Author: Emil Lazarian

Iran Negotiating Contracts to Construct Gas Pipelines to Azerbaijan, Armenia,
and Kuwait
17 April 04
TEHRAN (MNA) — Iran is prepared to supply natural gas to the
Azerbaijan Republic through a gas pipeline if the two countries agree
to a contract guaranteeing the purchases, a senior Oil Ministry
official said here Friday.
The managing director of the state-owned National Iran Gas Export Co.
(NIGEC), Roknoaddin Javadi, said that there is no formidable obstacle
in the way of the plan and Iran is only waiting for the Azeri side to
agree to the guarantees.
However, the guarantees must be acceptable for Iran, he stressed.
Iran has also reached preliminary agreements with Armenia and Kuwait
on the construction of gas pipelines to those countries.
It is expected that the deal with Armenia will be finalized soon, the
official added.
On Monday, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh announced that a
draft contract for gas exports to Armenia has been prepared, adding
that Iran’s exports to Armenia will start at 500 million cu. m. per
year and could be increased to 1.5 billion cu. m. per year.
The minister said that Armenian officials would be signing the
contract in the near future, according to PIN.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian president, World Bank official discuss reforms
Arminfo
15 Apr 04

YEREVAN
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and the head of the World Bank’s
Yerevan office, Roger Robinson, discussed the implementation of World
Bank programmes in Armenia today.
The Armenian presidential press service has reported that they
discussed the possibility of expanding those programmes by involving
new spheres, in particular the social sphere and the production
infrastructure. The participants in the meeting noted with
satisfaction that cooperation between Armenia and the World Bank was
developing quite effectively and that the World Bank had played an
important role in conducting reforms in the republic.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

INTERESTS OF ARMENIAN AND AZERI OPPOSITION COINCIDE
YEREVAN, APRIL 15. ARMINFO. First of all, the executive power should
make conclusions. We should watch our work in a new way, Armenia’s DM
Serzh Sargsyan says in an interview to Golos Armenii commenting on the
present internal political crisis in Armenia. You know, nobody neither
the president nor prime minister or any minister said that there is no
problem in their sphere and everything is OK. There are numerous
problems. Specifically in my sphere there are many problems but we are
stemming from a principle: everything becomes known in
comparison. Otherwise a question will undoubtedly rise: “But who are
the judges?” From this point of view if we compare 2004 and 2000,
progress is obvious. We should aspire the progress be more noticeable,
but at the same time we should and will tame those is trying to play
on the people’s emotions, who is trying to flatter the people.
Sargsyan quotes Armenian poet Paruyr Sevak’s words “to flatter the
people is a crime”, and Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli’s words “Every
person feels himself a strategist when he watches a battle from
aside.”
It seems to them that they can do something. But it is obvious: these
people do not even have an ability to organize a meeting. All their
activity is based on lie and falsification. They lie and are not shy
to look into the eyes of those who came to support them. I cannot
imagine how seeing 5-6 thousand people one can say: “My dear people,
thank you that 100,000 of you have come.” How may be assessed speeches
of the opposition leaders in foreign press, first of all in Russian?
They were assuring themselves that we are leading the people to
disaster and now they are trying to persuade other people in this, our
friends as well as enemies. What is this if not betrayal?It turns out
that they are aspiring to assure Azerbaijan: “Look, the authorities in
Armenia have neither basis nor army. Come and settle your problems!”
Sargsyan refutes the opinion that the opposition is acting in unison
with Azerbaijan. No, certainly there is no direct connection. Here
there may not be two opinions. Another question is if the interests
coincide. The problem is that people are unscrupulous. There is only
one slogan for them – the worse in Armenia the better for
them. Azerbaijan is certainly guided by the same slogan, and not only
Azerbaijan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSCE MINSK GROUP ON NAGORNY KARABAKH RESUMES WORK
BAKU/YEREVAN, April 16 (RIA Novosti) – Elmar Mamedyarov, Azerbaijan’s
foreign minister, and Vardan Oskanyan, Armenia’s foreign minister,
well meet within the framework of the Minsk Group of the OSCE
(Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) on Nagorny
Karabakh in Prague on Friday, April 16.
This is the first time the Armenian foreign minister will meet his
recently appointed Azerbaijani counterpart.
Moreover, Mr. Mamedyarov and Mr. Oskanyan’s meeting in Prague within
the framework of OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorny Karabakh will be held
after more than a year long interval.
The work of the Minsk Group on settlement of the Azerbaijani-Armenian
conflict over Nagorny Karabakh (an enclave with the predominantly
Armenian population in Azerbaijan) was officially suspended in
connection with the presidential and parliamentarian elections in
Armenia last year (February-March) and the presidential elections in
Azerbaijan last October.
The upcoming meeting was originally scheduled to be held in Prague on
March 29, however it was postponed because of an official request from
Baku.
The meeting was organized through the mediation of the Russian,
American, and French co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorny
Karabakh. Yury Merzlyakov, the Russian co-chairman of OSCE Minsk
Group, told to the Baku-based ATV TV channel that the Prague meeting
would essentially be “consultations of the heads of the foreign
ministries of Armenia and Azerbaijan with the co-chairmen of the Minsk
Group.”
The press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported that
the meeting will be held for information purposes in connection with
the appointment of Azerbaijan’s new foreign minister and the upcoming
replacement of the American co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group.
This opinion is shared by the Armenian Foreign Ministry, whose
information and press department said that the meeting of the two
countries’ foreign ministers would be held within the framework of the
consultations organized by the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Gourp on
the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia Sees Russian Diamond Supplies Resuming Soon
TASS
April 16, 2004 Friday
Russia is expected to resume rough diamond supplies to Armenia in the
near future, First Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister,
Ashot Shakhnazaryan, said.
Since December 2003, there haven been no supplies from Russia, but
corresponding agreements to resume imports have already been signed by
Armenia’s four major diamond-cutting companies.
Only 130,000 carats were imported into Armenia in 2003 out of the
planned 400,000 carats, he said.
Analysts said the decrease in diamond imports from Russia was caused
by liberalization of the Russian market, which made Russia’s rough
diamond monopoly ALROSA hike prices.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian rebel found dead in jail cell
AFP
YEREVAN, April 16
One of the men who attacked Armenia’s parliament, killing eight people
including the prime minister in 1999, was found dead in his jail cell
Friday after apparently committing suicide, the justice ministry said.
“This morning around 11, Vram Galstian, who was convicted in the
attack, committed suicide in his jail cell. He was found hanging from
a sheet,” justice ministry spokesman Ara Sagatelian told AFP.
Galstian is the uncle of former Armenian journalist Nairi Unanyan, who
led a group of rebels into parliament on October 27, 1999 in a
dramatic siege broadcast on national television and later aired across
the globe.
They shot dead prime minister Vezguen Sarkissian and the parliament
speaker, along with six deputies in parliament, before giving up after
an extended siege.
Their demands were never clearly spelled out, but analysts at the time
believed that they opposed Armenian efforts to strike a peace deal
with its neighbor and arch-foe Azerbaijan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia working to upgrade n-plant safety level-Kocharyan
By Tigran Liloyan
TASS YEREVAN, April 16
Work is in progress to enhance safety at the Armenian nuclear power
plant, which the European Union wants to be closed down, Armenian
President Robert Kocharyan said at a meeting of the Council on Safe
Nuclear Power.
He said nuclear power specialists had recently taken a number of steps
to raise the safety level at the plant in accordance with the
recommendations issued by the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry and the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Armenia used its own funds to implement the program of upgrading the
plant safety level, while technical assistance came from the United
States, Great Britain, the European Union and the IAEA.
In 2003, an IAEA mission conducted an independent expert assessment of
the safety level at the Armenian nuclear plant at which work related
to the introduction of IAEA design standards has since been completed
or nearing completion, the president said.
The Armenian nuclear power plant, which became operational in 1979,
now meets 40 percent of the country’s demand for electric power.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Georgian Messenger
Opinion
16 April 2004
Armenia attempts “Carnation revolution”
Over the last few days, despite the tension between the central
government and the authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara,
the Georgian media still devoted much attention to the events in
neighboring Armenia. The series of protests against the administration
of President Robert Kocharian were forcefully broken up this week, but
opposition leaders say they are planning to continue. Still observers
point out that for several reasons the situation in Armenia is not
similar to that which surrounded Georgia’s Rose Revolution of November
2003 and doubt the Georgian scenario can be repeated.
Last year all three South Caucasian countries conducted elections, the
results of which will play a large role in the future development of
each country. In Azerbaijan and Armenia, as per tradition, the
government prevailed in presidential elections. In Yerevan, Robert
Kocharian was reelected and in Baku, Heydar Aliev managed to pass the
reigns of power to his son Ilham.
Events following parliamentary elections in Georgia, however, unfolded
in a very different manner. After being accused of falsifying the
November 2 campaign, Eduard Shevardnadze’s administration was removed
from power by massive peaceful street protests later dubbed the Rose
Revolution.
Georgia’s example inspired opposition forces in a number of other
post-Soviet countries, among them Armenia. Political processes in
Armenia have always been dominated by the Nagorno-Karabakh
issue. Armenia won control over this region within the borders of
Azerbaijan, but traditionally populated mainly by Armenians after a
vicious three-year war ending in 1994. Today, President Kocharian and
much of the government hails from Karabakh. It can be said that
Armenia has become a prisoner of its victory in the conflict. The
controlling Karabakhi clan can block any opposition insurgence with
the claim that an internal conflict in Armenian society would be
catastrophic for the country’s foreign policy interests. Therefore,
the opposition must resign itself to routine election falsification,
corruption and other governmental sins. In contrast to Georgia, both
the government and opposition in Armenia are strongly
pro-Russian. However, the Russian government unilaterally supports the
Kocharian administration. We can expect no western orientation from
his government. On Wednesday his foreign minister said Armenia has no
plans of joining NATO. He further added, reported Interfax: “If
Georgia and Azerbaijan become NATO members after all and Armenia does
not, this will obviously lead to new dividing lines in the Caucasus.”
Armenia’s “Carnation Revolution” has not been successful. Kocharian
himself, as well as many analysts, point out that Armenia is radically
different from its rosy neighbor. The government there is much
stronger than Shevardnadze’s administration was here in Georgia. All
else aside, during the Rose Revolution, Georgian law enforcement and
military declared their neutrality, which in large part determined the
later development of events. In Armenia, however, the police and the
army unilaterally stood by the side of President Kocharian. It has
been reported that the most active dispersers of last week’s protests
were special service personnel brought in from Karabakh.
Tbilisi’s official position regarding the events in Yerevan was
completely neutral, as the leadership of all three South Caucasian
countries pursue a policy of not interfering in the internal political
processes in neighboring states.
Though Georgians viewed the protests in Armenia from the sidelines,
the local media was awash with speculation about the possible impact
these events could have on Georgia. Their general opinion was that
crisis in Yerevan is not in the country’s interests and that what
suits Georgia best is stable and predictable relations with its
neighbor. In recent days, Armenia made a decision that distances the
country from the path to democratic development. On the other hand,
the decision Georgia made last November greatly accelerated this
process. Change in Georgia is progressing rapidly, with plenty of
successes and plenty of mistakes made by a young government.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEW ARTICLES IN THE LAW `ON CHILDREN’
Azat Artsakh–Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
16-04-2004
Amendments were made to the NKR law `On children’. According to the
acting law, it is not allowed to sell alcohol and cigarettes to
children under 18 at shops and places of entertainment. According to
the new changes, to this list were added also narcotic drugs, horror
and erotic literature and video films. However, although the law
presupposes liability of those who will break the law, there are no
mechanisms of control. According to the chairman of the social
committee of the National Assembly Edward Aghabekian, it is possible
to work out a mechanism of control by the law on trade and
service. After the mentioned law is brought in effect, parents,
teachers, citizens may go to court for the cases of selling horror or
erotic films and magazines to children under 18. Besides, it is
necessary to observe that even near the schools there are kiosks
selling in daytime magazines with indecent photos. Whereas, in
developed countries showing these products is allowed only after
midnight.
NAIRA HAYRUMIAN.16-04-2004
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Jakarta Post
April 16, 2004
Utut dreams of top four in Tripoli
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia’s No. 1 chess grand master Utut Adianto will be heading to the
world chess championship with high hopes for a place in the semifinals.
“I have a lot of confidence (that I’ll do well in) this tournament.
Hopefully, I can reach the semifinals,” Utut told The Jakarta Post here.
The world chess championship will run from June 18 to July 13. The majority
of the matches will be played in Tripoli, Libya, while others will be in
Valetta, Malta.
Utut qualified for the tournament at the Asian Championship in Dubai last
year.
It is the fourth time that Utut has qualified since 1997. Although he was
unable to get past the second round in his previous appearances, Utut says
he thinks he can do it this time.
“For me, it’s now or never. Surely, I still have some good weapons,” he
said.
Utut gave the Indonesian chess team its only gold medal at the recent
Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in December but put in a somewhat discouraging
performance later by finishing only in third place at the Makita Grand
Master tourney.
“After you watch someone lose, you may expect a backlash from him,” he said.
With a total of US$1,508,000 in cash prizes on offer, the tournament has
drawn world’s best players. A first-round loser will still pocket $6,000.
To boost his chances, Utut has hired a foreign coach, Tibor Karolyi of
Hungary, to help him prepare for the tournament. Karolyi, whose coaching
record includes a past stint with world No. 5 Peter Leko, is expected to
arrive here on May 9.
“I know him well. We were together more than two years in a junior
competition. I will need to build further on my chess repertoire and Karolyi
can help me find some ideas on the chess board,” Utut said.
Karolyi, a 43-year-old International Master (IM) title holder will work with
Utut for only two weeks but an extension is possible.
“We’ll see whether I need to extend the partnership by bringing him along
with me to Libya,” Utut said.
Utut will be among 128 of world’s best chess players in the championship,
which uses a knockout format.
With him expected to be the 83rd seed among the contenders, Utut, currently
ranked 135 in the world, will probably face Smbat Lputian of Armenia, whose
world ranking is 60th.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress