Author: Chakrian Hovsep

ARMENIAN PM, BELARUS PRESIDENT DISCUSS BOOSTING TRADE
Armenpress
YEREVAN, MAY 3, ARMENPRESS: Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko
told today the visiting Armenian prime minister Andranik Margarian
he was optimistic about the prospects for continued development of
bilateral trade.
“Though trade between our countries is not very big, it however, is
on a constant rise,” Lukashenko told Margarian. Lukashenko also said
he and other government officials would do everything “to satisfy
all requests, desires and materialize all agreements that would be
reached during the visit.”
Margarian in turn said he was likewise pleased with the growing
bilateral trade, but mentioned also areas in which “the available
potential is not used fully.”
The two sides plan to sign several documents, including an
inter-governmental protocol abolishing exclusions from the free
trade regime, as well as agreements on cooperation between the health
ministries and between major television channels.
The two countries will also sign a contract for the supply of
Belarussian mining equipment to Armenia. A Belarussian-Armenian
business forum and an exhibition of Armenian goods will take place
during the visit.
Relations between Belarus and Armenia have been steadily growing in
recent years. Their leaders meet on a regular basis. The two countries
have signed more than 40 agreements, their foreign and other ministries
have established closer relationships.
Last year, bilateral trade turnover increased by 12.4 percent to 10.8
million U.S. dollars. Trade has been growing even more rapidly this
year. In the first two months of 2005, it was 2.5 times bigger than
in the same period of last year.
Belarus supplies lorries, tires, road equipment, chemicals, lumber,
and medicines to Armenia in exchange mainly for hard liquor.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Georgia to act against “anti-Georgian” groups in ethnic Armenian area – minister
Kavkasia-Press news agency, Tbilisi
2 May 05
Tbilisi, 2 May: The Georgian government is prepared to neutralize
political groups which have recently become active in the
Samtskhe-Javakheti region. The inhabitants of this region are
predominately Armenian and they are pursuing anti-Georgian policies,
Defence Minister Irakli Okruashvili has told journalists.
Several groups have recently appeared in Samtskhe-Javakheti, which are
agitating the local people by organizing demonstrations and protests
against the withdrawal of the Russian military base from Akhalkalaki.
The minister said that the government was not prepared to allow
separatism to take root and would ensure that local Armenians would
be guaranteed work when the Russian military base was withdrawn.

Turkish Press
May 1 2005
Press Scan:
TURKEY REMOVES SWITZERLAND FROM THE RED LIST…BUT THE SWISS PUT A
TURK ON THE RED LIST
HURRIYET- Turkey has ended its ‘Red List’ that it applied in defense
tenders due to its harmonization efforts with the European Union.
Accordingly, Switzerland, on which an embargo applied previously, has
been taken out of the red list. However, Swiss authorities have
placed a Turkish professor Yusuf Halacoglu on their list of red
bulletin. Halacoglu has been found guilty for making a statement last
year that there was no Armenian genocide.

YEREVAN AUTHORITIES ELABORATE PROJECTS ON DEVELOPMENT OF BLOCKS
INCLUDED IN MAIN AVENUE
YEREVAN, APRIL 29. ARMINFO. Town-planning and Architecture Department
of Yerevan municipality intends to elaborate within a month a project
on development of Kond block included in the Main avenue of Yerevan,
informed Chief Architect of Yerevan, Head of town-planning and
architecture Department of Yerevan municipality Samvel Danielyan
during a sitting of Commission on local self-government issues at
Armenian President, Apr 29.
In his words, the project will be presented to companies-builders.
Danielyan noted that 2-5 floor buildings will be constructed there.
He informed that the Main avenue also includes the 30th block
(Firdousi) and the territory bordered with Yerevan Cathedral of St.
Gregory the Illuminator. Pleasure establishments and public buildings
will be located at the center of the 30th block and many-storied
dwelling-houses – around its periphery.
To note, according to the project elaborated by Chief architect of
Yerevan Aleksandr Tamanyan in the thirties of the 20th century, the
Main avenue of Yerevan starts from the part of Khanjyan street where
the monument to Vardan Mamikonyan located and ends with the street
followed to the old blocks of Kond and child’s railway. -r-

ErdoÄŸan signals political ties with Armenia
TDN Saturday, April 30, 2005
In remarks seen as a sign of policy shift, the prime minister says
study of history could run parallel to establishment of political
relations. FM Gül announces, however, there are no plans to
open up the border gate
ANKARA ` Turkish Daily News
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan was quoted as saying
yesterday that Turkey could establish political relations with
neighboring Armenia while historians study events during 1915 and 1918
in a bid to clarify whether Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were
subject to a genocide campaign.
Turkey categorically denies charges of genocide and ErdoÄŸan has
recently sent a letter to Armenian President Robert Kocharian
proposing establishment of a joint commission of historians to study
the events of the World War I years. Kocharian, however, suggested in
his reply an inter-governmental commission that would be tasked with
investigating ways to normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia.
`A political relationship can be established on the one hand, while
studies continue on the other. There is no great wall between Turkey
and Armenia,’ ErdoÄŸan told daily Milliyet in an interview.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, when asked to comment upon
ErdoÄŸan’s remarks, said there were no plans at the moment to
open the border gate with Armenia.
`What the prime minister emphasized is that Turkey is good
intentioned, supports stability in its region and is open to
developing relations with its neighbors. But such things can’t be
one-sided,’ Gül told reporters in the central Anatolian city of
Kayseri. `There would definitely be an improvement if there is mutual
goodwill.’
Turkey severed its diplomatic relations with Armenia and closed its
border gate with the landlocked country in the last decade after
Armenian troops occupied the Azeri territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh. Ankara says normalization of ties depends on
Armenia’s stopping their support of genocide allegations and formally
accepting its current borders with Turkey, as well as withdrawal from
Nagorno-Karabakh.
In his letter delivered to the Turkish side earlier this week,
Kocharian said the border gate should be opened, as even countries
which are at war with each other keep their borders open.
ErdoÄŸan, however, took a cautious line, saying Armenia should
also demonstrate goodwill. `Why are you continuing efforts to get
recognition of the alleged genocide all over the world, while asking
me to open up the border? I should see a sign of goodwill,’
ErdoÄŸan said.
Armenians stepped up efforts to win international backing for their
allegations of genocide, hoping that the 90th anniversary of the
alleged genocide on April 24 would increase sympathy for their cause.
ErdoÄŸan said his government has allowed flights between Yerevan
and Istanbul in a goodwill gesture and the Culture Ministry has been
given instructions to renovate an Armenian church in eastern Anatolia
in coordination with the Armenian patriarchate of Turkey.
`These are positive messages from us. We need to get similar messages
from the other side too,’ ErdoÄŸan said.
˜EU provokes nationalism’:
The prime minister also criticized the European Union for
`intentionally provoking’ nationalism in Turkey’s Southeast, where
Kurds dominate the population. `This stirs up another kind of
nationalism,’ he said, referring to the rise in current Turkish
nationalism.
ErdoÄŸan said the EU relied on `unhealthy sources’ while making
its assessments on the issue. `I am from the Black Sea region and my
wife is an Arab from the southeastern city of Siirt ¦ If you stir
up a certain sort of nationalism, another sort of nationalism begins
to rise. This is wrong,’ he said.

AZG Armenian Daily #078, 30/04/2005
Diaspora
HRANT DINQ ACCUSED OF ‘INSULTING TURKS’
‘I Am a Turkish Citizen, but I Am No Turk’
Hrant Dinq, editor of Istanbul-based Akos Armenian newspaper, was informed
from Urfa Public Prosecutor’s Office that a suit has been instituted against
him. If the charge brought against him is proved, he will be sentenced to 3
years of imprisonment.
Dinq said in the interview to Azg that he was charged with “Insulting the
Turks.” Particularly, Dinq said that during one of the conferences in Urfa,
2002, he complained about the word combination “my heroic nation” in the
anthem of Turkey.
“I said that I am against this sentence, as it is nationalistic. Besides
Turks, Greeks, Armenians and other nations also live in Turkey. I said that
I am from a different nation and it is not easy for me to utter this word
combination,” Dinq said.
Hrant Dinq also spoke against the sentence “I am a Turk, I am honest and
hard working,” which the children pronounce in all the schools of Turkey
before each lesson. “I said during the conference that I am an Armenian, I
am no Turk, I am merely a Turkish citizen,” he said in the interview to Azg.
Hrant Dinq doesn’t think that the suit instituted against him is connected
with his activities. “It doesn’t concern the recent events. I don’t think
this is a serious suit. Certainly, I can be charged but I am not guilty,” he
said. Mr. Dinq said that he is unlikely to leave for Urfa himself to
participate in the trial. He will hire a lawyer, instead.
Particularly lately, when the talks on Turkey’s membership to EU became more
active, Dinq is being invited to many conferences, including to those held
in Europe. He is being cited in almost all the articles about the Armenian
Genocide and the Turkish-Armenian relations published in the Western press.
By Tatoul Hakobian

Georgia, Azerbaijan safe heavens for terrorists, says Russian expert
28.04.2005
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – The territory of Georgia, including the Pankisi
gorge, remain a safe heaven for Chechen and other terrorists, a
Russian special service expert has said, according to Armenpress.
General Leonid Sazhin’s statement was made in connection with the US
State Department’s report on world terrorist threats in 2004, released
Wednesday.
The Russian general has also pointed out that terrorist receive money,
weapons and new recruits not only via Georgia but also via Azerbaijan,
and that Baku has even topped Tbilisi in trafficking. He has also
noted that terrorists have their bases in Azerbaijan where they
receive medical treatment with no trouble.

Sandi Arnold and Michael Barletta, July 1999.
Center for Nonproliferation Studies,
Monterey Institute of International Studies
Overview of Reported Nuclear Trafficking Incidents Involving Turkey,*
1993-1999
Overview | Factsheet | Map | Abstracts
————————————————————-
Public reports indicate that Turkey may be a significant transshipment
route for nuclear smuggling from the former Soviet Union (FSU).
Eighteen nuclear trafficking incidents involving Turkey were reported
between 1993 and 1999. These cases include nuclear material seized in
Turkey, nuclear material interdicted en route to Turkey, and seizure
of nuclear material smuggled by Turkish nationals. These cases vary in
significance from outright frauds involving osmium and “red mercury,”
to some that reportedly involved small quantities of weapons-usable
material. However, to date none of these cases have been
authoritatively confirmed to involve highly enriched uranium or
plutonium.
Turkish officials have denied publicly that any plutonium or highly
enriched uranium has been seized in the country. According to
unconfirmed open-source reports, however, Turkish authorities seized
several grams of plutonium in Bursa, Turkey in 1998, which had been
smuggled from either Kazakhstan or Russia. In another reported
incident, police confiscated 12g of highly enriched uranium in Zurich,
Switzerland on 22 January 1996, and arrested a Turkish national who
was a member of a nuclear smuggling group based in Turkey. The suspect
said the material was destined for Libya. Four days later, Turkish
police arrested the remaining members of this alleged smuggling ring
in Yalova with 1.2kg of uranium (enrichment level not reported) in
their possession. Furthermore, Turkish, Russian, and international
wire services reported that Turkish police seized 750g of weapons-grade
uranium, which had originated in Azerbaijan, in Istanbul in 1994.
Initial press reports of seizures of “weapons-usable material” often
turn out to be inaccurate, however, and none of these reported cases
have been confirmed. Nuclear materials confiscated in Turkey were in
most instances taken to the Cekmece Nuclear Research and Training
Center in Istanbul for analysis.
Some preliminary observations can be made about these cases. First,
public reports indicate that all nuclear material smuggled via Turkey
originated in countries of the FSU. As the materials were seized,
their ultimate destination cannot be determined with confidence;
however, three cases reportedly involved material being sought by or
shipped to Iran or Libya. In no case was the reported destination the
government or any other entity in Turkey itself. Second, a number of
these incidents apparently involved “amateurs” who acquired nuclear
materials before identifying potential buyers, and who sought to
peddle material of little or no utility for fabricating nuclear
weapons. Third, the sheer number of cases indicates that Turkey may be
a significant transshipment route for clandestine efforts to buy or
sell nuclear material originating in the FSU. Turkey’s geographic
setting could make it an attractive route for such transactions.
Several countries of proliferation concern – Iran, Iraq, and Syria –
share borders with Turkey. Three countries of the FSU – Armenia,
Azerbaijan, and Georgia- likewise have borders with Turkey. In
addition, ongoing commercial exchange between Turkey and Central Asian
countries may provide opportunities for smuggling. However, the
concentration and types of incidents reported in Istanbul, and the
lack of reported incidents on Turkey’s borders with Armenia,
Azerbaijan, and Georgia, are somewhat surprising. The former offer
grounds to speculate that scam artists may seek buyers in the
“international bazaar” of Istanbul; the latter could indicate that
materials are not shipped across those international borders.
Public reports indicate that Turkish and other international
authorities thwarted each of the nuclear smuggling schemes recounted
in this study. However, other more sophisticated attempts may have
escaped detection. The possibility that proliferation-relevant nuclear
materials may be smuggled via Turkey continues to merit international
attention.
The 18 incidents are listed reverse chronological order.
CNS cannot confirm the veracity of these reports.
Click on date of incident for details and sources.
Material(s) seized Date of Incident Origin of
Material(s) Reported
Destination Location of Seizure Suspects
`A certificate for the purchase of U-235;’ 2.4kg lead container with U-235;
exact quantity of uranium in the container not reported 28 May 1999
Moldova Not reported Dounav Most, Bulgaria (Bulgarian-Turkish Border) One
Turkish national
100g enriched uranium or 5g uranium 2 Feb 1999 Azerbaijan Greece Bursa,
Turkey Four Turkish nationals
4.5kg “nonactive” solid uranium and 6g “active” plutonium 7 Sep 1998 Russia
or Ulba Metallurgy
Plant in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan Not reported Istanbul, Turkey Four
Turkish national, three Kazakh nationals (including a Kazakh army colonel),
and one Azerbaijani national
13 cylinders of uranium marked “UPAT UKA3 M8” 1 Jul 1998 Iran Istanbul,
Turkey Van, Turkey Five Turkish nationals and one Iranian national
850g uranium dioxide 26 May 1997 Not reported Not reported Bursa, Turkey
Four individuals (nationality not reported)
osmium (quantity not reported) 1 Apr 1997 Romania Not reported Turkey Three
individuals (nationality not reported)
509g “raw” uranium 4 Mar 1997 Georgia Not reported Ipsala, Edirne, Turkey
Three Turkish nationals
17g low-enriched uranium Mar 1996 Golcuk, Kocaeli, Turkey Not reported
Antalya, Turkey Eleven individuals (nationality not reported)
20kg uranium Mar 1996 Russia Not reported Antalya, Turkey Five Turkish
nationals
1.2kg uranium or 1.128kg uranium 26 Jan 1996 Georgia Libya Yalova, Turkey
Two Turkish nationals
12g highly enriched uranium 22 Jan 1996 Georgia Libya Zurich, Switzerland
One Turkish national
1.7kg “red mercury” and 1kg “black mercury” 24 May 1995 Not reported Turkey
Constanta, Romania Two Turkish nationals and three Romanian nationals
750g weapons-grade or enriched U-238 19 Oct 1994 Baku, Azerbaijan Turkey
Istanbul, Turkey One Azerbaijani national
12kg uranium 19 Jul 1994 Unspecified country of the FSU Not reported
Istanbul, Turkey Seven Turkish nationals
uranium (quantity not reported) 22 Apr 1994 Not reported Russia Istanbul,
Turkey One Turkish national, one Azerbaijani national, and a Russian
national
4.5kg uranium 27 Nov 1993 Not reported Not reported Bursa, Turkey Three
Georgian nationals
2.5kg uranium enriched to 2.5-3.5 percent U-235 5 Oct 1993 Russia Iran
Gayrettepe, Istanbul, Turkey Four Turkish nationals and four Iranian
nationals (suspected secret service agents)
6kg enriched uranium Mar 1993 Tashkent, Uzbekistan Istanbul, Turkey Not
reported Not reported
* For sources and further details, see Sandi Arnold, “Factsheet on Reported
Nuclear Trafficking Incidents Involving Turkey, 1993-1999,” July 1999,
Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International
Studies.
—————————————————————————
Sources and Notes:
The authors sought to eliminate contradictions and clearly false
information, but cannot confirm the veracity of the reports from which
these summaries are drawn. Case selection was based upon the
following three criteria: (1) nuclear material seized in Turkey; (2)
nuclear material en-route to Turkey; or, (3) nuclear material seized
involving a Turkish national.
This chart is based on Turkish-, Russian-, and English-language
open-source reports and information in the International Nuclear
Proliferation Database and the Newly Independent States Nuclear
Trafficking Database of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies.
Access to these is only available by subscription. For subscription
information click here.
—————————————————————————-
Sandi Arnold and Michael Barletta, July 1999.
© Center for Nonproliferation Studies,
Monterey Institute of International Studies
Center for Nonproliferation Studies
460 Pierce Street, Monterey, CA 93940, USA
Telephone: +1 (831) 647-4154; Fax: +1 (831) 647-3519
E-mail: [email protected]; Web:
Copyright © 2002 Monterey Institute of International Studies. All rights
reserved.

Journal of Laws No 66
Polish News Bulletin
Apr 27, 2005

Dated 22 April 2005 – International Agreements:
– Convention No 148 of the International Labor Organization concerning
the protection of workers against occupational hazards in the
working environment due to air pollution, noise and vibration,
adopted in Geneva on 20 June 1997 and a government declaration of 20
January 2005 on its binding force
– Convention between the Government of Poland and the Government of
Armenia on avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal
evasion with respect to taxes on income and on capital, signed in
Warsaw on 14 July 1999 and a government declaration of 17 February
2005 on its binding force
– Executive program between the Government of Poland and the
Government of Georgia in the field of culture, science, education,
youth and sports for 2004 ? 2006 signed in Warsaw on 15 December
2004 and a government declaration of 28 January 2005 on its binding
force
(to be continued in next issue) Legal Translation

Agence France Presse
24 avril 2005 dimanche 11:08 AM GMT
Un millier d’Arméniens d’Ukraine défilent pour le 90e anniversaire du
génocide
LVIV (Ukraine) 24 avr 2005
Un millier de membres de la communauté arménienne d’Ukraine ont
manifesté dimanche à Lviv (ouest) pour réclamer qu’Ankara reconnaisse
comme génocide les massacres d’Arméniens de 1915, dont le 90e
anniversaire est célébré dimanche, selon un journaliste de l’AFP sur
place.
“Le fait que la Turquie cache le génocide arménien est une
falsification de l’Histoire et une désinformation de la communauté
internationale”, pouvait-on lire parmi les banderoles brandies par
les manifestants, tenant bougies et oeillets rouges à la main.
Cette manifestation intervient alors qu’à Erevan, des dizaines de
milliers de personnes ont participé à la commémoration du génocide,
fixée symboliquement au 24 avril 1915, quand, en pleine Première
guerre mondiale, les autorités turques avaient arrêté 200 leaders de
la communauté arménienne, donnant le signal de ce que l’Arménie
dénonce comme le début d’un génocide planifié.
“Nous réclamons que la Turquie et les autres pays qui n’ont pas
encore reconnu le génocide le fasse”, a déclaré Karapiet Bagratouni,
un représentant de la communauté arménienne de Lviv, qui compte 3.000
personnes.
Le cortège a été formé à la sortie d’un office religieux à l’église
arménienne de Lviv, et des prêtres arméniens marchaient en tête.
Ankara rejette catégoriquement la thèse d’un génocide, alors que les
pressions se sont accentuées pour qu’il reconnaisse le génocide: le
Parlement polonais, à l’instar de 15 autres pays, notamment
européens, vient de qualifier le massacre de génocide et un débat a
été ouvert au Parlement allemand.