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Lebanese Armenians to help in “reconstruction” of Karabakh town – web site
Azg web site, Yerevan
1 Aug 04
Text of report in English by Armenian newspaper Azg web site on 1
August headlined “Armenians of Lebanon to contribute to Shushi’s
reconstruction”
Yesterday 31 July Arkadiy Gukasyan, president of Nagornyy Karabakh,
received Grigor Galust, co-chairman of “Shushi” foundation and
director of Beirut Mesropian College, and Bakur Karapetian, co-chair
of the same foundation and publicist. Galust told Gukasyan that their
visit is aimed to get acquainted to the activities of the foundation
in the issue of Sushi’s Susa reconstruction. Regnum news agency
informed that Galust expressed readiness to assist in the
reconstruction of Karabakh churches on behalf of Nerses Petros XIX,
head of Beirut’s Armenian Apostolic Church.

First-ever Nagornyy Karabakh football league set to kick off 1 August
Arminfo
31 Jul 04
STEPANAKERT
The Nagornyy Karabakh Republic will start to have its own open
football league on 1 August.
Ayk Dzhavadyan, vice-president of the Artsakh Armenian name for
Karabakh Football Federation, which was registered recently, announced
this at a press conference in Stepanakert capital of Nagornyy Karabakh
today. He said that in Soviet times Nagornyy Karabakh football had
been represented by the “Karabakh” team which had been successful
enough to get into the USSR’s 2nd league division. Football was a
popular and well-liked game in Karabakh but football life in the
republic had died because of the armed conflict with Azerbaijan up
until 1994. From 1994-95 several Karabakh teams had had to join the
Armenian leagues. And so from 1 August Karabakh will have its own
league, Ayk Dzhavadyan said.
He announced that having the league was possible thanks to the active
cooperation of Arkadiy Gukasyan, president of the republic, and the
Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, as well as from the US
entrepreneur and philanthropist Grach Kaprielian, who is also the
president of the Artsakhk Football Federation.
Ayk Dzhavadyan also said that in the last 2-3 years 500,000 US dollars
had been invested in developing football in Karabakh. “The Nagornyy
Karabakh Republic’s football league is aimed not only at reviving the
best traditions of Karabakh football, improving the physical health of
the population and providing means for practising this sport, which is
popular throughout the world, but also at contributing towards the
coming into being and strengthening of our state and helping the
international recognition of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic. We also
hope to set up close ties and cooperation with teams from other
countries,” Ayk Dzhavadyan noted.
Nine teams will take part in the league which will be run along
European lines. The teams are from Stepanakert and all regions of
Nagornyy Karabakh, as well as one team from the town of Goris in the
Republic of Armenia. The Nagornyy Karabakh Republic’s championship
league will end in the middle of November. The winners will receive
medals, certificates and prizes.

Aberdeen Press and Journal
July 31, 2004
Festival to showcase young musical talent
Nichola Workman
Young musicians from across the globe will descend on Aberdeen next
week for 11 days of music, dance and drama. For the Granite City will
play host to more than 600 talented musicians from local and foreign
shores for the 32nd Aberdeen International Youth Festival.
A total of 14 countries, from as far apart as Indonesia and
Kazakhstan, will be represented at the prestigious event. And
performances by ballet stars, opera singers, orchestras and rock
stars will take over stages in 30 venues across the city.
But the festival will not only showcase talent from overseas –
highlights of the event include performances by local performers and
musicians.
Indeed, the Bucksburn and District Juvenile Pipe Band will lead a
spectacular parade from Castlegate, along Union Street, on Wednesday
– the very first day of this year’s annual music celebration.
They will be followed by 21 groups of dazzling performers, many
dressed in national dress, singing and dancing their way to the
official opening ceremony in the city’s Music Hall. That will mark
the start of more than a week of shows in Aberdeen itself and a tour
of towns and villages as far afield as Ballater, Findhorn and
Arbroath.
Even office workers taking a break over lunch will be able to indulge
in a spot of culture, as some groups take to the stage for special
lunchtime performances. But the high point of the festival will
surely be the World Music Evening next Saturday.
Hosted by local Big Brother winner Cameron Stout, the event will also
coincide with the city’s Tartan Day celebrations. It will feature
music from the Toronto All Stars Steel Band, the Kyara Sound Team
from Japan, an Angklung orchestra from Indonesia, and musicians from
The Splore – the festival’s traditional Scottish Music School.
Another must-see promises to be a performance of The Magic Flute at
the MacRobert Hall, featuring on-the-brink-of-stardom opera singers
from Iceland, Sweden, France and Canada. Three local girls from Cults
Academy will also be among the cast, while the orchestra is the
Yerevan Youth Chamber Orchestra from Armenia.
The opera will be performed on Thursday, and Saturday but they will
put on an extra show next Monday especially for “opera-virgins”. The
pay-what-you-can night is a free performance aimed at bringing in
people who have never witnessed an opera. The audience will pay what
they can on leaving the hall.
For fans of rock and dance music, a festival club night is being laid
on at The Lemon Tree, where Kazakhstan band Ulytau will be top of the
bill. Local favourites Amy Sawyer and Stanley will also be
performing. And at the same venue, the International Mod will provide
a setting for the festival’s biggest jamming session.
Organisers hope to combine instruments never seen together before to
create a totally new sound.
The Lemon Tree’s Jamie Marshall said: “I’m certain we’re in for some
sparkling entertainment.” For more information about the festival, log
on to “. For tickets, contact the Aberdeen Box Office on
01224 641122.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
August 1, 2004 Sunday Home Edition
Trip teaches lesson on jobs;
CEO: Offshoring costly, arduous
by TAMMY JOYNER
Sometimes the answer is right in your own back yard.
Dustin Crane traveled tens of thousands of miles from home to learn
that business lesson.
The Alpharetta executive had a decision to make: Set up shop overseas
or team up with an overseas company. Either way, clients of his
Alpharetta technology firm were pressuring him to cut costs by
sending his company’s work to overseas software developers and
programmers.
“This offshoring juggernaut wasn’t going to let up,” said Crane, 45,
who founded Aelera Corp. 10 years ago. “We said we can’t ignore it.
The pressure’s going to be so great, we better have a solution
available.”
Crane traveled to three countries to get a firsthand look at the
overseas production craze.
He had every intention of setting up shop abroad, perhaps in India
first, followed by expansion to China. Many businesses have touted
offshoring as the cheapest way to go when faced with global
competition. For some industries and in certain circumstances, it is
a money-saver.
What Crane found, though, was a lot of hidden costs and problems not
typically associated with overseas outsourcing.
“I was constantly going, ‘My gosh, this is more costly [than I’d
expected],’ ” Crane said.
It wasn’t just the unexpected extra financial costs. Sending work
overseas can be culturally and linguistically challenging, and
workers there face harsh living and working conditions.
Crane says some U.S. tech companies have to deal with on-the-job
communication mix-ups. It’s not unusual for overseas information
technology projects to arrive stateside and have to be recoded by
American workers.
“When we started adding up all of the risk factors associated with
this offshoring,” Crane said, it didn’t pay off.
So instead of sending work abroad, Aelera recently announced it will
create 250 jobs in Savannah and Fitzgerald, where software
developers, programmers and support staff will design systems that
help Aelera clients’ customers order goods and services online,
schedule appointments and meet other technological needs.
Aelera isn’t alone in rethinking the merits of outsourcing. Last
week, Delta Air Lines announced it had dropped one of three
offshoring contracts that supply call-center services overseas.
“We’re not touting this as a political move or to save U.S. jobs,”
said Crane. “This just makes business sense.”
A survey on outsourcing recently done by Aelera mirrored Crane’s
views. The survey of 216 top-level U.S. executives indicated that
half of the respondents that had overseas projects were likely to
bring the work back to the United States. The survey found the
companies didn’t realize the cost savings they had expected.
Many had expected 30 percent to 40 percent in savings by going
overseas, but the average savings were about 20 percent. One in 10
didn’t see any savings at all. One in five of the information
technology projects sent overseas ultimately failed. The biggest
culprits: poor transfer of knowledge, work quality and low morale
among their U.S. work force, which led to poor productivity overall.
The overseas outsourcing boom is working on two cyclinders. It’s
providing U.S. firms with low-cost workers and creating a level of
prosperity for many overseas workers who, in turn, are taking
advantage of their new way of life.
The surge in technology outsourcing, for one, has created a middle
class with middle-class appetites for better homes and cars and
paychecks. These sought-after workers are demanding and getting
better salaries. And that’s creating increased labor costs for U.S.
firms.
“A lot of people outsource because they think it’s cheaper,” said
Tony Greenberg, chief executive of RampRate Sourcing Advisors. “But
it’s not. They’re not looking at the hard costs or soft costs.”
Nine-month odyssey
Crane’s story goes beyond surveys and data. It began almost two years
ago and culminated with a nine-month journey through Armenia, China
and India.
He made the customary plant visits and met with officials. But he
preferred to venture off the beaten path, taking trains and cabs and
rental cars, as opposed to air-conditioned limos.
He kept a diary of his journey and often traveled in cargo pants,
tennis shoes and a Braves T-shirt. He ducked into shops and roadside
stands. He talked to street vendors, visited libraries and
universities, and talked to students. He took in the markets where
locals bartered for goods, all to get a feel for how the average
worker lives and works.
“This wasn’t a cursory blow-through as a CEO or executive,” Crane
said. “I wanted to go experience what these countries were. I didn’t
want to go as a CEO. I wanted to get my fingernails dirty.”
He found that outsourcing may work for companies with call centers
abroad, but not for a $10 million-a-year information technology firm
like Aelera. Not for programmers and developers who depend on
teamwork, business nuances and a stress-free work environment to
create software systems.
“It’s one thing to offshore call-center work where transactions last
one to five minutes and repeat 20 times an hour,” Crane said. “It’s
different to offshore a piece of work that takes two to three months
to master and maintain that momentum and productivity.”
The company takes such pains to create a conducive work environment
that once, when a database administrator was “getting bogged down” by
his commute from Lawrenceville to Alpharetta, Aelera paid to move him
and his family closer to work.
“That improved his family life and productivity,” Crane said. “That’s
what we’re focused on.”
Creating that kind of atmosphere abroad would be nearly impossible,
considering what Crane saw:

* Pollution was so thick in one Chinese town that he had trouble
breathing. High-rises seem to vanish behind towers of brown clouds.
“I felt like I was slowly suffocating. I thought, ‘This is horrible.
People have to live in this environment.’ ”

* Office space in India turned out to be more expensive in some cases
than some parts of Atlanta, and “the facilities weren’t nearly as
good.”

* Traffic jams were so bad that during one cab ride in the Indian
city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay), the driver got out, ate dinner and
returned to the taxi, which was still in the same spot where he left
it because traffic hadn’t budged. Crane was still sitting waiting
inside. To combat traffic, some companies have set up bus services to
get employees to work.

* Crane found out-of-reach costs among the so-called cost savings
touted by Armenians. When Crane asked about installing a DSL line, he
was told it would cost $5,000 a month for the service that is
normally $50 in the States.

* Workers were so jammed into cubicles that they had to tuck in their
elbows to keep from bumping each other. During a demonstration at
another firm, the presentation was interrupted by technical glitches.
At one point, Crane saw a cockroach scamper across the keyboard.
“I’m thinking to myself, ‘There’s more than one kind of bug here,’ ”
Crane said.
At times, the experience was unsettling, bringing Crane’s Western
ways face-to-face with worlds where prosperity often collided with
poverty. That was the case when he landed at the airport in Mumbai.
“It was fourth world, almost fifth world” in its appearance, he
recalled.
The shuttle waiting to take him to his hotel was an air-conditioned
BMW 740i. A minute earlier, he said “three beggars [are] saying ‘Give
me a penny.’ It’s truly a country of contrast.”
On the ride to the hotel, Crane said he couldn’t help but think:
“This opulence of the moment could feed 20 or 30 people. It didn’t
make me feel comfortable.”
Journey’s beginning
Crane’s nine-month process of elimination began in Yerevan, Armenia,
a city of about 1.25 million people.
Armenia is my first stop. I landed at midnight shocked at the dearth
of city lights below. The pilot announced, ‘If this is your first
time in Yerevan, be aware that the landing will be rough due to the
condition of the runway.’ … When the runway lights did not come on
in time, he did an abrupt fly-around for a second try. This former
republic of the Soviet Union still shows signs of its time behind the
Iron Curtain. The drive to the hotel was punctuated with random
police inspections. … It is clear the city is in need of much more
commerce. With a vibrant economy, it would be a lovely place, but
right now it is very run-down.
Crane found the city “wasn’t as alive and dynamic as we are here.”
And there weren’t enough resources, namely qualified students and/or
qualified software developers, Crane said. Universities there turn
out roughly 1,000 to 2,000 such workers a year, vs. 300,000 to
400,000 in India, Crane said.
“I liked Armenia and its people. [But] I didn’t want to bet my
business on it.”
Guangzhou, China. I tried to talk to as many [software] developers as
I could to determine both their language and skill levels. These
young people had worked hard at honing their English, but still
lacked the ability to field questions and comprehend the directions
the questions were heading … I see potential issues with knowledge
transfer, communications, business culture differences and living
conditions.
Heading by train into the Chinese seaport city of Guangzhou
(pronounced GWAN-JOW and formerly called Canton), Crane rode straight
into a huge brown cloud of pollution.
Beyond the smog, Crane was struck by how few people had a real grasp
of English, a key requirement for working with complex technology
projects.
“When you go offshore, it’s all about communication when it comes to
software. This is not paint by number,” said Crane, who speaks some
Cantonese. “You need to be able to define the problems so you can
define the solutions. Although a few were exceptional, [overall] they
were lacking in English.”
Crane’s assessment of China?
“China is going to be the place in the next 10 years. But they’re not
developed to the point of [being] ready for prime time now.”
Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, India. Suds will be my travel guide.
We have been in and out of technology parks, observing and talking to
developers. Seems like India is in the middle of their tech bubble.
People are willing to switch jobs for an extra quarter an hour. The
conditions appear to be unstable, maybe unsustainable.
India, in some ways, is becoming a victim of its emerging success,
Crane said.
The most cosmopolitan of the three cities Crane visited was
Bangalore, where workers were technologically skilled, he said.
Business is conducted in English, and the culture is steeped in
democracy. But it still had its own set of problems, starting with a
10 1/2-hour time difference.
The outsourcing and technology boom has created a middle class in
places like Bangalore, but many of the towns haven’t kept pace with
the changes. Workers are making more money. In turn, they’re
demanding — and getting — the conveniences that go along with
being middle class. There are traffic jams at 1 a.m.
“One thing India touts [is] labor rates are low,” Crane said. “What
we discovered there was a lot of additional costs.”
An engineer from a top tech university in India commands about
$10,000 a year in salary. An Indian software developer with a
master’s degree from a university in India would get about $50,000 a
year.
A U.S. engineer who has a bachelor’s degree commands about $60,000 to
$70,000 a year. An American software developer with a master’s would
get $70,000 to $80,000 a year on average. In Atlanta, the going rate
is about $70,000 for an engineer with a bachelor’s.
“If you look at the [labor] rates you could be intoxicated by the
savings,” Crane admits. “But if you looked at the entire cost …
clearly there’s a very good alternative. Many large companies say
they have no choice. They have to go offshore. We want them to hear
loud and clear that there is [an alternative].”
Aelera’s decision to stay in Georgia speaks to another trend.
Spherion Corp., a staffing company that runs call centers across
North America, said it’s seeing companies looking to smaller U.S.
markets to fulfill customer service needs instead of big cities or
overseas.
“Small American markets are ideal for companies to locate their call
centers because they offer lower-cost labor, available real estate
and attractive incentives from local and state governments,” said
Robert Morgan, president of employment solutions at Spherion Corp.
“In exchange, the town gets a thriving new business that feeds the
local economy and lowers unemployment.”

Xinhua News Agency – French
August 01, 2004 Sunday
Des eglises irakiennes touchees par une serie d’attentats a la bombe
BAGDAD, 1er aout
Quatre eglises a Bagdad et deux dans la ville de Mossoul (sud d’Irak)
ont ete touchees dimanche par une serie d’attentat a la voiture
piegee, lesquels ont tue au moins trois personnes et blesse plusieurs
d’autres, a indique un officiel du gouvernement irakien.
La premiere explosion s’est produite en dehors d’une eglise
armenienne et la seconde a touche une eglise catholique a environ 200
metre de loin, ont dit des temoins.
Au moins deux personnes ont ete tuees et 20 autres blessees dansles
deux premiers attentats a la voiture piegee a Bagdad, selon des
sources de police.
Au moins une personnes a ete tuee dans une des deux explosions en
dehors d’eglises a Mossoul, a 370 km au sud de Bagdad.
Ce sont les premieres attaques visant la minorite chretienne du pays
durant l’insurrection violence qui dure 15 mois dans le pays.Il
existe environ 800 000 chretiens en Irak, dont la plupart a Bagdad.

SDA – Servizio di base in Italiano
August 1, 2004
Iraq: stragi al vespro, autobombe contro chiese cristiane
Punto 1 BAGHDAD, 1 ago
Terrore e morte questa sera alla celebrazione del vespro a Baghdad e
a Mossul: sei autobombe sono esplose a pochi minuti di distanza l’una
dall’altra davanti a cinque chiese cristiane. In una sola delle
esplosioni, in una chiesa caldea a Baghdad, ci sarebbero stati 12
morti, secondo un testimone. E’ la prima volta in 15 mesi di
guerriglia contro le forze di occupazione e il nuovo potere iracheno
che la guerriglia prende di mira luoghi di culto cristiani.
Una fonte del ministero dell’interno iracheno ha detto che in almeno
due casi le autobombe esplose a Baghdad erano guidate da attentatori
suicidi, e ha detto di aspettarsi un “enorme numero di vittime”.
L’ondata di attacchi e’ stata accuratamente coordinata: gli attentati
sono avvenuti quasi contemporaneamente a Baghdad, dove sono state
colpite quattro chiese, e a Mossul, 370 chilometri piu’ a Nord, dove
sono esplose due autobombe.
L’attacco piu’ sanguinoso sembra per ora essere quello avvenuto nel
quartiere meridionale di Dora, nella capitale irachena, quando
un’autobomba e’ entrata a gran velocita’ nel parcheggio della chiesa
caldea, ed e’ esplosa mentre i fedeli uscivano alla fine della messa:
un testimone ha detto di aver visto almeno 12 persone morte e arti
umani sparsi sul luogo dell’esplosione.
La prima esplosione ha colpito a Baghdad la chiesa armena del
quartiere Karradi; la seconda, un quarto d’ora dopo, la chiesa
cattolica siriaca dello stesso quartiere, dove vivono molti
cristiani. In questo secondo attentato, secondo l’autista di
un’ambulanza, due persone sono morte e diverse altre sono rimaste
ferite.
A Mossul, secondo quanto ha detto all’agenzia di stampa “France
Presse” il comandante locale della polizia, Mohammad Amar Taha, due
autobombe sono esplose davanti alla chiesa Mar Polis, nel quartiere
Al Mohandessin, nel centro della citta’. Fonti mediche e di polizia
hanno detto che l’attentato ha fatto un morto e 11 feriti. Secondo
fonti citate dalla Reuters, sarebbero due i luoghi di culto colpiti a
Mossul.
La catena di attacchi alla chiese fa temere l’avvio di una nuova
strategia della guerriglia irachena, che mira a creare tensioni fra
le varie confessioni religiose in Iraq, non piu’ solo fra sunniti e
la maggioranza sciita, ma anche fra i musulmani e i cristiani, che
sono circa 800.000 nel Paese, quasi tutti concentrati a Baghdad.
Le autobombe contro i cristiani sono giunte al termine di un’altra
giornata di violenze: in mattinata, a Mossul, un kamikaze si e’
lanciato con un’automobile piena di esplosivo contro un posto di
polizia. A nulla e’ servito il fuoco subito aperto dagli agenti
contro l’attentatore: l’uomo e’ morto, ma l’automobile ha continuato
la sua corsa ed e’ esplosa a una ventina di metri dall’edificio.
Cinque poliziotti sono morti e piu’ di 50 altre persone, sia civili
sia poliziotti, sono rimaste ferite.
A Falluja, a Ovest di Baghdad, nel cosiddetto ‘triangolo sunnita’
dove piu’ accanita e’ la resistenza alle forze della coalizione
guidata dagli Usa, almeno dieci iracheni sono stati uccisi e una
quarantina feriti – secondo fonti irachene – in scontri con le truppe
americane, che hanno anche effettuato bombardamenti aerei.
A Samarra, altra citta’ del triangolo sunnita, a Nord della capitale,
un soldato della 1/a divisione di fanteria Usa e’ morto e altri due
sono rimasti feriti dall’esplosione di un ordigno al passaggio del
loro convoglio, secondo un comunicato militare americano.
Ed anche oggi e’ proseguita la ‘guerra degli ostaggi’: dopo i due
camionisti turchi fatti prigionieri ieri – uno e’ stato riconosciuto
dai familiari che hanno visto il video diffuso dai suoi rapitori – si
e’ appreso del sequestro, due giorni fa, di due uomini d’affari
libanesi e del loro autista siriano. Uno di loro – ha annunciato
Beirut nel pomeriggio – e’ stato liberato dalle forze di sicurezza
irachene con un’operazione di commando; resta incerta la sorte degli
altri due suoi compagni.
Intanto si e’ ingarbugliata – con l’accavallarsi di notizie
contraddittorie – la vicenda dei sette camionisti stranieri catturati
da un gruppo denominato Bandiere Nere dell’Esercito segreto islamico,
su cui da giorni e’ in corso una trattativa. Da Nairobi il ministro
degli esteri keniano ne ha annunciato la liberazione, affermando che
i sette – tre keniani, tre indiani e un egiziano – erano in salvo
nell’ambasciata egiziana di Baghdad; New Delhi e la ditta kuwaitiana
per cui lavorano gli ostaggi hanno smentito, mentre Il Cairo ha
negato che i sette fossero nella sua ambasciata; e il mediatore
iracheno, il capo tribale Hisham al Dulaymi, ha annunciato
addirittura di essersi ritirato dopo che erano sorte complicazioni
nella trattativa.

SDA – Servizio di base in Italiano
August 1, 2004
Iraq: attacco a chiese; cristiani sono 3% popolazione
ROMA, 1 ago
I cristiani sono circa il 3% dei 23 milioni di iracheni, suddivisi in
maggioranza tra cattolici e ortodossi. Nel Paese sono presenti anche
i protestanti, in numero inferiore rispetto alle altre due
confessioni, in quanto arrivati solo da pochi anni. Nazione a
maggioranza musulmana, l’Iraq conta una forte presenza di sciiti, che
sono la confessione maggioritaria con circa il 63% della popolazione,
seguiti dai sunniti che rappresentano il 34%.
Tra le popolazioni curde, stanziate nel nordest dell’Iraq e contano
circa 4 milioni di persone, si trovano ancora pochissimi ebrei, ma la
comunita’ cristiana e’ tuttora presente. Nel Paese sono presenti
anche i cristiani assiri che hanno ripreso a sperare di poter vivere
la loro specificita’ religiosa e culturale dopo la caduta di Saddam.
Molto variegata la presenza dei cattolici: sono poco meno di 800
mila, tra caldei (700 mila), latini (2.500), siro-antiocheni (75.000)
e armeni (2.000). La popolazione caldea rappresenta il terzo gruppo
etnico in Iraq, dopo arabi e curdi.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
Aug 2 2004
Azerbaijan: War-Mongering Or Warning?
By Liz Fuller
Over the past two weeks, one former and two current top Azerbaijani
officials have again affirmed their collective rejection of
international mediators’ insistence that the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict can be resolved only on the basis of mutual concessions.
Whether those Azerbaijani statements were intended primarily for
domestic consumption, or whether and to what extent they should be
construed as warnings to the international community not to pressure
Azerbaijan too forcefully to agree to concessions that might trigger
a major public backlash, is as yet unclear. Meanwhile, two senior
U.S. diplomats have made clear that Washington continues to hope for
a swift resolution of the conflict.
The first statement came on 15 July at a reception hosted by the U.S.
ambassador to Baku, Reno Harnish, in honor of the visiting OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairmen. Addressing the gathering, the three co-chairs each
stressed that no outsider is in a position to resolve the conflict,
and that the parties must themselves reach an agreement. In that
context, they welcomed the resumption of talks between senior
Armenian and Azerbaijani officials (see “RFE/RL Caucasus Report,” 9
July 2004). Vafa Guluzade, who resigned in October 1999 after serving
for years as President Heidar Aliyev’s foreign policy adviser (see
“RFE/RL Caucasus Report,” 14 October 1999), publicly rejected that
advice as “absolutely unacceptable and impermissible,” and as
intended to force Azerbaijan to come to terms with the loss of part
of its territory.
In an interview with zerkalo.az published one week earlier, Guluzade
had said that any country whose territory is occupied but which fails
to prepare for a war of reconquest should be regarded as “criminal.”
He also suggested that both the U.S. and the “West Europeans” have
failed completely to grasp the essence of the Karabakh conflict,
otherwise they would realize the futility of trying to get Azerbaijan
to reconcile itself to the loss of its territories. In addition,
Guluzade disclosed that during his tenure as President Aliyev’s
adviser, “we discussed all variants” for resolving the conflict, and
they were all “still-born:” Baku immediately rejected them as every
single peace proposal unveiled to date entailed the loss of
Nagorno-Karabakh, Guluzade said.Any country whose territory is
occupied but which fails to prepare for a war of reconquest should be
regarded as “criminal.”
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, by contrast, opined
in a 28 July interview with zerkalo.az that a new war “is not the
optimum way” to resolve the conflict. But at the same time he implied
that any compromise should come from Yerevan. A sensible compromise
with the Armenian side can be reached only if Armenia publicly
renounces the idea of independence for Nagorno-Karabakh, Mammadyarov
said. In that interview, Mammadyarov said he believes that each of
the co-chairs (France, Russia, and the U.S.) seeks to promote its own
interests in the South Caucasus. Several days earlier, however, he
sought to imply that Washington does understand that many
Azerbaijanis categorically reject the prospect of the loss of
sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh. Mammadyarov was quoted by
zerkalo.az on 22 July as saying that during his talks the previous
week in Washington with U.S. officials, U.S. Secretary of State Colin
Powell noted that it is imperative to take public opinion into
account when drafting a settlement proposal. The online daily further
quoted Mammadyarov as saying that it is not “realistic” to speak of
“resolving the conflict” until the displaced persons who fled during
the fighting (in 1992-1993) have returned to their homes. It is not
clear, however, whether by this Mammadyarov is advocating a “phased”
approach to a settlement, or whether Baku would accept a “package”
solution in which repatriation preceded the announcement of
Nagorno-Karabakh’s future status.
Finally, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told members of his
country’s diplomatic service on 27 July that “if the path of
negotiations leads us nowhere, Azerbaijan will use all other means
available, including the military option,” Turan reported. Referring
to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs’ calls for “compromise,” Aliyev
said no compromises can be made over Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity. Aliyev has made similar statements on numerous occasions
in recent months, most recently on a tour last week of northern
districts of Azerbaijan. Both Mammadyarov and Aliyev stressed that
international law favors Azerbaijan, which is the victim of “Armenian
aggression,” and the territory of which is partially occupied.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry reacted sharply to Aliyev’s 27 July
statement, RFE/RL’s Armenian Service reported on 28 July. Spokesman
Hamlet Gasparian said Aliyev’s comments show that “Azerbaijan has no
desire to settle the Karabakh conflict by peaceful means and is
laying its hopes on a solution by force.” He warned that the latter
course of action would have “disastrous consequences” for Azerbaijan.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Minsk Group co-chairman, Ambassador Steven Mann,
told Russia’s Regnum news agency that he understands that the leaders
of both Armenia and Azerbaijan are in “a difficult position” because
passions are running high on both sides. But at the same time, he
argued that the two presidents should eschew emotion and try to reach
a compromise. On 28 July, zerkalo.az quoted John Ordway, the outgoing
U.S. ambassador to Yerevan, as urging that the conflict be resolved
as soon as possible. The paper quoted him as saying that “the status
quo is acceptable to the U.S. only as the sole alternative to the
beginning of hostilities,” and as expressing the hope that a
settlement could be reached next year. That proposed timeframe
prompted Azerbaijani commentator Rauf Mirkadyrov to conclude that
Washington is trying to strong-arm Baku into a settlement lest the
commissioning of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, now
tentatively scheduled for the summer of 2005, be jeopardized by a
resumption of hostilities.

Xinhua, China
Aug 2 2004
French Casoni named Armenia coach

PARIS, Aug. 1 (Xinhuanet) — Former French international defender
Bernard Casoni has been named as coach of Armenia.
Casoni, 43, said he had signed a one-year contract with the
Armenian football federation.
Casoni, who has previously coached Marseille from 1999-2000,
Tunisia’s Etoile du Sahel and Cannes, will be assisted by fellow
former international and close friend Bernard Pardo.
Casoni heads to Armenia on Thursday for preparations for the
national team’s first qualifying match for the 2006 World Cup, a game
against Macedonia on August 18. Armenia is currently ranked 118th in
FIFA’s world rankings. Enditem
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress