Month: March 2007

U.S. MINING FIRM SUES ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT
By Emil Danielyan and Astghik Bedevian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
March 20 2007

A U.S. company mining gold in Armenia has initiated an international
arbitration of its bitter dispute with Environment Minister Vartan
Ayvazian whom it accuses of corruption and other violations of the law.

A lawyer for Global Gold Corporation said on Tuesday that the
Connecticut-based company has sued the Armenian government over
Ayvazian’s controversial decision last year to revoke some of its
operating licenses.

"Global Gold is alleging that the Armenian government, through
the actions of its minister of environment, violated the bilateral
investment treaty between the United States and Armenia in multiple
respects," Ken Fleuriet of the London-based law firm King & Spalding
told RFE/RL by phone.

The dispute will be adjudicated by a panel of three arbiters to be
appointed by the International Center for Settlement of Investment
Disputes (ICSID), a Washington-based body affiliated with the World
Bank. The treaty cited by Fleuriet enables U.S. firms doing business
in Armenia to file lawsuits to ICSID tribunals, instead of going to
Armenian courts.

The row broke out a year ago when Ayvazian’s ministry unilaterally
terminated Global Gold’s licenses to carry out exploratory work at two
small gold deposits, accusing it of failing to honor its investment
commitments. The company rejected the accusations and argued that the
ministry’s action contradicted an Armenian law on mining. An article
of the law stipulates that local and foreign mining companies can be
stripped of their licenses only by a court.

Top Global Gold executives claimed that Ayvazian turned on their
company in retaliation for its refusal to pay a $3 million bribe
allegedly demanded by him. The U.S. embassy in Yerevan expressed
serious concern at the allegations, raising the matter with the
Armenian government. Both Ayvazian and Prime Minister Andranik
Markarian dismissed them as baseless.

Although the Armenian authorities seem to have refrained from enforcing
the Environment Ministry decisions, Global Gold claims to have suffered
considerable losses and is seeking compensatory damages from the
government. "The damages or relief that Global Gold will be seeking
will be determined in the course of the proceedings," said Fleuriet.

"One the principal facts in the case is a request for a bribe that
was made by Mr. Ayvazian to representatives of Global Gold and was
refused by Global Gold," the lawyer said. "That is when a lot of the
various instances of misconduct in relation to the company began.

That includes refusals to grant licenses and exploration permits,
seizures and expropriations of various rights."

"Our understanding is that some of the rights have been lost and
others are in the process of being taken and sold to other companies,"
he added.

Fleuriet also said that Armenia’s Ministry of Justice and embassy in
the United States have already been notified of the lawsuit. Ayvazian
confirmed this but refused to comment on possible consequences of the
extraordinary legal action. "I can only regret that they never tried
to use the legislation of the Republic of Armenia," he told RFE/RL.

Incidentally, Ayvazian spoke shortly after a meeting with President
Robert Kocharian. He said they did not speak about the Global Gold
lawsuit and discussed other "current affairs" instead.

PURSUING NATO INTEGRATION
by Khazri Bakinsky and Mina Muradova

>From EurasiaNet.
Transitions Online, Czech Republic
March 20 2007

Azeri officials affirm their commitment to the alliance, although a
professional, civilian-administered military is still a long way off.

Azerbaijan is pressing ahead with plans to overhaul the country’s armed
forces in order to bring them up to North Atlantic Treaty Organization
standards. The pace of reforms will be gradual, according to senior
government officials, who are quick to point out that Azerbaijan
remains locked in an unresolved conflict with Armenia over the
Nagorno-Karabakh territory.

The deputy speaker of the Azeri parliament, Ziafarat Asgarov, indicated
that the legislature would adopt a new strategic doctrine by mid-2007,
the Ayna newspaper reported. A draft of the doctrine is on the agenda
for parliament’s spring session, he added. In the meantime, Baku has
agreed to increase the number of Azeri troops serving with NATO in
Afghanistan, according to Robert Simmons, the special representative
of the NATO Secretary General for the South Caucasus and Central
Asia. As of 2005, Azerbaijan had 22 troops in Afghanistan, according
to NATO figures.

President Ilham Aliev has named NATO integration as a top foreign
policy priority for Azerbaijan. The country’s participation in
the alliance’s Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), a set
of requirements that must be met by alliance candidate-members, is
scheduled to end in 2007. Azeri officials, who have already started
work on plans for the next two-year slot of Azerbaijan’s IPAP, have
indicated that they want to continue with the program.

A second IPAP, running from 2007 to 2009, is expected to be signed
with Azerbaijan soon, said Simmons, who held consultations in Baku on
15 March with Defense Minister Safar Abiev. Azerbaijan began its IPAP
program in 2005. An evaluation of the program’s initial two years was
made in February. Simmons expressed satisfaction with Azerbaijan’s
military reform process. Azerbaijan is a reliable NATO partner and
its cooperation with the alliance is developing successfully, the
APA news agency quoted Simmons as saying.

Turkey, a NATO member with strong cultural ties to Azerbaijan, is
ready to act as an expediter of Baku’s reform process. A high-level
military commission is expected to be set up to coordinate bilateral
military cooperation, the Anatolia news agency reported on 1 March.

Particular emphasis will be put on training, an area that General Ergin
Saygun, deputy chief of the Turkish general staff, has described as the
most important part of the cooperation between the two states. Turkey
also plans to help Azerbaijan establish an army company that meets
NATO standards, the general said during a trip to Azerbaijan in
late February.

Several Turkish generals are planning to travel to Azerbaijan in
late April on an inspection tour, after which they will make initial
recommendations on Azeri structural reforms, the News of Azerbaijan
news agency quoted Selami Chinbat, the Turkish embassy’s military
attache in Baku, as saying.

An independent military expert, Ismet Abbasova, expressed hope that
the Aliev administration’s desire to develop closer ties with NATO
could stimulate broad reforms in Azerbaijan. "I hope there will be
development in the education system because the lack of skilled
military staff indicates that the Azeri army is not up to modern
standards," she said.

If all goes according to the government’s plan, the country’s armed
forces would meet NATO standards by 2015. The changeover, however,
will not come easily, cautioned Zahid Oruj, a pro-administration member
of parliament who holds an influential position on the legislature’s
Defense and Security Committee. "[T]aking into account that military
reforms are more complicated than economic and political [reforms], and
many officers have a Soviet education, it will take time," he noted.

The "frozen conflict" with Armenia over the disputed breakaway
region of Nagorno-Karabakh could also hamper plans to create a purely
professional army, commented Lieutenant General Vahid Aliev, a military
aide to President Aliev. "Since Azerbaijan is at war right now, it
would not be right to transform the entire army into a professional
one," General Aliev told the APA news agency in late 2006.

Oruj said the government is currently "seriously" working on plans
to promote civilian leadership of the Defense Ministry. At the same
time, he downplayed media speculation that a civilian would be named
as defense minister any time soon. "We did not undertake a commitment
on this because the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan has not ended
yet," he said. A Defense Ministry spokesperson said that he has no
information about which ministry posts might be assigned to civilians.

Despite probable delays in establishing a professional,
civilian-administered military, Oruj affirms that Baku’s commitment to
NATO stands firm. "We do all this work because our national interests
demand it, and it is our own choice to transition to NATO standards."

Other top government officials are more cautious. During a February
interview with the German television channel Deutsche Welle, President
Aliev hinted that Azerbaijan’s eventual membership in NATO should not
be considered a foregone conclusion. "What will be the result of this
partnership, time alone will show," the Azeri president said.

Mina Muradova and Khazri Bakinsky are freelance reporters in Baku.

This is a partner post from EurasiaNet.

TURKEY PRESSURES U.S. AGAINST ‘GENOCIDE’ BILL
By Jason Motlagh

The Washington Times
World Peace Herald, DC
March 20 2007

Ankara warns it could seriously damage relations

YEREVAN, Armenia — Inside the tomblike confines of the Armenian
Genocide Museum, a haunting narrative of images and words unfolds. A
list is posted at tour’s end of nations that have officially recognized
the tragedy, minus one major endorsement: the United States.

U.S. lawmakers have introduced nonbinding resolutions in Congress
that would declare up to 1.5 million Armenians victims of genocide
at the hands of Turkish forces almost a century ago.

Support is reported to be strong enough in the House to pass the
measure if it goes to a vote; the Senate introduced a similar
resolution last week with 21 co-sponsors.

Historians and analysts here in the Armenian capital say recognition
from Washington is long overdue because evidence validating the case
for genocide is "clear-cut, more than factual, and very obvious."

But Turkey’s priority status as a vital strategic ally in a troublesome
region stands in the way.

"Although Turkey needs the U.S. more, the U.S also needs Turkey
right now … so it’s not realistic to think the government will
formally acknowledge [the genocide]," said Hagop Avedikian, editor
of Azg newspaper.

He noted that every April 24, a day of observance, President Bush
"highlights the genocide and explains it without using the word."

In the past month, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, Chief of
the General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit and a parliamentary delegation
have met with U.S. lawmakers and Bush administration officials in an
attempt to derail the resolution.

Mr. Gul was quoted as saying the delivery of a U.S. genocide resolution
would inflict "lasting damage" on bilateral relations.

Such statements were not lost on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who last week wrote a joint
letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, and other
senior members warning that the measure would hurt national security
interests.

Passage of the House resolution, they wrote, "could harm American
troops in the field, constrain our ability to supply our troops in
Iraq and Afghanistan and significantly damage our efforts to promote
reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey."

Incirlik air base could be casualty

Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried has warned that Turkey
might respond by closing Incirlik air base, used for operations in
nearby Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Turkish military severed all ties with the French military and
terminated defense contracts after the French National Assembly voted
in October to criminalize the denial of genocide.

The Israeli Knesset killed a motion to discuss recognition earlier
this month, fearing a political crisis with Ankara.

Failure to pass the resolution would be "too bad because it could
be a very catalytic moment for rapid recognition by other states,"
said Hayk Demoyan, director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.

Several Western countries have recognized the massacre in the waning
days of the Ottoman Empire as a genocide, some making genocide denial
a punishable offense.

An ethnic Turkish politician, Dogu Perincek, received a $2,500 fine
and a suspended prison sentence from a Swiss court on Friday for
calling Armenian genocide an "international lie" at a political rally
two years ago.

The dispute is over whether hundreds of thousands of Armenians who
died between 1915 and 1923 were part of systematic eradication campaign
by Ottoman Turkey.

Armenians contend mass killings and forced deportations amount to
genocide, while the Turkish government insists the deaths were the
result of chaos at the time.

PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV: ARMENIA SHOULD UNDERSTAND ITS MISTAKE, TURN CONSTRUCTIVE

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 20 2007

Armenia should understand that the time is going in favor of us,
they should comprehend their mistake today or tomorrow and take a
constructive stance, said Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in a
holiday ceremony in Baku.

He underscored the strength of the army, saying the armed forces are
ready and capable of liberating the occupied lands.

"I believe that the conflict will be settled in favor of Azerbaijan,"
he added.

PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV: AZERBAIJAN RAPIDLY INTEGRATING INTO INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
March 20 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku/ Trend , corr À.Ismayilova / Today, Tuesday, 20 March,
Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev has taken part in both solemn and
festive arrangements, held in connection with the National Holiday of
"Novruz" ("Spring Holiday") in Baku City.

The head of Azerbaijani said that this holiday had always played an
important role in developing the national and spiritual values of the
Azerbaijani people. "These traditions have existed for many centuries
and the Azerbaijani people have always adhered to them" said the
President. He added that Azerbaijan was successfully developing its
economy. "We should uphold our economic potential. Each citizen of
this country can feel its development within all spheres of life. We
have significantly reduced the poverty level in the country. We are
working in the right direction."

The President noted that Azerbaijan was rapidly integrating into
the international community and building a democratic society. "
Azerbaijan is taking an active part in different regional projects,
and the country’s capabilities are increasing. Today, we are able to
solve any problems we face. We are pursuing our independent policy
based upon Azerbaijan’s national interests," said Mr. Aliyev.

Touching upon the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, the
Azerbaijani President said that Armenia seemed to be procrastinating.

"They should take it into consideration that this period of time is
presently working for us", he concluded.

–Boundary_(ID_OXm/F14G1Kq5Arj2muAW0A) —

"KOSOVO IS NOT UNIQUE. THERE IS THE REPUBLIC OF NORTHERN CYPRUS" – EXPERT OPINION

Regnum, Russia
March 20 2007

REGNUM publishes an opinion of an eminent expert on the post-Soviet
space who chose to remain undisclosed, on the situation around the
"Kosovo precedent" and possibilities of its application to the
practices of the post-Soviet unrecognized states – Transdniestria
(Transdnestr), Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Nagorno Karabakh.

"The failure of the plan of ‘Kosovo issue settlement’ proposed by the
official Turkish lobbyist Ahtisaari – with whose biasness only the
pro-American players candidly put up – could scare only those who,
contrary to reality, were convinced that they would subdue Serbia,
deceive Russia, lull Kosovo, and satisfy the anti-European US game.

The truth is that any, any decision on the fate of the really existing
Kosovo is a catastrophic trap for the west. For any, any acting
and approved in all aspects of sovereignty status of Kosovo is a
progress and desired goal for the post-Soviet space. Even the formula
‘independence minus the UN’ intended for Kosovo, that is, the formula
of granting a real status WITHOUT solving the problem with Serbia (or
something similar) – presents the level of powers for the post-Soviet
self-determined states that has already destroyed, and will destroy
further yet, Moldavia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. Naïve are those who
think that some decision on the status of Kosovo will be applicable
for the countries of the former USSR. Kosovo already exists, and the
precedent does not depend on senseless intelligentsia’s reflections of
‘crisis groups’ of all sorts.

Kosovo is not a unique precedent. There is de facto recognized by
the NATO countries – Turkey, Great Britain, France, the USA – as
well as by Azerbaijan, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. And this
example does not depend on the follies of Ahtisaari. The precedent
is comprehensively created by Turkey and Azerbaijan. And the whole
mankind has no other choice than to follow the example. Get ready."

–Boundary_(ID_eEqeuzRphxmADeG/UnDVu g)–

AZERBAIJAN’S FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS TOP GOAL IS SOLVING DISPUTE WITH ARMENIA

AP Worldstream
Published: Mar 21, 2007

Azerbaijan’s foreign minister said Wednesday that his country’s top
foreign policy goal is to settle a long-running territorial dispute
with neighbor Armenia.

Elmar Mammadyarov, speaking to an audience at Johns Hopkins
University’s school of international studies, said both countries
should stop dwelling on past grievances in the dispute over the
territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The mountainous area inside Azerbaijan but populated largely by ethnic
Armenians has been controlled by Armenian forces since the end of a
six-year war in 1994 that killed an estimated 30,000 people.

Progress on the matter is crucial to Azerbaijan’s democratic
development, said Mammadyarov, whose oil-rich Caucasus Mountains
country is becoming bolder as its economic strength grows.

"The time is right. We have to make a move," Mammadyarov said. "We
are ready to cooperate with Armenia."

Diplomats from Russia, France and the United States have headed more
than a decade of efforts by the so-called Minsk Group to resolve the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

Azerbaijan has been building up its military with an influx of
revenues from oil. It controls portions of the Caspian Sea, on its
eastern fringe, which has some of the largest oil and gas fields in
the former Soviet Union.

Mammadyarov also said that a dispute over Iran’s nuclear program
should be solved through diplomatic means.

FIRST PHASE OF IRAN-ARMENIA GAS PIPELINE OPENED

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 19, 2007 Monday 11:29 AM EST

DPA FINANCE Iran Energy Armenia First phase of Iran-Armenia gas
pipeline opened Tehran

The first phase of the joint Iran-Armenia gas pipeline was opened
Monday, state-television IRIB reported.

The pipeline was officially opened at the Armenian border town of
Meghri by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Armenian host

President Robert Kocharian.

In the first phase, the 40-kilometre pipeline will provide Armenia
with 300 to 400 million cubic meters of gas per year.

In the second phase, another 70 kilometres would be added to the
pipeline and increase the gas export volume to over one billion cubic

meters, with the annual volume eventually reaching 2.5 billion cubic
meters by the year 2019.

TURKEY SOURCE OF STABILITY CONTRIBUTING TO REGIONAL, GLOBAL PEACE – PREMIER

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
March 20 2007

Istanbul, 20 March: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan qualified
[on] Tuesday [20 March] Turkey as a source that generated stability
and security in a much complex part of the world, adding that his
country has done anything in its capacity to contribute to global
and regional peace.

"Turkey has become a country to be trusted in various conflicts by
pursuing policies that promoted peace," he told a discussion panel
of an Istanbul-based think-tank.

Erdogan cited improving political and economic relations with
neighbouring countries and said that Turkey had achieved to minimize
its problems with them.

"Turkey continues its firm endeavours towards peace, stability and
cooperation with its neighbours. Except for Armenia, there are no
neighbouring countries with which Turkey is currently at odds,"
Erdogan said.

Premier said that between 2003 and 2007 Turkey expanded freedoms and
democracy in a global environment where an opposite tendency prevailed
after the 11 September attacks.

Erdogan added that Turkey had heightened the bar in every field and
grown both in economic terms as well as in democratic standards.

"There is no turning back from the point that Turkey has reached,"
he said.

Erdogan noted that his government had brought relations with the
European Union to their climax after the union opened membership talks
with Turkey, adding that his country’s relations with its friends
and allies had been provided with a "realistic and a firm basis".

Referring to the Cyprus issue, Prime Minister Erdogan said, "We have
been pursuing an active policy to find a lasting and comprehensive
solution to the Cyprus issue. We attach great importance to economic
and social development of the [self-declared] Turkish Republic
of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Today, the TRNC has begun attending
the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) meetings as an
observer member. TRNC President Mehmet Ali Talat was invited to the
United States and many European countries, such as Germany and the
Netherlands. These are important developments."

Touching on recent developments in economy, Erdogan said, "Exports
exceeded 85bn US dollars as of end 2006. Amount of international
investments reached 6.1bn US dollars only in the first month of
this year."

"On the other hand, Turkey has improved its relations with the
neighbouring countries, such as Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Iran and
Syria. Those improving relations have resulted in the increase in
our exports," he said.

Referring to Turkey’s EU membership process, Erdogan said, "Turkey’s
membership to the EU will make a significant contribution to the
dialogue between the East and the West."

TURKEY CONTINUES TO LOBBY IN USA AGAINST ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
March 21 2007

WASHINGTON D.C. (A.A) -21.03.2007 -"The climate is better when compared
with two months ago, but this matter has not been put aside yet,"
said Arzuhan Dogan Yalcindag, the Chairperson of the Executive Board
of Turkish Industrialists’ & Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD)
when commenting on the bill on the so-called Armenian genocide,
submitted to the US Congress.

In a press conference in Washington D.C., after lobbying against
the bill, Yalcindag noted that recent initiatives of Turkey have
been effective.

Yalcindag said that they met executives of the US Department of State
and two think-tank organizations, and told them that this matter
should be left to historians.

Qualifying the bill as "a black cloud" on Turkish-American relations,
Yalcindag said that these dark clouds should be dispersed in order
to enhance Turkish-Armenian relations.

"We have seen that they can understand us and perceive our
sensitivities better," she stated.

-ECONOMIC RELATIONS-On the other hand, Yalcindag recalled that
the TUSIAD delegation also had meetings with the executives of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington D.C, and said that
the IMF drew attention to inflation in Turkey.

"Reaching the target set in the fight against inflation requires a
firm monetary and budgetary policy. We share these views," she noted.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress