Category: News

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
June 28 2004
Azeri MPs Urge General Prosecutor’s Office to Release Imprisoned KLO
Activists
Baku Today 28/06/2004 19:10
Five members of the Azerbaijani parliament urged the General
Prosecutor’s Office on Monday to release the five imprisoned members
of the Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) – who have been
sentenced to two month in jail for their unsanctioned anti-Armenian
protest early last week – on bail, ANS reported.
The MPs, Sabir Rustamkhanli, Zalimkhan Yagub, Gudrat Hasanguliyev,
Mammad Nuriyev and Mais Safarli, said in an appeal to the General
Prosecutor’s Office that taking into account the sentenced KLO
activists’ emotional state – their anger by the occupation of their
territories by Armenians – they have to be freed.
The Sheik of the Caucasus Muslims, Allahshukur Pashazade, also
supported the initiative, saying that Armenian atrocities during the
Karabakh war are to blame for the protests staged by several dozen
KLO activists against the Armenian participation of a Baku-hosted
conference for NATO’s Cooperative Best Effort-2004 exercises on
Tuesday.
Baku’s Nasimi District court on Thursday found the KLO chairman Akif
Naghi, along with four other activists of this organization, Mursal
Hasanov, Ilkin Qurbanov, Rovshan Fatiyev and Manaf Kerimov, culpable
of resisting police, violating public order and hooliganism.
The KLO members clashed with police on Tuesday near Baku’s Grand
Hotel Europe, where the NATO conference was taking place. Although
police stopped most of the protestors from nearing the hotel, a group
of young KLO members managed to push through police cordons and broke
into the conference hall. There was no report of serious injuries on
either side in the incident.

Rediff, India
June 28 2004
Topalov in quarters, Dreev ousted
Top seeded Grandmaster Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria stormed his way
into the quarter-finals with back-to-back victories against GM Zdenko
Kozul of Croatia in the World Chess championship in Tripoli, Libya,
on Monday.
Second seed GM Michael Adams of England also made it to the quarters
following his 1.5-0.5 victory over greenhorn Hakaru Nakamura of the
United States.
Rustam Kasmidzhanov of Uzbekistan qualified for the round of eight
with his second straight victory over GM Zoltan Almasi of Hungary.
Also making it to the quarters was GM Vladimir Akopian of Armenia,
who displayed perfect technique against GM Michal Krasenkow of
Poland, winning by a 1.5-0.5 margin.
The lone upset of this round was the ouster of highly regarded GM
Alexei Dreev of Russia at the hands of Cuban Lenier Dominiguez.
Having won the first game with black, Topalov was in command right
through with his white pieces in the second game against Kozul, who
employed the Classical Sicilian to keep himself in with a chance.
Topalov sacrificed a couple of pawns in the middle game to get a
better ending and his queen side pawns eventually had the final say.
Adams had little to do with his white pieces, having won the first
game with black. Nakamura went for the Alekhine defence and was never
really in contention in the 21-move game.
The Englishman went for routine exchanges and when he was enjoying a
better position, Nakamura proposed a draw and immediately signed his
ouster paper.
Rustam Kasmidzhanov, a finalist at the World Cup in Hyderabad and
amongst the 2700 Elo club in 2001, has off late been showing great
sparks of coming back into the elite club.
Playing white against Almasi, the Uzbek needed just a draw and
following some wild play by the Hungarian in the middle game, won an
exchange for little compensation. Almasi resigned after 35 moves
after the queens got traded through little combination.
The star performer of the day was Dominiguez, who outplayed Dreev in
the first set of tiebreak games played under rapid time control of 25
minutes each with a 10 seconds increment.
Drawing the first game, Dominguez unleashed a fine attack in the
second game and won comprehensively to move to the quarters.
Many had believed it to be a good event for Romanian Liviu-Dieter
Nisipeanu, the semifinalist of the World championship at Las Vegas in
1999. Especially so as the other two semifinalists in the fray —
Armenian Vladimir Akopian and Adams — have been going great guns
here and have both qualified for the next stage.
However, it was not to be as Nisipeanu lost the battle of nerves
against Andrei Kharlov, the only Russian left in the fray apart from
third seed Alexander Grishchuk.
After drawing both the games under normal time control, both Kharlov
and Nisipeanu won one game each in the rapid, drew both the blitz
games that followed before the Romanian ran out of gas in the
sudden-death game.
Grishchuk made the grade against veteran Alexander Beliavsky of
Slovenia but only after a close battle that was stretched till the
blitz games. Grishchuk won the first game of blitz and drew the
second after drawing two games in rapid.
Akopian set up his quarterfinal clash with Adams with a fine victory
over Krasenkow, who was outplayed in all departments of the game.
The 1999 finalist, Akopian had beaten Adams in the semifinals
en-route to his defeat against Russian Alexander Khalifman of Russia
in the finals at Las Vegas.
Complete Results, Round 4: Veselin Topalov (Bul) beat Zdenko Kozul
(Cro) 2-0; Teimour Radjabov (Aze) beat Pavel Smirnov (Rus) 1-1, 1-1,
1.5-0.5; Michael Adams (Eng) beat Hikaru Nakamura (Usa) 1.5-0.5;
Alexander Beliavsky (Slo) lost to Alexander Grishchuk (Rus) 1-1, 1-1,
1.5-0.5; Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb) beat Zoltan Almasi (Hun) 2-0;
Vladimir Akopian (Arm) beat Michal Krasenkow (Pol) 1.5-0.5; Lenier
Dominiguez (Cub) beat Alexey Dreev (Rus) 1-1, 1.5-0.5; Andrei Kharlov
(Rus) beat Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Rom) 1-1, 1-1, 1-1, 1-0.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
June 28 2004
Azeri Soldier Killed by Armenian Rifle Shot
A soldier of the Azerbaijani army was killed by an Armenian rifle
shot in the Aghdam District area of the frontline on Monday, ANS
reported.
The Press Office of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense could not be
reached to comment on the incident.
ANS reported that the soldier, Elnur Quliyev, was fatally shot to his
breast during an Armenian assault. It was the late Quliyev’s ninth
month in the military service.
Aghdam is one of Azerbaijan’s administrative districts occupied by
Armenia in 1991-94 war. Along with Aghdam, Armenian troops invaded
and took control of Azerbaijan’s Lachin, Kelbajar, Fuzuli, Jebrail,
Qubadli, Zengilan as well as Nagorno-Karabakh regions during the war.
A cease-fire agreement signed in May 1994 between the two countries
is frequently violated in the line of contact that separates
Azerbaijan from its occupied territories.
Peace negotiations mediated by the Minsk Group of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe since 1994 have failed to
bring a lasting settlement to the conflict.

EUbusiness, UK
June 28 2004
Troubled neighbors Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey pledge cooperation
Under pressure by NATO and the European Union, Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Turkey pledged on Monday to seek to resolve their tangled
disputes through trilateral meetings.
The foreign ministers of the three troubled neighbors, Vardan
Oskanian of Armenia, Elmar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan and Abdullah Gul
of Turkey met on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Istanbul.
Emphasizing that both NATO and the EU were keen to stabilize the
conflict-torn Caucasian region, Gul told reporters after the meeting
that they had discussed “ways and means of cooperating to achieve
stability through constructive means.”
He said he and his counterparts had agreed to hold further trilateral
meetings later in the year.
“We need to shape a new strategic vision for the Caucasus so that we
can keep pace with the developments around us,” Oskanian said,
referring to the enlargement of the EU and NATO.
Mamedyarov added: “We will try to do our best to bring peace and
stability to the region.”
Armenia and Azerbaijan are divided by a long-standing territorial
dispute over the enclave of Nagorny-Karabakh, for which they fought
in the early 1990s.
A close ally of Azerbaijan, Turkey has declined to establish
diplomatic ties with Armenia and remains bitter at Yerevan’s efforts
to secure international condemnation of the killings of Armenians
under the Ottoman Empire during World War I as “genocide.”
Ankara is under pressure by the EU, which it seeks to join, to
re-open its border with Armenia, which it closed in 1993 in a show of
solidarity with Baku.
Oskanian told reporters he had discussed the issue with Gul in a
bilateral meeting earlier in the day.
He said he was “very satisfied,” with the meeting, but added that it
would be premature to expect an immediate re-opening of the border.

CORRECTING and REPLACING Joint Press Announcement by the Government of
the Republic of Armenia, Hellenic Telecommunications Organization and
Armenia Telephone Company – ARMENTEL
ATHENS, Greece–(BUSINESS WIRE)–06/28/2004–Please replace the
release with the following corrected version due to multiple
revisions.
The corrected release reads:
JOINT PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA,
HELLENIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS ORGANIZATION AND ARMENIA TELEPHONE COMPANY
– ARMENTEL
The Government of the Republic of Armenia, Hellenic Telecommunications
Organization SA (NYSE:_OTE_ (aol://4785:OTE/) ) (ASE:_HTO_
(aol://4785:HTO/) ) and Armenia Telephone Company (ARMENTEL), jointly
announce the commencement of negotiations with a view to settling all
outstanding disputes between the parties. The Government of the
Republic of Armenia has made a decision to suspend the amendment of
License No. 60 issued to Armentel, until 28 September 2004 to
facilitate the conduct of the negotiations. The amendment of License
No. 60 relates to the granting of a second mobile telephony license
in Armenia
About OTE
OTE is a provider of public, fixed switch domestic and international
telephony services in Greece. With local, long distance and
international communications services in addition to mobile telephony,
Internet services, and high-speed data communications, OTE provides
consumers and businesses the ability to communicate globally through
its extensive network infrastructure. In addition, OTE has a number of
International investments in the South East European region and
addresses a potential customer base of 60 million people.
Listed on the Athens Stock Exchange, the company trades under the
ticker HTO as well as on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker
OTE. In the U.S., OTE’s American Depository Receipts (ADR’s)
represents 1/2 ordinary share.
Additional Information is also available on
Forward-looking statement
Any statements contained in this document that are not historical
facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking
statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could
cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The
factors that could affect the Company’s future financial results are
discussed more fully in the Company’s filings with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including the
Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2002 filed with the SEC on
June 30, 2003. OTE assumes no obligation to update information in this
release.
CONTACT:OTE Dimitris Tzelepis Head of Investor Relations, OTE Group
Tel: +30 210 611 1574 email: [email protected] or Kostas Bratsikas
Investor Relations Tel: +30 210 611 1428 email: [email protected] or
Taylor Rafferty London: +44 20 7936 0400 New York: +1 212-889-4350
email: [email protected]
SOURCE: OTE
06/28/2004 09:06 EASTERN

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
June 28 2004
PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN ILHAM ALIYEV WITH PRESIDENT OF TURKEY AHMET
NECDET SEZER MEET IN PRIVATE
[June 28, 2004, 15:31:31]
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Turkey Ahmet
Necdet Sezer met in private at the Istanbul `Hayat’ hotel on 28 June.
The Turkish President expressed satisfaction with the participation
of his Azerbaijani counterpart in the NATO summit and especially
stressed the importance of such meetings. Mr. Ahmet Necdet Sezer
pointed out that the steadily expanding Turkey-Azerbaijan relations
are developing both in political and economic spheres in line with
the two countries’ interests. He also shared his views on the
Northern Cyprus related problems.
Having expressed his gratitude to the Turkish President for the warm
meeting, President Ilham Aliyev emphasized that it was great honor to
him to stay in Istanbul in the framework of the NATO Summit, and
pointed to the high level organization of the event. The Head of
Azerbaijan also State touched upon development of bilateral relations
between the two countries. He noted in particular that construction
of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline is going on as scheduled, and
the timely finishing of the project would considerably benefit booth
sides.
The parties also mentioned benefits from implementation of the oil
strategy initiated by nationwide leader of the Azerbaijani people
Heydar Aliyev, and his invaluable merits in bringing
Turkey-Azerbaijan relationship up to the existing level.
In addition, the Presidents exchanged views on international and
regional issues of mutual interest including peaceful settlement of
the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. In this
connection, President of Turkey Ahmet Necdet Sezer reaffirmed his
country’s consistent and constant support for Azerbaijan’s stance in
the matter.

UNITED ARMENIAN FUND
1101 N. Pacific Avenue # 301
Glendale, CA 91202
Tel: 818.241.8900
Fax: 818.241.6900
For Immediate Release
28 June 2004
Contact: 818.241.8900
UAF’s 129th Airlift Delivers $1 Million of Aid to Armenia
Glendale, CA – The United Armenian Fund’s 129th airlift arrived in Yerevan
on June 26, delivering $1 million of humanitarian assistance.
The UAF itself collected $262,000 of medicines and medical supplies for this
flight, most of which were donated by AmeriCares ($138,000) and the Catholic
Medical Mission Board ($123,000).
Other organizations which contributed goods for this airlift were: Armenian
Eyecare Project ($351,000); Armenian Missionary Association of America
($78,000); Dr. Mary Alani/Focus Armenia ($62,000); Medical Outreach for
Armenians ($53,000); Foundation Semra ($30,000); Armenian American Medical
Association of California and Knights of Vartan – Sevan Tahlij ($24,000);
Armenian Canadian Medical Association ($22,000); and Nork Marash Medical
Center ($14,000).
Also contributing to this airlift were: Dr. Robert Garabedian of California
($12,000); Arabkir United Children’s Charity Foundation ($11,000); Harut
Chantikian of New Jersey ($11,000); E. Cherian/George Washington University
($11,000); and Dr. Elizabeth Weller of Pennsylvania ($10,000).
Since its inception in 1989, the UAF has sent $385 million of humanitarian
assistance to Armenia on board 129 airlifts and 1,064 sea containers.
The UAF is the collective effort of the Armenian Assembly of America, the
Armenian General Benevolent Union, the Armenian Missionary Association of
America, the Armenian Relief Society, the Diocese of the Armenian Church of
America, the Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America and the
Lincy Foundation.
For more information, contact the UAF office at 1101 North Pacific Avenue,
Suite 301, Glendale, CA 91202 or call (818) 241-8900.

Armenian foreign minister arrives in Turkey for NATO summit
Anatolia news agency, Ankara
28 Jun 04

Istanbul: Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has arrived in
Istanbul to attend the NATO summit being hosted by Turkey.
The visiting foreign minister was received at Ataturk Airport by
Turkish Foreign Ministry officials. Ali Coskun, minister of industry
and trade, saw the visiting minister off when the latter left the
airport in an official vehicle.

Armenian minister happy with NATO-sponsored conference in Baku
Arminfo
28 Jun 04
YEREVAN
Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan is happy with the
participation of Armenian officers in the Cooperative Best Effort 2004
planning conference in Baku.
“Naturally I am happy with the fact that the Defence Ministry was
represented at that event,” the minister told journalists
yesterday. He said it had already been decided that seven Armenian
officers would take part in the exercises.
“Our stance has not changed. We will definitely take part and in
fairness to the Azerbaijani authorities, they took necessary steps to
ensure the 100-per-cent security of the officers who took part in the
exercises [conference],” the minister said.
He added that the Azerbaijani side and NATO guarantee the security of
the officers who will take part in the exercises.
Let us remind you that Col Murad Isakhanyan and Senior Lieutenant Aram
Ovanesyan attended the planning conference. Baku will host NATO’s
exercises on 14-26 September.
[A separate Arminfo report quoted the minister as telling the
journalists that “we will all benefit from any events aimed at making
the world and the region in particular more secure”].

Armenian president calls for closer ties with Iran
IRNA news agency, Tehran
28 Jun 04

Yerevan, 28 June: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan in the meeting
with Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Farhad Koleyni on Monday [28 June]
called for expansion of Tehran-Yerevan ties.
During the meeting which took place at the end of Koleyni’s tenure,
the two sides discussed mutual cooperation in political, security and
economic fields aiming to restore stability to the region.
Kocharyan called for further Tehran-Yerevan cooperation compared to
the past and stressed the necessity of steady development of the
region.
He assessed the upcoming visit of President Mohammad Khatami to
Armenia as a “turning point” in bilateral ties and a step towards
bolstering mutual relations. He hoped that Khatami’s visit would bear
fruitful results.
President Khatami is schedule to pay an official visit to Armenia in
September.