RA FM TO DISCUSS NK CONFLICT SETTLEMENT IN THE COURSE OF HIS VISIT TO MOSCOW
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 4 2006
“The most important issue of the forthcoming talks’ agenda will
be the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement”, stated an official
representative of the RF MFA Mikhail Kamynin in an interview with
RIA Novosti speaking about RA FM Vardan Oskanyan’s visit to Moscow
scheduled for April 5 – 7.
According to Mikhail Kamynin, Russia is “for continuation of the
Armenian-Azeri dialogue at various levels, first of all between
the two countries’ Presidents”. “We proceed from the fact that the
conflict’s participants should find a mutually acceptable solution”,
stated the official representative of the RF MFA.
In Mikhail Kamynin’s words, the issues of coordinating the two
countries’ MFAs efforts on improvement of the situation in Caucasus,
settlement of the conflicts, establishment of atmosphere of trust
are in the focus of the forthcoming Armenian-Russian talks’ attention.
To note, the Armenian Foreign Minister’s working visit will be held
within the frames of the Year of Armenia in Russia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA WILL NOT PRESIDE AT GS OF TRACECA INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION
Today, Azerbaijan
April 4 2006
The reason of it was that the sides were against each-other during
election of the Secretary General.
APA was informed about it by the TRACECA national secretary in
Azerbaijan Akif Mustafayev.
Mr.Mustafayev said that the previous date of the 5th conference of the
TRACECA Intergovernmental Commission to be held in Sofia (Bulgaria)
was changed. This conference initially planned to be held early in
April was assigned on May 2.
The Azerbaijani delegation will leave for Sofia on April 29. The reason
why the conference’s date was changed was that in April, series of
official and holiday events would take place in Bulgaria which would
host the conference and preside over the organization next year.
According to Mr.Mustafayev, a meeting of the TRACECA national
secretaries will be held on May 1 and agenda of the conference will
be reviewed there for the last time.
“Reports will be given at the conference and we also plan to
deliver a speech there. Besides, execution of the decisions adopted
at the 4th conference will be reviewed. Approval of the TRACECA
development strategy to 2015, reformation of the organization into
an international organization, projects planned for 2006 will be
discussed and the general secretary and chairman will be elected”,
the national secretary stressed.
TRACECA is currently chaired by Azerbaijan. Next year the chairman
will be Bulgaria.
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

USA BELIEVES THAT 2006 WILL BE DECISIVE YEAR FOR THE RESOLUTION OF THE CONFLICT- RENE HARNISH
Author: S. Agayeva
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
April 4 2006
The USA believes that 2006 will be decisive year for the resolution
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the United States ambassador to
Azerbaijan, Reno Harnish told journalist on April 4, Trend reports.
The United States, as an OSCE Minsk group co-chairman has always
supported the talks between the heads of states and foreign ministers
of the conflicting sides and will continue its role of the mediator
in the conflict. “We support the Azerbaijani and Armenian efforts
aimed at peaceful resolution of the conflict,” the ambassador said.
Commenting the US department of State advice to its citizens to avoid
visiting the uncontrolled territories for their own safety, he added
that US has always admitted that more than 16% of the Azerbaijani
territory are beyond the governmental control and human rights matters
on these territories can not be controlled by Azerbaijan.

AZERBAIJANI ARMY OFFICER RAMIL SAFAROV’S TRIAL TO START AT 16.30 BY BAKU TIME TODAY
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 4 2006
The trial of Azerbaijani Army officer Ramil Safarov, who is indicted
for murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan, will be held in
Budapest, Hungary, at 13.30 by local time (16.30 by Baku time).
Lawyer Adil Ismayilov, who represents Safarov’s family, told APA that
the parties will address the trial. Ramil Safarov will also address
the court with his last statement. “I met Ramil Safarov yesterday,
he is ready to address the court,” Ismayilov said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SOLDIER KILLS ANOTHER SOLDIER IN AGHDAM, AZERBAIJAN
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 4 2006
A death case occurred in a military unit in Azerbaijan’s region of
Aghdam, Garabagh, last night.
The Garabagh bureau of APA reports that soldier Aliyev Ramig Firdovsi,
who was drafted from Ali Bayramli region, accidentally fired a
submachine gun at another soldier Hasanov Ehtiram Agabay drafted
from Massali region in June last year. As a result Hasanov Ehtiram
died. The accident was due to misuse of the fire-arm.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry confirmed the information. The
vise-chairman of the Ministry’s press service Ilgar Verdiyev told APA
that the event happened by accident while Hasanov was posting guard.
A criminal case was launched on the fact, and the investigation is
underway.

NKR NATIONAL STATISTIC SERVICE REPORTS
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 4 2006
Current March in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic consumer price index
was 104, 2%, as compared with last December, including food products –
105, 4%.
According to the information DE FACTO received at the NKR National
Statistic Service, non-food products’ index was 102, 8%, index of
paid services tariff – 100, 5%. Prices for fish products, potatoes,
vegetables and fruit have increased. January – March 2006, as compared
with the same period last year, consumer price index was 102, 4%,
including food products – 101, 7%. Non-food products’ index for the
same period was 106, 6%, paid services tariff – 101, 2%.

ARMENIA PAYS $110 FOR 1,000 CUBIC METERS OF GAS TO RUSSIA AND CONTINUES TALKS
Regnum, Russia
April 4 2006
Yerrevan, 4 April 2006 (Regnum – website) – Since April 1, the
ArmRosGazprom will pay $110 for each 1,000 cubic meters of gas supplied
from Russia to Armenia, spokeswoman for the company Shushan Sardaryan
told a REGNUM correspondent. Meanwhile, as spokeswoman for the Armenian
Energy Ministry Lucine Arutyunyan said to a REGNUM correspondent,
the talks between the Armenian party and Gazprom have continued in
Yerevan. The spokeswoman did not specify what questions are discussed
at the talks, taking into consideration the fact that price for gas
supplied to Armenia is $110 for 1,000 cubic meters.
“Details of the talks and their results will be announced by the
Armenian government after the end of the talks,” noted Lucine
Arutynyan.
Before April 1, gas was imported into Armenia at a price of $56 for
1,000 cubic meters. After that date, the delay given by Gazprom to
the Armenian party expired. Meanwhile, since April 10 gas tariff will
increase for domestic consumers: by 52.2% for residents, by 85.2%
for companies.
Prominent Armenian businessman Mikhail Bagdasarov earlier announced,
the gas supplied by Russia to Armenia would cost $68 for 1,000 cubic
meters. According to him, the gas price for domestic users will not
exceed $100 for 1,000 cubic meters. “The talks on the price for the
gas supplied by Russia to Armenia have continued, and according to the
information I have it will not exceed $70 for 1,000 cubic meters,”
concluded the businessman. Earlier, there was a report in the press
that Armenia agreed to give the 5th block of the Hrazdan Power Plant
for $250 million to achieve a compromise on settling the accounts.

YALCýN DOðAN: A SOLUTION TO THE KURDISH SITUATION IS STILL OUT THERE
Hurriyet, Turkey
April 4 2006
The Democratic Society (DTP) Party official from Siirt who called on
Kurdish citizens to protest is young, still a university student. He
is in his twenties. Would the DTP really have such a hard time finding
a reasonable person to take this guy’s place? For the past week now,
I have been watching and reading about the events taking place in the
Southeast and in Istanbul from abroad. The stance of the foreign press
as to what is taking place here is frightening: they present it with
headlines like “Kurdish uprising in Turkey.” They don’t perceive it
as terror. To counter this, I have been listening to the opinions of
some of my collegues who have actually been in Diyarbakir, and seen
the events live and in person.
Here is the first hand account of one of them:
“I have seen everything happen in Diyarbakir. Those who were attacking
the banks and the stores were in no way shouting PKK slogans. These
were young people who had migrated to the big city from the surrounding
countryside, and who had definitely never entered a big store to
do shopping, who had never set foot into a bank. And now they were
attacking banks, stores, and cars. Above and beyond the PKK, the real
problem for these youth is unemployment, even hunger.”
The PKK is behind these people on the streets. After all, poverty
is the biggest source of support for the PKK. Business owners in
the Southeast have been making the same observations. They are now
repeating the same thing they have been trying to tell Ankara for
years: “The region needs economic development.” This is not new.
On the look out for an identity
Of course, while this all may be true, it is not accurate to view
the events only through the lens of the economy, nor simply through
the lens of terror. There is, after all, Kurdish nationalism to deal
with too. This is Kurdish nationalism that rose with the fall of the
Ottoman Empire. Some theories say that nationalism creates nations,
while other theories attest that nations create nationalism. I say
that nationalism is really a search for identity. On the question
of identity, the famous novelist Amin Maalouf has this to say: “An
attack on a person’s language is the biggest attack possible on his
identity.” (This is from Maalouf’s book, ‘Deadly Identities.’)
Another writer on the topic, Hakan Ozoglu, notes in his book “The
Ottoman State and Kurdish Nationalism” that “land played an important
role in opening the way to Kurdish nationalism and thus the development
of the Kurdish identity.” Ozoglu’s thesis is that land is in fact more
important than language and religion in terms of identity formation. I
think Ozoglu is right here.
Three historical reasons
Today’s separationist movement rests on a demand for land. The
fight over identity is at the forefront of this movement. I wonder
how effective today’s Kurdish nationalism would be had there been a
wide-spread initiative to boslter the Kurdish identity, and to remove
the barriers from economic development in the region? Historically,
there have been three factors which instigated Kurdish nationalism.
These were the breakdown of the Ottoman Empire, the Kurdish-Armenian
clashes, and the pressure of Turkish nationalism. Despite the seeming
desperation of the situation we find ourselves in today, there is
a solution.
There are two basic precautions that could be taken, one political,
the other economic, to prevent further disruption to life in the
Southeast and throughout Turkey. The political precaution would
be to reduce the 10% vote threshhold in the elections. Because of
the current 10% threshhold, an entire region has no parliamentary
representation. This matter is one of the most basic barriers to
solving the Kurdish problem. Let the 10% threshhold be reduced, and
allow Kurdish parties representation in the Turkish Parliament (TBMM).
The second precaution that could be taken is economic. There has
to be a shift in programs that will help reduce unemployment in the
region. Programs favoring investment in the Southeast must be given
priority. The sabotage by the PKK against some of the new investments
in the Southeast only serves to underline what a potentially important
effect these programs could have on the region. The time when we
could simply view these events as terrorism has now passed.
We are facing a problem which must be solved as a whole, not just in
bits and pieces.
–Boundary_(ID_DspLojBs97NSx1vxzkMW4Q)–

ARMENIAN ARMED FORCES BREAK CEASE-FIRE IN TOVUZ AND AGHDAM
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 4 2006
Armenians keep on violating the cease-fire. Azerbaijan’s Defense
Ministry informed APA that the companies of the Armenian armed forces,
from their positions in 1.7 km south-east of Mosesgekh village of
Armenia’s region of Berd, fired on the positions of Azerbaijani armed
forces located in an unnamed height of Tovuz region from 17.55 till
18.00 on 3 April.
>From their positions in 2.5 km south-east of the occupied village
Javahirli of Aghdam region, the enemy forces fired on the positions
of Azerbaijani forces located near Ahmadahgali village with submachine
and machine guns from 21.00 till 2.00.
The enemy was silenced by response fire. No causalities were
reported.

ARMENIAN LOBBY IN THE USA AGAINST KARS-AKHALKALAKI RAILWAY
The Messenger, Georgia
April 4 2006
The Turkish company Yuksel Domonik has elaborated upon their technical
and economic plan for the construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki
railway – a 98 kilometer project which is estimated to cost between
USD 350-450 million.
In addition to building a railway line between Kars and Akhalkalaki,
a railway line running from Kars in Turkey, across Georgia to Baku
is being considered at an estimated cost of USD 800 million.
A working group on the project is planned to be held in April between
the tripartite railway administration of Georgia, Azerbaijan and
Turkey. The three countries’ Ministers of Transport will then discuss
the recommendations of the working group at the end of April/beginning
of May, reports the newspaper Khvalindeli Dghe.
Meanwhile the influential and extremely active Armenian lobby in
the U.S. is engaging in a campaign to convince America that the
Kars-Akhalkalaki railway should not be built. U.S. Senators Rick
Santorum (R-PA) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) have submitted a bill to
the Senate that would bar U.S. investment in the railway construction
project because it bypasses the territory of Armenia.
“The planned construction of the railway in the South Caucasus will
not only impinge on the USA’s long-term interests in the region, but
will also result in Armenia’s isolation. The USA’s policy in the South
Caucasus encourages regional stability, cooperation and re-opening
of borders and transport corridors,” said Santorum According to the
web site armeniandiaspora.com.
Georgian analysts consider the Kars-Akhalkalaki project to be in-line
with U.S. strategic interests. According to the newspaper Resonansi,
analyst Ramaz Klimiashvili said “It is profitable for the USA to
complete the project; particularly if the freight which is currently
transported from Central Asia via Russia, is transported along this
route instead. Saying that this project is politically negative for the
U.S. is just ridiculous. Turkey is a NATO member country and freight
would pass via those countries that are also controlled by NATO.”
According to local analysts, despite the Armenian lobby being very
strong in the U.S. Senate it should not be allowed to prevent the
construction of this railway. The U.S. Senate should only consider
a lobby if it serves the interests of its citizens.