Author: Hambardsumian Paul

GEORGIAN MINISTER DENIES OPPOSITION CLAIMS HE IS GAZPROM’S “EMISSARY”
Rustavi-2 TV, Tbilisi,
8 Nov 06
Georgia’s State Minister for Economic Reforms, Kakha Bendukidze,
has hit back at opposition claims that he is lobbying on behalf of
Russia’s state-owned gas company, Gazprom.
The opposition was referring to a statement made by Bendukidze in
March 2006 in saying that his “personal” view was that there was no
danger in selling Gazprom the trunk gas pipeline which carries gas
from Russia to Georgia and Armenia. On 7 November the deputy chairman
of Gazprom’s board, Aleksandr Medvedev, said that the company might
sell Georgia gas at a lower price in exchange for assets.
Speaking in parliament on 8 November, opposition Republican MP Davit
Berdzenishvili described Bendukidze as Gazprom’s “emissary”.
“Russia’s state-owned company Gazprom has an economic business
partner and political emissary in the Georgian government – Kakha
Bendukidze. The position of most members of parliament, whether they
are in the majority or opposition, will not be defined until we hear
a clear statement on what the Georgian government is going to do.
Today we are in a position when the supplier of gas is the
Russian state while the recipient here is also the Russian state
[through Russian-owned companies]. Bendukidze is encouraging this,”
Berdzenishvili said in remarks broadcast by Imedi TV.
Bendukidze flatly denied that he was supporting the sale of the trunk
gas pipeline to Gazprom.
“No assets will be exchanged for a gas price. This will not happen
under any circumstances. Besides, as I have already told you, under
blackmail it makes absolutely no sense to sign any significant contract
on exchanging assets or anything else. Of course we must not agree
to that. Eventually, we will secure several sources of gas supplies,
and that will be it,” Bendukidze told Rustavi-2 TV’s Business Kurieri
programme.
Speaking at a news briefing a little earlier, Bendukidze also condemned
opposition suggestions that companies in the hands of Russian investors
should be nationalized: “As regards the opposition, they are shameless
people, as you know. They are now developing some new ideas, gradually
drifting towards leftist politics, far-leftist politics. I have read
several interesting articles by members of our opposition and by
people on their election lists. They are laughable, these articles
are written in a clear communist style. It would be better for them
to be called Georgia’s Communist-Bolshevik party instead of New Right
and Republicans. That would better reflect their actions and level
of development than their current names,” Bendukidze said.

RUSSIA’S GAZPROM WARNS IT WILL CUT OFF GAS TO GEORGIA IF IT DOESN’T AGREE TO HIGHER PRICE
By Henry Meyer, Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
November 7, 2006 Tuesday 5:28 PM GMT
Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom warned Georgia on Tuesday that it
would cut off gas supplies by Jan. 1 unless Russia’s small southern
neighbor agreed to pay more than double the current price.
The head of OAO Gazprom’s export arm, Alexander Medvedev, told
reporters that unless Tbilisi signed a new contract for 2007 on terms
demanded by the Russian company, Gazprom would turn off the taps and
make only transit deliveries to Armenia through the pipeline that
crosses Georgia.
“If there is no contract, we will be obliged to supply only consumers
in Armenia. I wouldn’t call this a cutoff. The lack of a supply
contract means no supplies,” said Medvedev. He added that Georgia could
negotiate a lower price only if it offered some assets in exchange.
Gazprom last week said it plans to charge Tbilisi $230 per 1,000 cubic
meters of gas, compared with the $110 that it pays now, ratcheting
up economic pressure against the U.S.-allied Caucasus Mountain state.
Georgian leaders said that the sharp price rise was obviously political
because other ex-Soviet nations were paying far less, and they vowed
not to pay a “non-market” price.
The threat raises the prospect of a repeat of the bitter New Year’s
price fight with Ukraine, during which Gazprom temporarily cut off
the former Soviet republic’s supplies this year.
The gas dispute, which was seen as retaliation for Ukraine’s
pro-Western policies, briefly disrupted supplies to Western Europe,
provoking alarm about reliance on Russian gas. A cutoff of gas to
Georgia would not affect Gazprom exports to Europe, which pass through
Ukraine and Belarus.
Since Kremlin-friendly Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych came to office
this year in Ukraine, Kiev has managed to limit the price for 2007
to $130.
Gazprom, which has been criticized as a tool of Kremlin policy, denied
that politics had played a role in the demands of Georgia. The Russian
gas behemoth says it has decided to end subsidized gas tariffs for
other former Soviet nations and is moving toward market prices.
Russian ally Armenia is paying a price for Russian gas of $110 that
will stay fixed until the end of 2008.
But Medvedev said this was negotiated last year and the agreement
included clauses handing control of key energy facilities to Gazprom,
including the Armenian segment of a planned pipeline bringing Iranian
gas to the country, which is due to open later this year.
Neighboring Belarus, whose authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko
has signed a loose union treaty with Russia, faces a fourfold rise
in gas prices to $200, although Gazprom is believed to be willing to
compromise if the country hands over 50 percent of the state pipeline
through which Russian gas transits to Western Europe.
Relations between Tbilisi and its former imperial master Moscow have
been frosty because of Georgia’s decision to align itself with the
West and seek membership in NATO and the European Union.
Ties suddenly worsened after Georgia detained four alleged Russian
spies in late September and Russian authorities retaliated with a
sweeping transport and postal blockade and a crackdown on Georgian
businesses and migrants in Russia. The remittances they send home
total hundreds of millions of dollars a year and are important for
the struggling Georgian economy.

RARE ARMENIAN MANUSCRIPTS ON LOAN TO GREECE
Athens News Agency, Greece
Nov 7 2006
Armenia’s prestigious Matenadaran manuscripts archive will loan out
rare translations of Greek texts from classical antiquity for the use
by scholars in Greece, under an agreement struck on Tuesday between
Greek Parliament Vice-President George Sourlas and his visiting
Armenian counterpart Vahan Hovanesian.
According to a press release issued by Parliament, the texts will
include works attributed to Plato, for which the original Greek text
has been lost.
Caption: A file photo of the Greek Parliament Building on Syntagma
(Constitution) Square in downtown Athens. EPA/ANA-MPA/ L. Gouliamaki.

AZERIS ARE CONCERNED OVER THE ERECTION OF DALIBALTYAN’S STATUE
A1+
[01:35 pm] 07 November, 2006
The proposal of the Javakhq community to set up a monument to Armenian
General Dalibaltyan, the hero of the Artsakh war, aroused a great
complaint among the Azeris.
“Official Tbilisi will do its best to halt the negative outcome of the
statue unveiling on the Azeri-Georgian relations,” Georgian Ministry
of Culture told “Trend” agency.
Under the Georgian legislation, the Self-Government Bodies are entitled
to make a decision on the erection of statues.
The Azeris’ concern is also determined by the fact that there are
Armenians in the new Georgian Sakrebolo. The Georgian Minister of
Culture says that regarding the possibility of transferring the issue
to the political field they will take into account the interests of
neighbouring Azerbaijan too.

ARMENIA AND KAZAKHSTAN SIGNED SEVERAL BILATERAL DOCUMENTS
PanARMENIAN.Net
06.11.2006 18:06 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A number of bilateral documents were signed
today in Astana upon completion of talks between Kazakh President
Nursultan Nazarbayev and Armenian President Robert Kocharian. The sides
concluded agreements on mutual travels of the citizens, the convention
on cancellation of double taxation and prevention of avoiding
taxation on income and property, the intergovernmental agreement on
international automobile communication, the intergovernmental agreement
on encouragement of mutual protection of investments and agreement
on cooperation in the cultural field, reports Kazakhstan Today.

KOCHARIAN TO VISIT KAZAKHSTAN
Armenpress
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS: On November 6 president Robert
Kocharian will pay a two-day official visit to Kazakhstan at the
invitation of his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbaev.
Kocharian’s press office said Kocharian-Nazarbaev talks will be
followed by enlarged negotiations. It said also a set of agreements,
particularly, on avoiding double taxation, will be signed in Astana.
In Astana Kocharian is scheduled to meet with Kazakh businessmen and
members of the Armenian community.

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS ARMENIA’S BORDER MOSTLY OPEN
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 2 2006
(PanARMENIAN.Net) – “The Armenian-Turkish border is mostly open,”
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said. In his words, 70 thousand
Armenians live and work in Turkey at present and send finances to
their relatives in Armenia, reports Trend.
“Besides, there is air communication. This is a political issue and
for most part depends of the Armenian government,” the Turkish FM
said, reports RFE/RL. To note, Abdullah Gul is participating in the
BSECO FMs’ sitting in Moscow.

ARMENIANS OF HOLLAND INTEND TO INVOLVE THEME OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN TEXT BOOKS
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Nov 02 2006
ISTANBUL. NOVEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Turkish
Hurriyet newspaper wrote that Armenians of Holland intend to involve
the theme of the Armenian Genocide in text-books. As Marmara informs,
Rita Verdonk, the Minister on National Minorities Issuess of Holland,
who is famous for her firm policy towards foreigners, proposes with
the Armenian organizations of Holland that the theme of the Armenian
Genocide is involved in text-books and punishments are defined against
those internet sites which will deny the fact of the Genocide.

ARMENIAN AZERBAIJANIS TO BE INCLUDED IN LIST OF ELECTORS
Today, Azerbaijan
Nov 1 2006
Constituency Election Commission (CEC) of Khankendi election
constituency #122 will include Armenian Azerbaijanis in the list
of electors beginning from January of 2007, Allahverdi Dolukhanov,
the chief of CEC #122, told.
He said that commission has prepared working plan and citizens of
Armenian origin living abroad will be included to the list in their
own will.
He said that Azerbaijani citizens living abroad, but registered in
this constituency appealed to the election commission on their own
initiative after restoration of the work of the constituency.
“Mostly Armenian Azerbaijanis living in CIS countries appealed to us.
We will begin to include the ones who appealed first,” he said.
Dolukhanov also said that the government will take appropriate measures
to let those citizens participate in the elections, APA reports.
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Just weeks after marriage, Marine killed in Iraq
BY DIANA DILLABER MURRAY
The Oakland Press (Oakland County, Michigan)
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
LATHRUP VILLAGE – Marine Lance Cpl. Nicholas J. Manoukian 22, had been
back in Iraq only one month before he was killed in Anbar province
when the Humvee in which he was riding drove over an improvised
exploding device.
Manoukian, son of Mary Manoukian Calhoun of Lathrup Village, married
his junior high school sweetheart while he was home on leave.
The young couple had one month and one week together before he was
deployed to Iraq in September, said his wife, Danielle Manoukian, 22.
A radio operator, Manoukian was one of four Marines based at Camp
Lejeune, N.C., to die in the explosion Saturday and one of two from
southeastern Michigan, the Pentagon said Monday. The Defense Department
identified the others as Lance Cpl. Clifford R. Collinsworth, 20,
of Chelsea; Lance Cpl. Nathan R. Elrod, 20, of Salisbury, N.C.;
and Cpl. Joshua C. Watkins, 25, of Jacksonville, Fla.
“He was my only child,” Calhoun said, describing how her son loved
to draw, loved playing drums, enjoyed ice hockey and snowboarding,
loved to cook and was a giving person.
The 2003 Royal Oak Kimball High School graduate was to come home on
leave in July. Shortly before that, he called his mother to let her
know he and Danielle, whom he met when they were 14, had decided to
get married while he was home.
“We had 10 days to plan a wedding, and her mother and I pulled it
off in 10 days,” his mother said.
The two got married at Shrine of the Little Flower Catholic Church
in Royal Oak, and Manoukian was baptized and had his first Communion
that day, as well, she said.
“If there were two people meant for each other, it was Nick and
Danielle,” his mother said. “They’d been together a long time. Then
they drifted apart. But they knew they’d end up together.
“I got to dance with my son at his wedding,” she said, gratefully,
between sobs. “I was looking forward to having a granddaughter,”
Calhoun said. Manoukian had planned to adopt Danielle’s 2-year-old
son, Nico, and they planned to buy a house and have a child after he
came home from Iraq.
Then the doorbell rang Saturday.
“I never even questioned or imagined it would just be a month, and
that was it,” said Danielle, who lives in Royal Oak.
“I’m happy that I got to live with him. He was a person who would give
and give. He was the first to volunteer. I just feel so privileged
that I got to love somebody so much and he loved me so much.”
Growing up, “Nick was the love of his dad’s and my life,” Calhoun
said. “He lost his dad (Isaac Manoukian) at 12 and after that several
other family members. He was a strong kid. I used to tell him we were
the survivors. I want people to know he was a vibrant young man. He
loved his family and was so giving,” said Calhoun, who is now married
to Manoukian’s stepfather, Gary Calhoun.
The family also celebrated Manoukian’s 22nd birthday while he was
home. He spent his 20th birthday in boot camp and his 21st birthday
in Iraq. He and Danielle also celebrated all of the holidays he would
miss while in Iraq, including Halloween. He gave her an engagement ring
in an Easter basket she made for him when they were in high school.
Before Manoukian was recruited into the Marines, he took art classes
at Oakland Community College and worked part time at the Evergreen
Nursing Home, where he was the cook.
“He loved to cook,” his mother said. “He was fabulous drummer. He
used to play from the time he was little.
He got a beautiful set of drums when he was 12.
“My dream for Nick was college,” his mother said. “He had such a kind,
generous heart, and he gave the tightest, best hugs in world. I can’t
imagine living the rest of my life without him,” Calhoun said.
Danielle said she and her new husband had met at 14 and started dating
at 15.
“We had always planned to marry. We would talk on the phone eight
hours and fall asleep while we were talking. Then we would talk while
we were getting ready for school in the morning.”
Describing their love as like that portrayed in the movie “Notebook,”
she said, “He loved me like that. I loved him like that.”
Manoukian called her when he could from Iraq and said it “was just
terrible there; it wasn’t getting any better.
“I always started to cry at the end of calls. I said, ‘You are coming
home.’ And he would say he was. I felt like he knew he was coming home,
and it made me feel like he was,” she said.
Services for Manoukian are pending the return of his body to the
United States.
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