Author: Nanijanian Alex

AZG Armenian Daily #078, 29/04/2006

Neighbors

BAD NEWS FOR GRANT-DEPENDENT NGOS

The national Forum of NGOs of Azerbaijan has decided to keep back from
cooperation with Armenian NGOs, Day.az reports. Azerbaijani NGOs are
allowed to cooperate only with those Armenian non-profit organizations
that recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and consider Nagorno
Karabakh regulation only possible within the international law.
Besides, the Azerbaijani NGOs have made a decision to enhance their
activity in putting the Karabakh issue within the scope of
Azerbaijan’s territorial wholeness and international law.

In effect, this initiative of Azerbaijan can turn into a trouble for
the Armenian NGOs, which cooperate with the Azeri ones within the
frameworks of regional projects.

Iran expected to top agenda in Washington talks between Azerbaijani
president, Bush

AP Worldstream; Apr 28, 2006
AIDA SULTANOVA

Iran is expected to figure prominently in Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliev’s White House meeting with President George W. Bush on Friday.

Aliev, however, has made it clear from the start of his Washington
visit that he would not allow his Caspian Sea country to be used for
any operations against its neighbor.

“We think that diplomatic efforts should be stepped up for settling
all questions that arise between the United States and Iran,”
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told reporters in
Washington on Thursday.

Calling Iran “our big neighbor,” Mammadyarov emphasized that the two
countries “share history, culture and religion,” and that Iran
guarantees Azerbaijan transit rights for land shipments and provides
gas supplies to its Nakhichevan enclave, cut off by Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh.

“All this plays a great role when we speak about the situation around
Iran.”

Separately, a report being released Friday by the chief of the
U.N. nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, on Iran’s nuclear program is
expected to conclude that Tehran has failed to meet a deadline for
complying with U.N. Security Council requests to suspend uranium
enrichment.

Senior U.S. administration officials said Thursday that the White
House discussion with Aliev would address the growing number of
countries united in their concern about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. They
stressed that Aliev has what one called “a close perspective on Iran”
and that he would be able to share his views with Bush.

As for the U.S. side, its interest is in ensuring Azerbaijan and the
United States have a shared understanding of the concerns posed by
Iran.

Mammadyarov said that the Bush-Aliev meeting signified the two
countries were entering a new level of cooperation as Azerbaijan
becomes a key energy transit country. The newly built
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which provides an alternative to Russian
routes and energy sources in the volatile Middle East, is scheduled to
deliver the first shipments of Caspian Sea oil to Western markets this
June.

In the fall, the new Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline will provide a
new source of energy for the Turkish market.

“This answers our national interest and signifies the strengthening of
Azerbaijan’s independence, of our position on the international arena
and the region,” Mammadyarov told The Associated Press in an
interview.

The senior U.S. administration officials said that Azerbaijan’s
interest in U.S. help in developing energy markets gave Washington
leverage on the question of democracy promotion in the former Soviet
republic. The White House meeting will address democracy concerns,
including the last two parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan that did
not meet international standards, they said.

Azerbaijani officials also hope Bush and Aliev will discuss the
18-year-old conflict over the ethnic Armenian-dominated enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh. At least 30,000 people were killed and 1 million
made refugees during six years of war that ended with a shaky
cease-fire in 1994. Ethnic Armenian forces occupy the enclave inside
Azerbaijan.

The United States, together with Russia and the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe, is trying to mediate a resolution.

___

Associated Press writer Tom Raum contributed to this story.

GEORGIAN BUDGET WILL NOT COPE WITH REPATRIATION OF MESKHETI TURKS

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.04.2006 23:04 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 35 thousand Meskheti Turks live in the territory of
Turkey today, reported State Minister for Conflict Settlement and Chair
of the State Commission on Repatriation of Refugees Georgi Khaindrava
at a news conference in Tbilisi. In his words, when entering the CE
Georgia pledged to return Meskheti Turks to their fatherland. The
year 2011 is determined the term for repatriation.

“We do not know yet, how many of the Meskheti Turks living in Turkey
want to return to their fatherland, however the process should comprise
all the country and they should return not only to Samtskhe-Javakheti,
from where they were exiled during the Stalin regime in 1944,” the
State Minister said. He emphasized that if those people consider
Georgia their fatherland, they should settle in any part of its
territory.

Khaindrava remarked the Georgian budget will not be able to cope with
repatriation of Meskheti Turks.

An international conference on the repatriation of Meskheti Turks
to Georgia will be held in Tbilisi on 27 April. The forthcoming
conference will come as the last stage, which will be followed by
the process of repatriation of Meskheti Turks to their historic lands.

Organized by the Council of Europe Commission on National Minority
Rights of and the Georgian Government, the forum will bring together
representatives from Meskheti Turk communities residing in different
countries. A law on repatriation is to be adopted by the Georgian
Parliament on the same day. The conference will mull over the
places for repatriation of Meskheti Turks to the regions of Georgia,
Trend reports.

JIM TOROSIAN AND GEGHAM GRIGORIAN GIVEN SURB SAHAK – SURB MESROP ORDERS

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 27 2006

ETCHMIADZIN, APRIL 27, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Karekin II
Catholicos of All Armenians handed on April 22 at the Mother See of
Holy Etchmiadzin the “Surb Sahak – Surb Mesrop” order to prominent
architecture Jim Torosian and Gegham Grigorian, the Artistic head
of the Yerevan Alexander Spendiarian Opera and Ballet National
Academic Theater, for their services to the Armenian culture and
great contribution. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the Information
Services of the Mother See, the ceremony of giving the orderes was
opened by the speech of Archbishop Nerses Pozapalian, the monk of
the Mother See. Archbishop Pozapalian touched upon Jim Torosian’s
and Gegham Grigorian’s creative life way and productive work, then
thanked His Holiness for the attention constantly paid to Armenian
artists and appreciation of cultural figures. Professor Varazdat
Haroutiunian and poet Seyran Zakarian presented their thoughts about
Jim Torosian’s and Gegham Grigorian’s life and activity. Then the
Patriarchal holy condacks were brought and read by Bishop Arshak
Khachatrian and Bishop Paren Avetikian under the sounds of the “Ej
Miatsinn i Hore” church song. “Dear Mr.Torosian, great and valuable
is Your contribution in life of our people. The productive activity
of long years that blessed by the God, has been resulted with valuable
implementations, worthly classified Your name near famous names of the
Armenian architecture. … We touch upon with special satisfaction Your
services to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin which are expressions of
Your sensere love and devotion towards our spiritual holy place. Being
a member of the Architectural Council of the Mother See, You assist
as much as possible to construction programs implemented by the Mother
See, using Your professional abilities for restoration of our historic
monasteries and and construction of new churches and church buildings,”
is said in the Patriarchal condack. “Today we touch upon with great
satisfaction Your cultural activity and productive contribution of
years. Your name as a winner of numerous competitions is widely known
in the Fatherland and out of its borders. … Today You continue
Your significant cultural activity with the same productiveness,
as the Artistic Head of the Yerevan A.Spendiarian Opera and Ballet
National Academic Theater, putting in Your skills and abilities in
making the Opera and Ballet National Academic Theater more prosperous
as well in the thankful affair of developing the music culture,”
is mentioned in the condack addressed to Gegham Grigorian. After the
condacks were read, His Holiness decorated Jim Torosian and Gegham
Grigorian with the “Surb Sahak-Surb Mesrop” order. After giving the
orders, Jim Torosian and Gegham Grigorian said the world of their
heart to those present. The ceremony was closed by the speech of
the Catholicos of All Armenians. His Holiness again appreciated Jim
Torosian’s and Gegham Grigorian’s devotiom, love and faithfulness
shown by the productive activity towards the Armenian people and the
Armenian Apostolic Surb Church.

PRIME MINISTER OF KARABAKH SAYS “NO” TO OLIGARCHS

Lragir.am
26 April 06

During the April 26 meeting of the government NKR Prime Minister
Anushavan Danielyan briefly analyzed the peculiarities of development
of the country’s economy. Considering that the prime minister of NKR
rarely makes public speeches, his invitation to ministers to give
briefings more often is quite notable. It should be noted that the
public officials of Karabakh do not like public meetings and answering
questions that sometimes appear in press. Especially the questions
why the loan policy is not transparent, why the effectiveness of
this policy is not analyzed, why the “estimates” of return on tax
are boosted artificially, why agricultural production grows but no
processing factories are founded.

Anushavan Danielyan answered these questions from a new perspective.

By the way, not only did he answer these question, but he also raised
new questions. Particularly considering the budget performance in
2005, the prime minister mentioned that although the receipts grew
by 102 per cent, the budget was performed by 102 per cent. The prime
minister assessed the budget as risky.

Although during the 7 years of office of the present government the
volume of industry has grown significantly, and the prime minister
said the growth was, in fact, thanks to the Copper Factory in Drmbon.

In other words, no other factories were opened. Over the past years,
according to the prime minister, the efforts of the government were
mainly directed at the development of industry and agriculture.

Presently, the emphasis is laid on building. In this context the
prime minister invited the ministers to open factories of building
materials in Karabakh, such as factories of cement and concrete
constructions. Danielyan reminded that this year the volume of building
will reach 8.5 billion drams, whereas the building materials are
still imported from Armenia.

The prime minister was not indifferent towards agriculture either. He
mentioned that Armenia will spend 146 million from the grant of the
Millennium Challenge Corporation on irrigation systems. It means
that soon the crop yield in Armenia will grow several times, and the
production of Karabakh will no longer be competitive. With regard to
this the prime minister criticized all those people who “are against
irrigation projects in Karabakh” (as far as we know, these people
are from the Azat Hayrenik Party). Anushavan Danielyan characterized
these people as “oligarchs” and said they are ready to take any steps
to drop the price of land and “seize all the lands for a song.”

Besides, there is a problem of marketing. Processing factories,
especially wineries are monopolies, said the prime minister. He called
for promoting small wineries through a loan policy. As far as we know,
the first of these oligarchs and monopolists is the co-chair of the
Azat Hayrenik Party, a shareholder of Karabakh Gold Winery Arayik
Harutiunyan, who is said to be the next prime minister.

Finally, the prime minister said the weak link in the Karabakh economy
is communities and communal services. Besides, according to him,
the ministers and local governments of Karabakh are not working in
a team, and each of them is conducting an independent policy, trying
to extract as much money from the budget as possible.

RUSSIA SAYS AKHALKALAKI BASE PULLOUT HINDERED, AS LOCALS PROTEST

Civil Georgia, Georgia
April 26 2006

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikheil Kaminin said that the
process of launching the withdrawal on military hardware from the
Akhalkalaki military base, scheduled for April 26, has been dragged out
after local residents of this predominantly ethnic Armenian populated
town blocked the road on April 25 to protest against the base pullout.

“The command of the base requested the local military police to
ensure safe movement of military hardware. However, the Georgian
authorities refused to take any measures, citing that this does not
their responsibility,” Kaminin said.

He said that the locals protest against the military base
withdrawal, as they fear the process might trigger “deterioration of
social-economic conditions in the region.”

Kaminin also said that under the agreement signed by Tbilisi and Moscow
on March 31, the Georgian side undertook a commitment to ensure safe
pullout of bases, as well as safe transportation of military hardware
and personnel.

“We expect that the Georgian authorities will take relevant measures
in Akhalkalaki,” he added.

US AND AZERI PRESIDENTS TO SPEAK OF NK PROBLEM AND IRANIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM – NOVRUZ MAMEDOV, PRESIDENT’S ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL
Author: R. Abdullayev

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
April 26 2006

The main themes of meetings between the Presidents of Azerbaijan
and the USA will be Nagorno-Karabakh problem and Iranian nuclear
program, Trend reports with reference to the interview Novruz Mamedov,
head of foreign relations with President’s Administration, gave to
Turkish Zaman.

“In the course of the meeting the sides will speak on four main
themes: bilateral relations, power engineering, regional security and
international terrorism. However, the top issues of the day will be
Armenian-Azeri conflict and Iranian nuclear program”, – Mamedov said.

Mamedov said official Baku is suggesting the nuclear matter relieve
within UN and IAEA. “Azerbaijan has problems enough in the region to
interrupt Iran’s internal affairs”, – Azeri official said, adding
official Baku is always speaking in support of peaceful resolution
of Iran conflict.

Alongside, he said despite Azerbaijan’s policy of mutual respect and
good-neighbor relations, Iran is adhering to pro-Armenian positions
in some respect

Mamedov also opined on Washington’s position on Nagorno-Karabakh
problem. “The US usually react immediately to problems in other
countries. We would love such sensitivity to take place in respect
of Azerbaijan”, – he stated.

PROTEST ACTIONS TO BE HELD IN VENEZUELA AND SHANGHAI

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.04.2006 01:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Protest actions dedicated to the 91st anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide will be held in Venezuela and China’s
Shanghai, reported Yerkir Media TV. According to the source, a rally
was organized by the Armenian youth organizations of Georgia in front
of the Turkish Embassy in Tbilisi when the action participants handed
a written demand to recognize the Genocide to the Embassy officials.

However, according to some sources, they failed to convey the document,
since the Embassy staff was absent today.

KARABAKH PROBLEM: PROSPECTS OF SETTLEMENT
Nvard Ohanjanyan

Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
25 April 2006

On April 21 the NKR National Assembly Committee of External Relations
kicked off the parliamentary hearings on the topic “Karabakh Problem:
Prospects of Settlement.” In the debates, which took place at the
National Assembly of NKR, the parliamentary delegation of Armenia
headed by Armen Rustamian, Chair of the Committee of External
Relations, NKR members of parliament and government officials,
representatives of NGOs and political parties of NKR, experts and
guests participated. The debates were conducted by Vahram Atanessian,
Chair of the Committee of External Relations of the NKR National
Assembly. In his address Speaker Ashot Ghulian emphasized that
that the parliamentary debates show that the issue of Karabakh is a
national problem, and called the members of parliaments of NKR and
Armenia and the NKR political parties to contribute to the process
of fair settlement of the Karabakh issue. Foreign Minister of NKR
Georgy Petrossian gave an overview of the Karabakh issue. The chair
of the Committee of External Relations of the National Assembly of
Armenia Armen Rustamian emphasized two important preconditions in
shifting the tactics into diplomacy: to carry on the peace talks
with Azerbaijan on a due level, and to define the status of Nagorno
Karabakh. Next spoke Armen Sargissian, the head of the parliamentary
group ARF-Movement 88, Arthur Tovmassian, member of the Hayrenik
faction, Hrant Melkumian, leader of the NKR Communist Party, Gegham
Baghdassarian, member of the political party Movement 88. Although
the speeches were definitely different, they had several points
in common, namely the full engagement of NKR in the settlement of
Karabakh, condemnation of Azerbaijan as an aggressor and recognition
of the right for self-determination of the people of Karabakh by the
international community. The members of parliament asked questions,
then the members of the Committee of External Relations of the National
Assembly of Armenia, NKR members of parliament, representatives of
political parties and NGOs, and NKR deputy speaker Rudik Hyununts
spoke. In conclusion Vahram Atanessian, Chair of the NKR Committee
of External Relations, introduced the document that will be submitted
to the relevant international organizations.

DENIAL OF A GENOCIDE IS TEMPORARY

Lragir.am
24 April 06

Turkey’s denial of the genocide is temporary, said Arthur Aghabekyan,
Deputy Defense Minister of Armenia, April 24, informed the news
agency ARKA. He announced that the genocide must be recognized
eventually. Arthur Aghabekyan said Armenia is conducting a correct
policy on the international recognition of the genocide.

“Our policy is correct from the perspective of educating generations,
and conveying to the international community that Armenia is going
to be consistent in pursuing condemnation of the crime of the 20th
century,” said Arthur Aghabekyan.