UN GA ADOPTS RESOLUTION ON SITUATION IN OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Sept 8 2006
Situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan was discussed
at the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New
York, 7 September, correspondent of AzerTAc reported. In hourly-long
discussions, representatives of the UN-member states have adopted
a resolution. In the Resolution, the UN General Assembly expressed
serious concern with ecological damage caused by the arsons set in
the occupied areas of Azerbaijan. In the document, also was stressed
necessity of quick ecological operations to prevent the arsons and
eliminate its consequences. The sides are ready to cooperate in
this field, the Resolution says, and appraises this cooperation as
trust-building step. As is stated, the Resolution envisions sending
an OSCE mission with the participation of UN Environment Program
specialists to region to ascertain the short and long-term damage
to the environment. The UN relevant structures are called to render
assistance to the fire-affected areas, and the OSCE Chairman-In-Office
is asked to present not later than April 30, 2007, a report connected
to the question to the General Assembly member-states.
Azerbaijan’s permanent representative at the United Nations Yashar
Aliyev made remarks at the discussions. “The arsons committed at the
occupied areas of Azerbaijan since early June of current year cover
over 600 square meters of territory. The fact the Azerbaijan government
is deeply concerned deeply is that the arsons continue and they occur
in the areas the Azerbaijanis should return. These lands in short
time have become deserts, the Ambassador emphasized. After official
request of Azerbaijan government, the OSCE fact-finding mission on
3-5 July has been at some fire-affected areas, and confirmed the
fact. The mission’s report confirms lack of appropriate fire safety
equipments and sufficient water reserve in both sides, and the main
– the need for international assistance. Ambassador Aliyev called
on the General Assembly to take urgent measures to extinguish the
fire, lessen influence of the ecological disaster, and restore the
fire-affected territories of Azerbaijan.
In the discussions, taking the floor on behalf of the GUAM states,
the representative of Ukraine, then representative of Pakistan and
Turkey expressed concern with the arsons in their territories and
called for adoption of the aforementioned resolution.
Speaking on behalf of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, the USA
representative also upheld the offer of Azerbaijan side, noting that
a joint mission of UN Environment Program and OSCE specialists would
be sent to region to learn the situation.
Representative of Armenia estimated discussion of the question carried
out in the frame of United Nations as an obstacle in negotiations
for settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
expressing protest to send a fact=finding mission to the region.
In his reply, Ambassador Yashar Aliyev, noted that last days the
Azerbaijani side, on request of the OSCE MG co-chairs, together with
the Armenian side has worked out and prepared a draft of consensus.
Therefore, disagreement of the Armenian representative with the Draft
resolution at the last moment is “an inglorious and worthless step”.

UKRAINE IS READY TO SEND PEACEKEEPERS TO NK
Today, Azerbaijan
Sept 8 2006
Addressing students and professors of Slavic University of Baku on
Friday, Victor Yushchenko said Ukraine was ready to send peacekeepers
to Azerbaijan to help settle the lasting conflict in Nagorno Karabakh,
according to the President’s press-office.
“Ukraine believes it is necessary to recognize the territorial
integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan and to withdraw troops from
the occupied territory,” he said.
“The use of force and pressure yields no results and dead-ends the
conflict,” he opined.
The Head of State also said he believed it was important to let
refugees return to their homeland and later decide the status of the
Karabakh autonomy at a national referendum.
He said peacekeeping effort in the region could help stabilize the
situation, adding Ukraine was ready to participate under the aegis
of OSCE or the UN Security Council.
“I told Ilham Aliyev at our meetings Ukraine was ready to offer
peacekeepers to resolve the conflict,” he said.
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YUSHCHENKO HELD TALKS WITH ALIYEV
UNIAN , Ukraine
Sept 8 2006
In Baku, Victor Yushchenko and Ilham Aliyev have discussed areas
of cooperation between Ukraine and Azerbaijan, according to the
President’s press-office.
They agreed the two countries strived to profoundly develop bilateral
relations and thereby decided to establish an interstate commission
to deal with the most important issues.
Mr. Yushchenko said Ukraine was ready to take part in energy projects
together with Azerbaijan and offered his colleague cooperation in
the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline project.
In his turn, Mr. Aliyev said his country produced more oil every year,
adding it was quite expedient to transport Caspian hydrocarbons to
European consumers via Ukraine. The leaders also discussed their
experience in the exploration of oil fields and production of crude,
particularly in the Black Sea.
They agreed the two countries could also cooperate in agriculture
and in the military sector, and also jointly build aircraft.
Mr. Yushchenko and Mr. Aliyev broached the subject of regional
cooperation. The President of Ukraine said his country would help
Azerbaijan settle the Nagorny Karabakh armed conflict.
Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk, First Deputy Premier Andriy Klyuyev,
Emergency Minister Viktor Baloha, First Deputy Energy Minister Vadym
Chuprun, Agriculture Minister Yuriy Melnyk, Transport Minister Mykola
Rudkovsky, Naftogaz Chairman Volodymyr Sheludchenko, Ukrtransnafta
Head of the Board Evhen Bakulin and deputies Anatoly Kinakh and Eduard
Zeynalov attended the talks.
Then the Presidents took part in a ceremony to sign bilateral
agreements.
Victor Yushchenko and Ilham Aliyev signed a Joint Declaration Between
Ukraine and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Naftogaz Chairman Volodymyr Sheludchenko signed an Agreement Between
Naftogaz Ukraiiny and the Azerbaijan State Oil Company on Long-Term
Cooperation.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan Stepan Volkovetsky signed an
Agreement Between Ukraine’s Nuclear Regulation Committee and the Azeri
Emergency Ministry on Cooperation in the Area of Radiological Security.
Agriculture Minister Yuriy Melnyk signed an Agreement Between the
Agriculture Ministry of Ukraine and the Agriculture Ministry of
Azerbaijan on Cooperation in the Area of the State Testing and
Protection of Varieties of Plants.
Transport Minister Mykola Rudkovsky signed an Agreement Between the
Government of Ukraine and the Government of Azerbaijan on International
Combined Cargo Transportation.
Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk signed an Agreement Between the
Foreign Ministry of Ukraine and the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan
on the Training of Diplomats and an Agreement Between the Government
of Ukraine and the Government of Azerbaijan on the Protection of
the Environment.

UKRAINE IS READY TO SEND PEACEKEEPERS TO NAGORNY KARABAKH
UNIAN , Ukraine
Sept 8 2006
Addressing students and professors of Slavic University of Baku on
Friday, Victor Yushchenko said Ukraine was ready to send peacekeepers
to Azerbaijan to help settle the lasting conflict in Nagorny Karabakh,
according to the President’s press-office.
Ukraine believes it is necessary to recognize the territorial integrity
of the Republic of Azerbaijan and to withdraw troops from the occupied
territory, he said.
“The use of force and pressure yields no results and dead-ends the
conflict,” he opined.
The Head of State also said he believed it was important to let
refugees return to their homeland and later decide the status of the
Karabakh autonomy at a national referendum.
He said peacekeeping effort in the region could help stabilize the
situation, adding Ukraine was ready to participate under the aegis
of OSCE or the UN Security Council.
“I told Ilham Aliyev at our meetings Ukraine was ready to offer
peacekeepers to resolve the conflict,” he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

UN CONCERNED ABOUT FIRES IN ARMENIAN-OCCUPIED LANDS
By Emil Danielyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Sept 8 2006
The UN General Assembly expressed concern late Thursday at fires
reported in Armenian-controlled Azerbaijani territories, in a
compromise resolution that seeks to placate Azerbaijan and address
Armenia’s strong opposition to UN involvement in the Nagorno-Karabakh
peace process.
The assembly called for an urgent “environmental operation to suppress
the fires in the affected territories and to overcome their detrimental
consequences” and threw its weight behind the OSCE’s decision to send
a fact-finding mission to occupied Azerbaijani districts surrounding
Karabakh. It asked the American, French and Russian co-chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group to submit the mission’s findings to the United
Nations by next April.
The resolution also instructs the UN Environmental Program to assess
“the short-term and long-term impact of the environmental degradation
of the region, as well as in its rehabilitation.”
Azerbaijan has for months been accusing Armenian forces of deliberately
setting fire to deserted Azerbaijani villages east of Karabakh. Armenia
and the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic have rejected the
accusations, saying that the bushfires are caused by natural factors
such as hot weather. The Azerbaijani allegations were also effectively
dismissed by the OSCE’s field representatives in the conflict zone.
Official Baku rejected, however, the findings of their two inspections
of the occupied lands, leading the Minsk Group and the OSCE’s
rotating chairman-in-office to promise to conduct a more thorough
investigation. The authorities in Yerevan and Stepanakert agreed to
the idea.
Armenia threatened to boycott the next round of Karabakh peace
talks when Azerbaijan moved to include the issue on the UN General
Assembly agenda last week. An Azerbaijani draft resolution submitted
to the assembly accused the Armenians of pursuing a “scorched earth”
policy in the occupied lands and demanded a separate UN inquiry
into the problem. But it underwent radical changes as a result of
behind-the-scene talks between Armenian and Azerbaijani diplomats and
the international mediators. Azerbaijan’s UN Ambassador Yashar Aliev
described the text, adopted by consensus, as “honest and appropriate.”
Aliev’s Armenian opposite number, Armen Martirosian, said: “As a
result of our consultations with the Minsk Group Co-chairs, we have
come to agreement on a text that simply reiterates support for the
OSCE mission. In this regard we would like to welcome the readiness
of all the parties to negotiate in the spirit of compromise under
the able and very effective mediation of the Minsk Group co-chairs.”
Still, Martirosian added that Yerevan decided to dissociate itself from
the document because it disagrees with its title that refers to “the
occupied territories of Azerbaijan.” The diplomat also objected to the
“the general idea of this agenda item and a UN resolution under it.”
The Minsk group co-chairs, for their part, issued a joint statement
saying that “fires of both natural and manmade origin are a regular
occurrence in the region in question.” “We commend the spirit of
goodwill demonstrated by both Armenia and Azerbaijan in agreeing to
cooperate to address the situation raised through this resolution,”
they said.
The mediators are due to hold separate talks with the Armenian and
Azerbaijani foreign ministers in Paris next week, in a fresh attempt
to clinch agreement on the main principles of a Karabakh settlement
which they made public in June. Their statement renewed calls for
the conflicting parties to sign up to the proposed peace deal.

ARMENIAN EDITOR JAILED FOR 4 YEARS
By Hovannes Shoghikian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Sept 8 2006
The young editor of an Armenian newspaper critical of the government
was found guilty of illegally avoiding military service and sentenced
to four years in prison by a Yerevan court on Friday.
The court backed prosecutors’ claim that Arman Babajanian of
“Zhamanak Yerevan” used fake documents to win exemption from the
two-year compulsory duty in 2002. But the presiding judge, Mnatsakan
Martirosian, dismissed as “unfounded” a separate accusation that
Babajanian stole the documents from an Armenian couple based in
California.
Still, the jail sentence is only six months shorter than the one
demanded by the prosecutors. It is also quite harsh for individuals
convicted of draft evasion in Armenia. They usually get between two
and three years in jail. Babajanian’s defense counsel is therefore
likely to appeal against the verdict.
The 30-year-old editor looked resigned to going to prison as he
delivered his final court remarks two hours before the announcement
of the ruling. “Whether I will be in jail or at large, my homeland
Armenia will remain my dearest place,” he said. “It looks as though
I have to lose liberty in order to win back my right to again live
in the homeland. If this is so, I will pay the price and duly accept
any prison sentence set by the court.”
Babajanian added that he resorted to fraud after failing to extend
the deferment of his military service and study in a U.S. university.
He claimed that military authorities repeatedly rejected medical
documents testifying to his poor health.
Under Armenian law, virtually all young men aged between 18 and 27
must serve in the armed forces for two years. Those who are admitted
to state universities before coming of age have to be drafted after
finishing their studies.
Babajanian used to study in an Armenian religious seminary and had
his service deferred until 2001 before moving to the United States in
1998. He was arrested in June just weeks after returning to Armenia
and starting to publish the newspaper in Armenia. In a subsequent
statement released from his prison cell, he accused the authorities
of trying to muzzle an “independent and incorruptible media outlet
supporting the removal of the illegal regime and the establishment
of a legitimate government in Armenia.”
The “Zhamanak Yerevan” staff say Babajanian would not have been
prosecuted had his paper supported the government, a claim dismissed
by the prosecutors.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN LOBBYING GROUP TO FIGHT ON AGAINST NEW U.S. ENVOY
By Emil Danielyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Sept 8 2006
A leading Armenian-American lobbying group has pledged more efforts
to block the congressional confirmation of President George W. Bush’s
pick for new U.S. ambassador to Armenia, which cleared a key hurdle
on Thursday.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) said it is undaunted
by career diplomat Richard Hoagland’s crucial endorsement by the
U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee. His confirmation by the
full Senate now seems a forgone conclusion.
The committee had twice delayed the vote this summer due to its
pro-Armenian members’ protests against Hoagland’s refusal to refer to
the 1915 mass killings and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire as genocide. Washington’s outgoing ambassador in Yerevan, John
Evans, is believed to have been recalled for publicly recognizing
the genocide.
“The ANCA remains firmly opposed to the Hoagland nomination, and
will continue to seek to block his confirmation until he publicly
states that he does not question the Armenian Genocide, and the State
Department explains both its firing of the current Ambassador as well
as the role of the Turkish government in this controversy,” the ANCA
executive director, Aram Hamparian, said in a statement. Hamparian
thanked the five senators who voted against Hoagland and denounced
the Bush administration for its continuing refusal to use the word
“genocide” with regard to the slaughter of some 1.5 million Ottoman
Armenians.
The Armenian Assembly of America, a more moderate advocacy group, also
praised those lawmakers but stopped short of calling for Hoagland’s
rejection by the Senate. “We appreciate the remarks of the Senators to
squarely affirm the Armenian Genocide and to urge the Administration
to review and rethink its current policy,” its executive director,
Bryan Ardouny, said in a statement. “The historical truth is undeniable
and we will continue to pursue universal and irrevocable affirmation
of the Armenian Genocide.”
The Assembly’s praise was also addressed to those senators who called
for U.S. recognition of the genocide but voted for Bush’s nominee,
citing U.S. national interests. Among them was Senator Joseph Biden
of Delaware, who demanded last month an official explanation from
the State Department regarding Evans’s dismissal.
Another ranking Democrat, John Kerry of Massachusetts, remained adamant
in rejecting Hoagland’s candidacy and accusing the White House of
caving in to pressure from Turkey. “For us to allow an ambassador
to be recalled because he uttered the word ‘genocide’ is to kowtow,
it’s to cave in, to those who change history,” Kerry told the Senate
panel during a 45-minute debate that preceded the 13-to-5 vote.
“We’re not going to allow revisionism … We honor history and we
honor the truth,” he added, according to AFP.
Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, likewise said she can
not support Hoagland “until we call the first genocide of the 20th
century by its rightful name.” “In Darfur we are witnessing the first
genocide of the 21st century and the Bush administration called it
that,” Reuters quoted her as saying.
However, Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican,
countered that rejecting a qualified nominee “because of concerns
of U.S. policy toward that country (Armenia) would set a troubling
precedent.”

RSPP FOUNDER ARKADY VOLSKY, 74, DIES
By Valeria Korchagina
Staff Writer
The Moscow Times, Russia
Sept 10 2006
Roman Denisov / Itar-Tass
Volsky speaking with reporters while in Grozny for peace negotiations
during the first Chechen war in June 1995.
Arkady Volsky, who is credited with preventing an industrial collapse
after the Soviet demise and founded the Russian Union of Industrialists
and Entrepreneurs, died Saturday in Moscow. He was 74.
He died of complications from leukemia, NTV television reported.
Volsky, a critic of the Yukos affair, was an active player in business
and politics until last year, when an internal squabble at the powerful
big business lobby, known as RSPP, saw him pushed aside and handed
an honorary post.
“Volsky’s death is a big loss, not only for the RSPP but for the entire
business and political community of the country,” Alexander Shokhin,
who replaced Volsky at RSPP’s helm, said on Ekho Moskvy radio.
Volsky represented a relatively rare breed of the country’s political
and business leaders who managed to have equally successful careers
under Communist rule and during the first wild years of Russian
capitalism.
Born in Belarus on May 15, 1932, and raised in an orphanage, Volsky
started out at a ZiL car factory as an ordinary worker and eventually
became the factory’s party boss.
Moving into government, he served as an aide to Soviet leader Yury
Andropov in the early 1980s. As an aide, he pressed for the return
of Andrei Sakharov from exile in Gorky, now Nizhny Novgorod.
In the late 1980s, he joined the Communist Party Central Committee’s
division in charge of industry. At the time, he also tried to settle
an ethnic and territorial conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over
Nagorno-Karabakh. During the 1994-96 Chechen war, he participated in
peace talks with rebel leaders.
In 1990, Volsky founded an organization uniting some of Russia’s
first capitalists. The group later grew into the RSPP.
During the August 1991 coup attempt, Volsky managed to call Soviet
President Mikhail Gorbachev, who was under house arrest in Crimea,
and confirm that he was not ill, as the nation had been told.
Volsky quit the Communist Party in disgust after the failed coup.
Gorbachev said Saturday that Volsky played a key role in making sure
that industry did not collapse completely after the fall of the Soviet
Union, Interfax reported.
He praised Volsky for his attempts to establish a dialogue between
business and the state.
>From 2000, Volsky was also among the few public figures in Russia who
dared to criticize publicly the state’s legal onslaught on Yukos and
its founder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Liberal politician Irina Khakamada said she had known Volsky since
1989 and recalled that even though he was a senior Communist official,
he had supported private entrepreneurship, Interfax reported.
Condolences also were expressed by President Vladimir Putin, Prime
Minister Mikhail Fradkov and former President Boris Yeltsin.
Volsky will be buried at Moscow’s Novodevichy Cemetery on Tuesday,
Interfax reported. A civil memorial will be held from 10 a.m. to
noon at ZiL’s House of Culture. A church service will be held at the
Novodevichy Monastery at 1 p. m. and be followed by the burial.
Volsky is survived by his wife, Lyudmila, a son, a daughter and six
grandchildren.

AZERBAIJAN TO HOST GUAM MEETING TO ESTABLISH PEACEKEEPERS
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Sept 8 2006
GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) meeting for
establishing peacekeeping forces of the alliance will be held in
Azerbaijan.
The issue is being discussed at the level of deputy chief of General
Staffs of the member states, Ivan Androsenko, Ukrainian Defense
Ministry International Military Cooperation Department chief told
the APA exclusively.
“Measures are being implemented in establishing joint peacekeepers
of GUAM member countries after the Tbilisi meeting at the level of
deputy chief of General Staffs. Prior to that meeting, we had met in
Kyiv in June. The deputies chief of General Staffs are working out the
scheme of establishing peacekeeping contingent,” Mr.Androsenko, said.
He said they are considering the UN and OSCE proposals on the matter,
and the results will be sent to them. Now the yare discussing issues
on management and structure of the peacekeepers.
“The peacekeeping forces will operate under the auspices of the UN
and OSCE,” he said.
Androsenko also said GUAM peacekeepers might be dislocated in Nagorno
Garabagh only after the UN and OSCE decisions.
He also said there is a high level bilateral military cooperation
between Azerbaijan and Ukraine. Defense Ministers of the two countries
had a fruitful meeting in Baku May this year.
“This meeting gave impetus to the development of military and military
political spheres between out countries. It opened a new door for
military-political dialogue,” he said.
He also added that two countries are discussing the cooperation on
personnel training and other issues.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BARROSO AGAINST PUTTING SO-CALLED GENOCIDE AS A PRECONDITION BEFORE TURKEY
Turkish Press
Sept 10 2006
BRUSSELS – European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has
announced that he is against conditioning Turkey’s EU membership on
recognition of so-called Armenian genocide.
In a meeting with representatives of the Reformist Movement (MR) at
the Belgian parliament, Barroso said that Turkey “cannot be forced”
to acknowledge the so-called genocide, and this cannot be put as an
additional precondition before Turkey.
Submitting a resolution to the Senate last summer, senators Francois
Roelands du Vivier and Christine Defraigne of MR proposed that
so-called Armenian genocide should be included within the framework of
the resolution on the Holocaust, and those who do not acknowledge it
should be sentenced up to one years in prison, and fined to 5,000 Euro.
The Belgian parliament shelved similar resolutions and motions after
debating them last year.
In the debates at the Senate’s Justice Committee, all other parties,
except MR and ECOLO (the Green Party in Belgium) expressed thought that
“a wrong legal step is being taken”, “it is not Belgian’s business
to assess and judge historical incidents”, and “recent positive step
taken by Ankara cannot be ignored”.
The last resolution, presented to the Senate, has been suspended “for
some time” due to the local elections in Belgium due on October 8th,
and the reactions of the Turkish community.