Author: Arpi Talalian

The Messenger, Georgia
July 29 2005
Convoy detention a misunderstanding
The detention of Russian military hardware at the Georgian-Armenian
border was pure misunderstanding, said Vladimir Kuparadze, the
official spokesman for Russian forces in Transcaucasia.
“The senior officer forgot the necessary papers,” he said. “The
convoy will continue moving as soon as these papers are delivered.”
Georgian border guards stopped a convoy of Russian military hardware
on the Armenian border Thursday.
The state borders department of the Georgian Interior Ministry said
the convoy, comprising four trucks and four armored vehicles, was
heading from Akhalkalaki (Georgia) to Armenia.
On inspection, Georgian border guards found five PKT machine guns and
five signaling pistols and detained the convoy, which lacked the
required documents.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RIA Novosti, Russia
July 15 2005
Operation Active Endeavour for the Caspian Sea
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Viktor Litovkin.)
The Volga delta city of Astrakhan recently hosted an international
conference on establishing the Caspian Sea naval cooperation task force
(CASFOR) to be made up of warships from Caspian littoral states. Russia
pushed the task force as the most effective way to counter threats
in the area, primarily terrorism.
The conference was organized by General of the Army Yuri Baluyevsky,
head of the Russian General Staff, and Fleet Admiral Vladimir
Kuroyedov, commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, and was chaired
by the Russian Caspian Flotilla commander, Vice-Admiral Yuri Startsev.
During the conference, President Vladimir Putin was also in
Astrakhan, on a familiarization tour of the border-guard units in the
region. There were no official reports of him attending the conference
or sending his greetings, but it is clear that such events are not
held without the Kremlin’s agreement and support.
Interestingly, all Caspian littoral states, including Turkmenistan and
Iran, participated in the conference, despite current disagreements,
in particular on where borders in the sea should run. What made
them pool their efforts? The terrorist threat? No doubt. A drive
to protect their economic exclusion zones, rich in fish and energy
resources? Certainly. However, what matters the most – and it is clear
to any unbiased observer – is the wish to preempt the United States and
NATO and keep them out of the land-locked Caspian Sea, into which they
are desperately trying to get under the pretext of fighting terrorism.
Warships of NATO countries and NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP)
partners patrol the Mediterranean on a permanent basis. Suspicious
ships are stopped and searched as part of Operation Active Endeavor,
checked for illegal migrants, dangerous cargo and terrorists and
escorted to their destinations. Similar operations are also planned for
the Black Sea, which is fervently opposed by Moscow. If Washington and
Brussels also show up on the maritime borders of Russia, Kazakhstan,
Turkmenistan, Iran and Azerbaijan under the pretext of “maintaining
freedom of navigation and security on busy trade routes in the vicinity
of the Caspian area,” the sovereignty of the Caspian littoral states
will be somewhat limited. This will not benefit anyone, least of all
Iran, whose relations with Washington remain hostile.
There is no doubt that the United States and NATO are beefing up their
military presence in the region. Cases in point are the hundreds of
U.S. instructors training the Georgian Army, the U.S. commandos who
came to Azerbaijan to guard and defend the Baku-Tbilisi-Batumi-Ceyhan
oil pipeline, and NATO’s proactive mediation to settle the
Nagorno-Karabakh crisis and dispatch NATO troops there as peacekeepers.
However, there are several minor but key obstacles to conducting an
Active Endeavor in the Caspian, of which the main one is the legal
status of CASFOR, which should exist under the auspices of a common
political organization. There is no such organization in the Caspian
area. Russia and Kazakhstan are members of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) and Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO). Neither organization, however, includes Iran or Azerbaijan,
though Iran has been granted observer status at the SCO. Turkmenistan
is a member of no organization and, under its constitution, is a
neutral state. Clearing these legal hurdles would be difficult. In
addition, the Caspian states would have to obtain approval from the
United Nations for an operation similar to Active Endeavor.
There are other difficulties as well, including working out the status
of the operation, and establishing the chain of subordination to its
command and the legal procedures necessary for boarding parties to
search suspicious ships. For example, NATO men are not entitled to
board foreign ships without their captains’ approval, and nor do
they chase non-compliant ships, as Russian border guards do when
they go after poachers. They just alert the Mediterranean states’
authorities, who order local police cooperating with NATO meet
recalcitrant ships in ports of destination. What will be the modus
operandi in the Caspian, where ships can disappear into cane-covered
marshes instead of proceeding to their destinations? The question
has to be considered thoroughly, which was one aim of the conference.
Still, the problems above seem minor compared with the principal one:
Turning the Caspian into a sea of peace and harmony, a zone free of
the terrorist threat, and having the Caspian states do that themselves.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanArmenian News
July 13 2005
ABDULLAH GUL: NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN TURKISH AND ARMENIAN DIPLOMATS NOT
NOVELTY
13.07.2005 07:22
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `It’s not a novelty that the Armenian and Turkish
diplomats are holding negotiations on a number of issues’, Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul stated when on a visit to UK. `Our only
objective is to secure stability in the Caucasus’, he noted adding
that the Armenian-Turkish dialogue has been continuing for rather a
long period of time. `Sometimes meetings are held at the ministerial
level. Ankara is willing to work out a position admissible for all
the parties’, Gul said. To note, according a report of Hurriyet
newspaper, a secret meeting of Armenian and Turkish diplomats took
place in a European town. During the meeting the Turkish diplomats
advanced a package of proposals, realization of which could solve the
problems available, Mediamax new agency reported.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanArmenian News Network, Armenia
July 12 2005
SPEAKING OF TURKEY EU ACCESSION POSSIBLE AFTER 2012
12.07.2005 07:58
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The State Programming Organization of Turkey has assessed
EU expectations from Turkey and the frequently proposed term of full
integration – 2014 – and stated the final date will be proposed to Turkey
and the European Union Summit in 2012, reported the Yerkir newspaper
referring to Yeni Shafag Turkish edition. Organization research has shown
that as compared to the previous contenders for EU accession, Croatia is
suggested fewer conditions than Turkey. If the talks on Croatia’s accession
were postponed due to the trial on those guilty in the Bosnia war not being
completed and failure to meet a number of political criteria, the Armenian
and Cyprian problems are raised against Turkey. The organization has also
stated that the EU demands that Turkey establish good relations with all
neighbors, including Armenia. This evidences EU demand to open the border
with Armenia and recognize Cyprus independence. At that Turkish membership
in the European Union will result in financial problems for the EU. In any
case one can speak of Turkey’s accession to the EU only after 2012.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A1plus
| 16:00:46 | 04-07-2005 | Regions |
HAIL ON VARDAVAR DAY
«The Lake Sevan raged as if something was exploding inside, and the hail was
like nuts falling down», tells a girl who spent the Vardavar in Sevan
yesterday.
According to her, the hail started at about 08:15 p.m. It was so strong that
damaged their car. We learned from the Emergency Administration that
yesterday it hailed in Sevan, in the region of Kotayq, Aghavnadzor and
Maralik.
The hail damaged the harvest of potato and cabbage. Besides, a 19-year-old
resident from the village Lchap drowned in the lake yesterday.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Pan Armenian News
ANOTHER CONGRESSMAN JOINED US CONGRESSIONAL ARMENIAN CAUCUS
02.07.2005 02:53
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ US Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA) has joined the
Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, reported the Armenian Assembly of
America. Representative Costa signed on as an original cosponsor of the
Armenian Genocide Resolution (H. Res. 316), which was introduced by
Representatives George Radanovich (R-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Joe
Knollenberg (R-MI) and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ). A long-time supporter of
Armenian-American issues as a member of the California State Assembly, the
first-term Congressman also urged President Bush to properly recognize the
Armenian Genocide in his April 24th commemorative statement. Additionally,
he supported a letter to Foreign Operations Subcommittee on Appropriations
Chairman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) and Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY), asking that
Congress maintain significant assistance to Armenia and Karabakh in Fiscal
Year 2006.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Daily Star – Lebanon
June 22 2005
Mother Russia, a father no more in the new Middle East
By Vitaly Naumkin
Commentary by
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
In the years since the break-up of the Soviet Union, two differently
directed processes have unfolded simultaneously in Russia’s relations
with the countries of the Middle East. On the one hand, Russia
established and actively developed relations with new partners (this
process began even before the dissolution of the Soviet state). Cases
in point are Israel and the monarchies of the Persian Gulf. The end
of the cold war, the immigration of a great number of Soviet Jews to
Israel, Russia’s renunciation of a “zero-sum game” in the Middle
East, and the end of the policy of state-sponsored anti-semitism
radically changed the situation in Russo-Israeli relations,
generating an interest among the Russian elite in promoting bilateral
relations of cooperation.
On the other hand, the importance of the Middle East on the list of
Russia’s foreign policy priorities has gradually declined. For
Russia, the region as a whole has not been a supplier of energy
resources (as it is for all Western countries and Japan) or a
forward-deployment base for the defense of its interests and those of
its allies (as it is for the United States); indeed, it had no such
bases in the region in the first place.
Despite Russia’s lingering ties of traditional friendship with the
Arab countries, its relations have completely lost their ideological
underpinning and have gradually begun to lose their economic
foundation as well. With the end of the era in which the Soviet Union
rendered assistance on preferential terms in creating industrial
enterprises, and supplied arms on credit to Arab countries, the
volume of trade and economic cooperation between the latter and
Russia has turned out to be extremely low.
Former President Boris Yeltsin’s Russia, beset, indeed, completely
preoccupied, by its own problems, started to lose interest in a
Middle East peace settlement and in a political presence in the
region in general. True, Russia inherited the place of the Soviet
Union as one of the two co-sponsors of the peace process and had an
opportunity to work with all the parties to the conflict. But in
terms of its financial and economic capacities it was no match for
the other co-sponsor, the Unite States. Nor did the Arab countries,
for their part, display much interest in developing relations with
Russia on a new basis; instead, they grieved to see the Soviet Union,
the powerful counterbalance to the U.S., leave the historical arena.
Russia’s relations with Turkey and Iran stand in stark contrast to
the above. These two countries bordering on the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) territory have ranked among the priorities
in terms of Russia’s interests.
Turkey quickly became one of Russia’s main commercial and economic
partners and a major consumer of its energy resources – natural gas
in particular. It was also a major investor and contractor (notably
in construction projects), and a haven for Russian tourists. The
bilateral political conflicts that existed in the first part of the
1990s were gradually mitigated, and the path ahead appears to lead to
further rapprochement.

With Iran things went differently: relations in the economic field
initially lagged behind political relations. Tehran took a major step
in the rapprochement with Russia by taking a constructive approach to
the Tajikistan conflict and in its support for Armenia, Russia’s ally
in the Caucasus. All this allowed Moscow to solve an important
strategic task – ensuring a “friendly environment” along the CIS
perimeter. A new high point in relations with Iran was reached after
the signing of the contract for construction of the atomic power
station at Bushehr. Moscow viewed American (and Israeli) pressure on
this issue as reflecting a desire to oust it from the promising
international atomic energy market. However, as a result of that
pressure, it tightened control over the export of technologies and
materials that may be used in military nuclear and missile programs.
Aggravation of the situation in Chechnya and the increased threat of
international terrorism have modified Russia’s strategic interests in
the Middle East. The task of neutralizing the international terrorist
threat and ensuring a favorable attitude by Middle Eastern states on
the Chechen question has come to the fore. Since September 11, 2001,
the new partner-like relations with the U.S. in the war on terrorism
have significantly impacted on Russia’s policies in the Middle East.
However, Russia’s aversion to American military action in Iraq and
its negative attitude toward the Bush administration’s strategy of
unilateral action as a whole, as well as to its concept of “regime
change,” have predetermined a certain cooling of the partnership.
This has, in turn, affected cooperation regarding a Middle East
settlement to an extent.
In President Vladimir Putin’s Russia, interests and policies in the
region have largely been determined by a “multivector” strategy.
Policy has become more active and even more pragmatic; Russian
business interests have become entrenched; and Russia has
increasingly acted without reference to the positions of other global
players. At the same time, guided by its national interests, Moscow
is keen to avoid actions that would seriously jeopardize its
partner-like relations with the West.
Vitaly Naumkin is president of the International Center for Strategic
and Political Studies, Moscow, the director of the Center for Arab
Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies, and editor-in-chief of
Vostok-ORIENS, the journal of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This
commentary first appeared at bitterlemons-international.org, an
online newsletter.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EVERY EFFORT IS STRAINED FOR IRANIAN STUDENTS TO CONTINUE THEIR
STUDIES IN ARMENIA IN COMFORTABLE CONDITIONS, IRANIAN EMBASSY DECLARES
YEREVAN, JUNE 9, NOYAN TAPAN. “Development and extension of bilateral
contacts in all spheres are constantly in the center of attention of
Armenian and Iranian leadership and are assisted by them recording
progress,” the report spread by the Iranian Embassy in Armenia
read. In answer to the information that appeared in press recently,
according to which Ambassador Haghighian called on his compatriots to
give up their willingness to study in Armenia as this country has no
sufficient socio-economic conditions for this, the Iranian Embassy
declared that the Memorandum of Mutual Understanding signed by the
Ministers of Education and Science of the 2 countries mutually
recognizing the leaving certificates of the 2 countries created a
favorable ground for involvement and study of Iranian students in
Armenian higher schools. “We should also estimate the process of
increase in the number of Iranian students within this framework,” the
statement read. At the same time, the statement mentioned, officials
of RA Ministry of Education and Science, as well as the Iranian
Embassy in Armenia “strain every effort for the students to continue
their studies in comfortable conditions.” According to the statement
of the Iranian Embassy in Armenia, cooperation in
scientific-educational sphere is one of the important axes of
Armenian-Iranian interrelations, the evidence of which are the mutual
visits, negotiations and meetings of the Ministers of Education and
Science of the 2 countries, as well as signing of documents, creation
of a legal contractual field aimed at development of cooperation in
this sphere.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia & New Zealand
10 Macquarie Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
AUSTRALIA
Contact: Laura Artinian
Tel: (02) 9419-8056
Fax: (02) 9904-8446
Email: [email protected]
7 June 2005
PRIMATE ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE NSW ECUMENICAL COUNCIL
Sydney, Australia – On Saturday, 4 June 2005, Primate of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of Australia and New Zealand, His Eminence Archbishop Aghan
Baliozian was elected President of the NSW Ecumenical Council (NSWEC) at the
2005 Annual General Meeting.
In a Rite of Commissioning, Archbishop Aghan was called to lead and
encourage the Council in its mission and its witness to the love of Christ.
The President of the NSWEC has the responsibility to preserve the integrity,
order and peace of the NSWEC; speak on public issues on behalf of the
Council; represent the Council on public occasions and preside over meetings
of the Council.
It is an honour and privilege for the Armenian Apostolic Church of Australia
to have the head of its Church serve in such a position of significance.
Archbishop Aghan Baliozian also served as the inaugural President of the
National Council of Churches in Australia from 1994-1997.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Holidays in the Danger Zone: Places That Don’t Exist
The Guardian – United Kingdom
Jun 01, 2005
7.30pm, BBC2
Nagorno Karabakh is one of those forgotten conflicts that at one
time was a major news story. Simon Reeve ends his engrossing series
back in the chaotic Caucasus, where Armenia and Azerbaijan remain
bitter over the fate of tiny, unrecognised Karabakh, formerly home
to hundreds of thousands of displaced Azeris and now the preserve of
their Armenian neighbours.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress