Author: Badalian Vardan

EurasiaNet Organization
April 12 2005
NAGORNO KARABAKH TALKS: PRELUDE TO PEACE?
Samvel Martirosyan 4/12/05
Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh are
growing in the run-up to an upcoming summit meeting to discuss new
proposals from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe for an end to the 17-year conflict over the disputed region.
For the past month, skirmishes on the ceasefire line between Armenian
and Azerbaijani forces have been reported almost every day. The
exchange of gunfire has brought the highest casualty rate since the
1994 ceasefire agreement that ended the three-year war between
Armenia and Azerbaijan over the territory. In March, at least six
servicemen were killed in the exchanges. Three Azerbaijani soldiers
have also been taken prisoner by Armenian forces, and the Armenian
defense ministry reported on April 7 that an Armenian soldier was now
held by Azerbaijan.
The clashes come as both sides state that they are ready to make
serious compromises to resolve the conflict. Armenian Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov are scheduled to meet on April 15 in London as a
precursor to a possible meeting between Armenian President Robert
Kocharian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of
a May 16 Council of Europe summit in Warsaw.
“We have never questioned the need for compromises in the settlement
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,” Armenian President Robert
Kocharian was quoted as saying by the news agency Mediamax at an
April 11 meeting with students at Yerevan State University. “We have
to understand that compromises in the settlement are inevitable. But
we had better not speak about their possible scale today.”
The extent of those compromises, Kocharian said, depended on
Armenia’s domestic political and economic situation and the position
taken by the international community on a resolution to the crisis.
Azerbaijan has charged that the ruckus over the skirmishes is a
negotiating tactic staged by Armenia to strengthen their position at
the London meeting, as well as to shore up popular support for
President Robert Kocharian’s government.
“[The Armenians] have to sit at the negotiating table and have their
final say,” Azerbaijani Parliamentary Deputy Speaker Ziyafat Asgarov
stated on April 6, the Baku-based Space TV reported. “I believe that
they are trying to avoid having their say and deliberately violating
the cease-fire to give the international community the impression
that stability is being disrupted.”
Speaking at the Armenian parliament’s March 29-31 hearings on
Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian Defense Minister Serge Sarkissian charged
that attempts by Azerbaijani forces in the territory to take better
positions had reduced the distance between Armenian and Azerbaijani
troops to a mere 35-50 meters in some places. “Where do we want to
lead the people, what do we want – a new war? . . . Can war last for
eternity?” the Armenian news service ArmInfo quoted Sarkissian, a
former commander of Armenian forces in Karabakh, as saying on April
7. “This is an option too, though. [W]hen people make such a
decision, then the defense minister will also have to assume this
position.”
In Armenia, Russian news outlets have added to the tensions with
reports that cite Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev as saying that
“[t]he war may start at any moment.” Azerbaijani media outlets have
not carried the remarks.
The OSCE has also expressed concern over the growing Nagorno Karabakh
tensions. “Aggressive statements must stop and the sides must do
their best to establish an atmosphere of mutual trust,” OSCE Acting
Chairman and Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitri Rupel stated during a
March 30 trip to Yerevan. During his stay in the Armenian capital,
Rupel met with the de facto president of Nagorno Karabakh, Arkadi
Ghukasian, and told reporters that, despite the ceasefire violations,
chances were strong that negotiations between Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Nagorno Karabakh would open by the end of summer.
The participation of Nagorno Karabakh representatives in the talks
would be a first for the OSCE-brokered peace process – and a move
long opposed by Azerbaijan. The OSCE appears to hold strong hopes
that Baku will yield on this point. “There are some details for which
solutions are impossible without the participation of Nagorno
Karabakh,” OSCE Minsk Group Chairman Russian Ambassador Yuri
Merzlyakov told the Azerbaijani news agency APA in a recent
interview.
Meanwhile, both sides stress that they are ready to talk peace.
Sarkissian has stated that the Armenian government would agree to a
referendum on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh to be held in the
territory under the auspices of the OSCE and United Nations, and also
agree to negotiations over the status of the seven Azerbaijani
regions currently occupied by Armenian forces. The defense minister
presented the fact that Armenia has not to date recognized
Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence as a third concession made to
Azerbaijan, though the chances appear to be slim that Baku would
acknowledge it as such.
Increasingly, Yerevan appears to be focusing its peace overtures on
the seven regions bordering Karabakh that are currently occupied by
Armenian forces. “I think such a pragmatic approach by the Armenian
side may become a pledge of success,” Sarkissian told parliament.
Armenia, however, he said, would not return the regions to Azerbaijan
without “strict guarantees of security and non-resumption of war,
guaranteed by the international community, separate countries and
organizations.”
The statements could be seen as a quid pro quo for Azerbaijani
concessions to Armenian demands on Karabakh itself. Armenian Foreign
Minister Vardan Oskanian has indicated that Yerevan sees the two
issues as separate. “We will not concede Nagorno Karabagh; we will
not concede the security of Nagorno Karabagh population; and will not
admit a status of enclave for Nagorno Karabagh,” Oskanian told
parliament. ” All this does not mean that the option territories for
status cannot be discussed.”
Speaking at the parliamentary hearings in Yerevan, Vladimir
Kazimirov, a key architect of the 1994 ceasefire and Russia’s former
envoy to the OSCE Minsk Group, the body charged with overseeing the
Karabakh peace talks, pushed the Kocharian government to drop its
traditional insistence on a package peace deal, terming the strategy
“not realistic.” Given differences between the two sides, he argued,
a gradual approach is the only way to peace.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan has indicated that it would agree to a
step-by-step withdrawal from the seven occupied territories, but
cautioned that the ceasefire must hold during the talks in London.
“Regular violations of the ceasefire carry the aim of increasing
tensions. Armenia wants to receive [from this] a postponement [of
talks], citing the tense situation. But losing time is not
advantageous to either of the sides,” Deputy Foreign Minister Araz
Azimov was quoted as saying by the Baku-based newspaper Zerkalo on
April 8.
Editor’s Note: Samvel Martirosyan is a Yerevan-based journalist and
political analyst.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
April 11, 2005 Monday 3:18 PM Eastern Time
Armenia may build new nuclear power plant
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said on Monday there was a
possibility of Armenia building a new nuclear power plant. “Quite
possibly, a new nuclear power plant based on contemporary
technologies will be built in Armenia,” the president said at a
meeting with students and the teaching staff of the economy
department of Yerevan State University.
Kocharyan said it was hard to imagine a larger damage to the country
than the closure of the nuclear power plant in 1989. The energy
crisis that resulted from that rash step led to a decay of the
republic’s economy, Kocharyan said.
The power plant that went into operation in 1979 was shut down after
the devastative earthquake in 1989. It was re-activated with the
assistance of Russian specialists in 1996, and the industrial
operation of its second power-generating set was resumed.
The plant accounts for nearly 40 percent of electricity generated in
Armenia. From 2002 the plant’s financial and economic management went
to Inter-RAO UES, the subsidiary of RAO UES (Unified Energy Systems).
Meanwhile the European Union presses for the closure of the nuclear
power plant situated 40 kilometres West of Yerevan. The Armenian
authorities say that the plant may be closed only if there are
alternative sources of energy.
The president said on Monday the Armenian authorities consider the
use of alternative, renewable sources of energy, the development of
hydro energetics. There is a programme of building a large hydro
power station on the Araks River on the border and of over 70 small
hydro power stations. Twenty-two of them are already under
construction. Reconstruction of the Yerevan heat-and-power plant
begins. There are projects for using geothermal resources in South
East Armenia.
A gas pipeline to Armenia from Iran whose construction begins in late
April is one of serious guarantees of the republic’s energy security.

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY CONFIRMED ARMENIAN SOLDIER CAPTURED BY AZERIS
Pan Armenian News
07.04.2005 08:22
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Defense Ministry of Armenia has confirmed the
reports that the Azeri party has taken captive an Armenian soldier,
who serves in one of the units of Noyemberian region of Armenia,
Arminfo agency reported. In the words of Press Secretary of the
Armenian Defense Ministry Seyran Shahsuvarian everything is being
done to return the serviceman at present. “The Minister deals with
the issue in person,” he added. It should be reminded that yesterday
the International Working Group on Search for the Missing, Hostages
and Release of Captives in the Karabakh conflict zone released a
statement on Armenian soldier T. Z. (born in 1985) being captured
April 1 in Noyemberian region. Seyran Shahsuvarian also reported the
circumstances of the capture of the Armenian soldier. In his words,
the serviceman due to a willfully fleeing from the unit, the soldier
lost his way. When searching for him it turned out that he went in
a wrong direction and found himself captured. The soldier not being
armed evidences he had fled. “Thus, the Azeri version that a diversion
group was acting is false,” Shahsuvarian emphasized.

Pan Armenian News
EU NEIGHBORHOOD POLICY MAY PLAY SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF
KARABAKH PROBLEM, HERMAN DE CROO SUPPOSES
09.04.2005 05:03
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ «The Nagorno Karabakh conflict cannot be solved by means
of arms. Parties should engage in dialogue and cooperation. In case of need
international pressure should be put to solve the problem,» President of the
Chamber of Representatives of Belgium Herman de Croo stated at a meeting
with journalists in Baku, the Yerkir newspaper reported. He noted that the
OSCE and a range of other international organizations continue their efforts
to solve the problem. H. de Croo emphasized that the EU program on
enlargement of Europe is important from the point of view of the Karabakh
settlement. «The new neighborhood policy can play a significant role in the
peaceful solution of the problem,» the President of the Belgian Chamber of
Representatives noted. Answering the question whether Belgium recognizes the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan in the Karabakh settlement, Herman de
Croo said that as an active EU member the country represented by him
promoted the OSCE Minsk Group efforts. «I think those efforts will lead to
positive outcomes,» H. de Croo noted.
–Boundary_(ID_eYvaHdvrVKPcC7IMemT8VA)–

AZG Armenian Daily #062, 08/04/2005
Culture
DAYS OF JAZZ IN YEREVAN
Annual Jazz Appreciation Month initiated by the National Smithsonian
Institution’s American History is being celebrated all over the vast
territory of the USA. This arrangement launched by jazz lovers aims at
focusing public’s attention to the history of jazz’s creation to its
unique richness as cultural and national value of the America. In 2003,
the US Congress backed the initiative to celebrate Jazz Appreciation
internationally. The American embassy to Armenia is opening Days of
Jazz festival in Yerevan in the current month.
The opening ceremony is taking place today at the Painters’ Union
with the accompaniment of an exhibition and jazz-poetry. Afterwards,
concerts of Armenia’s Jazz Orchestra and Jazz Band of Public TV
and Radio will follow at the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall. Vahagn
Hayrapetian will stage Time Report jazz band’s “Cats” performance. On
invitation of the US embassy, Otar Magradze’s trio from Tbilisi
will play a concert at the Chamber Music Hall. The concert of Frank
Amsallem’s famous quartet and Sara Lazarus will close the festival
on April 16.
The Days of Jazz Festival will be accompanied by film series on jazz;
“Blues” films, “Art and Jazz” cartoons will be showed at the National
Gallery.
By Melania Badalian

ABSHERON COURT SATISFIED SUIT OF AZERI REFUGEE AGAINST ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES
07.04.2005 05:01
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A trial chaired by Chingiz Bashirov finished at
Absheron court «on suit of displaced person from Lachin Abulfat
Nasirov against the President, Government of Armenia, as well as the
Ministry of Finance and Economy,» Turan news agency reported. The
suit was filed due to «the damage of $325 900, caused to Abulfat
Nasirov.» The sum includes the value of a two-storied house in Lachin
and the whole property he had lost as a result of occupation of the
region. The court satisfied the suit and decided that the sum must
be paid. It should be reminded that the suit was laid in the end of
January, the trial began in early March. The defendants were four
times informed about the trial via FedEx international post service,
however they did not send a representative to the court, lawyer Fuad
Agayev reported.
–Boundary_(ID_b69DAGFMrXuQfU1FzXX/cg)–

Soccer-Armenia sack national coach Casoni
Reuters
April 5, 2005
YEREVAN, April 5 (Reuters) – Armenia national coach Bernard Casoni
has been sacked after the team’s 2-0 loss to the Netherlands last
week in a World Cup qualifier.
“We were very dissatisfied with the coach’s work, especially his choice
of players for games and his work methods,” said Armenia federation
head Ruben Hayrapetyan on Tuesday.
_
Hayrapetyan said a new coach would be named within the next 10 days.
Armenia share last place in European Zone Group One with Andorra.
04/05/05 09:07 ET

Marches in two Romanian cities in solidarity with journalists kidnapped in
Iraq
AP Worldstream
Apr 01, 2005

More than 100 journalists and residents of the Transylvanian city of
Sibiu marched Friday in solidarity with three Romanian journalists
kidnapped in Iraq as officials worked to secure their release.
Supporters marched through the medieval city center and past the
apartment building where the family of cameraman Sorin Miscoci lives.
Miscoci, 30, and reporter Marie Jeanne Ion, 32, who work for
Bucharest-based Prima TV, and Ovidiu Ohanesian, a journalist for the
daily newspaper Romania Libera, were kidnapped near their Baghdad
hotel earlier this week.
An unidentified group sent video to the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera
satellite TV network showing the three Romanian journalists and a
fourth person identified as Mohammed Monaf with guns pointed at them.
Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu said no demands have been made
yet.
On Friday, priests held a service in Sibiu, some 300 kilometers (185
miles) northwest of Bucharest, to pray for the safety and release of
the journalists.
In the northern city of Botosani, journalists gathered Friday in a
central square to pray for their colleagues.
The bishop of the county of Alba, Andrei Andreicut, called on
believers to pray for the journalists.
Romania’s ethnic Armenian community also called for their release and
appealed to Armenians worldwide for support. Ohanesian is ethnic
Armenian.
On Friday, still photos of the three in captivity, guarded by two
masked gunmen, were published and shown on Romanian TV stations but
Monaf was not with them. Monaf has Iraqi, U.S. and Romanian
citizenship.
Also Friday, President Traian Basescu met with the families of the
missing journalists and Monaf’s family.
“The president assures them personally that everything possible is
being done to secure their release,” said Adriana Saftoiu, Basescu’s
spokeswoman.
She said Basescu met with the heads of the domestic and foreign
intelligence service and Foreign Minister Mihai Razvan
Ungureanu. Romania has 800 troops in Iraq.
“I want you to understand that the Romanian state is making a huge
unprecedented effort” to obtain the freedom of the hostages, Ungureanu
said. He called for “patience and understanding” in the case.

Interfax
Finance & Business
Apr 1 2005 12:26PM
Ukraine, Russia post highest yoy inflation in Feb – Statistics committee
MOSCOW. April 1 (Interfax) – Ukraine and Russia posted the highest
year-on-year inflation in the month February: 13% for Ukraine and 12.8% for
Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States Inter-governmental Statistics
Committee reported.
Moldova posted 12.7% year-on-year inflation in February, Belarus 12.6%,
Azerbaijan 12% and Georgia 9.2%.
Kyrgyzstan posted the lowest February inflation at 2.9%. Next-lowest was
Armenia (4.8%), followed by Tajikistan (5.3%) and Kazakhstan (6.9%). The
committee had no inflation figures for Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan.
Average February inflation throughout the CIS was 12%. [RU EUROPE EEU ASIA
EMRG ECI MCE RET UA BY AZ UZ TM KZ TJ AM] cf

“ACRA” CREDIT BUREAU TO PROVIDE CREDIT REPORTS TILL MAY 20
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS: “ACRA” credit bureau will start the
provision of credit reports till May 20.
Lusine Vardanian, the responsible of bureau’s marketing and public
relations department, said the bureau collects information from banks
whichare collaborating with it, from micro-financing organizations,
communal services.
The credit bureau developed an educational program which will be
implemented in Yerevan and in the Armenian provinces. L. Vardanian
said theeducational program in the provinces will be implemented
together with the “Eurasia” Foundation and national center of small
and medium size business development.
The program includes seminars during which the aims and functions
of “ACRA” credit bureau will be presented. At the seminars businessmen
and representatives of local governmental bodies will take part.
The bureau also underscores the importance of students’ awareness
and will organize seminars and lectures in higher educational
establishments. Besides, it will take part in the conference on
“Armenia’s Economy Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” which will be held in
Yerevan State Economic Institute April 5-8.
The educational program will launch in Syunik, then the
organizerswill visit Gegharkunik, Lori, Shirak.
According to Vardanian, such events were already organized in
Shirak and Tavush provinces in the fall of 2004.
Lusine Vardanian said the seminars are aimed at informing the
public about the advantages of collaborating with “ACRA”, particularly
how to create credit history and to make it serve with more promoting
conditions.
The main mission of “ACRA” educational program is to assure each
citizen that he/she can build and use good credit history for its
benefit.