Author: Emil Lazarian

A `TACIT’ STEP BY STEP SETTLEMENT

Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
07 April 2006
Recently debates and events connected with the Karabakh issue have
acquired a new quality and course. The offered solutions are so many
and so different that it seems impossible to offer a fundamentally new
solution. However, the relationships of the conflict parties have not
changed and still lack confidence. Hence, `bridges’ are needed rather
to bring into being one of the existing solutions. This first of all
requires mutual confidence or at least a constructive dialogue on good
faith. The official bilateral and mediated meetings of the
representatives of Armenia and Azerbaijan apparently cannot foster the
establishment of this atmosphere. As a result the role of the
non-governmental sector increases, and recently it has been quite
active. In this context the Dartmouth Conference is a significant
step. This is an American initiative since 2001. The delegations of
Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh participate in the activity
of the Dartmouth Conference Regional Conflicts Task Force. The task
force has effective relations with both NGOs and official
bodies. After the meetings in Baku and Armenia the task force arrived
in Stepanakert on April 1. The US co-chairman Harold Saunders, the
Russian co-chairman Vitaly Naumkin, as well as Phil Steward and Irina
Zvyagelskaya met with the representatives of non-governmental and
political organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The core
question discussed at the meeting was the draft of the framework
agreement on the peace settlement of the Karabakh issue, worked out in
2005, during the ninth meeting of the Dartmouth Conference. Harold
Saunders briefed the main principles of the document. According to
him, none of the sides wants a deadlocked negotiation for the peace
settlement of the Karabakh conflict. However, he also pointed out that
it is impossible to lay bridges of agreement between the logically
opposite views that the sides have today. By the way, Harold Saunders
meant Nagorno Karabakh as a conflict side. For the role of the
framework agreement in establishing this bridge, Harold Saunders
thinks if applied it would establish serious progress in the talks. He
characterized it as a peace-building plan, in which every next step is
possible after the fulfilment of the previous one, rather than a
document that would establish peace at once. Accordingly, the process
is divided into two parts. In the first one it is foreseen to
establish an atmosphere, take actions and create conditions for the
second stage, when a final resolution of the issue will be
reached. The Russian co-chairman Vitaly Naumkin pointed out the fact
that the representatives of the United States and Russia, which have
considerable controversies with regard to conflict settlement, act
together in the peace settlement of the conflict over Karabakh. It is
interesting to know the status, however. According to him, it is
impossible to settle the Karabakh issue at once. First it is necessary
to create an atmosphere. With regard to this Vitaly Naumkin said it is
impossible to achieve results at once. Therefore, it is preferable to
take a tiny step than not to do anything at all. And the engagement
of Karabakh in the talks will, according to him, have only positive
results for it. Nagorno Karabakh will be recognized in international
relations, and will have the right to sign certain agreements and make
commitments. The representatives of the NKR NGOs and political
organizations disagreed to certain principles and terms used in the
document with regard to the step-by-step resolution of the conflict
and the status of Nagorno Karabakh. Margarita Karapetyan, Official of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of NKR, said: `The document does not
state clearly the legal status of Nagorno Karabakh, which is of utter
importance for the Karabakh side. Here a de-facto, an ` intermediate’
status is mentioned only. On the other hand, the step-by-step
settlement underlies this document, determining the peace settlement
by the return of certain territories, the problem of refugees, etc. It
is very important that it is done through successive steps, the first,
then the second, etc. Practically, in accordance with the document,
the conflict over Karabakh and its settlement is viewed from the
aspect of elimination of the consequences rather than the cause of the
conflict ` the status of NKR.’
NORAYR HOVSEPIAN.
07-04-2006
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep
April 8 2006
Azerbaijan Says U.S. Proposals On Karabakh ‘Very Interesting’

April 8, 2006 — Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
today said the United States made him “very interesting” proposals on
how to solve his country’s territorial dispute with Armenia.
Speaking after talks with U.S. officials in Washington, Mammadyarov
said Baku would make its response public when U.S. envoy Steven Mann
visits the Azerbaijani capital on April 18.
Before meeting with Mammadyarov on April 7, U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice reportedly talked with the Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents over the phone.
Yerevan and Baku have been formally at war since 1988, when the
predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh seceded
from Soviet Azerbaijan.
The United States, Russia, and France co-chair the Minsk Group of
nations mandated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe to mediate between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Today, Azerbaijan
April 8 2006
Proposal of Council of Europe: “Let a New Mayor of Baku be elected”

08 April 2006 [19:16] – Today.Az

Recently third meeting of steering project group on creation of
National Associations of local authorities started.

Working Group aims at rendering assistance in development of
municipalities of Azerbaijan. Expert of Council of Europe, Owen
Masters, underlined that professionalism of group members has been
improved. Besides, he informed that the events for learning demands
of municipality would be held.
Although opinions regarding creation of the unions of local steering
authorities in the South Caucasus were repeated, however accordingly
to O. Masters today given project cannot be realized. Expert informed
that “Conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia prevents it”, but in
future Council of Europe intents to realize such a project.
Masters emphasized the importance of the uniting of all
municipalities of Azerbaijan within one organization, He informed
that within the frames of the project on creation National
Association of local authorities in Azerbaijan, training would be
held abroad: “This step aims at informing municipalities regarding
Association and bringing importance of the given issue to their
notice. Project will concern municipalities of Azerbaijan; it will be
completed in 2007. Then the Association itself will be established.”
“In the name of Civil Society” NGO Coordinator, Fikret Rzayev, gave
information about members of Working Group. He said that depending on
the venue and possibilities, he get acquainted with all
municipalities.
Head of department of Presidential Administration on the work with
municipalities, Ramig Gashimov, informed about his intention to
cooperate with the Council of Europe for development of the above
structures. Council of Europe will provide possibility for
Azerbaijani municipality to make their own choice.
Project Manager, Karlen Martin, informed that meetings are expected
to be held at the regions for informing purposes. Besides, it was
stressed that abroad there would be held training. Accordingly to K.
Martin publishing of journal of National Association would be
possible. Project Manager underlined that proposal on appointment of
mayor of Baku via election not via direct appointment will be
considered.
“Although a proposal on appointment of mayor of the capital via
election was submitted, no discussions were held in this connection,”
Ramig Gashimov, Head of department of Presidential Administration on
the work with municipalities, said.
According to him, the above proposal was submitted by the President
of Congress on Regional and Local authorities, Dee Stazi. However,
today country is experiencing process of formation of municipalities
that is why the issue on creation of municipality of the city is high
on the agenda.
/

URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Today, Azerbaijan
April 8 2006
Vardan Oskanyan: “We are ready to host Azerbaijani team in Yerevan”

08 April 2006 [08:29] – Today.Az

“We are ready to provide all conditions to conduct the meeting
against Azerbaijani national football team in Yerevan,” said Armenian
FM Vardan Oskanian.
The matter is, though Azerbaijani and Armenian national teams have to
meet within the qualifying stage of the European Cup in Austria and
Switzerland in 2008, the Foreign Minister of the aggressive country
said he had talks with International Football Federation-FIFA not
with European Football Union-UEFA.
“We are having talks with FIFA. I hope Azerbaijan will provide
everything for meeting in Baku,” Oskanyan said.
Secretary General of Azerbaijan Football Federation (AFFA) Fuad
Asadov told APA that he was not informed about Armenians talking with
FIFA.
“Armenians might have talks with FIFA. However, AFFA is determined in
its position,” Asadov stated, APA informs.

URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NewsByUs, ID
April 8 2006
Free Kurdistan
By: Bruce Walker: on Apr 07, 2006
Recent nuances and nudges in government policy as well as tacit
support for the most obscene anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism by
the ruling political party of Turkey ought to cause the United States
to begin to rethink its comprehensive policy toward Asia in general
and toward one non-Arab minority in Iraq in particular: the Kurds.
What, today, is the most intractable political problem in Iraq? It
is the very real political and religious aims of Shiite, Sunni and
Kurdish regions of the nation. Since the inception of Operation
Iraqi Freedom, President Bush has maintained that the unity of the
nation of Iraq was non-negotiable. In politics and in war, however,
nothing should be non-negotiable.
Iraq is not a nation in any real sense, but it was rather three
separate concentration camps each with differing degrees of
oppression. The Sunnis, the smallest group in the economically and
landlocked center of Iraq, had the most to gain by making peace
quickly and joining a unity government. Coalition forces have
supported the ungrateful Sunnis by opposing a partition of Iraq. Now
President Bush should embrace such a division.
This would divide Iraq into three separate nations: a relatively
unimportant Bagdad Iraq of Sunnis, a Basra Iraq of Shiites who could
govern themselves without the need for Iranian support, and an Mosul
Iraq which would be the first true homeland for Kurds in many
centuries, an oil rich area that is well able to defend itself and
has shown the most gratitude to America of the three nations of Iraq.
Why has America shied away from this approach? The principal reason
is that Kurds are a dispossessed people whose natural homeland
stretches across much of the Middle East. A substantial number of
Kurds live in Iran, which is as close to a mortal enemy of the United
States as there is in the world today. American support for
reclaiming those colonial possession of Teheran and the incorporation
of those lands into Kurdistan would roughly double the area of the
Iraqi Kurds.
A significant, but smaller, number of Kurds live in Syria, an enemy
of America and a supporter both of the Iraqi insurgency and of
international terrorism. If the Baathist regime did not give up its
Kurdish lands, then the Kurds, with American military support, should
smash the Syrian Army and force as humiliating a peace treaty as
possible on Damascus.
The majority of the thirty million or so Kurds, however, live in
Turkey – almost one quarter of the population of Turkey. That, more
than anything else, has stayed our hand so far. Kurdistan with the
southeast quarter of Turkey, is a fairly large nation.
Traditionally, Turkey has been an ally of America, but that has been
changing fast and Turkish support for American policies has always
been based entirely on cynical self-interest. We owe Turkey –
neutral in World War Two and our enemy in World War One – nothing.
Our support for Turkey costs us the goodwill of Greeks, Armenians and
other European nations that suffered through centuries of Turkish
oppression. It also has cost of much of the goodwill of Kurds, who
would otherwise welcome the presence of a superpower that was not
intolerant, not Arab, and sought nothing but friendly relations with
it.
Another important reason for supporting a true Kurdistan is that the
Kurds are a genuinely diverse people. Although they were forced to
covert to Islam, today only about seventy percent of the Kurds are
Moslem, and many of those only nominally, Jews, Christians,
Zoroastrians (or a faith much akin to that) and Bahai have lived
within the long-persecuted Kurdish community with their first
allegiance as Kurds, and there is no single branch of Islam that
clearly dominates the Kurdish community.
Kurdistan could then be a democracy with an Islamic majority that was
genuinely inclusive of all faiths, both needing the support of all
Kurds to survive (much like Israel) and also because of centuries of
living largely underground, tolerant of all Kurds. There is little
doubt that it would become an affluent nation as capable of defending
itself as Israel is today, and that along with the establishment of a
truly free and democratic Lebanon, would create three strong, free
and prosperous democracies which would naturally become allies or at
least friends.
The dismemberment of Iran, which would lose ten percent of its
population, and the humiliation of Syria, which would be forced into
a very precarious position, would be great peripheral benefits. The
downside has always been the impact on Turkey, but a Turkey which
continues to deny its Armenian holocaust and is rapidly moving toward
denial of HaShoah as it embraces vicious anti-Semitism, should
increasingly lose our concern about its interests.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

U,S. hopeful for progress on rift over Nagorno-Karabakh
AP Worldstream; Apr 07, 2006

The State Department said Friday it is hopeful Azerbaijan and Armenia
can make progress toward ending their dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.
That issue came up on Friday during a meeting between Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice and Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarove.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that ahead of the
meeting, Rice spoke with the Azeri and Armenian presidents.
The two leaders met recently in France.
“We hope that both sides can in the wake of the talks in France again
provide some renewed impetus to those discussions and come to an
agreement that would resolve this longstanding issue,” McCormack said.
Rice and Mammadyarove also discussed economic reform and
democratization in Azerbaijan.
“The secretary emphasized the importance of respect for human rights
and moving forward on the democratization process in Azerbaijan,”
McCormack said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Paris-Normandie
6 avril 2006
Un père ivre blesse sa fille et sa femme
Sous l’emprise de l’alcool, un père de famille arménien a agressé sa
femme et l’une de ses filles à coups de couteau. Il a été placé en
détention en attendant son jugement.
Samoklin Sardarian, 38 ans, dort en prison depuis lundi. Cet Arménien
hébergé avec sa famille dans un foyer Aftam du Havre a blessé avec un
couteau son épouse et sa fille le samedi 1er avril. Les victimes sont
hors de danger. Présenté en comparution immédiate lundi devant le
tribunal correctionnel du Havre, l’homme a demandé un délai pour
préparer sa défense comme le permet la loi.
En revanche, le parquet a sollicité son placement en détention,
accordé par les juges, en attendant son jugement le 10 mai prochain.
L’agression s’est produite lors d’une dispute, sur fond d’alcool.
Ivre, le prévenu est devenu rouge de colère lorsqu’il a appris que sa
plus grande fille n’emmenait pas sa petite soeur à l’église.
Nerveux
Je souhaite une expertise psychiatrique de M. Sardarian demande son
avocate, Maître Céline Boisseau. Le tribunal a accepté cette requête.
Un expert se penchera donc sur son cas. Pour justifier la détention
provisoire, la substitut du procureur a mis en avant un trouble
exceptionnel à l’ordre public et la nécessité de protéger les
enfants: Il aurait pu tuer sa femme et sa fille. Il a fait preuve
d’une violence extrême. Ses quatre enfants sont insérés et
scolarisés. Il convient de les protéger. C’est quelqu’un d’impulsif
et d’imprévisible.
L’avocate assure que son client fait tout pour se soigner. Il voit
déjà un psychiatre et a conscience de son comportement violent. Il
est sujet à de véritables crises de nerf. En attendant son jugement,
il peut être logé ailleurs et vivre éloigné de ses proches. Je
sollicite un contrôle judiciaire. Au final, le tribunal a reconnu la
nécessité de l’héberger ailleurs, mais il a opté pour la maison
d’arrêt.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

La Nouvelle République du Centre Ouest
05 avril 2006
” La peinture est ma maison ” ;
D’origine arménienne, né à Beyrouth en 1974, Stéphane Torossian a
connu l’horreur de la guerre. Durant ces sombres années, son seul
refuge fut le dessin. Devenu peintre, le Berruyer d’adoption exposera
bientôt ses toiles aux Bonnets Rouges.
Lorsque j’étais enfant au Liban, nous avons beaucoup fui, beaucoup
déménagé pour échapper aux bombardements. Mais où que l’on soit, mes
parents se sont toujours débrouillés pour que j’ai une feuille et des
crayons pour dessiner. L’art a été ma seule maison, raconte Stéphane
Torossian.
A 31 ans, le peintre vit désormais à Bourges avec sa femme et son
fils. Une ville qu’il a choisie pour son calme. « En débarquant en
France, j’ai d’abord habité à Paris, mais j’avais trop vécu dans le
bruit les dix premières années de ma vie pour rester là très
longtemps », explique-t-il.
Né de parents artistes peintres très célèbres au Liban, Stéphane est
tombé dans les pots de couleur quand il était petit. « Et ce n’est
pas qu’une belle phrase ! A 3 ans, je dessinais sur tous les murs qui
étaient à ma portée », sourit-il. Arrivé à Paris en 1984, sans parler
un mot de français, Stéphane s’adapte rapidement, comme il l’a
toujours fait. Il entame alors une scolarité qu’il définit comme «
chaotique et atypique ». « J’ai toujours eu des notes désastreuses en
dessin, mais le jour où j’ai eu 20, j’ai arrêté l’école. » Il rejoint
alors son père à Beyrouth et débute sa carrière de peintre en
exposant avec lui.
Sa dernière exposition, intitulée « Corps étrangers », s’inspire des
paysages désertiques, rocailleux qu’il a traversés enfant alors qu’il
fuyait la guerre mais aussi de l’intégration ou de l’éjection de
l’être humain dans ce milieu où, si l’on ne se bat pas, on meurt.
L’expo s’achèvera symboliquement le 24 avril, jour de la
commémoration du génocide arménien.
Stéphane Torossian, « Corps étrangers : de l’Arménie au Liban ».
Vernissage de l’exposition samedi 15 avril, à 18 h, aux Bonnets
Rouges, à Bourges. Exposition du 17 au 24 avril.

ARMENIA-DIASPORA SECOND ECONOMIC FORUM TO BE HELD ON SEPTEMBER 20
YEREVAN, APRIL 7, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia-Diaspora second economic forum
will be held on September 20, 2006. RA Deputy Minister of Trade and
Economic Development Tigran Davtian told reporters about it on April
6. According to him, website will be created
for the efficient organization of the forum. The deputy minister said
that the Diasporan Armenian capital makes up 50-60% of the total
amount of foreign investments in Armenia. To recap, the
Armenia-Diaspora first business forum took place in September 2003.

RENEWABLE ENERGY PROGRAM SIGNED
YEREVAN, APRIL 7, NOYAN TAPAN. RA Minister of Finance and Economy
Vardan Khachatrian and Director of the World Bank Yerevan Office Roger
Robinson on April 7 signed the Renewable Energy Program approved by
the World Bank. The program’s total cost is 8 mln dollars, 5 mln
dollars of which is a credit provided by the International Development
Association (IDA), and 3 mln dollars is a grant of the Global
Ecological Fund (GEF). The program will be assisted by the Armenian
government for the purpose of enhancing the electricity generation
capacities, which are private property and are operated by the private
sector, by using renewable power-bearing substances, as well as for
reducing carbon dioxide emissions, removing the obstacles to the
development of renewable energy. According to the press service of the
RA Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Renewable Energy Program has
two components: 1) support for elimination of obstacles and assistance
to the program’s implementation, 2) investment financing. The IDA
resources and the grant will be provided to the Renewable Energy and
Energy Saving Fund, which will allocate money to private investors
through a financial intermediary. It is expected that after the
program’s completion, it will help create an extra capacity of about
80 megawatt for generation of renewable energy, adding an annual
amount of 200 gigawatt/hour to the electricity generation
structure. Carbon dioxide emissions are expected to decrease by about
130 thousands tons a year. The program will be co-financed by the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) that will
allocate 7 mln dollars and the Cafesjian Family Foundation to provide
3 mln dollars. The credit will be given to Armenia on standard terms
of the Interenational Development Association – it is repayable over
40 years with a 10-year grace period.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress