Author: Kanayan Tamar

FROZEN CONFLICTS IN THE TERRITORY OF THE CIS CEASE BEING INTERNAL
Svetlana Gamova

Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, September 08, 2006, p. 6
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
September 11, 2006 Monday

Guam Appeals To UN;
Guam Requests Un To Discuss The "Drawn Out Conflicts" In Moldova,
Georgia And Azerbaijan Again; unregulated conflicts in post-Soviet
space may receive a new status if they are discussed at the next
session of the General Assembly of the UN to be held at the end
of September.

Unregulated conflicts in post-Soviet space may receive a new status
if they are discussed at the next session of the General Assembly of
the UN to be held at the end of September. Four GUAM member states
(Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) sent a relevant request
to the headquarters of the UN. The letter sent to New York says that
"the drawn out conflicts in GUAM space, namely in Moldova, Georgia
and Azerbaijan, have been impacting life of more than 16 million
people for more than 15 years and for more than 15 years have
been endangering international peace and security and threatening
sovereignty and territorial integrity of the three member states
of UN." In their letter GUAM member states said that international
mediation in resolving these conflicts did not have any results and
this circumstance forced the countries with unregulated conflicts to
turn to the UN.

This is not the first address of GUAM to the UN. However, last
year a similar request failed to receive support of members of the
General Committee who recommended the General Assembly include these
or those issues into the agenda. This year, opinion of the members
of the committee may be influenced by the recent events in Georgia
and Moldova. Situation grew worse in South Ossetia; a state coup was
prevented in Tbilisi and Georgian authorities connected this directly
with Russia. Moreover, Georgian authorities openly accused Russia
of subversion activity in the territory of another country. Chisinau
has reasons to complain about Russia too. One of the reasons is the
referendum planned by the Trans-Dniester Republic for September 17,
and regarding possible entrance of the republic into Russia. It is
known that this event is supported by Russian politicians. Neither
Moldova nor Georgia needs this intermediary and they try to get rid of
Russian participation in the negotiation process with the separatist
regions. The tribune of UN may play an important role in this aspect.

So far, discussion of only one former hot spot in the CIS was
included in the agenda. This is discussion of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. Its formulation does not require comment, "Situation on
occupied territories of Azerbaijan." This issue was included in
the agenda of the 59th session of UN in autumn of 2004, for the
first time according to the initiative of Azerbaijan. Official Baku
explains that "the goal of this initiative is discussion of the
situation by the UN due to illegal actions that Armenia undertakes
on occupied territories of Azerbaijan including establishment of
illegal settlements, exploitation of natural resources etc." This
issue remains on the agenda of the autumn session of 2006.

Yerevan did not like the news. Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanyan announced that attraction of the UN to the problem on which
OSCE was working was inappropriate.

ARMENIANS OF LEBANON UNANIMOUS ON NOT ADMITTING TURKISH PEACEKEEPERS TO LEBANON

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.09.2006 13:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Not to allow Turkish peacekeepers to Southern
Lebanon as part of the UN peacekeeping forces, we act as a united
front, editor-in-chief of the Azdak, the largest Armenian newspaper
of Lebanon, Shahan Kandakharyan stated in an interview with
PanARMENIAN.Net. In his words, at the community level Armenian
political parties and NGOs will make statements. "The Armenian
community has no discrepancies over this issue. We also hold protest
actions in front of a number of embassies of western countries. We
handed letters to ambassadors and diplomatic representatives,
indicating grounds for not admitting Turkish troops in the south
of Lebanon. The special message of Catholicos of the Great House of
Cilicia Aram I to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is among respective
actions," he said.

The editor-in-chief of the Azdak also noted that local, regional and
world media pay much attention to protest actions of the Armenian
community. "We hope our efforts will not be in vain and Turkey will
not be included in the UN peacekeeping contingent. A country, which
is a strategic and military partner of Israel and blocks Cyprus must
not be admitted to Lebanon.

Also a country, where human rights are violated and the Armenian
Genocide of 1915 is denied cannot take part in settlemetn of the
Middle East crisis," noted Shahan Kandakharyan.

TURKISH FM: "ARMENIA’S OCCUPYING AZERBAIJANI LANDS KEEPS THE BORDERS CLOSED"

Today, Azerbaijan
Sept 12 2006

Official Ankara announced that at least 40 thousand Armenians are
working in Turkey.

Turkish Foreign Ministry sent a letter related to the report released
by the European Parliament foreign affairs commission on Turkey,
APA’s Eastern Europe bureau reports.

The 22-page letter gives a detailed reply to the report drawn up by
Kamiel Eurlings, Dutch Christian-Democratic Party representative
at the European Parliament. The letter is addressed to European
parliamentarians defending Ankara during the discussion of the report
and to the Parliament political forces’ coordinators on Turkey.

Though it was an informative document, Ankara issued a political
statement declaring that it will not accept any status by full member
of the European Union.

The letter also touches on the Cyprus problem, Armenian problem and
Kurdish matter. It says that Turkey is the second state that recognized
Armenia’s independence after Latvia. It also reads the trade turnover
with Armenia reached to $120 million, and 40,000 Armenians are working
in Turkey.

"Despite all these, Armenia’s position is regrettable. Armenia has not
yet replied to Turkey’s offer to establish a commission of historians
from both countries. The European Parliament can influence Armenia
regarding this matter. As coming to closed border with Armenia, this
is because of Armenia’s occupying Azerbaijani province of Nagorno
Karabakh and refusing to recognize current borders of Turkey," the
letter underlines.

URL:

FM MEETS WITH OIC SECRETARY GENERAL

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Sept 12 2006

Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met September 11 with Secretary
General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Ekmeleddin
Ihsanoglu to discuss the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh as well as the latest developments in the Middle
East, the 5th session of the Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers
and other issues, press service of the Foreign Ministry said.

Mr. Mammadyarov described as very important the resolution adopted by
the United Nations General Assembly at its 60th session in connection
with the damage caused by wide-scale fires in Azerbaijan’s occupied
territories.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu stressed that burning of occupied Azerbaijani
territories by Armenia, and destruction of cultural and historic
monuments have been hindering the development of Azerbaijan’s tourism
sector.

Mr. Ihsanoglu said this issue has been widely discussed at the fifth
session of the Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers in Baku.

Elmar Mammadyarov and Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu also discussed other topics
of mutual concern.

FIVE PIECES OF ADVICE FOR SERGE SARGSYAN

Lragir.am
11 Sept 06

Hrant Khachatryan, the leader of the Constitutional Right Union,
gave some advice to Serge Sargsyan, the chair of the Council of the
Republican Party, September 9 at the Azdak Club after Serge Sargsyan’s
statement two days before that he had not ordered to attack Hovanes
Galajyan, the editor of the Iravunk, the official newspaper of the
Constitutional Right Union, "because he does not fight against the
wretched."

In answer, the leader of the Constitutional Right Union Hrant
Khachatryan gave five pieces of advice to Serge Sargsyan:

"Advice 1: relations with the society is not the same as relations
with a group of pageboys, hypocrites and bootlickers. For a person
with such big ambitions it is high time to realize this.

Advice 2: even if you are libeled in the media, it should be clearly
separated from facts that are evident and do not need to be proved,
otherwise calling everyone slanderer arouses dissatisfaction among
honest critics, and if this occurs again and again, it may grow
into personal enmity. Advice 3: when one describes publicly a known
person, one automatically reveals the system of values which one
represents. Describing Hovanes Galajyan as wretched is utterly against
our idea, the idea of the society, and I believe that some members of
your team did not like it either. Advice 4: in mental exercises about
the criminal you do not have to assume all the responsibility. We know
it is an unsatisfied ambition. For you, on the other hand, you should
beware the criminal, which is now taking an oath of faithfulness to
you. They have already cheated several others like you. Advice 5:
there is one case when you are really responsible for the criminal –
as the secretary of the Council of Security. And either you have to
fulfill this responsibility or you should deny it," announced Hrant
Khachatryan.

He says after the attack on the journalist they doubted that Serge
Sargsyan had organized the attack. However, after Serge Sargsyan’s
reaction, Hrant Khachatryan says they think that their doubt is real.

ONE OF THE YEREVAN STREETS CLOSED DOWN BECAUSE OF FIRE

A1+
[01:17 pm] 11 September, 2006

At about 10:05 p.m. yesterday 120-square-meter roof of a 4-storeyed
building on Andrfederation 18 caught fire.

The Emergency Board and Rescuers’ Agency informed A1+ that the roof
of the building was completely burnt.

Fortunately, the fire didn’t spread too far, and there were neither
damages nor victims.

The inner part of the building is made of wood which contributed to
the quick spread of the fire. The Emergency Board has no information
on the causes of fire; they will be revealed only within 7 – 10 days.

It took two days to extinguish the fire. The fire was completely put
out at 00:29 a.m. The roads leading to the burning building closed
down in order not to prevent the work of the fire brigade and rescuers.

Fire-extinguishing cars from fire agencies 2, 3, 4 and 8 arrived
on the scene at 10:05 – 10:08 p.m. The second group of the rescuers
arrived at 11:05 p.m.

LEBANON’S ARMENIANS PROTEST OVER TURKISH PEACEKEEPERS
Burj Hammud, Lebanon

Agence France Presse — English
September 8, 2006 Friday 11:58 AM GMT

Lebanon’s Armenians, who have not forgotten the massacres their
people suffered under Ottoman rule, demonstrated Friday against
Turkish troops set to take part in a UN peacekeeping mission.

Waving Lebanese flags and banners denouncing Turkey as a murderous
state, several hundred gathered in this Beirut suburb heavily populated
by Armenians and appealed to the United Nations to reconsider Turkey’s
participation in an expanded UN force in Lebanon.

"Genocide, massacre, deportation: Turkey’s definition of peace,"
read one banner. Another said: "No to the participation of Turkish
forces among UN troops coming to Lebanon".

"We had 1.5 million of our people slaughtered under the Turks and
you expect us to welcome them?" angrily declared Arous Ghougassian,
the owner of a home furnishing business.

"I can assure you that I won’t sell them anything if they come into
my shop," she added.

Hagop, an employee at the Basterma Mano food store, raised his fists
in anger when asked about the Turkish UN force.

"Look at my arms, I get goose bumps when you refer to them," he said.

"If they dare come into our neighborhoods we’ll deal with them."

Lebanon’s minority Armenian community, which numbers about 140,000
people, has objected to Turkey taking part in the UN force because
of massacres of Armenians by Turks in 1915.

Representatives have sent letters to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
and to Western embassies in Beirut urging them to reject Turkish
participation in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) set to
number 15,000 troops from various countries.

The Turkish parliament voted after fierce debate at an extraordinary
session Tuesday to authorize the government to send troops to take part
in the UN force to monitor the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has said the number of soldiers
is not likely to exceed 1,000.

Under the old Ottoman empire, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians are
said to have been killed or died after being forcibly driven from
their homes in Turkey between 1915 and 1917.

PROMINENT RUSSIAN BUSINESS LEADER DIES, COLLEAGUE SAYS

AP Worldstream
Sep 09, 2006

Arkady Volsky, a prominent Russian business leader and public figure
died after an illness Saturday at age 74, his colleague said.

Volsky, who founded and for 15 years headed the Russian Union of
Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the country’s biggest business
lobby, passed away from a "severe and long-lasting disease," the
union’s current head Alexander Shokhin said on Ekho Mosvky radio.

NTV television reported Volsky died from leukemia.

"Volsky’s death is a big loss not only for (the Union), but for the
entire business and political community of the country," Shokhin said.

Born in 1932 in then-Soviet Belarus, he rose to senior posts in the
Communist government, notably serving as a senior aide to former
Soviet leader Yuri Andropov.

Following the 1991 Soviet collapse, he turned into the country’s
biggest business lobbyist and also actively participated in crisis
negotiations in bloody regional conflicts including Chechnya and the
Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Volsky also was also a rare critic of the politically charged jailing
of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who last year was sentenced to eight years
in a Siberian penal colony on charges of fraud and tax evasion,
and the ensuing partial renationalization of his Yukos oil company.

Last September Volsky was replaced with Shokhin, a more
Kremlin-friendly figure, in what many interpreted as punishment for
his protest.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to Volsky’s
family and friends, a Kremlin spokeswoman told The Associated Press.

AZG Armenian Daily #172, 09/09/2006

Sport

CUP OF ARMENIAN DIASPORA IN ST PETERSBURG

The first open tournament of chess amateurs for the
cup of Armenian national-cultural autonomy will be
held in St. Petersburg in October, Yerkramas newspaper
of Russian-Armenian reports. The tournament is
dedicated to the glorious victory of Armenian chess
players in 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin. The event was
organized by the Armenian Association of St.
Petersburg and welcomed by the chess federation of St.
Petersburg and Armenian consulate.

The aim of the tournament is further fostering of
friendly ties between Armenian and Russian nations. It
will be open for everyone. It’s envisaged that
national minorities of St. Petersburg will also take
part in the tournament. Not only the first 3 best
players will receive prices but also the best female
player and the best young player will receive special
prizes.

OFFICIAL BAKU "SURPRISED" AT OSKANIAN STATEMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.09.2006 13:45 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Statements of Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian regarding
the terms of Yerevan’s further participation in the Nagorno Karabakh
peace talks cause at least "surprise of official Baku," stated Head of
the Information Department of the Azeri MFA Tahir Tagizadeh. "There
is an impression as if the Armenian FM has completely forgotten that
Armenia has assumed commitments over settlement of the conflict to a
number of international organizations, including the UN, OSCE and CE,"
Tagizadeh said.

"If Oskanian considers possible making statements like that,
stipulating that Armenia’s further participation in the talks with
additional moments, then Azerbaijan has sovereign right to raise
the issue of Armenia failing to meet its commitments before any
international organizations," the Azeri diplomat said.

We note that the Armenian FM stated Monday that the opportunity to
hold the recurrent round of talks between Armenian and Azeri FMs
depends on the position of the Azeri party in the discussion of the
Karabakh conflict in the UN, reports Interfax-Azerbaijan.