Author: Khondkarian Raffi

Gholam Shire’i praises Iranian Armenians’ role in Iran’s construction
Persian Journal, Iran
July 17 2006
Mullah-run majlis speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel known as “Gholam
Shire’i” for his addiction to opium, said Iranian Armenian scientists
and experts have played an important role in the country’s construction
and progress.
According to Majlis Media Department on Monday, Gholam Shire’i,
in a meeting with the Armenian head of Iran-Armenia parliamentary
friendship group Galvest Sahakian and his accompanying delegation,
explained Iran’s Armenian community role and status in the country.
Mullah-run majlis speaker also expressed pleasure with expanding
trend of bilateral ties in all fields and said friendly relations
between the two countries are based on old and historical ties and
interests of the two nations.
Gholam Shire’i called the role of parliamentary friendship groups
in deepening mutual ties “very effective”, and added parliamentary
groups have a positive role in closeness of viewpoints and stances
of the governments and nations.
The Armenian parliamentary official, for his part, expressed pleasure
over his trip to Iran and evaluated his visit “very good”, and said
“All Armenian groups and political parties emphasize the expansion
of ties with Iran.”
Referring to his visit and talk with Iranian Armenian community,
Sahakian said Iran’s Armenians enjoy a very suitable position in
the nation.

ADVERTISEMENT FESTIVAL TO BE HELD IN SEPTEMBER IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, JULY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia will take part in Moscow
International Advertisement Festival in November. This was informed
by Armen Martirosian, member of the Armenian Advertisement Board and
Chairman of the Antares publishing-advertising company, at the July
14 business meeting organized jointly with the Senator German company
producing writing materials. According to him, a similar festival
will be held in 2007 September in Armenia and will include almost
all directions of advertisement.
A.Martirosian reminded that from May 30 to June 3 this year Armenia
also took part in the Kiev (Ukraine) International Advertisement
Festival. Representatives of 4 Armenian companies were among the
jury members at the festival. 25 countries took part in the festival.
In 2006 September the Armenian Advertisement Board will invite
well-known Russian specialist on radio advertisement Ernest Marchukov
to Armenia. The latter will conduct radio advertisement courses and a
seminar on the subject “Sound in Armenian Radio Advertisement.” Then
the board plans to organize showing of films of 2006 Cannes
International Advertisement Festival in Russian translation.
It was mentioned that advertisement festivals contribute to
activization of advertisement markets in countries where they are
held, besides, the market gives a high-quality production, growth
in prices for advertisement services is registered, companies having
international authority show interest in working on the given market.
According to A.Martirosian’s data, the annual volume of Armenian
advertisement market is 30 mln USD. He considered unrealistic the
evaluations, according to which, TV advertisement market can have a
small volume amounting to 3 mln USD in a country. As A.Martirosian
estimated, the volume of external advertisement market exceeds 10
mln USD in Armenia, of print advertisement is 8 mln USD and of radio
advertisement about 0.5 mln USD. The rest falls to another directions
of advertisement.

Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World
Library Journal Reviews
July 15, 2006
by Nadine Cohen-Baker
Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the
World 2 vols. Springer 2005. 1242p. ed. by Melvin Ember & others.
index. ISBN 0-306-48321-1 . $475. REF
Diasporas and emigration lie at the heart of many vital world issues
past and present and therefore figure heavily in high school and
undergraduate research. While there are other reference works on the
topic, this two-volume work is unique in that it provides a worldwide,
comparative perspective on forced and voluntary mass migrations and
the refugee cultures they engender. Thirty-one diasporas, both well
known (e.g., Jewish, African, Palestinian, Armenian) and lesser known
(e.g., Chilean, British, Tuareg), are covered in Volume 1, as well
as 28 relevant topics (e.g., arts in diasporas, diaspora politics
and identity, and types of diaspora).
Volume 2 provides sociocultural descriptions of 58 diaspora
communities. Entries are authored by a team of international
academics and researchers and compiled and edited under the auspices
of Yale’s Human Relations Area Files, the preeminent international
research organization in the field of cultural anthropology. Given
the massive scope of the topic, this work is admirably wide-ranging
and inclusive. Diasporas that do not appear in section titles can
almost invariably be found in the index. Bottom Line One can always
quibble over the amount of attention given to specific topics (e.g.,
pogroms are only fleetingly mentioned in the chapter on the European
Jewish diaspora, and the term does not rate an entry in the glossary,
yet “horticulture” does), but this does not detract from the overall
quality of the work. While the majority of entries are written for the
general reader, a few of the topical entries may be a bit heavy going
for high school students. Nevertheless, this is highly recommended
for high school, college, and public libraries.- Nadine Cohen-Baker,
Univ. of Georgia, Athens

Only receiving half of the story
Belleville Intelligencer (Ontario)
July 15, 2006 Saturday
Scott Taylor is the editor of Esprit de Corps magazine, the author
of several books, and a member of the Osprey Writers Group.
In May of this year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a public
statement reaffirming his support for the controversial Bill M-380.
Essentially, this motion brought forward by Bloc MP Madeleine
Dalphond-Guiral was a formal condemnation of the mass deportation of
Armenians from eastern Anatolia in 1915. According to M-380, this
tragedy was recognized as a deliberate genocide on the part of the
Ottoman Empire.
On April 21, 2004, the motion was approved after a free vote in
the House of Commons. However, as the procedure was non-binding,
the then-Liberal cabinet voted against it because it would be an
impediment to current Turkish-Canadian relations. Two years later,
Harper’s revival of the subject did indeed spark an immediate response
from the Turks, who temporarily recalled their ambassador in protest.
While some may question why Canadian parliamentarians would spend their
time passing historical judgment on events that transpired 90 years
ago, it is even more puzzling when you realize that a humanitarian
crisis is currently taking place in this very region that is receiving
no consideration from our government.
The ongoing situation comes in the aftermath of the Azerbaijan-
Armenia border war of 1992-1994. With the international media focused
on the break-up of the former Yugoslavia and the genocide in Rwanda,
this border dispute in the Caucasus region garnered very little press
coverage in North America. It was a brutal clash that spanned 24
months and left 30,000 killed (mostly civilians), 100, 000 wounded
and nearly one million people “ethnically cleansed.”
Armenia and Azerbaijan were both former republics of the Soviet
Union and formally granted (along with Georgia) their independence
with the signing of the Tashkent Agreement in May 1992. Under
the terms of the agreement, all three republics were allocated
the same amount of Soviet military material from which they could
constitute their own independent armies. A sizable Armenian minority
resided in a mountainous region known as Nagorno-Karabakh within the
recognized borders of Azerbaijan. Taking advantage of Azerbaijan’s
post-independence internal political disorder and using the Nagorno-
Karabakh Armenians as a pretext, the Armenian army entered the
territory in 1992.
After completely securing the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the Armenians
continued to push into the territory controlled by Azerbaijan –
securing not only a land corridor with Armenia proper, but also
extending into seven Azerbaijani provinces to create a buffer zone.
In the wake of these military operations some 800,000 Azeri citizens
were forcibly removed from the newly-occupied territories.
However, within 12 months the Azeris had managed to train and field
six full infantry brigades and their deployment to the front contained
the Armenian advances. The establishment of a balance between the
combat forces turned the campaign into a stalemate and eventually a
ceasefire agreement was signed in 1994.
Despite this, the root causes for the conflict still remained
unresolved. The Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe
established the Minsk Group to oversee and monitor the 1994 ceasefire
agreement. The United Nations has passed a total of four resolutions
calling upon the Armenians to withdraw their military forces from the
occupied territories as a first step to resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh
self-determination question. The second phase of these resolutions
is the immediate resettlement of the 800,000 Azerbaijani displaced
residents into their former homes. However, with no realistic threat
of any international military force being deployed to enforce these
resolutions, the Armenians have steadfastly refused to pull back
their forces.
If Canada wishes to retain a reputation of neutral peace-broker,
it seems ludicrous that we would recognize an historical injustice
perpetuated against the Armenians in 1915 while ignoring the UN
violations that the Armenians are perpetrating upon the Azerbaijanis.
A first step might be for Ottawa to establish a diplomatic presence
in Azerbaijan. We presently have a permanent consulate office open
in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, but Canada has only sent two
small official delegations to visit Azerbaijan since its independence
in 1991.
Perhaps the fact that we are only getting one side of the story in
this complex conflict is leading to an apparent imbalance in our
foreign policy.
To comment please send e-mail to [email protected]

FABULOUS BODY. .AND THE GIRL’S NICE TOO!
by ROSS KANIUK
Daily Star, UK
July 12, 2006 Wednesday
U.K. 1st Edition
A MYSTERY blonde brought a busy street to a standstill when she pulled
up in her GBP 1.1million Bugatti Veyron.
Everyone in the road stopped to admire the motor, the world’s fastest
and the rarest car in Britain.
Office workers and shoppers rushed outside to see what was causing
the commotion And they couldn’t help wondering who was the sexy beauty
in shades who stepped from its leather driver’s seat in Manchester.
Bugatti would not say who owned the 253mph car. Only 16 have been
delivered worldwide, three to Britain.
But spokesman Georges Keller added: “I do not believe any of the
original British buyers are celebrities.”
One well-known owner is multi-millionaire Bob Manoukian, who bought a
Veyron in a charity auction for GBP 1.1million – GBP 350,000 more than
the GBP 750,000 list price. It is not known where the former agent for
Prince Jefri, brother of the Sultan of Brunei, 59, keeps his Veyron.
A spokesman for the 58-year-old Armenian’s British company refused
to comment on the car Bugatti plan to make only 300 over five years –
meaning the motors’ value will be far higher than the original price.
Prospective buyers have to place a deposit of 300,000 euros (GBP
208,000) to join the year-long waiting list.
The Veyron’s eight-litre engine with four turbochargers can take the
curvy dream-car to 60mph in 2.5 seconds.
Inside is a hand-finished leather-andsuede cockpit and door pulls
made of polished aluminium.
But the fabulous motor hides a secret – the engine is made by
Volkswagen.
If you know the blonde driver call the Daily Star newdesk on 0871
5207373.

RA MFA: Armenia Extremely Concerned about Military Actions in Lebanon
PanARMENIAN.Net
14.07.2006 18:25 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Armenia is extremely concerned about the military
actions in Lebanon and their escalation, as well as the great
loss of civilian life,” says the statement by the Armenian Foreign
Ministry. “Armenia condemns any violence whether it be abduction or use
of force. We particularly denounce the use of such disproportionate
force intended solely to collectively punish civilians and damage
infrastructure. This kind of reaction by Israel is particularly
difficult to understand given the fact that the Lebanese government
has clearly distanced itself from the abduction incident. We hope that
there will be restraint in the region and also hope there will be an
immediate ceasefire so that the issues can be addressed by peaceful
means,” the statement says.

YEREVAN “BANANTS” WINS GEORGIAN “AMERI” 1:0 IN FIRST MATCH OF UEFA
CUP DRAW
Yerevan, July 14. ArmInfo. Yerevan “Banants” won Georgian “Ameri”
1:0 in the first match UEFA Cup draw in Georgia and now has good
chances to enter the next round. Ashtarak “Mika” yielded to Swiss
“Young Boys” 1:3.
After the return matches scheduled for July 27, 18 clubs, who start
competing from the second round, and 11 winners of Intertoto Cup will
join the 35 winners. The second selection stage draw will be held on
July 28 in Nyon. 32 strongest teams will enter the first circle of
the tournament, where they will be joined by another 48 clubs and 16
losers of the third selection round of Champions League.

“MIKA” DEFEATED BY SWISS “YOUNG BOYS” 1-3
YEREVAN, JULY 14, NOYAN TAPAN. On July 13, in the first tour of
qualification of the UEFA Cup Tournament Ashtarak “Mika” received Swiss
“Young Boys” at the Republican stadium of Yerevan and was defeated
with a score of 1 to 3. And the Yerevan “Banants” was received by
“Ameri” in Tbilisi and won 1-0. It should be mentioned that football
player of “Banants” Burdiyan received the secong yellow card at the
48th minute and the football players from Yerevan were able to the
keep the triumphal score with 10 players. The return games will be
held on July 27.

Top court upholds Dinks sentence
Turkish Daily News
Jul 13, 2006
The Supreme Court of Appeals General Council on Wednesday agreed to
approve Agos daily Editor in Chief Hrant Dink’s six-month suspended
sentence for “insulting Turkishness” despite the fact that the Supreme
Court of Appeals Prosecutor’s Office argued that Dink was not guilty
of any crime.
The Sisli Second Criminal Court had found Dink guilty of insulting
Turkishness and sentenced him to a six-month suspended sentence. The
Supreme Court of Appeals Ninth Bureau had reversed the suspension,
arguing there was no doubt Dink was guilty of committing the crime.
The decision to suspend the sentence by the Sisli Second Criminal Court
was appealed by Dink, who is seeking acquittal rather than suspension,
and the complainants.
The Supreme Court of Appeals Prosecutor’s Office had sought annulment
of the sentence, arguing that the material and emotional elements of
the crime “insulting Turkishness” had not taken place. The Ninth Bureau
said there was no doubt Dink’s statement, “The clean blood that will
replace the poisoned blood of the Turk is present in the honored veins
that will be established between the Armenian and Armenia,” insulted
Turkishness. “It is impossible to justify belittling a society while
praising another with the freedom of expression as defined by the
European Convention on Human Rights,” the bureau said.
Dink had argued that what he meant by the statement was that Armenians
had the strength to overcome their destructive hatred of Turks. The
prosecutor’s office can appeal the bureau’s decision, and if it
doesn’t, Dink will be retried by the Sisli Second Criminal Court in
accordance with the Supreme Court of Appeals’ pronouncement.
The prosecutor’s office noted its objection to the bureau’s decision,
arguing that according to the Turkish Penal Code (TSK) all critical
opinions voiced without insult would not require a jail sentence. The
office also argued that Dink’s article should be analyzed in its
entirety, not by analyzing words or sentences. The controversial
sentence Dink used could have two meanings, argued the office, adding,
“One can read the sentence alone and decide it is insulting, or read
the entire article and come to another conclusion.” The office argued,
“While the words used may create controversy, disturb people and
create misunderstandings among those who failed to see the article
in its entirety, the author’s intentions should be taken into account.”
The office also said Dink’s previous articles in the series should
also be read to understand his stance. Prosecutors said the poisoned
blood cited in the article did not belong to Turks but was the way
Armenians viewed Turks, which poisoned their identity. “That’s why
one needs to understand the fact that the article does not insult
Turks but rather warns Armenians about their attitude, which poisons
their blood. The office also noted that according to the Constitution,
“Turks” meant all citizens of Turkey, without discrimination between
religion or ethnicity, and that as a result the article could only
be viewed as a criticism of Turkish citizens of Armenian origin

Heritage.org, DC
July 12 2006
Azerbaijan: Aspirations, Regional Issues, and Global Concerns
by His Excellency Elmar Mammadyarov
Heritage Lecture #949
July 12, 2006 | |
(Delivered April 7, 2006)
Today, I would like to discuss Azerbaijan~Rs aspira­tions, regional
issues, as well as some global concerns we have in our part of the
world.
Azerbaijan restored its independence in 1991. Since then, we have
been conducting an active foreign policy, engaging the international
community as a member of the major international organizations. Thus,
our rela­tions with Western nations, and in particular with the
United States, are one of the crucial components of our foreign
policy priorities. This is very important to stress. Having lived in
the United States for almost twelve years, I witnessed U.S. policy
with regard to Azerbaijan moving from what they refer to as a
~Scoun­try of interest~T to ~Sstrategic ally.~T It is indeed very
impor­tant that our cooperation programs, particularly in the energy
sector as well as the security areas, are deepen­ing every year. It
brings with it very positive elements: for example, our latest
cooperative efforts in the area of democracy-building and protection
of human rights.
Rule of law is also extremely important for us, espe­cially keeping
in mind our past. We were a member of the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics and had our own parliament and constitution. But the major
fac­tors of being independent are a foreign and defense policy; these
were delegated to Moscow. And because of the Soviet style of command
economy, we had little experience as to what a real democracy meant,
or for that matter, what the rule of law or even protection of human
rights actually meant.
This year we will celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of our
independence. I can say that we have spent a great deal of time and
energy on introducing the basic elements of what we call the process
of democracy-building in the country. Sometimes it~Rs not an easy
process. Honestly speaking, our efforts sometimes need to be doubled.
But this is what we call a generational issue; we need to work on the
human capital in the country so that people also recognize what
democracy truly means.
Developing Energy Wealth
We~Rre continuing to do a good job in the area of economic
development. Most people here know that Azerbaijan is a region of oil
and gas. The sign­ing of a major oil contract in 1994 with the big
oil companies~Wwe called it the contract of the centu­ry~Wcreated a
solid foundation for our economic development.
Investment into the economy over the last 10 years was about $20
billion, which is pretty good for a population of 8 million. In the
initial years, it came mostly to the energy sector, of course, and
was around $15 billion. And we are really proud to say that $5
billion came to the non-oil sector. The development of the non-oil
sector is one of the major tasks the government faces right now. And
we already defined the niches where major efforts should be made:
agriculture, agribusiness, infra­structure, and tourism. Indeed, I~Rm
going to talk about them a little bit later.
After signing the ~Scontract of the century,~T we immediately started
to think about how to deliver these huge volumes of oil to the world
markets. The point is that Azerbaijan is a landlocked coun­try. We
have a water roads connection with the Black Sea and through the
Black Sea to the major ports of the world. But the Russian port of
Astra­khan, on the Volga, is under the ice almost four month a year.
So we started thinking how to deliver oil to the warm ports of the
world.
Then the idea to build a new pipeline came along. Of course, we
already have two existing pipelines. The first was built during the
Soviet Union, and it runs from Baku to the Russian port of
Novorossiysk on the Black Sea, with the capacity of 70 million tons
per year. That~Rs around 490 million barrels a year. It~Rs not so big,
but it was sufficient for the exploration of our oil resources at
this time.
Then after signing the contract for the initial pro­duction of oil,
we built another pipeline which connects Baku offshore with the Black
Sea port of Supsa. The pipeline itself, because it~Rs an earlier oil
pipeline, holds 5 million tons. That~Rs about 35 mil­lion barrels a
year.
Then we started to recognize that there is too much oil, particularly
in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. So the decision was made
to build up a huge pipeline running from Azerbaijan through Georgia
to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. The capacity of the
pipeline is 50 mil­lion tons of crude oil, which is roughly 1 million
barrels per day.
It is also possible that the capacity can be increased, even up to
1.2 million or 1.4 million barrels per day, and with the addition of
chemicals, it could reach 1.7 million barrels per day.
So the pipeline is a very big project. The cost is small~W$3 billion.
Currently, we are pumping oil inside the pipeline, and we are
expecting in the coming months~Wmost probably this summer~W that it
will be finally inaugurated with the first tanker of oil which will
run from Ceyhan.
We have inaugurated our part. The Georgians have inaugurated their
part of the pipeline. And now we are looking at all of us~Wthat is,
Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey~Wto inaugurate the last por­tion (the
Turkish part) of the pipeline. The route is approximately 1,720
kilometers. So if I~Rm not mis­taken, after the Alaskan pipeline, it~Rs
the second longest pipeline in the world.
Besides oil, we also have gas. And so we decided to build a gas
pipeline. Again, being landlocked, we have to build a pipeline which
can deliver gas to the consumers. And the pipeline, which runs
parallel with the oil pipeline, will deliver the natu­ral gas
supplies from Baku to Georgia and then to the Turkish city of
Erzurum, where it will be con­nected the Turkish gas network. And
through the Turkish gas network we can deliver our gas all over
Europe.
We signed a purchase agreement with Georgia on buying gas. And the
Turks are also committed to buying Azerbaijani gas. Negotiations with
Greece are going on, and they could be extended further to the
Balkans, even to Central Europe, which also has a serious market for
gas.
Fueling Economic Growth
This, of course, definitely brings a lot of econom­ic development
into the country. I can tell you that over the last three years, our
GDP growth has been more than 20 percent. In 2004, it was 19.5
percent. In 2005, it was 25.5 percent. In 2006, this year, we are
expecting it to be around 27 percent.
>>From another point of view, it is also a serious challenge for the
government. For example, last year we faced high rates of inflation
in the double digits. After strong, conservative efforts to curb this
infla­tion, we succeeded in closing the year with a 9.6 per­cent
inflation rate. In the first months of this year, we curbed the
inflation rate to 6 percent, which is also pretty high, but
nonetheless visible progress.
The government is also focusing on developing the non-oil sector.
This is a very crucial element. Traditionally we were very strong in
agriculture and agribusiness. Land privatization successfully
continues. Indeed, we have a lot of success stories. We restored and
increased the production of cot­ton, which is very important as a
strategic material.
And now we are heavily investing in vineyards. Unfortunately, these
vineyards were ruined during the Soviet anti-alcohol campaign and are
located in an area where you have to invest heavily and then wait for
five years before the first yield.
In order to support farmers with agricultural equipment, the
government created special pro­grams and funds. The government signed
a con­tract with Japan to buy agricultural equipment and machinery.
The government put $100 million into the fund for agro-leasing.
Beyond this, we estab­lished a fund to support farmers purchasing
fertil­izers. The fund was established last year with an initial
investment of $50 million.
So in the agriculture sphere, we have a huge market and we~Rre
optimistic that it will prove to be an important revenue stream for
the budget.
The other area is, of course, infrastructure. We~Rre investing heavily
in our infrastructure. We began with our roads and now we~Rre
increasing the capacity of our railroads. Azerbaijan is a member of
the North~V South Consortium together with the Russians, Indi­ans, and
Iranians. Right now the Iranians are building a railroad that they
want to connect through Azer­baijan to Russia and the north of
Europe.
On the other hand, together with the Georgians and Turks, we finished
a feasibility study on a rail­road between Georgia and Turkey, which
goes through Kars to Akhalkalaki (Kars is the Turkish city and
Akhalkalaki is the Georgian city). The fea­sibility study shows that
the project could cost $320 million, which is not a large amount
consid­ering the figures in our region, and it can be done within two
years. We expect that each of the three governments~WAzerbaijan,
Georgia, and Turkey~W will approve this project connecting their
coun­tries, and then through to Europe.
This is very important from the point of view of delivering
commodities, including oil. For exam­ple, our railroad companies
recently signed a con­tract with Chevron to deliver the oil by
railroads~W almost 20 million tons from the Tengiz onshore field in
Kazakhstan that will come from Kazakhstan by barges and then go to
Azerbaijan and Georgia. Now we~Rre thinking that in Georgian ports
they will transfer the oil into tankers and then later to a
rail­road. But the railroad will be built; you can imagine that it
will come not only through Georgia~W because there also still an issue
of the Bosporus~Wit will come through the Turkish ports on the
Medi­terranean. And I think it~Rs very, very serious win­dow, too, for
the development of the economy.
Security Partner
When we talk about economic development, security issues arise. Let
me offer just a few words about security. Azerbaijan is a member of
the ~Scoa­lition of the willing,~T having sent a contingent to Iraq.
Thank God, they are working quite success­fully. We do not have any
casualties so far, and I hope that we will continue our duty there to
bring peace and stability into Iraq, which is very, very important
for the greater Middle East.
We also sent a contingent to Kosovo and to Afghanistan. This is very,
very important for our tran­sition to a regional leader in our part
of the world, and indeed we are behaving as regional leaders in our
part of the world. Our involvement in peacekeeping operations, and
supporting and maintaining interna­tional peace and security, is one
of the commitments and obligations which we took on our shoulders.
Our cooperation with NATO within the Individ­ual Partnership Action
Plan is developing quite successfully. It~Rs very important for us to
reform our army. It~Rs very important for us to increase the
capa­bility of our army. We are working hard at doing this. Just last
month we made a round assessment with regard to the Partnership
Action Plan pro­grams and found areas in which we need to contin­ue
and deepen our cooperation
Besides that, of course, we have bilateral security relations and
programs. With the United States we~Rre developing it quite
successfully, starting with­in the Foreign Military Finance Program,
and also the International Military Education and Training (IMET)
program for Azerbaijani officers in United States military
institutions. So I think it runs within the national interest of
Azerbaijan for the general reforming of the whole country.
Seeking a Solution with Armenia
Now I am giving you this good picture of the development, but there
is always a problem. I should talk about the problem. And the major
problem is the conflict with our neighbor, Armenia.
With the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the large numbers of the
refugees, it is, of course, a huge political, economic, and social
burden. From an economic perspective, we can handle the issue. From
the perspective of the social burden, we have already approved
programs that assist the internal­ly displaced people and the
refugees with a special allocation of money from the oil fund of
Azer­baijan. The only spending so far has been done to support the
refugees. Instead of the tent camps where they used to live, we are
building mobile vil­lages so that when we achieve the liberation of
the territories, they can return to their homes. Last year there was
a fact-finding mission, which visited the occupied territories. They
clearly indicated and filed a report that everything that can be
stolen has been stolen, everything that can be destroyed has been
destroyed, and everything that can be looted has been looted. So at
least they will take these mobile houses when they return to their
villages.
The peace talks are, unfortunately, not as suc­cessful as one would
like, and I think that we need to double our efforts, mostly our
educational efforts. We have to explain-and we speak about this at
every meeting on the level of foreign minis­ters-that one cannot live
back in the 20th century. Indeed, the world has changed. The idea
that you can decide the fate of the territory by forcibly changing
borders, by ethnic cleansing, or by expel­ling the people is gone.
Everyone knows that this is the phenomenon of Yalta 1945, when the
three leaders came together and started drawing the lines that ended
up dividing the world.
Now it’s gone. International relations have changed. The people have
changed. And the role of the borders is diminished.
So the major priority-what we need to do-is to create the possibility
for the normalization of the lives of those who used to live there
for centuries, both Armenians and Azerbaijanis. No one can just expel
them from the territory.
That’s why I’m saying that 2006 can definitely be a window of
opportunity. As soon as Azerbaijan is developing successfully from
the economic point of view, we’ll definitely develop the military as
well. And when frustration comes to the society and peo­ple ask why
should we keep our eyes closed on the occupation of our territories,
then it can be a very serious challenge to the peace and stability in
the region.
And that’s why we ought to begin to clear the table for finding a
real, durable solution. And a durable solution works only within a
legal context. We have definitely found out that any agreement, any
decision-making with regard to the conflict resolution should be
based on the law, particularly the international norms and principles
of this law.
Nagorno-Karabakh is a part of Azerbaijan, and no one can change the
territorial integrity by force. We will move slowly and find out the
way in which to normalize the life between the two communities,
because the hatred which has existed now is defi­nitely not
productive for the development of the region.
His Excellency Elmar Mammadyarov is Minister of Foreign Affairs of
the Republic of Azerbaijan.
iaandEurasia/hl949.cfm
–Boundary_(ID_Xxm7XoigmE2 F+VA2aC3v7A)–