Author: Kanayan Tamar

US EMBASSY COMMENTS ON REPORTS OF TALKS WITH ARMENIAN OPPOSITION
Hayots Ashkhar, Armenia
Oct 6 2005
Headlined “The US embassy has replied to questions from Ayots Ashkhar”
Ayots Ashkhar daily has asked the US embassy in Armenia to clarify
the report of a meeting between Armenian opposition leaders and
the head of the council on Eastern Europe and Russia of the Central
Intelligence Agency, Martin Schwartz, [mentioned in previous reports
as head of the Eastern Europe and Russia department of the US National
Intelligence Council] at the US embassy in Armenia.
Yesterday we received a reply from the US embassy which says: “Dr
Martin Schwartz, who visited Armenia on 11-15 September, works as an
analyst in the CIA council which is a well-known organization based
in Washington. Senior analysts, as well as academicians are working
here to provide the US government with information about developments
abroad. Dr Schwartz’s visit was a factfinding one.
“As Ambassador Evans has repeatedly said publicly, the United States
supports the establishment of democratic institutions in Armenia
and the conduct of free and fair elections in the period allocated
for them. The Americans are confident that in a democratic state,
citizens should elect their leaders near ballot boxes by means of a
free and fair election, not in the streets. To support this approach,
the US government has already declared that it will initiate a number
of new developments that will help Armenia to conduct free and fair
parliamentary and presidential elections in 2007 and 2008.”

TURKISH OFFICIAL SAYS AZERBAIJAN GAINING ADVANTAGE IN CONFLICT SETTLEMENT
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
posted Oct 10 2005
Baku, October 7, AssA-Irada
A high-ranking Turkish military official has said that Azerbaijan is
increasingly getting an advantage over Armenia in the settlement of
the Upper Garabagh conflict.
“Time is in favor of Azerbaijan, while Armenia is getting economically
weaker. We believe this factor will affect Azerbaijan’s political
power and create favorable conditions for the conflict settlement”,
Chief of the Turkish General Staff, General Hilmi Ozkok said.
He said in a meeting with Azeri Minister for Defense Safar Abiyev on
Friday that Turkey and Azerbaijan should continue cooperation while
ensuring that their common historical roots are not forgotten.
Abiyev said Azerbaijan wants to settle the Garabagh conflict
peacefully. “But if the efforts turn out fruitless, the national army
will definitely liberate the occupied territories”, he said.
The minister praised the expanding military collaboration between
the two countries, saying that President Ilham Aliyev is making every
effort in this area.
Views were also exchanged on prospects for further military cooperation
and the current political situation in the Caucasus and the Middle
East at the meeting, attended by the Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan
Turan Morali.*

GEN. OZKOK MEETS AZERBAIJANI DEFENSE MINISTER ABIYEV
Turkish Press
Oct 6 2005
BAKU – “Turkey has always supported Azerbaijan since it acquired
its independence,” said Defense Minister Safar Abiyev of Azerbaijan
on Thursday.
Turkish General Staff Chief Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, who is currently in
Baku on an official visit, met Abiyev.
Speaking at the meeting, Abiyev said, “there has been close cooperation
between Turkish and Azerbaijani armed forces. Azerbaijan needs a
powerful army in order to further strengthen its independence. We
rely on Turkey’s support to establish a sound army, develop defense
industry, and improve our relations with NATO.”
Abiyev said that Azerbaijani armed forces gained experience by
participating in joint military exercises aiming to protect the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural
gas pipeline.
“Despite all efforts, security problem has still been continuing in
the region. Armenia has occupied nearly 20 percent of Azerbaijani
territories. More than 1 million Azerbaijani people have been living
under extremely difficult conditions in refugee camps,” he said.
Abiyev added that terrorist groups and drug traffickers had been
using the occupied regions as their base due to lack of control.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESIDENT OF LATVIA TO PAY OFFICIAL VISIT TO ARMENIA ON OCT. 6
Noyan Tapan News Agency
Oct 5 2005
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN. At RA President Robert Kocharian’s
invitation, Mrs. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the President of the Republic
of Latvia will arrive in Armenia on an official visit on October 6-8
with her husband Imants Freiberga.
As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA President’s Press Office,
Ministers of Economy, Transport and Communication, Culture, other
officials, about 50 businessmen are in the delegation headed by the
President of Latvia.
The main goal of the visit is to stimulate development of interstate
ties, to deepen the cooperation, to define primary directions of
mutual economic cooperation. The heads of the two countries will
discuss the European Union-Armenia cooperation, issues concerning
regional problems as well as will exchange opinions concerning urgent
international problems.
In April, 2005, President of Latvia Mrs. Freiberga was involved in the
team of the world leaders created on the initiative of Kofi Annan,
the Secretary General of the United Nations. The team leaders must
assist the process of UN reforms as delegates of the Secretary General.
Robert Kocharian’s and Vaira Vike-Freiberga’s private conversation will
take place after the official ceremony of meeting the high-ranking
guest at the RA President’s residance on October 7. Then the
negotiations will continue in a enlarged staff. The ceremony of signing
bilateral documents will follow. The Presidents of Armenia and Latvia
will sign a joint declaration, agreements on encouragement and mutual
security of investments between the Governments of the two countries,
on cooperation in the sphere of customs and an interdepartment document
in the sphere of culture will be signed as well.
The Presidents will hold a joint press-conference as well.
During the official visit, the President of Latvia will meet with the
Speaker of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister. The closing
ceremony of the Armenian-Latvian Business Forum will take place with
the participation of the heads of both countries.
The delegation headed by President Freiberga will visit the Armenian
Genocide Memorial Complex, lay a wreath to the monument to the 1915
Genocide victims.
The President of Latvia will have a meeting with the professors’
and lecturers’ staff and students of the Yerevan State University
as well. At the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin President Vaira
Vike-Freiberga will visit the Treasure House and the Mother
Cathedral. She will visit the Brandy Factory, Martiros Sarian park,
look at works of Armenian painters.
The delegation headed by the President of Latvia will leave Armenia
on October 8.

‘EUROPEAN AUTONOMY’ FOR NOW
AZG Armenian Daily #178
05/10/2005
At a joint press conference with his Latvian counterpart the
Azerbaijani President stated that Nagorno Karabakh could get autonomy
with a status resembling those autonomies existing in Europe. President
Vaira Vike-Freiberga said on her part that Latvia holds to the European
Union’s stance over Karabakh issue. The Latvian President, who makes
official visits in the South Caucasian republics from October 3 to 8,
said that violation of sovereign state’s territorial integrity is a
worrisome factor.
The Latvian president’s visit will continue in Georgia today, and she
will head for Armenia on October 6. This is the second case in the last
two weeks that a female president visits Caucasus. The first female
leader to visit South Caucasus last week was Tarja Halonen of Finland.

NATO RECOGNIZED ARMENIAN IPAP REPRESENTATION DOCUMENT THE MOST SUCCESSFUL
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Oct 4 2005
The sitting of interdepartmental commission on preparation of Armenia
– NATO Individual Partnership Action Program (IPAP) was conducted in
Yerevan on October 3. In the course of the sitting the participants
discussed the NATO proposals put forward after examination of IPAP
program represented by Armenia. RA government hopes to finish the
work till the end of the year.
Head of RA MFA Department for control over arms and international
security Arman Hakobyan stated the Armenian document had been highly
assessed in Brussels. He added NATO International Secretariat
had recognized the document as the most successful among all the
representation documents presented so far, Panarmenan.net reports.
To remind, on June 10 Secretary of the Security Council, RA Defense
Minister Serge Sargsyan passed IPAP Representation Document and RA
President Robert Kocharyan’s letter to NATO Secretary General Yaap de
Hoop Scheffer. On June 16 RA FM Vardan Oskanyan officially presented
the Representation Document to the NATO Council and answered the NATO
ambassadors’ questions in the presence of NATO Secretary General.
According to Vardan Oskanyan, “Armenia has stated it intends to hold
regular consultations with NATO on the issues referring to foreign
policy and security, as well as reformation and actualization of
Armenian defensive structure under the auspices of NATO”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MAMEDYAROV REFUTES THE INFORMATION CONCERNING BREEDING IMPEDIMENTS TO AZERBAIJAN’S COOPERATION WITH EU
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Oct 4 2005
In the course of the press conference conducted on October 30 Azeri
FM Elmar Mamedyarov stated there were no obstacles to Azerbaijan’s
cooperation with the European Union (EU), Trend reports.
When commenting on “the EU Special Representative for the South
Caucasus Heikkie Talvitie’s statement on braking the program “Enlarged
Europe: New Neighbors” in the South Caucasus in connection with Cyprus’
stand towards Azerbaijan circulated by Armenian mass media” Azeri
FM said “there have been no statements on breeding impediments to
Azerbaijan – EU cooperation in the context of the present realities”.
It is strange that Azeri FM refers to Armenian mass media, as the
information concerning the fact that Republic of Cyprus has vetoed
Azerbaijan’s candidature and blocked Baku’s participation in the
program titled “Enlarged Europe: New Neighbors” has been spread by
Day.Az Azeri agency.
To note, in the course of the press conference in Yerevan the EU
Special Representative for the South Caucasus Heikkie Talvitie
stated consultations between the South Caucasus and the EU, which
were to start in early September, had been postponed for early
October because of differences between Azerbaijan and one of the
EU countries. According to Talvitie, unless the issue referring
to Azerbaijan is settled they will begin cooperating with Armenia
and Georgia.

CHARLES AZNAVOUR TO GIVE TWO CONCERTS IN MOSCOW
ArmInfo News Agency
Oct 4 2005
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 4. ARMINFO. The world renowned French singer
and composer Charles Aznavour will give two concerts in Moscow’s
Kremlyovsky Palace Oct 4-5, reports ITAR-TASS. This is part of the
world tour he is making to mark his 80th birthday.
Aznavour was born in Paris to an Armenian family. He is a frequent
guest in Russia. He goes there like his own home and loves Moscow
and the Russians.
Aznavour worked with legendary Edith Piaf, Liza Minnelli and many
other world celebrities. He is the author of over 800 songs and the
first singer in Europe to record a platinum disc. The Time has called
Aznavour the best variety singer of XX. Aznavour is not only composer
and singer he is drama and cinema actor. He starred in over 60 films
by world famous directors. Now he is finishing a book of novels and
will soon publish a photo album about his life.

FOREIGN MINISTER VARTAN OSKANIAN’S MEETINGS IN ABU DHABI
Panorama
16:12 03/10/05
Minister Oskanian visited Abu Dhabi, on the occasion of the
groundbreaking of the Armenian Embassy building in the United Arab
Emirates. Large number of representatives of the government, together
with the diplomatic corps, and members of the Armenian community from
throughout the Emirates were present.
In a brief ceremony, Minister spoke, followed by Ambassador Arshak
Poladian, and then the first stones were laid for what will be a
7,000 sq. meter building.
During his visit, the Minister also met with Deputy Prime Minister
and State Minister for External Relations, Sheikh Hamdan Ben Zayed Al
Nahanyan. The two discussed bilateral and regional issues, including
Armenia´s having provided suitable embassy state for the Emirates,
which will be opening an embassy in Yerevan.
The Minister also met with Ahmad Bakr, the Deputy Director of the
Abu Dhabi Development Fund. The Minister described Armenia´s economic
development and prospects for growth.
The Minister returned to Yerevan late Monday.
Press and Information department of MFA..
–Boundary_(ID_ItX4iXpEspjA0aabqP7kIg)–

ETIBAR MAMEDOV – THE ETERNAL OPPOSITIONIST WITHOUT ANY CHANCE TO WIN
Axis News
Oct 3 2005
Asim Oku, AIA Turkish and Caucasian section
Etibar Mamedov was born on April, 2, 1955 in Baku. He graduated
from Faculty of History, Baku State University. He participated in
anti-Soviet activity being a member of unformal student’s organizations
of nationalistic trend. After getting the diploma Mamedov started to
teach in the University, later he passes qualifying examination for
the candidate degree.
Political career
In 1988 Mamedov was actively participating in creating of Popular Front
of Azerbaijan (PFA) – first massive national-democratic movement of
the republic. In 1989 he was elected to the PFA board, the headed
by Abulfaz Elchibey. At the same time Mamedov becomes the defense
adviser in the leadership of PFA . In January, 1990 the army units,
the troops of the Ministry of Interior and KGB took over Baku . The
Kremlin aspired to suppress by force the activity of PFA which was
uncontrolled by it and struggled for preserving Upper Karabakh as
a part of Azerbaijan and for resignation of official leadership
of the republic that discredited itself. In this situation Mamedov
decided to come to Moscow. There he was arrested and put in jail for 10
months. After being released Mamedov comes back to Baku and was elected
into the Higher Council of Azerbaijan and then to the Parliament
from PFA. In 1991 after the disagreements with the leadership of
Popular Front he abandoned it and in 1992 created his own party –
Azerbaijan National Independence Party (ANIP or Azerbaijan Milli
Istiglal Partiyasi). Mamedov’s party was joined by the representatives
of intellectuals, businessmen, famous public activists. The peak of
popularity of this party was in 1992-93. At this period the number
of its members reached several tens of thousands.
Meanwhile in the spring of 1992 PFA comes to power in Azerbaijan. The
leader of the movement
Etibar Mamedov in 1996 Abulfaz Elchibey was elected the President
of the republic. But in the summer of 1993 Russia oriented
military-political forces revolted against the ruling regime. Despite
the fact that Mamedov came into big politics thanks to PFA, he not only
refused to help Elchibey, but also actively supported his opponent
Heydar Aliyev. But as soon as Heydar Aliyev came into power Mamedov
refused to be the member of the new cabinet and even refused to take
the post of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. However, the events of
1993 became one of the main reasons to accuse the leader of ANIP in
cooperation with Aliyev’s regime.
The suspicions of such a cooperation were sounded more and more later,
in 1995 when Mamedov, as against many opposition leaders became the
Member of the Parliament. At the end of the 1990s ANIP splited. A
part of its activists created their own party, which soon joined the
ruling party Yeni Azerbaycan. Mamedov’s influence on the political
scene of the country became very limited. In 1998 the leader of ANIP
proposed his candidacy at the presidential elections. By the official
data, he received only 12% of the vote. At the end of 2000, as a
result of elections (which were falsified by regime, as the leaders
of opposition say) the representatives of ANIP, including Mamedov,
didn’t get into the Parliament. During the presidential elections in
October 2003 Mamedov tried his luck again and came forth – after Ilham
Aliev, Isa Gambar and Lala Shevket Hajiyeva. In December, 2004 Mamedov
unexpectedly announced his resigning from the post of the leader of
ANIP. But at the same time, on March, 26, 2005 he announced that
“by the decision of the last session of the National Independence
Party he is given the status of the leader of the party on March,
13, and he has the rights to gather ANIP any time he wishes to”.
On April, 12, 2005, together with the group of other social and
political activists Mamedov announced the creation of oppositional
bloc New Politics (Yeni Siyaset – YeS). Presently he is one of the
leaders of this political movement .
Views and References.
Etibar Mamedov – the representative of Gyandjinsk clan from the west
part of the republic. The largest part of his electorate – refugees
from Armenia and Upper Karabakh, the citizens of the regions,
which suffered from Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. The Conflict
with Armenia: The electorate base of Mamedov announces about the
sharp and even military position of ex-head of ANIP with regard to
Upper Karabakh. He thinks of useless to make agreements with Yerevan
and is on the side of only power decision of the conflict. Internal
Politics: Mamedov announces his sights as right conservative. For
the years of leadership he showed himself as out of compromised
and ambitious politician. Because of the sharp critics of the power
disregard of who is the president, Mamedov got the stamp of “forever
oppositionist”. ANIP was created as the political platform for
Mamedov’s activity in the beginning and is still known as “the party
of one leader”. As for Azerbaijani an politicos, the formal refusal
from the post of the leader of ANIP was made by Mamedov to show more
liberal image in it within the parliament’s elections of 2005. Being
one of the leaders of YeS, Mamedov disregarded the opportunity to
combine with Azadliq block. Mamedov is voting against the poverty of
the religious factor in the republic and calls for creation of “common
front” for “Islam revolution” prediction. Political Potential: At
the present time Mamedov’s electorate quantity is not more then 15-20
thousands of people. Financial opportunities of ANIP in consideration
with 1990s are highly narrowed. The party’s newspaper is published
only before the election’s campaign starting. Economics: Mamedov is
the voter for radical economical reforms. He announces the support
to small and middle business (in that case providing the country
guaranties to the owners of private companies) and for creating optimal
conditions for foreign investors. Mamedov announces not to limit of
developing only oil sector and create multi-aimed economics. He is
positioning himself as the deep struggler with corruption, which,
by his words, “got the threatening for national interests of the
country character”. Mamedov promises to held social reforms in case
of success in the elections. International Relations West: Mamedov
is the supporter of joining with West. For a long period of time
he made the main rate to the cooperation with EU, but for the last
time he is trying to strengthen his positions in USA. In July 2005
Mamedov took part in the commitment of International Democrat Union
in Washington where he met with national secretary Kondoliza Rice and
prime-minister of Australia Dhon Howard. Russia: In the relations with
north neighbor of Azerbaijan, Mamedov has contradiction position. From
the first side hi supports the economical cooperation with Russia
and appeals for “returning to Russia’s market”. From the other side,
he looks at Moscow as at the strategic partner of Yerevan and insists
on limiting of its dealing role in Karabakh’s conflict.
Iran: Mamedov takes extremely sharp anti Iran position. He, in
that case, accused Tegeran of support of radical Islam movement in
Azerbaijan. In his speech in The Nixon Center, Washington, May 2001,
Mamedov announced that Iran is afraid of “Azerbaijan turning into
strong democratic country” as “They fear a strong and democratic
Azerbaijan would became a magnet for ethnic Azeris in Iran”.