FITCH GRANTS ARMENIA BB- RATING
RIA Novosti, Russia
June 5 2006
YEREVAN, June 5 (RIA Novosti) – International rating agency Fitch
said Monday it had assigned Armenia foreign and local currency issuer
default ratings of BB- with a stable outlook.
The agency also assigned the country a short-term rating of B, and
a country ceiling of BB-.
David Riley, Managing Director of Fitch’s Sovereigns Group,
said: “Armenia’s sovereign credit ratings are supported by prudent
macroeconomic policies and a declining public and external debt burden
that compares favorably with rated peers.”
He said the country’s impressive economic performance had been
underpinned by a robust and coherent macroeconomic policy framework,
and wide-ranging structural reforms that had enhanced the capacity
of the economy to absorb adverse shocks.

BLACK SEA SUMMIT OPENS IN BUCHAREST
Journal of Turkish Weekly
June 5 2006
A summit of Black Sea states opened in Bucharest today.
Speaking at the opening of the summit, Romanian Foreign Minister
Mihai Razvan Ungureanu said, “We should all work to define a new
vision for the Black Sea region, a new vision that would reflect the
new realities and create better conditions for its development.”
The presidents of Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and
Azerbaijan will explore setting up new energy routes to ensure supply
stability between Central Asia and Europe.
The EU wants to diversify energy supplies after a pricing dispute
between Ukraine and Russia cut supplies to Europe in January.
Also on the agenda are talks about the dispute between Armenia and
Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The enclave is
an internationally recognized part of Azerbaijan but under de facto
control of ethnic Armenian separatists.
Officials attending today’s summit in the Romanian capital include
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Moldovan President Vladimir
Voronin, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Armenian Robert
Kocharian, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

ARMENIA/AZERBAIJAN: PRESIDENTS MEET IN BUCHAREST TO DISCUSS KARABAKH
Journal of Turkish Weekly
June 5 2006
Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev have met for talks on the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Speaking to RFE/RL in an exclusive interview, Steven Mann, the U.S.
co-chair of the OSCE’s Minsk Group, said that the presidents spoke
for 2 and 1/2 hours on June 4. “There was a good atmosphere in the
talks and again, a good atmosphere and a detailed discussion,” he said.
The Minsk Group, which is co-chaired by the United States, Russia,
and France, has been negotiating the conflict since 1992.
Russian Minsk Group co-chair Yury Merzlyakov said the fact that the
presidents decided to meet was significant: “Russia’s position is
that a settlement cannot be imposed on the two parties. They should
reach it themselves, with the help of mediators. I think it is clear.
The parties themselves bear the main responsibility for reaching
a settlement.”
The talks are the second time the presidents have met this year,
after meeting in Rambouillet, near Paris, on February 10-11. Those
talks failed to yield any agreement.
Peace Prospects
Predominantly ethnic-Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh seceded from Soviet
Azerbaijan in 1988, triggering a six-year war that ended with a
truce. Officially, the two countries are still at war.
Both presidents are under renewed pressure to reach a framework
agreement on solving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by the end of
this year.
Diplomats and observers have said that, with the absence of national
elections in both countries, this year presents a good opportunity
to reach a framework agreement.
Today, the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents will both speak at the
Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization in the Romanian Parliament
in Bucharest.

THERE WAS GOOD ATMOSPHERE IN TALKS OF AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS IN BUCHAREST
Author: E.Huseynov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
June 5 2006
There was a good atmosphere during the meeting of Armenian President
Robert Kocharian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Bucharest
on June 4, and there was held a detailed discussion of the ways of
resolving the conflict, Trend reports quoting an interview of Steven
Mann, the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE’s Minsk Group, to the radio
“Svaboda” (Freedom). Mann said that the presidents spoke for 2 and
1/2 hours.
Russian Minsk Group co-chair Yury Merzlyakov said the fact that the
presidents decided to meet was significant: “Russia’s position is
that a settlement cannot be imposed on the two parties. They should
reach it themselves, with the help of mediators. I think it is clear.
The parties themselves bear the main responsibility for reaching
a settlement.”

ROOTS OF TERRORISM: SYMPOSIUM ON ROOTS OF TERRORISM IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
>From Narain Kataria
Organiser, India
June 5 2006
Hindus suffered maximum brunt
A Symposium on “Roots of terrorism” was organised by America’s Truth
Forum in Washington, D.C. last month. It was attended by prominent
and highly-placed scholars and experts on Islamic Studies. Most
of them were celebrities and frequent guests on national TV and
Radio Stations. Dr. Babu Suseelan, a Psychologist and Director of
Addiction Research Institute, PA and Board Member of Indian American
Intellectuals Forum (IAIF) presented his viewpoint in a forceful
manner.
The symposium was well attended by about 400 intellectuals and US
opinion makers; majority of whom were Jewish and Christian Americans.
IAIF members too were present in a sizable number. This was a rare
occasion for IAIF members to interact with American mainstream
personalities and exchange the Indian viewpoint openly on the menace
of terrorism. It was, probably, for the first time that the presence
and scholarship of Hindu Americans was recognised and appreciated
by renowned global experts on counter-terrorism. Surprisingly, many
of these well recognised experts on counter-terrorism did not know
enough about the terrible atrocities perpetrated on peaceful Hindus
by the Islamic invaders and rulers.
Dr. Babu Suseelan explained that it was absolutely essential for the
world to understand the deadly ideology that successfully transforms
the simple human beings into deadly suicide bombers and terrorists.
He said that we cannot deal with the problem of terrorism until and
unless we completely comprehend the ideology which extols the virtues
of killing and preaches hate, incites violence and enjoins on its
followers to instill terror in the hearts of those who do not believe.
Many of the Islamic injunctions make the co-existence of Muslims
with any other people almost impossible. That is the reason why
Muslims have been in a state of perpetual war wherever they live,
be it Afghanistan or Iraq, Chechnya or Sudan, Kashmir or Thailand,
Indonesia or Bangladesh, Philippine or Spain, USA, UK, or India.
It is vital to understand that Islamic menace exists because of
liberal’s habitual tolerance of intolerance. Their tolerance of
intolerance is not tolerance. This type of pathological tolerance,
sobering sympathy for Jihadists and stony indifference to victims is
immoral and barbaric.
Tracing the history of India, Dr. Suseelan pointed out that the
Afghanistan was once Hindu and a part of the original India of that
time. In 1947, Pakistan too was forcibly carved out of the Indian
Territory by Islamists. Now, feverish efforts are on by all Islamic
nations to wrest the Indian Kashmir from the Hindu India. Threats
of violence, loot, murder and rape of Hindus-all familiar tools of
terrorism-have become a routine thing in Kashmir today.
Some of us mistakenly believe that terrorism in the world began from
9/11/2001. This assumption is based on ignorance, lack of historical
background and devoid of factual data. For example, India has been
experiencing terrorism for hundreds of years. Even the so-called
Moghul King ‘Akbar-the-Great’ had killed 30,000 to 40,000 innocent
Hindus in one day.
It is common knowledge in India that 14,000 young Hindu girls had to
burn themselves in fire in a city named Chittor in a western sate of
Rajasthan in India when Hindu soldiers were not able to defend the
honor of their womenfolk against the barbarian Islamic forces.
Timur-the-Terrible ordered his soldiers to kill 100,000 Hindu prisoners
in one day. Tuzk-i-Timuri, the book written by his historian records
‘In a short span of time all the people in the fort were put to sword,
and in the course of one hour the heads of 10,000 infidels were cut
off. The sword of Islam was washed in the blood of the infidels.’
Almost entire world knows that six million Jewish people were murdered
by Nazis. It is also known that 1.2 million Armenians were butchered
by Turkish Muslims.
Will Durant, the celebrated author of ‘The Story of Civilization’
has said that “The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest
story in history.” Anwar Shaikh, a Pakistani Muslim scholar of repute
settled in UK, in his book ‘This is Jihad’ says that “The Muslims
must fight non-Muslims. Mr. Koenraad Elst, the Belgian scholar and
Indologist says that there is a place in Afghanistan called The Hindu
Kush, which means the slaughter of Hindu.
At present, Hindus are under siege in India. Muslim population there
is rising with leaps and bounds. There are 162 million Muslims living
in Pakistan. There are approximately 150 to 160 million Muslims in
India; Bangladesh has another 147 million Muslims. Roughly one-third
of the world’s Muslim population lives in the Indian sub-continent.
This is a very frightening scenario for India.
Enlightened audience in the high-profile Symposium was horrified and
shocked at the information provided and profusely applauded Dr.
Suseelan time and again. Later, many groups invited him to speak on
television, radio, and in their meetings.
These were some of the luminaries who participated in the Symposium:
R. James Woolsey, former Director of CIA, Dr. Paul Williams, former
Consultant to FBI, Dr. Bruce Tefft, a founding member of the CIA’s
Counter Terrorism Center, Dr. Andrew Bostom, Editor of “The Legacy of
Jihad”, Joe Kaufman, Investigative Journalist for Frontpage Magazine,
Robert Spencer, Director of Jihad Watch, David Horowitz, President of
the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, Walid Shobat, a former
PLO functionary, Brigitte Gabriel, a former anchor for world news in
the Middle East and a prominent Arab-American journalist, Dr. Harvey
Kushner, a noted author, lecturer, professor and internationally
recognized authority on terrorism, Kenneth Timmerman, a nominee for
the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
(The writer is President, Indian American Intellectuals Forum,
New York.)
hp?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=134&pa ge=25
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ALIYEV MEETS FM OF BELGIUM, OSCE CHAIRMAN-IN-OFFICE
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
June 5 2006
President Ilham Aliyev on 5 June in Bucharest has met Foreign Minister
of Belgium, OSCE Chairman-in-office Karel de Gucht.
In the meeting, discussed was the current status of the negotiations
concerning the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh
conflict and other questions of mutual interest.
Mr. Karel De Gucht extended his congratulations to THE President of
Azerbaijan on reach of the Azerbaijani oil to the Turkish Ceyhan port.

GUAM IS FUNERAL OF ASHES OF USSR
Prime News Agency, Georgia
June 5 2006
Tbilisi. June 05 (Prime-News) – The Polish mass media terms GUAM as
a funeral service of ashes of the former USSR.
According to the June 05th issue of the Wprost newspaper, the
Kremlin lavished centres for political research regularly summon the
CIS-BI summit in Moscow and invite experts who support “pro Russian
separatism” in Moldova and Georgia.
Vitali Kinakh, Ukrainian Defence and Security Council Secretary General
terms the Commonwealth of Independent States a virtual organisation,
the newspaper says.
“The Russian Duma has not even elaborated principles of free trade
among the CIS member states. Russia has already lost Georgia, Ukraine,
Moldova and Khirgizia, as well as the Autonomous Republic of Adjara”,
the Ukrainian official said.
“Russia thinks that Georgia and Ukraine, as the western agents,
are looking for reduction of Russian influence over the post soviet
regions. Russia sees a genetically Russia phobia of the Baltic
nations and Poland as reason for revolt, as they stir actions in other
countries as well. According to Yuri Levada political centre, it was
Poland’s idea to change GUAM into the international organisation,
through initiation by Georgia and Ukraine. Besides, Romania wants
the presidents of Georgia and Ukraine to take part in resolution of
the conflict in Prednestrovie, which immediately challenges Russia,
as the latter supports independence of the breakaway republics”,
the newspaper says.
Poland also initiated creation of the Commonwealth of Democratic
Choice, which affiliated the post soviet and the Central European
countries. The organisation aims at reduction of influence of Russia.
It was a start of “the war”. In this war Russia uses ban of import
of Georgian wines and mineral waters and Ukrainian pipes as lethal
weapon. The weakest spot of GUAM is Azerbaijan, as it accounts for
energy independence,and Moscow can stir anti Azerbaijani feelings
in Armenia.
Russia also created Economic Commonwealth of Eurasia, Organisation
for Collective Security and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to
reduce importance of GUAM, the newspaper went on.

AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS CONTINUE TALKS TO SETTLE NK CONFLICT TODAY
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 5 2006
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s President Robert
Kocharian today continued the negotiating process for the settlement
of the Nagorno Garabagh conflict in the Romanian capital, Bucharest.
The Azerbaijani Embassy in Romania told APA that the presidents did
not make any statements after about 40-minute talks. The results of
the meeting are not yet made public.
The Presidents started the talks in Bucharest yesterday. No statement
was made after the yesterday’s 4-hour talks.

RA AND AR PRESIDENTS REFUSED TO REVEAL DETAILS OF THEIR TALKS TO MASS MEDIA
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
June 5 2006
Having talked over three hours tete-a-tete, RA and AR Presidents Robert
Kocharyan and Ilham Aliyev refused to reveal any detail of the talks,
ArmInfo reports quoting RFE/RL.
To remind, the Presidents’ meeting was held at the Greek Embassy
in Bucharest June 4. All the efforts of journalists to get details
of the meeting were useless. In response to the Azeri journalists’
insistent questions, President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan just said
accommodation on providing details to mass media had not been reached
in the course of the Bucharest meeting. President of Azerbaijan Ilham
Aliyev ignored the journalists’ questions, RFE/RL reports. It should
be noted the Presidents met within the frames of the Black Sea Forum
for Dialogue and Partnership.

ARMENIAN CHESS PLAYERS – WORLD OLYMPIAD WINNERS- TO BE HONORED IN YEREVAN TODAY
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
June 5 2006
A solemn reception in honor of the Armenian chess players – the
winners of the World Chess Olympiad held in Turin – will be organized
in Yerevan today, Novosti-Armenia reports.
Armenian chess players are arriving in Yerevan by the Paris flight at
10 p. m. local time today, RA PM Andranik Margaryan told journalists
today.
In his words, today the government will elaborate the mechanism of
organizing an official reception to be held at the Freedom Square
near the National Theater of Opera and Ballet.
He reminded according to the government’s decision the international
competitions’ winners were rewarded from RA state budget. Armenian
PM added the Armenian chess players might also get additional reward.
RA men’s chess team won the World Chess Olympiad held in Turin, Italy,
May 20 – June 4.
Levon Aronyan (FIDE 2005 World Cup winner), Vladimir Hakobyan, Karen
Asryan, Smbat Lputyan, Gabriel Sargsyan and Artashes Minasyan were
in Armenia’s team.