POST-SOVIET STATES, CHINA SET TO HOLD JOINT MILITARY EXERCISES
RIA Novosti
18/05/2006 15:03
MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti) – Two regional security organizations
comprising post-Soviet nations and China are planning joint military
exercises, the chief of Russia’s general staff said Thursday.
“We are currently discussing a joint exercise under the aegis of
the SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organization],” Yury Baluyevsky said,
adding that the date of the exercise, which would also involve troops
from Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) nations, had yet
to be decided.
Baluyevsky said the exercises would practice joint counteraction
against terrorist threats.
The chiefs of the CSTO nations’ general staffs held a meeting in Moscow
Thursday to discuss ways to make the collective security system more
effective, including by improving control of the Collective Rapid
Reaction Force, which currently numbers 1,500 military personnel
deployed in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which comprises the former
Soviet republics in Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan – as well as Russia and China, was created in 2001 to
deal with security issues, including border conflicts, terrorism,
and militant Islam.
These countries, without China, also form the CSTO, which also
includes Belarus and Armenia. The CSTO is seen by some experts as a
counterbalance to NATO’s eastward expansion.
Unlike the CSTO, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization does not have in
its charter a provision on collective defense of its member by others
in the event of an outside attack. It was created to counter attacks
by illegal armed groups if they cross the border of a member-country,
and its military activities are rather limited, although two of its
members, Russia and China, held major war games last fall.

AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA LAUNCH RAIL PROJECT
By Dmitry Avaliani in Tbilisi, Nurlana Gulieva in Baku and Diana Markosian in Tbilisi
Institute for War & Peace Reporting, UK
May 18 2006
As Azerbaijan hails a new railway project for the Caucasus, the mood
in Georgia is less enthusiastic, and the Armenians are openly hostile.
An ambitious new project to create a rail link between the Azerbaijani
capital Baku and Turkey has had a lukewarm welcome in Georgia, through
whose territory the line would run, while Armenia has expressed
opposition to the scheme.
“Construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway may start in 2006,”
Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliev told a cabinet meeting on May 10.
“This railway is badly needed – it will connect Europe with Asia.”
The project envisages construction of a new railway between Kars in
eastern Turkey and the town of Akhalkalaki in southern Georgia, and
an upgrade to the existing Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi line. The Tbilisi-Baku
section already exists.
The project’s backers say it will create greater integration in the
south Caucasus, which is divided politically as well as economically,
and boost trade.
“Launching of this line will guarantee Azerbaijan’s national
interests,” said Aliev. “We are prepared to assume financial
obligations immediately.”
Turkey has been actively promoting the project and has played host
to the negotiations. However, the verdict on the economic rationale
for the plan has been cooler in Georgia, while Armenia’s reaction
has been extremely negative.
With the conflict over Nagorny Karabakh unresolved, major projects
undertaken in the region have bypassed Armenia. These include the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline inaugurated last year, and the
Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline which has almost been completed.
Armenia objects that there is already a railway line in existence from
Kars via the Armenian city of Gyumri to Tbilisi. The line has been
closed since 1993, when Turkey formally closed its border with Armenia
because of the Karabakh conflict. But experts say that the railway
is in quite a good state of repair, despite the many years it has
stood idle, and that it could be refurbished with little difficulty.
“If there’s a railway which serves the same aim, building a new one
and spending so much money is simply pointless”, Armenian foreign
minister Vardan Oskanian said in January.
“If Turkey, guided by some political considerations, does not want
Armenia to earn profits from the operation of the existing railway,
we are prepared not to use it. But the service would promote trade
between the two countries.”
According to preliminary calculations, the new project is likely to
cost between 360 and 400 million US dollars, but many believe these
estimates will grow. One Georgian section of track, between Marabda
and Akhalkalaki, is in very poor condition and will probably need to
be replaced entirely.
Finance for the project has yet to be found, with only the Asian
Development Bank pledging funds so far.
Matthew Westfall, head of the bank’s Baku branch, recently told
journalists that “Azerbaijan has the highest rating among the South
Caucasus countries, and if the government applies to us for help,
the Asian Development Bank is prepared to provide a credit for
construction of this thoroughfare”.
After the latest round of talks about financing, held in Ankara on May
4-5, Georgian officials said several questions remained unanswered. “We
were interested in the Turkish side’s calculations about transporting
freight other than that belonging to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey,”
Irakli Ezugbaia, head of Georgian Railways, told IWPR. “It’s still
premature to say what Georgian railways will get out of the project.”
Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a declaration on creating an
international transport corridor last May, pledging that the new
railway would be put into commission in 2008.
“Technical work will continue until the end of 2006, and during that
period the financing issue will be resolved as well,” Nazim Kasumov,
a senior official in Azerbaijan’s transport ministry, told IWPR.
Armenian opposition politician Hovhannes Igitian said it was only
to be expected that his country was not involved in the project, as
“other states cannot afford to wait for Armenia to solve its problems
and start acting as a transit country”.
But others in Armenia highlight the dangers of drawing a new dividing
line across the Caucasus.
“If it’s a priority for the international community not to create
dividing lines in the region, but to ensure harmonious development,
it cannot agree to a railway being built that detours Armenia,”
said Gagik Minasian, who chairs the Armenian parliament’s finance
and budget committee.
There have also been vocal protests against the new railway in
Armenian-majority areas of the Georgian region of Samtskhe-Javakheti,
through which the line will run.
Many locals say they fear for their security if there is a growing
Turkish presence here. Another concern, voiced by Akhalkalaki mayor
Nair Iritsian, is that “people are afraid the Turks will buy up all the
land here, leaving the locals no other option but to work for them”.
Georgian economic expert Gia Khukhashvili is concerned that the new
railway could damage rather than benefit his country.
“The route cannot be profitable if the annual volume of freight carried
is less than ten million tons,” said Khukhashvili. “But I doubt that
ten million tons of dry cargo to meet that capacity can be found in
this region.
“If it’s a question of oil and petroleum products going to Europe
[from Azerbaijan], Georgia would make more of a profit by using its
Black Sea ports rather than building a new railway,” he said.
Khukhashvili said the railway would provide Georgia with a healthy
income only if Turkey shouldered all the construction and running
costs.
Turkish investments in Georgia have risen strongly over the past
year. Last June, the two countries signed an agreement to share use
of Batumi airport, which is now being rebuilt by the Turks.
Negotiations are also under way to hand over management of Batumi’s
port facilities to Turkish companies.
Some analysts argue that even if Armenia is not involved in the
project, it will still benefit indirectly.
Yerevan-based political analyst Alexander Iskandarian said he is sure
the Kars-Baku railway will at worst have no impact on the Armenian
economy, and could even have a positive effect.
“Roads between Armenia and Turkey are currently closed, and will
remain so for the next two to four years,” Iskandarian told IWPR.
“The new project will facilitate transportation of freight from Turkey
to Armenia and vice versa, as the highways [now in use] from Turkey
via Georgia are in a poor state”.
Iskandarian disagrees with those who say Armenia will find itself
totally isolated as an “island-state” once the railway comes into
use. “If the second railway works, that doesn’t mean the first one
can’t as well,” he said, referring to the now idle Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi
line.
Georgian political analyst Paata Zakareishvili agreed, saying, “The
projects that are already under way cannot be stopped or changed even
if Armenia and Azerbaijan become reconciled with one another.
“But their success will beneficial to the entire region including
Armenia”.
Dimitry Avaliani is a correspondent with 24 Hours newspaper in
Tbilisi. Nurlana Gulieva is an independent journalist in Baku. Diana
Markosian is a correspondent for the A1+ television company in Yerevan.

CARPET MAKING DEVELOPS IN HRAZDAN
Noyan Tapan
May 18 2006
HRAZDAN, MAY 18, NOYAN TAPAN. Carpet making has become a developing
branch in Hrazdan, previously an industrial center. The local
subsidiary of the Armenian-US joint venture Armen-Carpet OJSC has
been operating since 2002 and currently employs about 70 people. The
subsidiary director Arayik Melkonian told NT correspondent that the
company is prepared to give jobs to everybody who has an intention to
work there. According to him, the problem consists in high requirements
to carpet-makers’ skills and production. The Armenian President Robert
Kocharian expressed a high opinion and made a purchase during a visit
to the company’s show-room last year: he chose a “Karabakh” carpet made
at Hrazdan subsidiary for Presidential Palace. A. Melkonian said that
the company is trying to deal with personnel-related problems on its
own. For this purpose, courses for young women aged 18-25 are run at
the Hrazdan subsidiary with the assistance of the Terrritorial Center
of Labor and Employment and Hrazdan Mayor’s Office. Armen-Carpet
founded by Megerian Holding in 1917 is a company operating in more
than 10 countries. It has 20 subsidiaries in various marzes of Armenia
and in Artsakh.

THERE WERE NO SHOTS PRIOR TO A320 CRASH
Mikhael Baghdasarov Says
AZG Armenian Daily
18/05/2006
The owner of Armavia carrier whose plane had plunged into the Black
Sea on May 3 morning killing all 113 people aboard, told journalists
yesterday that the flight recorders of the A-320 airliner would be
given, if recovered, to French Airbus company’s experts who are also
involved in the crash investigation.
Mikhael Baghdasarov, a Russia-based Armenian businessman, who owns
the biggest air company, said flight recorders have to be decoded
which only Airbus’ experts can do, since only the company has the
special clue. He said the company has no information about exactly
when the flight recorders could be retrieved from the depth of about
495 meters. Baghdasarov then described rumors that the wrecked A320
carried huge sums of money, that there were shots before it fell into
the sea and that the pilot might have died of a heart stroke or a
shot as ‘nonsense.”
He said if part of these rumors were true the captain would have
reported it to ground controllers, while the recording of their
conversation has no indication of it. He likewise dismissed lack of
fuel or unprofessional crew as a likely cause of the accident.
Meantime Russian emergency officials said they continued efforts to
recover the flight recorders of the Armenian airliner throughout the
night and early morning today. The Armenian aircraft had fallen into
the Black sea near Russian resort town of Sochi on May 3 killing all
105 passengers and eight crew members.
Russian officials said rescuers worked in three shifts each eight
hour-long. The strong side wind that impeded the operation subsided
at about midnight to Wednesday, they said. The deep-water robotic
device sank to the seabed between 01:00 till 06:00 am on Wednesday to
search for the airliner recorders. Silt on the bottom complicates the
work. The video camera and the searchlights get dirty, and the team
has to raise the robotic device to clean them. Its sinking takes 40
minutes, and it takes the same time to raise it.
The search groups had a break in the work for some time on Wednesday
morning. If the weather does not worsen, the search will continue,
they said. The device is capable of lifting fragments of the plane
weighing up to 12 kilograms, while the two flight recorders each weighs
seven kilograms. According to reports, the flight recorders are at the
depth of 496 meters. The distance between them is about five meters.

WAC HAS ENOUGH MATERIAL TO TURN TO INTERNAT COURT OVER GENOCIDE
by Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 17, 2006 Wednesday 03:52 PM EST
The World Armenian Congress (WAC) has enough documented material to
turn to the International Court over the Armenian genocide in the
Ottoman empire, Ara Abramyan, the president of the WAC and of the
Union of Armenians of Russia, told a news conference here on Wednesday
evening. He recalled that WAC experts had worked in the archives of
more than 30 countries.
Abramyan said WAC experts must specify Armenia’s stand as to how to
pose the question – whether to demand the compensation for moral,
material or territorial damage from the genocide. “It is necessary
to make it clear what we aim to receive and in what order,” the
president of the congress said. A forum with the participation of
representatives of the Armenian authorities and WAC experts is to be
held next year to formulate the uniform stand on the matter.
Abramyan said the WAC would assist the establishment of the Armenian
chair in a large university in Israel so that alongside lectures
about the Holocaust there should be the presentation of facts about
the Armenian genocide in the Ottooman Turkey in the late 19th –
early 20th centuries.
International recognition and condemnation of the Armenian genocide
is one of the priorities of Armenia’s foreign policy.

UPROAR AS FRENCH PARLIAMENT SHELVES VOTE ON ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’
Agence France Presse — English
May 18, 2006 Thursday 5:06 PM GMT
PARIS, May 18 2006
Angry scenes broke out in the French National Assembly on Thursday
after lawmakers were forced to call off a vote on a bill that would
make it a punishable offence to deny the Armenian “genocide”.
Discussion of the controversial opposition bill — which has sparked
a diplomatic row between France and Turkey — will now be pushed back
to October at the earliest, under the parliamentary calendar.
Shouts filled the assembly as the bill’s supporters accused members
of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) of stalling debate
and preventing the vote from taking place within the allotted time.
Dozens of lawmakers — angrily yelling “Vote! Vote!” — had to be
evacuated from the building after the leader of the assembly declared
the session closed.
In the public gallery, the many French Armenians who turned out to
support the bill reacted with dismay and anger, one of them — the
filmmaker Robert Guediguian — even breaking down in tears.
In Ankara, the government called for the bill to be abandoned
altogether, and for France to back the establishment of a
Turkish-Armenian committee of historians to study the World War I
massacres of Armenians.
“Our expectation from now on is to give up bringing the proposal
to the agenda of the French parliament again,” the Turkish foreign
ministry said.
But Maxime Sisvalian, a representative of France’s large Armenian
community, estimated at 500,000 people, slammed the postponement as an
“injustice”.
The Socialist bill would make punishable by up to five years in prison
and a fine of 45,000 euros (57,000 dollars) the crime of denying that
Turkish troops committed genocide against the Armenians between 1915
and 1917.
The same punishment is on the statute books for people who deny that
the Jewish Holocaust took place.
Earlier French Foreign Minister Douste-Blazy came out openly
against the bill, which follows on from a 2001 French law officially
recognising the massacres of Armenians as genocide.
“If adopted, this text would be seen as an unfriendly gesture by the
great majority of the Turkish people,” he told lawmakers, warning
its adoption would have “serious political consequences and weaken
our position not only in Turkey but across the entire region.”
“Turkey is a leading economic and trade partner… We cannot accept
this bill,” Douste-Blazy said.
The Socialist Party (PS) slammed the government’s position.
“The risk of diplomatic or commercial consequences can in no case
be invoked to justify giving up on human rights,” said PS spokesman
Julien Dray.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan — backed by Turkish
business leaders and unions — appealed this month to France to block
the contentious bill, warning of the threat to bilateral relations.
Ankara briefly recalled its ambassador from Paris for consultations
amid rising tensions over the bill.
While the 2001 law was passed when the PS had a majority in the
National Assembly, the new bill would have needed support from ruling
party deputies — who had been given a free vote on the text.
The bill has provoked divisions within both the UMP and the PS.
Former Socialist minister Jack Lang said it would “undermine the
efforts of those in Turkey who are trying to bring Ankara to recognise
its history”, and warned against a trend towards “criminalising
public expression”.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in
orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917 by Turks, as the Ottoman
Empire, modern Turkey’s predecessor, was falling apart.
Turkey categorically rejects the claims, saying 300,000 Armenians and
at least as many Turks died in civil strife when the Armenians took
up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with invading
Russian troops.

TURKEY URGES FRANCE TO DROP ARMENIAN “GENOCIDE” BILL
Agence France Presse — English
May 18, 2006 Thursday 1:57 PM GMT
Turkey urged France to abandon plans to criminalize denials of
the Armenian “genocide” after a scheduled vote on a draft bill in
the French parliament was called off Thursday, averting a possible
diplomatic crisis with Ankara.
“Our expectation from now on is to give up bringing the proposal to
the agenda of the French parliament again,” a Turkish foreign ministry
statement said.
It also called on France to lend support to Ankara’s proposal for
the establishment of a Turkish-Armenian committee of historians
to study the World War I massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman
Empire, research state archives and declare their conclusion to the
international community.
The bill foresees up to five years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros
(57,000 dollars) for denying that the Armenians were the victim of
a genocide.
The debate at the French parliament earlier Thursday saw angry scenes
as supporters of the bill, introduced by the Socialist opposition,
accused members of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP)
of stalling the session.
The debate started late and the time allocated for its discussion
ran out before a vote could take place.
Discussion of the controversial text will now be pushed back to
October at the earliest, under the parliamentary calendar.
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy came out openly against the
bill, which follows on from a 2001 French law officially recognizing
the 1915-1917 massacres as genocide.
Earlier this month, Ankara briefly recalled its ambassador from
Paris for consultations and warned that the adoption of the bill
would damage ties.
Turkey categorically rejects the “genocide” label, arguing that 300,000
Armenians and as many Turks were killed in civil strife in the final
years of the Ottoman Empire when the Armenians rose up for independence
in eastern Anatolia and sided with invading Russian troops.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered
in orchestrated killings and are pressing a campaign for their
international recognition as genocide.

DISASTER-HIT ARMENIAN CARRIER REPLACES DOOMED AIRBUS PLANES
Agence France Presse — English
May 18, 2006 Thursday 11:18 AM GMT
Armenian airline Armavia, which lost two of its Airbus planes in
accidents this month, took delivery of a replacement aircraft on
Thursday and was due to acquire another shortly, its press department
said.
One of Armavia’s doomed planes plunged into the Black Sea off Russia
for reasons that are still unclear, killing 113 people. The other
was destroyed in a fire at Brussels airport.
Thursday’s acquisition is a nearly new Airbus 319, manufactured in
2004, which has seen one year of service in the United States. It
arrived at Yerevan airport from Mexico, where it had been serviced,
the company said.
Armavia is due to take delivery of an Airbus 320 soon.
The remainder of its fleet consists of two other Airbus 319s, another
Airbus 320 and two Russian Yak 42s.

FIRST TRUCK CONVOY FROM GEORGIA HEADS FOR GYUMRI, ARMENIA
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 18, 2006 Thursday
The first truck convoy with military equipment from the Russian base
in Akhalkalaki, southern Georgia, is heading for the Russian base in
Gyumri, northwestern Armenia, an official of the Russian army group
in the Caucasus told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
The 10-truck convoy has already crossed the Georgian-Armenian border,
the official said.
“Georgian military accompanied the convoy,” the official said.
In late May, another motor convoy from Akhalkalaki will leave for
Gyumri. Aside from military assets it will redeploy some military
vehicles there.
In compliance with the Russian-Georgian bilateral agreements most
hardware and munitions will be withdrawn from Georgia this year.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKEY EXPECTS FRENCH PARLIAMENT NOT TO DISCUSS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL AGAIN
Anatolia news agency
18 May 06
Ankara, 18 May: Turkey expects that French draft law which proposes
that “any denial of Armenian genocide shall be considered a crime”
will not be brought again to French National Assembly during next
legislation term and hopes that its proposal on establishment of
a joint commission to investigate the incidents in 1915 will be
supported.
Turkish Foreign Ministry released on Thursday [15 May] a statement
after French National Assembly ended its session on the mentioned
draft law without bringing it to voting today.
The statement recalled that draft law caused several discussions
in France, noting that prominent French historians reacted to the
draft law in principle, so did French Foreign Minister (Philippe
Douste-Blazy) during discussions over the bill at French National
Assembly.
“Turkey expects that the international community including France will
support the proposal it made to Armenia last year regarding creation
of a joint commission comprised of Turkish and Armenian historians
to investigate historical facts regarding 1915 incidents in detail
and disclosure of the results of this research to the world public
opinion,” it added.