Category: News

Armenian politician calls on Cyprus to withstand threats
CNA – NICOSIA-Cyprus – 14/12/2004 16:27:14
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1622:CYPPRESS:06
Armenian politician calls on Cyprus to withstand threats
Nicosia, Dec 14 (CNA) – President of the political bureau of Armenian
”Tasnak” socialist party, Hrand Markarian, has called on Cyprus to
maintain a steadfast position regarding the possibility of Turkey
commencing EU accession negotiations and not to give in to threats and
promises, adding that he expected the Republic of Cyprus to raise with
the EU the issue of Turkey recognising the Armenian genocide.
In statements to CNA after a meeting in Nicosia with President of the
Republic Tassos Papadopoulos, Markarian said his party had launched a
campaign for the recognition of the Armenian genocide.

ARMENIA MUST LEAVE AZERI TERRITORIES WITH NO CONDITIONS: AZERI PRESIDENT
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 14. ARMINFO. “Armenia must leave the occupied Azeri
territories with no conditions,” Azeri President Ilham Aliev said in
London when asked by the Armenian ambassador to the UK about
Azerbaijan’s stance on the Karabakh issue.
“Otherwise we will liberate our lands on our own.” “Azerbaijan is
still committed to settle the conflict peacefully but the peace talks
are giving no results yet.” Aliev said that Azerbaijan will not put up
with the present situation. He said that this problem needs even wider
international attention. “Azerbaijan’s positions are getting stronger
– it is politically and economically stable country – while Armenia
has become weaken. Having occupied Azeri territories Armenia has
isolated itself from regional processes including big energy
projects. ”
Aliev said that Azerbaijan will continue its integration into Europe
and is now an arena of cooperation rather than confrontation of
various regional interests.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ZANGEZOUR COPPER-MOLYBDENUM GROUP TO BE SOLD FOR $132 MLN
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 14. ARMINFO. A contract to sell for $132 mln 100%
shares of Zangezour Copper-Molybdenum Group was signed in Yerevan
today.
Armenia’s Trade and Economic Development Minister Karen Tchshmarityan
says that 60% stake has been given to Cronimet Mining (Germany), 15%
Pure Iron Plant (Yerevan), 12.5% to Armenian Molybdenum Production and
12.5% to Zangezour Mining. The shareholders will set up a joint
managing company. The first $45 mln payment will be made by Jan 1
2005, the rest till Dec 31 2005. The contract is financed by Deutsche
Bank and Creditten Stadt Bank.
$250-350 mln is to be invested in the group by 2012 under preliminary
agreement with the final amount to be specified by feasibility report
in 2005.
The project is expected to pay off in 6-7 years, says
Tchshmarityan. Jan 1 2005 Armenia is stopping to export molybdenum
concentrate to process it fully at home. In 2005-2008 the group will
deepen its molybdenum processing activities to receive a maximally
finished product. In 2008-2012 it will launch a rolled copper. The
investments will allow the group to redouble its ore production, says
Tchshmarityan.
Cronimet Mining President Hunter Pilarsky says that his company is an
international trade group covering 4 continents. It owns 51% of Pure
Iron Plant, an enterprise processing 50% of Zangezour molybdenum
concentrate. Pilarsky says that international molybdenum prices are
high today which is normal even considering high transportation costs
from Armenia. The company exports its production to Europe via Iran
and Georgia.
In 2003 Zangezour Copper Molybdenum Group registered a $20 mln balance
sheet profit. In Jan-June 2004 its output totalled 24.8 bln AMD – 2.1%
less than in Jan-June 2003. In 2003 the group mined and processed 8.1
mln tons of ore producing 6,300 tons of molybdenum concentrate and
11,000 tons of copper in copper concentrate. Zangezour has the biggest
molybdenum reserves in the whole former USSR.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSCE OFFICE IN YEREVAN PAYS PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO DEVELOPMENTS IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 14. ARMINFO. In 2004 the Office paid particular
attention to developments in the country and maintained a constant
dialogue with the authorities and civil society throughout the year,
says the “Overview of the Office activities in 2004” distributed by
OSCE Office in YErevan, Tuesday.
The documents says that the Office’s activities in this dimension
focused on reforming the Electoral Code, assisting the improvement of
the existing voters’ registers and advocating for creation of a
centralized Voters’ Register, as well as providing support to the
Standing Committees of the National Assembly. Special attention was
attached to the advocating for legislation to promote freedom of
assembly and respect for freedom of assembly in practice. Following
the cases of administrative detention of participants of the election
related public gathering, the Office continued to lobby for the
development of a legal act governing the implementation of the right
to freedom of assembly. In May of this year a Law on Conducting Public
Gatherings, Demonstrations and Marches was passed by the National
Assembly, prior to which the OSCE/ODIHR provided expertise. However,
the law as passed does not meet all international standards on this
issue and thus the Office has been lobbying for a number of provisions
to be amended in order to improve the legislation. In addition, the
Office has on a number of occasions called upon Armenian authorities
to respect the right to assembly by allowing individuals to publicly
gather.
With regard to individuals detained with relation to public
gatherings, the Office made a number of interventions to the Armenian
authorities this year requesting that such individuals be released, in
the case of administrative detentions, or that fair trials be
conducted for those that had criminal charges applied. The Office
hopes that there will be an improvement in the situation allowing
individuals to publicly gather and expressed their opinions without
any undue restrictions placed before them.

UNSOLVED PROBLEMS IN 2004 WILL DETERMINE INTERNAL POLITICAL
DEVELOPMENT IN ARMENIA IN 2005, VICTOR DALLAKIAN THINKS
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 14. ARMINFO. “The problems not solved in 2004 will
determine the development of the internal political situation in
Armenia also in 2005”, Secretary of the parliamentary faction of the
opposition bloc Justice Victor Dallakian stated during the meeting
with journalists at the club Pakagits.
According to him, these main issues are the settlement of the Karabakh
problem, overcome of the results of mass falsification of the
presidential election in 2003, and reveal of accomplices in political
terrorism, reveal the clients of the terrorist act in the National
Assembly on Oct 27, 1999. “Because of the suspense of these problems
in 2004 they are mechanically included in the agenda of the internal
political development in 2005. The incumbent authorities of the
republic have led the settlement of the Karabakh conflict to a
deadlock, the course of discussions in international structures
testifies. Concerning the illegitimacy of the incumbent president I
want to note it was profitable for several countries to have in our
republic an illegally elected president in order he made compromises
easily in the issue of settlement of the Karabakh problem”, Dallakian
said.
He mentioned that the way out of the internal political crisis is
possible in three main ways: to conduct a referendum on confidence in
the president, proceeding from a relevant decision of the
Constitutional Court, the dissolution of National Assembly and holding
of extraordinary parliamentary elections, and, at least, the
resignation of the president. Justice bloc rejects the first two
variants of development of the situation, as we are against formation
of marionette leadership in the republic. So, the opposition advocates
organizing a wide national movement for establishment of legal power
in the country, Victor Dallakian stressed.

France says Armenian genocide issue not central to Turkey’s EU membership
talks
AFX Europe (Focus)
Dec 14, 2004

PARIS (AFX) – Turkey does not have to acknowledge accusations of
genocide against Armenians living under Turkish rule in the early 20th
century as a pre-condition for opening talks on EU membership, French
foreign minister Michel Barnier said.
“France does not pose it (acknowledging the Armenian genocide) as a
condition, notably not for opening negotiations (on EU accession)”,
Barnier told the state-owned television station France 2.
This statement comes despite reports yesterday that Turkish
acknowledgement of the genocide was a pre-condition.

Azeri leader vows not to give up Karabakh, calls for “constructive”
opposition
ANS TV, Baku
13 Dec 04
Excerpt from report by Azerbaijani TV station ANS on 13 December
[Presenter] ANS’s special correspondent in London Ali Ahmadov is on
the line. He will give us the details about the [Azerbaijani]
president’s visit to Great Britain. Here you are, Ali.
[Ali Ahmadov, by phone] Good evening, Leyla. As you said before,
President Ilham Aliyev had his first meeting today with the Queen’s
representative [a member of the House of Lords], Baroness
Seccombe. That was just a brief meeting.
[Passage omitted: reported details of meeting with the British defence
secretary]
At a meeting [with Secretary of State for Defence Geoff Hoon] they
discussed the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict as well. President Ilham
Aliyev told the British defence secretary about the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict and the consequences of it not being resolved. They exchanged
views on the ways of settling it.
The president’s meeting at Chatham House [the UK Royal Institute of
International Affairs], which ended a few minutes ago, was the most
interesting one today. Influential politicians use this organization
to exchange views. The president spoke about Azerbaijan and, in
particular, about Nagornyy Karabakh. Then the participants [in the
meeting] asked the president questions. The president said that the
main problem for Azerbaijan is the issue of Nagornyy Karabakh, 20 per
cent of which are under occupation. There are about 1m of refugees and
they live in appalling conditions.
The most interesting fact was that the Armenian ambassador to Britain
asked the president about a settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict. It was a rather aggressive question. The president was asked
whether Azerbaijan intends to attack Nagornyy Karabakh. The president
strongly reacted to this. He said that Armenia is an aggressor state
and that it’s position in talks with Azerbaijan is not
constructive. This makes the talks fruitless. Azerbaijan does not want
to continue the talks just for the sake of them. Azerbaijan might stop
the talks if it sees that they yield no results. The president said if
the point is the liberation of lands, then the Armenians might check
the Soviet encyclopedia as many areas in Armenia have Azeri
placenames, but Azerbaijan lays no claims to any of them.
As for the liberation of lands, the president said if the talks with
Armenia yield no results and if Armenia refuses to vacate the lands
following the talks, Azerbaijan would, itself, liberate the
lands. Vacate our lands, otherwise we will do this ourselves, end of
quote.
The president clarified another issue as well. Commenting on the
freight transported to Georgia via Azerbaijan and the freight checks,
he said that when it joined the TRACECA [Transport Corridor
Europe-Caucasus-Asia] corridor, Azerbaijan set a condition that the
freight transported through Azerbaijan should never go to
Armenia. However, according to recent reports, the cargo has recently
been sent to Armenia via Georgia. The freight needed to be checked
thoroughly after Azerbaijan received this information. The cargo
mainly comes from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.
The president said that as long as the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict is
not resolved, not a gram of freight transported via Azerbaijan will go
to Armenia and that all the cargo and it’s final destination will be
checked.
Moreover, the president was asked about his internal policy,
specifically about democratic processes in Azerbaijan and his attitude
to the opposition. He said that the country needs a new opposition
force. He said the opposition should be more constructive and that the
existing opposition is destructive and cannot engage in constructive
negotiations with the authorities.
[Presenter] Thank you very much, Ali.

No similarities in Armenia with events in Ukraine, Georgia – OSCE envoy
Mediamax news agency
14 Dec 04
YEREVAN
The OSCE ambassador to Yerevan, Vladimir Pryakhin, considers
“inappropriate” the attempts to draw parallels between the political
situation in Armenia and the events in Ukraine and Georgia.
Vladimir Pryakhin said at a briefing in Yerevan today that the “OSCE
never supports either of the parties to conflict and we do not want to
be involved in the struggle for change of power,” Mediamax reports.
Vladimir Pryakhin noted that the main tasks for the OSCE in Armenia
are the assistance in building democratic society and human rights
protection. He said that in 2004 the OSCE office actively assisted in
the establishment of a dialogue between all Armenian political forces.
“Without defending either of the sides, we pursued only one aim – to
provide the protection of civil principles and human rights,” Vladimir
Pryakhin said.
He noted that the OSCE office in Yerevan is also active in the
realization of programmes of socioeconomic importance. In particular,
the OSCE office rendered assistance to the process of privatization of
Zangezur copper-molybdenum complex and financed the elaboration of a
programme of the socioeconomic development of Syunik Region [southern
Armenia]. Vladimir Pryakhin said that in 2005 the OSCE office is
planning to render assistance to the process of setting up the
community police in Armenia. In particular, the OSCE is going to
provide the community police with 50 cars, set up emergency centre and
train the policemen.

A1 Plus | 16:02:26 | 14-12-2004 | Social |
INDEPENDENT WHEN NO LONGER BEATEN
‘Joining the citizens concerned with the future of the country ‘New
Armenia’ Bloc keeps focus on the problems alarming society’, Eleonora
Manandyan, head of the `New Armenia’ social organization said at a
conference held today.
The probable forming of a new opposition bloc has widely been discussed
in the pres recently, and the pro-Western orientation is declared to be
the ideological base of it.
According to Eleonora Manandyan, the powers in opposition must first be
guided by settlement of numerous problems of the people and elaboration
of potential ways for establishment of statehood.
‘Horde sentiments now prevail in our country. We didn’t become
independent by declaring independence. There will be democracy in our
country only when we are no longer beaten during the elections’,
Eleonora Manandyan says.
‘We call upon political powers in Opposition to become mighty and to
stay away from obliged decisions to follow our national interests and
consolidation of statehood’, `New Armenia’ member Seda Arzumanyan says.

ARF Bureau representative meets with Cyprus president
14.12.2004 17:29
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau
representative Hrant Margarian met on December 14 with Cyprus
President Tasos Papadopulos in Nicosia.
Cyprus claims Turkey should recognize the European Union’s 25 member
states, including Cyprus, if it wants the accession talks to
begin. Turkey refuses to recognize the Republic of Cyprus since its
1974 invasion of the northern part of the island, which it recognizes
as Turkish Republic of Cyprus.
The ARF delegation was comprised of the ARF Western Europe Central
Committee (CC) representative Murad Papazian, ARF Greece CC
representative Grigor Erjenian, European Armenian Federation
Chairwoman Hilda Choboian, ARF Cyprus organization representative
Vahan Ainejian, and Armenian National Committeeof Cyprus Chairman
Andranik Ashjian.
Margarian briefed the Cyprus president on the ARF’s position in
Turkey’s bid to join the EU and conveyed his party’s backing to
Cyprus’ stance in the issue. He also pointed out that the pressures on
Cyprus should be overcome.
The Cyprus president explained his country’s position and possible
moves concerning Turkey’s aspiration to join the EU.
Later, the ARF delegation met with Ianakis Omiru, president of the
Cyprus Socialist Party (EDEK) and other officials.