Author: Yeghisabet Arthur

Armenian minister concerned about possible US action against Iran
Arminfo
8 Feb 05
Yerevan, 8 February: The possible US preventive action against
Iran will have very undesirable consequences for the South Caucasus
region, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan told students of
the department of international relations at Yerevan State University
today.
He recalled US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s recent statement
that the issue of starting hostilities against Iran is not on the
agenda of the USA’s foreign policy course. The US secretary of state’s
statement removes some of the worries, but some of her remarks are
still rather alarming as any military action against Iran will impact
negatively on the region, the Armenian foreign minister stressed.
Speaking about the possibility of Armenia being sidelined from regional
projects, such as the construction of Kars (Turkey) – Akhalkalaki
(Georgia) link and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the Armenian
minister noted that steps should be taken to involve the country in the
regional projects. However, that should not damage national interests.
Vardan Oskanyan said that we should first take into account the price
the country pays for the participation in such projects and if the
price is too high, we should not get involved,
[Passage omitted: the minister comments on relations with Turkey,
covered by agency reports yesterday]

Patience running out over Nagorno-Karabakh dispute: Azeri president
Agence France Presse — English
February 14, 2005 Monday
MOSCOW Feb 14 — The president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, criticized
Monday mediators seeking to resolve a dispute between his country
and Armenia over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, and threatened to
use force.
“We are unhappy with the work of the Minsk group which has failed to
produce any results,” Aliyev said in an interview with the Russian
daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
The Minsk Group, comprised of France, Russia and the United States
and operating under a mandate from the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has been mediating peace talks between
the two countries for the past decade.
An ethnic Armenian enclave that had a 25 percent Azeri population
before the war, Nagorno-Karabakh was the object of a war between
Armenia and Azerbaijan until 1994 when the active phase of the conflict
ended with Armenia in control of the territory inside Azerbaijan.
Aliyev threatened again on Monday that Azerbaijan would resort to
force to get the territory back.
“The patience of the Azeri people has its limits. We can’t continue to
negotiate for another 10 years. We will strengthen our army,” he said.
He also said he believed other international organisations could help
resolve the conflict.
“That’s why we’ve raised this question in the United Nations and the
Council of Europe despite protests from the Armenians,” he said.
The conflict has cost an estimated 35,000 lives and forced about one
million people on both sides to flee their homes.

ReliefWeb (press release), Switzerland
Feb 10 2005
White House Proposes Maintaining Armenia-Azerbaijan Military
Assistance Parity
ANCA welcomes recognition of the role that military aid parity plays
in regional stability
WASHINGTON, DC–In a move welcomed as a contribution to regional
stability and the search for peace, the Bush Administration’s Fiscal
Year (FY) 2006 budget proposal, released February 7, called for
maintaining parity in military assistance to Armenia and Azerbaijan,
reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). This
decision represents a break from the last year’s widely criticized FY
2005 budget request, which, although later reversed by Congress,
initially proposed providing four times more military aid to
Azerbaijan than to Armenia.
“We are gratified that the President’s Fiscal Year 2006 budget calls
for parity in military aid appropriations to Armenia and Azerbaijan,”
said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “We welcome this request
as a contribution toward regional peace, and want to extend our
appreciation to Congressman Knollenberg, Senator McConnell and the
other key legislators who impressed upon the Administration the
wisdom of this course of action.”
The budget request includes $5 million in Foreign Military Finance
(FMF) assistance and $750,000 in International Military Education and
Training (IMET) for both Armenia and Azerbaijan. The FY 2006 White
House proposal also includes a $55 million earmark for Armenia, $7
million less than the figure proposed by the Administration last
year, and $20 million less than the actual assistance appropriated by
Congress for 2005. Azerbaijan and Georgia have been budgeted $35
million and $67 million, respectively. The overall foreign aid budget
for the former Soviet Union is $482 million, a $74 million reduction
from last year.
For the first time, the budget document also makes specific reference
to ‘Nagorno Karabagh,’ citing that a portion of a $48.5 million
allocation for Eurasia would include funding for humanitarian
assistance to Mountainous Karabagh Republic.
“We were pleased that the Administration’s request, for the first
time, specifically cited humanitarian aid to Nagorno Karabagh,”
continued Hamparian. “We were, however, troubled by the White House’s
proposed reduction in aid to Armenia. We will, in the coming weeks
and months, work with Congressional appropriators in support of an
increased allocation for Armenia.”
The Foreign Operations Subcommittees of the Senate and House
Appropriation Committees will now review the budget and each draft
their own versions of the FY 2006 foreign assistance bill.
The agreement to maintain parity in US military aid to Armenia and
Azerbaijan was struck between the White House and Congress in 2001,
in the wake of Congressional action granting the President the
authority to waive the Section 907 restrictions on aid to Azerbaijan.
The ANCA has vigorously defended this principle, stressing in
correspondence, at senior level meetings, and through grassroots
activism, that a tilt in military spending toward Azerbaijan would
destabilize the region, emboldening Azerbaijan’s leadership to
continue their threats to impose a military solution to the Nagorno
Karabagh conflict. More broadly, the ANCA has underscored that
breaching the parity agreement would reward the leadership of
Azerbaijan for walking away from the OSCE’s Key West peace talks, the
most promising opportunity to resolve the Nagorno Karabagh conflict
in nearly a decade. Finally, failing to respect the parity agreement
would, the ANCA has stressed, undermine the role of the US as an
impartial mediator of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict.

Russia’s GAZ 2004 vehicle sales up 6.8% on year
Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
February 8, 2005
NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Feb 8 (Prime-Tass) — The vehicle and vehicle assembly
kit sales of Russia’s second-largest car and truck maker GAZ rose 6.8%
on the year in 2004 to 230,664 vehicles, the plant’s press service
told Prime-Tass Tuesday citing preliminary data.
Of the total, GAZ sold 69,976 cars and 160,688 trucks, minibuses and
special-purpose vehicles.
In 2004 GAZ sold 186,143 vehicles in Russia and exported 44,521
vehicles and vehicle assembly kits, up 14% on the year. The company
exported 34,523 vehicles to CIS countries, up 20.6% on the year,
and 9,998 vehicles to non-CIS countries, up from about 1,400 vehicles
in 2003.
GAZ exports its vehicles to Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia,
Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Cuba and other countries.
GAZ exported 19.2% of its production in 2004.
In 2004 the company’s output rose 8.4% on the year to 231,336 vehicles
and vehicle assembly kits.
Of the total, GAZ produced 214,251 vehicles, up 6.4% on the year,
including 65,686 cars, up 15.7% on the year, and 148,565 trucks and
minibuses, up 2.7% on the year.
GAZ is part of Russia’s major RusPromAvto automobile holding. End

Divorces Harm The Country
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
09 Feb 05
The basis of the state is the family which determines the continuity
and rhythm of human life. The more strong and stable the family
is, the more powerful the state is. For the traditional people of
Artsakh this motto has acquired a new meaning on the way of building
statehood. Do all the marriages bring happiness to the couples? Do
all the married couples cross the borderline of old age together? At
the Civilian Registry Office of Stepanakert we were informed that 292
marriages and 46 divorces were recorded in 2003, and 318 marriages and
57 divorces in 2004. It should also be mentioned that a considerable
number of marriages are not registered at all. We were told that in
case of divorce the couple must pay a sum which should not exceed 10
thousand drams. By the way, in the decision of the court the sum of
the state tax is also mentioned. The main part of the fine is paid
by the spouse who is to blame for breaking the family. In foreign
countries married couples sign a marriage contract and in case of
divorce the family property is divided between the spouses according
to the contract. However, the marriage contract is not real for our
country for several reasons: problems of unemployment and housing,
social and economic conditions, etc. According to the secretary of the
Stepanakert City Hall Committee for Guardianship and Trusteeship Vazgen
Gasparian, in 2004 the committee discussed 11 cases on guardianship,
5 cases on connected with children and their upbringing and other
cases, all in all 41. According to him, the cases connected with
children increased against the previous years. These are the cases
when the parents cannot achieve an agreement and turn to the City
Hall to solve their problem. â~@~Both the parties have equal rights
for meeting with children,â~@~] said the secretary of the committee
adding that many parents unfortunately avoid responsibility for their
children and prefer working in private companies in order not to
pay alimony. Recently the committee, the members of which regularly
meet with parties and take part in trials, has saved three families.
â~@~To say that the cause for divorces is always of social character
would not be correct. There are different factors: upbringing,
character, temperament, lack of mutual understanding. All of us must
try to solve national problems together. Therefore, to have powerful
statehood and healthy society it is necessary to think seriously over
the stability of the family,â~@~] said Vazgen Gasparian.
NVARD OHANJANIAN. 09-02-2005
–Boundary_(ID_IcpPI7c32DtDd5JnD6icTw)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ArmenPress
Feb 8 2005
ARMENIAN ARCHITECTURE TO BE DISPLAYED IN ISTANBUL
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 8, ARMENPRESS: The Armenian National
Architecture Museum-Institute plans to participate in an
international architecture exhibition in Turkish Istanbul slated for
May and June, 2005. Its director Ashot Grigorian, told Armenpress
that they are choosing now items they want to display in Istanbul.
He also said the Museum plans to open a display of architectural
items from an old Iranian city of Persepolis. It will also open an
exhibition of French architecture on May 15.

U.S. arrests visa official over bribes in Armenia
The Messenger, Georgia
Feb 7 2005
Piotr Parlej, former Consular Associate of the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan,
was arrested in California on Thursday, February 3, and charged with
bribery and visa fraud during his work in Armenia. The indictment
charges that from on or before April 2004, through on or about January
13, 2005, in Yerevan, Parlej and accomplices engaged in a conspiracy to
commit bribery and visa fraud, and to obstruct and impede – “by craft,
trickery, deceit, and dishonest means” – the United States Department
of State in “its lawful function of reviewing and controlling the
issuance to qualified foreign nationals of visas authorizing their
entry into the United States.” The U.S. Embassy in Armenia, stated
that it wished “to thank the Armenian authorities for their cooperation
in this investigation and in particular would like to commend the
National Security Service of Armenia for their invaluable assistance.”

VYACHESLAV ZAYTSEV IS SURE THAT MEDIUM STRATUM OF ARMENIA CAN BUY
CLOTHES CUT OUT BY HIM FOR $300-600
YEREVAN, January 25 (Noyan Tapan). The collection of women’s clothes
of classical style cut out by Vyacheslav Zaytsev, Director of Moscow
Fashion House, for the first time will be represented in autumn in
Yerevan. The well-knowm modeller informed about this during the
January 25 press conference. He is in Yerevan on the occasion of
watching of the video-recording of the show of “2005-2006
Autumn-Summer” collection held on January 13 in Paris. The watching
was organized in the “Apollo” shop.
According to V.Zaytsev, mainly black and white colors predominate in
the clothes created by him, which symbolizes purity and harmony. He
assured that they will also interest the Armenian women “as they like
to dress with taste.” V.Zaytsev mentioned that everybody wants to
have good clothes, that’s why his clothes are sold at affordable
prices, for $300-600. For comparison it was mentioned that Valentin
Yudashkin’s clothes are sold for 10-15 thousand euros. Answering a
journalist’s question V.Zaytsev assured that the medium stratum of
Armenia will be able to buy the clothes cut out by him at the
above-mentioned prices.

Trinidad & Tobago Express, Trinidad and Tobago –
Jan 28, 2005
Remembering Auschwitz
Our Opinion
While we know that some citizens will remember events and understand
the significance of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of
Auschwitz, observed, we point out, and not celebrated, this past
week, we are also certain that many of today’s generation may be
unaware of Auschwitz and what it means.
Some will not even be aware of the enormity of the horror of the
Holocaust. It was the industrialised murder of a people employing
many technicians of death at the instigation of a psychopath and his
circle-it was genocide, the product of totalitarianism, of some very
demented people, and widespread European anti-Semitism.
Auschwitz was a death camp in Poland, a place to which human beings
from different parts of Europe were transported in cattle cars and
systematically murdered in mass gassings of men, women, children,
infants and babies, simply for being Jewish.
The 20th century saw two major conflicts. The second, World War II,
killed about 50 million people, the majority being innocent
civilians. Warfare is as old as the first civilisations millennia ago
but genocide, as far as we can see, is a relatively recent
phenomenon. The dividing line between legitimate warfare in defence
of a people’s or a nation’s boundaries or space and the systematic
elimination of a people is vague. Peoples have always collectively
suffered at the hands of others, whether by conquest, enslavement,
occupation or in conventional or legitimate warfare, their suffering,
injury and deaths now euphemistically called collateral damage.
Genocide, however, is different. It is an attempt to destroy another
people. In the past century there were the noted examples of the
expulsion of the Herrero people into the deserts of Namibia and
similar treatment of the Armenians by the Turks. Citizens may recall
the massacres of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia and the slaughter in
Rwanda in Africa, as well as the victims of Shabra and Shatila,
Palestinian refugee camps, and Srebenica, a Bosnian UN declared safe
city, and the current conflict in Darfur, described by Colin Powell
as genocide. These killings were all directed at recognisable ethnic
groups.
The Holocaust however was different in more than one way. The sheer
numbers are probably beyond the comprehension of most readers. It
consumed six million souls. Its methodology singled it out. It
consisted of the systematic serial collection of Jewish nationals of
several European countries, their transportation to purpose-built
facilities designed to kill human beings en mass, after either
enslaving them in factories or simply stripping them of their pitiful
material possessions and even their hair, and removal of gold teeth
after gassing them.
At Auschwitz over 1.5 million, mainly Jews, were so murdered, with
the daily tally often rising to two or more thousands. What also
singles it out is that the mass murder was not civil or internecine
warfare within a state but rather the actions of a state beyond its
boundaries, a state born of elections. No one can deny that mass
murder on this scale had not been carried out by large numbers of
compliant individuals.
Citizens by now may not be aware of the one side effect of
anti-Semitism on our history. Several Jewish families from Germany
and Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia fled even to places such as
Trinidad with nothing more than their humanity, culture and what they
could carry and made new lives for themselves and families. One such
family name is Stecher, with which most are familiar. The Express
reminds its readers of Auschwitz and the tragedy of European Jewry
and joins with the rest of the world in observing the 60th
anniversary of the horror of genocide. A lesson for all.

OSCE SPECIAL MISSION MEMBERS HEADED FOR FIZULI AND JEBRAIL
01.02.2005 15:22
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Since this morning members of the OSCE special
mission for collection of facts in the territories of the security
belt around the NKR that are controlled by Armenian forces headed for
Fizuli and Jebrail regions, which are situated to the south of the
main NKR territory at the border with Iran. The region of Fizuli is
only partially controlled by the Armenian forces. Both regions were
liberated by Armenian armed formations of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic in the end of summer and in autumn 1993. The establishment of
control over those regions allowed the Armenian party to secure the
population in the southern part of the NKR, as well as considerably
curtail the front line. The Armenian control over the security belt
territories is the only real guarantee of non-resumption of
hostilities until now. It should be reminded that yesterday special
mission representatives visited Karvachar (Kelbajar) region, where
they met with residents, which are mostly refugees from Azerbaijan.