Author: Tvankchian Parkev

PanArmenian News
Feb 28 2005
Anchorage Daily News (Alaska)

Featured pianist programs a twist

By MARK BAECHTEL, Anchorage Daily News

Saturday’s performance by the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra will
include some old friends for arts center patrons: Nikolai
Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Tsar’s Bride Overture” and Jean Sibelius’ rousing
Symphony No. 5. But you could be forgiven if you scratch your head a
bit when you see the name that occupies the middle spot in the
evening’s program — a piano concerto by Aram Khachaturian.

The piece was the choice of pianist Timothy Smith, the evening’s
featured guest and head of piano studies at the University of Alaska
Anchorage, who will be marking his 20th year in Alaska with the
performance.

“(Anchorage Symphony conductor) Randy Fleischer had asked me several
years ago to play the Liszt ‘Totentanz’ with the symphony, and after
I played, he said, ‘We’ll have to do this again,’?” Smith said. “And
that set me thinking of unique ideas for programs I’d like to play. I
thought the Khachaturian would make for an interesting twist.”

Words like “unique” and “twist” can be dissonant music to the ears of
innovation-averse audiences that like their classical music, well,
classical. However, bracketing the Khachaturian performance with
faves should entice the crowd into its seats, while the music itself
will make them glad they came.

“The music of the 20th century is just starting to be discovered as
orchestras are moving past (featuring mainly) the music of the 19th
century, looking for new showpieces,” Smith said. “They’ve done the
Beethovens and Brahmses and the Tchaikovskys and so forth, and now
they’re looking to do things they didn’t do just last year or the
year before.”

As far as Smith is concerned, Khachaturian, who was one of the
socialist-realist musicians fostered under the early Soviet
starmaking system, fits the bill.

“He uses a very distinctive harmonic palette,” Smith said. “It has
epic scales, and his connection with some of the folk instruments of
Armenia is pretty clear. There’s one instrument called the duduk, for
instance; it’s kind of a cross between a flute and a clarinet, and it
has a sound that’s very mournful, very expressive and emotive. And
the character of the duduk is captured in some of the more somber
lyrical passages Khachaturian wrote for piano in the concerto.

“I think this quality will make the concerto very memorable, even to
someone who had no familiarity with his music.”

Smith said the concerto is presenting a challenge for him as a
musician.

“It can be intimidating,” he said. “In the traditional sense, it
presents some of the same technical obstacles presented by concerti
from the previous period. And it takes some stamina and endurance to
match up and stand with the orchestra; the piano is called on to
produce quite a bit of sound.”

Smith says the piece is not all sturm und drang, however. The more
“bombastic and triumphal” passages are balanced, he says, by passages
that are slower and more emotive.

All in all, he says, “It’s certainly not an understated piece, and it
translates into quite a spectacle.”

Arts editor Mark Baechtel can be reached at 257-4323 or
[email protected].

THE ANCHORAGE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA performs at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb.
26, in Atwood Concert Hall. Tickets: $19-$40, available at CarrsTix.

GRAPHIC: ERIK HILL / Anchorage Daily News; Timothy Smith teaches
piano to student Joy Kil, 14. Smith will perform a 20th-century piano
concerto by Aram Khachaturian that includes epic scales, folk
influences and both bombastic and emotive passages.

Armenian family gets legal reprieve
By Denver Post Staff

Denver Post, CO
Feb 28 2005

Members of a Colorado Armenian family have gained a legal reprieve
that has removed an immediate threat of deportation hanging over
their heads since last summer.

The Board of Immigration Appeals has reopened the court case for four
members of the Sargsyan family who had been under deportation orders.
An attorney for the Sargsyans will have the chance to try to prove
they should be granted legal residence because they were victims of
human trafficking when they came to the U.S. in 1999.

“My family is finally receiving some justice,” said Gevorg Sargsyan,
who is an honors student at the University of Colorado.

Gevorg, his parents and and three siblings have lived and worked in
Ridgway and Ouray since they came to the United States.

When their friends in rural Ouray County learned the family was facing
deportation, more than 1,500 people signed petitions and chipped in
more than $75,000 to help with the family’s legal expenses.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
Feb 27 2005

US STATE DEPARTMENT DISAPPOINTED BY THE WORDS OF ITS OWN AMBASSADOR
TO ARMENIA
[February 27, 2005, 22:55:04]

As AzerTAj’s Washington correspondent reports, some news agencies
based on armenian sources quoted US Ambassador to Amernia as saying
`Karabakh can not be given to Azerbaijan’. He said this while
speaking in Berkley University, CA to the members of Armenian
Diaspora. It is strange to hear these words from the representative
of US Administartion, that has always made clear its support to
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and never recognized
Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state.

The words of Ambassador John Evans should be considered as a `private
comment at a private party’ said State Department official Steve
Pike, commenting on the odd statement of its Ambassador to Armenia.
`They do not reflect US official position on this issue. US policy on
Nagorno-Karabakh remains unchanged’, he added.

Azerbaijani Ambassador to US Hafiz Pashayev discussed this incident
with US officials, as well as with Laura Kenndey, Deputy Assistant
Secretary on Caucasus, Central Asia and Southeast Europe. According
to Hafiz Pashayev, from his conversations with US officials he
concluded that American side was disappointed with John Evans’s
statement. US officials once again reassured Azerbaijani Ambassador
that the United States supports the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan and doesn’t recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent
state, nor it recognizes its authorities.

`This is an irresponsible statement to make on the eve of the next
meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia. John
Evans should give an explanation to his statement’, Azerbaijani
Ambassador added. `Every Ambassador tries to be particularly careful
in the statements and not use a word that might undermine an official
stance of his country in a certain issue. It seems, that an
atmosphere of two week long meetings in different states with
Armenian Diaspora influenced Ambassador Evans in such an extent, that
he didn’t adhere to this basic principle of diplomacy. ‘

Las Vegas Review-Journal, NV
Feb 25, 2005

STATE REGULATORS VOICE CONCERNS: MGM-Mandalay deal OK’d

Kerkorian says competition in casino market will stay strong

By HOWARD STUTZ
GAMING WIRE

MGM Mirage Chairman Terri Lanni, left, and majority stockholder Kirk
Kerkorian talk during the Nevada Gaming Commission hearing Thursday.
Kerkorian assured state regulators that the buyout of the Mandalay
Resort Group will not stifle competition.
Photo by John Gurzinski.

While it was clear from the outset of Thursday’s Nevada Gaming
Commission hearing that MGM Mirage’s $7.9 billion buyout of the
Mandalay Resort Group was going to be approved, state regulators
wanted to spell out their concerns about the anti-competitive aspects
of the transaction more stringently than the Federal Trade
Commission.

After a more than four-hour hearing that resulted in a 5-0 vote in
favor of the merger, commission Chairman Peter Bernhard was satisfied
regulators made their point.

“I viewed the FTC analysis as the beginning of our analysis,”
Bernhard said of the government agency’s decision earlier this month
not to challenge the merger. “We had to go further and look at the
best interests of Nevada. Even if it met federal antitrust standards,
we still had to make the independent judgment that it was in the best
interest of the state based on the criteria of our regulations.”

Once the buyout is completed, MGM Mirage will encompass 28 casinos in
five states with 75,000 employees, 95 percent of whom are based in
Nevada.

On the Strip, the company will own 12 casinos, including eight of the
nine major resorts on the west side of the Las Vegas Boulevard
between Spring Mountain Road and Russell Road.

The pointed questioning by gaming commissioners of MGM Mirage
executives and attorneys as to whether or not the merger would stifle
competition on the Strip brought the company’s controlling
shareholder, Kirk Kerkorian, to the podium.

The 88-year-old Kerkorian, who began MGM Mirage when he built the
5,000-room MGM Grand in 1993, said the same questions were asked in
2000 when he negotiated the buyout of Mirage Resorts to form the
current company.

Normally a spectator during such hearings, Kerkorian told the gaming
commission that one company couldn’t hold back development in Las
Vegas.

“In the last 4 1/2 years, Nevada has grown rapidly and there has been
more interest worldwide,” Kerkorian said. “I have to believe the same
thing will happen again.”

In a brief interview with the Review-Journal following his remarks,
Kerkorian said Steve Wynn’s planned April 28 opening of the $2.5
billion Wynn Las Vegas, is proof casino development will continue.

“The point I was trying to make was that the same questions were
asked when we purchased Mirage,” Kerkorian said. “Certainly,
everything kept exploding and I don’t think any one merger is going
to hold back Las Vegas. They are going to still keep coming and still
keep building.”

MGM Mirage President and Chief Financial Officer Jim Murren cited the
company’s sale of the Golden Nugget to Poster Financial Group a year
ago, the recent resale of the downtown casino to Landry’s
Restaurants, and last year’s purchase of the Las Vegas Hilton by
Colony Capital as proof new competition will continue to enter the
marketplace.

Commissioner John Moran Jr., said the FTC’s approval didn’t mean all
the questions had been answered. He said the gaming commission was
more concerned about the impact the merger would have on other Nevada
casinos.

“We had to go further and not just be a rubber stamp of the FTC,”
Moran said.

Gaming commission members said the financial data provided by MGM
Mirage showed the company’s commitment to the state.

After its merger with Mirage Resorts, the company said it spent
$1.739 billion in capital expenditures for its Nevada properties
between 2000 and 2004. Company executives said those expenditures
would continue, including the $4.7 billion expected to be spent on
the 66-acre Project CityCenter on the Strip.

“I felt this particular application showed this company’s commitment
to the state of Nevada and showed their responsibility in the past
with their track record following their last merger,” Bernhard said.

During the hearing, it was disclosed the purchase of Mandalay Resort
Group would give MGM Mirage additional acres of undeveloped land with
Strip access, including 22 acres south of Mandalay Bay, 15 acres on
the east side of Strip across from Luxor, 27 acres north of Circus
Circus, and 33 acres behind New York-New York and Monte Carlo.

MGM Grand Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Terry Lanni said after
the hearing he hopes the purchase will be able to close in about two
weeks once two remaining issues are cleared.

MGM Mirage needs to complete the sale of one of its two Detroit-area
casinos in order to satisfy Michigan gaming law, and it must place
Mandalay’s Illinois casino into an escrow trust because that state
doesn’t have a full complement of gaming regulators to rule on the
matter.

Once the merger is completed, Lanni said the company will release a
list of management changes for various casinos. He said during the
hearing that Renee West, president of the company’s three properties
in Primm, would move to a yet-to-be named Strip casino and become the
first woman to be president of a Strip property.

Lanni also attempted to ease the concerns of Mandalay Resort Group
employees about the future.

While key corporate executives are expected to leave, property
employees won’t be affected.

He said Mandalay employees will retain seniority and not be required
to reapply for their positions. Also, health insurance and other
benefits will remain status quo until MGM Mirage managers can assess
both companies’ benefit packages.

“Eventually we will look at what we offer and they offer and
implement best practices,” Lanni said. “We just ask the employees to
judge us by what we did before. In some cases, they may have better
practices.”

Lanni also reiterated MGM Mirage has no plans to sell off pieces of
the Mandalay Resort Group.

“We spent a great deal to ensure that the Federal Trade Commission
did not require us to sell anything and it’s not our intent to sell
any property at this time,” Lanni said. “But as a publicly traded
company, we have a responsibility that if someone were to make an
offer to us, we have to give consideration to that proposal. It would
be the prudent thing to do and our shareholders would expect that.”

THE RAPE OF NIJ CHURCH’S ARMENIAN IDENTITY

Azg/arm
24 Feb 05

A daily Azg reader responded to Feb. 23 article by Agence France
Presse titled “Christian Minority in Azerbaijan Gets Rid of Armenian
Eyesore” posted in our website and dealing with the Udi minority of
Azerbaijan who destroys Armenian monuments of the country in order not
to be likened to Azerbaijan’s enemy – the Armenians. Below we present
the reader’s letter to Norwegian Humanitarian Enterprise’s director
whose company undertook restoration of Armenian church in village of
Nij.

Dear Mr. Alf Henry Rasmussen,

I would like to express my deepest condemns regarding the cultural
vandalism against the Armenian church in Nij which was being restored
by Norwegian Humanitarian Enterprise. This act of Azerbaijan’s
infamous policy of cultural genocide against the Armenian heritage is
indirectly and, I hope, unwillingly sponsored by the Norwegian
government.

As Agence France Presse reports, during the reconstruction, the
Armenian identity of the church has been eliminated.

As far as Norwegian Humanitarian Enterprise is the sponsor of the
reconstruction, it should have prohibited cultural vandalism against
the Armenian heritage while completing the mission.

Norwegian Humanitarian Enterprise has indirectly supported cultural
genocide against the Armenian heritage in present-day Azerbaijan
before too. The Research on Armenian Architecture (RAA) had warned
about the ridiculousnessof this reconstruction in Azerbaijan before
the Armenian inscriptions were wiped off. Particularly speaking of
Sourb Asdvadzadzin of Kish, RAA had expressed its deep concern
regarding the fact that the Norwegian scholars have commenced
collaboration with their Azerbaijani colleagues since 2000 aiming at
the restoration of the Armenian St. Yeghishe (also known as Sourb
Asdvadzadzin, i.e. Holy Virgin) Church of Kish Village. Being unaware
of the historical past of the region in general, and the history of
the village in particular, and without further investigation into the
historical sources, the Norwegians take for granted the false theories
of the Azerbaijani scholars and keep alleging that the church is a
monument of Christian Albanian culture, i.e. it was created by the
Christian ancestors of the present-day Azerbaijani people
().

As your website
announces,
the church in Kish functioning as a museum (now) after being
reconstructed by your organization.

After the government-planned annihilation of tens of thousands of
Armenian stone-crosses in Jugha, Nakhijevan (situated in present-day
Azerbaijan), Norwegian Humanitarian Enterprise should have realized
the danger of reconstructing Albanian Christian monuments in
Azerbaijan.

I hope Norwegian Humanitarian Enterprise will try its best to correct
its mistakes: the Armenian inscriptions should be put back, otherwise
be kept in a safe place, until the Azerbaijani society stops rewriting
the history. The pictures of the Armenian inscriptions (before and
after being scrapped off)should be publicized. The reality for the
church of Kish has to be published and Norwegian Humanitarian
Enterprise should stop its cultural reconstruction plans in a country
that wants to eliminate every single trait of the Armenian heritage in
its territory.

Sincerely, Simon Maghakyan, Phi Theta Kappa International Honor
Society; President of Sigma Phi Chapter Littleton, Colorado, USA

PRESS RELEASE
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia
Contact: Information Desk
Tel: (374-1) 52-35-31
Email: [email protected]
Web:

Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian on official visit to Equatorial
Guinea

On February 20, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian arrived in Equatorial
Guinea for an official visit. The purpose of the visit was to
establish relations between Armenia and Equatorial Guinea in various
areas, as well as to discuss the fate of the six Armenian pilots, who
have been imprisoned there since March 8, 2004. The Armenian
delegation included Sergei Manaserian, Armenia’s Ambassador to
Bulgaria, formerly Ambassador of Armenia to Egypt. Ambassador
Manaserian has been engaged in the case of the Armenian pilots since
the beginning and has visited Equatorial Guinea several times.

Minister Oskanian held several meetings with high-level officials, in
the capital, Malabo. During his meeting with the Foreign Minister of
Equatorial Guinea, Minister Oskanian discussed prospects for the
future development of bilateral relations in several fields, including
cooperation in international organizations and in education. The sides
signed a Memorandum of Understanding on holding talks between the two
ministries. They also agreed to exchange ambassadors in the near
future.

Minister Oskanian met also with Miguel Abia Biteo Borico, Equatorial
Guinea’s Prime Minister and with State Prosecutor Jose Olo Obono.
They discussed several issues as well as the Armenian pilots. The
sides exchanged their views on signing a bilateral agreement on
extradition which would help to regulate processes surrounding this
difficult issue.

During his visit to Malabo, Armenia’s foreign minister was able to
meet with the pilots, as well.

Azeri reporter has positive impression of Karabakh tour

Yeni Musavat, Baku
22 Feb 05

Excerpt from Sevinc Telmanqizi report by Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni
Musavat on 22 February headlined “‘Armenians attacked me in Lacin'”
and subheaded “Eynulla Fatullayev has returned from Nagornyy Karabakh”

Eynulla Fatullayev, editor of the Monitor magazine and prominent
journalist, has returned from a tour of Nagornyy Karabakh with loads
of news, pictures and fond memories. Visiting ancient places in the
occupied districts of Nagornyy Karabakh, talking to Armenians and even
Azerbaijanis there, our colleague backed Armenian “ministers” and
“mayors” into a tight corner with questions. It is intriguing that
despite all these aspects of the visit, our colleague has a pleasant
impression.

We asked Fatullayev to share his impressions of the 11-day tour of
Karabakh.

[Passage omitted: Fatullayev had meetings in Yerevan]

[Fatullayev] On 12 February, I left Yerevan for Xankandi, Susa, Lacin
and Agdam. Actually, I was the first Azerbaijani to visit Agdam after
the truce. I was treated well in Agdam and Susa. However, the attitude
towards me was aggressive in Lacin. The Armenians living there
attacked me, saying that this is their land and wondered about the aim
of my visit. However, my security was arranged very well. I asked them
who they are and they said they are refugees from villages of Agdara
District, which is under Azerbaijani control. There are Armenians from
Yevlax and Baku in Lacin.

People are settling in 10-15 villages of Agdam. There are about 15
houses, very few enterprises and small shops. All the houses in Agdam
have been razed to the ground.

[Passage omitted: Armenians hate Agdam residents]

[Correspondent] Did you interview people you were planning to meet?

[Fatullayev] I interviewed [Karabakh separatist leader] Arkadiy
Gukasyan and the mayor of Stepanakert. Because of the three-year ban
on [ex-defence minister] Samvel Babayan’s entry into Karabakh, I could
not interview him. I also met some Azerbaijanis in Asgaran, where a
dozen of them are still living.

[Passage omitted: one of them is from Ucar District; Fatullayev held a
press conference for Karabakh reporters]

[Correspondent] What were Armenian journalists interested in?

[Fatullayev] They were keen on my views about the ongoing processes in
Karabakh. I said that the switch from the police regime to a
semi-civil society had taken place in Karabakh and free polls were
held, the opposition won, the media was free and there was political
rivalry. Political freedom is stronger there than in Armenia. At all
meetings, they wondered about public opinion in Azerbaijan. My
impression of the meetings with the Karabakh political leadership is
that they are ready for horizontal relations with Azerbaijan.

[Passage omitted: young generation is accustomed to living without
Azerbaijan; no video filming in Agdam was permitted]

[Correspondent] You are very positive about the visit and I cannot
hear a word of criticism about the Armenians. Do you not think that
this will cause a negative reaction among the public?

[Fatullayev] I was in the same mood before my trip to Karabakh and did
not witness any anti-Azerbaijani hysteria. Maybe, they were only
pretending. However, my observation is that they hate the Azerbaijani
authorities, not our people.

National Pride: Brothers say horses should be an Armenian treasure
By Vahan Ishkhanyan

ArmeniaNow Reporter
18 Feb 2005

During 10 years the Mirzoyan brothers have created Armenia’s largest
stable of sport horses. Their number is at 56 now (the second is the
hippodrome in Yerevan that was established during Soviet times and
now has 46 horses, of which a few are the property of individuals).

The stable is in their birthplace – in the village of Lernamerdz in
the Armavir region. The big stable situated in the unsightly rural
area catches the eye from the distance with its grove of young poplars.

“My brother brought the first horse from Echmiadzin,” says stable
director Gevorg Mirzoyan. “Then horses were given to us as gifts. At
some point we began to attend to it seriously. A horse is a dream. My
dad was very much fond of horses too (his father is a well-known
patriot in the national circles, Janpolad Mirzoyan). The news that
we were setting up a horse-breeding farm pleased him very much.”

Gevorg Mirzoyan, 56, graduated from the Philological Department of
the Yerevan State University. In 1987, together with Paruyr Hairikyan,
he founded the Union for Self-Determination, which was struggling for
Armenia’s independence. He worked at the State TV and Radio Committee,
from which he was fired in 1988 by KGB for his political views. A court
later reinstated him. In 1994, he participated in the Karabakh war.

Mirzoyan considers horse-breeding to be the continuation of his
nationalistic activities: “I thought at that time that we should
fight for independence, then I fought in the war, now I consider
horse-breeding to be the right thing to do. In a country that has no
horses a horse becomes a national wealth.”

He considers politics to be a damaging occupation and that it is the
scum of society that are engaged in it: “The war ended and I don’t
know where they came from and became ministers. Those who sincerely
fought for Armenia saw the country in a different way.” A piece of that
“different way” is the stable of Lernamerdz.

He considers even the place to be symbolic – it is in the center of
the triangle of three mountains – Aragats, Ararat and Ara.

Horse-breeding is not a business for the Mirzoyans. Gevorg’s brother
is a businessman, who only spends on the horse-breeding farm from
his incomes without any profit expectations: “If I sold the horses,
I would drive a Jeep. But if it were so, I would be among the animals
who take 50,000 dollars out of the pocket. Not drams, but dollars. They
(officials) spend 12,000 dollars a day in casinos, and they pay a
pension of 12,000 drams a month to people. If someone gave (officials)
12,000 drams, their heart would break.” Gevorg Mirzoyan says that
several times rich people and officials came to buy a horse from him,
but he didn’t sell. He told them that they’d better spend the money
to build a school in the village.

During the Soviet years, there were farms breeding sport horses which
disappeared in the ’90s, since during the crisis it was impossible
to maintain horses. The Mirzoyans once bought a few horses from those
horse-breeding farms, and they now gave offspring.

A worker at the stable, horse trainer Norik Sargsyan worked in the
horse-breeding farm of Ddmashen, which was the largest and had about
80 horses. He remembers how horses began to die there because of lack
of food: “So many horses died of hunger at that time. We could not
find food, they couldn’t stand the winter cold. There was no water,
foals were born in heavy conditions. Once I came and saw that six of
them had died, then 10 of them had gone.”

Sargsyan has worked as a horse trainer and jockey since 1972. He has
trained about 300 horses. He says that the best studs he had seen are
in Lernamerdz, built by the Mirzoyans from foundation to top. Here,
he has trained nine youngsters in the skills of horseriding. Every day
except on Sunday the horses are trained by specialist trainers. Many
of the horses participated in championships organized in Armenia and
won prizes. One of their lot, “Clever” last year placed first in a
championship called “Call of the World”, held here.

Twenty of the horses are thoroughbred English saddle-horses. The
Mirzoyans decided to create an Armenian breed that will be a mixture
of the local horse and the English one. They already got one such
horse and called the breed “taron”.

“When we say local it is conventional, in reality there is no such
breed,” says Gevorg Mirzoyan. “The locals are a mixture, during Soviet
times horses were brought from different places and they mixed up with
each other. Then, horses were not properly kept in villages, they were
fed with remains from other animals’ food, and that’s why they have
no good look, their bodies are small. My goal is to create a local
breed – a taron-horse. This horse-breeding farm will be called the
Taron-Horse Medical-Sports Complex to where people will later come to
ride horses. Sporting and healthcare arrangements will be held there.

However, the Mirzoyans already now consider that they have achieved
the result, which is not only theirs but also of Armenia: “During
those years horses were dying of hunger. Offspring of some of them
are now here, whom we have saved and won by that.”

RUSSIA TRYING TO BE EQUALLY GOOD FOR ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN

Azg/arm
18 Feb 05

While Ilham Aliyev Meets Putin, Sergey Lavrov Visits Armenia

At the end of the last year President Vladimir Putin of Russia stated
that the Kremlin “does not want to be an unfavorable partner for
Azerbaijan or Armenia in long historic perspective”. Putin pointed
out that Armenia is “one of our strategic allies and there is no
question in fact but Karabakh issue”. “We are ready to be mediator
and guarantee in Armenian-Azeri negotiations”, Putin said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is paying an official visit to
Moscow these days. Aliyev arrived in Moscow, for the 4th time as
President, to participate in a festival of “The Year of Azerbaijan”.

President Aliyev gave an interview to Nezavisimaya Gazeta before
leaving for Moscow and said that Russia is the regions super
power. “Russia is the only country in chair that borders Azerbaijan
and is the super power of our region. This factor increases its
responsibility in settling Karabakh issue. We think that the
Minsk group should not apply â~@~Xagree and we will confirmâ~@~Y
principleâ~@~Y If we were able to come to an agreement we would have
done that. The Minsk group was set up as the sides were unable to
reach an agreement”, Aliyev said.

Once in office, Putin have been continually repeating that Russia
cannot put pressure on either of the sides and that Moscow will accept
the resolution that two sides respect.

President Putin noted during his meeting with Ilham Aliyev on
February 16 that good circulation between the countries marked 50
percent growth in 2004 reaching $800 million. Clearly Russian-Azeri
relations grow warmer.

President Putin must be given due as he sent foreign minister Sergey
Lavrov to Armenia to show that he wants equal relations with Armenia
and Azerbaijan. Lavrov met with President Robert Kocharian, prime
minister Andranik Margarian and his counterpart Vartan Oskanian
yesterday.

A representative of Russian Foreign Ministry informed that Lavrov
will discuss Karabakh issue during his stay in Yerevan. “Our stand
is that the conflicting sides should find a mutually acceptable
solution. Russia is ready to actively support in the issue both as a
mediator between Armenia and Azerbaijan and in cooperation with the
Minsk group”, representative said.

Official Yerevan is still looking towards Russia as vital factor for
security, though relations with Europe and America are developing.

“The Armenian-Russian strategic alliance has no alternative today”,
Serge Sargsian, defense minister of Armenia, stated on December 17. He
also noted that Armenian-Russian relations cannot stymie Armeniaâ~@~Ys
integration into Europe especially if Russia gets closer to EU.

By Tatoul Hakobian

–Boundary_(ID_Gxqp+LhOdqKCb8K5wZWNkw)–

PANIC IN AZERBAIJAN AFTER THE VALUATIONS OF THE FACT-COLLECTORS

A1+
16-02-2005

“It can be noticed in the last few days that the Azerbaijani
party, especially with the lips of Araz Azimov, inventing imaginary
combinations, tries to complicate matters”, Hamlet Gasparyan, Press
Secretary of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in an interview
to the agency “Regnum”. “In this case they are apparently worried
by the primary valuations of the fact-collectors which of course do
not satisfy the demands of Azerbaijan, so they try to bring about
problems not connected with the reality”.

It is worth mentioning that Mr. Gasparyan has commented on the
announcement of Araz Azimov, Deputy minister of foreign affairs of
Azerbaijan, that “Azerbaijan government excludes the possibility of
discussing the problem of the opening of a pass between Armenia and
Nagorno Karabakh”. By the way, Mr. Gasparyan has also answered the
question whether the negotiating parties discuss the connection of
Azerbaijan with Nakhijevan and that of Armenia with Nagorno Karabakh
on the same level.

“Ignore as we do suchlike announcements on Azerbaijan’s part, in order
for the society not to be confuse, we must say that Nakhijevan does
not have a communication problem and it cannot be on the same level
with Karabakh. Nakhijevan communicates with other countries without
difficulty. The problems concerns Nagorno Karabakh and the results
of the conflict and from this point of view the condition of Lachin
cannot be put on the same level with other problems.”