Putin says G8 leaders agree to promote energy security
Today, Azerbaijan
July 17 2006
17 July 2006 [20:40] – Today.Az
The Group of Eight (G8) leaders agreed on joint efforts to ensure
global energy security at their summit held on July 15-17, Russian
President Vladimir Putin said at a news conference following the
summit.
“Our strategy is based on a common understanding of the fact that
humankind has a common energy future,” Putin said. “A future for
which we all share responsibility.”
The G8 has agreed on joint efforts to make energy infrastructure
more reliable, to diversify the production and supplies of energy
resources, to increase energy efficiency and to develop alternative
energy sources, he said.
Putin said Monday in his statement on the summit’s results that G8
leaders had agreed to reduce barriers to energy investment, making
it possible for energy producers and consumers to acquire upstream
and downstream energy assets in other countries.
Earlier this year Russia’s natural gas monopoly Gazprom unveiled
ambitious plans to acquire energy companies in Europe and swapped
some of its assets for ones owned by German companies BASF and E.ON,
triggering Europeans’ concerns about their dependence on Russian
energy. For its part, the European Union has sought to get access
to Russian pipelines and oil and gas deposits, while Russia has been
reluctant to provide it.
The group has also emphasized nuclear energy’s contribution to global
energy security, Putin said.
The G8 has also decided to cooperate in the promotion of education
to meet the challenges of a modern knowledge-based economy, Putin said.
Additionally, the group has announced that it will seek to fight
infectious diseases, including avian flu, AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria
and polio, he said.
The G8 leaders have said that they would seek to complete the Doha
Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks, which is mostly
focused on the reduction of agricultural subsidies, by the end of
this year. Other issues in the Doha Round include combating piracy and
counterfeiting, fighting corruption and promoting poverty alleviation
and peacekeeping programs in Africa.
The countries of the G8 have also agreed to fight the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and in particular agreed to submit
the issue of Iran’s nuclear program to the U.N. Security Council
and urge North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program and stop
missile launches, Putin said.
In general the summit was uneventful in terms of major policy
announcements and was to a large extent focused on growing violence
in the Middle East and failed to deliver a long-awaited agreement
between the U.S. and Russia on the latter’s accession to the World
Trade Organization.
The G8 has announced their intention to combat terrorism and
its threats including nuclear terrorism, increase cooperation in
post-conflict stabilization, prevent violations of arms embargoes, put
an end to Israel’s current conflict with Lebanon and the Palestinian
National Authority, find a compromise between Serbia and Kosovo on
the issue of Kosovo’s independence and stabilize the situation in
Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan’s Darfur region and Azerbaijan’s breakaway
republic of Nagorno Karabakh.
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Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture, Switzerland
July 17 2006
Azerbaijan: Sentencing of Mr. Bashirli, Mr. Nuri and Mr. Tagiyev
Case AZE 250805.8 – Follow up to Cases AZE 250805 /.1 /.2 /.3 /.4 /.5
/.6 /.7
Sentencing
Geneva, 17 July 2006
The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against
Torture (OMCT) has received new information about the following
situation in Azerbaijan.
New Information
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Human
Rights Centre of Azerbaijan, a member of the OMCT network, that on 12
July 2006 the Court of Grave Crimes sentenced Mr. Ruslan Bashirli,
chairman of the Youth Movement “Yeni Fikir” (New Idea) to seven years
in prison, Mr. Ramin Tagiyev, vice-chairman of Yeni Fikir to four
years and Mr. Said Nuri to five years. According to the information
received, judge Tofiq Pasheyev read out the sentence and ordered a
three year probation for Mr. Said Nuri, considering his illness, with
the remaining two years in reformatory.
According to the information received, they were charged with
attempting to overthrow the government with the aid of the Armenian
secret service. Furthermore, the charge of illegal entrepreneurship
has been dropped on the suggestion of the prosecution. The defense
lawyers asked the court to acquit the defendants. It is reported that
none of the two lawyers, representing the Yeni Fikir members, was
present at this hearing. One of them was informed about the hearing
only half an hour before and the second lawyer was not informed at
all.
It is reported that Mr. Said Nuri said that representatives of Yeni
Fikir will appeal the verdict and are willing to take the case as far
as the European Court.
The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned that the
defendants’ right to a jury trial -provided for by the Azerbaijani
Code of Criminal Procedure – has not been respected. Moreover, the
lawyers of Mr. Bashirli, Mr.Tagiyev and Mr. Nuri, were not present
during the court session on 10 July 2006 in which the indictment was
read out by the court. These grave violations of their procedural
rights call into question the fairness of their trial.
The International Secretariat of OMCT also expresses its grave
concern over the independence of the judiciary.
>Brief reminder of the situation
According to the information received, Mr. Ruslan Bashirli was
arrested on August 3, 2005, on charges of “plotting to overthrow the
Azerbaijani leadership at the instigation of Armenian intelligence
agents”, with whom he allegedly met in Tbilisi on July 28 and 29,
2005. A criminal case under clause 278 of the Criminal Code of the
Republic of Azerbaijan (“actions directed to seizing or keeping the
power by force”) was brought against him by the Prosecutor’s Office
of the Republic of Azerbaijan. If found guilty, he could face life
imprisonment. Moreover, he was accused of “illegal entrepreneurship”
(Art.192 of the Criminal Code). According to the article, the running
of a business (entrepreneurship) without registration or license is
punished by fine, limitation of liberty up to 3 years, or
imprisonment up to 5 years. However, this should not apply to a
non-profit organisation. Furthermore, Mr. Ruslan Bashirli’s family
has been subjected to harassment. Mr. Ruslan Bashirli’s father, Mr.
Djalil Bashirli, was forced to leave his position as a schoolteacher.
Moreover, his house, located in Zardob, was attacked by a mob that
threw stones at his house. Mr. Ruslan Bashirli’s uncle, Mr. Fuzuli
Qasimov, senior tax inspector in the region of Goychay, was dismissed
on August 8, 2005. Mr. Ruslan Bashirli was allegedly tortured which
resulted in the deterioration of his health. Therefore he was
transferred to the medical unit of the Bayil Prison, Baku city.
However, according to his lawyer, the conditions of the medical unit
did not permit adequate medical treatment.
On 12 September 2005, police arrested Mr. Said Nuri. He was
temporarily detained in confinement at the Narimanov District Police
Administration, where he was reportedly accused of “preparation of a
coup d’etat and getting financial support from interested forces”.
The “evidence” was his participation in a seminar in Poland organised
by the Institute of European Democracy. On the day after his arrest,
Mr. Nuri was hospitalised because of a poor health condition
(talassemia, and problems with his internal organs) in the City
Clinical Hospital No. 1 in Baku. On 14 September 2005, it was
reported that Mr. Nuri had received necessary treatment and was
released. However, the next day, he was rearrested on his way to
work, although the Prosecutor’s Office stated that he was “invited”
by the investigator. On 14 November 2005, Mr. Said Nuri was released
from hospital where he had been since 15 September 2005, and was
placed under house arrest. At that time, the charges against him had
not been dropped.
On 16 September 2005, the Nasimi district court of Baku approved the
preliminary arrest of Mr. Ramin Tagiyev. He was detained in Bayil
Prison (Investigation Isolator #1 of the Ministry of Justice), on
suspicion of preparing the forced seizure of power under the same
case as Mr. Ruslan Bashirli’s. Mr. Bashirli’s lawyer would have
reported that he was kept in a very cold cell in isolation.
The trials for Mr. Bashirli, Mr. Nuri and Mr. Tagiyev started on 31
March 2006 in the Court of Grave Crimes under chairmanship of judge
Tofiq Pasheyev. The bill of accusations against the three men
included Articles 278, 192.2.1 and 192.2.2 Criminal Code of the
Republic of Azerbaijan (attempt of illegal seizure of power and
illegal entrepreneurship). Following the decision of this judge that
the hearings would take place behind closed doors, Mr. Bashirli and
Mr. Tagiyev started a hunger strike on 2 April 2006. Moreover, on 7
April 2006 Mr. Bashirli, Mr. Nuri and Mr. Tagiyev refused themselves
lawyers, asserting that they do not consider their services useful if
the process is not transparent. Following this, the judge forcibly
appointed new lawyers, who are paid by the government, because the
Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Azerbaijan states that
a defendant who is tried under Article 278 is obligated to have a
defender. Moreover, as conviction under Article 278 can lead to life
imprisonment, in such cases Azerbaijani legislation requires, since 1
September 2000, that the case is to be tried by a jury. However, for
unknown reasons, the establishment of a jury is still pending.
Therefore ordinary courts now give all the verdicts, including
life-long sentences.
Furthermore, during the above-mentioned hearing on 7 April 2006, the
defendants were removed from the court hall for disruption of order
because they actively protested and ‘shouted various slogans’. Also,
Mr. Said Nuri, who was placed under house arrest was threatened to be
arrested if he continued to inform the media about the content of the
closed hearings.
Action requested
Please continue to write to the authorities in Azerbaijan urging them
to:
i. Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and
psychological integrity of Mr. Bashirli, Mr. Nuri and Mr. Tagiyev;
ii. Ensure that, should Mr. Bashirli, Mr. Nuri and Mr. Tagiyev
appeal, all their procedural rights will be respected;
iii. Guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental
freedoms throughout the country in accordance with international
human rights standards.
Addresses
Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Office of
the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 19 Istiqlaliyyat St.,
Baku AZ1066, Azerbaijan, Fax: +994 12 492 06 25, +994 412 92 28 68,
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Prosecutor’s Office, 7 Nigar Rafibeyli St., Baku, Azerbaijan, Fax:
+994 12 492 06 82, +994 12 492 26 63, E-mail: [email protected]
Minister of Internal Affairs of the Azerbaijani Republic, Lt.-Gen.
Ramil Usubov, Fax: + 994 12 492 45 90
S.E. l’Ambassadeur H.E. Ambassador, Mr. Elchin Amirbayov, Rue de
Lausanne 67, CH-1202, Genève, Suisse, e-mail :
[email protected], fax: +4122 901 18 44
Minister of Justice in Azerbaijan, Mr. Fikret Mamedov, Prospekt
Stroitelej, 1 Baku Azerbaijan, e-mail: [email protected], Tel
(99412) 430 01 16, Fax (99412) 430 09 81
Azerbaijani Embassy in Brussels, Mr. Mamedov, Avenue Moliere, 464,
1050 Brussels, Belgium, Tel: +32 2 345 26 60, Fax: +32 2 345 91 85
Please also write to the embassy of Azerbaijan in your respective
country.
page=article&num=6170&consol=close&kwr d=OMCT
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The Australian, Australia
July 17 2006
BBC decrees no Proms queens
Richard Morrison
July 18, 2006
BY any standard it’s a spectacular own goal. The BBC, one of the
most politically correct, equality-focused employers in Britain,
has managed to devise a Proms season featuring not a single female
composer or conductor.
There are 73 concerts in the famous music festival at London’s Royal
Albert Hall, all of them directed by men. And 270-odd pieces of music
listed in the main concerts, all written by blokes.
Even if you believe that there weren’t many decent female composers
around until the 20th century (and that’s a claim likely to get
feminist hackles rising), you would still hope for a near-equal
representation of the sexes among living composers.
Not a bit of it: 27 living composers are featured in the main
concerts. All are male.
The sexual imbalance extends to soloists. Apart from singers (where
vocal ranges determine sex), there are more than 50 male but only 10
female soloists. On some instruments the ratio is even more askew.
What does the Proms have against female pianists that it invites only
two to participate, compared with 20 men?
So is this a cock-up or a conspiracy? The defence offered by Nicholas
Kenyon, the Proms controller, is pretty limp.
“We achieve balance over several seasons, not every season,” he claims.
But that is utter nonsense. During the past seven seasons, the average
number of female composers included in the Proms has been three,
compared with more than 100 male composers each season, of whom at
least 20 are living.
Could the sexual imbalance at the Proms reflect a wider problem in
classical music?
That’s a complex question. Women play a bigger part in professional
music making now than ever before, and in some areas there is true
parity. Most British orchestras now appoint as many women as men to
vacant posts.
But what about conductors and composers? Here there is less progress.
Whenever female conductors are discussed we all tend to reach for
the same few examples: Marin Alsop, Jane Glover, Emmanuelle Haim,
Simone Young. That indicates how formidable the barriers still are.
In 1939 a journalist asked Nadia Boulanger what it was like to be
a woman conducting the Boston Symphony. “Having been a woman for 50
years,” she replied, “I have recovered from my initial astonishment.”
Nearly 70 years on, hacks still ask female conductors the same daft
questions.
Female composers have been around much longer. Everyone knows about
the 12th-century Hildegard of Bingen. Last year she even had an
opera written about her (by a man!). But I have a soft spot for an
8th-century Armenian mystic called Xosroviduxt. Crazy name, crazy
life: she was abducted and incarcerated for 20 years, during which
she composed a great lament for her murdered brother, a hymn still
sung in Armenian churches.
Clara Schumann is a classic example of a woman who sidelined her
own genius to support her (arguably no more talented) husband. Felix
Mendelssohn’s gifted sister, Fanny, was cruelly (but realistically)
told by her father that “perhaps for Felix music will become a
profession, but for you it will always remain an ornament”. Even
20th-century pioneers such as Ethel Smyth were ridiculed for their
efforts.
And today? Judith Weir’s operas are some of the best things to have
come from a British composer in my lifetime. Judith Bingham, Sally
Beamish and Deirdre Gribbin all write fascinating music.
It’s dangerous to generalise, but I would say that female composers
are usually less hung up on mathematical systems than their male
counterparts. In the bad old days of doctrinaire serialism that would
have counted against them. Today, it must be considered an advantage.
Except, it seems, by the people who commission music for the Proms.
The Times

G8: Core principles on peaceful settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict should be agreed in 2006
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
July 17 2006
[ 17 Jul. 2006 19:32 ]
The G8 Summit of heads of states held in the Russian city of St
Petersburg was closed today. The final Communique drawn up on behalf
of Russia chairing the G8 summit touches on the Nagorno-Garabagh,
Kosovo and other regional conflicts (APA).
The G8 leaders stress importance of finding and agreeing on
core principles on peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Garabagh,
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict in 2006.
“We confirmed that the Eight Group supports mediating efforts of
the OSCE Minsk Group and stresses importance of soonest reaching an
agreement on core principles for peaceful settlement of the conflict in
2006. We call on Azerbaijan and Armenia to demonstrate political will,
reach an agreement and prepare their peoples for peace not for war,”
the Communique underlines./APA/

International Journalist’s Network
July 17 2006
Armenian Journal: Youth activist empowers peers through journalism
Region :None
Country :Armenia
Topic :Young Journalists, Print Journalism
17/07/2006
By Timothy Spence, Knight International Press Fellow
As a child living in Soviet Armenia, Arthur Ghazaryan read the
weekly newspaper for young communist Pioneers. Later, as a high
school student in the newly independent country, Ghazaryan and his
classmates started a newspaper – writing their copy by hand because
there were no computers available.
Today, the energetic 26-year-old youth leader is preparing to publish
the second edition of a tabloid-size newspaper geared toward young
people in the northeastern town of Dilijan. It is part of a larger
project sponsored by the nongovernmental Academy for Educational
Development, or AED, to create print- and Web-based information
outlets for youth groups in Armenia’s rural regions.
Ghazaryan says AED’s Youth and Community Action Program wants to
encourage young people to become involved in decision-making and instil
democratic values. “We want to ensure them that they are something
in the community, not just zero. We want officials to respect them,”
said Ghazaryan, the program representative in Dilijan.
Young Dilijan, the monthly newspaper that Ghazaryan helped found in
his hometown, is part of that process, he said in an interview in the
Armenian capital of Yerevan. He is also working to fund a youth-run
radio station that would be an outlet for entertainment as well as
educational and discussion programs.
But the process has not been easy. Newspapers in Armenia largely
rely on political or individual sponsors for their revenue, with most
advertisers in the small Caucasian nation of 3.2 million buying time
on television rather than space in print media.
In Dilijan, Ghazaryan asked the mayor’s office to help fund the first
six issues of Young Dilijan – but he said part of the arrangement is
that the paper would be rigorously independent.
“We’re not going to criticize something if it’s not correct. We’re
going to publish new ideas. This is not going to be just another
political newspaper,” Ghazaryan said.
There is also a problem of staffing, something editors of youth and
student newspapers anywhere can appreciate. Ghazaryan said he was
prepared for such challenges before the first issue went to press in
June. “Starting this, I realized how much hard work this was going
to be,” he said. “I was ready to hear, to accept, lots of critics.”
His goal is to build a newspaper staff – and eventually, a radio crew
– that can work without his involvement. The newspaper now has three
or four “core” contributors, all of whom are volunteers.
“I myself am doing all this voluntarily. This is not my job, I’m just
interested in it,” Ghazaryan said. “I am the chief editor right now,
I’m the designer of the newspaper, I’m collecting all articles and
deciding how to design everything.”
“I want in one year to have a group of journalists, of young people,
who will work independently, who will have their chief editor et
cetera,” he said.
As a child, Ghazaryan said he read the Pioneer Call, a Communist Party
newspaper that was popular for its news about youth achievements,
events and puzzles. He wants to borrow at least some of those ideas,
highlighting success stories of young Armenians who complain that the
mainstream media, with their heavy emphasis on politics, overlook them.
Young Dilijan will also tackle tougher issues. Ghazaryan says the
September issue will focus on employment and changes in the nation’s
education policies, including a new requirement for 12-year education,
up from the current 10. The change was designed to bring Armenia’s
education system up to European standards, but it has triggered
controversy with parents and students who say the old system has
worked well.
“We have an aim or purpose to educate the young people to get informed
about youth policy in Armenia … to get informed about events in
Dilijan, because not everybody knows about them, to inform them
about active people who won competitions in Yerevan or international
competitions, and of course to educate them through the newspaper,”
Ghazaryan said.
Youth groups around Armenia that are either starting newsletters or
Web sites recently participated in a journalism immersion course.
More than 60 students, youth leaders and teachers underwent the
training provided by the Knight International Press Fellowship program,
a partner of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).
The regional youth centers are gradually being equipped with computers,
scanners and Internet access.
Ghazaryan was born in Dilijan, a bucolic town in the mountainous
Tavush region of Armenia. Once a Soviet resort for composers and
artists, Dilijan is like many regional towns and villages outside
the sprawling capital – its economy is struggling and young people
seek opportunities in Yerevan or abroad.
Ghazaryan graduated from Dilijan’s University of Management and
Information Technology with a degree in business administration,
and hopes to earn a master’s in business administration some day.
But for now, his focus is on using the Internet, Young Dilijan and
his hoped-for community radio to keep the younger generation active
and informed.
The independent Yerevan Press Club lists more than 70 print
publications serving Armenia. Most of them are small and few serve
rural markets.
Fifteen years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, press freedom
remains tenuous in Armenia. According to the Committee to Protect
Journalists, the government has restricted coverage of terrorism,
continues to deny a broadcasting license to an independent TV network
that was ordered off the air in 2002, and cites occasional attacks
on journalists.
Reporters Without Borders ranks Armenia 102 out of 167 nations in its
most recent “press freedom index.” Neighboring Georgia ranked 99 and
Azerbaijan 141.
Ghazaryan – who was always “eager to be a journalist” – says that
while the media today “are not independent, for sure,” the younger
generation will change that.
“Armenia is a small country and everybody knows each other. If you
are the owner of any kind of mass media, and if you write something
which is correct, which is very healthy criticism about an official,
in a couple of days you will be punished for that,” he said. “Not
always, but enough.
“Right now a new generation is getting educated abroad, and they are
coming back to Armenia, and they are bringing a new way of thinking
about journalism … more European, more American, more democratic. I’m
optimistic that everything will change.”
Timothy Spence is a Knight Fellow working with journalists
in Armenia. This is his second tour with the program; he
was previously in Ethiopia. The John S. and James L. Knight
Foundation sponsors the fellowships, administered by the
International Center for Journalists. For more information, visit

Dancers among Aussies saved from Lebanon
July 17, 2006 – 7:14AM
The Age, Australia
July 17 2006
Members of an Armenian dance troupe who had been stranded in Lebanon
were among 86 Australians safely evacuated from the war-torn country
by bus, braving Israeli bombing attacks to cross to safety in Syria.
A Sydney spokesman for the Sevan Dance Group, Archbishop Aghan
Baliozian, said the 45 young performers and 36 parents and supervisors
had been picked up from their Beirut hotel in a three-bus convoy.
The busloads of Australians fled Beirut, heading north along the
Mediterranean coast road and early Monday night (AEST) crossing the
Syrian border and onto the capital Damascus.
“They had an uneventful trip to Syria and I can confirm they are now
having lunch in (the Syrian capital) Damascus,” Archbishop Baliozian
told AAP.
“We expect them to be taken to Jordan tomorrow, where they will fly
to Bahrain, and to be back in Sydney in two days time.”
Thousands more Australians remain trapped in Lebanon as Australia
struggles to get them home, but the successful operation could be
repeated in days to come.
“Tomorrow, we will endeavour to try and repeat this exercise,”
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said as he announced the evacuation
in Adelaide.
Hundreds more are set to be evacuated by ship later this week, he said.
Mr Downer had earlier warned of the potential danger of evacuating
Australians by road, saying some Italians fleeing Lebanon had almost
been hit by a missile.
The coastal route north from Beirut to Syria has been used by a number
of other nations to evacuate their citizens, but convoys have been
held up by Israeli bombing attacks as part of their campaign against
Hizbollah guerrillas.
While Mr Downer said earlier that Australia believed it had found a
safe land route out of Lebanon, he warned: “This is a difficult and
hazardous exercise.”
“It’s a war situation and in a war there are high risks – there are
risks trying to get out of the country, there are risks staying in
the country.”
Mr Downer said he had spoken to Israel’s foreign minister before the
busload of Australians departed Beirut, but said Israel had given no
assurances about the safety of those on the buses.
However he said Australia’s close relationship with Israel was a key
factor in the safe evacuation.
“I really appreciate the fact that we gave the information to the
Israelis about what we were doing and the route we were taking … in
that context it was a pretty trouble-free journey,” he said.
“That is not to say that if we were to attempt it again tomorrow on
that route or a different route, it won’t be hazardous because there
are of course risks involved.
“There are risks in staying put, there are risks involved in taking
transport – transport and communications are being very much targeted
by the Israelis.”
The rescued dance troupe had been bunkered down in their Beirut hotel
since the Israeli military began its attacks on Lebanon six days ago.
“Everyone is fit and well,” Archbishop Baliozian said.
“We thank the Australian government and the media for their help.
“They were picked up … and taken out of the country in the coaches.
“We knew about the plans, but before this we had not been able to
say anything about the evacuation, because of security concerns.”
Like many other nations, Australia is also negotiating to charter a
ship to take evacuees to Cyprus, although Lebanese ports have also
been targeted by Israeli bombs.
“We hope that will go ahead on Wednesday,” Mr Downer said, adding
the ship would be able to carry about 600 Australians.
Prime Minister John Howard urged patience as families desperate to
be reunited with loved ones criticised the government over the pace
of the evacuations.
With Beirut’s airport out of action because of Israeli bombing,
Britain, France, Italy and other nations have sent warships or
chartered cruise ships to evacuate citizens.
New Zealand has asked for help from Britain to get up to 40 of its
citizens out, possibly by British warship.
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said Australia too should evacuate its
citizens by ship, as roads were too dangerous.
“The government needs to be as vigilant as their European counterparts
in securing a decent outcome here for the Australians who are there,”
Mr Beazley said.
But Mr Howard denied Australia’s response had been slow.
“One reason is of course we’re a lot further from the area of
conflict,” Mr Howard said.
He promised the federal government was working overtime to help
stranded Australians.
“It’s important in this situation to balance the risk versus the
opportunity,” Mr Howard said.
The federal government urged people to contact the Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra if family members wanted to be
evacuated from Lebanon.
“This is the best we can do in the circumstances, it’s going to take
a bit of time,” said Mr Downer.
“It’s very important that people don’t just rush the embassy, that
they communicate with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
in Canberra and allow the embassy to contact people when places are
going to be made available.
“If they all flocked to the embassy then that is going to create
a situation of chaos, it’s very important that we, having been
successful in getting the first 86 out, that there be an orderly
approach to this.”
Close to 5,000 Australians are registered as being in Lebanon, while
up to 25,000 dual Australian-Lebanese citizens are also thought to
be living there.

Karabakh: Any Agreement Based on Concessions Dangerous for Azerbaijan’s Next President
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.07.2006 15:16 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Any agreement based on concessions represents
danger for the next Azeri President. Insuring himself from any
agreements Ilham Aliyev raises the demands, however his speech is
full of contradictions. He says “our patience is not boundless”
but then calls for deliberation to make Armenians capitulate. His
statements on peace and war are contradictory as well; moreover
they conflict with the Azeri Constitution which rejects hostilities
as means to settle conflicts. The unwillingness to understand the
specific character of the epoch of the USSR decline is also obvious,”
says the article PanARMENIAN.Net received from former OSCE MG Russian
Co-chair Vladimir Kazimirov.
According to Kazimirov, Azerbaijan practices common phrases about
justice, international law and territorial integrity which more
resemble incarnations. “A state leader can hardly consider such stuff
proper for the public opinion and especially for “export”, he remarked.
Vladimir Kazimirov considers that now the parties should be imposed
the adherence to peaceful settlement of disputes. “Not only the end
of 2006 but the two coming years can be sacrificed to come closer to
settlement in the Karabakh conflict,” the Russian diplomat said.

RA DEFENCE MINISTER JOINS REPUBLICAN PARTY OF ARMENIA
AZG Armenian Daily #133, 18/07/2006
Opinion
RA Defence Minister Serge Sargsian applied for admission to Republican
Party of Armenia. He informed the journalists about this on Saturday.
He denied the information, according to which after the congress of
RPA, RA PM Andranik Margarian will resign and Serge Sargsian will
become PM.
As for his probable participation in the presidential elections
in 2008, he said that he will touch upon this issue only after
the presidential elections in 2007. He added that if RPA and its
allies fail to be properly represented at the parliament of the next
convocation, that will be senseless to talk of any further steps. “But
if we see that we are really supported by our electors, we will try,
why not? Is it bad?” he put a question in response.
As for the situation in Upper Lars, he said that the Armenian
fruit exporters have no Discomfort. He reminded that RF Transport
Minister of Russia Igor Leviitn had arrived to Russia and had several
talks concerning the issue Russia. Serge Sargsian and Igor Levitin,
Co-Chairmen of the Armenian-Russian Interparliamentary Commission,
had a conversation.
By Nana Petrosian

G8 Calls to Modernize ANPP
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.07.2006 15:25 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The G8 members called upon Armenia to allocate funds
and implement measures for modernization and secure operation of the
Armenian Nuclear Power Plant. Armenia is offered to undertake measures
until the ANPP can be stopped and put out of operation. “We take into
account the measures Armenia has already taken in this direction,”
the report says.
The authors of the report call on Armenia to prepare and implement
multisided program for raising the level of the ANPP safety, ensure
the proper number of employees and render them the essential level
of authority essential for efficacious performance of duties in
accordance with international standards, reported Rosbalt.

G8: Soonest Coordination of Principles on Karabakh Essential
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.07.2006 15:46 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ During the summit the G8 leaders referred to the
situation in Nagorno Karabakh, says the statement by G8 Summit
President. The document says in part, “We confirmed that the G8
supports the mediating efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia,
the United States and France) and stressed the necessity of soonest
coordination of the principles of a peaceful settlement in 2006. We
call on Azerbaijan and Armenia to demonstrate political will, achieve
an agreement and prepare their public for peace but not for war.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress