TURKEY ASKS RUSSIA TO STOP REBEL KURD ACTIVITIES
Anatolia news agency
1 Jun 06
Ankara, 1 June: Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul asked his
Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to support Turkey in its fight
against terrorism.
Gul and Lavrov had a dinner in the Turkish Foreign Minister’s Residence
yesterday.
According to diplomats, two foreign ministers exchanged views about
bilateral relations and regional topics, as well as Turkey’s EU
membership bid.
Lavrov welcomed measures Turkey has taken regarding the Caucasus,
while Gul asked Lavrov to extend support to Turkey’s fight against
the terrorist organization PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party]. He asked
that Russia take measures against illegal activities of the terrorist
organization on its territory.
The two ministers also discussed the so-called Armenian genocide
allegations, as well as Armenian-Azerbaijani controversy.
Diplomats quoted Lavrov as saying that “the Armenian allegations
are not a dominant factor in Turkish-Russian relations; although
it is important for the Armenians”. In the meeting, Lavrov said
“they (Russians) are against using such historical incidents as a
political tool.”
Supporting Turkey’s suggestion to set up a joint commission composed
of Turkish-Armenian historians to investigate the Armenian claims,
Lavrov said that they are ready to extend necessary support to Turkey
regarding this issue.
Meanwhile, Gul said that unless the controversy between Armenia and
Azerbaijan is settled before Azerbaijani elections, a solution may not
be reached within next five or 10 years. “Therefore, we hope Russia
will contribute to the settlement of the problem in the possible
shortest time,” he noted.
On the other hand, diplomats said that Russia plans to upgrade its
consulate in southern Turkish city of Antalya to a consulate general,
while Turkey thinks of opening a consulate general in St Petersburg.
In their meeting, Gul told Lavrov that he is thinking of participating
in “Paris Charter” meeting to be held in Russia on 27 July.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI, TAJIK DEFENCE MINISTRIES SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENT
ANS TV, Baku
1 Jun 06
[Presenter] Azerbaijani Defence Minister Safar Abiyev discussed the
Karabakh problem in talks with his Tajik opposite number, Sherali
Khayrulloyev.
The talks focused on bilateral military cooperation, the military and
political situation in the Caucasus and Central Asia, international
terrorism and the joint fight against it. The meeting ended with the
signing of an intergovernment military agreement between Azerbaijan
and Tajikistan.
[Safar Abiyev] At today’s meeting we had fruitful talks on a number
of issues of mutual interests for the Defence Ministries of both
countries. We discussed future prospects for mutual development. We
exchanged views on the military and political situation in the Caucasus
and Central Asia. Col-Gen Khayrulloyev was informed of the occupation
of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia, the concentration of large amount
of weapons and military hardware and their further transfer to the
occupied lands.
[Correspondent] Tajik Defence Minister Sherali Khayrulloyev made an
unexpected statement. He said that although an official military
cooperation agreement was signed today, our countries have been
cooperating to this effect for more 10 years. Asked if Tajikistan
supports Azerbaijan’s position on the Karabakh problem, Abiyev himself
answered this question. Abiyev said that his Tajik counterpart and
several other people approached him after his address to the meeting
of the Council of CIS Defence Ministers in Baku yesterday.

TRUCKLOADS OF RUSSIAN MILITARY AMMUNITION LEAVE GEORGIA FOR ARMENIA
Kavkas-Press
31 May 06
Tbilisi, 31 May: Ten truckloads of firearm ammunition left the Russian
military base in Akhalkalaki today. The Georgian Defence Ministry’s
public relations department told Kavkas-Press that the convoy had
left Georgia at 0600 [presumably local time] this morning and headed
for Gyumri in Armenia.
Yesterday, another echelon of hardware left the Akhalkalaki base for
Tsalka [railway station]. Ten towing vehicles will leave Tsalka in
a few days’ time to travel to Russia through Azerbaijan.

FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN 2005 TOTALED 500 M
Lragir.am
01 June 06
In 2005 foreign investments in Armenia totaled 500 million dollars,
stated Tigran Davtyan, Deputy Minister of Trade and Economic
Development, on June 1. He says that the total amount of investments
over the past 3-4 years was 1.5 billion dollars. On the whole,
investments have totaled 2 billion since 1991. This number does not
include various grants, including the Lincy Foundation grants, said
the deputy minister.
The share of Diasporans is 25-30 percent. At the same time, 60 percent
of investments are connected with the Diaspora, said Tigran Davtyan,
pointing out the Copper and Molybdenum Factory, Armenia International
Airports, Synopsis Armenia, etc.

BALASANYAN: NK SHOULD PARTICIPATE IN NK TALKS
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
June 1 2006
Nagorno Karabakh should participate in the Nagorno Karabakh talks,
and the NKR Parliament’s role is important in the negotiation process,
Nagorno Karabakh National Assembly deputy Vitaly Balasanyan stated
while speaking at the NKR Parliament in the course of a recurrent
plenary sitting, “Novosti-Armenia” reports.
In his words, the Parliamentary hearings held April 2006 have become
the first step towards the Karabakh Parliament’s involvement in the
negotiation process.
“So I believe the opinions expressed at the Parliament should be
summarized and presented to the pubic judgment”, he said.
V. Balasanyan also stressed the NKR Parliament should be informed of
all the “nuances” RA MPs learn via their channels.
“I think it is important that the Karabakh conflict conception should
be elaborated together by the NKR and Armenian Parliaments, besides,
NKR must accede to a number of international conventions”, Vitaly
Balasanyan said.
The NKR Parliament deputy suggested that the spheres of activity of
the Parliamentary Commission for External Relations should be expanded
and a temporary commission be established represented by the members
of factions and deputy groups.

RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER DISCUSSES CIS SECURITY ISSUES AT BAKU NEWS CONFERENCE
Interfax-AVN military news agency website, Moscow
31 May 06
At a news conference following the meeting of CIS defence ministers
in Baku on 31 May Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister
Sergey Ivanov commented on a number of regional and international
security issues.
On the subject of Iran, Ivanov said that Russia’s proposals on
resolving the nuclear problem remained under consideration. “Russia
has made a number of well-known proposals and initiatives, which
remain on the negotiating table, and as far as I know, these were
positively received by the international community,” AVN (0700 gmt)
quoted him as saying. “Russia, on the one hand, believes that every
country should have the right to benefit from using nuclear energy
for peaceful purposes, but, on the other hand, advocates that all
international nuclear non-proliferation regimes be very strictly
observes and enforced,” he added.
Ivanov proposed bringing the adapted Conventional Armed Forces in
Europe (CFE) Treaty into force on a temporary basis from October
this year, a second AVN report said (0736 gmt). “We are fulfilling
all our obligations under the CFE, including under the flank zone
restrictions in the North Caucasus,” Ivanov stressed. Pointing out that
the adapted treaty has so far only been ratified by four countries,
including Russia, he said this was a sign of “double standards”
in the evaluation of Russian and US military presences abroad.
He saw the recent agreement allowing the USA to set up a base in
Bulgaria, which could house up to 5,000 troops, as further proof of
this. “In response to our question about the purpose of this [base] we
are told that this is an insignificant military presence,” he said. “At
the same time, demands are made that Russia withdraws its peacekeepers
from the Dniester region, where there are only 1,500 of them. Some
of them fulfil peacekeeping functions and prevent the resumption of
military actions between Moldova and the Dniester region, and some –
several hundred – guard ammunition and property depots that have been
left behind by the former 14th Army.” “We have already withdrawn all
the heavy hardware restricted under the CFE from there, but we cannot
abandon these depots, because this is Russian property and we are a
responsible state, and we cannot allow this ammunition to find a way
into somebody else’s – terrorists’ – hands. We will guard these depots
until a political settlement of the Dniester problem is achieved,”
Ivanov said.
Speaking on regional issues, the Russian defence minister raised
the possibility of sending a peacekeeping contingent into Nagornyy
Karabakh and said that the rotation of Russian peacekeepers in South
Ossetia would continue, despite complaints from the Georgian Defence
Ministry. He insisted that the withdrawal of Russian military hardware
from the Akhalkalaki base in Georgia to Armenia would not have negative
effects in the region. “This cannot lead to the destabilization of
the military-political situation in the region.
Moreover, the withdrawal of this hardware does not violate the flank
zone restrictions of the CFE,” a further AVN report (0740 gmt) quoted
him as saying.
Ivanov also told the news conference that Russia believes that the
Caspian states (Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and
Iran) should be responsible for ensuring security and order in the
areas without the intervention of third parties, AVN reported at 0855
gmt. “We must introduce order here – we must fight against poaching,
the pollution of the Caspian and the drugs trafficking, which takes
place in the region. This is all in our hands,” he said
At 0801 RIA-Novosti added that Ivanov had also commented on Russia’s
decision to pull out of a project to build An-70 military-transport
aircraft with Ukraine. “As for the An-70 project, this project is
being carried out in accordance with technical requirements set out
in 1984 and there is still no end to the work in sight. We will see
what happens next,” he said, promising the Defence Ministry would
issue a separate statement on the issue.

SERGEY LAVROV: THE CONFLICTS IN KARABAKH AND CYPRUS CAN BE RESOLVED WITH THE CONSENT OF THE SIDES
ArmRadio.am
01.06.2006 15:56
“It’s hard to compare the conflicts of Nagorno-Karabakh and Cyprus,
but the common thing is that these can be resolved with the consent of
the sides only,” declared RF Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov preceding
his upcoming visit to Ankara.
“Russia does not only observe the conflicts, but also participates
in international efforts to resolve these.” In case of Cyprus,
it is the UN Security Council format and the leading role of the
five permanent members. In case of Nagorno-Karabakh it is the OSCE
Minsk Group format. In both cases the major efforts are directed at
maintenance of direct dialogue to provide for mutually acceptable
results,” Sergey Lavrov said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN LEADER AND WB REPRESENTATIVES DISCUSSED IMPLEMENTATION OF JOINT PROGRAMS
PanARMENIAN.Net
31.05.2006 18:22 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian met with
World Bank Country Director for Europe, Central Asia and South Caucasus
Donna Dowsett-Coirolo and WB Yerevan Office Director Roger Robinson,
reports the Press Service of the Armenian leader. During the meeting
the parties appreciated the process of implementation and results of
joint programs. Dowsett-Coirolo informed that Armenia is leading in the
World Bank rating on implementation of WB programs and steps undertaken
to improve business and investment atmosphere. Expressing satisfaction
with that fact, the President stated that the republic will not stop on
what is achieved and the process of reforms will continue. The matter
of struggle against corruption was also discussed. The Armenian leader
informed that process of reforms in the judicial and legal sphere
has been launched and Armenia expects consultative assistance from
the WB in that respect.

MONTENEGRO IS BACK ON THE MAP, AND IT NEED NOT BECOME RURITANIA: EUROPE IS THE WORLD’S LEADING THEATRE OF STATE PROLIFERATION, BUT MORE DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN WORSE
The Guardian – United Kingdom
Jun 01, 2006
How many countries are there in Europe? Your answer depends on what
you mean by Europe – and what you mean by a country. The European
Union currently has 25 member states. The Organisation for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has 55 “participating states”, but
they include Andorra, the Holy See, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San
Marino, which are all within the bounds of the EU without being member
states, and Russia, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Canada and the United States – some or all
of which would not be considered by some or most Europeans to be in
Europe. When the central Asian “stans” joined the OSCE in 1992, someone
quipped that its Europe now resembled Nicholas of Cusa’s definition
of God – His centre being everywhere and His circumference nowhere.
The Council of Europe, which claims on its website to represent
800 million Europeans, has 46 member states, including Andorra,
Liechtenstein, Monaco and Turkey. The Eurovision Song Contest has
a variable line-up, but this year’s 24 entries included hopeful
crooners from Turkey, Armenia, Moldova and Israel. The Miss Europe
beauty pageant has had contestants from Turkey, Israel and Lebanon.
The Union of European Football Associations (Uefa), which describes
itself as “the governing body of football on the European continent”
and, interestingly, “an association of associations based on
representative democracy”, has 52 members, including Andorra,
Azerbaijan, Turkey and Israel, but also England, Scotland and Wales
as separate national teams. (We are so used to this, we forget how
odd it is.)
However you draw up the tally, there’s no question that Europe has
more countries per head of population than any other continent. China
is one country for 1.3 billion people, Europe is between 45 and 55
countries for, at most, 800 million people. On a generous estimate,
we have an eighth of the world’s people but a quarter of the world’s
states. This week, we’ll get one more. Step forward, Miss Montenegro!
On May 21, 86% of the 484,720 people on the newly cleansed Montenegrin
electoral register (described by the OSCE as the best in Montenegrin
history) turned out to vote in a referendum – and 55.53% of them
chose independence. According to rules embraced by Montenegro, under
pressure from the EU, a majority of 55% on a turnout exceeding 50%
was needed for the vote to be valid. So they just scraped through. You
may well ask by what right the EU, whose Maastricht treaty was passed
by a majority of just 51% in a referendum in France, imposed this 55%
hurdle on Montenegro. In the event, the effect was positive, for it
meant that the mainly Serbian opponents of independence participated
fully in the voting, believing that they could win. It will now be
harder for Serbs to question the result’s legitimacy.
The Montenegrin parliament has to formalise the claim to independence,
and the knotty details of a velvet divorce from Serbia must be
negotiated, but there’s no doubt that a country called Montenegro
will soon appear on the political map of Europe. Or rather reappear
– for Montenegro has been there before, between 1878 and 1918. As
Elizabeth Roberts reminds us in her richly detailed and timely new
history of Montenegro, Realm of the Black Mountain, in the 1870s
the Montenegrins were supported, idolised and idealised by liberal
Britons on account of their armed struggle against the Ottoman
Turks. Gladstone described them as “a band of heroes such as the
world has rarely seen”. Tennyson gushed:
They rose to where their sovran
eagle sails,
They kept their faith, their freedom,
on the height,
Chaste, frugal, savage, arm’d by day
and night
. . . and so on, and on. The resulting kingdom of Montenegro was the
model for the comic Ruritanian-style kingdom of Pontevedro in Franz
Lehar’s operetta The Merry Widow – provoking an angry demonstration by
Montenegrin students at its premiere in Vienna. It was extinguished
with the help of the western allies after the first world war,
and replaced by Yugoslavia; but 80 years on the “sovran eagle” –
double-headed, crowned, yellow gold on red – will again fly over the
black mountain.
This is, in the first place, a shattering defeat for the nationalist
project of a Greater Serbia, opportunistically embraced by the
post-communist Slobodan Milosevic. Many Montenegrins, like the
communist-turned-dissident Milovan Djilas, considered themselves to be
“quintessential Serbs”, even “the salt of the Serbs”, and Montenegro to
be a historic heartland of Serbianness. When Kosovo follows Montenegro
to independence, as it surely will, then Serbia will be a landlocked
rump state – a bruised, brooding loser of European history.
Yet the Montenegrin pole-vault over the high bar set by the EU is
also a defeat for a certain west European approach, which kept urging
the former Yugoslavs to stay together when they obviously wanted
to part. In the region, people referred to the Union of Serbia and
Montenegro, the ramshackle state structure that Montenegro has now
voted to leave, as “Solania” – an ironic reference to Javier Solana,
the EU’s foreign policy chief, who was its main architect.
Solana’s fear was that a Montenegrin dash to independence might
encourage Kosovo Albanians and Bosnian Serbs to demand the same,
undermining the fragile peace that the EU was working to preserve
in the Balkans. Though the fear was understandable, I believe this
approach was misguided. If peoples really want to divorce, and that is
possible within the frontiers of viable states, they should be allowed
to. What matters is that they do it by peaceful, constitutional and
democratic means.
To be sure, the resulting patchwork of little states has elements of
absurdity. Once there was a language called Serbo-Croat. Officially,
there are now four different national languages: Serbian, Croatian,
Bosnian and Montenegrin. If and when the four countries eventually
join the EU, will there be simultaneous interpretation between the
four official languages? Even if common sense prevails (something you
can never count on in European institutions), the result of having so
many small states must be a further increase in the EU’s transaction
costs of diversity.
But the costs within a dysfunctional multi-ethnic state are even
higher. The unresolved issues of sovereignty and constitutional status
have crippled attempts at economic and social reform in Serbia and
Montenegro and Kosovo for the past five years. Sometimes it’s better
to cut the Gordian knot; sometimes good fences do eventually make good
neighbours. Now the citizens of Montenegro and Serbia know that they
have to make their own way to prosperity, democracy and the rule of
law. Only then can they advance, via the OSCE, the Council of Europe,
Uefa, Miss Europe, the Eurovision Song Contest and Nato, to today’s
ultimate seal of European belonging: EU membership.
If the EU keeps its doors open but its entry standards high, the end
of Solania need not mean a return to Ruritania. State proliferation
in Europe makes things more complicated in the relations between
countries, but simpler inside them. More need not mean worse.

RUSSIA TO BE INVOLVED IN KARABAKH PEACEKEEPING EFFORT, AZERI PAPER SAYS
Azadliq, Baku
1 Jun 06
The opposition daily Azadliq has said that despite Azerbaijan’s
efforts, Moscow will never recognize Armenia as “an aggressor” state.
In an article on 1 June, the paper said: “Russia does not want to
recognize Armenia as an aggressor and in no way can Azerbaijan accept
Armenia’s current position. It appears that Azerbaijan will have to
agree to Armenia’s demands. In any case, those turning towards the
north should think again.”
It added that Russia will remain loyal to its 200-year-old Caucasus
policy and Armenia will continue to be Russia’s outpost in the South
Caucasus.
Speaking in the Azerbaijani capital during a meeting of CIS defence
ministers on 31 May, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov had twice
mentioned the deployment of peacekeeping forces in Nagornyy Karabakh.
According to the newspaper, “Russia will never accept the
implementation of this plan” in Karabakh, unless it is involved in it.