Karabakh leader signs law on ombudsman
Arminfo
9 Mar 05
Yerevan, 9 March: The president of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic
[NKR], Arkadiy Gukasyan, signed the law “On ombudsman” today.
The NKR president also signed the law “On exempting Azat Artsakh
newspaper from some taxes and fines” and laws on amendments and
additions to the laws “On civil service” and “On the administrative
division of the NKR”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
CAR OF INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST CATCHES FIRE
YEREVAN, MARCH 9. ARMINFO. Yesterday in the daytime in the territory
of Yerevan community of Erebuni, the car VAZ 21-07 with Russian
state number-plate belonging to the Head of the Public Initiative
“Protection of Journalists’ Rights” Hasmik Kirakosyan caught fire.
The above organization informs ARMINFO today that fortunately no
victims were recorded as no one was in the car at that moment. The
organization considers the event as a terrorist act with respect
to the independent journalist. Hasmik Karapetyan is known by her
recent sensational publications and sharp issues read out from
various tribunes. The members of the initiative say that the trails
of the crime lead to the persons Kirakosyan’s sharp publications
were addressed to. “We expect for exposure of the crime as soon as
possible and for an objective investigation,” the message says.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
COLLECTED ARTICLES ON KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT PRESENTED IN YEREVAN TODAY
YEREVAN, MARCH 9. ARMINFO. A collection of articles entitled “Nagorno
Karabakh Conflict: Searching for Solutions” was presented in Yerevan
today. The book has been published by the Spectrum strategic analysis
center (Armenia) and Sania humanitarian information and analysis
agency under the CE Confidence Building program.
Spectrum Director Gayane Novikova says that the goal of the project
was to reveal the role of the Karabakh conflict in the public opinion
of the Armenians and Azeris, to see if the sides are ready to agree
on some solution and to search for ways to normalize Armenian-Azeri
relations.
Novikova says that the Karabakh conflict is very difficult to
resolve. Its unsettled state is having a serious impact on the life
of both Armenian and Azeri peoples. No settlement efforts have given
any tangible results so far. The key obstacle is different approaches
to its resolution by the conflicting parties. It’s here that public
opinion can and should help. Novikova notes that the public opinion
of Karabakh has not been surveyed under the project.
Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Tigran Torossyan highly
appreciates the project noting that the Karabakh conflict settlement
process has entered a new phase and that Europe is becoming more
and more interested in its resolution considering South Caucasus a
potentially European region.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
A Half Million Lebanese March for Syria
Counterpunch
March 9, 2005
Another Species of Cedar
By ROBERT FISK
It was a warning. They came in their tens of thousands, Lebanese Shia
Muslim families with babies in arms and children in front, walking
past my Beirut home. They reminded me of the tens of thousands of
Iraqi Shia Muslims who walked with their families to the polls in
Iraq, despite the gunfire and the suicide bombers.
And now they came from southern Lebanon and the Bekaa to say they
rejected America’s plans in Lebanon, and wanted – so they claimed –
to know who killed Rafiq Hariri, the former prime minister murdered
on 14 February, and to reject UN Security Council Resolution 1559
which demands a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon and the disarmament of
the Hizbollah guerrilla movement, and to express their “thanks” to
Syria. This was a tall order in Lebanon.
But only 100 yards from the Lebanese opposition protests, the
half-million – for that was an approachable figure, given Hizbollah’s
extraordinary organisational abilities – stood for an hour with
Lebanese flags, and posed a challenge to President George Bush’s
project in the Middle East. “America is the source of terrorism”, one
poster proclaimed. “All our disasters come from America”.
Many of those tens of thousands were Hizbollah families who had
fought the Israelis during their occupation of southern Lebanon, been
arrested by the Israelis, imprisoned by the Israelis and feared that
American support for Lebanon meant not “democracy” but an imposed
Israeli-Lebanese peace treaty.
There were Syrians in the crowds – indeed, I saw buses with Syrian
registration plates that had brought families from Damascus – but
almost all the half million were Lebanese Shias and they wanted to
reject 1559 because it called for Hizbollah to be disarmed. They were
perfectly happy to see the Syrians leave (who now remembers the
Syrian massacre of Hizbollah members in Beirut in 1987?) but, bearing
in mind Syria’s transit of weapons from Iran to Lebanon, Hizbollah
wanted to be regarded as a resistance movement, not a “militia” to be
disarmed. What the Shia were saying was that they were a power, just
as they said when they voted in Iraq. In Lebanon, Shia Muslims are
the largest religious community.
Syria is run by a clique of Alawis – who are Shia – and Iraq is now
dominated by Shia Muslims who voted themselves into power, and Iran
is a Shia nation. So when President Bush said “the Lebanese people
have the right to determine their future free from domination of a
foreign power”, the power the Shias were thinking of was not Syria
but the United States and Israel.
And 100 yards away, the demonstrators who have bravely protested
against the murder of Rafik Hariri have become factionalised,
courtesy of the Syrians. At night, the opposition protesters are
largely Christian. Yesterday’s Hizbollah rally, while it contained
the usual pro-Syrian Christians, was essentially Shia. And their
message was not one of thanks to President Bush.
“The fleets came in the past and were defeated; and they will be
defeated again,” Hizbollah’s leader, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, said in
reference to the Americans. Ironically, President Bush was to refer
within hours to the killing of 241 US Marines in Beirut in October
1982, as if their deaths were the responsibility of al-Qa’ida. To the
Israelis, Nasrallah said: “Let go of your dreams for Lebanon. To the
enemy entrenched on our border, occupying our country and imprisoning
our people, ‘There is no place for you here and there is no life for
you among us: Death to Israel’.”
Nasrallah’s take on the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war was predictable.
The crowds were meeting on the front lines that had separated the
Lebanese during the civil war; indeed, on the very location of the
Christian-Muslim trenches of that conflict. “We meet today to remind
the world and our partners in the country,” Nasrallah said, “that
this arena that joins us, or the other one in Martyrs’ Square, was
destroyed by Israel and civil war and was united by Syria and the
blood of its soldiers and officers.”
This was an inventive piece of history. Israel certainly killed many
thousands of Lebanese – more than the Syrians, although their
soldiers took the lives of many hundreds – but the half million
roared their approval.
So what did all this prove? That there was another voice in Lebanon.
That if the Lebanese “opposition” – pro-Hariri and increasingly
Christian – claim to speak for Lebanon and enjoy the support of
President Bush, there is a pro-Syrian, nationalist voice which does
not go along with their anti-Syrian demands but which has identified
what it believes is the true reason for Washington’s support for
Lebanon: Israel’s plans for the Middle East.
The Beirut demonstration yesterday was handled in the usual Hizbollah
way: maximum security, lots of young men in black shirts with two-way
radios, and frightening discipline. No one was allowed to carry a gun
or a Hizbollah flag. There was no violence. When one man brandished a
Syrian flag, it was immediately taken from him. Law and order, not
“terrorism”, was what Hizbollah wished. Syria had spoken. President
Bashar Assad’s sarcastic remark about the Hariri protesters needing a
“zoom lens” to show their numbers had been answered by a
demonstration of Shia power which needed no “zoom”.
And in the mountains above Beirut, still frozen under their winter
snows, few Syrians moved. There were Syrian military trucks on the
international highway to Damascus but no withdrawal, no retreat, no
redeployment. The Taif agreement of 1989 stipulated that the Syrians
should withdraw to the Mdeirej heights above Beirut, which they have
now agreed to do, 14 years later than they should have done.
The official document released by the Lebanese-Syrian military
delegation in Damascus suggests this is a new redeployment and that
in April the Syrian forces, along with their military intelligence
personnel, will withdraw to the Lebanese-Syrian border.
But the question remains: will they retreat to the Syrian side of the
frontier, or sit in the Lebanese-Armenian town of Aanjar, on the
Lebanese side, where Brigadier General Rustum Gazale, the head of
Syrian military intelligence, still maintains his white-painted
villa?
Either way, Lebanon can no longer be taken for granted. The “cedar”
revolution now has a larger dimension, one that does not necessarily
favour America’s plans. If the Shia of Iraq can be painted as
defenders of democracy, the Shias of Lebanon cannot be portrayed as
the defenders of “terrorism”. So what does Washington make of
yesterday’s extraordinary events in Beirut?
Robert Fisk is a reporter for The Independent and author of Pity the
Nation. He is also a contributor to CounterPunch’s hot new book, The
Politics of Anti-Semitism.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Russia’s former Karabakh mediator says delays in talks hurt peace process
Trend news agency
9 Mar 05
Baku, 9 March: Time is neither on Armenia’s nor on Azerbaijan’s side
in the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, the former Russian co-chairman of
the OSCE Minsk Group, Nikolay Gribkov, has told Trend commenting on
the current status of the negotiations.
Gribkov said that the loss of time in negotiations distances the
sides from peace and exacerbates the problem.
“Since the conflict has not been resolved, Armenia has been sidelined
from the region’s economic development. As far as Azerbaijan is
concerned, it has 1m refugees and its lands are under occupation,”
Gribkov said.
The Russian diplomat is concerned that new generations are growing
up in both countries that consider each other an enemy.
He said the co-chairmen have to lean on “public opinion in their
future work and for that the authorities and the opposition in both
countries have to unite”.
“It is up to the sides themselves to solve the problem. This reality
is observed in the latest negotiations as well,” he said.
Touching on the latest series of talks, Gribkov said with some regret
that the parties to the conflict are not making any compromise.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Armenia not planning to enter GUUAM
Mar 9 2005 7:45PM
YEREVAN. March 9 (Interfax) – Armenia is not planning to enter the
GUUAM association or apply for an observer status in it, Armenian
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian said at a press conference on
Wednesday.
“We do not intend even to receive an observer status in GUUAM, because
our positions and goals differ from the positions and goals of that
organization,” the minister said.
GUUAM is composed of Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and
Moldova.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Outgoing Armenian envoy says US ties considerably expanded in five years
Mediamax news agency
9 Mar 05
Yerevan, 9 March: Armenian-US relations have considerably “strengthened
and expanded” over the past five years, Armenian ambassador to the
USA Arman Kirakosyan has said in his farewell address to the USA’s
Armenian community.
Kirakosyan’s tenure as the Armenian ambassador in Washington will
expire in late March and he will return to Yerevan.
“The proof of the quality of our bilateral relations can be the
fact that today Armenia is a more stable, dynamically developing and
confident country than it was five years ago,” the Armenian diplomat
said. Kirakosyan said that Armenia and the USA are continuing the
political dialogue at the highest level, regularly consulting each
other on security issues and discussing problems of bilateral,
regional and global importance.
The Armenian ambassador stressed that economic and trade relations
have always been in the centre of his attention. Kirakosyan pointed
out that while in 1999 Armenian export to the USA amounted to 15.2m
dollars, in 2004 this figure was 46.1m dollars.
THE ARMENIANS OF LEBANON WILL BE CLEVER
A1+
09-03-2005
“We want Lebanon to be peaceful, stable, united, independent, and we
want all the dreams of the Lebanon people to come true”, said RA FA
Minister Vardan Oskanyan, mentioning that Armenia follows the latest
events in Lebanon.
And is there any danger for the Armenian community of Lebanon? In
answer to this question the Minister voiced hope that the Armenians
will wise and will act as in the 1975 Lebanon civil war, that is
â~@~S they will stand neutral.
–Boundary_(ID_tmvLPT/RtHggjXgtTiPFjQ)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
ARMENIA DOES NOT ACCEPT BUT ADJUSTS
A1+
09-03-2005
After being ill for about two weeks, the 90% recovered (by his
own words) Minister of Foreign Affairs Vardan Oskanyan has met the
journalists today.
He spoke about four themes, starting from the February 20 visit
to Equator Guinea and the fate of the Armenian pilots. Of course,
Vardan Oskanyan would like to meet the President of Guinea, but no
meeting was programmed.
«They were depressed but did not complain of the physical state»,
said the Minister. By the way, Oskanyan had caught cold in Guinea,
as a result of which was not able no leave for Prague to meet his
Azerbaijani colleague. But the report of the OSCE fact collecting
group has not only been given to the Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign
Affairs in Prague, but also been sent to Armenia to Vardan Oskanyan.
The latter did not want to comment on the report before its official
representation.
At the end of the press conference Vardan Oskanyan referred to the
EU report about Armenia. Although there is the expression «occupied
territories» in it, according to the FA Minister, on the whole «it
is not a bad report». After that, to exclude the possibility of wrong
comments, the Minister explained that Armenia in against this kind
of expressions, but starting from 1993 in the international reports
about Nagorno Karabakh the same expression is used.
According to the Minister, these expressions do not mean that Armenia
is an occupant. «Can’t the Karabakh army occupy a territory? »
Vardan Oskanyan gave a rhetorical question and he himself answered it,
«Of course it can».
–Boundary_(ID_wxx3xt4yV9zRIlmRZpQhKw)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Foreign guests inspect Iran’s nuclear fuel production centre
Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran Network 1, Tehran
8 Mar 05
[Announcer] Foreign nuclear experts, who participated at the [two-day]
International Conference on Nuclear Technology and Sustainable
Development [held on 5 and 6 March], have visited Esfahan’s centre
for research nuclear fuel production.
[An unidentified correspondent reports] A group of foreign nuclear
experts visited Esfahan’s Centre for Research and Nuclear Fuel
Production and became closely familiar with peaceful activities of
the centre. The 13-man group – comprising experts from Armenia, Italy,
South Korea, Britain and Mexico – closely inspected the research and
application work of this centre. During the inspection, the head of
Esfahan’s Centre for Research and Nuclear Fuel Production presented
a report on the process of the work in the centre and its peaceful
application in the spheres of metallurgy, corrosion, detection of
mineral substances and requirements of the industry.
[Video shows the inspectors talking to some workers in the courtyard
and inside a building where the staff are shown sitting behind
computers].
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress