Author: Emil Karabekian

Azerbaijan concerned over Canadian investment in Karabakh – envoy
Bilik Dunyasi news agency
15 Mar 05
BAKU
The Azerbaijani parliament and public have expressed an extremely
negative attitude to the activities of a number of Canadian companies,
which run counter to international legal norms, the Azerbaijani
ambassador to Canada, Faxraddin Qurbanov, has told the speaker of the
House of Commons, Peter Milliken.
During the meeting, the Azerbaijani ambassador informed the speaker of
the House of Commons of the Azerbaijani government’s concern about the
intention of the Canadian Buried Hill Energy company to take part in
the development of the Kapaz [Serdar] oil field in the Azerbaijani
sector of the Caspian Sea and the refusal of the company’s
administration to hold negotiations with the embassy.
The diplomat also voiced the Azerbaijani side’s concern over Canadian
companies’ work on the Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani
territories. Pointing to the articles published in the influential
newspaper The Globe and Mail, the ambassador said the activities of
Canadian companies, which run counter to international legal norms,
were in the focus of both the Azerbaijani and Canadian press.
Qurbanov added that it was for this reason that the Azerbaijani
parliament had not ratified the Azerbaijani-Canadian agreement on
avoiding double taxation.
The ambassador also said that the further development of bilateral
relations required the opening of a Canadian embassy in Baku.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Associated Press
March 2 2005
Magazine editor killed in Azerbaijan
3/2/2005, 3:51 p.m. CT
The Associated Press
BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) – The editor of a magazine critical of
Azerbaijan’s government was shot and killed Wednesday in the lobby of
his apartment building, police and colleagues said.
Seven shots were fired and four struck Elmar Huseinov, founder and
editor of the opposition magazine Monitor, police at the scene in
Baku, the capital, told journalists.
Tension between the government and the opposition in tightly
controlled Azerbaijan has increased since the October 2003 election
in which Ilham Aliev replaced his father, longtime leader Geidar
Aliev, as president in a vote the opposition called fraudulent.
Several opposition leaders, including newspaper editors, have been
sentenced to prison over unrest that followed the election.
Monitor has been published and sold privately since a decision
forbidding the state printing and distribution company from selling
it.
It was ordered closed twice. After the first order, in 1998, it
continued publishing under a slighly different name. It shut after
the second order, in 2002, but renewed publication after a change in
media licensing legislation the same year.
Huseinov served six months in prison in 2001-2002 after a successful
libel suit by the mayor of Baku.
Last November a court ordered his property confiscated to pay $20,000
fine connected with a 2003 suit by the representative of Azerbaijan’s
Nakhichevan enclave over an article titled “The Godfather.”
Nakhichevan, which is on the Iranian border, lies entirely within the
neighbouring state of Armenia. It has an area of 2,124 sq miles with
a population of 333,200. The magazine article compared Nakhichevan
residents to Sicilians. Huseinov did not have enough property to
cover the fine.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
March 1 2005
ISSUES OF COOPERATION IN EDUCATION FIELD DISCUSSED
[March 01, 2005, 15:36:22]
Minister of Education Misir Mardanov has met the head of the Council
of Europe Directorate on Education Mr. Gabriel Mazzo and the
coordinator of this organization on cooperation Gennady Kosiak.
Minister Misir Mardanov has told about the meetings of Ministers of
Education of the countries of the Southern Caucasus which has been
lead carried out on the initiative of the Council of Europe, highly
has estimated preparation as a result of these meetings of the manual
titled “History of the Caucasus”, having informed, that in June
current year the book would be prepared and issued in the Azerbaijan,
Russian and English languages.
Having informed about the problems, which have arisen as a result of
the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, about the
classrooms organized in tents and cars, The Minister has noted, that
now the government of Azerbaijan carries out measures directed on
settlement of the mentioned problem.
M. Mardanov also has dwelt on the work done together with the
international organizations in the field of reforms of education, and
the measures, which are carried out for integration of Azerbaijan’s
education system to Europe, connections of the Country to Bolon
process.
Mr. Gabriel Mazza stressed necessity of carrying out of discussions
on the stipulated projects, has expressed readiness to assist to
application and expansion of the Bolon process in the Country, and
also has touched the question of value of regional cooperation.
At the meeting, also were exchanged views connected to projects,
providing realization and expansion of bilateral cooperation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

World Bank official happy with tax reforms in Armenia
Arminfo
24 Feb 05
YEREVAN
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today received the director of the
World Bank [WB] office in Yerevan, Roger Robinson.
Robinson expressed satisfaction with an increase in tax revenues in
the state budget of Armenia in 2005 caused by the reforms in the tax
legislation, the Armenian presidential press service told Arminfo news
agency.
The guest also expressed satisfaction that the Tax Service had been
given the authority to collect the compulsory social payments.
The WB representative spoke highly of the reforms in the judiciary,
particularly, the construction of new court buildings financed by the
WB.
During the meeting, the sides touched on the number of issues
concerning the WB’s other programmes in Armenia.
To recap, 36 World Bank programmes to the tune of 820m dollars have
been implemented in Armenia since 1992.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri minister unfazed by French mediator’s remarks on Armenian resettlement
Assa-Irada
18 Feb 05
Baku, 17 February: The statement by the French co-chairman of the
OSCE Minsk Group (MG), Bernard Fassier, that the OSCE fact-finding
mission has discovered the organized settlement of Armenians only
in Lacin [Lachin] District has caused differing responses from the
Azerbaijani public.
[Azerbaijani] Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has told journalists
that the French co-chairman’s statement alone “cannot be considered
sufficient”. Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan will take further steps
on a basis of conclusions of experts from the countries included in the
OSCE mission. “First, we must study the report to be prepared by the
mission and then see which path Azerbaijan will choose.” Mammadyarov
went on to say that the report will be prepared by a group of experts
of Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Finland. “It is early to speak
about the conclusions in the document,” he said.
In his statement, Fassier said that unlike Lacin [Lachin] District,
Armenians were not settled in the districts around Karabakh
“purposefully”. According to the French co-chairman, the population
settled in the occupied districts is divided into three categories:
refugees from Azerbaijan, those hit by the earthquake that took
place in Spitak, Armenia, in 1988 and those who left Armenia due to
socio-economic hardship.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Georgian president delivers annual address to parliament
Rustavi-2 TV, Tbilisi
10 Feb 05
President Mikheil Saakashvili has set out the challenges he sees
facing Georgia in his annual address to parliament and said that he
is ready to go to Russia to meet President Putin to improve relations
between the two countries.
Opening his speech, which was broadcast live by Rustavi-2 TV and
other major Georgian networks, Saakashvili described the state of
the country as his government found it when it came to power over
a year ago. It was, he said, “disintegrated” and “demoralized”, a
country where people had been lied to by the government, a country
where human rights were trampled on and where “not a single tank had
enough ammunition for one hour in battle”.
He went on to say that Georgia had now already become a “proper state”,
but added that the past year was just a beginning. He listed successes
such as the government clearing salary and pension arrears and raising
public sector wages.
Saakashvili paid tribute to the “real heroes” who had made this
possible. He picked out the Financial Police for their successes in
tackling smuggling despite tough opposition, protesters who stood
up to the government of deposed Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze,
the new police patrol force, which had “won the trust of the people”
and an officer who led an operation to break up a criminal gang in
the northwestern province of Svaneti.
He praised teachers who had been teaching Georgian to the country’s
ethnic minorities, the armed forces, Georgia’s first female military
instructor and reserve force volunteers, among them MPs. He also
referred to Georgia’s participation in “international antiterrorist
operations”.
Saakashvili then moved on to economic issues and said that
privatization would allow the state to make the best use of its
property. He said the revenue would be spent on capital investment
in the energy sector and education.
According to Saakashvili, “thousands” of Georgian emigres have begun
returning to the country.
Saakashvili said that a major priority for this year would be the
creation of jobs in tourism, service industries and agriculture. The
state would help this process by investing in infrastructure. Further
reforms will take place in education, the justice system and local
government. Although Georgia is not prepared to decentralize power
completely, Saakashvili said, local authority heads should be elected,
starting from next year.
The number of MPs in parliament would be reduced to 150, but the mixed
proportional and majoritarian system would be retained. Saakashvili
said he was pleased that for the first time in years MPs had not
punched each other in parliament.
Moving on to foreign policy, Saakashvili said that Georgia’s
relationships with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey were “idyllic”. As
for Russia, problems remain but they must be resolved. He said that
compromise was a “two-way street” and that he is prepared to go
to Russia to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin to resolve the
outstanding issues. Priorities would remain a European orientation
and the removal of foreign bases from Georgia.
He stressed the importance of creating an inclusive society for ethnic
minorities, guaranteeing them education and jobs.
He said that the international community should be “ashamed” that an
ethnic Ossetian man who used to organize holidays for South Ossetian
children on Georgia’s Black Sea coast remained imprisoned by the
separatist authorities.
He ended by praising the efforts of MPs and ministers, particularly
Zurab Noghaideli, who has been nominated as prime minister.
Among the honorary guests who were in parliament during Saakashvili’s
50-minute speech were late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania’s wife,
mother and three children.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Paris-Normandie , France
8 février 2005
l’Arménie, une histoire tourmentée
par Leroy Karine
Le question de l’intégration de la Turquie dans l’Union européenne a
fait ressurgir le délicat dossier de l’Arménie. Que sait-on vraiment
de ce pays?
Découvertes Gallimard retrace l’histoire de ce pays et ce peuple.
Entre Caucase et Mésopotamie, le haut plateau arménien a abrité l’une
des plus importantes civilisations du Moyen orient. En 301, l’Arménie
est le premier état officiellement chrétien mais sa situation
géographique fait de cette terre un territoire âprement disputé.
Les Arméniens préservent une identité culturelle forte et malgré le
génocide dont il est victime en 1915, ce peuple reste fidèle a une
culture dans la mère-patrie tant qu’en diaspora. une histoire
fascinante, chaotique retracée à travers des témoignages, des
documents et une riche iconographie.
L’Arménie. A l’épreuve des siècles, d’Annie et Jean-Pierre Mahé,
Editions Découvertes Gallimard, 160 pages, 13,80 Euro.
–Boundary_(ID_vvotSJF3ks5qpJSEGwkm8g)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Feb 1 2005
OSCE fact-finding mission to visit Azerbaijan’s another occupied region
BAKU
A 10-member OSCE fact-finding mission led by representative of the
German Foreign Ministry, Emily Haver, visited Lachin District,
another Azerbaijani region occupied by Armenia, on Tuesday.
On Monday, the OSCE mission met with the Armenian families settled in
Kalbajar District and conducted a survey to determine how long they
have been settled in the region.
The fact-finding mission will carry out a week long monitoring of the
settlement of Armenians in 7 occupied regions of Azerbaijan.
A report to be prepared by the mission within 10 days will be
presented to the Vienna-based OSCE Permanent Council.
Haver told the Armenian media that some interesting facts had been
discovered during the surveys. `These facts will help give a true
assessment of the situation,’ she noted.*
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

California Legislative Elections 2006
Elections Overview of Assembly District 43
AroundTheCapitol.com
February 1, 2005
Candidates:
– Paul Krekorian (Democrat, Burbank school board)
– Scott Wildman (Democrat, Former Assemblymember)
Candidates on this page are added when they file a statement of
declaration, open a campaign account, or otherwise take affirmative
steps to run. Candidates that are rumored to run are listed on the
Bench.
Incumbent: Dario Frommer
Next election: 2006
Term limit for incumbent: 2006
District Status: Safe Democratic
District Registration:
– Democrats: 84,995 (44.6%)
– Republicans: 58,607 (30.7%)
– Decline to State: 37,911 (19.9%)
District counties: Los Angeles (190,757)
District cities: Burbank, Glendale, Los Angeles, North
Hollywood, Pasadena, Toluca Lake, Verdugo City
Election 2004 Results
– Dario Frommer (Democrat): 76.6%
– Sandor Woren (Libertarian): 23.4%
Comments on this Race
Once a Republican-leaning swing district, this has become a safe
Democratic hold. Main contenders for 2006 include Paul Krekorian who
lost to Frommer in 2000 and fmr. Assemblyman Scott Wildman did not run
for his final term in 2000 so he could run for Senate against eventual
winner Jack Scott. Also regularly mentioned is Glendale Mayor Frank
Quintero.
Wildman would have the highest name recognition, but he also has
suffered a very public loss in the 2000 Senate race and a subsequent
loss to Eric Garcetti in a race for city council. He has spent the
last few years working for SEIU, and could bring a significant level
of labor support – but his primary opponents will have current elected
positions from which to build a base of organizational support.
Krekorian will have the backing of the enormous Armenian population
and has been heavily involved in the Burbank portion of the district
as a local school board member. He should be a strong front-runner.
Quintero could snag support from former fmr. Governor Davis if that
has any value in ’06, but his work on the city council at a time of
budget cuts could provide plenty of fodder for a negative campaign.
The big question at this point: What Will Dario Frommer Do? As
Majority Leader he could be influential in sorting out the field – he
will definitely have more say behind he scenes than most termed-out
members.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA’S PRESIDENT TO MEET WITH VENICE MAYOR TODAY
VENICE, JANUARY 29. ARMINFO. Armenia’s President Robert Kocharyan who
is paying a three-day official visit to Italy is to meet with Venice
Mayor Paolo Costa today.
Kocharyan is also to meet with the local Armenian community and to
visit the Mkhitarian Fraternity on St Lazarus island.
To remind, Kocharyan is visiting Italy on his Italian counterpart
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi’s invitation. The key objective of the visit is
to enlarge political and economic cooperation between Armenia and
Italy.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress