Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

Putin says CIS useful, but does not help economic integration
PRIME-TASS, Russia
March 25 2005
YEREVAN, Mar 25 (Prime-Tass) — The Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS) is useful in solving a great deal of political issues,
but does not help economic integration, Russian President Vladimir
Putin, said Friday.
Putin is currently on an official visit to Armenia.
“European Union countries worked together for unity, whereas the CIS
was created for a civilized divorce,” Putin said.
“The CIS was created to make the break-up of the USSR as civilized as
possible, with minimum losses in terms of the economy and society,”
Putin said. “The CIS has managed to do so,” he added.
The CIS was established in 1991, following the break-up of the USSR,
and included all former USSR republics except for Georgia and the
Baltic states. Georgia joined the CIS in 1993.
“The CIS is an extremely useful club for the mutual exchange of
information and for the settlement of problems,” Putin said.
“We should not lose this instrument, it is very important,” he added.
But Putin said that the CIS has never been tasked with economic
integration. Real integration can be seen in the activities of such
organizations as the Eurasian Economic Community and the Single
Economic Area, he added.
The Eurasian Economic Community is an international organization,
created in 2000, that includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia
and Tajikistan, and is aimed at promoting economic cooperation among
these countries.
The Single Economic Area is being created by Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Russia and Ukraine, with the main objective being economic cooperation
and the introduction of a single currency.
Putin said that participation in organizations such as the Eurasian
Economic Community and the Single Economic Area should be voluntary.
“It turns out that many partners are not ready to be involved because
of political or other reasons, while the same reasons may cause others
to be interested,” Putin said. The CIS becomes useful here as any
problems that arise can be discussed, Putin said.
Referring to the uprisings and changes of power in some of CIS states,
such as Ukraine and most recently in Kyrgyzstan, Putin said that “the
CIS should undoubtedly be retained, irrespective of the political
colors of the forces that come to power in any particular country in
the commonwealth.” End
From: Baghdasarian

OSCE PA report to be presented to conflicting sides in April
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 25 2005
Baku, March 24, AssA-Irada
The report prepared by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) rapporteur
on Upper Garabagh conflict Goran Lennmarker will be presented to
the conflicting sides late in April, the member of the Azerbaijani
delegation at the Assembly, MP Eldar Ibrahimov said. Ibrahimov also
said that the Azerbaijani side forwarded a copy of the resolution on
the Upper Garabagh conflict adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE) to Lennmarker during the March
17-18 meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian parliamentarians held on
the initiative of the rapporteur. Lennmarker is scheduled to hold
another meeting with Azerbaijani and Armenian parliament members
after the sides get familiar with his report.*
From: Baghdasarian

215 Mile, 19 Day Walk Will Honor Victims of Forgotten Genocide
LOS ANGELES, March 24 /PRNewswire/ — California youth will embark on
a 215-mile 19-day walk to raise awareness about the unpunished crime
of genocide committed against the Armenian people between 1915 and
1921. The March for Humanity will begin on April 2nd in Fresno,
Calif. and conclude at the State Capitol in Sacramento on April 21st.
“To avoid accountability for the murder of 1.5 million Armenians,
the Turkish government denies that the systematic annihilation of the
Armenians was genocide,” said Vicken Sosikian, director of the March
for Humanity. “We turn to our nation’s leaders, President Bush and
the U.S. Congress, in the name of truth, righteousness and justice,
asking them to hold the Turkish government accountable for its crime
against humanity.”
The historic walk will commence at 9 a.m. on April 2nd at
Sunnyside High School in Fresno following an opening ceremony the
night before at the Holy Trinity Armenian Church. Upon arriving in
Sacramento, at 11 a.m. on Thursday April 21st, the marchers will be
recognized on the floor of the California State Senate and Assembly.
Thereafter, thousands will gather at the State Capitol for a rally.
The Rally for Humanity is organized to thank the California State
Legislature and the legislatures of over 35 other states for
officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
Organizers are expecting thousands of supporters including
legislators from across the country to join the March for Humanity
and the Rally for Humanity. Marchers will sleep in community
centers, churches, schools and in tents and will walk, rain or shine,
for about 15 miles each day.
“Those of us who are familiar with the genocide carried out
against the Armenians bear a special responsibility to make sure that
such crimes are never again repeated,” said Raffi Maronian, a marcher
who will walk the entire 215 mile distance. “The recent events in
Sudan serve to demonstrate that we have not done an adequate job. It
is time to raise our level of activism and put an end to the cycle of
genocide.”
For more information about the March for Humanity, please visit
SOURCE March for Humanity
03/24/2005 07:07 ET
From: Baghdasarian

MG NOT INTERESTED IN SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT, AZERI SOCIETY CONSIDERS
PanArmenian News
March 24 2005
24.03.2005 03:06
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azeri political scientist Mubariz Ahmedoghlu
stated that the OSCE mission report over fact finding on settlement
of territories adjacent to Nagorno Karabakh is not acceptable to
Azerbaijan. In his opinion, the mission made an honest effort,
however, «the OSCE Minsk Group in its political decision inclined
the processes in favor of Armenia – the Nagorno Karabakh government
was allegedly engaged in settling population, not the leadership of
Armenia.» In Ahmedoghlu’s opinion, the decision aims at assisting
Armenia in the talks, «to exonerate the occupier country.» «In
this case there is no one guilty as Nagorno Karabakh is not a subject
of the international law and thus cannot be called to account on the
Helsinki Convention, in compliance with which the settlement of the
occupied territories is prohibited. If the document had mentioned
Armenia, sanctions might have been imposed and pressure might have
been put upon the occupier country. By means of this report the OSCE
Minsk Group merely saved Armenia a danger. In fact, everyone knows
that a considerable part of the assistance being provided to Nagorno
Karabakh goes to Armenia. Even if «Nagorno Karabakh» was engaged in
the settlement, it is clear that it is being done by means and with
the assistance of Armenia. It is strange that knowing it, the Minsk
Group has tried to save Armenia from responsibility,» the political
scientist noted. According to Ahmedoghlu, from the point of view of
that stand of the Minsk Group the report cannot be considered fitting
the interests of Azerbaijan. Having noted the need of a repeated
raising of the issue in the UN, the political scientist said in his
opinion the document will reach the stage of discussion at the UN
Security Council, however the possible veto by Russia or the US will
be a serious message to Azerbaijan. «This means time has come to
understand that the Minsk Group is not interested in resolution of
the conflict at the current period,» Ahmedoghlu noted, adding that
«Armenia’s tactics lies in maximally protracting the talks.»
–Boundary_(ID_igdzXzWwQmKcx90Gzc2VTQ)–
From: Baghdasarian

Reuters.uk, UK
March 23 2005
Africa Lags in Fight Against TB, WHO Report Says
Thu Mar 24, 2005 12:05 AM GMT
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) – Tuberculosis has reached “alarming proportions” in
Africa, where co-infection with the widespread HIV virus makes a lethal
combination, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Thursday.
The number of cases of tuberculosis is rising 3 to 4 percent annually
across the African continent, though the respiratory disease is
being stemmed elsewhere, the United Nations agency said in a report,
“Global Tuberculosis Control.”
There were an estimated 8.8 million new cases worldwide in 2003,
according to the WHO report issued on World TB Day — 2.3 million of
them in Africa.
“The rate of TB infections has tripled in some African countries since
1990 … In Africa we have to face the fact that we have much further
to go,” WHO Director-General Lee Jong-wook told a news conference
in London.
Most of the victims of TB, a curable disease spread by coughing and
sneezing, live in developing countries, and an estimated 1.7 million
people died from the disease in 2003.
Nearly one-third of the deaths were in Africa where HIV/AIDS is
prevalent and health services are weak. TB and HIV form a deadly
combination and TB is the leading cause of death among people who
are HIV positive.
Globally, TB prevalence has dropped by more than 20 percent since
1990, and is “falling or stable” in five of the world’s six regions,
according to the WHO. “But for the strongly adverse trends in Africa,
prevalence and death rates would be falling more quickly worldwide,”
it said.
ASIA ON TRACK
India and China, with their vast populations, accounted for an
estimated 1.8 million and 1.3 million new TB cases, respectively,
in 2003 for a combined 35 percent of the global total, according to
the report.
But there has been “tremendous improvement” in the two densely
populated Asian powers, where more and more people are receiving
treatment, Lee said. Indonesia and Philippines are also making
progress.
Mario Raviglione, head of the WHO’s Stop TB Programme, attributed
the success in Asia to the right mix of government commitment and
financial support from the state and donor nations.
Nine of the 22 countries hardest hit by TB are in Africa, including
Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa and Kenya.
The U.N. Millennium Development goal is to detect 70 percent of all
new infectious cases of TB by the end of 2005, and to cure or treat
successfully 85 percent of them.
A great effort is required to achieve this in Africa and eastern
Europe, where there are high levels of multidrug-resistant TB, the
deadliest form, the report said. The latest data show the WHO is
three percent short of the targets.
Several independent humanitarian organizations issued their own
statements to mark World TB Day.
The Swiss-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said
inmates of overcrowded prisons in the southern Caucasus countries
of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are especially vulnerable to
the disease.
Paris-based Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) called
for the development of a simple, rapid test for TB in poor countries,
where health workers still rely on sputum microscopy.
This method, developed 123 years ago, detects TB in only about half
of those who have it, and is even less reliable for people with both
HIV and TB, the group said in a statement.
(Additional reporting by Patricia Reaney in London)
From: Baghdasarian

Russia’s Putin to visit Armenia this week
The Associated Press
03/22/05 08:45 EST
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin is to make
a two-day visit to Armenia starting Thursday, the presidency said.
Putin will hold talks with his Armenian counterpart, Robert Kocharian,
and participate in a gala ceremony marking the start of the “Year
of Russia” in Armenia, presidential spokesman Viktor Sogomonian said.
Armenia, an impoverished landlocked Caucausus state, is one of Moscow’s
closest allies in the region.
From: Baghdasarian

PanArmenian News
March 21 2005
ARMENIAN AND AZERI PARLIAMENTARIANS MET IN BRUSSELS WITH NATO
SECRETARY GENERAL~RS REPRESENTATIVE FOR SOUTH CAUCASUS
21.03.2005 05:14
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian and Azeri parliamentarians met in Brussels
with NATO Secretary General’s Representative for South Caucasus
and Central Asia Robert Simmons. During the meeting Azeri deputy
Sattar Safarov stated that the Armenian side every day violates the
cease-fire regime. In his turn Mr. Simmons noted that he will bring
these facts to the notion of the NATO Secretary General and expressed
hope that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict will be settled on the basis
of international legal principles.
From: Baghdasarian

TATUL MARGARYAN REPLACES ARMAN KIRAKOSSYAN AS ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR TO
UNITED STATES
YEREVAN, MARCH 19. ARMINFO. Armenia’s President Robert Kocharyan
decreed today to dismiss Arman Kirakossyan from the post of Armenian
Ambassador to the United States and to replace him by Tatul Margaryan.
Margaryan was born in Kapan Apr 16 1964. In 1985 he graduated from
Yerevan Agriculture Institute. In 1989 he studied in Washington and
London. In 1991-1994 he was assistant to Armenia’s vice president, in
1994-1998 advisor at the Armenian Embassy to the US. In 1999 he was
appointed advisor to Armenia’s Foreign Minister, in June 2000 deputy
FM. In 2002-2003 he was special representative of Armenia’s president
to the talks for the Karabakh conflict settlement.
From: Baghdasarian

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 18, 2005, Friday
10:21:12 Central European Time
Jewish investors secretly buy street in East Jerusalem – report
Jerusalem
Jewish investors from abroad have bought almost all the buildings on
a street and popular square inhabited by Palestinians in East
Jerusalem, the Israeli daily Ma’ariv reported Friday.
The transaction was done secretly, without the knowledge of the
tenants.
Most of the buildings on the street, which lies in the Old City of
Jerusalem between the Christian and Armenian Quarters, were the
property of the Greek Orthodox Church.
The Church sold them because it was in financial difficulties,
Ma’ariv said.
The buildings are along the street leading from the Old City’s Jaffa
gate to Omar Ibn al-Khattab Square and on the square itself, which is
an important Palestinian social centre in East Jerusalem.
Among others, it contains the Imperial Hotel, where senior
Palestinian officials, including al-Quds University chairman and PLO
Jerusalem representative Sari Nusseibeh, hold meetings.
Ma’ariv quoted a Greek Orthodox Church official who spoke on
condition of anonymity as expressing fears the multimillion dollar
deal alienate the Palestinian Authority.
Former Patriarchate spokesman Archmandrite Attallah Hanna said he saw
the report, which he said “we cannot deny or confirm”.
“We are against these steps,” he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
“We are demanding a neutral investigative committee – Jordanian,
Palestinian and Greek – to investigate these matters”.
“The Patriarch himself (Eirinaios I) is the one who should respond to
this,” he said, adding: “We are against giving up Church property”.
dpa mak ok ms
From: Baghdasarian

Washington Times, DC
March 18 2005
UPI hears
It is undoubtedly only coincidence, but Chinese President Hu Jintao
told visiting Azeri President Ilham Aliyev that China backs
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity within the framework of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In turn, Alieyev assured Hu that
Azerbaijan supports Beijing on the issue of settling the Taiwan
“problem.” Their meeting was followed by the signing of 13 documents,
ranging from the Chinese Foreign Ministry providing technical
assistance to agreements on cooperation between the two countries’
state television channels, national Olympic committees and justice
ministries. Other agreements dealt with communications and
information technologies, trade, economic, technical and cultural
collaboration, as well as on eliminating double taxation. Aliyev
walked away with a joint declaration supporting Azeri initiatives to
solve its intransigent Nargorno-Karabakh conflict with Armenia and an
agreement covering military cooperation. And the Chinese? Well, they
did discuss bilateral trade, and the $300 million that China has
invested in Azerbaijan’s energy sector. Low-sulfur Azeri crude has
hit record prices in the world market; according to Azerbaijan’s
state oil company, SOCAR, Azeri light oil peaked earlier this week at
$54.81 per barrel.
From: Baghdasarian