ART BRINGS YOUTH TOGETHER IN GEORGIA
Source: World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe office (MEERO)
Reuters, UK
July 4 2006
Photocredit: Keti Nozadze World Vision MEERO,
More than 150 young people from different ethnic backgrounds celebrated
8 months of working together through ‘Arts and Crafts’ by holding
an exhibition and sale of their traditional works in the Georgian
capital Tbilisi at the end of last month.
During the last 8 months, youth from Azeri, Armenia, Georgian and
Russian origins attending World Vision Georgia Youth Centers across
the country have taken art class and developed craftmaking skills.
They seized the unique opportunity to express themselves, to learn
other traditions, and developed their own, as well as creating possible
source of income through the sale of their artworks.
The ‘Arts and Crafts’ Project aims to support reintegration process
of socially vulnerable and ethnically diverse youth through art and
cultural ties.
“Art is the best tool to address any social problem including poverty
and marginalization” says project manager Anna Mgaloblishvili, who
sees the project as a strong contributing power to further develop
of different ethnic traditions and peaceful interaction of cultures
in Georgia.
Traditional Georgian art of stone carving, the Armenian art of
‘Khachkara,’ the ancient art of enamel work and other arts of master
jewelry-makers are the most popular classes among the youth.
“I make traditional rings and earrings for my friends, art classes
taught me how to make them, and my friends happier” says Keti from
Telavi Youth Centre. Keti also helps mother at home to make valuable
sewing to sell and boost the family income.
World Vision Georgia and Tbilisi Art Academy have also ratified
a memorandum of future cooperation to increase the craft making
resources in the centers.
The project has significantly popularized traditional art among youth
in 7 cities in Georgia and contributed to the further cultural growth
of the communities.
World Vision Georgia’s “arts and crafts” project, supported by World
Vision Germany is for youth interested in art and craft making to
increase their future employment skills.

OSCE MONITORING RELATED TO FIRE IN OCCUPIED TERRITORIES OF AZERBAIJAN BY ARMENIA DELAYED
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
July 4 2006
Close to Marzili village of Aghdam and in the direction of Khojavend
region, in the borderline of the troops, according to the mandate
of OSCE chairman in-office personal representative, the monitoring
aimed to hold today, has been delayed.
OSCE chairman in-office personal representative and field assistants
have not visited the territories where the monitoring will be held.
Garabagh bureau of APA has reported quoting Aghdam, Agjabedi,
Terter and Khojavend region executive power heads. According to the
information, OSCE representatives did not give information about it
to Region Executive Power. Azerbaijan Defense Ministry press service
has told APA that no information on the result of monitoring has
entered them.
It should be noted that the monitoring from the Azerbaijani side has
been planned by OSCE chairman in-office personal representative field
assistants Imre Palatinius and Jiri Aberle, in then opposite side
of the borderline of Azerbaijan known in international level OSCE
chairman-in-office Andrzey Kasprzyk, his field assistants, Gunter
Folk, Peter Kinin. The monitoring was planned to be held related to
the fire in the territories of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenians.

BRIT JOURNALIST THOMAS DE WAAL WHO COVERED CHECHNYA BARRED FROM RUSSIA
By Dominic Ponsford
Press Gazette, UK
July 4 2006
A British journalist known for his coverage of Chechnya has been
barred entry to Russia.
According to Reuters, former BBC and Times journalist Thomas de Waal
had been due to attend a presentation on a Russian translation of
his book on the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Reuters reported that de Waal was refused entry in order to assist
the Russian authorities in “securing state security”.
He told Reuters: “”This clearly has to be because of the other main
thing that I write about, which is Chechnya.”

REGULAR PHASE OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH NEGOTIATIONS SEEMS TO FAIL
Ïðaâî Âûaîða, Azerbaijan
Democratic Azerbaijan
July 4 2006
Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Turkey are preparing for
4th phase of the preliminary negotiations aiming at normalization of
bilateral relations. The Press-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Turkey, Namig Tan informed at weekly press-conference.
Reminding the failure of the previous three phases of negotiations
because of destructive position and statement of fictitious “genocide”
of Armenia, Namig Tan said that currently there is a little hope
for progress. He said that the Prime-Minister of Turkey, Receb
Tayyib Erdogan, the leader of CHP, Deniz Baykal and the Turkish
Parliament uphold Turkish proposal concerning establishment of
the joint commission composed of Turkish and Armenian historians
for exploring the “genocide” issue, but Armenia, to the contrary,
reinforced propaganda of fictitious “genocide”.
Namig Tan, meaning the Nagorno-Garabagh conflict, highlighted that
equally with bilateral relations with Turkey, Armenia has serious
regional problems. He stressed that the official Iravan should take
more constructive approach to its solution.
–Boundary_(ID_iRW2+C10Vmp9KProy0rK3A)- –

ARMENIANS LIVING IN GEORGIA BEGAN TO SPEAK ABOUT THEIR RIGHTS
§±§â§Ñ§ Ó§a §£§í§Ò§a§& #xE2;§Ñ, Azerbaijan
Democratic Azerbaijan
July 4 2006
The regular congress of “The United Javakhk” Organization of
Armenians living in Samtskhe district ended with demands to Georgian
Government. As before, the congress made anti-Georgian slogans, and
also demand to grant the status of autonomy and the special status
to Armenian language. Such requirements, including protection of
the rights of Armenians living in Javakhetia, at times more radical
statements were made repeatedly. But this time the Georgian authorities
did not give any reaction.
In connection with that the Georgian community perceives negatively
an indifferent position of Georgian authorities to Armenian
separatists. At last, the Georgian authorities seem to be liberal
towards Armenians. Georgian mass media remarks that they should be
careful towards Armenians flow to Adjaria in connection with beginning
of holiday season and accentuate particularly the signboards of names
of caf¨¦-bars in the Black Sea resorts of the country are already
written in Armenian language.
Georgian intelligentsia put a fair question: who can guarantee that
Armenians, giving the oldest Georgian songs as their songs in Germany,
won’t call Batumi and Akhalkalaki as Armenian cities?
–Boundary_(ID_bHI8a21UxLmKnS5z91a3vQ)–

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT DUE IN TEHRAN
Fars News Agency, Iran
July 4 2006
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Armenian President Robert Kocharian is
due to arrive in Tehran Wednesday morning.
The visit takes place at the invitation of the Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who will extend an official welcome to Kocharian
at the presidential office tomorrow morning.
The Armenian President is scheduled to attend meetings with
different Iranian officials, including President Ahmadinejad,
Expediency Council Chairman Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Speaker of
the Islamic Consultative Assembly Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, Foreign
Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Supreme National Security Council
Secretary Ali Larijani, to discuss bilateral relations and exchange
views about different issues of mutual interest.
The two sides will also sign several cooperation agreements at the
end of Koucharian’s visit to Iran.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AMERICAN CO-CHAIR OF OSCE MG TO PAY VISIT TO TURKEY
Author: E.Huseynov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
July 4 2006
The date of the visit of American co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group Matthew
Bryza to the region of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict hasn’t been defined
yet, the head of the press-service of the USA Embassy in Azerbaijan
Jonathan Henik told Trend.
Bryza is planning to visit the region in the person of the new USA
co-chair, but the date of the visit hasn’t been announced yet.
Besides, Henik stressed that Bryza is expected to participate in the
opening ceremony of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. The ceremony will
be held on July 12-13 in Istanbul and Adana.
According to information of diplomatic sources, during his first visit
in the person of co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group, Bryza will visit to
Azerbaijan and Armenia where he will hold talks with the heads of
the two countries.

AN ENTIRE MECHANISM OF REPRODUCTION IS DISSOLVING
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir.am
04 July 06
Armenia and Azerbaijan reacted to the revelation of negotiations
for the Karabakh conflict by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Mathew
Bryza rather strangely. Official Yerevan complained of Mathew Bryza’s
statements more than Baku. It would not seem strange if there were
not for a circumstance. Complaining of the publication of the proposal
on the table of negotiations, Yerevan announced that it approves the
proposal. Baku did the contrary; it did not complain of publication but
it announced that the proposal was unacceptable for Azerbaijan. This
situation is a little strange, we should confess.
But I wish this situation were only strange. Because when after the
death of Heidar Aliyev Ilham Aliyev sat at the table, Azerbaijan
demanded to start from zero, and Armenia demanded to start from Key
West. In fact, everything started from Prague. It is difficult to
tell whether Prague is closer to Key West or zero, but most probably
Prague is close to neither of them, it is closer to the reality.
Perhaps because the leaders of the conflict sides constantly tried to
present their reality to their societies. No doubt, it is not helpful
for the settlement of the Karabakh issue and other problems, which
have accumulated so far. The presidents of both countries avoided
the reality, inventing another reality, and the problem of Karabakh
was a wonderful opportunity. Therefore, perhaps, Mathew Bryza and the
other co-chairs of the Minsk Group decided to reveal the reality to the
societies to protect them from manipulation by presidents, especially
that elections are drawing nearer in both Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The Karabakh issue has always been a core issue in these elections,
both directly and indirectly. Even when it was not discussed, it was
always taken into account. Moreover, the Karabakh issue served the
governments of both countries as a peculiar shield against outside
intervention in home political processes. In fact, with regard to the
internal situation in Armenia and Azerbaijan the West was also guided
by the light of the Karabakh conflict, expecting that if reproduction
of power in both countries is bad in terms of democratization, it
may serve as a factor of stability in the conflict over Karabakh.
Perhaps, it was also expected that by guaranteeing reproduction of
power the parties would come closer to the resolution of the Karabakh
conflict. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain in Armenia and
Azerbaijan that it was delicately instilled in public consciousness
in both Armenia and Azerbaijan that only Kocharyan and Aliyev could
resolve the issue of Karabakh, and any other circumstance would cause
the war to ignite. In Armenia it went even farther. In addition,
the representatives of some traditional parties announced that only
a president, who comes from Karabakh, can settle the Karabakh issue.
The minister of foreign affairs went farther and shifted this thesis
to the level of a right, announcing that the fact that Robert Kocharyan
comes from Karabakh gives him the right to act on behalf of Karabakh.
In fact, by a single interview Mathew Bryza destroyed the entire
mythology, which used to protect governments of Armenia and
Azerbaijan with the laurel of a settler. To say that Bryza did not
do it on purpose or he did it unconsciously, or not as seriously as
we think he did means to be at least an Armenian politician. By their
statements Bryza and the other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group let
Kocharyan and Aliyev know that they are unlikely to foster their
reproduction because they used to foster it to achieve reforms in
internal policies rather than only resolving or not only resolving
the Karabakh issue. If it fails, the West does not see a point in
overlooking electoral fraud using delicately the Karabakh issue with
expressions like “What democracy are you talking about? Look out,
they may take Karabakh away from us.”
In other words, it is certain that the settlement of the Karabakh
issue is not as urgent for the West and namely the United States as
the promotion of democracy in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Therefore,
on the one hand, Armenia is disturbed by Bryza’s statement, and
on the other hand, it endorses talks based on the proposals on the
table. Armenia is troubled because it realizes that Karabakh is not
the problem. They are not going to take Karabakh away from us, they
are not going to take away anything, some people are losing power
rather. Therefore, they are worried. If in Azerbaijan Aliyev has
oil resources, which might be a lever in negotiating with the West
to keep power, in Armenia Karabakh has always been the only resource
of Robert Kocharyan for keeping power, which is now checked out from
the agenda by the Americans. There are two things to do: to rely
on the short-term effect of accepting the proposals on the table
of negotiation or to look for a more reliable and modern resource,
such as democratization of the government system.

NEW STATEMENT BY MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS
Lragir.am
04 July 06
Trend News Agency reports that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs
made a new statement. The proposals developed through the past two
years of negotiations hold the best potential for achieving a fair
settlement of the conflict and lasting peace. The co-chairs say the
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan should seek for agreement on
the resolution. They are willing to contribute to this agreement if
the presidents affirm their commitment. The statement of the Minsk
Group Co-Chairs states that although no Minsk Group-mediated meetings
are scheduled, the co-chairs are, nevertheless, ready to participate
in these meetings if the parties have political will, which is not
sufficient presently.
Besides, the co-chairs state that the proposals offered to Ilham
Aliyev and Robert Kocharyan may lead to a lasting settlement.
According to the co-chairs, it involves withdrawal of the Armenian
troops, a special approach to Lachin and Kelbajar, demilitarization
of these areas and a referendum on the status of Karabakh. The method
and timing of the referendum will be chosen during the talks.
According to the Co-Chairs, peacekeepers will be deployed in the
conflict area and a commission on application of the agreement will be
set up, and there will be international assistance in mine clearance,
reconstruction the areas and return of displaced persons.

OSCE MONITORING IN KARABAKH CONFIRMS VERSION ON AZERI PARTY BURNING GRASS
Yerkir
04.07.2006 16:13
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – On July 3, the Office of the Personal Representative
of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office (C-i-O) monitored the contact line of
the Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijani Armed Forces in Aghdam-Gindarkh
direction and in the settlement of Novrouzlou, reports the Press
Service of the NKR MFA.
>From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring mission
was led by Personal Representative of the OSCE C-i-O Andrzej Kasprzyk.
Field Assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE C-i-O
Peter Key (Great Britain), Irzhi Aberle (Czech Republic) and Gunter
Folk (Germany) were in the group. The monitoring passed in accordance
with the planned schedule; however Azerbaijani side as before did
not lead out the OSCE mission to the front line. In the course of
the monitoring no violations of the cease-fire regime were registered.
The representatives of the NKR Ministries of Foreign Affairs and
Defense, who accompanied the OSCE monitoring mission, noted that
contrary to the Azerbaijani side’s allegations on the burning of the
populated areas, which were in the NKR security zone, the monitoring
participants did not find such facts.
In one of the sections of neutral region traces of fire were
discovered, which spread from territories under the control of
Azerbaijan. This again confirms the version earlier announced by NKR
authorities that the Azerbaijani party burns grass. The monitoring
of different sections of contact-line will also be conducted on July
4 and 5.
We remind that June 15 the NKR MFA addressed the Office of the
Personal Representative of the OSCE C-i-O, asking for monitoring
the zone adjacent to Azerbaijan to provide a real assessment to the
situation and to make sure Baku invents accusations on alleged burning
of border settlements on territories controlled by the NKR.