L’ARMENIE, PAYS MILLENAIRE, MARTYR ET FIER
Le Figaro, France
30 octobre 2006
“Armenie, mon amie” n’est pas une simple formule diplomatique. Elle
reflète une realite. Aucun nuage n’a jamais terni le ciel de nos
relations avec cette petite Republique (la plus petite de l’ex-URSS),
vieille comme le monde et reduite aujourd’hui au dixième de sa
superficie historique : 29 000 km 2 contre 300 000 aux temps du roi
des rois, Tigrane II, au I er siècle avant J.-C., lorsque le royaume
s’etendait de la mer Noire a la mer Caspienne, englobant le Kurdistan,
une partie de l’Iran et de la Mesopotamie, le nord-est de la Turquie et
la Cilicie jusqu’a Antioche. Huit siècles de destins entremeles, depuis
les Croisades, ont forge des liens indestructibles entre la France
et ce pays, fier d’etre le plus ancien Etat christianise au monde,
en l’an 301. Et le dernier roi chretien a perdre son royaume face aux
Arabes, en 1375, n’etait autre que le roi de Cilicie, un Franc du nom
de Leon V de Lusignan, mort a Paris, a la cour de France, en 1393. Ces
liens, l’histoire les a renforces. Le XX e siècle les a confirmes avec
l’accueil, sur notre sol, de 500 000 refugies du genocide perpetre par
les Turcs en 1915. Le XXI e siècle vient enfin de les consacrer : la
France est, aujourd’hui, le seul pays a avoir officiellement reconnu
et condamne le genocide, par la loi du 21 janvier 2001. L’annee qui
va leur etre consacree, ouverte symboliquement le jour de leur fete
nationale, le 21 septembre, et qui s’achèvera le 14 juillet 2007,
va nous permettre de prendre contact avec une culture d’une profonde
richesse, emanant d’une nation de moins de 3 millions d’habitants,
et de 8 millions d’exiles, membres d’une des diasporas les plus
solidaires du monde.
–Boundary_(ID_OYlBaazktoaTQTewlCYlSw)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KOMMERSANT SAYS MOSCOW WILL USE ARMENIA FOR PUTTING PRESSURE ON GEORGIA
Daily Georgian Times, Georgia
Oct 30 2006
According to the Russian business daily Kommersant Moscow will use
Armenia for putting pressure on Georgia.
The Newspaper issue of Monday morning views the forthcoming visit
of Robert Kocharyan, president of Armenia, to Moscow scheduled for
October 30-31. Robert Kocharyan is scheduled to meet Vladimir Putin,
Russian president, on Monday evening. The sides will presumably speak
about Georgia.
“Kremlin searches for methods to put pressure on self-confident
Mikheil Saakashvili, president of Georgia,” the newspaper reads.
The Kommersant does not exclude that Moscow will ask Armenia to
arrange ‘disorder’ in Samtskhe-Javakheti region, where about 200
ethnic Armenians live.
Georgian experts reckon that ‘disorders’ are not excluded in the
region as Armenia depends on Russia politically and economically. On
the other hand it is not profitable for Armenia to tense relations
with Georgia as the only way it is connected with Europe and Russia
goes through Georgia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NAGORNO KARABAKH PRESIDENT: “POSITION OF KARABAKH SIDE HAS NOT AND WILL NOT CHANGE”
Regnum, Russia
Oct 30 2006
“I believe that our servicemen fulfill their duties very well;
outcomes of the exercises evidently prove it once again. Our army
has risen to the occasion,” Nagorno Karabakh President, Supreme
Commander-in-Chief of the NKR armed forces Arkady Gukasyan is quoted
by a REGNUM correspondent as stating after planned military exercises
were over in Nagorno Karabakh.
Commenting on Baku reaction to the maneuvers and in particular on
statements “about Armenian forces’ concentration in Agdam section,”
Arkady Gukasyan said: “It is not worth seriously to relate
to Azerbaijani mass media’s statements because they constantly
spread propaganda. Our army should always be strong, ready for any
developments. The maneuvers have been aimed exactly at achieving the
goals”. Responding to question on meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani
foreign ministers in Paris, Arkady Gukasyan stressed: “We should be
optimists because if we loose belief in talks, war will be alternative
of talks that is undesirable for both us and Azerbaijan.
Surely, we all are interested in talks’ continuation. As for outcomes,
there is no sense to speak about them because our agreement may be
approved only after its all items will be coordinated. There is no
such result yet. The more often Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs will meet
the better it will be because every such meeting is a new chance to
coordinate items on which no consensus has been achieved yet.” At
that the Karabakh state head expressed hope that Nagorno Karabakh
participation in talks will be real soon: “We repeatedly stressed
that it is impossible to settle problem without NKR because there
are many questions which immediately concern Nagorno Karabakh.”
Arkady Gukasyan stressed; position of the Karabakh side “has not
change and it will not change.” “We know very well what we want. We
will not reject our independence and any obstacle in the problem is
unacceptable for us,” the NKR president said.

KOCHARYAN URGES PUTIN TO USE BILATERAL CONTACTS IN FUTURE
ITAR-TASS, Russia
Oct 30 2006
MOSCOW, October 30 (Itar-Tass) – Armenian President Robert Kocharyan
called on his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to work out mechanisms
on using contacts between the two countries during Year of Armenia
to Russia.
Kocharyan said, “During Year of Armenia to Russia we implemented
everything. In addition, we’ve been made interesting proposals from
regions. We’d like these contacts to be effective in the future. It
would be pity if they did not yield concrete results.”
President Putin said Year of Armenia to Russia was successful. “In
general, we maintain humanitarian contacts at the highest level,”
he said.

LAVROV INFORMS PUTIN ON VISITS OF PRESIDENTS, UN SECRETARY GENERAL
ITAR-TASS, Russia
Oct 30 2006
MOSCOW, October 30 (Itar-Tass) – The presidents of Armenia, Angola
and Egypt, as well as the South Korean foreign minister elected UN
secretary general will visit Moscow this week, Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov told President Vladimir Putin on Monday.
“We shall have full top level political contacts,” he said.
The agenda of the president’s talks with the Armenian leader on Monday
would centre on trade and economic contacts, energy and transport.
“We expect that issues of Nagorno-Karabakh settlement within the
framework of the proposals put forward by you at the meeting with
the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will be discussed,” Lavrov
said, adding that the “situation in the Transcaucasus as a whole will
be reviewed”.
“Tomorrow is a main day of the Angolan president’s visit. It is
planned to sign a whole number of bilateral documents at the level
of the government between ministries and companies. We hope that
this visit will help a more active implementation of the policy of
interaction with Africa that you have laid down by the recent visits
to this continent,” Lavrov said.
The state visit of the Egyptian president to Russia this week is
expected to have a “rich bilateral agenda”.
“You visited Egypt a year and a half ago, and the regular contacts with
the leader of this leading Arab country will allow paying attention
to problems of Middle East settlement in the light of Russia’s latest
initiatives,” Lavrov said.
He said that “the foreign minister of the Republic of Korea, who has
been elected UN secretary general and will take office on January 1,
2007, will visit Moscow this week”.
“We know him well, and it is important that he visits Moscow among
first capitals,” Lavrov stressed.
He said the visit “will provide a possibility to discuss the role
of the UN as a centre of collective decision making and collective
actions to resolve international problems”.

EUROPEAN UNION IS READY TO JOIN ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT
Author: I.Khalilova
TREND, Azerbaijan
Oct 30 2006
The next meeting of the EU-Azerbaijan Co-operation Committee took
place in Brussels within the Partnership and Co-operation Agreement.
The meeting focused on the interaction between Azerbaijan and European
Union in political, economical, humanitarian and other areas,
Trend reports with reference to the Economic Development Ministry
of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan was represented at the meeting by the Deputy Foreign
Minister, Mahmud Mammadguliyev, to discuss the political aspects
of co-operation and by the Deputy Economic Development Minister,
Mikayl Jabarov, to discuss economical issues. The delegation included
representatives of the Foreign Ministry, Economic Development Ministry,
State Customs Committee, State Committee on Management of State
Property and Azerbaijani Embassy in Brussels.
The event is held annually in Summer, but due to the continuation of
negotiations regarding the European Neighborhood Policy, the Azerbaijan
Government had abandoned the meeting until such time as the settlement
of the dispute was included in the National Plan. As was reported
by Trend previously, the European Union had refused to acknowledge
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within the document, and
therefore the decision was made not to hold the committee meeting
until the issue was settled.
The agenda of the meeting for the political block included the
development of human rights in the country and the development of
democratic institutions. The parties exchanged views on the solution
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “EU inactively participates in
resolving this conflict. However, during the meeting, it was stated
that the EU is prepared to actively participate in the settlement of
the conflict,” the same source told.
The meeting also included economical topics on the macro-economical
situation in Azerbaijan and EU and bilateral co-operation with
regards to the trade. During the meeting, debates were organized on
the National Action Plan within the European Neighborhood Policy. The
Plan was proposed to be confirmed at the meeting of the EU-Azerbaijan
Co-operation Council on November 14 in Brussels.

ECOLOGICAL SITUATION IN TERRITORIES OF FROZEN CONFLICTS TO BE DISCUSSED IN VIENNA
Author: A.Ismaylova
TREND, Azerbaijan
Oct 30 2006
The representatives of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Austria will
participate in the meeting of the Consultation Council of the
Organization for Environmental & Security Initiatives (ENVSEC) that
will focus on the ecological situation in the territories of frozen
conflicts of South Caucasus. The meeting will take place on 31 October
in Vienna, Trend reports quoting the Azerbaijan Embassy in Austria.
This initiative was made by the UNO, OSCE, NATO, U.N. Environmental
Program, European Commission and Center for Environment. The meeting
will be opened by the
OSCE Co-ordinator for Economical and Ecological Activities, Head of
ENVSEC, Bernard Snoy. Thereafter, the representatives for Eastern
Europe, Southern-Eastern Europe, Central Asia and South Caucasus will
be presented.
The OSCE International Expert Group headed by Bernard Snoy arrived
in Nagorno-Karabakh to assess the ecological damages inflicted by the
fires started by Armenians in occupied Azerbaijani territories. After
a 10-day of monitoring, the mission confirmed that the fires covered
a large territory and had inflicted significant damage. The expert
group considers that it is necessary to strengthen the efforts to
prevent the fires within regional and international co-operation.

TO RUSSIA GEORGIA IS CLOSER AND MORE FRATERNAL, THAN ARMENIA – VICE-SPEAKER
TREND, Azerbaijan
Oct 30 2006
(PanARMENIAN.Net) November 6 the next session of Armenian-Russian
Interparliamentary Commission on Cooperation will be held in Yerevan,
Armenian Vice-Speaker Vahan Hovhannisyan stated at a news conference
in Yerevan. In his words, at the session the Armenian party intends
to discuss the situation Armenia is in due to the tension in
Russian-Georgian relations, reports Trend.
“Georgia’s actions are aimed at withdrawal of Russia from the region
at any price,” the Armenian Vice-Speaker said. In his words, Armenia’s
actions should be aimed at reduction of economic threat within the
period of Russian sanctions against Georgia.
At that V. Hovhannisyan underscored that to Russia Georgia is a closer
and more fraternal people, than Armenia. “Not Armenia, but Georgia
is Russia’s advanced post. Georgian leaders want to turn the Georgian
people towards the West,” he said. He said that if Abkhazia and South
Ossetia do not want to live with Georgia it is their business. “I
do not think Armenians should interfere with internal affairs of
neighboring states,” Hovhannisyan added.

PVDA TAKES A STEP BACK; IMMIGRANTS CAUTIOUS
By Basri Dogan
Kitsap Sun, WA
Oct 30 2006
The Dutch Social Democrat Labor Party (PvdA) has backpedaled about
genocide allegations; this after it had removed the names of Turkish
deputies from its electoral lists prior to general elections on Nov.
22 on the grounds that they did not recognize an Armenian genocide.
In a notice distributed to party members, the PvdA administration
termed the 1915 incidents as a “massacre” admitting that no legal
genocide had taken place.
However, Turkish immigrants in the country found party’s attitude
insincere, feeling that the party acted out of political concerns.
In a letter to Amsterdam and Rotterdam party groups, PvdA leader Michel
Van Hulten said there had been massacres following the events in 1915;
however, there had been no legal genocide.
Van Hulten wrote the letter after he met with Turkish origin members
in the party and indicated that there had been a change in the party’s
opinion about an Armenian genocide.
When asked about the party’s opinion, Hulten quoted Turkish origin
candidate Nebahat Albayrak who said, “There were massacres; however,
there is no genocide in legal terms.”
Hulten’s letter also mentioned that historians and jurists should
discuss this issue, and added that as the PvdA, they are against the
adoption of the Armenian bill the French National Assembly passed
earlier this month.

RUSSIA’S COMSTAR ACQUIRES ARMENIAN TELECOM GROUP
RIA Novosti, Russia
Oct 30 2006
MOSCOW, October 30 (RIA Novosti) – Comstar United TeleSystems [RTS:
CMST], one of Russia’s largest telecommunications operators, said
Monday it has acquired a controlling stake in Armenia’s CallNet and
its 100% subsidiary Cornet.
Comstar has purchased 75% plus one share, with an option to acquire
the remaining stake in the group.
CallNet, which provides transit operator services between networks,
and Internet service provider Cornet, comprise the second largest
telecommunications group in Armenia. Cornet has a fast-growing customer
base, including 76% of the banking sector in Armenia. In 2005 the
group’s consolidated revenue doubled year-on-year to $4.3 million.
Eric Franke, CEO and President of Comstar UTS, said that the purchase
was part of an investment and expansion plan announced by the company
earlier in October. It follows a June 2006 agreement between Comstar
and Ukraine’s Neotel to set up a Comstar subsidiary in Ukraine.
Comstar UTS, formed in November 2004 through a merger of Comstar,
MTU-Inform and Telmos, said its strategic vision was focused on further
growth of its top line using the group’s resources, cross-selling to
existing and new customers of the whole range of products and services,
accelerating regional expansion, and introducing performance-based
compensation systems.
Comstar’s main shareholder is AFK Sistema [RTS: AFKS], which holds
a 54.58% stake.