Author: Boshkezenian Garik

AZERI FM INVITED TO CUBA
Author: S.Agayeva
TREND, Azerbaijan
May 25 2006
Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov received an official invitation
from his Cuban mate Felipe Perez Roje on May 25. Foreign Ministry
officials told Trend that the invitation was handed by Eumelio
Cabalero, deputy Foreign minister of Cuba.
Cuba wants to develop cooperation with Azerbaijan in the field of
trade, energy and health, Cuban diplomat said at the meeting. Cuba,
he said also, fully supports Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and
calls Armenia to commit to UN resolutions approved for the settlement
of Azeri-Armenian conflict.
In turn, Elmar Mamedyarov stated Azerbaijan’s interest in close
cooperation with all countries of the world, including Cuba.
At the meeting, a memorandum on mutual cooperation of the countries
was signed.

THE TIME HAS COME TO AGREE ON BASIC PRINCIPLES OF RESOLUTION – JOINT STATEMENT OF OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIR COUNTRIES
Author: R.Abdullayev
TREND, Azerbaijan
May 24 2006
The time has come for both the sides in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to
reach agreement on basic principles of settlement. Russia, France,
the US underline the international community’s belief in peaceful
settlement of the conflict, Trend reports referring to joint statement
of OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries issued May 24 in Baku.
The statement says Azerbaijan and Armenia shall prepare their people
for peace, for to war.
Daniel Freed, Assistant to US Secretary of State, said the meetings
with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov
have been led during the visit to Baku, discussing important aspects
of future settlement of the conflict and working out the options of
meeting of president of the two countries in the closest future.
“Our discussions in Baku were constructive. We are heading for
Yerevan tomorrow and then we will return to our capitals to brief
our leaders”,- US official said.
In turn, Grigory Karasin, deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, said this
joint mission is an extraordinary event. It must be taken as a sign
of the seriousness with which OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries
approach the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement issue, and belief
that the countries are at the point where a mutually beneficial
agreement is achievable. “What happens now will be up to Azerbaijan
and Armenia”, – Karasin said, outlining the mission is leaving Baku
with hope for progress.

ALIYEV CONSIDERS RELATIONS OF HIS COUNTRY WITH RUSSIA TO BE CONSTRUCTIVE
Regnum, Russia
May 23 2006
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes that his country’s
relations with Russia have been developing constructive for the last
time; he made the statement on May 23 at a news conference of GUAM
leaders in Kiev, commenting on relations between the two countries,
a REGNUM correspondent informs.
“If we remember practically the whole period of the 90s, so perhaps
most strained relations in the whole post-Soviet space were developing
between our countries,” Aliyev reminded. “There were then both
blockades and illegal arms trafficking at the price of billions into
Armenia, which occupied the Azerbaijani territory. Now, when it is
time to reconsider these processes, we have been trying to focus on
positive things since 2000. The tactic has produced the result and
there are no questions now, which could cause mutual dissatisfaction
between Russia and Azerbaijan. Commodities turnover has increased
twofold during the last two years.”
Also, Aliyev stressed that for Azerbaijan the GUAM is not an
organization against anybody; it means constructive activity aimed
at promotion of mutually beneficial projects. “New realities and
situations appear in Caspian-Black Seas region and we should be ready
for them. We will initiate ourselves and head reformation processes,
and we consider GUAM as means of effective political and economic
cooperation, development of democratic processes in our region. It
is inevitable, that is why we will actively develop the approach,”
the Azerbaijani president stressed.

THE YERKRAMAS: NOT TURKS VOTED FOR ANDRE IN TURKEY
PanARMENIAN.Net
23.05.2006 17:28 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The votes of not Turkish population of
Turkey influenced the results of the vote at Eurovision-2006
contest. According to the Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of
Russia, a reader of the newspaper’s internet version from Ankara,
ethnic Armenian reported. In his words, ethnic Turks, not having the
right to vote for the Turkish participant at the Eurovision, merely
ignored the vote. As a result, most of the voters represented not the
Turkish population, but Armenians (including Islamized Armenians and
Cryptoarmenians, i.e. those, who conceal their Armenian origins from
people around them), Kurds, Greeks, Jews and others.
Andre singer, who represented Armenia at Eurovision-2006 was the
second best according to the Turkish vote. This was taken as a
sensation, taking into account the fact that contemporary Turkey has
not recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1915 yet.

NATO PROMOTES OSCE MG ACTIVITIES TO SOLVE KARABAKH CONFLICT
PanARMENIAN.Net
23.05.2006 19:29 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ NATO does not directly participate in the talks
over peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Special
Representative of the NATO Secretary General for the South Caucasus
Robert Simmons stated at a news conference in Yerevan. In his words,
the NATO promotes the OSCE MG activities to solve the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict. “As of deployment of NATO peacekeeping forces in the conflict
zone, I think the parties should agree first, and then the issue of
peacekeepers may be raised. Speaking of peacekeepers in the zone of
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is still early and the NATO does not
offer its assistance in the matter,” Simmons remarked.

NATO SECRETARY’S GENERAL SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE TO SOUTH CAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA ARRIVES IN ARMENIA ON MAY 22
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 22 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 22, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Robert Simmons, the
NATO Secretary’s General Special Representative to South Caucasus and
Central Asia arrives in Armenia on May 22. As Noyan Tapan was informed
by the RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and Information Department, during
the two days working visit, R.Simmons will meet with RA President
Robert Kocharian, Prime Minister Andranik Margarian, NA Deputy Speaker
Tigran Torosian and other high-ranking officials. R.Simmons’ meeting
with RA Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosian will take place on
early May 22. RA Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosian’s and NATO
Sectetary’s General Special Representative’s joint press conference
will take place on late May 23.

BAKU INSISTS ON STEPWISE SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT
PanARMENIAN.Net
22.05.2006 19:06 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “No one can force Azerbaijan to a compromise not
meeting the interests of the republic,” Azerbaijani Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov stated.
In his words, the “stepwise settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
is the most optimal variant.”
“Resolving the problem by a stepwise principle, we will be given
back the territories around Nagorno Karabakh. After the return of
the refugees works for improvement of their living conditions will be
carried out,” Mammadyarov said. He also noted that fixing time for the
conflict settlement forecast by some diplomats in 2006 is incorrect,
reported Day.az.

NK ANALYST: “AFTER THE LISBON SUMMIT RUSSIA BEGAN LOSING GROUND IN THE NK PEACE PROCESS”
Regnum, Russia
May 19 2006
“There has been no significant progress in the settlement of the
Azeri-Karabakh conflict in the last 12 years of truce in the conflict
zone; mostly because the trilateral settlement format Azerbaijan –
Nagorno Karabakh – Armenia ‘departed from life’ in 1997-1998 after the
OSCE Lisbon Summit applied the notorious ‘international law principles’
to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” independent Karabakh analyst David
Karabekyan says in an interview to REGNUM.
After that, Russia began gradually losing its initiative, and after
the Lisbon Summit of 1996 “the activity of France and the US, as OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairs, got, if not higher, then, at least, not lower
than that of Russia.” “The US’ growing activity in the post-Soviet
area, the victory of color revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia, the
ongoing withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia, demands for their
withdrawal from Transdnestr, rising US-Iranian tensions – this all
has urged the ‘unrecognized’ or ‘unrepresented’ states to look anew
at the problem of their security,” says Karabekyan.
He says that after the overthrow of the Abashidze regime in Ajaria,
liquidation of the Russian military bases in Akhalkalaki (Georgia),
completion of preparations for launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
oil pipeline, creation of the Azerbaijan-Georgian transport corridor
between the Caspian and Black Sea countries, geo-political arc the
US-Turkey-Ukraine-Georgia-Azerbaijan has closed up near the borders of
Armenia in the south, Belarus – in the west and Russia – in the north.
Karabekyan also notes that, apart from being just promising
financially, the transit energy and transport corridor via Azerbaijan
to Europe has inspired Azeri President Ilham Aliyev so much that he
keeps talking about Azerbaijan’s growing role in the South Caucasus.
“Naturally, such conditions will make it easier for Baku to push its
plan of the conflict settlement, and, sooner or later, Yerevan and
Stepanakert will have to reckon with it,” says Karabekyan.

ADVOCATES OF ARMENIA MAY DOUBLE
Lragir.am
19 May 06
The number of Armenian advocates may double in 2006, if all the
applicants of the Chamber of Advocates pass the first round of exams.
In Armenia, says Yenok Azaryan, a member of the Chamber of Advocates,
there are 483 advocates. 382 have applied for membership to the
chamber.
In the upcoming months the qualification board will examine the
documents of the applicants. If these are compliant, in two months
the applicants will be notified of the day of the examination, and
on passing the exams they will become members of the Chamber. Yenok
Azaryan says new advocates were needed to improve the reputation of
the profession and their qualification. According to him, there are
advocates who disgrace their profession, act as a second prosecutor
for a citizen, whereas their job is to defend a person’s rights.
“A weak person cannot defend another person’s rights. No process of
self-filtering is going on. Since we cannot jettison advocates, who
are disgraced and disgrace others, we should at least try to improve
the quality by engaging new people,” says Yenok Azaryan.
To develop the sphere and improve the quality, Yenok Azaryan and other
members of the Chamber of Advocates have set up a new association of
advocates. The association will have the same goals as the Chamber of
Advocates had been established. There is implicit dissatisfaction in
his speech with the activities of the chamber, and although another
organizer of the association Cromwell Grigoryan says there will be
no rivalry between the Chamber and the association, obviously there
is no logical explanation other than rivalry, when the members of
an association establish another association for the same function
and aims.

TURKEY WARNS FRANCE NOT TO PASS ARMENIAN BILL
Turkish Press
May 17 2006
Press Review
Turkiye
The French Parliament is set to vote a bill tomorrow which would
criminalizes questioning the so-called Armenian genocide. In the
runup to the vote, Turkey has sent messages to that country saying
that if the bill passes, bilateral relations will be hurt. Ankara
underlined that the French government would be responsible for any
crises in the aftermath of the bill passing, adding that economic
relations between the two countries, including French firms’ vying
for defense and nuclear power plant projects, would be reviewed. In
related news, speaking at his parliamentary group meeting, opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal sharply criticized
the bill, stressing that Turkey would defend its rights and honor to
the end.