Author: Antonian Lara

Azerbaijani president: Armenia too dependent on Russia in territory dispute talks
by AIDA SULTANOVA; Associated Press Writer

Associated Press Worldstream
December 17, 2004 Friday

BAKU, Azerbaijan — Russia is taking too active a role in the
negotiations over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, whose
unresolved status remains a source of tension for Azerbaijan and
Armenia, Azerbaijan’s president said Friday.

Ilham Aliev was reacting to comments by Russian parliament speaker
Boris Gryzlov, who said that Armenia was Russia’s outpost in the
Caucasus region. Gryzlov made the statement Wednesday at a meeting
between Armenian legislators and their Russian counterparts.

“We are confused: We have always considered Armenia a state, but now
it turns out that it is an outpost,” Aliev told journalists Friday.

“So whom should we negotiate with now – the outpost or the master of
the outpost?” he said.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in a bitter dispute over
Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan’s
territory. Ethnic Armenian forces drove Azerbaijani troops out of
Nagorno-Karabakh in the 1990s. Since a 1994 cease-fire, the sides
have been separated by a demilitarized buffer zone, but occasional
shooting breaks out and each side accuses the other of mounting
small incursions.

“I believe that if these negotiations are conducted in a constructive
way, and the Armenian side does not go back on earlier agreed-upon
positions … we can come to certain agreements,” Aliev said.

Baku wants Armenian forces to withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh before
a peace treaty can be signed.

Aliev also said Friday that Azerbaijan is ready to fully reopen its
railway connection with neighboring Georgia only after it receives
guarantees that the cargo is not redirected to Armenia.

Azerbaijan closed its railway link with Georgia for five days in
November, barring about 1,500 train cars carrying oil and other
cargo, on the grounds that some of the cargo had ended up in Armenia.
Baku then reopened the connection partially – allowing in some trains,
mostly those carrying oil – after Azerbaijan and Georgia agreed that
no cargo would be redirected to Armenia.

But Aliev said Friday that “smuggling and falsifications” were still
taking place.

“If it persists, the border will remain closed,” Aliev said. “We
understand that it causes harm to us and to a certain extent to
Georgia, but we have no other choice.”

Anadolu Agency, Turkey
Dec 15 2004

E.P. Rejects Amendment Motion Proposing Special Partnership Status To
Turkey Instead Of Full Membership

STRASBOURG (AA) – European Parliament on Wednesday rejected an
amendment motion recommending special partnership status to Turkey
instead of full membership.
In a voting held in EP General Assembly, the amendment motion
opposing Turkey’s membership was rejected.
European Parliament also rejected another amendment motion
demanding Turkey to recognize so-called Armenian genocide to start
entry talks.

Azeri foreign minister tells radio about talks with Armenian counterpart

ANS Radio, Baku
15 Dec 04

[Presenter] Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has
revealed some aspects of the meeting in Brussels with his Armenian
counterpart, Vardan Oskanyan, on the resolution of the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict.

[Mammadyarov, no picture] We discussed [the possibility of] sending an
OSCE mission to the occupied lands [of Azerbaijan] to examine illegal
settlements there. We are planning to continue the Prague process in
January [next year]. Of course, this is a difficult issue and there
are many questions. But, we, the Azerbaijani side, think that we
should continue the Prague talks, because there are opportunities to
make progress there.

[Presenter] Mammadyarov made this statement in London.

EU parliament to vote on backing Turkey’s membership bid on eve of key EU
summit

By CONSTANT BRAND
.c The Associated Press

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) – The European Parliament is expected to call
on EU leaders Wednesday to open membership talks with Turkey, but only
if the country carries out a slew of democratic reforms, including a
zero-tolerance policy against torture.

The 732-member EU assembly meeting in Strasbourg, France, is to vote
on more than 80 amendments to a resolution concerning Turkey’s
ambitions to join the 25-nation bloc. Many of the amendments, drafted
by conservatives and euro-skeptics, call for the EU not to start entry
talks.

The resolution, which the parliament’s influential foreign affairs
committee drafted and passed two weeks ago, is nonbinding. It calls
for EU leaders, who will meet on Thursday and Friday, to “open the
negotiations with Turkey without undue delay” if Ankara meets the
conditions, including economic, political and judicial reforms.

EU leaders will decide during the summit on whether to open talks with
Turkey and when the negotiations should begin.

There has been growing public anxiety within the EU over allowing a
large, poor and predominantly Muslim country to join, and lawmakers
were expected to toughen the conditions in the resolution and try to
influence leaders to do the same during their crucial talks.

Hans-Gert Poettering, leader of the conservative European People’s
Party, the largest group in the parliament, warned of “historical
consequences” if Turkey is allowed to join and said it would change
the EU forever.

“If there are negotiations, then we will negotiate with a country in
which there are enormous human rights violations,” Poettering said
during a debate on Monday.

German and French conservatives have demanded a tougher resolution,
demanding Turkey officially recognize Cyprus as a condition to opening
talks. Other resolutions demand Turkey recognize the killing of
Armenians nearly a century ago as genocide.

One, drafted by French conservative Jacques Toubon, calls on Turkey to
“formally acknowledge the historic reality of the genocide
perpetrated against the Armenians.”

Armenians accuse Turkey of genocide in the killings of up to 1.5
million Armenians as part of a 1915-1923 campaign to force them out of
eastern Turkey.

Ankara vehemently denies the genocide, says the death count is
inflated and that Armenians were killed or displaced along with others
as the Ottoman Empire tried to quell civil unrest.

The question of Turkey recognizing Cyprus has become a key dispute
between Turkey and EU governments ahead of Thursday’s summit, but
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Ankara has no plans to do
so before the meeting.

The island has been divided into a Greek Cypriot-controlled south and
a Turkish-occupied north since Turkey invaded in 1974 after an
abortive coup by supporters of union with Greece. Only Turkey
recognizes the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state, and Ankara does not
recognize the Greek-Cypriot government in the south.

The resolution already says that opening negotiations would
“presuppose recognition by Turkey” of Cyprus, which joined the EU in
May and so would be involved in Turkey’s membership negotiations.

Other amendments, supported by France and Denmark, call for the EU to
prepare a backup plan in case entry talks fail or Turkey backtracks in
democratic reforms.

12/15/04 03:25 EST

ON DECEMBER 21, RESULTS OF “ARMENIA IS MY HOMELAND” REPUBLICAN YOUTH
FESTIVAL TO BE SUMMED UP

YEREVAN, December 13 (Noyan Tapan). On December 21, the results of the
competition of compositions and patriotic songs organized within the
framework of the “Armenia is My Homeland” republican youth festival
will be summed up in the National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet
after Al.Spendiarian. 8-10-form pupils from comprehensive schools of
Yerevan, regions of the republic and Artsakh, higher school students
participate in the festival.

According to report submitted to NT by RA Ministry of Culture and
Youth Affairs, exhibitions of paintings and photographs will open
within the framework of the festival starting from December 21.

The goal of the festival is to contribute to rise of patriotic
breeding among the youth, preservation and spreading of national
values, revelation of creative capabilities.

According to the report, the solemn opening of the festival will take
place on December 13 in the Painters’ Union of Armenia.

CENN – DECEMBER 13, 2004 DAILY DIGEST
Table of Contents:
1. Geneva, December 13-15, 2004
2. Caspian Sea-One of World’s Hotspots
3. Armenian Mining Giant Sold For $40M
4. Armenian Scientists Win in Contest of US Department of Agriculture

1. GENEVA, DECEMBER 13-15, 2004

Dear All, materials of the seminar of UNECE on the role of ecosystems as
water suppliers, Geneva, December 13-15, 2004, where I am planning to
participate with the similar title of presentation and agenda of meeting
of working group on Integrated Water Resources Management is online now.

You are kindly invited to visit the seminar web page that displays all
official documents, national reports and discussion papers (some of
which are in Russian):

With kind regards
Rafig Verdiyev
ECORES/UNEP

2. CASPIAN SEA-ONE OF WORLD’S HOTSPOTS

Dear Colleagues,

On December 6, 2004 a presentation entitled the Caspian Sea-One of
World’s Hotspots was made by Mr.Igor Zonn-head of Department of
Engineering Scientific Production Center for Water Economy, Reclamation
and Ecology, Moscow, Russia at a side event Analysis of Hotspots for
Climate Change Impacts Warning as part of the CoP10 to UNFCCC.

Statement of Republic of Azerbaijan as a response to the statement of
Mr.Zonn is available on the following address:
Sea One of World s Hotspots.zip

This document has been forwarded to the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Italy
as to clarify the issue among international organizations operating
there.

Any comments/questions will be appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Issa Aliyev
Head of International Cooperation Department
Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Republic of Azerbaijan
Tel: +994124924173
Fax: +994124925907

Hormetle, Bayram Hasanov, Consigliere,
Tel +39 06 85237243
Fax +39 06 85237246
Email: [email protected]

3. ARMENIAN MINING GIANT SOLD FOR $40M

By Atom Markarian

The government announced on Thursday, December 9, 2004 the sale of
Armenia’s largest metallurgical complex to several private investors,
including a large German company, for just $40 million.

A government statement said Germany’s Chronimet would take over 60% of
shares of the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine which was put up
for privatization last March. Fifteen percent of its stock will go to a
Yerevan-based metallurgical company, while two other obscure firms,
called Armenian Molybdenum Production and Zangezur Mining, will each get
12.5%. It is not clear who owns them.

The Zangezur plant and adjacent mines, one of Armenia’s few remaining
state-run industries, are located near the town of Kajaran in the
southeastern Syunik region. The mountainous area has the country’s
largest deposits of copper and molybdenum ores. Thousands of people work
there.

Trade and Economic Development Minister Karen Chshmaritian first
announced news of the plant’s upcoming privatization in August. He said
at the time that it will likely be bought by Chronimet and the U.S. firm
Comsup Commodities on a `fifty-fifty percent basis.’ He said each of
them will have to invest $150 million in the Soviet-era facility.

There was no word on investment commitments in a statement issued by
ministers after their weekly meeting. Nor is it clear why Comsup’s
involvement in the deal fell through.

Details of the sell-off were reportedly finalized during President
Robert Kocharian’s recent visit to Germany. Chronimet is part of the
German ELG Haniel group, which specializes in recycling and selling raw
materials for the stainless steel industry. The group is present in 15
countries around the world and reported sales exceeding $1.5 billion
last year.

The Zangezur complex will be privatized despite being very profitable by
Armenian standards. Its annual earnings have totaled at least $10
million in recent years in sharp contrast with other big state-run
companies mired in debt.

In a highly controversial decision earlier this year, the government
diverted all of the mining giant’s 2004 profits to an obscure private
charity which is reportedly run by several top army generals. The
government has still not explained motives for the move.

4. ARMENIAN SCIENTISTS WIN IN CONTEST OF U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Source: Azg/arm, December 1, 2004

USDA MAP (Marketing Assistance Program) informs that a group of Armenian
scientists from plants’ genetic resource laboratory at the Agricultural
Academy won a grant of US Department of Agriculture. The money is going
to be put in the project of “Preserving and using wheat’s wild ancestors
in Armenia”.

Prof. Mikhail Gyulkhasian, head of the scientists’, group told
journalists that the project will set to collect and preserve the gene
pool of wheat’s wild ancestors which will be salvation for thisunique
species and added that the wild wheat and rye were collected from the
regions of Ararat, Vayots Dzor and Erebuni resort. They will serve as
resources for breeding new species more enduring to cold, drought and
insects.

Prof. Gyulkhasian’s project together with two other projects
becamewinner within the US Agriculture Department’s program of
International Cooperation of Agricultural Research in the Central
Asia-Caucasus region among 125 other projects.

—
*******************************************
CENN INFO
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)

Tel: ++995 32 92 39 46
Fax: ++995 32 92 39 47
E-mail: [email protected]
URL:

Russia to continue helping Tajikistan protect border with Afghanistan

ITAR-TASS news agency
10 Dec 04

Moscow, 10 December: If necessary, Tajikistan’s power-wielding
structures “can always count on all-round help and support from our
military base and the operational border groups of Russia’s Federal
Security Service that are being set up there,” Russian Defence
Minister Sergey Ivanov said at a meeting with representatives of the
military-diplomatic corps today.

He noted that the collective security system definitely takes account
of the drug threat emanating from Afghanistan. “We take account of the
presence of this threat and help the border and anti-drug structures
with all accessible means to create a barrier to drug trafficking in
that country,” Ivanov said. In particular, he continued, one of the
main tasks of the Russian troops’ military base in Tajikistan, which
the 201st Motor-Rifle Division was turned into this year, is to
protect border posts on the Tajik-Afghan border. According to Ivanov,
such measures are needed because, starting from 1992, the Russian
border guards confiscated over 29 tonnes of narcotic substances and
prevented at least 1,500 attempts at armed breakthroughs across
Afghanistan’s border into the countries of Central Asia.

As well as Tajikistan, Russian service personnel are present in
Georgia and Armenia, where the Group of Russian Troops in the
Transcaucasus is deployed, as well as in Kyrgyzstan, where “we are
continuing to actively develop the air base in Kant”. “These
formations are most important elements in the overall system of
ensuring the security both of Russia on its southern borders, and the
collective security of countries participating in the Collective
Security Treaty Organization and the whole of the CIS,” Ivanov said.

Atacan dos iglesias en Mosul, no hay víctimas

Agence France Presse — Spanish
7 dec 2004

MOSUL, Irak Dic 7 — Dos iglesias de Mosul, una caldea y una armenia,
fueron atacadas simultaneamente en esta ciudad del norte de Irak por
hombres armados, sin provocar víctimas, indicaron testigos a la AFP.

Inicialmente se había dado cuenta de un solo ataque.

La iglesia caldea de la ciudad, una de las mayores con que cuenta
la urbe, fue atacada con explosivos por un grupo de hombres armados,
dijo un religioso.

“Hacia las 16H30 (13H30 GMT) varios hombres armados entraron en la
iglesia y después de ordenar a las personas presentes que entraran
en una pieza aledaña colocaron explosivos en diferentes lugares del
edificio”, indicó a la AFP el padre Raghid Aziz Kara.

“Luego nos sacaron a todos e hicieron explotar el edificio. Oímos
tres detonaciones”, dijo el sacerdote al corresponsal de la AFP ante
la iglesia en llamas.

La iglesia, construida en los años 1950 y ampliada en los años 1990,
está situada en el barrio Al Chifa, en el centro de Mosul, ciudad
situada 370 km al norte de Bagdad.

En ese mismo momento otro grupo armado atacó una iglesia armenia en
el este de la ciudad, dijo a la AFP el custodio del lugar, Yussef
Yacub Hanna.

“Los hombres entraron al edificio y me hicieron salir, al igual
que dos feligreses que estaban aquí. Poco después escuchamos las
explosiones”, relató.

El 1 de agosto una bomba explotó en una iglesia de Mosul y otras
cuatro ante iglesias en Bagdad, provocando una decena de muertos.

Estos ataques suscitan inquietud entre la minoría cristiana iraquí,
evaluada en unas 700.000 personas, de los cuales 600.000 son caldeos
(católicos de rito oriental).

–Boundary_(ID_4n4HEnTWMnAop+WtHyT0aQ)–

Armenian pilots sentenced in Equatorial Guinea coup place appeal

Agence France Presse — English
December 7, 2004 Tuesday 12:20 AM GMT

YEREVAN Dec 7 — Six Armenian pilots who last month were given stiff
jail sentences by a court in Equatorial Guinea for plotting to oust
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema have appealed to that country’s supreme
court, a senior Armenian foreign ministry official said late Monday.

Although Armenia did not expect the appeal to be successful, this
would open the possibility of then turning to international instances
for help, Ambassador Sergei Manaserian told a press conference.

“We do not expect (the supreme court) to overrule the court’s verdict,
but this move will enable us to turn to international instances in
the near future,” said Manaserian, who heads the foreign ministry
delegation trying to obtain the pilots’ release.

“We hope to receive an answer from the supreme court within two
months,” said Manaserian, who added that the appeal had been placed
by the pilots’ lawyer.

Armenian President Robert Kocharian sent his Equatorial Guinean
counterpart a message asking him to pardon the pilots, or to extradite
them to Armenia, Manaserian added.

“Armenia is continuing to do all it can, including through bilateral
negotiations and negotiations with international organizations, to
secure the release of our fellow citizens, who are not guilty and have
absolutely nothing to do with the attempted coup in that country,”
Manaserian said.

Two of the pilots were suffering from malaria and typhoid fever,
he said.

The six Armenian pilots were arrested last March. Three of them were
sentenced to 24 years in jail, while the other three received a 14
year sentence.

Five south Africans also received jail sentences for plotting against
the Equatorial Guinean authorities, and eight members of a government
in exile set up in Spain, Equatorial Guinea’s former colonial ruler,
were tried in their absence and sentenced to 52 years in prison each.

Exiled Equatorial Guinean opposition leader Severo Moto was sentenced
in his absence to 64 years in jail and fined two billion CFA francs
(three million euros).

The son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, Mark,
was also heard by a South African court for allegedly bankrolling
the conspiracy.

Obiang’s regime, which has ruled since 1979 with an iron hand over
one of the world’s poorest countries turned major oil producer,
announced it had foiled a complex coup bid in March, which appeared to
have tentacles reaching across Africa and into Europe and the former
Soviet bloc.

Armenia slammed the verdict, saying the court had produced no proof
of the Armenians’ guilt.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V. Rev. Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer

Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

“THE YEAR OF FAMILY” LAUNCHED BY HIS HOLINESS ARAM I

IS CONCLUDED BY A MUSICAL FUNCTION

ANTELIAS, LEBANON – The year 2004 was formally launched by His Holiness Aram
I Catholicos of Cilicia as the “year of family”. Throughout the year many
activities took place in the worldwide Armenian Dioceses under the
jurisdiction of the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia. As the heart of
Christian Church and the Nation, the preservation of the Christian Armenian
identity of family was considered to be a high priority for the church. This
was also an occasion to underscore the vital importance of education for
Christian formation of the family. In his massage to the nation, Catholicos
Aram has outlined the centrality of family for the life and witness of the
church and the importance of responding to the challenges facing the
Armenian family.

To bring to a conclusion the activities organized on the occasion of the
“year of family”, the “SHNORHALY” choir of the Catholicosate, organized a
public concert under the auspicious of His Holiness Aram I. Through songs,
hymns and melodies dedicated to family their concert came once again to
remind our people the unique importance of family for our church and people.

******

View printable pictures here:

##

The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.