PEOPLE SPEAKING OF AZERBAIJAN’S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY WISH TO RETURN SOVIET REALITY

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.03.2006 19:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ There are no controlled or occupied territories in
Karabakh. There is the NKR integrity within its present borders. As
for the statements on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, their
authors should clarify which Azerbaijan they are talking about,
lieutenant general Vitaliy Balasanyan stated in an interview with
Karabakh-online. In his words, history counts at least three periods
of the Azeri-Karabakh relations: pre-revolutionary, soviet and post
soviet. “During the first and third periods Karabakh was not a part
of Azerbaijan. It was during the short soviet period only. Thus,
the people speaking of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity wish to
return the soviet reality,” he noted.

At that he reminded that Azerbaijan twice waged war against Nagorno
Karabakh. “In 1988 when NK Autonomous Region was a part of Azerbaijani
SSR the Azeri authorities organized carnage in Sumgait, Baku and other
towns. They also carried out “Ring” punitive operation in Nagorno
Karabakh. It was a war against own citizens. After the collapse
of the USSR Azerbaijan levied war on independent Karabakh. The
war was conducted on Karabakh’s territory and we had to defend,”
Balasanyan said. He reminded that the NKR armed forces neutralized
weapon emplacements and took under control the territories called
Karabakh. “Today Azerbaijan is speaking of a third war while the
international community does nothing to stop the anti-Armenian
propaganda. I am convinced that first of all the international
community should give an assessment to the events that had taken
place. Those who press for the return of the Azeri refugees should
recognize that the refugee flows from both sides were caused by the
war imposed by Azerbaijan,” Vitaliy Balasanyan said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

US EMBASSY IN ARMENIA ONCE AGAIN REFUTES REPORTS OF POSSIBLE WITHDRAWAL OF AMBASSADOR JOHN EVANS

YEREVAN, MARCH 14. ARMINFO. The US Embassy in Armenia has once again
refuted the reports of possible withdrawal of Ambassador John Evans.

This followed the Mar 10 letter of Congressman Frank Pallone,
Co-Chairman of the Armenian Issues Caucus, to US Secretary of State
Candoleezza Rice, where he expressed his extreme disappointment that
Evans “is being forced from office based upon truthful and forthright
statements last year about the Armenian Genocide” and asked for an
explanation as to why Evans was removed from his post.

To remind, in a briefing Mar 7 Evans said that like all diplomats he
served his president. Nobody can expect to hold his office for ever.

He said that he did not know when he was to leave Armenia, but he had
not personally sent in his resignation. He said that he did not know
for how long he would stay in office, but he would stay US ambassador
to Armenia until he went onboard the plane to leave the country.

In this turn, Deputy Assistant Deputy of State for Europe and Eurasia
Matthew Bryza told journalists in Yerevan that there were no plans of
Evans’ withdrawal. He called him an excellent leader of an excellent
team. He said that he would prefer not to comment on the president’s
decisions, including those concerning staff changes.

FORMER SPOKESMAN OF RUSSIAN FSS FD IN ARMENIA STILL ON REMAND

YEREVAN, MARCH 14. ARMINFO. The former spokesman of the Frontier
Department of the Russian Federal Security Service in Armenia, Lieut.

Col. Ivan Zhirenko is still on remand.

He was caught at the Moscow Vnukovo Airport while trying to bring to
Armenia 17 kg of gold articles.

The senior office of the department’s PR group. Lieut. Col. Vardan
Karapetyan say that Zhirenko has been sent to continue his service
in Voronezh. “We are waiting for the trial,” says Karapetyan.

KARABAKH IS ARMENIAN LAND

YEREVAN, MARCH 13. ARMINFO. Armenia will not cede Azerbaijan any
territory even under the threat of a new war. Armenia will consider
the question of territories and security of refugees only when
Azerbaijan has recognized the right of the people of Karabakh for
self-determination, said in an interview to the on-line version of
‘Azg’ newspaper Vardan Oskanian, the Foreign Minister of Armenia.

‘Karabakh is Armenian land. For thousands of years only Armenians
have lived there and preserved their sovereignty. One thing cannot be
doubted: Karabakh has never been a part of Azerbaijan and will never
be. The Armenians have no territorial claims beyond their historical
rights,’ said the Minister and added that Azerbaijan has no right for
Karabakh, as it lost that land in 1990’s and was trying to ravage it
by military force. ‘If the Armenian did not fight, there would be no
Karabakh today,’ he said.

Mr. Oskanian said that the authorities of Armenia will consider the
possibility of rendering aid to Azeri refugees from Armenia only
when Azerbaijan will be ready to pay compensations to those 350-400
thousand Armenians expelled from the territory of Azerbaijan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN LEADERS, CIS SECURITY CHIEF DISCUSS TIES

Sources:
Regnum, Moscow 14 Mar 06
Arminfo 14 Mar 06

Yerevan, 14 March: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and Nikolay
Bordyuzha, secretary-general of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO), discussed the main tasks which the CSTO faces
and ways of resolving issues in Yerevan today.

The sides also discussed how to improve the organization’s work
and make it more effective, the presidential press service has told
Arminfo news agency.

They also discussed preparations for a session of the CSTO which is
planned to take place in Minsk in June.

[Regnum news agency reported on the same day that Bordyuzha was also
received by Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan. “The sides discussed
the situation on the territory under the jurisdiction of the CSTO
and ways of improving the work and increasing the effectiveness of
the organization,” Regnum reported quoting the press service of the
Foreign Ministry].

TURKEY NOT “ASHAMED” OF PAST TREATMENT OF ARMENIANS – FOREIGN MINISTER

Anatolia news agency, Ankara
15 Mar 06

Istanbul, 15 March: “Turkey is at peace with its past. There is no page
in our history that we will be ashamed of,” Turkish Foreign Minister
and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday [15 March].

Sending a message to the opening of an international conference on “New
Approaches to Turkish-Armenian Relations” at the Istanbul University,
Gul said many conferences and symposiums were held in Turkey recently
on baseless Armenian allegations.

“There has been an increase in number of scientific researches,
articles and books published about the last period of the Ottoman
Empire and the Armenian issue. Thanks to the studies in question,
we have the opportunity to see the facts and to make the voice of
the truth heard against the biased publications by the Armenians of
the diaspora.”

“Furthermore, we bequeath detailed data to next generations about a
period of Turkish history. I would like to emphasize that the number
of impartial publications in the United States and Europe towards
this issue increases. Serious steps are being taken to make public
the facts,” the message said.

Gul reiterated that archives of the Ottoman and Republican period
were open to all researchers.

Gul urged that not only Turkish archives but also all the archives
that will shed light to a specific period of history should be
opened to researchers. “Last year we had proposed to the Armenian
government to form a commission to examine controversial episodes of
Turkish-Armenian relations. However, we haven’t yet got a positive
response from the Armenian party,” he indicated.

On the other hand, Istanbul University’s President Prof Dr Mesut
Parlak said: “Genocide is a crime against humanity. Such a heavy
accusation must have a legal basis. The international law defining
genocide was adopted in 1948, and does not cover past incidents.

Therefore, it is impossible and illegal to qualify 1915 incidents
as genocide.”

According to Parlak, the conference aims to reveal historical
realities.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MINISTER SAYS TURKEY TO DISCUSS NUCLEAR ENERGY USE WITH IAEA

Anatolia news agency
15 Mar 06

Ankara, 14 March: Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister
Abdullah Gul said on Tuesday [14 March] that Turkey was late in using
nuclear energy.

In a reception, upon questions on the idea of Turkey’s plan to use
nuclear energy, Foreign Minister Gul said that Turkey was late in using
nuclear energy and it would discuss the issue with the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Gul also stressed that the statements attributed to him by newspapers
regarding Israel’s nuclear programme was not correct.

When asked about the approval of a film making story the claims of
Armenian genocide by Eurimage and Turkey’s reaction, Gul said that
Turkey was trying to stop the film.

US TOP DIPLOMAT SEES KARABAKH WAR RESUMPTION AS CATASTROPHE FOR REGION

ANS TV, Baku
14 Mar 06

US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
Daniel Fried has said that a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan
over Nagornyy Karabakh will be a catastrophe for the region and the
peoples there.

In a news conference in Baku on 14 March, Fried said that “the
Azerbaijani government is ready to find a constructive way out of
the situation. We will discuss this in Yerevan”.

Private TV station ANS quoted the visiting US co-chair of the OSCE
Minsk Group, Steven Mann, as saying that the war would not be decisive
now or in 20 years.

“The sides who want war should first ask what would Azerbaijan’s
strategic borders be if war starts? What will be the situation in the
energy sphere and the investment flow? I know the Azerbaijani people
very well and don’t believe that the Azerbaijani people would want
war again,” Mann said.

The TV quoted the Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO)as saying that
different opinion polls show that over 60 per cent of the population
want war for the resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

“Although they are trying to prepare the Azerbaijani people for a
capitulation, they will fail to achieve this,” ANS TV quoted the KLO
as saying.

In remarks to the TV, the head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry
information department, Tahir Tagizada, said that “Azerbaijan’s
position is resolute. If talks fail, war will be inevitable”.

U.S. ENVOYS LAMENT FAILURE OF AZERBAIJANI-ARMENIA TALKS OVER DISPUTED ENCLAVE; WARN OF WAR
Aida Sultanova

AP Worldstream
Mar 14, 2006

Key U.S. envoys on Tuesday lamented Armenia and Azerbaijan’s failure to
reach agreement over the final status of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh
enclave, and warned of the danger of renewed fighting.

Armenia and Azerbaijan remain at odds over the status of the ethnic
Armenian enclave located within Azerbaijan. A cease-fire agreement
was reached in 1994 after six years of fighting, and Nagorno-Karabakh
is now under the control of ethnic Armenians, whose troops face
Azerbaijani forces across a half-mile-wide (kilometer-wide) no
man’s land.

Sporadic clashes, however, break out along the Nagorno-Karabakh border,
and land mines continue to kill people every year.

Talks held in Rambouillet, France, to resolve the enclave’s status
broke down last month. Since then, violence has risen sharply, and
the two countries’ presidents have traded increasingly bellicose
statements.

The conflict has held up development of the entire Caucasus region.

Steven Mann, the U.S. envoy to the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe’s so-called Minsk Group of mediators, said the
two sides should be prepared to offer some concessions to resolve
the dispute.

“Realistically, no side is going to achieve 100 percent of its
demands. It’s not the way life works. But from what I see from inside
of the negotiations, both Azerbaijan and Armenia can achieve some items
which will be very welcomed by their peoples,” Mann told reporters
in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku.

“As for military action, let me say this _ it really would be a
catastrophe for each side. No war, whether it is now, or in 20 years,
will be quick or decisive,” he said.

Speaking after meetings with President Ilham Aliev and other
Azerbaijani officials, Daniel Fried, assistant U.S. secretary of
state for European Affairs and Eurasian Affairs, said that talks
needed to resume.

“I should say also that it is our view that the process of Azerbaijanis
returning to Azerbaijani lands should begin as soon as possible,
and that war would be a catastrophe for everyone,” Fried said.

In the Armenian capital, Yerevan, Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said
the fact that Armenia was even holding negotiations with Azerbaijan
was a concession and an indication of Yerevan’s peaceful, compromising
approach.

“Unfortunately, the authorities in Azerbaijan are complicating the
very peaceful coexistence of our two peoples,” he said in an interview
published in the newspaper Azg.

___

Associated Press writer Avet Demourian contributed to this report
from Yerevan, Armenia.

BLUE MOSQUE IS BEING RECONSTRUCTED IN YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MARCH 14.ARMINFO. The reconstruction works of the Blue
Mosque in the center of Yerevan are in full swing. Shapour Lotfi,
coordiantor of the construction works, said in the interview to ARMINFO
that the reconstruction of rites’ hall of the mosque will be completed
in summer.

He said that the reconstruction works began in the summer of 2005.

According to the intergovernmental agreement on reconstruction of
the mosque signed between Armenia and Iran, only the South-Western
and the Northern parts of the mosque were reconstructed. A minaret
standing for 24 meters, 28 pavillions, library, the main hall, the
cupola and the yard are situated in this part.

“The Blue Mosque” covers 7 thousand cubic meters of territory and was
built in 1765. The Yerevan’s History and Nature Museum was situated
in the territory of the mosque after the World War II till 1995.