KARABAKH TALKS FRUITLESS OVER BAKU’S REFUSAL TO RECOGNIZE NKR RIGHT TO REFERENDUM
PanARMENIAN.Net
07.06.2006 13:38 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The talks on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement
do not yield fruit since Azerbaijan refuses to recognize the right of
the NKR people to referendum, Vice-speaker of the Armenian parliament
Vahan Hovhannisian stated in Yerevan.
However, in his words, the world practice proves that exercising
the right to self-determination peoples express their will via
referendum. “The point is that Nagorno Karabakh was the first to do
it during the post soviet age, when the international community was
not ready for separation from metropolises. When independence was
proclaimed in Eastern Timor, Eritrea, Montenegro it was perceived
as a normal phenomenon. By the way, the same variant will be to all
appearance proposed to Kosovo,” Hovhannisian remarked.

SO TOURISTS CAN COME TO SPEND, REFUGEES ARE PAID TO GO
Justyna Mielnikiewicz for The New York Times
New York Times
June 6 2006
BATUMI, Georgia – Marina Gahukidze checked into the Meskheti, a
hotel in this faded resort town, in 1993, and never left. She and
her husband have raised three children in a 10th-floor room with a
balcony and a view of the beach.
A children’s dance group rehearsed in a plaza near the shore.
“We didn’t expect to live here so long,” she said of the hotel room,
the only home her children have known.
There are reasons to stay. The hotel overlooks a gray pebble beach
on the Black Sea and rolling green hills, a picturesque scene that
resembles Northern California. It is a subtropical town with velvety
springs and mild winters. It’s just that the hotel is occupied by
refugees, not tourists.
But the summer of 2006 will be the Gahukidze family’s last in the
region of Ajaria, a ribbon of coastal land that includes Batumi and
was wrenched two years ago from a renegade, separatist leader, Aslan
Abashidze. The family is finally moving out, as this former resort
town and oil port built by French architects in the 19th century
embarks on a crash development program to bring back the tourists.
Mr. Abashidze, a Soviet apparatchik, seized control as the Soviet
Union crumbled in the early 1990’s, and then shut Batumi off from the
world while conducting what Interpol said was a lucrative underground
trade in guns and alcohol.
He was ousted on May 5, 2004, by Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian
president who assumed power in 2003, vowing to assert control over the
country’s three separatist regions – two in former beach resort areas.
The refugees in Batumi come from a still-unresolved conflict in
Abkhazia, the other resort district – and therein lies the secret of
the money now pouring into Batumi, and the effort to move Ms. Gahukidze
from her room.
Georgian officials hope to use Batumi to demonstrate to the other
breakaway regions the potential rewards that follow when a separatist
region becomes part of a recognized state.
The city, they say, is becoming a showcase of how quickly one
of the so-called “frozen conflicts” of the former Soviet Union –
Nagorno-Karabakh, which has been fought over by Armenia and Azerbaijan;
Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia; and Transnistria in Moldova –
can thaw out.
“We should communicate to them that they have a future,” Mr.
Saakashvili said of residents of nearby Abkhazia, in an interview
in May over meat dumplings at a seaside cafe. “It will take two or
three years, but they will notice. When we have yachts in the harbor,
they will see.”
Like Beirut on the Mediterranean Sea, a cosmopolitan seafront town
that dropped off the map because of war, Batumi on the Black Sea is
slowly shaking off its stupor.
The transformation is moving rapidly.
Two years after Mr. Abashidze, the separatist leader, fled to Moscow,
Novotel, the French hotel chain, has signed a contract to open a
hotel. A golf course is planned in place of a former Russian tank
base, which sat on an open bluff over the sea that suggests the
rolling green fairways of the Pebble Beach golf course in California.
An amusement park is going up this summer.
Batumi officials expect 300,000 tourists this season, up from almost
none through the 1990’s. In the past two years workers have paved about
79 miles of streets and roads, compared to 10 in the previous 13 years.
In the largest investment to date, the TuranAlem bank of Kazakhstan
bought 21 hotels – including the Meskheti, where Ms. Gahukidze lives.
As part of the investment, the bank will pay each family $7,000 to
move out, enough for a modest apartment in an outlying district.
When the refugees are gone, the Kazakh investors will raze and rebuild
some hotels and refurbish others. The hotels are now home to 1,912
families, or about 6,000 people. So far, 1,400 people have moved out.
Ten miles south of town is a Byzantine castle with a crenelated wall,
now guarding a courtyard of citrus trees, also making a debut to the
modern world as a tourist attraction; during Soviet times, it was in
a closed border zone and off limits.
The detritus of stone Roman waterworks is scattered under a magnolia
tree; the pleasing aroma of mandarin orange trees in bloom wafts over
the old rocks.
The now abandoned castle is emblematic of the tourist potential in
Georgia, where the landscape resembles the south of France.
“It will be a key part of economic growth,” Irakli Chogovadze,
Georgia’s economic minister, said in an interview in May, while
attending a ribbon-cutting at the Intourist Palace hotel in Batumi.
“Wherever you put your finger on the Georgian map, you have potential.”
Beside a bubbling fountain in the hotel foyer, waitresses in pressed
white shirts wove through a crowd of dignitaries with trays of
Champagne flutes and caviar canapes.
The Georgian economy grew 9 percent last year. Foreign visits were
up by 14 percent.
For now, most of the visitors are coming from the former Soviet Union,
Turkey and Iran. The Iranians began slipping over last summer for
a few days of freedom, drinking and girl-watching, none of which is
allowed in their strictly Islamic country.
Ryan V. Hale, 25, a Bible study teacher from Salem, Ore., who is taking
a vacation through Georgia after a religious exchange program, padded
recently through the lobby of another hotel, the L-Bakuri, in shorts
and tennis shoes, a true tourist pioneer. “I came because I wanted
to see the Black Sea,” he said. “The architecture is also pretty.”
Georgia has ambitions of joining NATO one day. Still, the new governor
here, 34-year-old Levan Varshalmoidze, brushes aside questions about
NATO, saying that it is not within his local mandate, and that it is
unlikely a military base will be built in his region.
Besides, he said, “I’ll use all the flat land for hotels before they
get here.”

27TH SESSION OF PABSEC STARTED IN YEREVAN
ArmRadio.am
07.06.2006 15:45
The 27th plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black
Sea Economic Cooperation Organization started today at RA National
Assembly. The event was attended by delegations of legislative bodies
of 11 states (except for the delegation of Serbia and Chernogoria)
and representatives of international organizations.
In his opening speech Chairman of the National Assembly, President
of the PABSEC Tigran Torosyan noted that as a powerful structure
of the region, the Assembly is gradually expanding its activity,
becoming a powerful factor of political and economic stability in the
region. Economic cooperation between the countries of the region and
development of infrastructures will result in establishment of an
atmosphere of trust, which will in its turn promote the resolution
of existing problems in the region.
IN Tigran Torosyan’s words, a number of steps for fostering economic
cooperation have been taken during the six months of Armenia’s
presidency over the Assembly; the legal base of the structure has
been reinforced. Different Committees of the Assembly held sittings,
discussing issues related to fighting economic crimes and elaboration
of concrete steps to deepen the dialogue between countries. The coming
two days provide the best opportunity to discuss a whole circle of
issues. He expressed the hope that this work would be effective.
According to the Chairman, by continuing the work in the direction of
primary issues in fostering economic cooperation, the Parliamentary
Assembly is representing the interests of all countries and the region
as a whole.
Accomplishment of joint economic programs will make it possible to
attract new investments and technologies.
Tigran Torosyan emphasized also that the Parliamentary Assembly’s role
in the development of diplomacy. He highly appreciated the work of
the International Secretariat, due to which all events are organized
on the highest level.
President Robert Kocharyan issued a message, wishing effective work
to the Assembly. “Up until now the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
Organization has been effective in launching economic cooperation
in the region. Nevertheless, there is still a great potential. It is
necessary to promote joint investments in the infrastructures of the
region, particularly in the spheres of energy and transport. Cultural,
educational, scientific programs and development of tourism may also
be of great importance. Such contacts allow to know each other better,
promotes the dialogue of youth in our country, which is an important
precondition for active business ties. Through legislative activity
you can create a favorable legal field for effective cooperation,”
Presidents message says.
An address was issued also by RF D Foreign Minister, BSEC
chairman-in-Office Sergey Lavrov. In his words, the structure should
direct its efforts at establishing peace in the region, since the
work of the organization allows settling the problems of cooperation
more coordinately.
To remind, Armenia undertook presidency over PABSEC last year during
the 26th session held November 23-24 in Tirana. Representatives
of Milli Mejlis of Azerbaijan are also in Armenia to undertake the
presidency for the next six months.

BSECO SECRETARY GENERAL ARRIVING IN ARMENIA JUNE 6
Author: À.Mammadov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
June 6 2006
(PanARMENIAN.Net) – The plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization will be held in
Yerevan June 6-8. Secretary General of the BSECO Standing International
Secretariat Leonidas Chrisanthopoulos is expected to participate
in the event. Within the visit framework he will meet with Armenian
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and National Assembly Speaker Tigran
Torosian, reported the RA MFA press office.
–Boundary_(ID_35A9X6rqjaFGMTHJYk9mtw)–

ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENTS DISCUSS NAGORNY KARABAKH SITUATION
ITAR-TASS, Russia
June 6 2006
BUCHAREST, June 6 (Itar-Tass) — Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan,
Robert Kocharyan and Ilkham Aliyev, on Monday exchanged opinions
regarding the current situation and prospects for settlement of
conflict in the ethnic enclave of Karabakh, a mostly Armenian-populated
region of Azerbaijan.
They presented opinions on this problem while taking part in The
Black Sea Dialogue and Partnership forum that opened here on Monday.
“Armenia is ready to continue dialogue with Azerbaijan, to find the
ways of settling the conflict situation in Nagorny Karabakh and to
formulate its relations with Turkey,” Kocharyan said.
“The people of Nagorny Karabakh chose their destiny during a referendum
that was held in compliance with the norms of international law,”
he went on saying.
“However, the population of Karabakh was forced to fight for the
right to self-determination with arms in the hand,” Kocharian said.
“This process was accentuated by disintegration of the former Soviet
Union.”
“Residents of Nagorny Karabakh continued their fight for independence
during the last 15 years,” Kocharyan said. “A whole generation, which
sees itself as ‘successor to and fighter for self-determination and
independence’, has grown to maturity in Nagorny Karabakh.”
Aliyev, in his turn, pointed out that his country’s territorial
integrity was recognized by all countries and the United Nations.
“We’re satisfied with the resoluteness expressed by the world community
to settling the Karabakh conflict on the basis of the UN resolution,”
Aliyev said.
He reiterated that “under the resolution, the Armenian troops should
be withdrawn from the Nagorny Karabakh territory.”
“We’re also satisfied with the position of other international
organizations on this issue and we support the Armenians’ right to
self-determination and independence,” Aliyev said. “But we believe the
self-determination process should not be implemented in the territory
of Azerbaijan,” he said.
Many Armenian diasporas live all over the world, and we realize what
could have happened if everyone of them had spoken in favor of the
right to independence, Aliyev said.
“We begin a peaceful process together with Armenia, but we believe that
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity is not a theme for discussions,”
Aliyev said.
“Peace settlement in Karabakh will be helpful for stability,
integration and emergence of new possibilities for cooperation [in
the region],” Aliyev said.

ALIYEV: “TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF AZERBAIJAN CAN NOT BE A THEME FOR DISCUSSIONS”
Today, Azerbaijan
June 6 2006
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has made speech during the Black
Sea States Summit.
He spoke of regional and economic development of Azerbaijan, said
Azerbaijan to be Central Asia joining Europe, Silk Route, dealt with
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Main Export Oil Pipeline projects, APA informs.
President has brought to the forum participants attention that if there
were not Nagorno Karabakh problem, state not suffered from extremism,
more success could be achieved.
Ilham Aliyev has stated that Nagorno Karabakh conflict must be
solved within the international law norms and within the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan: “Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan can
not be a matter of talks.”
Armenian President Robert Kocharian making a speech before, stated
that Nagorno Karabakh Armenians has defined their determination for
15 years. Robert Kocharyan said that Armenia is ready to continue
talks on conflict’s settlement.
URL:

MINA GROUP’S FIRST JCK SHOW
By Jeff Miller
Diamonds.net, NY
June 6 2006
(Rapaport…June 5, 2006) Michel Minassian, president of the Mina
Group Inc., of Beverly Hills, California, has a 40-year history in
the custom luxury jewelry market.
The time was right for transitioning into a new product set, according
to Minassian, which is why he made the decision to exhibit for his
first time at the 15th annual JCK Las Vegas Show June 3-7, 2006. As
part of Mina Group’s expansion plan the company introduced a switch
–from exclusively selling gold jewelry– to using diamonds in platinum
and white gold settings.
“My main target business is fancy colors and solitaire rings,”
Minassian said.
After having successfully built a wholesale clientele-base in the
Middle East, the Mina Group now targets growth in the United States.
Rapaport News caught up with Minassian at the JCK Las Vegas Show’s
second day, June 4.
Mina Group’s elaborate rings and brooches only include natural color
diamonds, according to Minassian. “Everything is GIA certified too,”
he said. Minassian conceptualizes the designs upon client requests
and then works with his in-house designer to create the goods.
Minassian is originally from Armenia. Culturally, with his clientele,
it is most important to develop relationships built upon trust he
said. “Trust is key to doing business in the Middle East,” he said
while explaining four decades of success from that region. From his
observations of buyers in the United States, he notes their decision
to purchase is based more upon negotiating price points.
For his first JCK Show, Minassian displayed diamond jewelry creations
including a 10.07 carat radiant cut fancy intense yellow ring set in
18 karat yellow gold and platinum; and a 4.58 carat fancy yellow ring
[pictured top] with six pear-shaped diamonds set in 18 karat yellow
gold and platinum.
Mina Group also showed Rapaport a diamond necklace in 14 karat white
gold with pave diamonds (approximately 6.65 carats) plus 5.20 carat
rounds. Two of Mina Group’s brooches, one of which he called the flower
shape [pictured right,] used approximately 6 carats of diamonds and
blue sapphires set in 18 karat yellow and white gold. A second brooch
Mina Group showcased used approximately 4 carats of sapphires plus
turquoise stones set in 18 karat white gold.
Mina Group targets the high-end market with price points beginning
at $25,000. Minassian said he had very high expectations for the show
to develop new relationships in the United States.

ARMENIA’S GOLDEN RULE
by Malcolm Pein
The Daily Telegraph (LONDON)
June 6, 2006 Tuesday
A COUPLE of 2-2 draws were enough to give Armenia the gold medals
for the first time at the 37th Chess Olympiad. They needed to play
just a few moves in their final match against Hungary to secure the
four draws they required.
China tried to put pressure on in the 12th round by defeating the
Czech Republic 3-1 and Russia overcame Cuba by the same score, but
the Armenians, seeded third, have been just too good. As well as
Levon Aronian’s fine performance on board one, Gabriel Sargissian
playing on board five scored an astonishing 8/9 and then, when his
team needed him to be solid, he drew his last four.
Russia’s misery was complete when they were defeated 3-1 by Israel,
a team of ex-Russians or, in the case of Boris Gelfand, Belarussian.
Israel’s victory was not good enough for a medal. China’s win over
the Netherlands gave them silver and the United States won bronze on
tie-break after scoring 3.5 against Norway. Michael Adams led England
to wins over Iran and Serbia and a respectable 19th place.
Final scores: 1 Armenia 36/52; 2 China 34; 3-4 US, Israel, 33;
5 Hungary 32.5; 6-10 Russia, France, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Spain 32;
19 England 30.5; 52 Scotland 28; 56 Ireland 27.5; 90 Wales 25.

CHESS GENIUS CHECKED RIVAL WHO MOVED AGAINST HIS “QUEEN”
by Jennifer Sym and Ayshea Buksh, PA
Press Association Newsfile
June 6, 2006 Tuesday 3:10 PM BST
A British chess grandmaster may face action from the game’s ruling
body for making a jealous move against a top player for dancing with
a stunning Australian contestant, the team captain said today.
In a surprise manoeuvre in the seemingly-sedate world of chess,
Danny Gormally’s behaviour towards Levon Aronian at the World Chess
Olympiad in Turin seems to have been sparked by the Armenian star’s
jiving with Arianne Caoili.
The Briton was said to have previously met and been emailing Caoili,
the 19-year-old Australian number three, but his dancefloor antics
at the tournament’s Bermuda Party led to retaliation from Aronian’s
teammates.
The World Cup winner’s supporters hit Gormally when he popped out
for a coffee the following day before they knew an apology had been
proffered, English team captain Allan Beardsworth confirmed.
Gormally, 30, from Durham, is ranked sixth in Britain, and subsequently
left the Olympiad early of his own volition.
Mr Beardsworth said: “The bottom line is this is just a little incident
in a nightclub where unfortunately Danny probably had a drink too
many and obviously saw someone dancing with a girl he liked and either
hit or tried to hit them.
“The guy he tried to hit was the world number three.”
The British player, he said, was “gutted” when he awoke the following
morning to realise what he’d done: “He knows he shouldn’t have done
it and knows he wouldn’t have done it normally.
“Danny is a nice, normal guy. When he woke up and realised he’d done
something really stupid, he knew he had to leave. We didn’t get into
any debate about what we wanted to do. He said `I must leave’. He
was so upset and I then arranged it all.”
Mr Beardsworth subsequently apologised to the Armenian delegation
and their star player the morning after the incident at the Hiroshima
Mon Amour nightclub.
“I found the head of the delegation and the translator and had a good
chat. He was fine with it, he rang Aronian up and he was glad I had
been in touch.
“We apologised then and the next day when I saw Levon we shook hands
and he was great. He realised it was just a drinking incident,”
he said.
However, while the apologies were being accepted, Aronian’s teammates
spotted Danny and “unfortunately gave him a punch or two”, said
Mr Beardsworth.
But he added: “Once they knew I had already apologised they came to
find me to apologise back to me. It was all very friendly.”
The English team subsequently came 19th in the biennial tournament,
up from 2004’s 30th place. The Armenian team won the Olympiad.
A captain’s report would be sent to the the English Chess Federation,
he said, and he would be “surprised if the ECF didn’t do something”.
“I think something has to be done. In two years’ time and four years’
time, people will remember this happened …. but what’s needed,
who knows?”
Mr Gormally – described by the team as “England’s newest Grandmaster”
and a “welcome addition to the Olympiad team” – declined to be
interviewed when contacted by the Press Association.
A spokesman for the Chess Federation in the former Soviet republic
said: “The Armenian Chess Federation does not want to give any details
on the subject. You must refer all inquiries to the British Chess
Federation. Goodbye.”
Denis Jessop, president of the Australian Chess Federation, said: “If
the Australian Chess Federation were to receive an adverse report about
the incident, the ACF Council would consider it but I do not see it
likely that any action would be taken in the absence of such a report.”
A spokesperson for the World Chess Federation (FIDE) said: “FIDE has
not received any official report of such an incident. Therefore we
cannot comment on this matter.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IN PARLIAMENT TOMORROW
Press Association Newsfile
June 6, 2006 Tuesday 6:04 AM BST
[parts omitted]
Westminster Hall:
9.30am
Backbench debates on:
Defence Ministry treatment of Gurkhas, opened by Bob Russell (Lib
Dem Colchester)
Hull to York transport gateway, opened by Graham Stuart (C Beverley
and Holderness)
Prospects for peace in Middle East after Israeli elections, opened
by Iain Wright (Lab Hartlepool)
Genocide in Armenia and Assyria, opened by Stephen Pound (Lab Ealing N)
Defence Ministry search and rescue services, Andrew George (Lib Dem
St Ives).