EurasiaNet, NY
Nov 25 2006

AZERBAIJAN: COPING WITH THE OIL WINDFALL
Ahto Lobjakas 11/25/06
A EurasiaNet Partner Post from RFE/RL

>From the minute you arrive in Baku, you can smell the oil.

In a glass jar it looks nothing like the black viscous substance one
would expect, but more like petrol. Experts praise Azerbaijani oil as
among the best in the world.

Overheat Concerns

But the oil does have a dark side. According to a recent report by
the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD),
Azerbaijan is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies with over
26 percent growth.

However, local officials admit the economy could "overheat."
Azerbaijan remains an economy in transition whose long-term future
can only be secured by means of a viable non-oil sector. And the
question many are asking is how, in a country where corruption is so
rampant, is that money going to be spent?

Clare Bebbington, a spokeswoman in Baku for multinational oil company
British Petroleum (BP), which is Azerbaijan’s main partner in tapping
the oil wealth, describes managing this wealth as an "enormous
opportunity," but also an enormous challenge.

"In 2006, the government of Azerbaijan will receive around $3 billion
in oil revenues from our projects. At $60 a barrel, the full-cost
revenues are actually around $230 billion. That is an unprecedented
shock for any economy, it’s also many, many times the current levels
of GDP," Bebbington says. "Now, it’s impossible to predict the oil
price, what the oil price will be in the future and BP doesn’t make a
prediction. But what we have tried to do is to be as open as possible
in terms of making some sort of projection about the likely level of
receipts so that people can begin to understand what will happen over
the next decades."

Apart from oil, Azerbaijan is also betting on gas. The Shah Deniz gas
field in the Caspian Sea southeast of Baku is estimated to contain
some 50 to 100 billion cubic meters of gas.

Diversification

One of Azerbaijan’s potential pitfalls is lack of economic
diversification. Mikayel Jabbarov, Azerbaijan’s deputy economic
development minister, says his government is aware of the dangers.

"We’re planning well enough against any severe shocks. Our non-oil
economy is growing very fast, in fact last year, data which analyses
non-oil economic development in Azerbaijan for the years 1999-2005
indicates that the non-oil sector in Azerbaijan on the average has
grown faster than in CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States]
countries, in EBRD countries, and also in Black Sea and Caspian Sea
countries," Jabbarov says.

The government has set up what Jabbarov calls a "hydrocarbon fund" of
$1.5 billion to stabilize the economy. In March, a state-run
investment company with an initial budget of $100 million was created
to give loans to small- and medium-sized companies working outside
the oil industry.

However, within Azerbaijan there is much criticism of the
government’s oil fund. Its critics have said there is little to no
oversight of the body. And corruption is still cancerous in
Azerbaijan. The country languishes near the bottom of the annual
corruption perceptions index drawn up by Transparency International.

Energy Hub

Jabbarov says that Baku also has clear ambitions to become a transit
hub for Central Asian oil and gas.

"What we would like certainly to see, is the continued increase of
transit, [the] continued increase in shipping, in transportation of
hydrocarbons, and in other products as well," Jabbarov says.

Oil tankers already cross the Caspian Sea to feed the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline to Turkey. Hopes for a trans-Caspian gas
pipeline to supply Turkey and the EU further down the line are
receding, however, despite Baku’s lobbying.

Energy experts in Baku say Western multinationals do not believe
there are sufficient gas resources available cheaply enough in either
Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to justify such an investment. This
augurs well for Russia’s drive to dominate the transit market from
Central Asia.

Problems With Democracy

Azerbaijan’s democracy is still weak, with restrictions on media and
dubious electoral practices. Recently, an Azerbaijani court gave
police the right to detain two journalists for two months for
publishing an article allegedly insulting Islam.

And on November 16, Azerbaijani police broke up an opposition rally
demanding an end to pressure against independent media.

Critics say the EU has turned a blind eye to Azerbaijan’s nastier
democratic practices largely because it is interested in Azerbaijani
oil.

Frozen Conflict

Then there is the unresolved issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region
inside the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan, but
occupied by Armenian troops together with seven neighboring districts
since a 1994 cease-fire ended fighting.

The war with Armenia has bequeathed Azerbaijan more than 800,000
refugees, most living in bleak conditions in and around Baku.

Azerbaijan’s government says it wants the conflict resolved by
peaceful means, but has not ruled out war. According to Deputy
Minister Jabbarov, the defense budget accounts for 15 percent of all
government spending in 2006, and exceeds $1 billion.

Compared to Azerbaijan’s neighbors, that’s a huge sum that’s likely
to be sustained. But in the military, as in every other sector of
public life, a problem remains: where exactly is that money going?

Sometimes the answer to that question is visibly evident. On the
outskirts of Baku, palatial villas perch on hillsides overlooking the
Caspian Sea. Fancy restaurants are packed with foreign and local oil
executives.

But there is another Azerbaijan of rural poverty and refugee camps,
of post-apocalyptic vistas of oil-polluted wastelands — an omen
perhaps of what could happen when the oil runs out.

ISNA, Iran
Iranian Students News Agency
Nov 25 2006

No obstacle in the way of Iran’s gas export to Armenia Service:
Economy

ISNA – Tehran
Service: Economy

TEHRAN, Nov. 25 (ISNA)-A member of Iran’s parliament energy
commission, Hussein Afarideh, commented that winter and internal gas
consumption increase, posed no obstacle in the way of Iran’s gas
export to Armenia.

"We can not stop export due to excuses such as internal high
consumption rate in this season of the year; Iran has various rich
gas resources and in addition to this fact we have access to other
gas markets, therefore we are easily able to buy and sell gas," he
explained.

The Age, Australia
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
Nov 26 2006

Darchinyan’s quandary: should I stay or should I go?
Email Print Normal font Large font Winsor Dobbin
November 26, 2006

VIC Darchinyan is perplexed by his options. Having vowed
to remain an Australian, our only world boxing champion has been
wooed by lucrative offers to base himself overseas permanently.

Darchinyan’s American promoter Gary Shaw has urged him to move to the
US to lift his profile in the most lucrative market in the world and
sign with either HBO or Showtime.

A group of influential Armenians has made him a massive offer to
return permanently to his homeland and fight under the Armenian flag.

Darchinyan has lived in Australia since the 2000 Sydney Olympics and
took out citizenship in 2004. He has been frustrated by a lack of
recognition here since winning the IBF and IBO world flyweight titles
and successfully defending them five times.

The tiny powerhouse, who is 27-0 with 21 wins inside the distance, is
one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world but there is no
Australian promoter with the financial muscle to put on unification
bouts against WBC champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam or interim champion
Jorge Arce.

Despite resigning himself to fighting three or four times a year in
the US, Darchinyan and his fiancee Olga recently moved into a new
apartment in the Sydney suburb of Zetland. He is busy with what he
hopes will be the first in a chain of Vic’s Raging Bull cafes, so is
loath to uproot himself.

"I love living here in Australia and I hope the time will soon come
when all Australians learn to love me, too," he said. "All Australia
will be proud of me, but these things take time.

"Kostya Tszyu has told me it took several years for people to get to
know him. At the moment I’m not very popular here because people
haven’t seen me on TV.

"I think people love to see someone who is a good boxer who is also a
really big puncher and I am both of those things. I show nice style
and then knock them out and it is a pity that more people do not get
the chance to see it.

"Gary Shaw keeps telling me I should move to the US, but I’m happy to
live in Sydney and fight over there. I go over three or four weeks
before each fight and I fight three or four times a year, so I spend
enough time in the US.

"Life is good here. Beautiful. I do my job. I love it. I have a
future here."

But there is also the temptation of that big-money Armenian offer,
put together by politicians and businessmen when Darchinyan made a
recent trip back home.

He’s already been given a house, and land on which he will eventually
build a gymnasium to encourage young Armenian boxers, but the money
he was offered to return home and fight for Armenia blew him away.
"If I went back to Armenia I’d make a lot more money," he said.

"You wouldn’t believe how much I was offered. There are only two
Armenian-born world champions and I am in Australia and Arthur
Abraham is in Germany. The people there are very keen to have their
own world champion.

"People want to see me fight for Armenia. They want me to live there.

"I became world champion in Australia, Australia gave me opportunity
and I’m happy I’m an Australian world champion."

But a fight back home is definitely on the agenda.

"It is possible I could fight there, Gary Shaw would be happy to
co-promote, and many people are interested. Ideally I’d like to have
big fights in Sydney, Armenia and in Moscow before I retire. "

Multilingual and university educated, Darchinyan was treated like a
returning hero on his recent trip home, where he also intends to
eventually invest in a business.

Darchinyan will be on the road to the US again soon with a title
defence against formidable Mexican Victor Burgos, the former IBF
light-flyweight champion, scheduled for January 7 in Las Vegas.

"Christmas will be a little late for me this year," Darchinyan said.
"But I can celebrate after the fight."

Edinburgh Evening News, UK
Scotsman, United Kingdom
Nov 25 2006

Armenian joy but genocide row continues
MICHAEL BLACKLEY
([email protected])

ARMENIANS in the Capital are celebrating after councillors stood by
their decision to class a campaign against their countrymen during
the First World War as genocide.

The city council voted to back an original motion passed last year
regarding the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire in 1915 stating "it was indeed genocide".

Debate on the matter raged for an hour at a stormy meeting of the
full council in the City Chambers – but Councillor Phil Attridge’s
attempts to approve a new motion were rebuffed. He wanted a motion
that supported plans by Turkey to set up an independent investigation
and make a verdict on whether it was genocide. He claimed the snub
"reeked of Turkophobia".

Today, the Morningside-based man leading the Scottish arm of the
campaign to have the deaths recognised as genocide said he was
"proud" that his local authority had made the decision.

Armenian Dr Hagop Bessos, 55, chairman of the Scottish branch of UK
organisation The Campaign for Recognition of Armenian Genocide, said:
"I am extremely proud and moved that the council in Edinburgh have
stuck by this decision. Although the genocide was 91 years ago, the
consequences for Armenians continue today."

The council first passed a motion on the matter last August after it
was presented by then city leader Donald Anderson.

But the decision led to a number of complaints to councillors and
Cllr Attridge put forward the new motion in support of Turkish Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s call for an international commission to
carry out a probe. But it was widely rejected by councillors, with
only two people backing it. Instead, they passed a new motion that
reaffirms the original decision.

Cllr Attridge said: "In Britain we always seem to support the
minority and the Armenians make it seem like the only people that
died during the war were Armenian. The reek of Turkophobia in that
room was extreme."

The British wing of the Citizens Proclamation of Turkish Rights group
had arranged for a Turkish history professor from the University of
Ankara to make a 3500-mile round trip to give evidence at the City
Chambers.

Its chair, Hal Sausas, said: "The whole thing is absurd. Nobody on
that council has the power to judge something like this. Most of the
people on the council don’t know anything about this. They couldn’t
even tell you where Armenia is."

burgh.cfm?id=1749922006

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 25 2006

Divisions of Armenian Armed Forces Broke the Ceasefire Regime Again

Source: Trend
Author: Sh.Jaliloglu

25.11.2006

The divisions of the Armenian Armed Forces broke the ceasefire regime
on the frontline again, Trend Regional Correspondent reports. On
November 24 at 20:30, the divisions of the Armenian Armed Forces,
located in the occupied Seyddulan village of Tartar district of
Azerbaijan, fired the positions of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, with
submachine guns and machine-guns. The enemy was made silent with
response shot and there is no losses.

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Nov 25 2006

Sergey Mironov: Russia appreciates OSCE MG’s role in settlement of
Karabakh Conflict

[ 25 Nov. 2006 12:36 ]

Russia highly appreciates the OSCE Minsk Group’s role in the
settlement of Nagorno Karabakh Conflict, Speaker of the Federation
Council of Russia Sergey Mironov said in the meeting with Speaker of
the Armenian Parliament Tigram Torossyan.

`Russia is ready to play a guarantee role for implementation of any
decisions adopted by the conflicting sides,’ Mironov said.
Torossyan said it was impossible to solve Nagorno Karabkh Conflict
through the power of weapons, finance and military forces. `It is
also impossible today to settle the conflict by these means,’ he
said. /APA/

Akron Beacon Journal, OH
Nov 25 2006

Parents give in daughter’s memory
They work with their church to provide coats for Armenians

By Colette M. Jenkins
Beacon Journal religion writer

Carl and Patsy Dulin planted seeds of caring in their daughter and
they blossomed.

Now, they are following her example of caring for people halfway
around the world, in Armenia.

“She loved working to help people in that small part of the world,”
Carl Dulin said. “She was the most giving person I ever knew and we
want to honor her memory by doing things in her name.”

The Dulins’ daughter, Carrie Jane, died in a car crash on her 28th
birthday, Aug. 5, 2003, en route to a new assignment in Nigeria. She
had spent five years as a Peace Corps and World Vision worker in
Armenia.

A year after her death, the Dulins took a trip to Armenia to deliver
money donated in their daughter’s name to two orphanages in Sissian
and Spitak. They purchased appliances for the kitchen in Spitak and
an organ for the orphanage in Sissian.

They also took part of Carrie’s ashes and spread them at a deserted
monastery near Sissian.

095571.htm
As they left the orphanages, they asked the directors what they could
do to make a difference in the lives of the children there. They were
told that the children at both orphanages needed warm clothing for
the winter, when they are forced to bundle up in bed and stay home
from school because the buildings aren’t heated.

Last year, the Dulins’ church, Doylestown United Methodist, organized
a coat campaign and collected about 30 boxes of coats that were
shipped to Armenia through the United Methodist Committee on Relief,
just after Hurricane Katrina. But the orphanages never received the
coats because they were lost in transit through the depot in New
Orleans.

“The other side of that is somebody got those coats who needed
them,” Carl Dulin said. “Now, we’re doing it again but a little
differently.”

Church collecting money

This time, the church is collecting money to send with the Dulins
when they leave for Armenia on Dec. 4. The plan is to buy the coats
in Armenia.

“It’s easy to see why Carrie loved the Armenian people because they
are such gentle, kind-hearted people,” Patsy Dulin said. “If it had
not been for Carrie, we would never have gotten to know the people
there.”

The Dulins made their first trip to Armenia two years before Carrie
was killed. Carrie introduced her parents to the people she had come
to know and love and showed them her work.

When they returned in 2004, they ate apples from the orchard Carrie
helped the Armenian people plant in front of one of the orphanages.

“Carrie did a lot of neat things for the people there because she
loved them. She was a fierce fighter for the underdog and people who
are oppressed,” Carl Dulin said. “It was her seed planting that has
us doing what we’re doing now.

“What we’re doing is what God commands of us — helping those in
need. But at the same time it’s our way of dealing with our grief.”

Donations to the Coats for Armenia Fund can be sent to Doylestown
United Methodist Church, 153 Church St., Doylestown 44230.

Hartford Courant,
Nov 25 2006

Opening Eyes To Plight Of Assyrians
November 25, 2006

By LORETTA WALDMAN, Courant Staff Writer

Growing up in Iran, Sharokin Betgevargiz remembers diving into ditches
at the sound of approaching MiGs during the Iran/Iraq War. In the
apartment she shared with her parents in a Tehran suburb, shelter was
found under beds and in doorways. Black tape crisscrossed the windows
in case of flying glass.

Now 36, Betgevargiz lives in New Britain and teaches the history of
graphic design at Central Connecticut State University. She has not
forgotten her childhood terror, nor how she says it felt growing up
as a Christian in a mostly Muslim world.

That is how she explains her passion for calling attention to the
plight of Assyrians: a less visible, seldom mentioned group than the
Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds now caught up in the bloodshed ravaging
Iraq.

Yet these mostly Christian descendants of the ancient Mesopotamians
are frequent targets of fundamentalist Islamists who see them as the
face of the West. Abductions and beheadings are common, she says. Men
go to work and never return. Women are terrified to leave their
homes.

"We equal George Bush" in the eyes of the enemies, said Betgevargiz.

She and other Assyrian Americans living in New Britain have organized
events on Sunday and Monday to highlight the struggles of Assyrians
in Iraq. Both events will feature films by Lina Yakubova, an Assyrian
ethnographer and documentary filmmaker living in Armenia.

The first, scheduled Sunday at 12:30 p.m., is at the Assyrian St.
Thomas Cultural Center, 92 McClintock St., New Britain. The second is
set for Monday at 7 p.m. at the Torp Theater at Davidson Hall at
CCSU.

New Britain has one of the largest Assyrian communities in the
Northeast, with 250 households. In Connecticut there are about 5,000
Assyrians, representing about 10,000 estimated to be living in the
region, according to the Assyrian National News Agency.

Nationwide, there are an estimated 300,000 Assyrians, the agency
says. Most are concentrated in Chicago, Detroit and California. Many
are doctors, lawyers, engineers and other professionals who have fled
the numerous conflicts in the Middle East since World War II.

Atrocities against Assyrians in the latest Iraq war include the
decapitation of a priest last month, the abduction and murder of 15
women and the crucifixion of a 14-year-old boy, according to news
reports and local Assyrians.

The origin of the community in New Britain dates to the arrival of 70
Assyrian families sponsored by Presbyterian missionaries at South
Church in 1904, Betgevarigiz and others say. Today, this thriving but
low-profile community boasts a church, St. Thomas Church of the East,
and its own cemetery.

The events Sunday and Monday are part of an effort to establish a
safe zone in northern Iraq. A march in Washington is planned Dec. 4;
Assyrians from throughout the U.S. are expected.

"When you talk about Iraq, it’s not just Muslims," Betgevargiz said.
"These are real people with real differences. I don’t just want
Assyrians to come to these talks. I want everyone."

125.artnov25,0,3414998.story?coll=hc-headlines-loc al

Today, Azerbaijan
Nov 25 2006

1st Forum of Azerbaijani and Turkish Diasporas leaders to be held in
Baku

25 November 2006 [10:15] – Today.Az

Azerbaijani and Turkish Diasporas leaders 1st forum will be held in
Baku in March, 2007.

Chief of State Committee on work with Azerbaijanis Living Abroad
Nazim Ibrahimov told APA that, they hold consultations with Turkish
authorities and non-governmental organizations. "Turkey highly
appreciates this initiative and is ready to organize the forum.
Azerbaijani and Turkish communities abroad, representatives of other
Turkish nations and states will also be invited to the forum.
Appropriate commissions will be established to discuss various
issues," he said.

Nazim Ibrahimov noted that a number of documents, including the
strategy of Azerbaijani and Turkish Diasporas will be adopted in the
forum.

He pointed out that preliminary version of the draft document has
been submitted to Turkey.

The document reflects historical, political, economical and social
factors of Azerbaijani and Turkish Diasporas joint activities,
principles and scopes of cooperation.

Participants of the forum will appeal to Presidents of Azerbaijan and
Turkey, Turkish nations and Azerbaijani and Turkish youth.

A joint statement concerning Armenia’s aggression, terrorism and
genocide against Azerbaijan and protest letter to countries
recognizing "Armenian genocide" will be adopted at the forum.

URL:

Turkish Press
Nov 25 2006

Press Review

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT: `WE’LL GIVE FULL SUPPORT TO OUR GREEK BROTHERS
OVER CYPRUS’

Armenian President Robert Kocharian, currently in Greek Cyprus for an
official visit, said that they took a strong interest in Turkey’s
European Union bid and they would support solving the Cyprus issue in
accordance with Greek Cypriot interests. After meeting with Greek
Cypriot administration leader Tassos Papadopoulos, the two leaders
said that they would give mutual support to their national cases.
/Hurriyet/

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress