Author: Boshkezenian Garik

AZERBAIJAN, US: SUCCESSFUL COOPERATION IN POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND MILITARY FIELDS
[June 01, 2005, 22:52:36]
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
June 1 2005
Defense minister of Azerbaijan, colonel- general Safar Abiyev on 1 June
met with the delegation headed by general Charles Wald, deputy head
of the European Commandment of US Military Forces, Senator Charles
Hagel and US Defense Ministry Eurasia Department Director general
James Mcdougal.
The Minister said Azerbaijan and USA are strategic partners, and
today their cooperation in the political, economic and military
fields successfully develops. After 11 September events, Azerbaijan
has been one of the first states fighting in ally with the United
States against terrorism, and there is close partnership between the
countries in the fame of NAT PfP Program.
Minister Safar Abiyev updated the visitors on the current
military-political situation in the region, Armenia-Azerbaijan,
Nagorno Karabakh conflict, and on the aggressive policy pursued by
Armenia under support of its patrons.
Senator Charles Hagel expressed gratitude to the people of Azerbaijan
for friendly feelings towards the United States, and said: “Jointly
solving the tasks we shall have great future”.
Speaking of deepening of the bilateral relations between the two
counties, colonel-general Safar Abiyev said the 907 Section to the
Freedom Support Act still concerns the people of Azerbaijan.
General Charles Wald said the US adheres peaceful and diplomatic way
of solution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
Defense minister of Azerbaijan also expressed hope for peaceful
solution of the problem. “And, therefore, we say Armenia should be
forced to withdraw its armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani
areas. We have and other way to liberate our lands”, he underscored.
Ambassador of the United States to Azerbaijan Rino Harnish took part
at the meeting.

KOCHARIAN ATTENDS NEW HOTEL OPENING
Armenpress
YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS; President Robert Kocharian, members of
the parliament and government and foreign ambassadors attended today
the official opening of a new hotel in Yerevan, called Golden Palace.
Kocharian expressed hope that the new hotel with its 120-member staff
will join other hotels to preserve the annual 25 percent growth in
the tourism sector. Kocharian recalled that some 280,000 tourists
had visited Armenia last year and compared this figure with 38,000 in
1998, saying also that Armenia will have in few years to come enough
tourist facilities to accept around 1 million tourists.
The new hotel was built by a Cyprus-registered River Hill Holding
company. The five-storey hotel has rooms for 65 visitors. Kocharian
also praised the US-based Cafesjian Foundation saying it has been
fulfilling all its commitments in Armenia. He said the Contemporary
Art Museum the Foundation is building in Yerevan will become a weighty
investment in Armenia’s bourgeoning tourism industry.

‘KARABAKH BECAME AN OBJECT OF TERRITORIAL DISPUTE’
AZG Armenian Daily #099, 01/06/2005
Karabakh issue
Recent public opinion polls conducted in Armenia reveal that
Armenians see Nagorno Karabakh issue as 6th or 7th vital issue for
the nation. But, as sociologist Aharon Adibekian notes, in past the
issue used to occupy one of the first places as a key one.
The sociologist suggests two explanations to this recession in society:
on one hand Armenian society is losing alertness, on the other it is
content with the post-war situation. Adibekian thinks that the public
does not receive sufficient information on Karabakh resolution process.
The Institute of Human Rights and Democracy (IHRD) highlights the
Karabakh issue and the struggle for self-determination. In this view,
the IHRD accents organization of public discussions in order to bring
the issue out of narrow academic and political surroundings and expose
it to many-sided analysis.
In a civil debate organized by the IHRD on May 30, Armenian and
Artsakhi officials, historians, political scientists and sociologists
discussed the Karabakh Issue, the right of national self-determination
and issues of strengthening the statehood.
Representative of All-Armenian Movement, Aram Manukian, thinks
that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is a very important political
factor for the present stage of conflict resolution. Manukian said
that Armenia has lost such serious partners as USA, Russia, France
and Iran after the volte-face in 1998. The most serious breakdown
is that Nagorno Karabakh has turned from a subject into an object,
“NK became an object of territorial dispute”.
Manukian noted that the resolution of Karabakh issue is not beneficial
neither for today’s Armenian nor Azeri authorities. He thinks the
resolution is not beneficial for Russia too, as only in case of
unsettled conflicts Russia can maintain its influence in the Caucasus.
The adviser of NKR minister thinks that Artsakh issue has different
meanings for Armenia and Azerbaijan. “The Artsakhi people has to try
to make the world recognize its independence”, Manvel Sargsian said.
The representative of RA Foreign Ministry, Varuzhan Nersisian, reminded
3 criteria of the ruling authorities: status of NKR out of Azerbaijan’s
borders, a safe corridor between Armenia and NKR and international
guarantees of safety. He did not agree that Karabakh has dropped out of
talk process but “the format of talks has simply changed”. He reminded
that the Lisbon talks offered Nagorno Karabakh wide autonomy in the
structure of Azerbaijan but since 1998 the new Armenian leadership
excludes Karabakh’s inclusion in Azerbaijan regardless any status.
By Tatoul Hakobian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Russia transferring materiel from base in Georgia to Armenia
Interfax
May 31 2005
MOSCOW. May 31 (Interfax) – A train carrying excessive ammunition
and military hardware belonging to the 12th Russian military base
in Georgia’s Batumi left on Tuesday to deliver the materiel to the
102nd Russian military base in Armenia’s Gyumri.
“This is excessive ammunition and hardware, which is being transferred
to supply the 102nd base according to an earlier endorsed plan,”
deputy commander of the Russian military contingent in the South
Caucasus Col. Vladimir Kuparadze told Interfax by telephone from
Batumi on Tuesday.

Russia withdrawing excessive material, arms from Batumi base.
ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 31 2005
TBILISI, May 31 (Itar-Tass) — A train with military hardware and
ammunition of the Russian military base in Batumi will depart for
Armenia on Tuesday evening, a representative of the Russian Group of
Forces in the South Caucasus told Itar-Tass.
He said they are carrying away excessive armaments and materiel from
Georgia in accordance with a plan drafted several months before the
completion of the Russian-Georgian negotiations on the military bases’
pullout.
“The withdrawal of military hardware and armaments has been coordinated
with the Georgian authorities,” the source said.
Two trains were sent to the Russian territory in late March – early
April, and this train will carry the equipment to the Russian military
base in Gyumri, he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE COALITION DISCUSSED THE VENICE “MENACE”
A1plus
| 20:29:03 | 30-05-2005 | Official |
Today Robert Kocharyan has had a working meeting with the members
of the political coalition council. The course of the Constitutional
reforms has been discussed.
About the meeting of the President with the coalition members only
this strictly official information is reported by the President’s
information service. Let us remind you that the Venice Commission had
given a negative conclusion to the constitutional draft adopted in the
Parliament by first reading and warned that in case of not realizing
radical changed Armenia will be left out of the Eurointegration
process.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LOCAL CONFLICT ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH AND AZERBAIJAN CONTACT LINE MAY POSE THREAT TO STABILITY IN THE SECTION
YEREVAN, May 30. /ARKA/. Local conflict on Nagorno-Karabakh and
Azerbaijan contact line may pose threat to stability in the section,
Andrzei Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the OSCE CIO, told
journalists on Monday. In his words, it may happen in the event of
lack of proper “chain of command”, as even major incidents can be
settled with help of direct contacts at general staffs level. At the
same time, it shouldn’t be ruled out that it could pose threat to
the contact line section stability in case of incredible coincidence
of various circumstances, Kasprzyk said. In his words, the mission
conducts monitoring quite often and regularly. It makes it possible
to gauge the situation that after signing a cease-fire-maintenance
agreement remains the same thanks to political will of the sides to
maintain the regime.
Kasprzyk said his mission is just to influence the sides, particularly
the military able to take steps to reduce numbers of cease-fire
agreement violations and calm local officers and soldiers.
Answering journalists’ question about which one of the two sides more
often violates ye cease-fire regime, Kasprzyk noted that his mandate
is a measure of trust between the sides and is due to be enlarged. He
said he isn’t empowered to conduct investigation on who and when
breached the regime and added he has own opinion but has no right to
present it. At the same time, he said there is some difference in how
the sides view violation of cease fire. In particular, if these are
separate shots, it isn’t considered the regime violation. The OSCE
official said violation is long and heavy shooting.
Kasprzyk didn’t confirm the information spread by Azeri media outlets
that monitoring group members found themselves under fire from Armenian
side. He also stressed that the number of incidents reduced recently
but some closeness of the sides’ positions remaining somewhere is
not desirable. M.V. -0–

ON INITIATIVE OF US EMBASSY, NEWLY FURNISHED CONCERT HALL OF YEREVAN
CHILDREN’S AND YOUTH CENTER OPENS
YEREVAN, MAY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. On the US Embassy’s initiative, the
newly furnished concert hall of the Yerevan Children’s and Youth
Center opened on May 25. Necessary equipments were bought for the
concert hall owing to a grant allocated by the US Government and the
local community’s contributions. The concert hall was also redecorated
in 2003-2004 by the means of the Linsk Fund. As Noyan Tapan was
informed from the organization “Save Children,” this is one of the
projects implemented within the framework of the US Government’s
“Community Self-Assistance Fund” program. The program helps
communities to implement small programs of local significance which
will allow to solve the most urgent problems arisen in front of
communities.

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
May 30 2005
French co-chair denies Armenia’s responsibility for ceasefire
breaches
30/05/2005 05:57
The French co-chair of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group Bernard Fassier
has denied Armenia’s responsibility for breaching ceasefire on the
frontline.
`Do you think the ceasefire is violated only by Armenia? You are
wrong,’ he told a news conference at the French embassy in Baku on
Friday.
Fassier said that ceasefire breaches jeopardize peace talks and the
conflicting sides should `prepare their countries for compromises
instead of making acute statements’.
The co-chair mentioned that he was an officer in the French army for
25 years prior to becoming a diplomat, which played an important in
role in terms of his present activity. `War is the worst way out’, he
said, emphasizing that France supports a peaceful conflict
resolution.
`The co-chairs can only provide advice and will not solve the problem
instead of the conflicting sides. Both countries believe that the
Minsk Group is to blame if nothing happens. But progress has not been
achieved so far because the sides have not been ready for this.’
Fassier visited Azerbaijan to attend the opening ceremony of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline on May 25 and to fulfil his
duties in the capacity of the French co-chair.
Fassier said that his meeting with Azeri Defense Minister Safar
Abiyev on Thursday, of familiarization nature, was efficient. The
co-chair added that during his future visits to the country, he plans
to meet with the parliament speaker and MPs, as well as the public
and leaders of religious organizations.

The Daily Star, Lebanon
May 30 2005
Hariri makes clean sweep in Beirut polls
But victory marred by lowest election turnout in years
By Nayla Assaf
Daily Star staff
Monday, May 30, 2005

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Saad Hariri, the son of the country’s assassinated
former Premier, made a clean sweep in the first stage of the
country’s elections according to preliminary results. But the start
of Lebanon’s first free elections in more than 30 years was marred by
a very low voter turnout of just 28 percent, the smallest
participation in an election 13 years.
Yesterday’s voter apathy is in stark contrast to the euphoric scenes
earlier this year when hundreds of thousands of Lebanese took to the
streets following the murder of Rafik Hariri in a show of unity to
oppose Syria and Lebanon’s pro Damascus government.
The Beirut polls have still to be followed by other districts over
the next four week-ends and it remains to be seen if yesterday’s
turnout represents a blip because Hariri was virtually assured of
victory, or whether it will be repeated across the country.
In Christian areas, turnout was even less, hitting a low of 11 and 10
percent in some areas. Prior to the election Christian opposition
politicians had criticized the legal framework for the polls,
insisting it failed to properly represent Christian voters.
Hariri’s bloc had already secured more than half of the Beirut
districts’ 19 seats before polling day as other candidates withdrew
as it became certain Hariri would win the seats. Speaking last night,
Hariri said: “This is a victory for Rafik Hariri. The blood of Rafik
Hariri was not shed in vain.”
He added: “Today is the victory of democracy that they tried to
violate.”
Hariri failed to mention the low turnout. But Michel Aoun, leader of
the largely Christian Free Patriotic Movement, said voter apathy
meant Hariri “failed in the elections.”
Although he is fielding candidates in other districts, Aoun urged
Beirutis to boycott yesterday’s poll and hundreds of FPM supporters
clad in orange, toured the capital urging voters “not to waste their
votes.”
The low turnout was widely blamed on the unfair electoral law, which
was drawn up in 2000 when Syrian control of Lebanon was at its peak
and was widely seen as favoring pro Syrian political groupings.
Despite last month’s withdrawal of Syrian troops, Parliament failed
to adopt a new law.

Reflecting on the low turnout Prime Minister Najib Mikati said:
“These elections are free, honest and transparent, but they are not
fair. We are well aware that the electoral law is not fair, but it
was not our responsibility to change it. The Parliament had four
years and 10 months come-up with a new electoral law and it didn’t.
So
we were forced to organize the elections under this law.”
Mikati, who was appointed two months ago to lead the country into
free elections said his Cabinet had “promised and delivered,” by
abstaining from running for the polls and holding the elections on
time.
No major violations were recorded, but in rare cases, voters were
unable to vote because their names did not appear on the voters
lists.
The polls were held under international supervision for the first
time with over 100 European Union and United Nations observers at the
polling stations.
Chief EU observer Jose Ignacio Salafranca Sanchez-Neyra said
yesterday’s elections were a celebration of democracy.
“Today, the only winner is Lebanon,” he told reporters outside a
polling station.”
The country’s largest Armenian political party, Tashnag, also called
for a boycott, after it had decided not to field candidates after
Hariri had allied with its rival Ramgavar party.
Hariri and his allies had urged voters to turn out in high numbers.
About 420,000 voters are registered in Beirut. The capital’s 19 seats
are divided as follows: Six Sunni Muslims, three Armenian Orthodox,
two Greek Orthodox, two Shiite Muslims, one Druze, one Maronite
Catholic, one Armenian Catholic, one Greek Catholic, one Protestant
and one for minorities.
Meanwhile outside Beirut, two more candidates won uncontested seats,
this time in the Chouf area, in Mount Lebanon, where elections will
take place on June 12.
On Saturday, the deadline for submitting candidacies in Mount
Lebanon, the Interior Ministry announced that Druze candidates Walid
Jumblatt and Marwan Hamade effectively became MPs because there were
no challengers to the same seats. A total of 17 MPs have already won
uncontested in the entire country.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress