Month: August 2008

Kansas City Star, MO
Aug 30 2008

Russian presence near key Georgian port causes concern

By SHASHANK BENGALI and DAVE MONTGOMERY
McClatchy Newspapers

POTI, Georgia | Weeks before Russia invaded Georgia this month,
excavators in this key Black Sea port began work on a $200 million
tax-free zone to triple the port’s capacity, Georgian officials said.

Some of that soft green earth now is occupied by Russian tanks and
soldiers camped behind huge, freshly dug trenches, within firing range
of ships approaching the port. A second Russian checkpoint is about a
mile away, along a river that’s sometimes used to ferry goods into
eastern Georgia.

The Russian presence is a stark illustration of how this 150-year-old
port, which handles millions of tons of cargo moving between Europe
and Central Asia, is now a key pressure point in the standoff between
Russia and the West.

The port is functioning normally again, despite numerous news reports
to the contrary and the claim by President Mikhail Saakashvili of
Georgia, most recently in Thursday’s Financial Times, that Russia
continues `to occupy’ Poti.

The Persian Gulf-funded expansion project ‘ with its aim of creating,
according to Georgian officials, the Dubai of the Caucasus ‘ is now on
hold, however. And major questions remain about the Kremlin’s
intentions here.

On Wednesday the U.S. shelved plans to unload 38 tons of humanitarian
cargo at Poti, not because the port was closed, but to avoid a
potential confrontation with Moscow. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter
Dallas delivered its cargo instead to Batumi, 50 miles to the south.

Poti is a key element in a network of seaports, railroads, highways
and energy pipelines to Azerbaijan and Armenia that makes Georgia a
major transit link between the East and West. The U.S. Commerce
Department has described the sleepy, working-class town of 50,000
people as the most important port in the mountainous Caucasus region,
which stretches east and west along Russia’s southern border.

The expansion of the port has enhanced Georgia’s strategic importance,
and some U.S. analysts think that Russia wants to dominate its former
Soviet neighbor to seize control of those transportation assets or to
stifle Western commerce in the region.

`It’s a huge deal,’ said Ariel Cohen of The Heritage Foundation, a
conservative research center in Washington. `What Russia is trying to
do is to plug the east-west transportation corridor that includes
railroads and pipelines.

`By controlling Poti, they’re controlling the strategic bottleneck of
the southern Caucasus.’

While Russian forces haven’t stopped cargo from entering or leaving
Poti, port officials are worried about what could happen if the forces
are provoked or after world attention on Georgia fades.

Friday’s developments

¢ABSORPTION: Russia intends to eventually absorb Georgia’s
breakaway province of South Ossetia, a South Ossetian official said,
three days after Moscow recognized the region as independent and drew
criticism from the West. A Kremlin spokeswoman said there was `no
official information’ on the matter.

¢PROTESTS: Georgia severed diplomatic ties with Moscow to protest
the presence of Russian troops on its territory. Russia said the move
would only make things worse. Georgia’s diplomats in Russia will leave
Moscow today, the Foreign Ministry said.

¢ENVOY?: EU leaders are not expected to impose sanctions on Russia
at their summit on Monday but may name a special envoy to Georgia to
ensure that a cease-fire is observed, French and Belgian officials
said. The U.S. and Europe have closed ranks in condemning Russia’s
actions but are struggling to find an effective response.

¢POLISH CONCERNS: Poland’s prime minister sought to reassure
worried residents near the site of a planned U.S. missile defense
base, pledging that they and the country would be more secure, despite
threats from an angry Russia.

ry/774080.html

SecondsOut
Aug 30 2008

Kentikian & Zbik Win in Dusseldorf
Sat 30-Aug-2008 04:51

At Burg-Wächter-Castello in Dusseldorf, Germany, Susi Kentikian
retained her WIBF/WBA flyweight titles with a hard-fought unanimous
decision over Hagar Shmoulefeld Finer. Scores were 99-91, 98-92 and
97-93.

Both women had their moments in the exciting bout that turned into a
brawl early on and continued that way to the final bell.

Kentikian, 20, from Yerevan, Armenia, was recently granted German
citizenship. Her record now stands at 22-0, 16 KOs. The 23-year-old
Shmoulefeld Finer, from Tel Aviv, Israel, falls to 17-7-3, 4 KOs.

In the co-feature, Sebastian Zbik successfully defended his WBO
Intercontinental middleweight title for the fifth time via 12-round
unanimous decision over John Anderson Carvalho. Zbik established his
jab early and boxer circles around the aggressive Brazilian
challenger. Scores read 120-108 and 119-109 twice.

German Zbik, 27, is now 24-0, 9 KOs, while Carvalho dips to 18-3-1, 11
KOs.

Undercard:

Junior Welterweight Marcos Rene Maidana w ko 8 Juan Carlos Rodriguez
Flyweight Anastasia Toktaulova w pts 10 Rebekka Herrmann
Super Middleweight Eduard Gutknecht w pts 8 Philippe Mendy
Super Featherweight Vitali Tajbert w pts 8 Ermano Fegatilli
Featherweight Marcel Meyerdiercks w pts 6 Pascal Bouchez
Heavyweight Markus Tomala w tko 1 Stefan Kusnier
Lightweight Magomed Jangubaev (pro debut) w pts 4 Ntallulu Pierre Gwango

cs=225&cs=28553

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug 30 2008

No Talks on Nagorno-Karabakh during Football Match, Says Azerbaijani MP
30.08.08 23:09

Azerbaijan, Baku, 30 August/ TrendNews, corr S. Kazimli/ I do not
believe Turkish President Abdullah Gul will visit Yerevan, said
Azerbaijani MP Malahat Hasanova while commenting on media reports
about Turkish PresidentÑ – s visit to Armenia at early
September. Gul is expected to attend football match between Turkish
and Armenian teams in Yerevan.

According to Hasanova, Azerbaijan has a common interest with
Turkey. Ñ – Reports on GulÑ – s visit to Armenia have caused
concerns in Azerbaijani society,Ñ – she said.

Hasanova said GulÑ – s invitation to Yerevan can suit only
ArmeniaÑ – s interests. Ñ – We will not restore any diplomatic
relations with Armenians until Armenia puts a stop to its aggression
toward Azerbaijan. Of course, talks on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
should be held, but not during football match,Ñ – Hasanova added.

MP said the situation in Armenia has aggravated because of the latest
developments in Georgia. Ñ – Therefore, Sarkisyan asked the
Turkish President to open the border just for several days,Ñ –
she said.

Hasanova also said she can not understand how Turkish head of state
can accept offer of Armenian President.

Armenia has occupied 20% of AzerbaijanÑ – s lands including
Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding seven regions. The occupation began
in 1988. Azerbaijan lost the Nagorno-Karabakh, except of Shusha and
Khojali, in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian Armed Forces occupied
Shusha, Khojali and Nagorno-KarabakhÑ – s seven surrounding
regions. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement
at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group (Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding
peaceful, but fruitless negotiations.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HULIQ (press release), NC
Aug 30 2008

President Of Turkey Gul To Visit Armenia

According to the English version of Hurriyet the president of Turkey
Abdullah Gul has accepted the invitation of the president of Armenia
Serz Sargsyan to visit Armenia and to watch the football match between
the national teams of Armenia and Turkey together.

Hurriyet writes "Turkish President Abdullah Gul has accepted an
invitation from his Armenian counterpart to watch the World Cup
qualifier between the Turkish-Armenian national teams in Yerevan as
the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the visit would contribute to
renewed relations between the two countries, Vatan daily reported on
Saturday."

Vatan Daily has reported the news here, but it’s in Turkish.

According to the newspaper Armenia, has not yet been officially
informed about Gul’s decision to travel to Armenia, but will be
invormed officially next week.

It’s very interesting that yesterday the foreign minister of
Azerbaijan Mr. Elmar Mamediarov was in Turkey meetin the foreign
minister Babacan and said that Azerbaijan is basically cool to Turkish
president’s visit to Armenia. Mamediarov also added that it’s up to
the Turkish president to accept the invitation or to deny it.

Months ago the president of Armenia as a good gesture invited the
president of Turkey together to watch the world qualifier football
match between the two national teams that will meet first time in
history. This would also be a good opportunity for them to discuss the
bilateral relations and bring the positions of the two countries
closer through dialogue.

Yesterday Today’s Zaman in an article "Reluctant Baku says Armenia
visit decision up to Turkey" reported that there are mixed reactions
about the Turkish visit to Armenian in Azerbaijan, but it was very
interesting to read one of the reactions according to which the
president of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliev should go to Armenia to join
to talks and to watch the match.

""Gül should not go there because there will be provocation and chaos
if he goes. No one will be welcoming if Gül agrees to visit," said
Akif Rustemov, a teacher, to Cihan news agency. He softened his
opposition when asked whether Gül and Sarksyan should discuss the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "If this is the case, then he should go. In
fact, our president, Ilham Aliyev, should also join. Foreign mediators
have been trying to find a solution for 17 years, but nothing
happens. We have to solve this ourselves."

Woudn’t it be nice if the three presidents together just watch a
soccer match with one another and dialogue about the future of their
countries.

Washington Post
Aug 30 2008

Russian Offensive Hailed in Mideast

By Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, August 30, 2008; Page A18

CAIRO — For some in the Middle East, the images of Russian tanks
rolling into Georgia in defiance of U.S. opposition have revived warm
memories of the Cold War.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flew last week to Moscow, where he
endorsed Russia’s offensive in Georgia and, according to Russian
officials, sought additional Russian weapon systems.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi’s influential
son, echoed the delight expressed in much of the Arab news
media. "What happened in Georgia is a good sign, one that means
America is no longer the sole world power setting the rules of the
game," the younger Gaddafi was quoted as telling the Russian daily
Kommersant. "There is a balance in the world now. Russia is resurging,
which is good for us, for the entire Middle East."

In Turkey, an American and European ally that obtains more than
two-thirds of its natural gas from Russia, the reaction was more
complex. Turks watched as the United States, NATO and a divided
European Union hesitated in the face of Russian military
assertiveness, leaving them more doubtful than they already were about
depending on the West to secure U.S.-backed alternative oil and gas
supply lines.

"This Russian invasion of Georgia is a turning point in the relations
of the Atlantic community with Russia, including, of course, Turkey,"
Ozden Sanberk, a former Turkish ambassador to Britain, said by
telephone from Turkey. "There is a change in the paradigm, a change in
assessment."

Since Aug. 8, when Russia sent troops and tanks across its southern
border in a confrontation with Georgia’s pro-Western government, many
Turkish newspapers have urged the Turkish government to improve
relations with Russia, in pragmatic acceptance of the possibility that
Russia could directly or indirectly control most oil and gas supplies
from Central Asia to Europe.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the past two weeks has
sought to persuade leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russia
to put their political differences aside in the interest of keeping
oil and gas flowing.

Russian leaders, angry at Turkish military aid to Georgia, repeatedly
refused to take Erdogan’s calls, Turkish news media reported.

Russia has been paying closer attention to the needs of the United
States’ least favorite Middle East countries, Syria and Iran.

Russia’s ambassador in Tehran, Alexander Sadovnikov, told Iranian news
media this week that Russia was committed to helping Iran finish work
on its Bushehr nuclear plant as soon as possible. At the same time,
Iran’s oil minister declared his country’s eagerness to do more
business with Russia’s main energy company, Gazprom.

The United States has tried to discourage European countries and
Turkey from turning to Iran for oil and gas. With Russia demonstrating
its ability to control supplies through Georgia and the rest of the
Caucasus, Iran’s supplies are going to look more attractive to
U.S. allies in Europe, analysts noted.

And with the United States and Russia at odds, Iran also can expect
more help from Russia in blocking U.S. efforts at the U.N. Security
Council and other international bodies to sanction Iran over its
nuclear program, said Flynt Leverett, a former Bush administration
Middle East policy director and now a senior fellow at the New America
Foundation in Washington.

Especially with Assad’s visit to Moscow, Russians are signaling that
there is more they can do to undermine U.S. policies, Leverett said.

Syrian officials this week denied reports in Russian news media that
Assad had sought Russian ballistic missiles on his visit to Moscow and
had offered to host a Russian naval post again, as Syria did in the
Cold War to ward off any attack by Israel.

Iranian officials, mindful of a possible U.S. or Israeli strike, also
have voiced hopes of obtaining Russia’s most advanced antiaircraft
missile systems.

In Israel and the United States, there is "definitely rising concern
Russia may go ahead and deliver those systems as a way of further
indicating how unhappy it is with U.S. policy," Leverett said.

Russia, however, also has been building relations and trade with
Israel, and has denied selling its most advanced systems to Syria or
Iran. Syria itself is in indirect peace talks with Israel. Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week that Russia was ready to
sell Syria arms of a "defensive character that do not violate the
strategic balance of power in the Middle East."

Israel said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert planned to travel to Russia to
discuss any Syria-Russia arms deals, amid statements from Israeli
officials that the arms could be used to bolster Syrian ally
Hezbollah.

Middle East governments have experience with Russian-made weapons,
which haven’t worked so well, said Abdel-Moneim Said, director of the
al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in
Cairo. Egyptians still blame their defeats in wars against Israel
partly on their Russian-supplied weapons.

Many Arab analysts initially cheered Russia’s flexing of its military
muscles. An opinion piece in the United Arab Emirates-based Gulf News
called it "long overdue." Editorials in some Arab news media this week
and last expressed second thoughts, questioning whether Russia has the
stability, surety of purpose or strength to be a leader among
countries.

"All that ended up to be a kind of nostalgia, or looking for a new
kind of Cold War, when there was not only one, single power dominating
the world, the United States, and its ally, Israel," Said said.

Now, "there’s a realization that Russia has a lot of interests with
the West. Also that Russia is still a limited power," he said. "It’s
no match. There is no new Cold War coming."

Sunday’s Zaman, Turkey
Aug 31 2008

US ships with aid for Georgia pass through Turkey, stirring
controversy

US ships carrying humanitarian aid passed through Ä°stanbul’s
Bosporus Strait on their way to Georgia last week, leading to a debate
on whether they were in compliance with terms of an international
convention that regulates passage through the straits.

On Aug. 22, a US Navy ship passed through Ä°stanbul’s Bosporus
Strait. The guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul was the first of three
US Navy ships that will carry supplies such as blankets, hygiene kits
and baby food to Georgia via the Turkish Straits to help the country
following its war with Russia over the breakaway republic of South
Ossetia. On Aug. 24, another US Coast Guard ship passed through the
Dardanelles Strait. The vessel "Dallas" entered the Dardanelles Strait
from the Aegean Sea. A maritime pilot was taken to the ship and a
Turkish Coast Guard boat escorted the ship. Countering criticism from
some media organs and the main opposition Republican People’s Party
(CHP), Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an said last Saturday
that the passage of all military ships through the Turkish Straits was
in compliance with terms of 1936 Montreux Convention. A day before the
prime minister’s remarks, the Foreign Ministry last Friday made clear
once more that foreign-flagged military ships are passing through the
Turkish Straits to the Black Sea in line with the notices conveyed to
Turkish authorities and in compliance with the 1936 Montreux
Convention.

Aug. 23

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), linked to the Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK), said in a statement posted on their Web site that their
militants carried out a suicide bombing in the southern city of Mersin
on Aug. 19 and a car bomb attack in the Aegean port city of
Ä°zmir on Aug. 21, wounding 29 people in total.

Police detained 29 foreigners and three Turks during a peaceful
protest against plans to build a nuclear power plant near the Black
Sea port city of Sinop. Police officers confirmed the detentions
during what they called an unauthorized protest.

Aug. 24

Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists kidnapped two people in the
eastern province of Bingöl, the General Staff said in a written
statement.

A US Coast Guard ship carrying humanitarian aid passed through
Ä°stanbul’s Bosporus Strait on its way to Georgia. The USS
Dallas carried blankets, hygiene kits, baby food and other supplies as
part of an ongoing US aid effort to help Georgia recover from its
brief war with Russia.

A festival aimed at displaying Turkish culture, informing and
entertaining attendees and children and serving as a scientific,
artistic and cultural resource was held in New York with the
participation of over 25,000 people. The New York Turkish Festival was
organized by the Turkish Cultural Center (TCC) New York in Central
Park, attracting Turks, Americans and tourists from various countries.

Aug. 25

Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan said he believes it is time to
restore relations between Yerevan and Ankara, Azerbaijani media
reported, citing an interview he gave to Austrian Der Standard
newspaper. Sarksyan told the Austrian newspaper that his country is
ready to restore relations with Turkey without any
conditions. "Armenia has always been loyal to its declared political
line," he was quoted as saying, while adding that "today there is a
situation in our relations which is not profitable for anyone. I think
there is no sense or need of being eternal enemies."

Turgay Avcı, the foreign minister of the Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus (KKTC), reacted harshly to a reported unilateral move
by the Greek Cypriot administration to launch offshore oil and gas
exploration in waters surrounding the divided island of
Cyprus. Exploration of oil by the Greek Cypriot administration is a
violation of the legal rights of Turkey and the KKTC over Exclusive
Economic Zones (EEZ) in the region, Avcı said in a written
statement.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev suggested that Turkey should be
elected as the next term president of the Conference on Interaction
and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA). The Kazakh
president’s proposal came in Almaty, where the third ministerial level
meeting of the CICA was being held.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) killed one soldier during a clash
in Turkey’s Southeast. The soldier was killed in Batman province, some
1,000 kilometers (620 miles) southeast of Ankara.

A third round of talks between the government and civil servants’
unions ended with the unions failing to reach an agreement with the
government over a wage increase. The Turkish Statistics Institute
(TurkStat) declared the food poverty line, which consists of the total
minimum amount of money required to buy the necessary food for
subsistence, as YTL 255. Civil servant unions are not satisfied with
this decision and reject YTL 255 as the minimum subsistence level.

There will be no delay, cancellation or postponement in a tender for
the construction and operation of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant,
scheduled for Sept. 24, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Hilmi
Güler said. "Bidding envelopes of participating companies will
be opened on that day. We have no time to lose," he said. The minister
was speaking to the press in Ankara after briefing those in attendance
on the latest developments in the race for a nuclear energy power
plant.

Aug. 26

Foreign Trade Minister KürÅ?ad Tüzmen sent a
warning signal to Russia over customs barriers incurred on Turkish
trucks that carry exported goods to this country while crossing the
Russian border. "It really bothers us to see that our trucks are kept
at customs for three weeks now and it will make no sense if these
trucks are allowed to pass after a week. If we feel annoyed, we cause
annoyance," he said, adding that the situation is creating serious
tension in the relations between the two nations.

Three village guards and 10 terrorists from the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK) died in a clash in the eastern province of
Bitlis. The guards were inspecting the area around the Ä°kizler
village in the Mutki region when they came across a group of PKK
terrorists.

Aug. 27

Newly appointed Land Forces Commander Gen. IÅ?ık
KoÅ?aner, who handed his former post of gendarmerie commander
over to Gen. Avni Atilla in a ceremony in Ankara, lamented that
certain laws are being amended so as to harmonize with the EU in a way
that denies Turkey’s terrorism problem and hinders its fight against
terrorist organizations. KoÅ?aner, speaking at the handover
ceremony, stressed that the amendment of Turkish laws in disregard to
Turkey’s terrorism threat is a great obstacle to the country’s fight
against terror.

Turkish troops killed 16 outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)
terrorists in clashes in the Southeast, authorities said. Five
pro-government village guards were also killed. The Office of the
Governor of Bitlis province said 14 terrorists were killed in a clash
with the military, which was being aided by village guards, near the
town of Mutki. Five guards were also killed. Two other terrorists were
killed near the city of Mardin.

Outgoing Chief of General Staff Gen. YaÅ?ar
BüyükanÄ&#x B1;t clearly stated that the passage of US
and NATO military ships through the Turkish Straits is in compliance
with terms of the 1936 Montreux Convention, which regulates passages
through the straits. Büyükanıt’s remarks on the
issue came as he was speaking to reporters at a reception held at the
Land Forces Command.

Aug. 28

Gen. Ä°lker BaÅ?buÄ? took over the duty of chief of
general staff from Gen. YaÅ?ar Büyükanıt in
a handover ceremony held at the General Staff headquarters in
Ankara. President Abdullah Gül, Parliament Speaker
Köksal Toptan, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an,
Constitutional Court President HaÅ?im Kılıç
and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) President Mehmet Ali
Talat attended the ceremony, along with ministers, deputies, chairmen
of higher judicial organs, generals, admirals and high-level
bureaucrats.

The wife of Constitutional Court Deputy Chairman Osman Paksüt
testified at the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office as part of an
ongoing investigation into Ergenekon, a criminal network suspected of
plotting a coup against the government.

Sabancı Holding Chairman Güler Sabancı was named
Turkey’s most powerful woman for the third time in a row on the Forbes
2008 list of the top 100 women based on career, economic impact and
media coverage. On the overall listing, Sabancı ranked 75th.

The government finally disclosed its proposal for wage increases for
civil servants, offering a total raise of 7.6 percent for 2009, which
drew negative reactions from unions. Civil servants unions asked for
time to evaluate the proposal.

Inteltek Internet Technology Investment Consultancy, a subsidiary of
the Ã?ukurova Group, offered the lowest percentage bid in a
tender for Ä°ddaa, a soccer betting company that allocates a
percentage of its revenues to form one of the main income resources of
the Turkish soccer clubs.

The Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions’
(Türk-Ä°Å?) monthly Hunger and Poverty Line Survey
for August 2008 set the necessary monthly salary for a family of four
to feed itself adequately at YTL 730. The new hunger indicator
represented an increase of about YTL 12 over the previous month.

Aug. 29

Foreign Trade Minister KürÅ?ad Tüzmen announced
that Turkey will begin implementing reciprocal measures on Monday in
response to a recent increase in security measures leveled by Russia
against Turkish exporters. Speaking to the press after he received
Iraqi Planning and Development Minister Ali Baban and a delegate of
Iraqi officials in Ankara, Tüzmen said the obstacles against
Turkish trucks attempting to pass through Russian borders were
completely against World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. "These
hindrances fall under the definition of ‘trade barriers,’ which are
strictly forbidden by international agreements," he said.

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Hilmi Güler called on
the Turkish people and the international community to take a stand
against exorbitant oil prices with a wave of demonstrations and
organized activities. Güler was addressing the well-attended
9th International Energy Arena, organized under the slogan "The
Strategy of Tomorrow for Oil" by the Strategic Technical and Economic
Research Center (STEAM), in Ä°stanbul. He said the masses must
stop being indifferent to high fuel prices, adding, "As a person who
experienced those times, I would prefer that a form of effective
activism emerge in Turkish society similar to that of 1968 and later
years."

31 August 2008, Sunday

Interfax, Russia
Aug 29 2008

Armenian president hopes for speedy settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict

The Armenian president hopes that the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh
will be settled soon.

"The June 6 meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in St.

Petersburg was fruitful. Both sides bound their foreign ministers to
continue work on the basis of the Madrid principles. Three meetings
have been held. I hope we will find a solution in the nearest future,"
President Serzh Sargsian said in an interview with a Turkish
newspaper, the presidential press service reported on Thursday.

Speaking of the time of the settlement he noted that it would be wrong
to make any forecasts before the residential elections in Azerbaijan.

"It would be wrong to make any forecasts about the settlement before
the presidential elections in Azerbaijan. Let’s see how the situation
will be unfolding after the elections," he said.

ml

Agence France Presse — English
August 29, 2008 Friday 3:46 PM GMT

Football: Turks without Hamit Altintop and Nihat

ISTANBUL, Aug 29 2008

Turkish coach Fatih Terim on Friday unveiled a 28-man pre-squad for
Group 5 World Cup qualifiers against Armenia and Belgium.

The Turks, who lost the semi-finals of Euro 2008 to Germany 3-2, will
be without Bayern Munich midfielder Hamit Altintop and striker Nihat
Kahveci of Villarreal as both are injured.

The Turks meet Armenia on September 6 at Yerevan and then host Belgium
four days later in Istanbul. Group 5 also contains European champions
Spain, Estonia and Bosnia.

Goalkeepers

Volkan Demirel (Fenerbahce), Serdar Kulbilge (Kocaelispor), Tolga
Zengin (Trabzonspor)

Defenders

Gokhan Gonul, Ugur Boral (Fenerbahce), Servet Cetin, Hakan Kadir Balta
(Galatasaray), Gökhan Zan (Besiktas), Ibrahim Kas (Getafe/ESP), Ugur
Kavuk (Antalyaspor), Mehmet Polat (Gaziantepspor), Caglar Birinci
(Denizlispor)

Midfielders

Kazim Kazim, Emre Belozoglu (Fenerbahce), Mehmet Topal, Ayhan Akman,
Arda Turan (Galatasaray), Serdar Ozkan (Besiktas), Selcuk Inan, Mehmet
Topuz (Trabzonspor), Mehmet Aurelio (Real Betis/ESP), Gokdeniz
Karadeniz (Rubin Kazan/RUS), Tuncay Sanli (Middlesbrough/ENG), Nuri
Sahin (Borussia Dortmund/GER)

Strikers

Gokhan Unal (Trabzonspor), Halil Altintop (Schalke 04/GER), Semih
Senturk (Fenerbahce), Mevlut Erdinc (Sochaux/FRA)

The Spectator
August 30, 2008

Will he, won’t He?;
BOOKS

by Alexander Waugh

ARARAT by Frank Westerman, translated by Sam Garrett Harvill Secker,
£16.99, pp. 229 ISBN 97881846550898 £11.99 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429
6655

Who was Noah? The Bible tells us little. He was the flood hero of
course, but what else?

A drunken viniculturist who lived to the age of 950; who was 600 at
the time of the flood and 500 when he fathered Shem, Ham and
Japheth. His wrinkled bottom was ogled by his 100-year-old sons when
he passed out from drunkeness in his tent one night. But was he not
also an ‘upright man’ and a man who ‘walked with God’?

Each year hundreds of pilgrims, known as ‘Arkeologists’ make their way
to Mount Ararat (where the Turkish, Armenian and Iranian borders meet)
hoping to find clues and relics. Some return home with splints of
wood, others only with soft memories of mystic vision. Arkeologists
are simple folk, of whom the late Apollo astronaut, James Irwin, was
one. They ignore the fact that in Genesis, Noah’s ship came to rest
‘in the mountains of Ararat’, which is not the same as ‘on Mount
Ararat’. Never mind, they say, and never mind that the modern ‘Mount
Ararat’ is situated outside the old Kingdom of Ararat and is not
therefore among the ‘Mountains of Ararat’. Why should Arkeologists
care if their mountain only got its name from Marco Polo in the 13th
century? The Turks always called it Agri Dagi (Mountain of Pain), the
Armenians, Masis (Mother Mountain), and the Kurds, Ciyaye Agiri (Fiery
Mountain).

If you start with an unbudgeable faith in Ararat you don’t give a fig
that the Qu’ran claims that the Ark came to rest on al-Judi, a
mountain miles to the south; that the 2nd-century BC Book of Jubilees
says it was Mount Lubar, that Nicholas of Damascus says it was an
Armenian peak called Baris.

In the Babylonian account, the oldest extant Deluge story, from which
the Genesis authors undoubtedly snitched their plot, the Ark lands on
the top of Mount Nizir.

Enter Frank Westerman, a clever, talented 43-year-old Dutchman of
Puritan stock. His grandfather and mother were Creationists. He was
baptised and, brought up in rigid Protestant faith, ‘permeated with
Christianity’, but from his early twenties he ceased to pray. At
university he studied tropical agriculture, then he became a
journalist, reporting from war-torn Bosnia and later from Moscow. His
books have won important literary prizes. He first saw Ararat, the
great mountain-volcano, from the Soviet side. It seemed to pull
him. ‘I wanted, ‘ he says, ‘to test my resolve as a non-believer
… to see whether faith could touch me or not.’ Soon he had forged a
plan: to climb to its summit and to write a book about ‘belief and
knowledge, religion and science, with Ararat as its focal point’.

So he decided to leave his young wife and daughter and to scale the
17,000-footer on his own. When Westerman outlined this scheme to his
publisher he was abruptly warned: ‘Promise me one thing: that halfway
through the manuscript you won’t start writing he with a capital H.’
‘And if I do?’ he asked. ‘Then I won’t publish it.’ God does appear as
a ‘Him’ halfway through, but his publisher either failed to notice or
decided that Westerman was far too good an author to reprimand. The
result of his labours is a short book of stupendous richness and
complexity, a cornucopia of jumbled facts about geology, history and
science, woven into a personal memoir and travelogue that combines
stories about the lives of his teachers with information about Dutch
mining, family sentiment, religious belief, academic rivalry,
portraits of fellow travellers, mountaineering history, politics,
personalities and an abundance of lesser, uncategorisable
side-detail. All this diverse material is held together by a thread of
tension as to whether Westerman will find faith halfway up the
mountain. When the air is thin, the climber exhausted, the cold starts
to bite and the sweeping views turn to an icy blur, will our hero and
guide suddenly behold the Arkeologists’ light? Will he start digging
for shards of the patriarch’s wine glasses under the rubble of the
Ahora Gorge, or fall prostrate before an outcrop of rock known as the
‘Ararat Anomaly’ that some believe to be the fossilised remains of the
Ark?

At timed intervals Westerman taunts his readers with this
possibility. If faith could come to the astronaut, he argues, maybe it
will also come to him. The book (a fine translation from the Dutch by
Sam Garrett) is unquestionably eccentric, but written with enough
knowledge, craft and competence to keep the drowsiest of readers wide
awake from first to last.

The answer to the author’s most pressing question is tucked neatly
behind a glancing metaphor right at the end.

Interfax, Russia
Aug 25 2008

Russian military bloc steps up military exercises

Moscow, 25 August: Large-scale military exercises within the framework
of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will be held
once every two years and will take account of the military-political
situation in the collective security regions, including the Caucasus,
the organization’s deputy secretary-general, Valeriy Semerikov, told
journalists on Saturday [23 August].

"It was decided at a session of the CSTO Defence Ministers’ Council to
hold large-scale military exercises once every two years. The next
exercise, Rubezh [Border or Boundary], which ended yesterday in
Armenia, will, thus, be held in 2010. It will certainly be
large-scale," Semerikov said.

"All the exercises will be held on a bilateral basis and will take
account of the situation that exists in the collective security
regions, including the Caucasus," he added.

In between the large-scale exercises, he said, the CSTO countries will
hold smaller-scale exercises, headquarter training sessions and
bilateral exercises.

The CSTO comprises Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

[translated from Russian]