Category: News

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 9, 2004 Tuesday
Georgia seeks rapprochement with Azerbaijan, Armenia – Saakashvili
by Vitali Makarchev
PARIS, March 9 – One of the most important geo-political tasks of the
Georgian leadership at present is to create a zone of democracy,
stability and advanced development in the Caucasus region on the
basis of rapprochement of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, President
Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia told a news conference here on
Tuesday.
He said he had held a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilkham
Aliyev to discuss this ambitious project. “In Ilkham Aliyev, I see a
bright and deep politician,” Saakashvili said.
He indicated that the integration process between Georgia and
Azerbaijan would be intensified. He said, “We believe that Armenia
will join us at a certain phase.”
Along with economic rebirth, Saakashvili sees consolidation of
democracy in the Caucasus as one of the chief aims of rapprochement,
which, in turn, will tell positively on the on the Middle and Near
East.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 9, 2004 Tuesday
Georgia calls for joint border patrolling with Russia
Visiting Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said Tbilisi
continued to call for joint patrolling, with Russian border guards,
of the Russian-Georgian border, in order to prevent its crossing by
Chechen militants.
“My proposal received support in Moscow,” Saakashvili told a news
conference here on Tuesday, adding that Chechen militants pose a
danger to Georgia’s security.
Saakashvili affirmed that Georgia had put an end to the “policy of
animosity” towards Russia, pursued by the former leadership of the
country.
“It’s extremely important for us to establish good relations with
Russia,” he said.
“I invite to Georgia Russian businesspeople and Russian tourists,”
the president stressed. He stated the issue of the Russian military
bases on the Georgian territory “has been already settled” and “they
will be withdrawn.”
Saakashvili urged to take a broader view of Georgia’ relations with
Russia and not to focus exclusively on military facilities.
The president also said neither Tbilisi nor Washington had plans to
set up U.S. military bases in Georgia. Tbilisi gives priority to “the
European direction,” and integration in the European Union, he
emphasized.
The United States has its own interests in the Caucasus, foremost in
the energy sphere, as well as in strengthening democracy and stable
government structures there. “It coincides with our general course
toward economic and democratic development of Georgia,” Saakashvili
said.
The establishment in the Caucasus of a zone of democracy, stability
and fast economic growth, on the basis of rapprochement between
Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, is one of the main geopolitical
tasks of the incumbent Georgian leadership. Saakashvili said he had
had a meeting with Azerbaijan President Ilkham Aliyev, at which they
discussed this ambitious project. “I saw Ilkham Aliyev as a brilliant
and profound politician,” the Georgian leader stressed.
He explained that Georgia and Azerbaijan would step up their
integration processes in the nearest future. “We are expecting
Armenia to join at some stage,” he noted.
One of the prime objectives of this rapprochement is the
strengthening of democratic institutions in the Caucasus, which would
have a positive influence on the Middle East, the Georgian president
said.
Tbilisi is conducting a dialogue and consultations with all its
regions except Abkhazia. Saakashvili said he called for a peaceful
settlement of the Abkhazian conflict, but “much depends on Abkhazia
itself and on results of the forthcoming elections there.”
As for Georgia’s autonomous region of Abkhazia, Saakashvili said
relations with its leader Aslan Abashidze “have become softer”.
He made it clear, however, that he did not rule out changes in
Adzharia’s leadership after the upcoming elections.

A1+ web site in Russian
9 Mar 04
Armenian leader hopes Hungary to punish officer’s murderer
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today received the new Hungarian
ambassador to Armenia, Ferenc Kontra (residency in Moscow).
On behalf of the Hungarian government, the ambassador expressed his
deep condolences on the killing of Armenian officer Gurgen Markaryan
in Hungary.
In turn, Robert Kocharyan expressed his confidence that the Hungarian
law-enforcement agencies would be consistent and the murderer would
be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Hungary will become a member of the European Union next month.
Ambassador Kontra said that his country was ready to do everything
possible to facilitate the strengthening of ties between Armenia and
the European Union.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 9, 2004 Tuesday
Yerevan, Tbilisi to discuss cargo transit through Georgia
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili will visit Armenia, to discuss
with its leadership arrangements for cargo transportation through
Georgia and terms of payment for it. Saakashvili will make a two-day
visit to Armenia on Friday, the press service of the Armenian
president told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
Under conditions of the transport blockade of Armenia, Georgia is the
only state through which cargoes are delivered to Armenian towns,
including fuel and food from Russia.
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan praised the level of relations
with Georgia. “Good personal ties between the heads of state give
impulses for a better development of good neighborly relations,”
Kocharyan said.
The program of the visit envisions a one-on-one meeting between the
two presidents, Saakashvili’s talks with the parliament speaker and
Armenia’s prime minister, and his meeting with representatives of the
Georgian community in the republic.
The Georgian president will visit Echmiadzin, where he will be
received by Catholicos of all the Armenians Garegin II.

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
March 8 2004
“LOST TERRITORIES OF THE WINNER COUNTRY”
One who is unaware of their losses is on the verge of new losses.
This was the concern of the exhibition opened on February 25 at the
museum-institute of Alexander Tamanian devoted to North Artsakh, part
of our historical territory cleansed of Armenians by our enemy of
centuries in 1988-1992. Through about 100 colored large-format
photographs and a number of maps (demographic, historical monuments,
names of places) the small and large settlements, various historical
and cultural monuments of the region estranged from us not because of
the power of the enemy but our indifference and drowsiness was
presented to public. The aim of the exhibition is to increase the
knowledge of our country, the lack of which was felt as in the Soviet
times so as at present, however strange and inadmissible it may seem.
The exhibition will last till March 18 and on March 10-12 it will be
exposed at the Ministry of Defence.
RAA.

Yerkir web site, Yerevan, in English
9 Mar 04
Ethnic Armenians in Georgia against Azeri oil pipeline
AKHALKALAKI
During his recent visit to Baku, Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili, speaking about the security of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
oil pipeline, said that the Armenians living in the regions that will
be bisected by the pipeline have no problems with the construction of
the pipeline.
The Armenian population of Tsalka, Borjomi and Akhaltsikha, however,
have been continuously voicing their complaints about it.
The residents of the Armenian-populated village of Tapatskur in the
Borjomi region have not yet received compensation for the property
taken from them for the pipeline.

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
March 8 2004
INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT IN STEPANAKERT
On March 8-18 in the capital of NKR an international chess tournament
will be held devoted to the 75th anniversary of the 9th chess
champion of the world Tigran Petrossian. Ten chess-players from
Poland, Switzerland, Latvia, Georgia, Iran and Armenia will
participate in the tournament. The guest of honour of the tournament
will be the 10th world champion Boris Spassky who arrived in Yerevan
on March 5.
ANAHIT DANIELIAN.

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
March 8 2004
DENTAL CENTER AT ARSU
Very soon the State University of Artsakh will have its own dental
center provided with modern equipment. This means that the students
of the department of dentistry will not have to go to the policlinics
of the town for practical work. The equipment was acquired owing to
the rector of the ArSU Hamlet Grigorian and the “Union of Armenian
Doctors” of Teheran where the rector has been recently on a business
visit. Hamlet Grigorian told our journalist that one of the main aims
of his visit to Teheran was the acquisition of equipment for the
dental center. “As the university already has a department of
dentistry and already has graduate students, we must provide all the
possibilities and conditions for preparing qualified specialists. In
any sphere education should not be formal,” said the rector.
According to the arrangement with the rector of the ArSU in the
upcoming months the representatives of the “Union of Armenian
Doctors” will visit Artsakh State University. They promised to
provide part of equipment and medicament to the university as
humanitarian aid.
LAURA GRIGORIAN.

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
March 8 2004
STATISTICS OF AA WEB SITE
Immediately after its registration in August of 2001 the web site of
the newspaper “Azat Artsakh” had 312 visitors. In February 2004 the
number of visitors reached 5131. In 2003 the number of visitors
reduced 4 times-1176. According to experts, of Karabakh web sites
“Azat Artsakh” has the most visitors. In 2004 people from 58
countries of the world visited “Azat Artsakh”, 17 percent of the
visitors are not signed up. Visitors from Russia form 34.5 percent,
USA 14 percent, Azerbaijan 7 percent, Armenia 3 percent, Germany 2.5
percent, France 2 percent, Belgium 1 percent. The geography of
visitors is rather vast. Besides the countries of the region and the
co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, Turkey, Israel, Algeria, Hong
Kong, Cyprus, Kuwait, Guinea, Egypt, Vietnam, Cote d’Ivoire,
Philippines are also interested in the developments in NKR. During 2
years of existence the web site became an initial source of
information about Karabakh for many visitors. The materials of the
web site are reprinted in other electronic mass media, there are
references to the web site in various news portals. During the last
two months the web site was regularly visited from Turkey, Israel and
Great Britain. In the second half of January the number of visitors
grew steeply. According to experts, this is the result of the
increasing interest of European organizations in the Karabakh
conflict and the growing role of Nagorni Karabakh in the negotiation
process.
NAIRA HAYRUMIAN.

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
March 8 2004
REVOLUTION MAY BE PREVENTED IF IMPOSED FROM ABOVE
-After his meeting with the president of Georgia George Bush said
they had discussed the possibility of spreading the sprouts of the
“rose revolution” in other countries. Mr. Petrossian, in your
opinion, may the direct neighbours of Georgia Armenia and Azerbaijan
be included in the list of “other countries”?
– Certainly, these countries first of all. The president of the USA
would not discuss the problem of democratization of the countries of
Arabic world, Africa or Latin America with Georgian president. They
could have referred to only those countries which have common
political system and problems with Georgia. Still in December “The
Washington Post” wrote when the heads of the states formed in the
territory of the Soviet Union gathered in Baku at the funeral of
president Heidar Aliev behind the scenes rumours were circulated
about change of power not in Azerbaijan but neighbouring Georgia. The
revolution deposed the president of Georgia E. Shewardnadzeh and his
colleagues in the CIS were worried by the possibility of such
situations in their own countries. President of Russia Putin caught
these moods and, as two direct sources state, during his talk to the
acting president of Georgia Nino Burdzhanadzeh mentioned with
rudeness typical of him, “All the CIS heads were scared the pants
off.”
– Do you think that “a rose revolution” is expected in Armenia.
– But why not? I consider it not only possible but also inevitable;
it is possible to avoid a revolution from “beneath” if only it is
organized from “above”. Let us consider: during the last 10-12 years
our almost unchanged government did not stir a finger to punish at
least some bribe-taker and robber officials. But discontentment is
genetically inherent to man, especially its “plural number” people.
And this in normal conditions for existence. But when you are in need
of everything, when cynical injustice is around, blast of the bomb of
protest, serious shocks within the society are inevitable. By the
way, a “bloodless” revolution was possible in Armenia last March,
earlier than in Georgia if the protests of the people in 1996 did not
fail. The failure of this attempt and the hopelessness that followed
were still fresh in the memory of the people and oppressed their hope
and spirit. In spite of all this the government were hopeful and
continue to be that the people will wait until the “reforms” will
slowly but give “fruits”. They hope that the inert majority of their
citizens understands them, understands that the difficulties are
overcome by objective reasons which are not dependent on the
activities of the government. Almost in everything the “transition
period” is to blame and as evidence they point at our neighbours. But
“the political wonder of Georgia” dealt a strong blow to this absurd
principle, and became a reality by the slogan “Down with corruption,
the source of poverty”. And if the words of Sahakashvili and his
supporters do not essentially differ from their actions and the
organizational streak does not betray them (and I believe in this)
the true results of their work will not wait long. In this case the
neighbouring nations, at least the Armenians will gain hope and
belief that by active opposition it is not only possible to depose an
ineffective government but also radically change their life and the
life of their country. That is to say, in a year, or a year and a
half the rule of law will be maintained in Georgia and the population
will feel the results of the activities of the new government, which
will certainly provide favourable basis for the “Georgian practice”
in Armenia.
– However, many analysts forecast the possible failure of
Sahakashvili because of hastiness of his plans and ambitious actions.
– Of course, there are and there will be faults. New actions,
especially the reconstitution of the system cannot pass without
mistakes. As great organizer Vladimir Lenin confessed, “there has not
been such a cause to which we did not come back”. You say what the
majority of the Russian and CIS mass media write or broadcast, which
are under the influence of either authorities, or big capital. And
radical changes are not favourable for either the first, or the
second, more exactly such actions are directed against them. And I
can state for sure that the activities of the new government of
Georgia have already produced results. The first result is the
improvement of relationships with Russia. “I did not expect such
wonders from that visit,” confessed Sahakashvili after returning from
Moscow to Tbilisi, and added, “Our talk with Putin lasted for four
hours and we arranged to work on painful issues unless they are
eliminated. Our line is to shift the relationships with Moscow to a
strategic level and we will not deviate from that line. Demanding
from Russia to withdraw their military installations from the
territory of our country we do not refuse to cooperate in either the
military or political and economic spheres,” clarified the president
of Georgia. The same was confirmed by the Russian party. I. Ivanov
said, “Moscow is pleased with the results of the negotiations with
the president of Georgia.” The second result is the assistance of the
USA to Sahakashvili which he was granted during his visit to
Washington. Answering the questions of journalists, Colin Powell
expressed support for the actions of the president of Georgia against
corruption. The state secretary of the USA mentioned that he was
impressed by the determination of the president of Georgia in his
struggle against corruption as it is impossible to build democracy
with a corrupted state system. He said he is sure that president
Sahakashvili will manage to maintain rule of law and uproot
corruption. What is more, he mentioned that the Georgian leadership
may rely on the support of America. In his turn at the meeting with
the president Sahakshvili on Wednesday George Bush highly appreciated
the contribution of the president Sahakashvili in maintenance of
democracy and struggle against corruption which also aim at
stabilizing the economy of Georgia. According to the agency
“Associated Press” George Bush expressed his support to the “rose
revolution” characterizing it as an example to the people of the
world who seek for democracy, who want to have honest government.
Bush stated he was impressed by the sensibility and courage of this
leader and was encouraged by the fact of having such a reliable
partner with whom they have common values. He said he had first-hand
information that president Sahakashvili does everything possible to
win the trust of the people by following their will, fighting
corruption and creating an effective state system. At the end of the
meeting he told Sahakashvili that in he current year Georgia will be
the CIS country which will receive the biggest aid of the USA,
reaching 200 million dollars. Aren’t these true results?
– But what about the suppositions about confrontation of Russia and
the USA in Georgia?
– No, the United States and Russia must and will cooperate in Georgia
and not compete for Georgia. This was stated by the US state
secretary C. Powell after the meeting with the president of Georgia
on February 26.
AA