AZERI DIPLOMAT ACCUSES WESTERN GROUP OF ILLEGAL MILITARY TRAINING
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
April 13 2006
Baku, April 12, AssA-Irada
The international Halo Trust organization is engaged in providing
military training and illegal mine clearance activities on occupied
Azerbaijani territory, an Azeri diplomat has said.
“Halo Trust, which is registered in the US and Great Britain, was set
up by retired officers and its members provide military training to
Garabagh Armenians,” the first secretary of the Azerbaijani embassy
to Belgium, Fuad Humbatov, said.
Humbatov said the organization has called Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity into question through its statements and activities.
The diplomat said Halo Trust was earlier driven out of Russia due to
its illegal activities, pledging that its operation in Upper Garabagh
would be suspended as well.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

19-YEAR-OLD ETHNIC ARMENIAN FACING DEPORTATION TO BAKU
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
April 13 2006
Baku, April 12, AssA-Irada
An ethnic Armenian, who was born in Upper Garabagh, an Azeri region
under Armenian occupation and illegally emigrated to the UK at the
age of 16, may be deported from London to Baku after the British
government has refused to grant him an asylum.
Karen Ovanesian, now 19, has lived and studied in the UK for three
years but has not received a work permit.
Ovanesian is expected to be flown to Moscow and then to Baku on
Tuesday. A source from the Foreign Ministry has told AssA-Irada that
there is no information available about the deportation.
While commenting on the incident, political analyst Mubariz Ahmadoglu
has called for restraint and cautioned that there might be politics
involved. He said Azerbaijan had better not display any emotion over
the proposed deportation and express its readiness to accept its
citizen. This may serve as an example of security guarantees for all
Upper Garabagh Armenians, he said.

MISS IRAQ BOWS OUT AMID DEATH THREATS: BID TO CHANGE COUNTRY’S IMAGE SUFFERS SETBACK
Daniel McGrory, Times of London
The Calgary Herald (Alberta)
April 13, 2006 Thursday
Final Edition
It is proving as hard to find a beauty queen as it is to find a prime
minister in Iraq.
Exhausted by the time their politicians are taking to agree on a
leader, the country thought it had at least succeeded in choosing a
Miss Iraq.
But Wednesday night, the people’s choice — Tamar Goregian, 23, a
blonde student with photogenic pout — was in hiding in neighbouring
Jordan, having hastily renounced her crown following death threats
from Islamic extremists.
Only six days ago she was revelling in her victory, blinking back
tears of joy as she told admirers crammed into a Baghdad nightclub
that “maybe beauty is the final step to end the violence here and
preach peace after all.”
Organizers had hoped her appearance at the Miss Universe contest in
Los Angeles in July would show the world a different image of Iraq.
By Wednesday they were searching for a replacement after
fundamentalists denounced the terrified Goregian, an Armenian
Christian, as “the Queen of Infidels.”
The two runners-up, both Muslim, swiftly declined the crown.
On Wednesday it was left to the fourth-placed contestant, Silva
Sahagian, 23, another Christian, to assume the mantle. “Our politicians
should have more to worry about than whether Miss Iraq should go to
America,” she said. “I cannot believe the extremists would do anything
to a beauty queen.”

TURKEY ALLOWS SCREENING OF CANADIAN DIRECTOR’S FILM ON MASSACRES OF ARMENIANS
National Post (f/k/a The Financial Post) (Canada)
April 13, 2006 Thursday
All but Toronto Edition
A private TV station will broadcast a movie by Canadian director Atom
Egoyan on the First World War massacres of Armenians for the first
time in Turkey where the subject still arouses nationalist feelings,
a spokesman for the channel yesterday. Kanalturk decided to show
Ararat by Mr. Egoyan, an ethnic Armenian, after a survey revealed
that 72% of the participants wanted to see the film, he said. “We
will show the movie with no cuts or censoring.” Even though the
Turkish government gave the go-ahead for the showing of the film,
which was released in 2002, an Istanbul firm was forced in 2004 to
drop plans to screen the movie because of potential protests that
would have required police presence.

DEFUSING THE US-IRAN TIME BOMB
Amir Taheri, Special to Gulf News
Gulf News, United Arab Emirates
April 12, 2006 Wednesday
On more than one occasion US President George W. Bush has described
his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as “a strategic ally” and “a
friend we can trust”. Whether or not Bush’s judgment is right may
be hard to establish. But a crucial test of it is taking shape in
relation to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
As the diplomatic manoeuvres to pressure Iran continue, the message
one hears in policy circles in most capitals is simple: the key is
in Moscow!
The reasoning behind that suggestion is simple: Of all the powers
involved in the current showdown with Iran, only Russia is in a
position to tip the balance one way or another that is to say between
a peaceful resolution or war.
To start with Russia, which is building Iran’s first and, so far, only
nuclear power plant near Bushehr, could slow down, or even suspend,
the project pending a diplomatic resolution of the crisis.
Such a move could strengthen the hands of those within the Tehran
establishment that want a moratorium on uranium processing programme
as a means of preventing tension from further escalating.
Russia has another card to play in the shape of its proposal to set
up a special uranium enrichment project for Iran to cover the needs
of the Bushehr plant during its entire life-span of 37 years. (At
present there is a pact for Russia to provide the plant with fuel
for the first 10 years.) To make it easier for the Tehran leadership
to keep face, the Russian proposal could be modified to have part
of the enrichment process done in Iranian facilities and with the
participation of Iranian scientists and technicians.
All that, however, may lead nowhere because, as some analysts suspect,
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may actually want a military
conflict with the US as the opening shot in his promised “clash of
civilisations”.
Internal dissensions
Incredible though it may appear, Ahamadinejad seems to be convinced
that the US, plagued by bitter internal dissensions, does not have
the stomach for a serious fight with Iran and its radical allies
throughout the Middle East. Thus he may want a clash over the nuclear
issue which, thanks to the Goebbelsian presentation, is seen by many
Iranians as a matter of nationalistic pride.
But even then Russia would be in a position either to prevent a clash
or hasten it by vetoing or voting for a strong resolution in the UN
Security Council. The Russian position at the Security Council is
crucial because China, which also has a veto, would not be prepared
to isolate itself by siding with Iran if Russia sides with the US. If
Russia vetoes, so will China. If Russia does not veto, the most that
China might do to please Iran is to abstain.
The Bush administration knows all that. This is why it is beginning to
build up pressure on Russia ahead of the next G-8 summit, scheduled to
be hosted by Putin in July. The American calculation is that Putin,
having won the presidency of the G-8 for Russia for the first time,
is unlikely to start his tenure by splitting the group to please the
Iranian mullahs.
Nevertheless, it would not be easy for Putin to make an unambiguous
choice between Tehran and Washington. Russia needs Iran for a number
of reasons, including, paradoxically, as part of Moscow’s strategy
to counter and, if possible, curtail, US influence in Central Asia,
the Caspian Basin and the Middle East.
As regional allies, Tehran and Moscow have already succeeded in
containing or curtailing American influence in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan
and Turkmenistan. In Tajikistan, Tehran, which had sided with the US
against Russia a decade ago, is now switching back to Moscow.
In Trans-Caucasia, Tehran and Moscow have sided with Armenia against
Azerbaijan and Georgia both of which are in the American camp. In
Afghanistan, Tehran and Moscow have been working closely for more than
a decade and are engaged in developing a joint strategy in anticipation
of an American withdrawal once Bush leaves office in three years’ time.
Moscow also needs Tehran to prevent the US from imposing its proposed
model for the exploitation of the Caspian Sea’s immense oil and
gas resources.
The US, backed by Britain, proposes a division of the Caspian among
its littoral states so that each could conclude separate contracts
with foreign nations. Of the five littoral states of the Caspian only
two, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, are favourable to the US proposed
model. Russia and Iran are against.
They propose that the Caspian be treated as a single unit in which all
activity, including exploitation of energy resources and navigation,
would require the consent of all littoral states. (The fifth littoral
state, Turkmenistan, has tried not to take side but is closer to Iran
and Russia.)
Having lost all of its Arab friends and clients of the Soviet era,
Moscow also needs Tehran as a bridgehead to the Middle East, the
Gulf and the Indian Ocean. The current analysis in Moscow is that,
once Bush is gone, Iran will emerge as the dominant power in Iraq
and would need Russia as a strategic partner in developing such major
oilfields as Majnun which sit astride the Irano-Iraqi frontier.
It is also in conjunction with Iran, that Russia envisages making a
comeback in such places as Syria and Lebanon where Iranian influence
is already well-established.
Strategic rival
The US is not the only strategic rival that Russia has identified.
Also looming large on the horizon is China which, Putin’s recent
visit to Beijing notwithstanding, is seen by many Moscow analysts as
a potential threat to Russian interests in Asia and the Middle East.
In that context a Sino-Iranian axis could isolate Russia in Western
Asia and the Middle East and even shut it out of chunks of Central
Asia.
Another reason why Moscow needs Iran is related to the so-called
“Islamic time bomb” that is ticking in the heart of the Russian
federation. With birthrates among ethnic Russians in free fall,
the federation’s estimated 25 million Muslims, now a fifth of the
population, are slated to double by the middle of the century.
The Islamic Republic, although a Shiite power, could, nevertheless,
play a role in discouraging secessionist tendencies among Russia’s
predominantly Sunni Muslims.
Conversely, a hostile Iran could use its immense experience in
exporting terrorism to make life difficult for Russia at a time it
is dealing with demographic decline.
Add to all that Russia’s immense commercial and economic interest in
the Islamic Republic and a more complex picture will emerge. Iran is
currently the biggest market for Russian arms, including aircraft and
submarines. The loss of the Iranian orders may force entire lines of
Russian weapons industries to close down.
The two neighbours have also signed trade contracts worth $80 billion
over the next decade. And Russia hopes to build most of the seven
nuclear power plants that the Islamic Republic wants to set up in the
next 10 years. The fact that more than 30,000 Russian technicians,
both military and civilian, work in Iran adds an important human
dimension to the relationship.
Big power games, oil, Islam, trade, arms and terrorism are some of
the factors that make it hard for Putin to side with the US in the
coming confrontation with the Islamic Republic. But there is another,
and according to Russian analysts, perhaps more important, factor:
Putin can never be sure that, come the crunch, Washington will not
strike a deal with Tehran, leaving Moscow in the lurch.
Amir Taheri was the executive editor of Kayhan, the most important
Iranian newspaper during the reign of the Shah and is a member of
Benador Associates.

AXE-MURDER AZERBAIJANI SOLDIER SENTENCED TO LIFE IN HUNGARY
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
April 13, 2006, Thursday
16:55:07 Central European Time
An Azerbaijani soldier who brutally murdered an Armenian lieutenant
with an axe during a NATO Partnership for Peace training course in
Budapest was sentenced to life imprisonment Thursday.
Lieutenant Ramil Safarov, 29, was convicted of killing Armenian
Lieutenant Gurgen Markarian, 26, with an axe and a knife in 2004.
Budapest District Court Judge Andras Vaskuti ruled that Safarov killed
his victim in a “premeditated, malicious and cruel” manner.
Safarov hacked Markarian to death with a knife and an axe in the
early hours of the morning while he slept in the same room as a
Hungarian soldier.
A policeman at the time said the murder had been committed with
unusual cruelty, saying that “besides the knife wounds to his chest,
the victim’s head was practically severed from his body.”
Safarov, who was also convicted of planning the murder of a second
Armenian officer, is expected to be eligible for parole in 30 years.
Witnesses at the time said there had been no arguments between the
men, but relations between the two former Soviet Republics were tense
after Armenian-backed forces drove Azerbaijan’s army out of the ethnic
Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s.

GAZPROM AND ARMROSGAZPROM DISCUSS THE COURSE OF REALIZATION OF AGREEMENT ON STRATEGIC PRINCIPLES OF COOPERATION
RIA OREANDA All rights reserved
April 13, 2006 Thursday
Moscow. OREANDA. Gazprom’s Headquarters has hosted a working meeting
between Alexey Miller, Chairman of Gazprom’s Management Committee
and Karen Karapetyan, Director General of ArmRosgazprom. The parties
discussed the implementation of the Agreement on the strategic
principles of cooperation between Gazprom and the Government of the
Republic of Armenia.
Special attention was paid to the purchase and rehabilitation of
the fifth power-generating unit of the Razdan CHP with the view of
ensuring efficient gas-fired power generation in Armenia.
Gazprom resumed natural gas deliveries to Armenia in June 2003 and,
at present, is the only supplier of gas to the Republic. Gazexport, a
Gazprom 100% subsidiary, delivers gas to the Armenian-Russian border,
where gas is purchased by ArmRosgazprom. Over 2005 Gazprom provided
Armenian consumers with 1.7 billion cubic metres of natural gas. The
ArmRosgazprom Company was incorporated in December 1997. Gazprom,
the Armenian Energy Ministry and ITERA own 45%, 45% and 10% of
ArmRosgazprom’s stake, respectively.

AZERBAIJANI OFFICER JAILED IN HUNGARY FOR BRUTAL KILLING OF ARMENIAN
Agence France Presse — English
April 13, 2006 Thursday 4:08 PM GMT
An Azerbaijani military officer who hacked to death an Armenian
lieutenant while attending a NATO-sponsored training course in Budapest
was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Judge Andras Vaskuti of the Budapest district court ruled that Ramil
Safarov, now 29 and an Azerbaijani army lieutenant, killed Armenian
Lieutenant Gurgen Markarian, 26, in a “premeditated, malicious and
an unusually cruel” way by nearly decapitating him with axe while
the victim was sleeping.
Safarov was also found guilty of planning the murder of another
Armenian, which he did not carry out.
“The crime was convicted in a malicious way because (Safarov) murdered
the victim solely because of his Armenian origin,” Vaskuti said,
as he detailed how Safarov had also stubbed out a lit cigarette on
the victim’s body after committing the crime.
Safarov will be eligible for parole in 30 years, according to the
ruling. Defence lawyers launched an appeal immediately after the
verdict was read out.
The brutal killing, which took place on February 19, 2004, inflamed
simmering ethnic tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia, two former
Soviet republics which are fighting over control of the disputed
region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia had attributed the murder to “anti-Armenian hysteria” fanned
by the Baku government, while Azerbaijani officials countered that
the killer was himself a refugee from the conflict with Armenia and
that the victim had taunted him over the conflict.
The two young officers had been studying on an English-language course
in the Hungarian capital as part of the NATO alliance’s Partnership
for Peace programme, of which both Armenia and Azerbaijan are members.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-year war over Karabakh that claimed
around 25,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
It ended in a tense ceasefire in 1994 with Armenian forces in control
of most of the enclave and seven surrounding regions, but Karabakh’s
status remains unresolved and tensions are still at boiling point.
Azeri authorities had said several of the defendant’s relatives were
killed and his family had to flee its home in the city of Jebrail when
it was taken by Armenian forces. They now live in squalid conditions
in a student dormitory in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku.
Since the end of military hostilities over Nagorno-Karabakh, all ties
between Armenia and Azerbaijan, neighbours in the volatile Caucasus
region, have been severed. The border is now a heavily-militarised
front line peppered with land mines.
For almost a decade, Western powers have been leading fruitless
efforts to tease out a peaceful solution to the Karabakh conflict,
but summits including the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents have
not led to progress.
Most recently, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said in March that
talks over the disputed region, hosted by French President Jacques
Chirac earlier this year, were at a “dead end” and signaled that the
oil-rich state should prepare for war.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PACE URGES CE TO HELP AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA, GEORGIA WITH REFUGEES
by Yuri Ulyanovsky
ITAR-TASS News Agency
April 13, 2006 Thursday 01:06 PM EST
Deputies of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
believe that problems of refugees and displaced persons in Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Georgia impede socio-economic and political development
of these countries. Besides humanitarian aid the international
community should also intensify assistance to them in fulfilling
development tasks, satisfying the local population needs so that to
give refugees hope for the future, the PACE believes. At the same time
the authorities of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan should maximally
use their internal potentials during periods when the volume of
international donations reduces.
The Assembly noted the appearance of a number of signs testifying to
the integration of refugees and displaced persons in the life of the
society of the three given republics and called on the authorities of
these countries to intensify policy in this sphere. In a resolution
adopted by the PACE deputies on Thursday they also urged member states
of the Council of Europe to render financial assistance to Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Georgia in their efforts to settle the problems of refugees
and displaced persons, as well as to continue supplying humanitarian
aid and assist them in conflict settlement.
The Assembly’s resolution contains an appeal to intensify the
interregional dialogue by taking measures of confidence building and
organising regular consultations between the state agencies responsible
for the solution of refugee problems. The PACE believes that the
legislations of the corresponding countries should be reconsidered
in order to guarantee refugees and displaced persons equal rights
with the local population.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSCE MINSK GROUP TO SUGGEST MORE IDEAS FOR KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
by Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
April 13, 2006 Thursday
The Minsk group of the OSCE on Nagorno-Karabakh will suggest to Armenia
and Azerbaijan more ideas for the settlement of the Karabakh conflict,
Bernard Fassier, the co-chairman of the MInsk group from France,
said in Yerevan on Thursday. He said these ideas would enrich and
develop the principles of peace settlement.
Fassier said the Minsk group of the OSCE with three co-chairmen –
from Russia, France and United States – would remain the format of the
talks on Nagorno- Karabakh. Despite the setback at Rambouillet, the
negotiating process goes on, and the co-chairmen act in coordination,
Fassier said.
“The three countries- co-chairmen of the Minsk group on
Nagorno-Karabakh are convinced that there is no alternative to peace,
and continue to say so,” he noted. “War cannot be a way to settle
the conflict,” he said.
The co-chairman from France said the demands of all the parties
involved cannot be fully met in settling the conflict. Compromise
usually means meeting the demands of each party 50 percent. If we meet
their demands 80 percent, this will be absolutely fantastic success,
Fassier said.