Category: News

Armenian sides to have dialogue on resolving tensions, parliament speaker says
Associated Press Worldstream
May 11, 2004 Tuesday
YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenia’s opposition parties, which have been
demanding the resignation of President Robert Kocharian in weeks of
large demonstrations, have agreed to start a “political dialogue” with
the government side, Parliament speaker Artur Bagdasarian said Tuesday.
In a statement, Bagdasarian said an agenda for the discussions will be
worked out on Thursday. Further details on the talks, including their
format and whether any issues were off-limits, were not immediately
available.
“As speaker of the Armenian National Assembly, I express the hope
that the representatives in parliament of all political forces will
do everything possible to establish a new political situation in the
country and by the path of political dialogue reach a resolution of
the current difficult questions,” Bagdasarian said.
Weeks of demonstrations have raised political tensions in Armenia.
Kocharian won a second term in presidential elections a year ago that
sparked mass protests. Opposition groups alleged widespread violations
in both rounds of the election.

Words About War and Peace on Karabakh Anniversary
Moscow Times
May 13 2004
BAKU, Azerbaijan — On the 10th anniversary of the truce that ended
fighting Azeri-Armenian fighting over Nagorny Karabakh but left its
status in limbo, Azerbaijan’s president on Wednesday pledged support
for peaceful resolution of the dispute but raised the prospect of
military action.
Nagorny Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan,
for the past decade has been under control of an internationally
unrecognized ethnic Armenian government backed by forces who also
occupy parts of Azerbaijan adjoining the enclave.
Because of the dispute over the enclave’s final status, the
Armenia-Azerbaijan border is closed. Failure to resolve the issue is
seen as having discouraged investment in both countries because of
concern that another war over the enclave could erupt.
Armenian and Azeri officials, including the country’s presidents, have
met repeatedly to discuss Nagorny Karabakh, but with little visible
progress despite a wave of sessions in 2001 that many observers
believed foreshadowed an imminent settlement.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev underlined that Azerbaijan insists
Nagorny Karabakh remain part of that country and that a resumption
of fighting could not be excluded.
“We are supporters of a peaceful resolution of the conflict, but the
Azeri people will not submit to the loss of its territory. If talks
do not give results, we will free our land at any cost,” Aliyev said.
“Our army is capable of freeing occupied territory at any moment.”
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, in a statement marking the
cease-fire’s 10th anniversary, said, “We will observe the principle
of a peaceful regulation of the Nagorny Karabakh conflict.”
Aliyev made his statements in a speech at a military institute in
Nakhichevan, an Azeri exclave separated from the rest of the country
by Armenian territory. “Azerbaijan is in a condition of war, our
territorial wholeness is violated and the army can undertake steps
to restore the wholeness,” he said.

Armenia wants comprehensive settlement for Karabakh
By Vitaly Matarykin
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 11, 2004 Tuesday
KIEV, May 11 — Armenia stands for comprehensive settlement of
the Karabakh problem, Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan replied to
Itar-Tass at a joint press conference with Ukrainian counterpart
Viktor Yanukovich on Tuesday.
“We object to any preliminary conditions in the solution of that
problem,” he said. “We want a comprehensive settlement. We do
not want the liberation of lands to come first and the status of
Nagorno-Karabakh to be considered later.”
The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers will discuss the
problem on Wednesday, Margaryan said.
He thinks that the opinion of Karabakh residents must be taken into
account in the settlement.
Azerbaijan suggests pulling out Armenian servicemen from seven
districts, which do not belong to Nagorno-Karabakh, as a goodwill step.
From: Baghdasarian

Kazakh, CIS security leaders discuss fighting “modern threats”
Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency, Almaty
12 May 04
Astana, 12 May: Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and CIS
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary-General
Nikolay Bordyuzha discussed preparations for the next session of the
organization in Astana on 12 May.
The session will be held at the level of the presidents of the CSTO
member states in Astana on 18-19 June this year.
“I briefed the Kazakh president on the results of the CSTO’s activities
in 2003 and on the preparations for the organization’s next session
which is due in Astana on 18-19 June,” Bordyuzha told journalists
following the meeting with Nazarbayev.
The CSTO secretary-general noted that he and the Kazakh president had
discussed “adapting the CSTO’s activities to modern challenges and
threats”, prospects for the organization’s development, including the
coordination of the member states’ foreign policies, and aspects of
“perfecting the military components” within the CSTO.
At the same time, Bordyuzha stressed that “the main and priority
direction” for cooperation among the CSTO members is fighting common
challenges and threats: terrorism, drugs business, political extremism
and separatism.
The CSTO members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia
and Tajikistan.

CIS security chief in Kazakhstan urges “uniform standards” for armed forces
Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency, Almaty
12 May 04
Astana, 12 May: Service in the CSTO Collective Security Treaty
Organization; members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan and Russia member states’ armed forces should be based
on uniform standards, the secretary-general of the CSTO, Nikolay
Bordyuzha, told journalists following the meeting with Kazakh President
Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana on 12 May.
Speaking about military cooperation within the CSTO, Bordyuzha
stressed that it was necessary to perfect the system of Collective
Rapid Deployment Forces CRDF in Central Asia. In particular, he
clarified, this is about the need to introduce uniform standards
for the armed forces of the CSTO member states, including military
equipment, and boost military-economic cooperation.
“We should perfect the CRDF in Central Asia as well as regional forces
existing today. We are talking about the necessity to introduce uniform
standards, we are talking about giving an impetus to military-technical
cooperation,” Bordyuzha said.
Passage omitted: background on the CSTO

Turkey wants good relations with Armenia – spokesman
Anatolia news agency, Ankara
12 May 04
Ankara, 12 May: Turkey wanted good relations with Armenia, Turkish
Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan said on Wednesday 12 May .
Tan told a weekly press briefing that the Caucasus and Armenia were
important regions for Turkey.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Tan stated that there were chronic
problems in the region.
Everybody should fulfil his responsibilities, Tan noted. Tan added
that only Turkey’s efforts would not be sufficient to overcome those
chronic problems.

EU REP URGES ARMENIA TO PULL OUT OF OCCUPIED AZERI TERRITORIES
Noyan Tapan news agency
12 May 04
Yerevan, 12 May: “I believe that Armenia should be ready for the
partial withdrawal of its troops from the occupied territories, having
received something instead of course,” the European Parliament’s
special rapporteur on the South Caucasus, Per Gahrton, said on 12 May
during discussions on the EU’s enlargement in Yerevan. He said that
there had been numerous proposals for the settlement of the Karabakh
problem, however, no concrete moves have been taken to this end yet.
Gahrton advised the Armenian side to refrain from Armenizing the
occupied territories. “I know that Lacin (district in western
Azerbaijan) is not Armenia. But when I was there, I saw that
everything was written in Armenian letters. It is quite clear that
Armenization is under way. International law bans this and it is
unfavourable for the future,” Gahrton said.
In reply to Gahrton’s statement, Armenian Deputy Speaker Tigran
Torosyan said that the Republic of Armenia has no troops in Nagornyy
Karabakh: “Yes, these are Armenian forces, but they belong to Nagornyy
Karabakh, not to Armenia”.
Torosyan also said that when there were no troops in Nagornyy Karabakh,
Azerbaijanis attacked and bombed it every day. These forces are there
for self-defence. According to Torosyan, control over the territories
around Nagornyy Karabakh is of double importance because it has helped
establish the truce along with self-defence.

KARABAKH SEPARATISTS WARN AGAINST “UNBALANCED SUPPORT” FOR REGIONAL COUNTRIES
Mediamax news agency
12 May 04
Yerevan, 12 May: The Nagornyy Karabakh Republic (NKR) Foreign Ministry
has issued a statement in connection with the 10th anniversary of
the cease-fire in the conflict zone.
According to Mediamax news agency, the statement particularly reads:
“The cease-fire agreement concluded between Nagornyy Karabakh,
Azerbaijan and Armenia with the mediatory efforts of the Russian
Federation came into force on 12 May 1994. The NKR Foreign Ministry
views the signing of this agreement as one of the serious achievements
in the process of the Nagornyy Karabakh settlement. The legalization
and preservation of the cease-fire for 10 years became possible
because all three conflicting sides took equal responsibility for
ending military operations”.
The NKR Foreign Ministry statement emphasizes that “the observance
of the cease-fire regime without the involvement of international
peacekeepers testifies to the fact that the sides have potential
required for transforming the cease-fire into a lasting peace”.
At the same time, “the NKR Foreign Ministry believes that the
cease-fire regime is first of all due to the current political-military
balance of forces in the conflict zone.”
“In this connection, we draw the attention of all the interested states
and organizations to the circumstance that any unbalanced support
for the countries of the region is fraught with a violation of the
established balance and may seriously destabilize the situation in
the whole of the South Caucasus. The NKR Foreign Ministry confirms
once again that the NKR authorities adhere to the cease-fire regime
and are ready to settle the conflict with Azerbaijan exclusively in
a peaceful way,” the NKR Foreign Ministry statement reads.

KARABAKH CEASE-FIRE MARKS TIME – PRESS
Sources: as listed
12 May 2004
Ten years after the signing of the Nagornyy Karabakh cease-fire
agreement, the press in Armenia and Azerbaijan wonders if there is
now any real desire to reach a final settlement.
“Ten years of cease-fire but not peace,” says Armenia’s Aravot.
Armenia failed to gain victory over Azerbaijan, the paper charges,
because Azerbaijan did not specify its defeat in a legal document.
The paper runs an interview with Grigor Babayan, a combatant in the
Karabakh war, who said Azerbaijan’s need for a cease-fire was greater
than Armenia’s, “since we were the attackers and in that sense,
we had the upper hand.”
“In terms of the war strategy,” Babayants said, “the cease-fire
was nonsense. We stopped just at the moment when we had begun to
annihilate the enemy”.
But Azeri newspapers did not agree.
“A cease-fire in favour of the enemy” said the opposition paper
Yeni Musavat.
The Azeri independent paper Uc Noqta was equally strident.
“Azerbaijan will not wait another decade”, it warned.
Diplomatic failure
According to the Azeri opposition Yeni Musavat, the Azeri authorities
are at fault for failing to capitalise on the 10-year ceasefire to
press for a political resolution.
“Karabakh has been completely lost in our foreign policy because there
has been no policy over Karabakh at all,” it alleged, “and there is
still no policy.”
Armenia’s Aravot also pondered the continuing failure to tackle
the impasse.
“Do we really need peace today?” the paper asked. “Judging from the
public mood both in Armenia and Azerbaijan, the answer is ‘no’.
The Armenian authorities had many more pressing concerns, the paper
suggested, and “the Karabakh issue ranks in 10th place in the political
life of Armenia.”
Armenia’s Ayots Ashkar said the ceasefire also seemed to have given
the world’s superpowers the opportunity to kick the conflict into
the long grass.
“In a sense,” it said, “the greatest achievement of these past years
is that the USA, which was always in a hurry to settle the conflict,
has become slow and closer to Russia’s position, which is in no hurry
at all.”
Some Azeri newspapers argued that the ceasefire had gained Azerbaijan
political credit on the international stage.
“Azerbaijan turned into a leading state in the Caucasus during the
cease-fire”, said the pro-government Yeni Azarbaycan.
The independent Palitra said the cease-fire was “a necessary step”
which “gave Azerbaijan the opportunity to raise the Karabakh problem
to the international level.”
” It also gave us the opportunity to find Azerbaijan’s supporters among
international organizations and foreign states,” the paper said, “and
an excellent chance to present Azerbaijan as a peace-loving state.”

Azerbaijan threatens renewed war
BBC News
Last Updated: Wednesday, 12 May, 2004, 16:59 GMT 17:59 UK
Wednesday marks the 10th anniversary of the ceasefire
Azerbaijan’s president has warned the country is ready to return to war
with Armenia – on the 10th anniversary of a ceasefire between the two.
Ilham Aliyev said he was trying to find a peaceful solution to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but the Azeri army was prepared to “free”
the territory.
Ministers from both sides are reportedly meeting to try to agree a
peace settlement.
But our correspondent says relations are, if anything, worse than ever.
‘Right to war’
“We are trying to resolve this problem by peaceful means but so far
we have not been able to achieve that,” Mr Aliyev said at a military
base just a few miles from the border with Armenia.
“We must increase our military potential. Our army is able at any
moment to free our territory,” he said, according to the AFP news
agency.
“We have every right to do that, to restore our territorial integrity,
and international law is on our side since Armenia violated all
international norms.”
Mr Aliyev added that government expenditure on Azerbaijan’s military
was increasing each year, “and it will keep increasing in the future”.
The leaders of the two countries signed a ceasefire in May 1994,
but there is sporadic fighting along the ceasefire line.
The foreign ministers of both countries were meeting in Strasbourg,
and were expected to discuss Armenia returning some of the Karabakh
regions to Azeri control, in exchange for reopening transport links.
But the peace process appears to be going nowhere, says the BBC’s
Chloe Arnold in the capital Baku.
The ceasefire ended five years of hostilities which erupted when
the Soviet Union collapsed, and Armenians living in the mountainous
territory of Karabakh demanded independence from Soviet Azerbaijan.
Thousands died and one million were forced out of their homes in
the conflict.
Our correspondent says there is growing impatience with the peace
process in Azerbaijan, where many ordinary people here now say the
only way to resolve the dispute is to go back to war.