Author: Khondkarian Raffi

ArmenPress
Aug 11 2004

MEETING OF ARMENIAN AND AZERI FMs MAY BE CANCELLED

BAKU, AUGUST 11, ARMENPRESS: The meeting between Armenian and
Azeri foreign ministers slated in Prague may be cancelled. Azeri
Olaylar quotes Azeri foreign ministry sources saying, “it is
conditioned by the military exercises and municipality elections in
Nagorno Karabakh.” Azeri foreign minister states that though Armenian
side supports peaceful regulation of the conflict through
negotiations “it acts just on the contrary.”

ACCORDING TO PRELIMINARY DATA, SECOND TOUR OF ELECTIONS OF STEPANAKERT
MAYOR TO TAKE PLACE

STEPANAKERT, August 9 (Noyan Tapan). The elections of local
self-government bodies finished in about 240 NKR communities.

According to preliminary data, the 2nd tour of elections of
Stepanakert Mayor will take place. According to unofficial data, from
5 nominated candidates Pavel Najarian and Edvard Aghabekian got 2.8%
and 34.5% of votes, respectively. To recap, the National Labor Union
public-political pro-governmental organization made and official
statement supporting the first candidate and the Artsakh Central
Committee of ARF supported the second candidature.

TWO-DIGIT GDP GROWTH WILL BE REGISTERED IN ARMENIA IN 2004

YEREVAN, AUGUST 6. ARMINFO. On the results of 2004 two-digit growth of
the economy in Armenia will be registered. Minister of trade and
Economic Development of Armenia Karen Chshmaritian made such a
forecast today.

According to him, there are all the preconditions for that, and during
the first half of 2004 the GDP of Armenia increased by 9.2%. The major
part of GDP is provided due to the real sector of the economy,. He
mentioned that trend of the growth of the share of industry was marked
int he structure of GDP. It should be noted it is planned to ensure 7%
GDP growth in 2004.

Azeri-Armenian talks may be reviewed due to Karabakh exercises – minister

ANS TV, Baku
6 Aug 04

Azerbaijan might review the expedience of conducting talks with
Armenia, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has said.

According to him, this is linked to illegal staff exercises by
official Yerevan in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan and the
preparations for the 8 August local government elections in Nagornyy
Karabakh. If Armenia continues to take the same path, then this will
prevent negotiations, Mammadyarov said.

Azeri-Iranian summit brings no joy for BP

By Rufat Abbasov

BAKU, Aug 5 (Reuters) – Iran and Azerbaijan signed gas and electricity
swap deals on Thursday, but the leaders of the two Caspian Sea states
did not give details how they planned to solve problems of disputed
oilfields once tapped by BP.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, whose long-awaited visit to
Azerbaijan had been repeatedly postponed over the past few years, and
his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev signed a total of 10 social,
cultural and economic agreements in Baku.

“The implementation of these agreements will create thousands of new
jobs in Azerbaijan,” Aliyev said after the signing ceremony.

One of the key deals signed between the two states involves gas swaps,
which will start with small volumes in 2005 and rise to 350 million
cubic metres (mcm) of gas a year by 2009.

The swaps will allow Azerbaijan to supply its remote Nakhichevan
province via the Iranian territory.

Baku cannot supply the region directly as it is separated from the
rest of the country by the territory of Armenia, still formally at war
with Azerbaijan.

Azeri state oil and gas company SOCAR will sell 80 mcm of gas in the
last quarter of 2005, awaiting the launch in 2006 of the large
Shakh-Deniz offshore gas field, led by BP and Norway’s Statoil.

SOCAR is involved in the giant project, which will be exporting the
bulk of gas to Turkey, but the state firm wants to use its share of
output for domestic needs.

It will be sending 200 mcm to Iran from 2006, 250 mcm in 2007, 300 mcm
in 2008 and 350 mcm in 2009. Iran will in exchange supply its own
volumes to Nakhichevan, keeping 15 percent of volumes as a service
commission.

Tehran also agreed to lend Baku $75 million to build new equipment and
facilitate trade in electricity.

BP FIELDS NOT DISCUSSED

Khatami, who will stay in Azerbaijan until Saturday, said the two
states were keen to resolve all disagreements.

“There is no problem which cannot be solved by talks,” Interfax news
agency quoted him as saying.

But the two leaders failed to mention the issue of disputed Caspian
oilfields, while the head of SOCAR Natik Aliyev told Reuters the issue
was not discussed during the summit.

In July 2001, Iranian gunships and a military aircraft chased off two
of BP’s oil exploration ships from a disputed Caspian Sea sector.

BP suspended exploration work around its Araz-Alov-Sharg oil
concession, which experts say may contain significant reserves. Iran
calls the block Alborz.

The division of the Caspian between the five littoral states — Iran,
Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan — remains unresolved
despite protracted talks.

Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have agreed on how to divide the sea
in their sectors, but Iran and Turkmenistan are still reluctant to
agree with the proposed division principles.

08/05/04 14:21 ET

Azer News
Aug 5 2004

BTC construction halt in Georgia politically motivated

Construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in Georgia’s
Borzhomi gorge did not resume on Monday, as initially planned.
Georgia’s Environmental Protection Ministry said following a meeting
of the Azeri-Georgian

inter-government commission that the operations will resume only
after a permission is granted by the country’s Security Council.
Azerbaijani first deputy prime minister Abid Sharifov, SOCAR
president Natig Aliyev, BP Azerbaijan president David Woodward, and
BTC Co General Director Michael Townshend are currently in Tbilisi to
hold talks on the matter.

Georgian environment experts say that a special approach in laying
pipes should be used on the 17-km-long section of the pipeline going
through the Borzhomi gorge, as this is necessary to preserve flora,
fauna and mineral springs in the area. Construction operations were
suspended for two weeks by the Georgian Environmental Protection
Ministry on July 22 to carry out a test due to environmental safety
violations, after minister Tamara Lebanidze raised the issue. A week
later, the Georgian Ministry received additional documents from
investors related to ensuring safety procedures, Lebanidze said. “The
documents we have received are under scrutiny and will be made public
later”, she said. The terms of the permit for construction
operations, which envisioned tightening security in the Borzhomi
gorge, were not observed and the operations were subsequently halted,
Lebanidze said. Earlier BTC Co General Director Michael Townshend
said that BP, the project operator, is taking all necessary steps to
ensure compliance with safety policy procedures both during
construction operations and in view of its future operation. “We are
ready to provide all kinds of assistance to the Georgian government
in monitoring safety procedures”, Townshend said. The overall length
of the pipeline going through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey is 1,743
km. Construction of the pipeline with annual capacity of 50 million
tons is scheduled to complete late this year.

USA pledges to secure BTC
Elizabeth Jones, the Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and
Eurasia, who recently visited Tbilisi, assured Georgian President
Mikhail Saakashvili that construction of the Georgian section of the
BTC pipeline will continue and that the current route will not be
altered. Jones told journalists following the meeting that the halt
in BTC construction operations in Georgia was in focus during her
meetings with the country’s government officials. Jones regarded the
BTC as a very important project and said its construction should not
be suspended. She noted that Georgian officials maintained that
security procedures were not observed in the Borzhomi region, a
resort area, during the operations. The US official assured the
Georgian side that security procedures will be observed.

Armenian residents demand compensations
Armenian residents of the Tabaskuri village in Georgia’s Zalga region
have demanded compensations due to the laying of the BTC pipeline
through this territory. During a public action on July 27, they
announced that if the compensations are not paid, they will resort to
a protest action of a larger scale. A BP expert said on condition of
anonymity that the pipeline stretches through Tabaskuri village and
that compensations were paid to owners of affected land before the
construction operations commenced. Ethnic Armenians claim that the
construction of the BTC pipeline may allegedly lead to landslides in
the future. But even a one meter-deep trench will not cause any
landslides.

Saakashvili seeks US pressure on Russia
The BTC construction in the Borzhomi gorge was suspended on an
instruction of the Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, says the
Political Innovations and Technology Center director Mubariz
Ahmadoglu. He said that by suspending the operations Saakashvili is
trying to get the USA to step up pressure on Russia over the South
Osetia conflict. The Georgian leader is not capable of resolving the
problem on his own and is therefore seeking assistance from the USA
and other countries, Ahmadoglu said. Although the international
community supports Tbilisi by recognizing Georgia’s sovereignty, the
Georgian leader is not satisfied with this. Saakashvili would like to
see the USA put pressure on Russia to achieve a resolution of the
problem in Georgia’s favor. Ahmadoglu said that since the USA is not
willing to oppose Russia over the South Osetia problem, Saakashvili
issued an instruction to halt the construction operations. He went on
to say that although the construction was suspended for two weeks
under the pretext of environmental concerns, no environmental tests
have been carried out yet. The Azerbaijani first deputy prime
minister Abid Sharifov, SOCAR president Natig Aliyev and BP
Azerbaijan president David Woodward have recently left for Tbilisi.
At about the same time, the Georgian President left for Ajaria, and
then to Paris and therefore avoided a meeting with Azerbaijani
government officials. On August 4 he is scheduled to leave for the
USA. Saakashvili’s unexpected visit to the USA is related to the halt
in the BTC construction, Ahmadoglu added.

Le Monde
03 août 2004

Un choc pour le Vatican et les Eglises d’Orient ;
INTERNATIONAL La communauté chrétienne en Irak a été frappée par
plusieurs attentats en l’espace d’une heure

« C’est terrible et très préoccupant », a déclaré le Père Ciro
Benedetti, porte-parole adjoint du pape, dimanche 1er août, après les
attaques contre des églises en Irak. « C’est la première fois que des
chrétiens sont pris pour cible », a-t-il ajouté, et il faut y voir «
le signe d’une volonté d’accroître la tension, alors que l’Eglise
catholique a toujours été en première ligne pour la paix ».

Les responsables chrétiens du Moyen-Orient, membres du Conseil
oecuménique des Eglises (Genève), réunis à Kuala Lumpur (Malaisie),
ont aussi condamné ces attentats. C’est le cas notamment des
dirigeants des Eglises arménienne et syrienne, endeuillées dimanche
en Irak. Mgr Nareg Alemezian a lancé un appel à la coopération entre
musulmans et chrétiens pour la solidarité et la paix. Pour le Syrien
Gregorios Ibrahim, « le nombre des chrétiens qui diminue en Irak est
une chose terrible. C’est la réplique de ce qui se passe déjà en
Turquie, en Iran, en Palestine. Nous perdons notre peuple ».

ITV.com, UK
Aug 2 2004

Al-Qaeda blamed for Iraq church attacks
7.05AM, Mon Aug 2 2004

Al-Qaeda is being blamed for the bombing of four churches in Baghdad
which killed at least ten worshippers.

More than 40 others were injured in the co-ordinated attacks which
the Iraqi government said were an attempt to force Christians out of
the country.

The Vatican condemned the blasts – the first attacks on churches
during the 15-month insurgency – echoing concerns among Iraqis that
they aimed to inflame religious tensions.

In the deadliest attack, a suicide car bomber drove into the car park
of a Chaldean church in southern Baghdad before detonating his
vehicle, killing at least ten people as worshippers left the
building.

The US military has warned that guerrillas opposed to the presence of
more 160,000 foreign troops may try to deepen divisions between the
country’s diverse religious communities in their campaign to
destabilise Iraq.

Vatican deputy spokesman Father Ciro Benedettini said: “It is
terrible and worrying because it is the first time that Christian
churches are being targeted in Iraq.”

An explosion at the Armenian church in Baghdad shattered stained
glass windows and hurled chunks of hot metal. Another bomb exploded
15 minutes later at a nearby Assyrian church.

US Colonel Mike Murray of the 1st Cavalry Division said at least 50
people had been wounded at the church, some seriously.

In Mosul, officials said at least one person was killed in a blast at
a church and 15 wounded.

Golos Armenii web site, Yerevan, in Russian
27 Jul 04

Web site contrasts poverty and riches of Karabakh and Armenia

An article on the Voice of Armenia web site in Russian contrasts the
poverty of the town of Shushi in Nagornyy Karabakh with the riches of
a “town of the future” in the region of Mount Ararat which will
provide a golf course, schools, a shopping centre and other
facilities for foreign businessmen. The cost of rebuilding Shushi is
estimated to be the same as that of the new development project, but
Shushi will only receive this money if it “returns to the bosom” of
Azerbaijan, the web site concludes. The following is the text of the
article by Aris Kazinyan “This side of Ararat” posted on the Golos
Armenii web site on 27 July: subheadings inserted editorially:

The Armenian Idea

Today’s Armenian Idea is hidden behind Ararat. It lies beyond the
dormant volcano, where there is no surface river or any kind of
arboreal foliage, and which in the Armenian national conscience is
still associated with a more living embodiment of its history. The
mountain itself is probably unaware of any of this and continues on
its daily rhythm. Often on its summit can be seen the spewing of
sulphur – fumaroles – proving that rumours of the final repose of its
once fiery crater have been somewhat exaggerated. Ararat is three and
a half million years old. In any event, that was when it assumed its
modern “biblical” image. Although, this is not quite true. The
mountain has stood in proud isolation for a very long time in
historical terms, but Little Ararat was “born” only 150,000 years
ago. The ancient inhabitants of the Armenian plateau became the first
witnesses of the emergence of this “infant” into the world. They then
called Ara God although the volcano itself will not grow any bigger
because of this.

Whatever the truth of the matter, the Armenian Idea today is, indeed,
hidden where the sun goes down each evening. It is well known that it
does not care to change its trajectory very much, and for three and a
half million years it has been rolling down the western slopes of the
Great Ararat. There, behind the mountain, the Light of Armenian
civilization spends the night. There is much less of an Idea along
this side of the volcano. Here lies the kingdom of the Material
World.

The town of Shushi [in Nagornyy Karabakh] lies 370km east of Ararat,
and the volcano cannot be seen from here. Nevertheless, it is
precisely here every morning that the Sun of Armenia’s future rises,
which may be judged from the level of development in this great town.
Shushi is undoubtedly the main symbol of the Armenian Idea today, and
therefore it is being populated and developed according to the very
same principles and at the same rate in which could develop, for
example, Van or Mush. In this connection, one has to say that it is
the most poverty-stricken town in Armenia.

Poverty of Shushi

Shushi’s budget, which amounts to 80,000 US dollars, reflects the
cost of the Armenian Idea. This is essentially the price of a
two-room apartment in the centre of Yerevan. Over the course of 12
years the nation has been quite unable to build a green town of the
Armenian dream and therefore show the viability of its idea. Shushi
today is begging for charity in the eyes of the whole world
community, which, incidentally, promises it a dignified life and so
many privileges on condition that it “returns” to the bosom of
Azerbaijan. The Armenian nation, alas, is unable to collect the
25-30m dollars which are so urgently needed to build a modern town
with a population of 10-12,000 people. And here, of course, it is not
a matter of money, but of an Idea which, indeed, has been left out
there, behind the mountain.

Riches of Vaagni

>From the southern foothills of the most beautiful plateau of
Aragatzoti amazing views open up. Here, on an area of only 160 ha,
they are building the town of the future – Vaagni – 500 homes for
rich Armenians with a shopping centre, out-patients clinic, an
international school, a large sports centre and the customary
panorama of the extinct volcano. A mini-golf course is already up and
running. In the near future a large 9-hole course will be opened at
the South Caucasus Golf Club. So far 20 homes have already opened
their doors to their new owners. They are mainly businessmen from
Canada, France, Russia, Switzerland, Britain, as well as Armenia. The
new life-style of this type of town is a 24-hour guard and a ban on
all still and video photography. Incidentally, the overall cost of
the Ovnanyan Ltd project is 25m dollars, exactly what Shushi needs.

Meanwhile, Ararat continues to live at its measured pace. New plays
and films are being made about it. They are still looking for some
kind of ship which in any event has long since been incapable of
withstanding the verbal flood of false patriotism. Today they need to
build a new Noah’s Ark, and at precisely the distance we mentioned –
370km east of Ararat.

Azeris set conditions for Armenians to attend Baku-hosted NATO exercises

ANS TV, Baku
27 Jul 04

[Presenter] Representatives of the Armenian Defence Ministry will come to
Baku in spite of anything, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov has
confirmed. However, he said, Baku has set some preconditions to Yerevan in
connection with the visit.

[Azimov talking to microphone] We have set preconditions that they should be
people who are in no way involved in military operations carried out against
Azerbaijan. Those coming are military journalists, public relations officers
and doctors. These are the tasks planned for the Armenian delegation. These
people will take part [in the exercises]. There will be about three of them.