KARABAKH CONFLICT A SOURCE OF DANGER FOR REGION – ALIYEV
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS General Newswire
August 29, 2006 Tuesday 11:54 AM MSK
A lack of a solution to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a
predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, is a source of a
major danger for the region, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said after
Monday talks with Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek in Bled, Slovenia.
“The absence of a solution to this problem represents a constant
source of considerable danger for the region. And my opinion is that
the sooner this conflict is settled, the quicker peace and prosperity
come to the region and the risks are reduced,” Aliyev told a joint
news conference with Drnovsek.
Azerbaijan’s position is based on international law, he said.
“Naturally, a solution based on the norms and principles of
international law is the sole possible way to end the conflict.
Azerbaijan will continue to pursue its policy within these boundaries,”
the Azeri president said. Karabakh talks are currently proceeding
within the Prague format, which generally involves a stage-by-stage
settlement process, he added.
“In our opinion, it is an acceptable option. We hope that Armenia
will eventually demonstrate its constructive position and make its
own efforts to sort out this problem,” Aliyev said.

ARMENIAN, U.S. OFFICIALS DISCUSS KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Military Newswire
August 29, 2006 Tuesday 11:45 AM MSK
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian met with U.S. OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairman Matthew Bryza in Bled, Slovenia, on Monday to
discuss the ongoing stage of talks on settling the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict and their prospects, an Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman
told Interfax.
The spokesman, however, declined to disclose the details of the
meeting.
Speaking at the Caspian Prospects 2008 international conference in
Slovenia, Oskanian said that “militaristic statements by the Azeri side
regarding the possibility of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh problem
in a military way are obstructing the settlement process today.”
“Today the Karabakh negotiations have reached their critical point.
And the international community should do everything possible to
persuade Azerbaijan to begin thinking realistically again and to
seriously discuss the principles that are presently on the negotiating
table,” the Armenian minister said.
The Armenian authorities insisted earlier that the international
brokers had drafted a document outlining the fundamental principles
of the peace process in the predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave in
Azerbaijan. They said that they had already approved the document,
calling on the Azeri authorities to do the same.
However, the Azeri government said that there was no major agreement
on the Karabakh settlement process.

SEC HOLDS MEETING
Emirates News Agency
August 28, 2006 Monday 1:04 PM EST
The Sharjah Executive Council (SEC) held here today its ordinary
weekly meeting, presided over by its deputy chairman, Sheikh Abdullah
bin Salim Al Qasimi, Chief of the Sharjah Emiri Court..
During the meeting, which was held at the Sharjah Ruler’s Office,
the council reviewed a memorandum referred to it by the Sharjah
Department of Culture and Information.
The memo deals with the department’s decision to renew cultural
cooperation agreement with the Armenian Ministry of Culture and Youth..
The council also reviewed a number of general issues related to the
emirate, discussed a number of reports and issues on its agenda and
took the appropriate decisions on them.

PKK THREATENS TURKEY-IRAN PIPELINE LINK
UPI Energy
August 28, 2006 Monday 9:18 AM EST
Members of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, have threatened
to blow up gas pipelines from Turkey to Iran unless Ankara agrees to
a cease-fire.
“Last Saturday, two Turkish jets shelled some of our bases in the
little Qandil,” Haval Welat, a PKK official, told Sunday’s edition of
Iraq’s independent Aso newspaper. “The leadership has warned Turkey
and Iran to stop the military incursion. Otherwise, we will blow up the
gas pipelines linking Turkey and Iran as a first step of retaliation.”
He also said Turkey had rejected the PKK’s call for a cease-fire.
Both Turkey and the United States regard the PKK as a terrorist
organization. The group is fighting for an independent Kurdish state
encompassing parts of Turkey, Iran and Syria and Armenia.
Iran, with an estimated 970 trillion cubic feet in proven natural
gas reserves, is the world’s No. 2 in reserves; Russia is No. 1.
Turkey is one of the largest customers of Iranian natural gas. In
2002, the two countries inaugurated a pipeline link. Exports of
Iranian natural gas to Turkey could reach 960 million cubic feet
per day by 2007, according to the Energy Information Administration,
the U.S. Department of Energy’s data arm.
Iran sees Turkey as a conduit for the sale of natural gas to Europe.

DES RENDEZ-VOUS POUR PARTIR
Le Figaro, France
29 août 2006
Le 30 septembre a Erevan. Le plus celèbre des Armeniens de France,
Charles Aznavour, chantera dans la capitale du pays. Ce concert
celebrera l’annee de l’Armenie en France (“Armenie, mon amie”)
qui debute le 21 septembre dans les musees, theâtres et operas de
l’Hexagone.
–Boundary_(ID_feC4U2Av9+IbtXGAERB 26A)–

TURKISH FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER: NO TURKISH GOVERNMENT WILL TAKE ANY STEP CONCERNING ARMENIA WITHOUT CONSULTING WITH AZERBAIJAN
AZG Armenian Daily
30/08/2006
Abdullah Gul government’s foreign minister Yashar Yakish’s exclusive
interview to APA’s Turkey bureau.
Dossier: Yashar Yakish was born in Akchakoja district in Turkey. He
graduated from Ankara University, faculty of political sciences in
1962 and started working at the Foreign Ministry the same year. Mr.
Yakish worked in Turkish embassies in Lagos, Rome and Aleppo as well
as in Turkish permanent representation to NATO in different years. He
was appointed ambassador to Saudi Arabia in 1988 and then ambassador
to Egypt and UN office in Vienna. Yakish was adviser on economic
affairs at the Foreign Ministry in 1992-1995 and retired on a pension
in 2001. He is one of the founders of the current ruling Justice and
Development Party. Yakish was elected parliament member from Duzja
in 2002, and was Foreign Minister in the 58th Abdullah Gul government.
Now he is the chair of Turkish Grand National Assembly standing
commission for European Union relations.
Yakish was awarded King Abdulaziz order by Saudi Arabian government
for his contributions to development of Turkey-Saudi Arabia relations.
– How do you assess the current situation regarding the settlement
of the Nagorno Garabagh conflict?
– I must say we were dissatisfied with the view appearing
after the February meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian
Presidents. International community does not exert pressure on
Armenia. If Armenia felt the least pressure of the international
community, it would refrain from its position, I think. During
the European Union meetings, they claimed we were wrong regarding
Turkey-Armenia relationships. We heard the claims such as Turkey should
take the initiative, “open the border”. In response to such claims,
we stress that Armenia should pull out its troops from the occupied
Azerbaijani territories and accept fair peace in Nagorno Garabagh.
In addition, Armenia has territorial claims against Turkey-they call
Eastern Anatolia “Western Armenia”.
We cannot possibly establish any relations with Armenia until it
refrains from these claims. No government in Turkey will take any
step to have relations with Armenia without consulting with Azerbaijan.
– US Congress subcommittee imposed veto on Eximbank to finance the
Kars-Akhalkhalak-Tbilisi-Baku railway line project. European Union
authorized representative Waldner also declared the EU will not finance
this project basing on Armenia’s remaining outside of this project.
– A railway line will connect three countries, and it is up to these
three countries to decide weather or not to involve Armenia in the
project. Turkey-Armenia border remaining closed is due to Armenia’s
policy. On the other hand, the Kars-Ghumru railway is a narrow line,
it cannot be used without being repaired. The reconstruction of
Akhalkhalak road will spend as much as the reconstruction of Ghumru
line. So, Armenia’s claims “there is already a railway” are not true.
Secondly, no other country but Armenia is responsible for this road
remaining closed.
– Turkey and Azerbaijan have already voiced their views regarding
financing of this project…
– As Azerbaijan’s oil revenues are increasing, both Baku and Ankara
can allocate $350 million to the construction of the railway line. I
think, Georgia’s participation in financing is not so necessary in
current situation. On the other hand, the United States and European
Union would not allow interest-free loan to us.
– Resigned US Army Colonel Peters has drawn a new map of the Middle
East. Though the map shows united Azerbaijan, the important city
Tabriz is shown as the territory of “Kurdustan”.
– It is incredible. This map is absolutely wrong. I received an
American delegation. When I touched on map issue, I was told it is
author’s opinion. And I asked such a question, “I write an article
saying Armenia causes a lot of problems to the Caucasus region. So it
should be removed. Would the “Armed forces Journal” publish it?” they
said “No”. So, I asked, “You told everyone can publish everything it
likes on the journal”. Such things are disgusting. Division of many
countries into artificial borders is not acceptable.
Several years ago, when Iran proposed to give Mecca and Medina the
status of “Holy land”, Saudi Arabia’s reaction was severe to this
proposal. The above-mentioned map shows Kurdustan’s border lying till
the Black Sea coast, including Artvin and Hopa.
There is no single Kurd living in these territories while the map
shows these as Kurdustan’s territory.
Even, Tabriz-center of South Azerbaijan is given to Kurdustan in the
map. How many Kurds are there in Tabriz?
– The US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group has been
substituted. However, there are attempts to exert pressure on
Azerbaijan. Do you think the Minsk Group is established for the
purpose of making Azerbaijan make trade-offs?
– I think the Minsk Group aims to calm down emotions, distract the
attention of the world community from this problem and put forward
unacceptable proposals in the end. No more vital thing can I imagine
compared to the return of displaced Azerbaijanis to their occupied
homelands in Nagorno Garabagh. The attempts to part Nagorno Garabagh
from Azerbaijan are doomed to failure. The international law says
the same.
Regrettably, when Armenians intend to occupy land from Azerbaijan,
international organizations ignore their decisions.
– As an experienced diplomat and former Foreign Minister, how can you
explain Armenia’s incompliance with the decisions of international
organizations?
– Armenia has a strong lobby in the West, in particular in US
and France. They are establishing relations with rich men in
other countries and influence them. Azerbaijan is also developing
economically. Though these problems cannot be solved today, everyone
can easily imagine the way of solution in future. Azerbaijan should
never say “yes I agree to such trade-offs”. Because, time is going
for Azerbaijan, which is developing its economy.
– The European Parliament has many times called for Turkey to
open the border with Armenia and recognize the so-called “Armenian
genocide”. Do you think in the process of EU membership discussions,
Turkey will have to take this step? There are no such items in
Copenhagen political principles…
– I began to consider this issue as a joke. The discussions on
Turkey’s EU membership consist of concrete paragraphs. For instance,
while discussing in what standard a cucumber should be in agriculture
in European Union, “Turkey cannot say it cannot discuss standard of
cucumber without recognizing the genocide.” Because, these are quite
different issues.
Copenhagen principles do not have any paragraph that stresses the
importance of our recognizing Armenia. We regard these appeals as
the European Union’s consoling itself with. /APA/
GlobalHye Information Services , 10 Aug. 2006
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN-BELGIAN RELATIONS ENTER NEW STAGE
By Gohar Gevorgian
AZG Armenian Daily
30/08/2006
Defense minister Serge Sargsian received yesterday senator Francois
Roelants du Viviers, chairman of Senate’s committee for external
relations and defense of Belgium. According to a press release of
Defense Ministry, the sides touched upon the obligations of South
Caucasian states on their path to the European family. The senator
emphasized recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey if the
latter wants to enter EU and dubbed unacceptable the annihilation of
ancient Armenian khachkars of Old Jugha by Azerbaijan.
Speaking about the need of deepening relations the senator said that
Belgian authorities are looking to opening an embassy in the region.
As to Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, Mr. Roelants du Viviers voiced
concern over increasing military budget of Azerbaijan but stressed that
it that the size of budget does not always mean fighting efficiency
of an army. The sides also touched upon the peaceful regulation of
Nagorno Karabakh issue, issues of regional security and spheres of
mutual interest. Both sides underscored that Armenian-Belgian are
developing and they have entered a new stage.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJANI HACKERS DAMAGE APFA.PARLIAMENT.AM
AZG Armenian Daily
30/08/2006
Azerbaijani hackers have again attacked an Armenian website. This time
it was apfa.parliament.am, official website of the National Assembly
of Armenia, that was thoroughly defaced and trilingual nonsense was
posted signed OCAG Web Security Team.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY: REBEL TO STATESMAN – ANDRE AGASSI
By Harvey Araton
The New York Times
August 29, 2006 Tuesday
Late Edition – Final
THE veteran Andre Agassi watcher knew better than to kiss off Agassi’s
21st United States Open as a formal farewell, even if the heavy odds
and his 36-year-old legs told us last night that was all it could be.
You could say that Agassi made his contender’s last stand here last
year, when he beat James Blake in a five-set match for the ages
before losing the final, with honor, never falling to the level of
Federer fodder.
Then his chronic back staged a full-scale insurgency, and he announced
that his last professional ball would be struck in New York. Hence,
the Andre vigil began with an exhausting 6-7 (4), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (6), 6-2
victory against the Romanian journeyman Andrei Pavel in a ceremonially
charged atmosphere at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
“I know he’s got tennis left in his hands — he made the final here
last year — but I hope he has it left in his back,” Agassi’s former
opponent, Jim Courier, said earlier. But the back is brittle, the body
lacks snap, and Agassi’s second-round date with Marcos Baghdatis should
be the final bow, the dropping of the curtain on the Las Vegas showman,
after being what Courier called “the iconic figure in tennis for the
last 20 years, the leading personality, the biggest drawing card.”
>>From style to substance, hair to bare, Agassi has compelled us to
take notice, made an impression, for better (now) or worse (then).
His locker-room colleagues yesterday — from the 17-year-old American
Donald Young to 53-year-old Jimmy Connors — could undoubtedly pinpoint
the first time they laid eyes on the man who, in the process of aging,
produced a most remarkable rebirth.
Connors declined to dig into his mental archives, citing the more
immediate “business responsibilities” of coaching Andy Roddick to a
first-round victory against Florent Serra. Luckily, another reliable
source happily recalled the occasion of the prime-time Jimbo pushing
the ball from the other side of the net at a 5-year-old boy whose
father was furiously grooming him for the big time.
Mike Agassi, Andre’s dad, explained that he used to string rackets for
visiting professionals at Caesars Palace, and Connors, among others,
was nice enough to humor him.
“Andre made a lob over Jimmy’s head, and Jimmy said, ‘Listen, you
want me to play with you, hit the ball right at me,’ ” Mike Agassi
said in an interview outside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Eleven years later, it was John McEnroe’s turn for a rendezvous with
the budding rebel, in the quarterfinals of a tournament at Stratton
Mountain in Vermont. Agassi was in full costume, denim and all,
with a punk hairdo that McEnroe called a rat’s nest.
When McEnroe followed his second serve to the net on the first point of
the match, Agassi blasted a forehand return long — by more than a few
inches — that made McEnroe roll his eyes at his unknown opponent’s
youthful impudence. McEnroe proceeded to win in straight sets but
later admitted that no one had ever returned his serve that fast.
Told the story by a newspaper reporter (me) who covered that match,
Courier said, “I bet John would tell you that was the moment he
realized that tennis was changing, and he was going to have to adjust.”
McEnroe never did fully make the conversion to power tennis, and he
never won a Grand Slam singles title after his 26th birthday. He wasn’t
the only champion to flame out young — Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker and
Mats Wilander, to name three others — and that is what made Agassi’s
career unique. We charted his highs and lows across the decades. We
watched him evolve, it seemed, in the middle of a match.
“I’ve always said that, unlike the team-sport environment, where
you are protected in a cocoon, as a tennis player you are naked,”
Courier said. “You are growing up in public, warts and all. Andre
has taken the hard road.”
He was the antithesis of his generational rival, Pete Sampras, the
opposite of easy. He was, however, a convenient teenage dartboard
for critics, and, to varying degrees, we all took aim. Making harsh
judgments on developing young people is not the most enjoyable part
of this job, especially with the cameras now turned on children as
young as 12 and with a couple of my own at home.
Given the opportunity to cop that plea not long ago, Agassi refused.
“As I look back on it, I don’t think the media and the public should
have taken a different approach to it,” he told me. “I should have
been accountable a lot earlier.”
Such insight and admissions have made his professional and personal
achievements so much more worthy of applause. Yes, he falls six Grand
Slam titles short of Sampras and loses to him on both of their best
days. Yes, Agassi could have won more had he been focused sooner. But
he, not Sampras, accomplished a career Grand Slam. And he, as much
as any champion we’ve known, seemed to come to the enlightened
understanding that it was less about the judgment than the journey.
Mike Agassi, a short, stocky man, an Armenian who once boxed in the
Olympics for Iran, did a lot of talking outside Arthur Ashe Stadium
yesterday. He said he hadn’t seen Andre since arriving in New York,
doesn’t see him much at home. He said “the mother drops off the kids,
and Andre goes to the gym.” He called Agassi’s wife, Steffi Graf,
“the best thing to happen to our family.”
The father-son relationship sounded complex, as you would expect it
would be. But Mike Agassi said he felt nothing but pride and happiness
for the way it played out, for the man his boy has become.
The father made a rare trip from Vegas and an appearance at an Andre
Agassi match. He waited for nightfall, for the classic ball striker
and great showman of tennis, for the beginning of the end, however
long it lasts.

AZERBAIJANI SPY’S TRIAL ON SEPTEMBER 5
AZG Armenian Daily
30/08/2006
PR Department of National Security Service informs that the trial of
citizen of Azerbaijan Rustem Gappasi Valikhmetov charged with espionage
will be held at Gegharkunik’s first instance court September 5.
The National Security Service arrested Valikhmetov on December 28 2005.