ARMENIA BACKS OUT OF CIS MEETING IN AZERBAIJAN

Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep.
May 30 2006

May 30, 2006 — Armenian officials are refusing to attend an upcoming
meeting of defense ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS) in neighboring Azerbaijan.

A spokesman for Armenia’s Defense Ministry says Azerbaijani officials
cannot guarantee their safety.

Fourteen years after a cease-fire was agreed, Azerbaijan and Armenia
remain at loggerheads about the final status of the disputed region
of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has been ruled by ethnic Armenians since
a separatist war in the early 1990s.

The meeting of CIS ministers begins on May 31.

ARMENIAN TEEN SLAIN ON TRAIN
By Carl Schreck
Staff Writer

The Moscow Times, Russia
May 31 2006

A group of young men yelling “Glory to Russia” stabbed an Armenian
teenager to death last week on a crowded commuter train, prosecutors
and the lawyer of the victim’s family said Tuesday.

Prosecutors are classifying the fatal attack as a hate crime.

Artur Sardaryan, 19, was on the train at about 11 p.m. Thursday when
he was approached by the assailants and repeatedly stabbed in the
chest with a knife, said Yelena Rossokhina, a spokeswoman for the
Moscow region prosecutor’s office.

There were thought to be about 20 people on the train, heading from
Moscow to the city of Pushkino, at the time of the attack.

No suspects had been detained as of Tuesday.

“According to witnesses, the killers were yelling, ‘Glory to Russia’
and ‘Long live Russia,'” said Simon Tsaturyan, the Sardaryan family’s
lawyer.

Tsaturyan said the attackers pulled the train’s emergency lever after
stabbing Sardaryan and fled the scene. Sardaryan died on the spot,
Tsaturyan said.

Tsaturyan said he did not know why it took the authorities five days
before issuing any public statements about the stabbing. Rossokhina
did not comment on the time lag.

Sardaryan was a Russian citizen.

The killing came one month after a 17-year-old ethnic Armenian was
stabbed to death on the platform of the Pushkinksaya metro station
in central Moscow.

There have been numerous hate crimes across the country in recent
months, with victims including Africans, Central Asians and other
dark-skinned people. President Vladimir Putin, in his Victory
Day speech earlier this month, linked skinheads and other violent
extremists with the fascists of the previous century.

On April 23, a group of young people attacked Vagan Abramyants, with
one of them stabbing him with a knife in the chest. Abramyants died
at the scene. One student was detained but was released after police
failed to find enough evidence to charge him.

Tsaturyan, who is also representing Abramyants’ family, said there
had been no breakthroughs in the investigation of last month’s
slaying. Abramyants was also a Russian citizen.

Ara Abramyan, head of the Union of Armenians in Russia, called
Thursday’s slaying a “clear provocation” ahead of the G8 summit in
St. Petersburg “by the forces of evil that don’t want the democratic
and civilized development of Russia,” Interfax reported Tuesday.

Abramyan said Armenians had not been singled out. “Fascists don’t
choose people by their ethnicity,” he told Interfax. “They choose
their victims according to the color of their skin and eyes.”

Abramyan said his organization would organize a conference on hate
crimes by mid-July. The conference would include representatives from
civic organizations and law enforcement officials.

“We believe it’s necessary to organize a round table as soon as
possible to discuss the problem of xenophobia and cultivating
tolerance,” Abramyan told Interfax.

According to Tsaturyan, Sardaryan and his family fled anti-Armenian
pogroms in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 1989. Artur Sardaryan obtained Russian
citizenship in 1992.

AZERBAIJAN WILL NEVER AGREE WITH AGGRESSORS OF AZERBAIJANI LANDS – ILHAM ALIYEV
Author: A.Mammadov

TREND, Azerbaijan
May 30 2006

The Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev properly stressed in his speech
at the meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO the necessity
of keeping the territorial integrity of his country.

“Each peaceful solution of the Karabakh problem should be based on
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan,” told Ilham Aliyev, Trend
reports with reference to ITAR-TASS.

“We will never agree with aggressors of our lands,” stated Aliyev.

“To become national minority doesn’t mean the right to establish an
independent state,” said Ilham Aliyev.

He remembered that due to Karabakh problem 20% of Azerbaijan territory
was occupied and more that one million people became refugees in
their own country.

It is necessary to note that the chairman of the Parliamentary
Assembly of NATO Pyer Lelush expressed his regret that Armenian
president Robert Kocharyan abandoned the invitation to take part at
the meetings in Paris.

ARMENIA STAY IN FRONT
by Malcolm Pein

The Daily Telegraph (LONDON)
May 30, 2006 Tuesday

Armenia stayed at the head of the field at the 37th Chess Olympiad
in Turin with an impressive 3-1 win over the Netherlands. World No 3
Levon Aronian bounced back from his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik and
dispatched Ivan Sokolov before the latter had developed any of his
kingside. This victory set the tone for the match and the Armenians
stretched their lead to a full point.

Russia also won 3-1 against Belarus, with Kramnik demolishing the
Berlin Wall, an opening variation he popularised by confounding
Garry Kasparov with it in their world title match in London in
2000. This game also finished rapidly after a bizarre blunder by
Alexey Alexandrov.

England lost to Norway as the teenage prodigy Magnus Carlsen ground
down Michael Adams in a long endgame. Nigel Short played superbly
and has now drawn three with black and won three with white, but
Jon Speelman’s switch from solidity to creativity failed and a pawn
sacrifice never worked out.

Scotland are the leading British team again after defeating
Finland 2.5-1.5. Jon Shaw now has 4/4, quite a way to celebrate the
ratification of his GM title. Jonathan Rowson outplayed Tommy Nyback
and missed a difficult win.

Leaders: 1 Armenia 21; 2 Russia 20; 3 Cuba 19.5; 4-7 Uzbekistan,
Ukraine, Georgia, Czech Rep 19; 8-13 Netherlands, Germany, Denmark,
France, USA, Sweden 18.5. (36 Scotland 16.5; 38 England 16; 68 Ireland
14.5, 84 Wales 14, 126 Guernsey 10.5 130 Jersey 10; 148 teams.)

N Short – LE Johannessen

37th Olympiad Turin (7)

Caro Kann Advance

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.c4 (Nigel plays a straightforward
attacking line that Boris Spassky also favoured.) 5…e6 6.Nc3
Nd7 7.cxd5 cxd5 8.Bd3 Bxd3 9.Qxd3 Ne7 10.Nf3 Nc6 11.0-0 Be7 12.Bg5
(Safeguarding the h4 pawn and threatening Nc3-b5-d6+) 12…a6 13.Rac1
Nb6 14.Ne2 Qd7 15.Nf4 Nc4 (Not satisfactory but Black has no safe
place for his king if 15…0-0-0 16.Rxc6+ bxc6 17.Qxa6+ Qb7 18.Qxb7+
Kxb7 19.Bxe7 or 15…g6 16.Bf6 Bxf6 17.exf6 Qd6 18.Nxe6 fxe6 19.Qxg6+
Kd8 20.Qg7 Rf8 21.Qxb7 or 15…Rc8 16.Bxe7 Qxe7 17.Ng5 Rc7 18.Ngxe6
fxe6 19.Ng6) 16.b3 Na3 17.Rfd1 Rc8 18.Bxe7 Qxe7 19.Rc5 Rc7 20.Rdc1
(White has two plans, Nf3-g5 with sacrifices on e6 or g6 and Qd3-c3-b2
and a queenside pawn advance) 20…g6 21.Ng5 Rd7 22.Rxc6! bxc6
23.Nxg6! fxg6 24.Qxg6+ Kd8 25.Rxc6 1-0

Johannessen

Short

Final position after 25.Rxc6, 26.Nxe6+ will win the queen.

ARMENIAN SOLDIER KILLED IN FIRE FROM AZERBAIJAN: YEREVAN

Agence France Presse — English
May 29, 2006 Monday 4:51 PM GMT

An Armenian soldier was killed in cross-border fire from Azerbaijan,
the Armenian defence ministry said Monday, in violation of a ceasefire
observed by the two estranged countries.

The soldier, who died from his injuries on his way to hospital, was
shot late on Saturday in northeast Armenia, in violation of the 1994
ceasefire, it said.

But the report was denied by Azerbaijan.

The Russian Ria-Novosti news agency quoted the authorities
in Azerbaijan as saying that Azerbaijani soldiers had not fired,
but that one of their soldiers had been shot by Armenian forces,
according to the defence ministry.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-year war over the Armenian-majority
enclave of Nagorno Karabakh, which seceded from Azerbaijan in the
early 1980s.

The conflict claimed 25,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands
of people, ending in a 1994 ceasefire.

Since then, tensions have remained high between the two countries
and incidents occur regularly, with each side blaming the other.

BAKU-TBILISI-CEYHAN PIPELINE IS PUT INTO OPERATION

SKRIN Market & Corporate News
May 29, 2006 Monday 4:24 PM GMT

The first portion of Azeri oil has been transported through the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline. The oil is being loaded onto
a British tanker in the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The official ceremony
of opening the BTC pipeline will be held in Ceyhan on July 13. It
will be attended by the presidents of Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan,
RZD-Partner.Com quoted CNN as saying. The BTC Oil Pipeline is called by
many “a political oil pipeline.” It is no secret that Turkey, Georgia
and Azerbaijan are oriented towards the United States and Europe,
while Armenia and Kazakhstan are closer to Russia. This alliance of
forces determines the structure of oil routes in the region. Some
observers think the idea behind the BTC project is to strengthen
the positions of the US and the EU in Azerbaijan and Georgia. Local
governments, they say, hope to settle their internal problems with
the help of the United States and Europe, reports RBC.

THREE COUNTRIES TO MISS CIS DEFENSE MINISTERS MEETING

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 29, 2006 Monday 08:03 PM EST

Three out of twelve countries will miss a meeting of CIS defense
ministers in Baku on Wednesday, while over a half of those attending
will be represented by deputy defense ministers, according to the
Russian defense ministry.

It said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov will leave for the
capital of Azerbaijan on Tuesday.

It is the venue of the meeting, which made Armenia refuse to attend.

“The Armenian refusal was caused by the venue of the meeting – Baku
– in the context of continuing contradictions with Azerbaijan over
Nagorno Karabakh”, the ministry said, adding Georgia is planning to
withdraw from the CIS altogether, while Turkmenistan “sticks to its
policy of neutrality and non-participation in military-political
alliances”.

“Participants in the meeting will discuss over 20 issues concerning
military and military-technical cooperation, including the development
of the Unified air defense system, the creation of the Unified
communications system, interaction of metrological services, and air
flights safety. The concept of military cooperation of CIS states
up to 2010 is to be approved. Specific place will be occupied by the
discussion of peacekeeping activities on CIS space, first and foremost,
in the zone of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict,” the ministry said.

In Baku Ivanov plans to hold several bilateral meetings, including
with his Ukrainian counterpart Anatoly Gritsenko. Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev is expected to receive meeting participants.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT MUST BE SOLVED THROUGH DIALOGUE – FM
by Kseniya Kaminskaya, Diana Rudakova

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 29, 2006 Monday

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that the
settlement in the mostly Armenian populated Azerbaijani enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh should proceed “in a dialogue with efforts of the
world community”.

“These efforts should be made within the framework of a peace
settlement,” Foreign Minister Lavrov noted. The sides have started
settling the conflict “and it is counterproductive to exert pressure
on them,” he added.

In reply to a query whether Russia has fulfilled its commitments on
the pullout of a peacekeeping contingent from the Dniester Region,
the foreign minister said “Russia has fulfilled its commitments to
the world community in the Dniester Region”.

However, according to the minister Chisinau “is not inclined to solve
the problem constructively, and has imposed an economic blockade”.

“We don’t support such measures by Chisinau,” the top Russian diplomat
emphasized.

A-320 VOICE, DATA RECORDERS IN SATISFACTORY CONDITION – SOURCE

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 29, 2006 Monday

The cockpit voice and flight data recorders from the Armenian A-320
passenger liner, which crashed near the Russian Black Sea resort of
Sochi in the small hours of May 3 killing 113 have been opened by
experts of the Interstate Aviation Committee probing into the causes
of the disaster, a source said.

“The information carriers recovered from the “black boxes” are in
satisfactory condition,” the source said, adding, “it will take one
month to retrieve all data.”

Earlier, IAC chief Tatyana Anodina said she doubted the integrity of
magnetic tape inside the recorders.

The information will be retrieved and interpreted in Russia with
the use of equipment provided by the French side – the A-320 liner
designers.

YEREVAN WORRIED ABOUT FUTURE OF JAVAKHETI ARMENIANS
by Tigran Liloyan

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 30, 2006 Tuesday 01:29 PM EST

The position of ethnic Armenians may exacerbate following the
Russian military base pullout from Akhalkalaki in the south Georgian
district of Javakheti, New Times opposition centrist party leader
Aram Karapetian told a Tuesday rally in Yerevan.

“There have been numerous examples in the history, when Armenians were
persecuted following a pullout of Russians. The same will happen in
Javakheti, where violent clashes have already occurred,” he said.

“The situation in Georgia will be slowly exacerbating.”

The rally adopted a petition to the Armenian government, which says,
“social and economic problems of Armenians who live in Javakheti,
an area in southern Georgia, will worsen against the background of
the pullout of Russian military units.”

The party leader thinks it expedient “to discuss the security
of Javakheti Armenians before signing a border demarcation and
delimitation treaty with Georgia.”