Category: News

Nagorno-Karabakh: UN General Assembly To Discuss Occupation Of Azerbaijani Land
By Robert McMahon
Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
Nov 23 2004
Azerbaijan is hoping a proposed UN General Assembly resolution on its
occupied territory will help resolve a key impediment to peace talks
with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. The resolution, to be discussed
today (eds: 1600 Prague time), calls for reaffirming Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity and seeks an investigation into Azerbaijani
claims Armenia is promoting a settlement policy in the occupied
lands. Armenia denies this and has said such a resolution could
undermine the peace process.
United Nations, 23 November 2004 (RFE/RL) – The UN General Assembly
was expected to open discussion today on a resolution seeking to
address Azerbaijan’s concerns about its occupied territories and
sluggish peace process with Armenia.
The resolution calls for a reaffirmation of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty
and territorial integrity 10 years after ethnic Armenian forces won
control over Nagorno-Karabakh and occupied several districts adjacent
to the enclave.
It expresses “alarm and grave concern” at the situation in the area
occupied by Armenian forces, alleging the violation of international
humanitarian laws. The measure also raises concern about reports of
Armenian settlers being transferred to the territories.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told reporters
yesterday that the persistence of such reports, from international
and Armenian sources, was a main factor driving the initiative in
the assembly. The resolution invites the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is directing peace talks,
to send a fact-finding mission to lands occupied by ethnic Armenian
forces to report on the situation.
“We get greatly concerned that the Armenian government is conducting
a settlers’ policy in the occupied territories, which we consider
as a pure violation of international humanitarian law, including the
Geneva conventions of 1949,” Mammadyarov said.
Diplomats at Armenia’s UN mission did not respond to repeated requests
for comment yesterday. When the issue was placed on the assembly’s
agenda in October, Armenian officials said there were no settlements
in the territories outside the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh and denied
there was any policy to settle those lands.
Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian recently warned that
Azerbaijan’s initiative in the assembly threatened to undermine
mediation efforts under the OSCE’s Minsk Group. A French diplomat
speaking on behalf of the group told the General Assembly in October
that the group did not believe UN was the proper forum to discuss
the matter.
Mammadyarov said yesterday that his government remained committed to
the Minsk process but was looking to spur progress on issues related
to its large number of displaced persons. The resolution, though
nonbinding, would seek to expand international pressure for a solution.
“We do not agree that [the resolution] can create bad consequences
for the peace process,” Mammadyarov said. “We consider that even it
will support the peace process because otherwise you cannot conduct
sincere peace negotiations, and simultaneously behind the scenes [the]
Armenian side [is] conducting negotiations providing the so-called
settlement process.”
The initiative follows strong comments by Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev at the General Assembly debate in September. Aliyev faulted
the UN for neglecting the situation in and around Nagorno-Karabakh,
citing UN Security Council resolutions in 1993 that called for the
withdrawal of ethnic Armenian forces from Azerbaijani territory.
Mammadyarov said he also wants to see countries in the Minsk Group,
especially the United States, become more active in pressing for a
negotiated solution to the conflict.
“The conflict is very, very difficult. Of course, the settlement of
the conflict is not very easy,” Mammadyarov said. “What we’re calling
[for] is that it should be solved only by the efforts of [the whole]
international community.”
The war over Nagorno-Karabakh has driven an estimated 800,000
Azerbaijanis from their homes, about a tenth of the country’s
population. Azerbaijan’s internally displaced people cannot return to
Armenian-occupied territories, and many have been living in wretched
conditions for the past 10 years.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

‘Azerbaijan could solve problems if it deals only with Upper Garabagh’ – President
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 23 2004
Baku, November 22, AssA-Irada — Azerbaijan supports adoption of
a new United Nations resolution on the Upper Garabagh conflict,
President Aliyev told journalists on Monday.
“We do not intend to confine ourselves to discussions at the UN and
want a new resolution to be passed.”
The wording of a resolution that Azerbaijan insisted on during the
discussions at the UN session is ready, the President said.
The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan is engaged in intense consultations
on the issue and talks with some countries. It is for this reason that
Armenia is trying to impede adoption of the resolution by all means,
he said.
Aliyev pointed out that such statements by Armenia as “if the
resolution is passed, Azerbaijan will have to negotiate with Upper
Garabagh” are laughable.
“Azerbaijan could solve problems differently if it negotiates only
with Upper Garabagh”, Aliyev said.
“If Azerbaijan deals only with Upper Garabagh, it could solve problems
differently and faster. If Armenia wants the negotiations to be held
with Upper Garabagh, it must abandon the issue, withdraw its forces
from the occupied lands and stop financing Upper Garabagh from its
budget.”

40 Armenian nationals ousted from Russian province
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 23 2004
Forty Armenians have recently been evicted from Russia’s Krasnodar
province, Russian press reports said on Monday.
Officials of the province explain Armenians’ banishment with their
illegal migration and living in the region without any official
registration. However, the move was due to the fact that local
Armenians demand autonomy and claim that Krasnodar is a “historical
Armenian land”, a reliable source told AssA-Irada.
The leadership of Krasnodar, which is densely populated by Armenians,
began to oust Armenians from the province several months ago after
considering the increasing discontent of the local residents.*
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ITALY’S DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER ARRIVES IN YEREVAN
ArmenPress
Nov 23 2004
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS: A high-ranking Italian diplomat
promised today a stronger boost to cooperation with Armenia, saying
her government will continue to support implementation of a number
of joint programs with Yerevan.
Margerita Boniver, Italy’s deputy foreign affairs minister, who
arrived today in Yerevan, was received by parliament chairman Arthur
Baghdasarian, who emphasized Italy’s assistance to Armenia in its
drive to closer integration with Europe.
The parties stated that both countries could develop effective
cooperation in small businesses, tourism and stressed the opening of
Casa Italiana in Yerevan, which is supposed to give a fresh muscle
to bilateral cooperation.
Boniver and Baghdasarian discussed also regional issues. Baghdasarian
suggested that Italy should organize a youth forum for young people
from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, which he said would help the
region’s nations to build an atmosphere of confidence.
Margerita Boniver was also received today by foreign minister Vartan
Oskanian and president Robert Kocharian.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ZANGEZUR PLANT TO BE SOLD DECEMBER 5
ArmenPress
Nov 23 2004
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS: Trade and economy development
minister Karen Chshmaritian said today that Armenian and German
experts are giving now the final strokes to an agreement under which 75
percent of shares in Zangezur copper and molybdenum enterprise will
be sold to German Cronimet companies, 12.5 percent to AMP company
and as many to Zangezur Mining company.
Under the agreement that will be signed on December 5 the enterprise
will be managed in the next 5-7 years by the Zangezur Mining
Company. The Cronimet will pay $130 million for 100 percent of
shares. Another clause of the agreement provides that if Cronimet
secures more than $20 million income in 2005-2006, it will pay 32
percent to Armenia as extra payment for shares.
Chshmaritian said the real volume of investments may be clear after
a feasibility examination no sooner than next June.

PARLIAMENT OPENS DEBATES ON REVISED BILL ON FIGHTING MONEY-LAUNDERING
ArmenPress
Nov 23 2004
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS: Armenian parliament resumed Monday
debates over a Central Bank-designed bill that calls for a crackdown
on money-laundering and financing terrorism. The bill was turned down
last week when it was put on the first reading. Presenting the revised
draft law to parliament members Central Bank chairman Tigran Sarkisian
said several remarks and proposals suggested by lawmakers were
incorporated into the bill. Particularly, the notion of “suspicious
transaction” that was vehemently rejected by lawmakers, was specified.
The revised notion sets forth four formulations of what “suspicious
transaction’ is. It sets that the authorized body must be notified
about all money transfers exceeding 5 million drams. According to
Sarkisian, around 95 percent of all money remittances are less than
5 million drams (about $10,000). The bill also says that all deals
costing more than 20 million US dollars, with the exception of deals
related to sale and purchase of real estate property must be likewise
notified. The authorized body must be notified only about those sale
and purchase deals which cost more than 50 million drams.
Sarkisian said these mechanisms will not create obstacles for business
entities and individuals, adding that the draft law was developed
based on international conventions already passed by the parliament.

GAGIK TSARUKIAN ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE
ArmenPress
Nov 23 2004
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS: The special session of Armenian
National Olympic Committee elected on Monday Gagik Tsarukian, a
prominent businessman and the chairman of Multi Group Concern as a
new president. The newly elected chairman pledged to do everything
to avoid the repetition of Athens fiasco.
Gagik Tsarukian was the deputy of the former chairman of the Olympic
committee and has been funding the committee for several years now.
Followed by the election which passed unanimously, the newly elected
chairman said that up to date he had been only providing finances
to the committee and had no responsibility on him which is not the
case now. Pledging to continue financing the development of sports in
Armenia, Tsarukian said that he is going to recruit the best athletes
and coaches.
The newly elected head of the Olympic committee underscored financial
aspects in sports and vowed to continue investing money in it.
“I will do it as long as it is needed. If I am involved in such
a difficult task, I should get out of it with the final victory,”
Tsarukian said.

Soviet papers preserved
by Karen Brownlee, Leader-Post
The Leader-Post (Regina, Saskatchewan)
November 23, 2004 Tuesday
Final Edition
Doukhobor ancestors will soon be able to search centuries back into
their families’ histories to their Soviet homeland thanks to the
years of work of one of their own.
“I feel fairly strongly about documenting and preserving Doukhobor
history and making it available to other Doukhobor Canadians,” said
Jon Kalmakoff, a Regina-based researcher and genealogist.
Kalmakoff had around 3,000 documents unearthed from archives in the
Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, and Armenia and sent to Canada. They were
then translated from archaic Russian script to modern English.
He is making the documents available in a series of books, the first
of which will be available in a few weeks through Kalmakoff’s Web
site
“Taken all together, they allow most people of Doukhobor ancestry
to trace their families back to the early 19th century and the late
18th centuries,” said Kalmakoff, who is also making the copies of
the original Russian documents available in a special collection at
the Saskatchewan Archives .
The documents include census lists and tax lists, which “give us
a snapshot of what any particular family looked like at that time
period”, said Kalmakoff. Family names, their villages and in some
cases, occupations, are among the details listed.
Much of early Doukhobor history is obscure. They transmitted their
history through oral stories, rather than written records. Many at
that time were illiterate.
“It comes as quite a surprise, not only to find these records,
but that so many actually exist,” said Kalmakoff, who has used the
records to track his family history back to the 1600s.
“It’s quite a feat because unlike Anglo-Saxon genealogy, there just
isn’t the same number of records.”
Kalmakoff found the records after developing contacts with employees
at the archives where the documents were found. He personally funded
the searches for the documents.
“A lot of it was taking a shotgun approach just knowing certain records
were supposed to have been taken by the Russian Tsarist officials,”
he said.
“If we did find it existed, then arrangements were made for copies
to be made to be shipped over here,” he said.
The Russian peasants were persecuted for having political beliefs
different from their government in the late 18th century. They were
allowed to emigrate in the late 19th century.
Around 7,500 came to Canada and settled in Saskatchewan. Saskatoon,
Blaine Lake, Wadena, Watson, Buchanan, Canora, Kamsack and Veregin are
modern communities that coincide with the original areas of settlement,
said Kalmakoff.
A large group of the original settlers moved to B.C. after a dispute
over homestead titles with the federal government in the early
1900’s. Today, between 30,000 and 50,000 Doukhobor ancestors live in
western Canada, he said.
From: Baghdasarian

Energy supplies to Tbilisi suspended
RosBusinessConsulting Database
November 23, 2004 Tuesday 6:04 am, EST
Energy supplies to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi have been
suspended after an accident at the Alaverdy power transmission
lines. As the Tbilisi electrical energy distributing company TELASI
reported, currently Armenian experts are working to resume energy
supplies. About 100 megawatts per day are transported from Armenia
to Georgia via the Alaverdy power transmission lines. 100 megawatts
more are transported from Russia. The Russian energy grid, RAO UES,
owns 75 percent in TELASI.

Duma ratifies protocol to treaty on Russian base in Armenia
By Ivan Novikov
ITAR-TASS News Agency
November 23, 2004 Tuesday 4:59 AM Eastern Time
MOSCOW, November 23 — The Russian State Duma has unanimously ratified
at its plenary meeting on Tuesday the Protocol on introducing changes
in the Treaty between the Russian Federation and the Republic of
Armenia on the Russian military base on the territory of Armenia. The
protocol was signed on November 11, 2003.
The ratification of the protocol “will make it possible to bring the
Treaty between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia on
the Russian military base to conformity with the letter and spirit of
the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between
Russia and Armenia as of August 29, 1997,” First Deputy Head of the
Main Department of International Military Cooperation of the Russian
Defence Ministry Albert Druzhinin said, presenting this document
to deputies.
Druzhinin stressed that “the presence of the Russian military base
in Armenia is dictated by military-political interests of Russia and
its striving to stabilize the situation in the region.”
The Armenian side ratified the protocol on April 28, 2004.