Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 4, 2006
Arzu Abdullayeva: “We monitored Shusha prison during our visit to
Nagorno Karabakh”
04 August 2006 [09:56] – Today.Az
Today Arzu Abdullayeva, chairmen of the Azerbaijan National Committee
at the Helsinki Civil Assembly, gave a press conference on the visit
to the Nagorno Karabakh July 28-30.
According to APA, Arzu Abdullayeva said that the visit was realized
within Parliament Assembly of European Council: “Project on war
prisoners and hostages was implemented at the initiative of HCA. Our
principal aim of the visit to Nagorno Karabakh was to monitor the
occupied lands.”
A. Abdullayeva added that they could monitor Shusha prison only: “We
were delayed for half an hour at the fourth floor of the Shusha
prison where Azerbaijani war prisoners were collectively held. We saw
the wall writings by Azerbaijani prisoners in the jail in unbearable
condition. We were not allowed to go to Meden in Kelbajar and to use
cameras.”
Abdullayeva also said that they met with Arkadi Gukasyan, leader of
the separatist regime, and family members of the alleged Armenian
missing and war prisoners.
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azerbaijan posts highest H1 industrial output growth in CIS
Interfax, Russia
Aug 4, 2006
Azerbaijan posted the highest year-on-year industrial output growth
in the CIS in the first half of 2006 at 41.1%, the CIS Interstate
Statistics Committee said Thursday.
Industrial production increased 22.4% in Turkmenistan, 12.6% in
Belarus, 6.3% in Tajikistan, 5.1% in Kazakhstan, 4.4% in Russia and
3.6% in Ukraine.
Production fell 6.8% in Kyrgyzstan, 6.4% in Moldova and 1% in Armenia.
The CIS statistics committee does not have industrial production
figures for Georgia, and Uzbekistan.
GDP grew 6.5% year-on-year on average in the CIS in the first half
of 2006 and industrial production was up 5.5%.
GDP growth was highest in Azerbaijan at 36.3%. GDP went up 11.9%
in Armenia, 10.1% in Belarus, 7.1% in Tajikistan, 5% in Ukraine, and
3.1% in Kyrgyzstan. GDP has not yet been calculated for the rest of
the CIS countries.
“The economic growth trend will continue to be restored throughout
the CIS in 2-6. However, half of the countries will see a lower rate
of growth than in 2005 and 2004 for many basic economic indicators.
The CIS Statistics Committee predicts that GDP will increase by an
average of 6% in the CIS, compared with 6.8% in 2005 and 8.1% in 2004,
and average growth in EurAsEC countries is, respectively, 6%, 6.7%
and 7.5%,” the committee said.
“The rate of GDP growth in Azerbaijan will continue to grow at a record
high rate with continued increased oil production and the official
launch in June 2006 of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline,” analysts predicted.
“For Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, GDP growth will be higher than the
relatively low base from the previous years. Ukraine saw the lowest
GDP growth in five years among all the CIS countries in 2005, while
in Kyrgyzstan production remained virtually at the same level as the
previous year due to reduced production at Kumtor,” the analysts said.
“GDP growth is expected to slow in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Moldova and Russia,” the committee said. me

ARMENIAN POLITICIAN CLAIMS US MEDIATORS PRO-AZERI STANCE
AssA-Irada, Azerbaijan
July 4, 2006 Tuesday
The latest statements by the US mediator brokering settlement to the
Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict openly revealed
his slant toward Azerbaijan, an Armenian parliament member maintains.
The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and the new co-chair
of the OSCE Minsk Group (MG), Matthew Bryza, has told the press
that the mediators submitted a framework accord to the conflicting
sides and outlined its key principles, but added t hat the latter
have yet to accept it. Armen Ashotian, who represents the Armenian
Republican Party, said the first part of the statement did not cover
determination of the Upper Garabaghs status and the issue concerning
the Lachin and Kalbajar districts. There is a considerable difference
between the statements of Bryza and those of other MG co-chairs,
the MP said. He went on to say that the United States binds great
hopes with its new intermediary. He said international experience
in the area of settling conflicts over Georgias breakaway republics
of Abkhazia and South Ossetia enables a conclusion that these hopes
are not groundless. Commenting on Bryzas position on other issues,
Ashotian said the American mediator places a particular emphasis
on launching dialogue between Armenia and Turkey after the Garabagh
dispute is settled and normalizing relations between the two countries
in the future.

The New York Times
July 4, 2006 Tuesday
Late Edition – Final
Ballet Medals Awarded In International Contest
By JENNIFER DUNNING
JACKSON, Miss., July 2
The cream of Jackson society was at Thalia Mara Hall on Saturday
night for the Olympic-style awarding of medals to the winners of the
eighth USA International Ballet Competition.
Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, stood up from the
audience for a bow and stayed until the end of the gala event. A
starting field of 121 dancers from 27 countries had been narrowed to
13 medalists from 8 nations, with fans muttering about who had been
”robbed,” and ballet students screaming for their favorites. There
were corporate prizes like that from Tutu.com and the TutusDivine
Awards in addition to medals and other honors. Twenty-seven years
after its promising but rather down-home start, the Jackson
competition has clearly arrived.
It all began in 1975 when Ms. Mara, a dance writer and teacher who
died in 2003, was invited to Jackson to develop professional ballet
in the city. There were then no other international competitions in
America. Jackson was far from being a major dance city, and besides,
it was so very hot there in the summer.
But Ms. Mara brought in big ballet guns like Robert Joffrey, who had
a lot of experience with ballet contests throughout the world. The
city went into full-gear Southern hospitality mode. Today the event,
held every four years, is one of six major international ballet
contests around the world, including the biannual New York
International Ballet Competition. Ten of the 13 junior (15 to 18
years old) and senior (19 to 26) medalists had won honors in at least
two other international competitions.
American competitions now lure the subculture of professional
contestants. A performance of the ”Black Swan” pas de deux from
”Swan Lake,” danced by Misa Kuranaga of Japan, who won the senior
gold medal, and Daniel Sarabia (both of the Boston Ballet), was so
coolly polished that it looked out of place in a competition program.
But something surprising happened on Saturday night. The two demons
of international competitions — hard-sell bravura dancing and
flirtatious contemporary ballet solos for male competitors — were
much less in evidence. And the highlight of the gala, which rightly
drew the cheering audience to its feet in the evening’s only standing
ovation, was an astonishing performance of the pas de deux from ”Le
Corsaire” by Joseph Michael Gatti, a senior bronze medalist from the
United States, and Adiarys Almeida Santana, a Cuban finalist, both in
their early 20’s and soloists at the Cincinnati Ballet.
Mr. Gatti and Ms. Santana managed to make technical feats that would
have been astounding from much more experienced virtuoso performers
look like the purest and most honest ballet dancing. The tricks were
all there — dazzling multiple turns, most of all — but they were
delivered with a lack of affectation and with seamless, fluid
finishes that made rare artistry of the gimmicks.
The men tended to outdance the women this year. (No women’s junior
gold medal was awarded.) One exception was Sasha De Sola, the
16-year-old winner of the Junior Best Couple Award, with her fellow
American Mathias Dingman as her partner, who brought an intriguing
delicacy to steely bravura dancing in the pas de deux from ”Flames
of Paris.” Jurgita Dronina (senior silver, Lithuania) stood out for
the stylishness of her dancing in an excerpt from the ”Sleeping
Beauty” grand pas de deux.
But even more impressive was the easy virtuosity of the male
medalists, among them Jeffrey Cirio (junior bronze, United States);
Masayoshi Onuki (senior bronze, United States); Isaac Hernandez
(junior gold, Mexico); and Brooklyn Mack (senior silver, United
States).
Another reassuring sign was the performance by Daniil Simkin, a
19-year-old German senior gold medalist, an audience favorite and the
winner of the TutusDivine Award, who made something almost charming
of ”Les Bourgeois,” a coy solo choreographed by Ben Van Cauwenbergh
to music by Jacques Brel.
The contemporary choreography was lackluster, with the exception of
”September,” created by Ben Lida, who won an award for the witty
piece, danced by Yui Yonezawa (senior bronze, Japan), and Georgi
Smilevski.
The medalists also included Christine Shevchenko (junior bronze,
United States); Denys Cherevychko (junior silver, Ukraine); Sae-Eun
Park (junior silver, South Korea); and Kayo Sasabe (junior bronze,
Japan). The award for best senior couple was given to Davit
Karapetyan of Armenia and Vanessa Zahorian, his noncompeting partner.
For the record, Japan and the United States tied for the most medals
(four each), with one each going to Germany, Lithuania, Mexico,
Ukraine and South Korea.

CEASEFIRE BREACH INTERRUPTS OSCE MONITORING
AssA-Irada, Azerbaijan
July 4, 2006 Tuesday
The monitoring in a village of the Khojavand District on the
Armenia-Azerbaijan frontline was interrupted after Armenians opened
fire at the OSCE representatives conducting the procedure. The OSCE
chairmans special envoy Andrjej Caspzyk ordered to stop the monitoring
after his field assistants, Gunter Falk and Peter Key, were subjected
to shooting on the Armenian side, according to the Azerbaijan Defense
Ministry. The procedure was to be overseen on the Azeri side of the
frontline by field assistants Yuri Aberle and Imre Palatines.

NATO DEPUTY CHIEF URGES NEGOTIATED GARABAGH SETTLEMENT
AssA-Irada, Azerbaijan
July 4, 2006 Tuesday
NATO calls on both Azerbaijan and Armenia to seek a negotiated
settlement to the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict, its Assistant
Secretary General Jean Fournet has said. The dispute can be resolved
only in peace and all other means questioning this option should be
given up, he told a news conference in Baku on Tuesday.
We are interested in the continuation of talks. But we have no
intention to act as a part of the OSCE Minsk Group dealing with the
conflict. Asked of the alliances possible role in case the parties
strike an agreement, Fournet said this question could be answered
only after the actual peace accord is reached. The enforcement of
decisions passed by influential international organizations has been
in public domain of late. Particularly alarming is the fact that the
UN Security Councils four resolutions on the unconditional withdrawal
of Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan
have not been implemented yet. Fournet said the issue should not be
addressed by NATO proper. He said all decisions in the alliance are
made based on a consensus and are definitely enforced. Fournet said
he is not inclined to talk of other organizations in this respect but
added that all of their decisions should be properly executed. The
NATO official avoided commenting on the fact that 20% of Azerbaijans
territories are under occupation. Although he repeatedly stated
that the alliance is committed to fighting terror, he failed to put
forth a firm stance concerning Armenias committing an act of terror
against its neighbor. Fournet hinted, however, that NATO has no plans
to eliminate the aftermath of the Armenian terror, adding that the
organization intends only to jointly struggle against emerging threats.

TREND, Azerbaijan
Aug 4, 2006
Azeri Foreign Minister hasn’t received any proposal to hold meeting
with his Armenian colleague in Prague
Source: Trend
Author: A.Mammadov
04.08.2006
The Azerbaijani foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov hasn’t received
any proposal from the mediators to hold a meeting with his Armenian
colleague Vardan Oskanyan in Prague in the fall. Event the American
co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group Mathew Bryza didn’t touch up on this
question, Mamadyarov told journalists on August 4, Trend reports with
reference to Lider TV.
According to the minister, the co-chairs discussed different variants
of resolving Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Official Baku isn’t aware of
the negotiations.
Mammadyarov noted that Azerbaijan support the peaceful talks.
“One of the disputable questions in settling the conflict is the
conducting of the reforms. American co-chair supports the position
of Azerbaijan in this direction,” Mammadyarov stressed.
Official Baku is worried by the activities of the foreign companies
belonging to Armenian businessmen in the Azerbaijan’s occupied
territories, the minister added, noting that they are mainly engaged
in the construction of hotels and other objects.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 4, 2006 Friday
KARABAKH: IN THE IMPASSABLE JUNGLE OF RESOLUTION
by Ambassador Vladimir Kazimirov, the head of the Russian Mission for
Truce in Karabakh
RUSSIAN, AMERICAN, AND FRENCH CHAIRMEN OF THE OSCE MINSK GROUP WILL
DISCUSS THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT RESOLUTION; The OSCE Minsk
Group is meeting to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution.
Russian, American, and French chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group will
meet in Paris on August 2-3, to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
resolution. This is going to be the first conference of international
mediators after the June demarche, caused by fruitlessness of the
meetings between Presidents Robert Kocharjan of Armenia and Ilham
Aliyev of Azerbaijan this year.
Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group called a break this June, and urged
the heads of the involved states (Armenia and Azerbaijan) to display
political will for peace. Their demarche and some leaks to the media
on what suggestions had been made generated public debates. The
cul-de-sac situation is being grappled with at this point, but few
stimuli for mutual concessions appear. Official reaction in the
respective capitals proved quite traditional. President of the
unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh Arkady Gukasjan was the
first the other day to promote in public the necessity of long
overdue reconciliation between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
Yerevan began play-acting, pretending that the suggestions made by
foreign intermediaries were acceptable as a basis for talks
continuation. The Armenians never hesitate to show their own
“constructive stand” whenever they are confident of Azerbaijan’s
reaction – meaning that whatever is suggested will be turned down by
Baku. It gives the Armenians a slight advantage. In the meantime,
many Armenians complain that the other side is not dependable enough
when it comes down to honoring accords and grumble over what they
call exaggerated readiness of their own leaders (virtual readiness,
if the truth were to be told) to withdraw from the occupied districts
around Nagorno-Karabakh.
It is more difficult for the Azerbaijani leadership, which is
compelled to reassure its general public that nothing has been agreed
on actually and that the key idea of a referendum on the status of
Nagorno-Karabakh is to be reduced to the level of an ordinary opinion
poll. In the meantime, it was only recently that official Baku was
bragging that only two issues of eight or ten had to be settled yet.
This permanent lack of exactness (whether or not accords have been
made and if they are being honored) is typical of the adolescent
Azerbaijani diplomacy.
Official Baku is racking its brains to try to come up with new
demands now. Demilitarization of the conflict area, i.e. disarmament
of Nagorno-Karabakh, is insisted on. It becomes more and more clear
that Aliyev does not really want an agreement, that he is stalling
for time in the hope to build up military muscle despite his regular
threats to Yerevan to the effect that Azerbaijan’s patience is
running out. Ducking the suggestions made by the international
community, official Baku itself procrastinates the sufferings of
Azerbaijani fugitives from Nagorno-Karabakh (it claims that they
number over a million!) and makes them hostages of the unsolved
problem of Nagorno-Karabakh. Every now and then Aliyev even hints at
the possibility of a military operation of vengeance – even though
the international community has made its stand on this particular
option clear. No new war will be tolerated.
This time-out taken by the intermediaries prompted some other players
to try their hand with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution. The
notorious International Crisis Group or ICG went to great lengths to
show the panic it was in and all but proclaimed the need for a new
international intermediary. France alone would not do, as far as ICG
representatives are concerned. They want all of Europe dragged into
the matter. Peter Semneby of the EU visited the region in unseemly
haste. Pierre Leluche of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly grew
active…
This eagerness to play the arbiter for Nagorno-Karabakh proves
existence of certain geopolitical appetites and even certain
shallowness of the thinking processes. A great deal of states and
prominent state officials racked their brains, collective and
individual, afterwards trying to save face. Lack of knowledge on what
the conflict had been about in the first place and how it had evolved
let down the overly eager more than once. It happened so to the ICG
or Lord Atkinson, author of the report to the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe who chose to rely on “a single still shot”
of the situation in the region in 2005, when even a whole “movie”
(figuratively of course) wouldn’t have sufficed as a basis for
serious debates.
New American Chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza joined
the club in the cowboy-ish manner typical of the Bush Administration.
Bryza visited Yerevan, Stepanakert, and Baku – and left the
impression of having been overly long-winded.
It stands to reason to expect three chairmen to base their future
actions on Bryza’s trip to the region. Even another meeting between
Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers may be arranged.
The OSCE set out to have the conflict resolved peacefully. It ought
therefore to be more consequent and persistent. First and foremost,
it should demand a peaceful solution to the problem more firmly,
denouncing everything that collides with its efforts – including all
and any threats particularly when they are made by the heads of
states.
Undeniably nit-picking in the matter of human rights and electoral
procedures, OSCE structures are surprisingly tolerant when
confronting militarist and revenge-monger-ish statements from
officials and outright blase when it comes down to the continuing
arms race, actual skirmishes, and neglect of the existing accords by
the involved countries. The Middle East in the meantime is an example
of how even a restricted war results in mass and huge violations of
human rights.
A categorical denouncement of a new war alone will pave way to actual
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Source: Vremya Novostei, August 2, 2006, p. 5
Translated by A. Ignatkin

Armavia says paid off debt to Russia for air navigation services
Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
August 4, 2006 Friday 8:04 PM EET
YEREVAN Aug 4 — Armenian airline Armavia has paid off all its debt to
Russia’s State Air Traffic Management Corporation for air navigation
services, Rafael Avetikyan, the airline’s deputy general director,
said Friday, ITASR-TASS reported.
All issues have been settled and Armavia will continue carrying out
flights to Russia, Avetikyan said.
His statement followed an announcement made earlier Friday by the
State Air Traffic Management Corporation that it planned to stop
providing air navigation services to Armavia starting August 14 due
to Armavia’s failue to pay back U.S. $800,000 for services rendered.
The State Air Traffic Management Corporation first suspended air
navigation services for Armavia February 10 due to the debt, it said.
Armavia provided a timeline for debt redemption February 17 and was
expected to redeem the debt by May 31. However, Armavia reduced debt
payments after the crash of its Airbus A320 plane May 3 and asked
the State Air Traffic Management Corporation for an extension. The
Russian company agreed to provide the extension, but Armavia again
failed to redeem the debt on time.
Armavia’s Airbus A320 plane crashed May 3 into the Black Sea near
the Russian resort of Sochi, killing all 113 people onboard.
Armavia started operating flights in 2001. Its fleet currently
includes six aircraft, including one Airbus A320, two Airbus A319s,
as well as Russian Il-86, Yak-42 and Yak-40 aircraft.

Azerbaijani soldier killed in fire from Armenians: Baku
Agence France Presse — English
August 4, 2006 Friday 12:38 PM GMT
BAKU, Aug 4 2006 — An Azerbaijani soldier has been killed by fire
from ethnic Armenian forces near the disputed Nagorno Karabakh region,
the defense ministry in Baku said Friday.
The 20-year-old, Babek Mirzaliyev, died Thursday on the Azerbaijani
side of a ceasefire line that has been in place since a temporary
accord was reached between Baku and Yerevan over the disputed region
in 1994.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-year war over the Armenian-majority
enclave of Nagorno Karabakh, which seceded from Soviet Azerbaijan in
the early 1980s.
The conflict claimed 25,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands
of people, ending in the 1994 ceasefire.
Tensions have remained high and incidents occur regularly, with the
Armenian-controlled region’s status still unresolved.