Author: Vanyan Gary

MARINA DOLGOPOLOVA: BELARUS AND ARMENIA DEVELOP DYNAMIC POLITICAL DIALOGUE
Yerkir
05.07.2006 14:59
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – The Belarusian-Armenian relarions are actively
developing in all the fields, Belarusian Ambassador to Armenia Marina
Dolgopolova stated during a solemn reception dated to the Independence
Day of the Republic of Belarus.
The event was attended by Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian,
parliament leaders, members of the President Administration and supreme
state bodies, representatives of business circles, intelligentsia,
Belarusian Diaspora and heads of diplomatic missions.
In a welcoming speech Marina Dolgopolova said this day is the
most important holiday for Belarus and its people. In her words,
a dynamic political dialogue is developing between Armenia and
Belarus. Considerable progress was achieved in trade and economic
cooperation. In part, the commodity turnover between the two states
has increased 6 times against the index of 2000. During the initial
five months of the current year trade turnover increased 1.5 times
and exceeded $9.1 million, reported Belta news agency.

WHAT DOES KARABAGH HAVE TO DO WITH THIS?
By Gayane Movsessian
Yerkir.am
July 01, 2006
The statements made by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Mathew Bryza
can be aimed at anything but the settlement of Karabagh conflict.
Had the State Department representative been working towards the
settlement of the conflict he would have hardly publicized such
fragmented information about the principal provisions of the so-called
‘framework agreement’.
In fact, the American co-chair succeeded in causing another wave of
militaristic hysteria in Azerbaijan. The Azeri President Ilham Aliyev
stated at a meeting with representatives of the Azeri military,
“Azerbaijan has lost its hope for international mechanisms of
conflict settlement. In this situation Azerbaijan must modify its
foreign policy.”
Head of the Azeri President’s administration Novruz Mamedov was
even more explicit in his statement, “If Armenia does not accept
the highest degree of autonomy for Karabagh offered by Azerbaijan,
we will have to liberate our territories with armed forces.”
If, as Washington’s official and unofficial representatives assure
us, US’s priority in the region is stability and security, it is very
difficult to understand why the framework agreement does not contain
such vital provisions that would guarantee the peaceful settlement of
the conflict, in other words why aren’t there any provisions committing
the sides to exclude the possibility of resorting to force? This
question is addressed to the Minsk Group and OSCE in general. The
inconsistency of the mediators on this issue allows Azerbaijan to
act like a bully threatening the peaceful settlement process.
At the same time, the mediators’ behavior leads to the conclusion that
such manipulations are in their interests because they create the
necessary environment for their maneuvers. The American co-chair’s
attempt to tie the Karabagh settlement with the normalization of
Armenian-Turkish relations is even stranger.
Such statements, if they reflect Washington’s official position,
arouse suspicions as to whether US is really exerting efforts to
convince Turkey to open the border with Armenia with no preconditions
for the benefit of regional cooperation.
One gets an impression that Yerevan’s readiness for mutual concessions
is perceived not only in Ankara and Baku but also in the White House
as an expression of the Armenian side’s weakness while Azerbaijan’s
and Turkey’s exaggerated ambitions are perceived as appropriate.
However, we should pay attention to the fact that Mathew Bryza’s
statement was made on the same day when the meeting of leaders of
the CIS Collective Treaty and Eurasian Economic Cooperation member
states was taking place in Minsk. The statement was made on the eve
of the G-8 summit for which USA and Russia are heading with a number
of unsettled issues.
It’s not a coincidence that only three weeks before the summit the
Russian President Vladimir Putin started speaking about arms control,
conflicts in the region and their settlement, Russia’s relations with
Japan and USA, as well as its relations with the CIS. Russia will
not support the ultimatum against Iran. It will participate in peace
building mission in the Caucasus. Russia sees itself as a mediator
in the dialog of civilizations. These were the main messages sent by
the Russian President.
The principles for conflict settlement must be universal and must be
based on the norms of international law and the principle of respect
for the interests of all sides engaged in the conflict, Putin stated
stressing that isolation of any state is unacceptable and citing the
examples of Kosovo, Cyprus, South Caucasus and Transdniestre.
The Russian President further stated that Russia is directly
involved in settlement of a number of conflicts and will continue
its involvement deriving from a position it considers appropriate
for itself. “I would like to stress that we will continue our peace
building mission despite the obvious provocations that we have to
counter so often,” Putin stated.
Commenting on Russia’s relations with the CIS Putin noted, “I
believe the time has come to accept the principles that prevail
in international economy and trade, principles based on sober
calculation. We do not question the CIS countries’ right to act
independently both domestically and internationally.
However, this means that we also have the right to determine our
own road”.
The issue of Russia’s relations with USA was raised in a very explicit
manner. President Putin spoke about “containment”, “Cold War” and even
“clash of civilizations”
According to Putin, Russia is worried by the unpredictability of global
development at a time of “modernization of the entire architecture
of global security”. This is why the goal of Russia’s foreign policy
to “break the dangerous tendencies” and not to allow “an inertia of
past approaches”.
Russia’s position is that it does not need any confrontations. This is
why Russia will not participate in any alliances and will support all
initiatives aimed at development of inter-civilizational dialog. It
is obvious that this statement was addressed to all participants of
the G-8 summit in Saint Petersburg.
Against this background we have Washington’s gesture towards Baku,
” Azerbaijan is the leading force and the guarantor of the security
in the region”.
Such statement indicate not Washington’s appreciation of the success
of democratic reforms in Azerbaijan but a confirmation of the fact
that Azerbaijan is fully included into US’s geopolitical spectrum
whose strategic interests in the Caucasus, according to Bryza, lie
in three directions: energy, security and democratic reforms.
Everything seems to be clear regarding the issue of energy: Kazakhstan
has already joined Baku-Tbilisi-Jeyhan pipeline and now US hopes
to expedite oil export from the Azeri Caspian to the international
market since the “European gas market is facing a crisis. One cubic
meter of gas costs up to 45 dollars and the gas imported from Ukraine
and Russia is not sufficient.”
The situation with democratic reforms is more complicated: because
of lack of progress in this respect the Azeri delegation’s mandate
to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe was questioned
these days.
Therefore, Mr. Bryza’s attempt to diminish Armenia’s accomplishments
in the sphere of democracy cannot have any results. He stated, “We
hope to see a chain of democratic reforms in Armenia like the one we
hope we are witnessing in Azerbaijan.” This obviously has nothing to
do with democracy. Washington is openly hinting that US wants to see
Armenia in the domain of American, and not only American interests
and plans. It is not a coincidence that many political leaders in
Armenia noted that the present developments are very similar to the
situation in February 1998.
As to security issues, Washington’s position that “all conflicts
must be settled based on the territorial integrity of the countries
in the region” is wrong since it means settlement of the conflicts
based on the interests of just one side of the conflict. This can by
no means ensure peace and stability in any region, especially in the
South Caucasus. We have already gone through such an experience.
Presidents of CIS states will also participate in the G-8 summit in
Saint Petersburg. Will President Kocharian meet his Azeri counterpart
during the summit? This will become clear only after Mathew Bryza’s
visit to the region and the meeting of Armenian and Azeri foreign
ministers. These meetings will most likely take place in the coming
two weeks.

NEWLY-APPOINTED US AMBASSADOR TO AZERBAIJAN ARRIVED IN BAKU
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.07.2006 14:15 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ US newly-appointed Ambassador to Azerbaijan Anne
Derse arrived in Baku. “Azerbaijan is one of US best friends and
allies. I looked forward to living here and working with Azeri people,”
the diplomat told journalists in the airport. The Ambassador reported
that before her arrival she met with Americans, who had visited
Azerbaijan and she got to know from them that the Azeri people are
very hospitable. “I will try to promote development of relations
between the US and Azerbaijan,” A. Derse said, reports Day.az.

Baku discontent with OSCE activity

ArmRadio.am
01.07.2006 14:22
‘There are errors in the activity of the OSCE directed at the
regulation of political relations and conflicts. Unfortunately, OSCE
has not managed to settle the existing conflicts; it has achieved no
considerable progress in the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict. That’s why I do not share the opinion that OSCE enjoys great
authority in the settlement of conflicts,’ Deputy Foreign Minister of
Azerbaijan Vagif Sadikhov declared.
According to Azeri media, the Foreign Minister declared that he does
not share the opinion about the great privilege of the OSCE over the
Assembly of Islamic Organizations in the settlement of conflicts. In
his words, starting last year the OSCE Minsk Group has activated its
efforts directed at resolution of the conflict.
`It was promoted by the absence of elections in Azerbaijan and Armenia
in the current year. In both countries there is still time before
elections, and the Minsk Group Co-Chairs are trying to use this break
to achieve some result,’ Azeri Deputy Foreign Minister said.

First International Youth Conference on National Democracies to open in
Yerevan July 3

ArmRadio.am
30.06.2006 18:00
July 3 the first International Youth Conference on National
Democracies will open in Yerevan. The conference will be held on July
3-7 and will cover topics related to National Democracy, such as Youth
and Democracy, National Culture and Democracy, Nationalism,
Cosmopolitism and Democracy and Democratic Education. It involves
students from different countries including Armenia.
There will be speakers from Stockholm City Hall, Sweden, Caucasus
Media Institute, Armenia, Russian Embassy in Armenia, Yerevan State
University, the “European Integration” NGO, the “Sociometr” Research
Center, Caucasus Research and Resource Center, Armenian Center of
Political and International Research, OpenArmenia.com, ICSRD, Florida
State University and AIPRG.

Today, Azerbaijan
June 30 2006
ATAA President: “Azerbaijani friendship society in America has
brought together only 17 Congressmen”

30 June 2006 [15:25] – Today.Az

“It is significant for Azerbaijan to strengthen in America and there
is a need for a serious support from inside of Azerbaijan. We are now
trying to establish relations with the Congress, America’s important
decision-making body.”

“Frankly speaking, Turkey is in better condition than you in terms of
relationships with Congressmen. Turkey’s Friendship Society has
involved 70 congressmen while that of Azerbaijan has involved only 17
congressmen. It is significant to increase this number. Besides, we
intend to work on Turkish-Azeri joint cultural projects. We have had
talks with your Minister for Culture and Tourism. We are going to
organize joint festivals.
As APA reports, Boston Azeri-Turkish Festival will be held after that
instead of Boston Turkish Festival. And the last but the most
important issue is making money…,” Vural Cengiz, president of the
Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) stated.
Mr.Jengiz said through the friendship society of Turkey and
Azerbaijan has brought together 87 Congressmen, the reason for not
annulling the Section 907 of Freedom Support Act against Azerbaijan
is related to the fact that in America only a powerful can achieve
his aim not a rightful.
“Injustice decisions are often made against Azerbaijan in most issues
and this process is on. We have launched talks with congressmen
regarding the Section 907 and the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Before
arriving in Baku, I presented a congressman from Miami with a number
of materials on Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Garabagh and other issues. Our
talks were fruitful. He is now one of the members of the Turkish
friendship group,” the ATAA president said.
Jengiz also said that they need to regularly work with the
congressmen but they cannot do it with 2/3 of the body. According to
the ATAA president the reason for Armenians being powerful in America
is their having a lot of money.
Stressing the importance of promoting to Turkish and Azerbaijani
businessman in America, Jengiz said they intend to organize Turkish
businessmen’s visit to Azerbaijan, “We would do more if we had the
Azerbaijan’s Diaspora policy. Turkey does not take this matter more
serious. Azerbaijan has achieved much in this field. The main thing
is that this is the state’s policy.”
Jengiz said they also intend to organize Jewish Diaspora delegates
visit to Azerbaijan and have much closer relations with them. He
noted that the Assembly is implementing some joint projects with the
Turkish government to get financial allocation adding the Diaspora
work is funded by individuals. The Assembly president said he gets
salary in the cost of US$100.000 per month in the company he owns and
spends 50% of this sum to the Diaspora work.
The Assembly has collected $500 thousand now. In addition, the
donated money is spent on the Diaspora. Jengiz said this sum is many
times less than the money an Armenian businessman spends on lobbying.
He said they study the experience of Jewish and Armenian Diaspora
adding that Azerbaijan and Turkey is on the last stage of achieving
success in Diaspora work.

URL:

RUSSIAN AFK “SYSTEMA” HOLDINGS CLAIMING TO BUY OTE SHARES
ArmRadio.am
29.06.2006 17:58
The Russian AFK “Systema” Holdings, which participates in the tender
to purchase ArmenTel, claims to buy a small package of shares of the
Greek OTE Company. OTE possesses 90 percent of ArmenTel shares.
“If the Greek Government announces acceptable conditions of sale
of OTE shares, we’ll discuss the suggestion,” President of the AFK
“Systema” Holdings Vladimir Yevtushenkov said after signing the
contract on purchasing the Greek Intracom Telecom Company.

HEYDAR ALIYEV FUND PARTICIPATED AT FIRST MEETING OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON PROTECTION OF NON-MATERIAL HERITAGE
Author: S.Aliyev
TREND, Azerbaijan
June 27 2006
On June 27, PM Mehriban Aliyeva, president of Heydar Aliyev Fund and
also good-will ambassador of UNESCO in Azerbaijan, participated at
the first meeting of the General Assembly of courtiers ratifying the
convention on protection of non-material heritage in Paris.
The director general of UNESCO Kaitira Matsura mentioned the important
role of Mehriban Aliyeva in the protection of music and non-material
cultural heritage of Azerbaijan. Besides, she noted that at present,
convention was ratified by 45 countries and 7 countries have joined
the convention.
In her speech, Aliyeva congratulated the participants on the occasion
of conviction’s entering into force. She noted that the genetic base
of all world nations is non-material heritage and peoples played
an important role in the formation of this factor. Therefore the
protection of non-material heritage is of great importance in the
modern .world. She presented information about the non-material
cultural heritage of Azerbaijan. Particularly she noted that mugam
(national Azeri music) has become one of the masterpieces and
non-material heritage of Azerbaijan.
Aliyeva presented to the attention of the participants that at the
moment there are conflicts, and wars in world which destroy cultural
heritage. In result of Armenian-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
Armenians have destroyed hundreds of architectural and cultural
monuments and cities in the occupied territory of Azerbaijan. Aliyeva
stressed that it needs to increase the attention of international
organizations and the world public towards this issue.

OSCE REPRESENTATIVES RECORDED NO EVIDENCE OF FIRES
A1+
[07:46 pm] 28 June, 2006
According to the note of the NKR Foreign Ministry the office of the
personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office carried out
monitoring of the contact line of the Karabakh and Azeri armed forces
near the settlement of Yusifjanlu.
>From the Armenian side assistants of the personal representative
of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, federal commanders Peter Key, Irzhi
Aberle and Gunter Folk participated in the monitoring.
The monitoring took place according to the schedule, and there were
no violations of ceasefire, NKR Foreign Ministry reports.
The representatives of the NKR Ministries of Defense and Foreign
affairs who were accompanying the OSCE monitoring group mentioned that
despite the statements of the Azeri side about the fires in the forests
the participants of the monitoring recorded no evidence of fire.

U.S. INTERESTED IN ARMENIA-TURKEY RELATIONS NORMALIZATION
PanARMENIAN.Net
27.06.2006 16:07 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “From the geopolitical standpoint, the
U.S. is interested in normalization of relations between
Armenia and Turkey. The U.S. really considers normalization of the
Turkish-Armenian relations within the context of the Nagorbno Karabakh
conflict settlement. This is one of the fundamental issues of the
American-Turkish consultations. I think normalization of relations
is more profitable for Armenia rather then for Turkey,” Head of the
Department of Turkey of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia,
Doctor Ruben Safrastyan stated in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net.
“As for the Russian-Turkish relations, they can be characterized
as geo-strategic armistice which may result in signing of an
agreement. Presently the situation in the South Caucasus is like that
of December 1917. History proves that when Russia leaves the South
Caucasus Turkey occupies its place immediately. Now the U.S. joined
the process. Using the Iranian factor Turkey will increase influence
with the U.S. assistance. Who will replace Putin? Much depends on
this fact. If a man like him comes to power the priorities will be
preserved. If others come everything will become unclear. I do not
rule out return of oligarchs,” he underscored.