Author: Khoyetsian Rose

WPS Agency, Russia
What the Papers Say (Russia)
October 29, 2008 Wednesday

THREE-WAY MEETING IN THE KREMLIN ON NOVEMBER 2:
Aliyev and Sargsian to visit Medvedev

by Arkady Dubov

Presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia will discuss
Nagorno-Karabakh; A three-way meeting is scheduled in Moscow on
November 2: the presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia will
discuss Nagorno-Karabakh conflict regulation. Azerbaijan still says it
will never recognize the republic’s independence, while Armenia
insists on self-determination for the Karabakh people.

To all appearances, Ilham Aliyev’s first trip abroad after his
inauguration for a second term as president of Azerbaijan will be to
Moscow. A three-way meeting is scheduled there for November 2: the
presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia will discuss
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict regulation. Preparations for this meeting
were mentioned by President Dmitri Medvedev when he visited Yerevan
last week.

The summit for three presidents, all of whom have taken office this
year, is drawing particular interest – depite the habitual pessimism
about the prospects of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict any
time soon. The reason is obvious: the five-day Russian-Georgian war
has shifted the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from the "frozen" category
into the more dangerous category of conflicts that might "thaw out" or
even "heat up" rapidly.

This is evident from the international community’s obvious concern
about the South Caucasus situation, which has turned explosive
again. For example, in explaining the purposes of tactical live-fire
exercises carried out in the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
(NKR) on October 25, NKR Defense Minister Movses Akopian said: "We
won’t wait for the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan to attack us. Depending
on the situation, we shall launch an offensive to neutralize any
threat to our security." NKR President Bako Saakian said that if
necessary, military units would "not only take the hostilities into
enemy territory, but take them into the heart of Azerbaijan." Then
again, Saakian issued this warning after confirming that the NKR "is
prepared to start negotiations with Azerbaijan with no preconditions."
The only problem, said Saakian, is that "Nagorno-Karabakh is not a
full-fledged side in a negotiation process."

Some equally resolute rhetoric is being heard from Baku. In his
inauguration address on October 24, President Ilham Aliyev of
Azerbaijan said: "Nagorno-Karabakh will never be
independent. Azerbaijan will never recognize it – not in five, ten, or
twenty years. Never." The conflict can only be rseolved "only within
the framework of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity," said Aliyev:
"Our hopes haven’t faded yet. We still believe that negotiations could
lead to a fair solution."

Baku’s statement about being ready to negotiate, and Russia’s proposal
to hold a meeting in Moscow, have been greeted with concern in
Yerevan. This was expressed the other day by Stepan Grigorian, head of
the Globalization and Regional Cooperation Analytical Center: "In
order to have Azerbaijan export its oil and gas across Russian
territory, Moscow is prepared to sacrifice some positions on
Nagorno-Karabakh. This is obvious – and even surprising, since wishes
are usually expressed more modestly and less blatantly in diplomacy."
Grigorian says that "artificial acceleration" of the negotiation
process is "dangerous," because "Russia is aiming to solve its own
problem as fast as possible, since Washington will be more active in
this region after the US presidential election."

Another reason for wariness in Yerevan is related to suspicions that
the Moscow meeting will take Nagorno-Karabakh conflict regulation out
of the OSCE Minsk Group framework. According to Armenian analysts,
OSCE decision-making is based on consensus, enabling Armenia to block
any verdicts it doesn’t like; but other formats for internationalizing
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict – the United Nations, for example –
would not offer Armenia that opportunity.

Responding to these suspicions, Armenian President Serge Sargsian said
that "the one and only mediator is the OSCE Minsk Group." Sargsian
went on to say: "Armenia has never requested any other country to
perform a mediation mission, and attempts to create confusion don’t
help us at all." Analysts believe he was referring to reports that
Turkey is prepared to propose itself as chief mediator for
Armenian-Azeri talks.

Regarding the upcoming meeting in Moscow, Sargsian said that
"President Dmitri Medvedev Enhanced Coverage Linking Dmitri Medvedev’s
invitation and his activity on this issue are entirely natural," since
Russia Russia is a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group. According to our
sources, the three-way meeting will take place in the presence of
three Minsk Group co-chairs from Russia, the USA, and France. They may
participate in informal contacts between the presidents of Azerbaijan
and Armenia, as such representatives have done in similar meetings
before.

As President Sargsian said, the Kremlin talks on November 2 will be
based on the "Madrid principles" – ten written proposals formulated by
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs for a meeting between the presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan in Madrid on November 29, 2006. The chief
proposals call for a referendum in Nagorno-Karabakh, the liberation of
Armenian-occupied districts of Azerbaijan around Nagorno-Karabakh, and
demilitarization of those districts. However, President Sargsian said
in the same TV interview that "the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can only
be regulated if Azerbaijan recognizes the Karabakh people’s right to
self-determination." Baku still regards this principle as
unacceptable, so the Moscow meeting doesn’t seem to promise any
sensational developments.

On the other hand, Sargsian’s words were primarily aimed at the
domestic audience in Armenia – to convince the public that the
interests of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenians will not be
betrayed. However, Sargsian also named some other conditions for
conflict resolution, including "international organizations and the
world’s leading nations providing security guarantees for the Karabakh
people." The important question is how the Madrid principles might be
implemented, in what order, and what conditions may be tied to them.

Source: Vremya Novostei, No. 201, October 29, 2008, p. 5

Translated by InterContact

AssA-Irada, Azerbaijan
October 30, 2008 Thursday

YEREVAN RULES OUT ANKARAS MEDIATION IN GARABAGH TALKS

Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian has said that Turkey might
interfere with the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh
conflict by exerting influence on Azerbaijan, but the country is not
considered a mediator in peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Nalbandian told a news conference on Thursday that Yerevan continued
efforts to better relations with Turkey. Improving Turkey-Armenia
relations is important not only for Armenia but also for the entire
region. Armenia has never turned down dialogue with Turkey and is
ready to settle any problems. Yerevan is in talks with Turkey without
leveling conditions, he said. The diplomat said the international
community was also interested in bettering relations between Armenia
and Turkey. Yerevan does not hold talks with Turkey for the sake of
appearance. This does not even suit us.*

AZERBAIJAN’S STALLED ARMY REFORM

International Crisis Group
=5751&l=1&m=1
Oct 29 2008
Belgium

Baku/Tbilisi/Brussels, 29 October 2008: Reform of Azerbaijan’s
controversial army is stalling for lack of political will.

Azerbaijan: Defence Sector Management and Reform, the latest
policy briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines the
difficulties the country faces in upgrading its military. Oil wealth
has been poured into a defence budget that has increased more than
ten-fold in five years, raising concerns President Ilham Aliyev might
eventually choose war with Armenia to recover Nagorno-Karabakh. But
reforms could also make the army more accountable, less corrupt and
a contributor to democratisation.

Unwillingness to take tough decisions, including how far to cooperate
with and accept advice from NATO while balancing relations with
Russia and Iran, has led to stalemate in efforts to reduce widespread
inefficiency, corruption and mistreatment in the army. For now at
least, the delicate military balance with Armenia probably still holds.

"Defence sector reform should be an integral part of an overall
democratic process, said Lawrence Sheets, Crisis Group Caucasus
Project Director. "If Azerbaijan is committed to thorough reform of the
military, it will need to change substantially in many other areas of
government and society as well. But parliament has failed to oversee
military expenditure and has no authority to summon power ministers,
including the defence minister, to report on their activities".

A modern and efficient army, even if subject to democratic, civilian
control, is not unproblematic while the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh
remains deeply resented. But ability to hold leaders to account for
expenditures and policy priorities at least has the potential to make
the system more responsible and predictable.

Azerbaijan needs to improve dissemination of defence information and
expand awareness about its increased military spending. NATO, which is
helping with its military reform, should facilitate dialogue between
the militaries of both Azerbaijan and Armenia. The international
community, including the EU, U.S. and Russia should push the parties
harder to resolve their conflict peacefully.

"It makes sense both for Azerbaijan to pursue the kind of deep reforms
of structures, laws and procedures necessary to build a truly excellent
military and for NATO and other democratic states to provide a degree
of assistance", said Sabine Freizer, Crisis Group Europe Program
Director. "However, the fundamental need is for all who profess an
interest in stability in these areas to give more priority to ensuring
that it is diplomacy, not war that provides the answer to the still
dangerous Nagorno-Karabakh conflict".

Contacts: Andrew Stroehlein (Brussels) +32 (0) 2 541 1635 Kimberly
Abbott (Washington) +1 202 785 1601 To contact Crisis Group media
please click here *Read the full Crisis Group report on our website:

ARMENIAN, ALBANIAN FMS AGREE TO DEVELOP BILATERAL COOPERATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.10.2008 15:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian,
currently in Tirana attending the summit of BSEC Foreign Ministers,
met Wednesday with his Albanian counterpart Lulzim Basha to discuss
bilateral relations and ways to encourage political, economic and
cultural cooperation.

Edward Nalbandian invited his Albanian counterpart to Armenia. The
delegation of the Albanian MFA will visit Armenia in the near future
to organize signing of several agreements on bilateral cooperation
in various fields, the RA MFA press office reports.

ARMENIA’S CHAMPION FAILS

A1+
[12:36 pm] 23 October, 2008

The 2008 European chess championship is drawing to an end in
Calitea. There were high expectations for Armenia’s champion "Mika",
which was represented with a strong team in the tournament, but
lost the chance to move up to the top one match before the end of
the championship.

In the 6th tournament "Mika" faced off with the Russian "Saransk",
which placed 7th in the competition. Out of the 6 games, "Mika"
won 5 and one of them was a tie. Levon Aronian and Gabriel Sargsian
celebrated their victories, whiel Magnus Carlsen, Bahadur Jobava and
Tigran Petrosian lost to their competitors and Boris Gelfand scored
half a point.

Former Armenian champion "Bankayin Arka" scored over the Hungarian
"Haladas" team with 3:5:2:5. Ashot Anastasian and Artashes Minasian
also won in the games. "Bankayin Arka" scored another eight points,
but placed 11th with 24 points.

FIMA lost to the Austrian "Advisori Invest" team by 2:5:3:5 and is
currently at 28th with 6 points. The list is headed by the German
"Baden-Baden" team, followed by the Russian "Ural" and "Saransk",
the Ukrainian "Kiev", the Bosnian "Bosna" and the German "Miulheim
Nord". In the women’s games "Mika" won 4:0 in the game against the
Lithuanian "Panevechus". After this game, the Armenian team is at
8th place with 7 points.

£1.6 MILLION-A-YEAR CITYTRADER IS SUING HIS EMPLOYER FOR £92,000 AFTER CLAIMING HE DID NOT GET A BIG ENOUGH BONUS, IT IS REVEALED TODAY

cle-23575810-details/%C2%A31.6m+trader+sues+for+%C 2%A392%2C000+extra/article.do
21.10.08

Alexandre Mouradian, head of the exchange-traded options desk at
Tradition Securities & Futures, took the brokers to an employment
tribunal over the alleged shortfall in his 2006 performance payment.

Mr Mouradian, 38, won the original tribunal case and an appeal,
but French-owned Tradition has now taken it to the Court of Appeal.

The case comes at a time of unprecedented criticism of the
"irresponsible" bonus culture in the City, which many critics claim
was a major factor in the banking crisis.

Court papers reveal that Mr Mouradian, who earns a basic salary of
£300,000, was given responsibility for dividing up the twice-yearly
bonus pool among himself and his team of seven employees and one
consultant.

For the second half of 2006, he awarded himself £1.32 million –
or 92 per cent of the pool – while three colleagues got much smaller
amounts of £60,000, £47,000 and £2,000. Four others got nothing. Mr
Mouradian is disputing the way in which company costs were allocated,
reducing the size of the bonus pool. He claims he is entitled to
another £92,571.60 .

The trader, who has worked for the inter-dealer broking arm of
France’s Compagnie Financière Tradition since 1997, lives in a £3
million end-of-terrace house in Knightsbridge. A stream of builders
arrived at the house this morning and said that £50,000 worth of
refurbishment had recently been done.

The case is a rare insight into the shadowy world of City bonus
calculation.

Many including Gordon Brown have said that bonuses have to be curbed
to stop traders taking excessive risks.

Last year City workers got almost £8 billion but the payout is
expected to fall this year after banks’ huge losses.

Mr Mouradian has brought his case under the Employment Rights
Act, which prohibits the unlawful deduction of an employee’s
wages. Tradition confirmed the proceedings but did not comment further
and Mr Mouradian refused to comment.

–Boundary_(ID_45qCgl0f5F+nYgnJ3hOmGw)–

SERZH SARGSYAN: THE LEVEL OF TODAY’S ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS IS VERY GOOD BUT I WANT THEM TO BE EXEMPLARY BUT NOT DEMONSTRATIVE

ArmInfo
2008-10-21 15:26:00

ArmInfo. , – Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said at today’s
joint press-conference with his Russian counterpart Dmitriy Medvedev
in Yerevan.

He also added Armenia’s strategic relations with Russia have never
become an obstacle for establishing cooperation with other states
too. When commenting on the viewpoint according to which Armenia is
forced to have the partnership relations with Russia, Serzh Sargsyan
said he absolutely does not agree to such a view, since one cannot
become friends via force. transparent and reliable. And I think the
force of our friendship is in mutual trust. Just this trust makes
it possible for us to set and develop contacts with states in the
region as well as outside it>, – Armenian president said. For his
part, President of Russia Dmitriy Medvedev added , – he said and
added not only pragmatic international or local account is behind the
Armenian-Russian relations, but century-long friendship which should
be preserved forever.

MINISTER NALBANDIAN, AMBASSADOR SIMMONS DISCUSS KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

armradio.am
20.10.2008 17:07

On October 20 Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian received
Ambassador Robert Simmons, the Special Representative of NATO Secretary
General for the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Greeting the guest, Edward Nalbandian expressed satisfaction with the
level of Armenia-NATO cooperation and the process of implementation
of the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP).

At the request of the guest, Edward Nalbandian presented the current
state of negotiations on the Karabakh conflict settlement and the
opportunities of solving the issue.

Minister Nalbandian and Ambassador Simmons discussed the latest
developments in the region.

MEDVEDEV EN ARMENIE: COOPERATION COMMERCIALE ET SITUATION DANS LE CAUCASE AU MENU (KREMLIN)

RIA Novosti
10:09 | 20/ 10/ 2008
Russia

International

MOSCOU, 20 octobre – RIA Novosti. Le president russe Dmitri Medvedev,
en visite en Armenie les 20 et 21 octobre, examinera avec son
homologue Serge Sargsian la cooperation entre les deux pays dans la
sphere commerciale et economique et la situation dans le Caucase,
a appris RIA Novosti aupres du Kremlin.

Cette rencontre, organisee a l’initiative de M. Sargsian, sera la
cinquième entre les deux presidents depuis le debut de l’annee, ce
qui temoigne, selon l’interlocuteur de l’agence, du haut niveau du
dialogue politique et du partenariat strategique entre les deux pays.

"La rencontre des presidents permettra de passer en revue la
cooperation dans le domaine economique et commercial. Sur les huit
premiers mois de l’annee 2008, le montant des echanges a augmente de
13% en glissement annuel, pour atteindre 536,5 millions de dollars. La
Russie est le principal partenaire commercial de l’Armenie, et l’un
des principaux investisseurs dans le pays. Au premier semestre 2008,
les investissements russes ont atteint 428 millions de dollars",
a-t-il indique.

Le representant du Kremlin a rappele que la Russie participait a la
modernisation des chemins de fer armeniens, et que des compagnies
telles que Gazprom, la banque VTB et la compagnie electrique Inter
RAO EES operaient en Armenie.

Selon lui, le partenariat des regions russes est egalement extremement
satisfaisant, environ 70 regions cooperant avec le pays dans les
spheres economique, commerciale, scientifique, et culturelle.

M. Medvedev assistera en outre a la ceremonie d’inauguration de la
place de Russie a Erevan et a la creation du reseau de telephonie
mobile de la compagnie russe Komstar en Armenie.

"Lors des negociations, nous examinerons en outre la situation dans
le Caucase, suite a l’agression georgienne contre l’Ossetie du Sud
et les problemes internationaux actuels", a-t-il indique.

Selon lui, on fera grand cas des accords intervenus lors de la
dernière session de l’Organisation du Traite de securite collective
(OTSC) a Moscou le 5 septembre, visant a renforcer la coordination en
matière politique etrangère, notamment a la lumière de la presidence
armenienne de l’organisation.

Concernant le conflit du Haut-Karabakh, une enclave peuplee d’armeniens
en territoire azerbaïdjanais, la Russie reitèrera "sa position de
principe visant a trouver une solution acceptable pour toutes les
parties".

–Boundary_(ID_mSpgdbnbf5+rZN4 IVEuM2A)–

POLICEMEN USED DISPROPORTIONATE FORCE ON MARCH 1st, ARTSVIK MINASIAN
EXPRESSES OPINION

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 16, NOYAN TAPAN. It is clearly seen is in some
episodes filmed during the March 1 events that policemen used
disproportionate force against citizens, member of the RA National
Assembly Ad Hoc Committee on Inquiry into March 1-2 Events in Yerevan,
member of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Artsvik Minasian said at the October
16 press conference. In his words, it is not clear, for example, why
policemen chased people, throwing stones at them in Republic Square
which is pretty far from the place of holding the rally.

Besides, according to him, over 7 months the committee members failed
to find out the purpose of the operation implemented in Liberty Square
on the morning of March 1. He said that the committee is sure of only
one thing: the operation began before 7 am and not at 7 am as the
high-ranking police officials claimed.

As for the statement of the former deputy prosecutor general, currently
imprisoned Gagik Jhangirian to the effect that the creation of a
fact-finding group is a death sentence for the ad hoc committee, S.
Minasian considered this statement as one that "deviates from the
reality". In the opinion of ARF members, the committee worked
efficiently, while the goal of the fact-finding group is to examine the
facts most skilfully.