Category: News

14 COMPANIES PRIVATIZED IN SECOND QUARTER IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, August 6 (Noyan Tapan). 14 companies were privatized in the
second quarter of 2004 in Armenia against 31 ones privatized in the
same period of the previous year. According to Karine Kirakosian, the
Head of the State Property Department attached to the RA government,
18 companies were submitted for privatization through a tender. Tenders
on 14 out of them didn’t take place. 3 companies were privatized by
the system of a classical auction and 8 companies by the system of a
direct sale. 4 entities of incomplete construction were privatized in
the period under review, 3 out of them in the form of a direct sale, 1
through a tender. As of July 1 2004 1,894 small and medium
enterprises, 7,226 “small” entities and 77 entities of incomplete
construction were privatized.
From: Baghdasarian

ABOUT 100 MLN DOLLARS NECESSARY FOR RECONSTRUCTION OF SHUSHI
STEPANAKERT, August 6 (Noyan Tapan). The “Shushi” Foundation has
unfolded the boosting activities directed at the reconstruction of the
historical look of the Armenian town-fortress. According to Bakur
Karapetian, Co-Chairman of the Foundation, the measurement of all the
constructions, as well as the registration of all the historical and
cultural monuments has already begun. The number of monuments,
according to him, makes 500. It was mentioned that, according to
specialists’ calculation, 100 mln dollars are necessary for the
reconstruction of Shushi.

NEW LEADERSHIP OF “CROSS OF LEBANESE ARMENIAN AID” RECEIVES BLESSING
OF CATHOLICOS OF GREAT CILICIAN HOUSE
ANTELIAS, August 6 (Noyan Tapan). On August 3, Catholicos of Great
Cilician House Aram I received members of the new board of the “Cross
of Lebanese Armenian Aid”, who came to receive the blessing of the
Patriarch before assuming new office. Catholicos of Great Cilician
House Aram I highly estimated the merits of the organization and the
current boosting activities. He mentioned the mission carried out by
the organization in the days of the civil war in Lebanon at the price
of human and material losses. Then His Holiness spoke favorably of the
current activities of the members of the organization, especially on
the provision of the vulnerable population with food and the
resolution of other problems in the sphere of public health and social
security. According to the press service of the Great Cilician House,
the Supreme Patriarch wished the newly elected board every success in
its further work.

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
Aug 6 2004
Iran/Azerbaijan: Iranian President Visits Azerbaijan, Calls For
Closer Ties
By Antoine Blua

Ilham Aliyev said relations with Iran are improving

Prague, 6 August 2004 (RFE/RL) — Azerbaijan and Iran share a border
but this has not been enough to foster close relations between the
two. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami is visiting Azerbaijan this
week. It’s the first official trip to the neighboring country by an
Iranian leader in more than 10 years.
The three-day trip began yesterday and featured talks between Khatami
and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Speaking after the meeting,
Khatami called for closer bilateral ties. He said history and
geography have brought the fates of the two countries together.
“The border between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of
Azerbaijan is a border of peace, friendship, and brotherhood,”
Khatami said.
Khatami said an Azerbaijani consular office will open in the
northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz, the center of an Iranian
province where millions of ethnic Azeris live. The sides also signed
an agreement to improve road and rail links and to fund building an
electricity line between Imisli in southern Azerbaijan and Astara at
the Iranian border. “We have always felt Iran’s support in the
conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.” –
Aliyev
Azerbaijani leader Aliyev expressed satisfaction about the
agreements, saying he believes relations between Azerbaijan and Iran
are developing successfully. “The implementation of the agreements
signed will create thousands of jobs in Azerbaijan,” he said. “And
agreements on energy and gas swaps will allow us to provide [the
Autonomous Republic of] Nakichevan, which is integral part of
Azerbaijan, with electricity and gas.”
On the political front, Aliyev praised Iran for what he called its
“support” for Azerbaijan in the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh
enclave. “We have always felt Iran’s support in the conflict between
Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said. “And we are
still feeling that today.”
Khatami said Iran is ready to contribute to a peaceful solution of
the conflict. He added that Iran considers Nagorno-Karabakh part of
Azerbaijan and that the use of force in settling international
problems is “unacceptable.”
However, talks did not produce any breakthrough on the issue of the
maritime borders of the Caspian Sea, which touches both countries.
The legal status of the Caspian, which contains large reserves of oil
and gas, has been in dispute since the Soviet Union collapsed in
1991.
Davood Hermidas Bavand teaches international law in Tehran. He said
the visit was important nevertheless. “The significance of the visit
is [the] development of good neighborly relationships with
Azerbaijan, bearing in mind that we have certain difficulties with
that state in connection with the Caspian Sea,” he said. “The very
objective of this visit is to [come to terms with] existing problems.
When the two parties accept this kind of communication, it’s an
indication that there is a certain intention for improvement of the
existing problems.”
Experts in Baku suggested the two sides would also discuss the
growing U.S. military presence in Azerbaijan, which has contributed
to the U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq. But neither side was ready
to comment.
Khatami addressed Azerbaijan’s parliament today and met with the
parliamentary speaker. He is expected to visit Ganca, Azerbaijan’s
second-largest city, tomorrow before returning to Iran.

Canadian Press
Aug 6 2004
Ex-Marseille coach takes over as head of Armenian national soccer
team

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) – Former Marseille coach Bernard Casoni took
over as head of Armenia’s national soccer team, saying Friday that he
is ready to work hard to achieve good results for this ex-Soviet
republic.
“I am not a magician – good results will be achieved gradually,”
Casoni told a news conference in the Armenian capital. He added that
his first impression was that the team had some good talent, who
needed “only to be led forward.”
Former coach Mihai Stoichita resigned in late June, less than two
months before the start of World Cup qualifying. Armenia plays its
first qualifier on Aug. 18, against Macedonia.
Casoni said he was focusing on that game, adding that he had
previously known very little about Armenian soccer or the national
team.
Ruben Airapetian, head of the Armenian soccer federation, said that
he had signed a one-year contract with Casoni. He added that he would
be paying the money for the French coach “from my pocket” since the
Armenian federation lacked cash.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANDRANIK MARGARIAN: “DEVELOPMENT OF ARMENIAN-SYRIAN RELATIONS IS VERY
IMPORTANT IN NEAR-EASTERN POLICY OF ARMENIA”
YEREVAN, August 6 (Noyan Tapan). Stimulation of many-sided
Armenian-Syrian relations is very important in the Near-Eastern policy
of Armenia. Andranik Margarian, RA Prime Minister, declared this while
receiving the delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic headed by Hasan
Al-Rifai, the Minister of Economy and Trade of Syria, the Co-Chairman
of the Armenian-Syrian inter-governmental economic commission. The
Prime Minister emphasized that though from the time of establishment
of diplomatic relations the sides made efforts for development of
trade-economic and scientific-cultural relations and for raising of
economic relations to the level of the political ones, nevertheless
the economic relations between 2 countries can’t be considered
satisfactory by now. Hasan Al-Rifai represented the course of the work
of the second sitting of the inter-governmental economic commission to
the head of the Armenian government mentioning that a number of
important agreements in the sphere of healthcare, communication and
telecommunication, tourism and other spheres were signed as a result
of it. He mentioned the intention of the Syrian side to establish a
special working group, which will follow the fulfilment of these
agreements. According to the governmetal Press Service, during the
meeting the sides expressed a hope that the forthcoming visit of Naju
Utri, the Prime Minister of Syria, to Armenia will give an additional
impuls to development of relations between 2 countries.

World Magazine
Aug 6 2004
Terror’s next target in Iraq
CHURCH ATTACKS: In the first coordinated assault on one of Iraq’s
most important minorities, Islamist insurgents murder 12 and injure
60 Christians at worship. The success of the interim government’s
response represents the next test of its legitimacy – and of national
unity in post-Saddam Iraq | by Mindy Belz

Most churches in Iraq hold services Sunday evening for a simple
reason: Here, as in the rest of the Muslim world, the Christian
Sabbath is a workday. So the coordinated attacks that struck the
Christian community on Aug. 1 arrived in time for maximum carnage.
At six in the evening – just as most services begin – a car bomb exploded
outside the Armenian church in Karada, a Baghdad neighborhood that
was the heart of the Christian community before and during British
colonial rule and where old-line churches post-Saddam thrive. Minutes
later an explosion rocked the Catholic Syriac Church, also in Karada.
Then, as the Chaldean Church of St. Peter and St. Paul emptied from
evening mass, two blasts hammered the compound. Bombers also struck
Mar Elya church in north Baghdad. At nearly the same time and 220
miles north, two car bombs exploded in central Mosul outside Mar
Polis church.
Glass sprayed into nearby homes, parked cars erupted in flames, and
massive plumes of smoke rose into the air. Fellow worshippers crawled
over the wreckage in search of Bibles, crosses on necklaces, and
other tokens to identify the scattered portions of the dead.
Ambulances and police swarmed. U.S. Army helicopters responded to the
smoke visible miles away, patrolling low overhead what had become – in
less than an instant – a war zone.
Chaldean Catholic priest Faris Toma stood in the wreckage outside his
church where dozens of cars were upended and several propelled into
the sanctuary by the force of the blasts. `We cannot understand why
or how they could do something like this,’ he said. `All we can do is
ask God to give them forgiveness and grant us peace.’
Remarkably, out of hundreds of worshippers attending targeted
churches and the snugly built neighborhoods where they reside, the
attacks killed a dozen people – 10 from Mr. Toma’s church – and injured
about 60. If the deaths were miraculously minimized, the
choreographed stab at Iraq’s Christian minority maximized the fear
factor. More than a year after war ended and insurgency began, it was
the first attack on Christian houses of worship.
Iraqi Christians now feel they are not only a minority but a targeted
minority,’ said Nabil Haj, a U.S. military engineer and
Lebanese-American who attends church in Baghdad. `Even evangelical
practice and preaching is under attack.’
Newer churches in Baghdad say they received threats ahead of the
bombings. At the Christian Missionary Alliance church two blocks from
the Catholic compound, where the worst attack took place, a warning
letter from the `Fallujah Mujahideen’ arrived four days before the
Sunday bombings. Churchgoers told WORLD that they have received a
variety of intimidating messages from militants ever since the
Fallujah siege by U.S. forces in April, linking them to Western
religion and vowing retaliation. Those threats could signal that
Christians – numbering somewhere between 700,000 and 800,000 – are next
up on the terrorists’ target list.
Experts increasingly pinpoint Fallujah and the surrounding Anbar
province as the sending agent behind bombings. The dusty city of
300,000, located in the desert 40 miles west of Baghdad, is a locus
of Saddam loyalists and Islamic fanatics. U.S. forces fought
unsuccessfully – from ground and air – to control the city and rout
opposition elements after Fallujahans killed four U.S. defense
contractors and hung their bodies from a bridge last spring.
Under a controversial pact, U.S. forces have agreed not to enter
Fallujah at all, leaving local militias and other militants in the
hands of former Saddam loyalists fueled by anti-American clerics. In
five months, the 4th Marine Regiment’s Second Battalion has engaged
in over 200 firefights in the area, absorbing close to 300 casualties
while killing more than 1,000 guerrillas, according to former
assistant secretary of defense F.J. Bing West, who is writing a book
on the fight for Fallujah.
An insurgency with churchgoers and Bible believers at its bullseye
comes as many churches, particularly those launched after the war,
are straining at the highest points on the growth chart. Just weeks
before the bombing, Christian Missionary Alliance pastor Ghassan
Thomas told WORLD his Sunday evening services – which began only a year
ago with less than 50 attendants – attract more than 450 worshippers.
The church meets in an already expanded house and is looking for its
third home. Mr. Thomas was administering communion Sunday evening
when the blasts at the Catholic complex two streets over shook the
Alliance building, knocking books from shelves and causing lights to
flutter. `It shook the whole building,’ he said, `and people started
screaming and leaving.’
How many Christians will come back is the question church leaders are
asking themselves. `Many people can no longer go to church regularly,
they are forced by bombings to meet in homes’ one pastor said. `With
this explosion many Christians are planning to leave Iraq.’
(In the aftermath, few Iraqi Christians who spoke to WORLD were
willing to be identified in print, obviously fearing for their
safety. Underscoring the concern, an Iraqi employee of The New York
Times covering the church bombings had his name withheld from the
paper’s report.)
Church leaders find themselves in an unhappy predicament: posting
guards and setting up walls around facilities where they have worked
hard to be good neighbors.
At St. Peter and St. Paul church, Catholic groundskeepers bolted
gates normally left ajar. At the Alliance church, workers hauled an
oversized flatbed truck to one end of the street as a barrier. At the
other end, they posted guards next to a barricade of bricks, logs,
and cardboard barrels. At St. George’s Anglican Church, an
evangelical congregation whose building was renovated through joint
efforts of Iraqi Christians and U.S. chaplains, signs advertising
English-language services came down.
At the Presbyterian church in Mosul, one of Iraq’s longer-standing
congregations started by missionaries in 1820, both pastor and
congregation have found themselves under increasing vigilance. Last
month the pastor’s own wedding was moved north to an affiliate church
in Dohuk after threats from a local mosque to disrupt his services.
Twelve guards stood watch outside during the marriage ceremony, even
after it was relocated. During the Sunday blasts, Iraqi police
defused a bomb near the Presbyterian church after two bombs went off
outside Mar Polis, a traditional Aramaic-speaking church in central
Mosul, killing one and wounding at least 15.
Christians have lived in Iraq for 2,000 years. The Assyrian Church of
the East is the oldest in Iraq; it was founded in a.d. 33. Chaldeans,
many of whom continue to speak and/or worship in Aramaic, the
language of Jesus, are the majority among the descendants of early
Mesopotamian Christians. Orthodox churches blend with Eastern-rite
Catholics who recognize the pope but maintain some measure of their
own autonomy – all in all, making for a liturgical soup of Armenian
Catholics and Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Catholics and Syrian
Orthodox, along with Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic communities,
Anglicans, Baptists, and evangelicals. Christians reportedly numbered
1 million before the 1991 Gulf War, when many left for the West. Now
their numbers are around 800,000.
Since the most recent war, churches are growing in both number and
size. More importantly, they are acquiring a multiethnic face, as
Assyrians and Chaldeans, Kurds and Turkomans, even former Baathists
and an occasional Muslim convert – freed from the police state – can
worship together. Clergymen, too, have formed transethnic and
transdenominational ties because for the first time in memory they
can travel the country freely and meet together. A pastor’s
conference last spring attracted dozens of clergymen, including many
recent returnees.
Once isolated congregations also are learning to work in partnership
with one another and with parachurch groups. The St. Peter and St.
Paul church, which also includes a seminary and health clinic, has
been a focus for community outreach and charity. Given the facility’s
extensive damage and security concerns, however, outreach may have to
wait.
Muslims and Christians showed signs of solidarity in the
traditionally mixed neighborhoods of Karada and elsewhere. After all,
mosques were first bombed months ago. One local glass shop offered to
repair church windows at wholesale. Muslim neighbors showed up at
hospitals to check on burn victims. Christian clergy visited Muslim
homeowners nearby to see whether they suffered damage.
Iraq’s Shiite and Sunni leaders issued public statements against the
attacks. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani denounced the `criminal campaign
targeting Iraq’s unity, stability, and independence.’ The Association
of Sunni Muslim Scholars condemned the attacks as `totally remote
from any religious or humanitarian norms.’
Iraq’s national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie said Christians
should not interpret the attacks as a warning to leave Iraq. `We
can’t afford to lose any of them, to be quite honest with you,’ Mr.
Rubaie said. `Iraq will be a big, big loser. This blow is going to
unite Iraqis.’
Government leaders have increased awareness about the importance of
the Christian minority, which has a strong business presence, higher
education levels, and more open and steady ties to the West.
Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh promised beefed-up security near
churches. He said authorities would hunt down those responsible. `The
Christian community in Iraq is respected and valued,’ he told
reporters. `They are loyal Iraqi citizens, and any attack on them is
an attack on all decent Iraqis,’ adding, `We are determined to defeat
the terrorists who so brutally seek to disrupt social peace.’
With singed cars as a reminder and fear as a companion, Christian
survivors are hard-pressed to find a silver lining in the week’s
death toll. But many may now more purposefully join Muslims, truck
drivers, government leaders, and U.S. soldiers who – left to puzzle
together the who, what, when, and where – more urgently want to know
how to stop the killings. – –
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AT LAST CUSTOMS OFFICIALS LEGALIZE CONSIGNMENT OF COFFEE IMPORTED BY
“ROYAL ARMENIA” COMPANY
YEREVAN, August 6 (Noyan Tapan). The customs officials have already
legalized the consignment of non-processed green coffee weighing 91
tons, 800 kg imported by the “Royal Armenia” company, which according
to the Chairman of the company, they refused to do before without
producing any grounds for this. The company informed Noyan Tapan that
the above-mentioned consignment of coffee was registered in the
“Temporary Import for Procession” customs regime (without customs
payments), which supposes that the processed production will be
exported during a year. It was mentioned that the “Royal Armenia”
company suffered considerable losses because of delay of registration,
as the goods was in the customs strorehouse for 14 days.

IN FIRST HALF-YEAR OF 2004 INDIRECT INVESTMENTS INCREASE BY 20% IN
ARMENIA
YEREVAN, August 6 (Noyan Tapan). According to preliminary estimations,
in the first half-year of the current year the indirect investments in
RA made $90m, which exceeded the last year index by 20%. The volume of
direct investments made about $60m, which exceeded the last year index
by 39%. The index on the line of direct investments doesn’t include
the credits received on the systems of state government and banks.
Karen Chshmaritian, RA Minister of Trade and Economic Development,
declared at the August 6 press conference that the resources received
from privatization become less year by year.

Gulf News, United Arab Emirates
Aug 6 2004
Luc Debieuvre: Turkey’s admission to EU is a matter of grave concern

The Turkish are very good people” said the Prince of Metternich 150
years ago after the Chio massacres in Greece. “They slaughter the
Greeks and the Greeks behead them. It is a matter of civilisation.”
The question of Turkey joining the European Union (actually, in a
first step which may last up to 15 years, negotiating it) is thus not
a new issue. It officially started 40 years ago and was marked by a
series of successive European Council’s rulings, which never said no
but made believe that a yes could come provided some unclear
conditions allow for it.
The latest one defined a precise deadline, December 2004, when it
should be decided whether Turkey meets the so-called Copenhagen
criteria. These are the respect of the state of law, democracy and
human rights, and the achievement of a modernised economy able to
address open competition. This is how political leaders frenetically
started exchanging “scientific” arguments over the past months.
These cover history and civilisation, democracy, economy and
international relations. A first salve came from those who consider
Turkey is not part of Europe, nor geographically (95 per cent of its
territory in Asia), nor historically.
The former Ottoman Empire in Europe was always linked to invasion,
destruction and economical drawback such as in the Balkans or in
Cyprus. With its civilisation being different, its values would not
be those upon which the EU was built.
Not a Christian club
Turkey hit back at Europe claiming it not to be a “Christian Club”
and the need for it to accept members of other religions (98 per cent
of its 70 million population is Muslim). “Turkey is at the doorstep
of Europe and wants to be part of the family” said Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Erdogan.
How could one dismiss a country which has been part of all the major
treaties regarding Europe? What about the basilicas of Bezants, the
colossus of Rhodes or the temples of Ephesus? “We see the EU as a
union of political values. A place where civilisations can be
harmonised and coexist in peace” added Erdogan, “not a place for a
clashing of civilisations.
Turkey would be a bridge between Asia and Europe. For others, its
heterogeneous population (including Kurdish tribes), the risk to
jeopardise any balance in the EU and the refusal to recognise the
Armenian genocide are enough to prove that Turkey is too far apart.”
Regarding democracy, free elections, neutral army and secularism, the
progress achieved by the Erdogan government is amazing and its march
towards democracy, including the status of women, is emphasised.
Much remains to be done: attitudes of overzealous civil servants,
lack of application decrees for a judicial system which still is not
protective (editors put in jail for opinion offences). So many
reforms made so swiftly cannot be implemented over night. And if the
role of the Turkish army hardly goes with the view one has of a
liberal democracy, it is agreed that it behave more positively than
negatively in recent years.
Positions however sharply contrast as to the place of religion versus
secularism and Turkey may not have played it very smartly. Once it
said the membership was crucial to bridging divide between west and
Muslim worlds or promoted its future role as the only “Muslim
democracy”.
It leant on blackmail if the answer was negative: civil unrest,
disappearance of “moderate Muslims”, expansion of Islamism. Excluding
Turkey would be a terrible mistake in Muslim eyes.
Yet, as long as five schoolgirls are allowed to drown in front of
schoolmates who are not authorised to save them “because they would
have to touch them”, or the only training centre for Orthodox popes
remains closed, there is still a long road to go.
The concept of secularism means everybody is free to practice its
religion: this can hardly be respected when 98 per cent of the local
clerics are on the state’s payroll.
Economic arguments are not persuasive, even though the living
standards in Turkey are 25 per cent of those in the EU. The risk of
workers migrations is remote when low costs in Turkey may open new
job opportunities (as with former eastern blocs).
The Turkish economy has probably more trumps than figures show and
still 10-15 years to run before subsidies enjoyed by European farmers
fully apply to it. The well-known deficiencies (high inflation
notably) may be more than compensated by the qualities of a hard
working population, whose number will be equal to the German one in
2015, as well as by prospects linked to oil transportation (Ceyhan
pipe) and water availability.
On the international field, the debate was spoilt by the way America
behaved (any “savoir-faire” being considered by this administration
as a sign of weakness).
Its overwhelming support in favour of Turkey, when everybody knows of
the good Bush wishes Europe, was enough to raise doubts; hence
President Chirac’s comments “The US would not want to hear France’s
views on its relations with Mexico”.
Staunchest ally
Turkey, a staunch ally of Israel, never maintained such friendly
links with other Arab states. But a fact remains that Turkey has been
an ally since 1952; its belonging to the EU would be a stabilising
element in the region as well as a peace strengthening element.
And the need for the EU to reinforce its links with its other
partners of the Mediterranean area surely does not oppose the joining
of Turkey. Considering such contradictions, it is not surprising that
some rushed enthusiastically to German opposition leader Angela
Merkel’s proposal for a ‘privileged partnership’, a way to maintain
links with Turkey whilst avoiding the risk of its joining
transforming the EU into an international organisation only.
The idea is bright but came too late because the EU has already
become something which has little to do with what the founding
members hoped for. The original concept of Europe is now dead.
What could not be achieved at 12 with a strong Franco-German axis
will not be achievable at 27 or 32 and the political vision where
cohesion was necessary to an efficient powerful Europe with an
autonomous strategy doesn’t exist any more.
The only way to part away from an open single market under the
commending of the US is to start working on ‘reinforced co
operations’ in some fields with those states which are prepared to
move further ahead together.
But for the time being, as Philip Stephens said in the Financial
Times, “there are risks, of course, in giving Turkey its route map
into modern Europe-serious ones. But the dangers of raising the
drawbridge are infinitely greater” whereas in the meantime,
negotiations will allow to keep pressure on Turkey for it to go on
reforming.
Luc Debieuvre is a French political analyst and writer on economic
issues and is also a board member of IRIS (Institut de Relations
Internationales et Stratégiques)