A spy
scandal, in which Georgia arrested Russian military officers, has
placed Georgian-Russian relations in a deep freeze. In retaliation
for the Georgian action, Russia has implemented punitive measures,
including the closure of transport corridors and the suspension of
postal service. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Even before the spy scandal, Russia imposed economic sanctions against
Georgia, most notably a ban on wine imports. [For background see
the Eurasia Insight archive]. Some experts believe that the Kremlin
may in the coming months use its energy influence over Georgia as an
additional instrument of retaliation against Tbilisi.

Such concerns are rooted in the experience of January of this
year, when pipelines running through Russian territory to Georgia
inexplicably exploded, plunging the Caucasus country into an energy
crisis. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The Shah Deniz gas field, with estimated reserves of 400 billion cubic
meters (bcm), was to have provided the means for Azerbaijan to meet
Georgia’s demand. Gas from the field was originally expected to flow
via the new Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline by the end of October.

However, that opening was postponed after Turkey announced that its
part of the pipeline would not be operational until the end of 2006
at the earliest.

Georgia is supposed to receive 5 percent of the gas shipped to Turkey
as a transit fee, plus the right to purchase an additional 5 percent
of exports at a preferential price — $55 per thousand cubic meters.

The 300 mcm of gas Tbilisi wanted to purchase would be in addition
to these supplies.

While Aliyev evaded giving a reason for the delay, some experts in
Baku contend that the decision is political. "There are no technical
problems which may cause a delay," asserted Ilham Shaban, an energy
expert and editor of the Turan Energy Bulletin. "The pipeline running
from Baku into Georgian territory is complete and ready for operation."

Shaban contends that Azerbaijan may have unofficially asked British
Petroleum, which leads the gas development and pipeline consortium, to
postpone production until the end of 2006 in order to avoid offending
Russia on this issue. At the same time, he added, the British energy
company appears to be cognizant of problems recently encountered by
other foreign oil companies in Russian oil exploration, and may wish
to do nothing that might rankle the Kremlin. "It means that, most
likely, we’re facing Russia’s energy blackmail again," Shaban said.

The Azerbaijani government, however, denies that any hidden political
motive exists for its decision. "Cooperation between Baku and
Tbilisi was not affected by Russia’s position on Georgia. We [the
Azerbaijani government] are not experiencing any pressure from Russia,"
a source within the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told EurasiaNet. The
differences between Russia and Georgia were discussed during an
October 6 meeting in Moscow between the Azerbaijani and Russian
Foreign Ministers, "and both sides expressed their understanding that
the conflict should be solved as soon as possible," the source said.

Energy Minister Aliyev has confirmed that Azerbaijan is prepared
to provide transit to Georgia for Iranian gas supplies, but Shaban
states that the country’s pipelines cannot transport more than 2 mcm of
Iranian gas to Georgia per day, roughly 30 percent of Georgia’s needs.

Ilgar Mammadov, a Baku-based political analyst, believes that other
factors aside from Russia could have influenced the government’s
announcement. An increase in Gazprom gas prices could mean an increase
in transit fees for gas to Azerbaijani foe Armenia, a situation which
could raise tensions between Moscow and Yerevan to Baku’s satisfaction,
he suggested. "[D]ispleasure is growing within the government with the
fact that Azerbaijan is making economic concessions to Georgia all the
time," Mammadov added. After Azerbaijan made "serious concessions" to
Georgia on transit tariffs for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline,
the Georgian government initially asked for compensation for the
financial losses the Georgian port of Batumi would incur once the
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway project with Azerbaijan and
Turkey is complete, he noted.

Georgia later withdrew its demand, according to officials, but
Mammadov contends that the request still rankles. Azerbaijan has
granted credit to Georgia for the construction of a 29-kilometer
railroad from Akhalkalaki, the main town in the predominantly ethnic
Armenian region of Samtskhe-Javakheti, to Georgia’s border with Turkey,
and to repair a 160-kilometer railroad from Akhalkalaki to the border
with Azerbaijan. "I think that this situation has begun to irritate
[President] Ilham Aliyev’s administration," Mammadov commented.

Turan energy expert Shaban contends that the problem may just be a
question of over-sized expectations. "Saakashvili often stated that
the launching of gas production from Shah Deniz will solve Georgia’s
all energy problems," Shaban said. "He made a mistake as we can see
now: Georgia is still dependant on Russia’s gas."

Editor’s Note: Rovshan Ismayilov is a freelance journalist based
in Baku.

CRUCIANELLI: BASIC WAY TO SETTLE KARABAKH ISSUE POLITICAL

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.10.2006 13:07 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ October 8 Secretary of the National Security
Council at the President of Armenia Serge Sargsyan met with Italian
Deputy FM Famiano Crucianelli. As Spokesperson for the Armenian MOD,
colonel Seyran Shahsuvaryan told PanARMENIAN.Net, Italian Ambassador to
Armenia Marco Clemente was present at the meeting. During the meeting
Famiano Crucianelli expressed readiness of the Italian party to assist
Armenia in European integration. He was also concerned with the fact
that Turkey aspiring to the EU blocks Armenian borders. Speaking of
Armenian-Italian military relations, the parties noted the need for
expansion of bilateral cooperation. Reforms within Armenia-NATO IPAP
was also discussed. Touching upon the Nagorno Karabakh settlement
S. Sargsyan said, "the problem should be solved by peaceful tools via
compromises exclusively." In his turn Famiano Crucianelli said that the
basic way to solve the Karabakh issue is the political one and the OSCE
MG has an important role in it. As for regional security, the Armenian
MOD Head said, "We find ourselves in a hard geopolitical region and
Armenia, being interested in regional stability, to the best of its
humble capacities participates in ensuring international security."

NGO CREATING A SPECIAL RESERVE ZONE IN ARMENIA’S SOUTH

Armenpress
Oct 20 2006

KAPAN, OCTOBER 20, ARMENPRESS: An environmental non-governmental
organization in southern Armenian province of Syunik has launched
this past April a new project aimed to create a special reserve zone
that stretches from Kaputan Mountain to Gazanalich small lake.

The organization, called Khustup, has received $174,000 from Critical
Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) to carry out the project. Vladik
Martirosian, the chairman of this organization, said this area was
chosen to become a special reserve because of its unique geographical
location. It is about 2000 meters above sea level with many animals,
birds and plants registered in Armenia’s Red Book.

The projected is being assisted bye experts from Zoology and Botanic
research institutes affiliated with the Armenian National Academy
of Sciences. The project is to last 2.5 years and only then the
organization will ask the government to declare this area as reserve.