Category: News

ARAM I: “SYRIA AND LEBANON SHOULD JOINTLY PREVENT TODAY’S CHALLENGES
IN THE MIDDLE EAST”
ANTELIAS, November 30 (Noyan Tapan). Mufti of Aleppo Sheikh Hasun paid
an official visit to the Mother Church of Antelias on November 24, and
was received by Catholicos of the Great Cilician House Aram I
there. The Mufti was accompanied by his son and the main
secretary. Bishop Gegham Khacherian, the head of the Armenians of
Lebanon, Archimandrite Shahan Sargsian, the head of the Berio Diocese,
Ministers Sepuh Hovnanian and Alen Taburian, representatives of the
Central Administration and monks were present at the reception. The
head executive of the Syrian forces to Beirut was also present at the
reception.
Greeting Mufti Hasun’s visit, Supreme Patriarch Aram I said: “Your
visit is the evidence of brotherly cooperation between Syria and
Lebanon. These two independent countries, which strengthen owing to
mutual confidence, should jointly prevent today’s challenges in the
Middle East. Your presence here is also the evidence of the necessity
of the Christian-Moslem dialogue.
The Catholicos of the Great Cilician House also emphasized: “Syria
plays an important role in our people’s life. We have never forgotten
brotherly attitude that our Syrian brothers and sisters displayed
towards our people after the 1915 massacre, when Ottoman Turkey made
an attempt to annihilate the whole nation. Syria has become the second
Motherland for us and we continue contributing to its well-being and
development.”
Sheikh Hasun thanked for warm welcome, he also touched upon the
centuries-old friendship between the Armenian and Arabian people,
especially Armenia’s contribution to the well-being of Syria. The
Sheikh also stressed the necessity of the Christian-Moslem dialogue
and called for cooperating in different spheres.
Then the Catholicos of the Great Cilician House organized dinner in
honor of the guest, in which officials, members of the Central
Administration and the head executive of the Syrian forces to Beirut
were present.
Sheikh Hasun was the guest of Supreme Patriarch Aram I, he has stayed
in Lebanon for few days and also had other meetings.

INTERNATIONAL MEMORABLE TOURNAMENT OF TIGRAN PETROSIAN TO BECOME
TRADITIONAL
YEREVAN, November 30 (Noyan Tapan). The international open tournament
dedicated to the 75th anniversary of world nine-time champion Tigran
Petrosian has completed in Yerevan. 128 chess-players of eight
countries participated in the memorable tournament.
Pavel Smirnov (Russia) placed first, he earned 7.5 points in the
tournament held by the Swiss system with nine rounds, Vacily Ivanchuk
(Ukraine), one of the strongest chess-players of the world, placed
second. He earned 8 points. Ten chess-players earned 6.5 points
each. Karen Asrian (Armenia) placed third due to the highest
additional coefficients. The chess-players, who placed first-third,
received 5,000 dollars, 4,000 and 3,000 dollars, respectively. And the
prize fund made a total of 35,000 dollars, so 36 participants of the
tournament were awarded with prizes. Armenian representatives Elina
Danielian, Nelli Aghinian and Lilit Mkrtchian received all the prizes
foreseen for women. Konstantine Shanayan (Georgia), Beniamin Galstian
and Zaven Andreasian (both from Armenia) became winners among the
juniors. Andreasian was also awarded with a special prize set for the
best game (for a victory in the game with Gega Majsu radze). Three
young chess-players of Armenia Beniamin Galstian, Tigran R. Petrosian
and Vardan Hakobian carried out the norm of international master, by
the way, Galstian and Petrosian – for the third time in succession.
After the completion of the tournament participants and guests
participated in the ceremony of the laying of the foundation stone of
the monument to Tigran Petrosian. The monument will be erected in
Davitashen district of Yerevan in the street bearing the name of the
prominent chess-player. Chairman of the Armenian Chess Federation and
RA Minister of Defense Serge Sargsian, Yerevan Mayor Yervand Zakarian,
as well as Boris Kutin, the Chairman of the European Chess Union,
(Slovenia) and Tigran Petrosian’s son Vardan Petrosian participated in
the arrangement.
Serge Sargsian, the Chairman of the Armenian Chess Federation, said
during the ceremony of closing of the memorable tournament that the
tournament dedicated to Tigran Petrosian will become traditional.

BoxingTalk.com
Dec 1 2004
Undefeated cruiserweight contenders battle in Prague

Press release: Two undefeated European cruiserweight contenders clash
on Friday, Dec. 3, in Prague, Czech Republik. The top ranked Pavel
Melkomian, 17-0 (7), of the Universum boxing stable defends his WBA
international 190 lb. crown against hard punching home boy Lubos
Suda, 8-0 (7).
Confusingly Lubos Suda is holding the WBA international interim title
in the same weight class and defended it twice while in the same
period Melkomian defended his full title once as well. That’s why it
was about time that those two 190 lb Euro competitors met for this
European version of a unification championship.
`Pavel is in a very good constitution. He’s fresh and relaxed’, team
member and physio therapist Mathias Böhme said. `In contrast to
previous fights he’s not that strained. We played Billard yesterday
evening in Prague and Pavel was pretty well balanced.’
`We expect strong opposition from Suda’, coach Magomed Shaburow said.
`But Pavel is more variable. He can throw punches with both hands and
is the more mobile fighter. We’re confident that we return home with
a victory.’
The fight at the Kongress Hall of Hotel Hilton in Prague will be the
second defense of the WBA int. champion from Moscow. The Hamburg
based Armenian won the intercontinental title on April 26, 2003, with
a technical decision after round 5 in a brutal battle against
Krzysztof Wlodarczyk from Poland and defended it on May 18, 2004,
with an 8th round technical knockout against Gábor Halász from
Hungary.
24-year-old Pavel Melkomian is currently ranked WBC #5, WBA #11 and
WBO #10.
The official weigh-in for this event of OK-KO Promotion will be on
Thursday, Dec. 2, 16:00 at the Hilton.

“ARMAT” WORRIES ABOUT CURRENT SITUATION IN PROCESS OF SETTLEMENT OF
KARABAKH CONFLICT
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 1. ARMINFO. Center for democracy and civil society
development “Armat” is worried about the current situation in the
process of settlement of the Karabakh conflict. It should be noted
that the ideologists of the formerly ruling party of Armenia Armenian
National Movement, in particular, former speaker of armenian
parliament Babken Ararktsian, vice speaker of the parliament Ara
Sahakian and others are the founders and active participants of the
Center.
In the statement, spread by the Center, the authors said that the
process of peaceful settlement has moved to a decisive phase fraught
with irreversible consequences. As a result speculation by the problem
of settlement of incumbent authorities of Armenia from 1998 and still
the issue of self-determination of Nagorny Karabakh gradually changed
into a territorial argument between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and, as a
result of it, Nagorny Karabakh, declared as a party of conflict, lost
this status and turned from a subject into a object of the conflict,
becoming only a subject of territorial argument between Armenia and
Azerbaijan. The mission of the cochairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group has
been lead to a deadlock. Signing the Istanbul Charter President of
Armenia Robert Kocharian admitted that the basis of the settlement of
the Karabakh conflict is keeping the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan, said in the statement.
>From the leader, in the plan of establishment of democracy and
conducting democratic reforms, Armenia has turned into an obstacle on
the way of regional development and integration, as a result of which
full political isolation has added to the economic blockade. Due to
the complementary foreign political course of Armenia Azerbaijan
succeeded to present a number of initiatives in international
organizations, which met resolutions unacceptable for Armenia and
Nagorny Karabakh.
The authors of the statement mention: “as a result of inactivity of
the present administration of Armenia Azerbaijan has achieved the
attack on the Armenian diplomacy, submitting to consideration of PACE
the report concerning the Karabakh problem and including in the agenda
of the 59th session of UN General Assembly the issue “on the situation
in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan”. During the whole process
of peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict for the first Armenia
is accused of “occupation” of the territories of Azerbaijan. It
became clear from the discussions in UN that almost two months ago the
cochairmen of the OSCE Minks Group have presented a new plan for
settlement to Armenia and Azerbaijan. Even the existence of this plan
is kept in secret from the Armenian society. It gives basis to suppose
that this plan envisions unfavorable for the Armenian side terms of
settlement, experts of the Center Armat think.
The whole Armenian state system and existence of Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic is under the threat. Armenian people faced a threat of war
and unjustified losses. Only the removal of the incumbent
administration from the political arena and formation of a power,
which will enjoy the confidence of the people, may create a
possibility for way out of the situation, said in the statement of the
Center.

FRENCH GOVERNMENT PRESENTS ARMED FORCES OF ARMENIA WITH MEDICAL
EQUIPMENT WORTH A TOTAL OF $1 MLN
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 1. ARMINFO. The government of France has presented
the armed forces of Armenia with medical equipment worth a total of $1
mln. The transfer of the humanitarian assistance was held at the
central clinical hospital of the Ministry of Defence of Armenia.
Ambassador of France to Armenia Henry Cuny mentioned that the gesture
of the French government is of special importance. “Taking into
account the conflict of the region France has limited the cooperation
with Armenia in the sphere of defence”, the ambassador mentioned and
added that any cooperation in the defence sphere might arouse protests
of other countries of the region, and for this reason the French
government has decided to provide assistance in the sphere of army
health-care. Henry Cuny stressed that France has found time and funds
for sending humanitarian assistance to Armenia just at the moment when
France itself needs vehicles in connection the events in Cote
d’Ivoire. He also mentioned that the Armenian side has highly assessed
the assistance of the French Republic and expressed for further
bilateral cooperation.
Deputy Defence Minister of Armenia, Lieut-Gen Arthur Aghabekian, on
behalf of Defence Minister Serge Sargsian and all the servicemen of
the country, expressed gratitude to the government of France and
stressed that the humanitarian assistance will serve only peaceful
purposes. The deputy minister mentioned that the surgical instruments,
blankets and other medical accessories will be distributed to
hospitals.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CUSTOMS OFFICIALS OF AZERBAIJAN START CHECKING OF DOCUMENTATION OF
CARGO DETAINED IN THE BORDER WITH GEORGIA
TBILISI, DECEMBER 1. ARMINFO. Working group of the custom officials of
Azerbaijan which started checking of documentation of cargo detained
before in the Azerbaijani-Georgian border has arrived in Tbilisi
Tuesday, TURAN was told in the Embassy of Azerbaijan in
Georgia. According to the same source, the term of clarification and
of the stay of the working group in Georgia are not known. “Check
will last as long as it is necessary”, noted the representative of the
Embassy.
According to TURAN, customs officials of Azerbaijan will check the
documents for almost all detained cargo. If some of them are intended
for Armenia they will not be allowed. This month the Azerbaijani side
detained almost 900 cargo wagons going from central Asia to
Georgia. The reason was the information that part of cargo went from
Georgia to Armenia. Baku treats it as violation of the agreement with
Georgia and demanded explanation from the official Tbilisi. The Head
of the Georgian railway Onoprishvili admitted in fact that part of
cargo was delivered to the Armenian border.
Even in 1998 Baku prohibited transportation of cargo going to Armenia
and from Armenia via the territory of Azerbaijan. Bilateral agreement
between Baku and Tbilisi was signed last year.
The Azerbaijani press noted more than once about the facts of delivery
of cargo to Armenia via Azerbaijan. The Armenian press and officials
did not conceal that Armenia bought through some false firms the Azeri
goods, and first of all oil products. However, official Baku refuted
it.
According to informed sources, among cargo transported in transit via
Azerbaijan to Georgia and then to Armenia there were strategic goods:
oil products, food, cotton, products of machine building, various
equipment and so on.

ARMENIAN AND RUSSIAN MPs INTEND TO HOLD CONSULTATIONS ON RELATIONS
WITH NATO
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 1. ARMINFO. Armenian and Russian MPs are going to
hold consultations to overcome possible misunderstanding over
Armenia’s and Russia’s relations with NATO. Such a decision was made
by the Armenian-Russian interparliamentary cooperation commission.
Russian sources report that in the protocoal of their last meeting the
commissioners say that Armenian-Russian political and military
cooperation is on high level and meets the national interests of both
sides. They say that the Armenian-Russian military alliance is a key
element of regional security and should be developed in future. The
commissioners say that the military-industrial integration of Armenian
and Russian companies should be encouraged for the development of
economic cooperation in the military-technological sphere. The
commissioners have decided to enhance the cooperation of Armenian and
Russian MPs at international organizations with preliminary
consultations on topical issues to be discussed there.
The speaker of Russia’s Council of Federations Sergey Mironov says
that Armenian-Russian interparliamentary relations are on high
level. But the Armenian and Russian MPs should more actively cooperate
at CIS Interparliamentary Assembly and in the framework of Caucasian
Four. Special attention should be given to joint struggle with
terrorism and the Karabakh conflict settlement.
The next meeting of the commission is to be held in Yerevan in May
2005. The key topic is the operation of the companies given by Armenia
to Russia under the Assets Against Debt program.

Azeri spiritual leader hails Islamic organization’s support
MPA news agency
1 Dec 04
BAKU
“The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is the only
international organization that defends Azerbaijan’s position on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict,” the head of the Spiritual Board of the
Muslims of the Caucasus, Allahsukur Pasazada, has told an OIC meeting
under way in Qatar.
The OIC meeting is being attended by Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev.
Without denying the fact that even within the OIC there are countries
supporting Azerbaijan rather weakly, the sheikh explained this by
their fear of the world’s superpowers.

2ND IRAN-ARMENIA ELECTRICITY LINE TO BE LAUNCHED TODAY
Asia Pulse
Dec 01, 2004

TEHRAN, Dec 1 Asia Pulse – A second line of the Iran-Armenia electricity
network with a capacity of 230 kw is due to be inaugurated today.
Iranian Energy Minister Habibollah Bitaraf and his Armenian counterpart,
Armen Movsisian, will be attending the inaugural ceremony.
“Electricity exchanges between the two countries will reach a total of 450
megawatts through this project,” the managing director of the Iranian SANIR
Electricity Company said.
Alireza Kadkhodaei said that the project costs US$8.4 million.
He also announced that the two countries` energy ministers are scheduled to
sign an agreement for construction of a third line of the the two countries`
electricity network.
Meanwhile, Iran and Armenia on May 13 signed an agreement to construct a
42-km gas pipeline between the Armenian cities of Megri and Kajaran.
The project is to be inaugurated during an upcoming visit of Energy Minister
Bitaraf in Armenia.
The Iran-Armenia trade volume is expected to reach US$10 billion in the next
20 years with implementation of the above-stated project.

Armenian diplomats still in Equatorial Guinea to get pilots released
Arminfo
30 Nov 04
YEREVAN
After the six Armenian pilots were imprisoned in Equatorial Guinea,
the Armenian delegation is still in that country to discuss the
further fate of the Armenian pilots with the local authorities.
The Armenian delegation has been allowed to visit the pilots, the
press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told Arminfo news
agency. Ambassador Sergey Manaseryan and the deputy head of the
Armenian state protocol service, Gevorg Petrosyan, are having ongoing
negotiations with various representatives of the Equatorial Guinean
leadership, including the secretary-general of the ruling Democratic
Party, Filiberto Ntutumu Nguema. Meetings have been scheduled with the
Equatorial Guinean foreign minister. A statement by the Armenian
government in connection with the review of the case of the Armenian
pilots will be submitted during the meeting. The Armenian delegation
maintains close contact with the pilots’ defence lawyer (?Ponciano
Mbombo Nwo) who intends to appeal against the sentence at the Supreme
Court of Equatorial Guinea.
However, the court has still not provided the written version of the
sentence, only after which it will be possible to appeal to the
Supreme Court.
[Passage omitted: South Africans’ defence lawyers are also waiting for
the sentence in a written form; background to the case]