Author: Emil Lazarian

ILHAM ALIYEV: CREATION OF TWO ARMENIAN STATES POSES GREAT THREAT TO FUTURE OF EUROPE
ARMINFO News Agency
September 25, 2006 Monday
“The South-Caucasian region is of great importance for Europe, the
issue of the Caspian power resources transportation to the European
market, in particular. However, the Karabakh conflict impedes the
Europe and South Caucasus relations”, the President of Azerbaijan,
Ilham Aliyev, made such a statement at the International Forum
“Bertelsmann – 2006” in Berlin, “Azertaj” Azerbaijan State Agency
informs.
I. Aliyev said the “Europe has to make efforts to recover peace
in the region”. He proclaimed again the position of official Baku
concerning the issue of Nagorno Karabakh conflict. “Armenia is the
only state in the world where there are no national minorities. This
is a mono-state. The creation of two Armenian states is impossible,
it conflicts with all the international norms and principles and it
poses a great threat to the future of Europe”, I. Aliyev said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI PRESSURE GROUP PUSHES FOR WAR TO RESOLVE KARABAKH CONFLICT – TV
ANS TV, Baku, in Azeri
25 Sep 06
[Presenter] The [Baku-based] Karabakh Liberation Organization
believes that it is time to quit peace talks, its national manifesto
to resolve the [Nagornyy Karabakh] conflict says. The document, which
was publicized today [25 September], says that the territories must
be liberated by means of war.
[Akif Nagi, captioned as the organization’s chairman, shown speaking
to a news briefing] Azerbaijan must liberate its territories from
occupation in a military way. This is our position. Such a necessity
has already arisen in Azerbaijani society. We have always supported
this line. We believe that ugly cases cannot be tolerated under the
pretext of pluralism and democracy in Azerbaijani society. There are
threats in that direction. What made us adopt this document is also
that some non-governmental organizations are implementing projects to
build broad friendly and fraternal relations with the Armenians. They
are even setting up camps in Armenia in order for Azerbaijani and
Armenian young people to make friends. They are trying to implement
such projects on a large-scale. Therefore, we believe that the position
of Azerbaijani society must be made clear and everyone must express
their position.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GEORGIA MOVES TOWARDS ACCESSION
by Dmitri Sidorov, Vladimir Soloviev
Translated by Elena Leonova
Source: Kommersant, September 25, 2006, pp. 1, 9
Agency WPS
What the Papers Say Part B (Russia)
September 25, 2006 Monday
NATO is preparing to accept its first member from the CIS
President of Georgia lashes out at Russia; Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili has accused Russia of “annexing” and “criminally occupying”
Abkhazia and South Ossetia. A meeting of NATO foreign affairs ministers
has approved a transition to “intensive dialogue” with Tbilisi:
a de facto invitation to join NATO.
Speaking at the United Nations last week, Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili accused Russia of “annexing” and “criminally occupying”
Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Saakashvili’s harsh words are linked to
the fact that the previous day, a meeting of NATO foreign affairs
ministers approved a transition to “intensive dialogue” with Tbilisi:
a de facto invitation to join NATO.
President Saakashvili made his controversial statement on Friday,
September 22, at the UN General Assembly in New York. He delivered
a scathing twenty-minute speech about Russia’s destructive role in
the process of restoring Georgia’s territorial integrity. First, he
called on Moscow to withdraw Russian peacekeepers immediately from
Abkhazia and South Ossetia, because “their mission has nothing to
do with upholding peace.” Saakashvili then criticized the Kremlin’s
policy on Georgia: “These regions [South Ossetia and Abkhazia have
been annexed by our neighbor to the north – Russia, which claims to
support the idea that they are part of Georgia, while deliberately
issuing Russian passports en masse, in violation of international
law.” Saakashvili said: “The residents of the disputed regions are
living under Russia’s criminal occupation. I doubt that anyone in
this audience would tolerate such interference on their own soil.”
Saakashvili spoke with unprecedented harshness; never before has
Russia been accused of “annexation” or “occupation,” especially not
at the United Nations. Tbilisi always used to speak through Defense
Minister Iraklii Okruashvili when criticizing Moscow. The fact that
it’s the Georgian head of state who is making such serious accusations
now indicates that Georgian-Russian relations have deteriorated
to the point of extreme hostility. According to our sources, the
US Administration had requested Saakashvili to moderate his tone –
but turns of phrase like “criminal occupation” and “accomplices of
the Russian peacekeepers” stayed in the speech anyway.
Saakashvili’s fearlessness was clearly connected with the fact that
Tbilisi had scored an important diplomatic victory the previous day.
The foreign affairs ministers of 28 NATO countries decided to integrate
Georgia more closely into their ranks, approving a transition to the
“intensive dialogue” phase in relations with Georgia.
Georgia, which has never concealed its liking for NATO, has now
been given a clear signal that its wish for membership could become
a reality. This makes Georgia the first, and thus far the only,
CIS country which can boast of such close relations with NATO. And
there’s another reason why the NATO foreign ministers’ decision is
unprecedented. One of the main conditions for NATO membership is that
there should be no conflicts on the territory of a candidate state.
But Georgia has two conflict zones, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, with
occasional armed clashes taking place there. To all appearances,
however, Brussels has decided to turn a blind eye to this
inconsistency.
The Georgian authorities are making no secret of their delight at
this news, and say they’re certain that nothing can stop Georgia from
becoming a NATO member soon. “We’re close to NATO membership, and we
can’t be stopped from taking that path,” said Saakashvili yesterday,
after congratulating Georgia’s judo champions on defeating the Russian
team at the judo championship in Paris.
Russia hasn’t let Georgia’s accusations pass unnoticed – though
Moscow’s response wasn’t as harsh as Tbilisi’s attack.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, attending the UN General Assembly
session in New York, said that President Saakashvili is operating on
the basis of “a vast amount of distorted facts” and that Georgia is
purchasing “a large quantity of offensive weaponry.” Lavrov complained
of “Georgia’s numerous violations of Abkhazian conflict regulation
agreements,” saying that “the problem can only be solved with mutual
respect and by relying on the facts.” Lavrov added: “I hear neither
the former nor the latter in Mikhail Saakashvili’s speech.”
President Vladimir Putin was even more restrained: “Mikhail Saakashvili
is a hot-tempered person. All political leaders in the Caucasus are
noted for being exceptionally emotional. Nevertheless, he does care
about his country and the situation developing in his state.” According
to Putin, if a compromise solution can be found for the conflicts
on Georgian territory, Russia is prepared to act as a guarantor for
such agreements.
The prospect of Georgia joining NATO caused a much greater stir
in Russia. The Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry responded
differently to the idea that NATO could soon enter Russia’s interests
zone in the Caucasus.
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov didn’t attach much significance to
it, saying that Georgia’s accession to NATO wouldn’t damage Russia’s
military security. According to Ivanov, Russia has the resources to
neutralize the negative consequences of such a move: “We are currently
establishing two modern mountain brigades in the Caucasus.
Their personnel will operate at high altitudes in the mountains. Both
brigades will be stationed on the Georgian border, so Russia’s security
will not be compromised.”
The Foreign Ministry doesn’t share Ivanov’s calm and optimism. Its
reaction to NATO’s decision on closer relations with Georgia has been
somewhat nervous. The official Foreign Ministry press release says:
“Any expansion by NATO entails changes in the area of security,
but Georgia is a special case, due to its proximity to Russia and
the obvious complexity of Caucasus problems. If NATO, in its present
form, accepts Georgia as a member – if this idea is realized – that
will have a substantial impact on Russia’s political, military, and
economic interests, and a negative impact on the fragile situation in
the Caucasus.” The Foreign Ministry stated directly that Moscow is
not pleased with the active rapprochement between Georgia and NATO:
“The start of intensive dialogue gives Georgia a new status in
relations with NATO. Our negative attidude to this is well-known.”
The euphoria of the Georgian authorities over the start of intensive
Georgia-NATO dialogue is due to hopes that the Georgian-Abkhazian and
Georgian-Ossetian conflicts may soon be resolved. Tbilisi maintains
that solutions are being obstructed by Moscow, and hopes that with
NATO’s asistance, it can make Moscow change its stance. Givi Torgamadze
says: “We are sure that support from the world’s leading powers will
help to solve our territorial integrity problem. We hope it will also
put an end to tension in relations with Russia.”
Tbilisi’s hopes may well be justified – but regulating territorial
conflicts in Georgia’s interests can hardly be NATO’s main aim in the
region. Earlier this year, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline was
opened at the Turkish city of Ceyhan. The pipeline runs to Europe,
bypassing Russia, and thus far it’s transporting oil from Caspian
Sea fields belonging to Azerbaijan. The pipeline will soon start
pumping oil from Kazakhstan as well. The West, as the chief sponsor
of this pipeline’s construction, wants security guarantees for it –
especially since Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan runs through a very unsettled
region. NATO’s presence could provide such guarantees.
But having Georgia alone join NATO might not be enough to reassure the
West completely. So we can soon expect to see a rise in NATO activity
in relations with Azerbaijan and Armenia, which are already taking
part in NATO programs.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH-ARMENIAN JOURNALIST INDICTED AGAIN
Agence France Presse — English
September 25, 2006 Monday 4:52 PM GMT
An Istanbul court has indicted Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink for “denigrating the Turkish national identity” by calling the
1915-17 massacres of Armenians a “genocide”, his lawyer said on Monday.
Dink received a suspended three-month jail sentence in October for an
article about the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire,
which many countries recognise as genocide. An appeal was rejected
in July.
The European Union condemned Dink’s conviction at that point, and the
journalist “granted an interview to a foreign news agency on the 1915
events, in which he employed certain words,” as his lawyer put it,
speaking to AFP.
If convicted again, the journalist will have to serve his original
sentence plus a possible three more years.
His lawyer Fethiye Cetin said the new proceedings had been sparked
when Agos, the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly that Dink edits,
reprinted excerpts from the July interview.
In the interview, Dink says of the World War I killings of Armenians:
“Of course I say this is a genocide, because the result itself
identifies what it is and gives it a name. You can see that a people
who have been living on these lands for four thousand years have
disappeared. This is self-explanatory.”
Ankara refuses to apply the term genocide to the events. Earlier this
month it rejected a European Union report saying that it should do
so as a condition for joining the bloc.
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted last week
that Article 301 of the Turksh penal code — which is the legal basis
for Dink’s indictment and for most proceedings against intellectuals
who speak out about the Armenian question — could be amended.
The EU has repeatedly warned Ankara that the prosecution of
intellectuals for exercising their right to free speech is damaging
Turkey’s membership bid.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PROSECUTOR OPENS NEW CASE AGAINST ARMENIAN-TURKISH JOURNALIST FOR ‘INSULTING TURKISHNESS’
Associated Press Worldstream
September 25, 2006 Monday 4:46 PM GMT
An Istanbul prosecutor opened a new case against Armenian-Turkish
journalist Hrant Dink for the crime of “insulting Turkishness,”
Dink said on Monday.
The case was opened because Dink told a foreign news agency in an
interview that the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks around
the time of World War I constituted genocide.
“Of course I say it was genocide,” Dink had said. “With these events
you see the disappearance of a people who lived on these lands for
4,000 years.”
Dink could face up to three years in prison if convicted under article
301 of the Turkish penal code, which makes it a crime punishable by
prison time to insult Turkey, “Turkishness” or the government.
Turkey’s official stance is that the evacuation and mass deaths
of Armenians living in Turkey from 1915 to 1923 did not amount to
genocide. It says the frequently cited death toll of 1.5 million
is inflated.
Writers and academics who have stated otherwise in Turkey have often
found themselves in court and facing the possibility of imprisonment.
Dink had previously been convicted of attempting to influence the
judiciary after his bilingual Armenian-Turkish newspaper, Agos,
ran articles criticizing article 301. Dink’s sentence was suspended,
meaning he would not go to prison unless convicted again.
The European Union has warned Turkey that changing or abolishing the
law is a prerequisite for securing freedom of expression in Turkey,
and that not doing so could mean the end of Turkey’s EU bid.
Novelist Elif Shafak was acquitted last week of insulting Turkishness,
a charge launched against her for words uttered by fictional Armenian
characters in her book, “The Bastard of Istanbul.”
Turkish courts dropped similar charges against acclaimed novelist
Orhan Pamuk earlier this year following an international uproar.
Dink, who had previously threatened in an emotional interview to
leave Turkey, said he would stay on and fight the charges.
“I’ll go to the court. I’ll defend myself. What more can I do?” he
said on Monday.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AFTER CHAYKA’S VISIT ONLY PRELIMINARY CAUSES OF A320 CRASH ARE SPECIFIED
By Marietta Khachatrian
AZG Armenian Daily
26/09/2006
Answering journalists question in Yerevan on September 22, chief
prosecutor of the Russian Federation, Yuri Chayka, said that the
investigation into the crash of A320 Armenian passenger plane is not
over yet. “The investigation is currently trying to answer whether
there was a technical breakdown, whether the crew violated flight rules
and whether the air traffic controllers did everything right. Now we
are waiting for experts to answer these questions after which we will
put the facts together we will be able to say who is to blame. It
hard to speak of anything specific as the investigation is still in
process,” Mr. Chayka said.
Aghvan Hovsepian, chief prosecutor of Armenia, added that the common
investigation into the causes of the crash is a good example of
cooperation between the two countries’ Persecutor’s Offices.
The main reason of the meeting was signing of an agreement on
cooperation between Armenian and Russian Persecutor’s Offices that will
make the fight against criminals more productive in both states. Yuri
Chayka thinks that friendly relations, culture and traditions that
are comprehensible for the two nations prepare a good atmosphere for
the implementation of the agreement.
Answering a question about the recent rampage of ethnic violence in
Russia, Mr. Chayka said that these crimes have no ethnic grounds,
as the criminal does not distinguish between nationalities, he does
not look at his victim’s nationality while murdering him.
Yet, he expressed regret that there indeed were cases of ethnic
violence; during the last year only 5 investigation cases were opened
that had elements of ethnic intolerance and that were labeled “inciting
interethnic hostility.”
A special department investigating such cases was set at the
Prosecutor’s Office of Russia that will supervise implementation
of federal legislature and laws concerning international relations,
Yuri Chayka appeased.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ALMOST ALL SPHERES OF ARMENIAN ECONOMY EXHIBITED AT PAN ARMENIAN EXPO SECOND EXHIBITION
By Gohar Gevorgian
AZG Armenian Daily
26/09/2006
Third Pan Armenian Expo opened at Karen Demirchian Sports Cultural
Complex recently. Almost all of the spheres of the Armenian economy
were represented at the exhibition. Over 200 companies from Armenia,
Russia, Iran, Belgium, Indonesia, Germany, Greece, France and Georgia
participated at “Pan Armenian Expo.”
The expo included such spheres as furniture, carpets, hotel and
restaurants equipments, doors and windows, insurance services, travel
agencies, innovational and information technologies, construction
production, heavy and light industry, food, medical and educational
services and other goods. The exhibition lasted two days and was
broadcasted online.
In the course of the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Karen
Tchshmaritian, RA Trade and Economic development Minister, emphasized
the importance of the minor and medium enterprises, as well as that
of the newly opened branches of economy, including the information
technologies, for instance. Martin Sargsian, head of Ra Trade House,
stated that the exhibition covers all the branches of the local
economy. After the opening ceremony, Ra President Robert Kocharian,
Ministers Karen Tchshmaritian and Lokian visited the exhibition halls.
In the interview to “Azg,” the participants of the exhibition
emphasized the importance of establishing business relations and
cooperation with the local and foreign companies within the framework
of the exhibition.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CHIEFS OF CIS ANTI-TERROR UNITS TO MEET IN ARMENIA
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.09.2006 16:26 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Chiefs of the CIS anti-terror units will meet in
Armenia September 26-29. Atom Anti-Terror 2006 staff command exercise
coordinated by the CIS Anti-Terror Center will be held within the
framework of the meeting.
Atom Anti-Terror 2006 is the continuation of South Anti-Terror,
South Anti-Terror 2, West Anti-Terror, Azov Anti-Terror and Caspian
Anti-Terror exercises, says the statement by the RA National Security
Council. Representatives of G8, CSTO Anti-Terror Secretariat, UN
Security Council Counterterror Department and Regional Anti-Terror
Department of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization were also invited
to the exercise as observers, reports newsarmenia.ru.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

1 INJURED, 6 CARS AND WATER PIPLINE DAMAGED IN A BLAST NEARBY NAIRIT
Panorama.am
13:16 25/09/06
An explosion was reported near Nairit, a giant rubber-producing factory
in Yerevan, on Saturday. The blast shocked the nearby communities
and caused considerable damage. Fortunately no human fatalities were
reported. One citizen has been injured, 6 cars have been damaged
and damage has been caused to the water pipelines and the sewage. A
criminal case has been instituted into the case.
Yerevan Rescue Services received an emergency call at about 7 p.m. on
Saturday saying something exploded near Noragavit graveyard. The
rescue team arrived and several top officials also hurried to the
place of the incident, among them Yerevan Mayor Yervand Zakharyan,
Minister of Regional Administration H. Abrahamyan.
Nature Protection Minister V. Aivazyan. Minister of Health N. Davidyan
and several others.
Initial reports said an underground explosion took place in Nairit
collector without outburst of fire.
The composition of the substance that caused the blast is under study
now.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PETER SEMNEBY ARRIVING IN ARMENIA OCTOBER 2
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.09.2006 12:51 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ EU Envoy for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby
will pay a call to Armenia October 2, Mr Semneby personally told a
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.
The EU Envoy is arriving in Yerevan with the EU Troika. He also
informed that he will possibly visit Armenia late October or early
November 2006.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress