KOSOVO MAY SET PRECEDENT, ARMENIAN MINISTER SAYS
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 14 2006
Baku, March 13, AssA-Irada
If the people of Kosovo make the best of their right to
self-determination, this can set a precedent for the solution of
ethnic conflicts in other countries, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanian has said in an interview with Yerevan’s Shant TV channel.
Oskanian believes that if Kosovo fully secures independence, the
position of ethnic Armenians living in Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh will
be further boosted. He noted that all conflicts are different from
each other, but they should all be treated in the historical and
legal context.
The foreign minister went on to say that if his country capitalizes
on the current situation and if the parties to the conflict make
compromises in negotiations, it will be possible to speed up a
settlement.
“Otherwise, Azerbaijan will stick to its current position and no
progress will be made in the Garabagh talks,” Oskanian said. He
indicated that Armenia had already made some concessions, adding that
it wasn’t known how the Armenian people would react to them.

TURKEY MAY GIVE MILITARY SUPPORT TO AZERBAIJAN IF WAR WITH ARMENIA STARTS
Ekspress, Baku
7 Mar 06 p 2
Text of unattributed report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekspress on 7
March headlined “Turan Morali: ‘Turkey may provide military assistance
to Azerbaijan if war starts’.”
“If the two countries establish a military alliance, Turkey may provide
military assistance to Azerbaijan in case of resumption of hostilities
[with Armenia],” Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan Turan Morali has
told APA news agency.
Morali said that the two countries did not have a military alliance,
but stressed that he was not in favour of resolving the conflict
[with Armenia over Nagornyy Karabakh] by means of war. “In any case
the parties need peace,” he said.
Morali said that Turkey provides different assistance to the
Azerbaijani armed forces as part of the agreement on military
cooperation.
“Turkey implements different programmes together with Azerbaijan. We
will continue these programmes and provide other assistance this
year. This includes technical assistance, training, etc,” he said.

ARMENIAN TAKEN CAPTIVE, TO BE REPATRIATED – AZERI PAPER
Ekspress, Baku
8 Mar 06
Text of Alakbar’s report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekspress on 8
March headlined “The Armenian serviceman has been captured by the
Azerbaijani side” and subheaded “Yerevan is concealing it”.
The Azerbaijani side has taken captive an Armenian serviceman.
Ekspress has learnt from informed sources that Vardan Saakyan, 20,
from [Armenia’s] Sisyan [District] was captured by the Azerbaijani
side in unknown circumstances.
The head of a working group of the State Committee on Captives,
Missing Persons and Hostages, Firudin Sadiqov, told Ekspress that
negotiations are under way and necessary procedures are being
considered to repatriate the Armenian captive.
Interestingly, Armenia’s official agencies have not reported Saakyan’s
capture. In any case, there has been no press reports on this in
Armenia.

BAKU ‘NOT READY FOR WAR’, ARMENIAN OFFICIAL SAYS
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 14 2006
Baku, March 13, AssA-Irada
Azerbaijan will not resume hostilities, at least because it is not
ready for war now, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian has said.
The Armenian diplomat said in an interview with Yerevan’s Shant TV
channel that he believes that if Azerbaijan cannot make even the
most basic compromises in the negotiations, it will never venture to
resort to a military option. He added that Azerbaijan could benefit
a lot from the talks.
Oskanian said further that billions of dollars were being invested
in the Azerbaijani economy and that Baku would not want to jeopardize
this capital.
“Therefore, no-one will give Azerbaijan the opportunity to restart
war with Armenia,” he said.
The discussions held by the Azeri and Armenian leaders in the French
town of Rambouillet in February turned out fruitless, as the parties
failed to iron out issues of principle, which was followed by mutual
threats.

ARMENIA MAY PROVOKE “NEW” WAR TO HALT AZERBAIJAN’S ECONOMIC GROWTH – ANALYST
ANS TV, Baku
8 Mar 06
A political analyst has said Yerevan may try to provoke a new war with
Azerbaijan before it starts making billions of dollars in oil revenues.
Speaking to ANS TV’s “Point of View” programme on 7 March, Eldar
Namazov, former head of the presidential secretariat, said Azerbaijan
should not give in to the Armenian provocation.
“Armenians are very concerned. They realize that Azerbaijan will
start making large amounts of money once its oil starts running to
the world markets,” Namazov said and called for caution.
“The Armenians may resort to various forms of provocation. In any
case, we know the Armenians well. If they realize they is no other
way of preventing us from gaining superiority, they may use various
forms of provocation to strike a blow to Azerbaijan,” Namazov said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ONE-ON-ONE MEETING OF PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV AND EMPEROR OF JAPAN AKIHITO
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
March 8 2006
President Ilham Aliyev’s Official Visit To Japan
On 8 March in Tokyo, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and the
Emperor of Japan Akihito had a one-on-one meeting.
His Majesty Akihito and Empress Michiko warmly greeted President of
Azerbaijan and his spouse Mehriban Khanum Aliyeva.
Then, the heads of state had private meeting.
Highly appraising official visit of the Azerbaijani President to Japan,
His Majesty Akihito said development of bilateral relations would be
useful for both sides. Touching upon the historical friendly links
between two peoples, the Emperor said Japan is deeply interested in
strengthening of relations with Azerbaijan. He reminded with pleasure
the visit of the nationwide leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev to Japan
in February 1998, shared his impressions of the past meetings. His
majesty Akihito said just thanks to efforts and resoluteness of Heydar
Aliyev, successful reforms led Azerbaijan to the world’s developed
counties and that policy today have yielded its fruits.
Expressing gratitude to His Majesty Akihito for hospitality and kind
words, President Aliyev said he was pleased with the visit, and spoke
of the legal, democratic, secular state building process ongoing in
the Republic of Azerbaijan. “The current visit will open a new phase
in development of bilateral relations”, he emphasized.
President Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan always attaches great importance
to mutually beneficial ties with the world countries. From this
standpoint, the relations with Japan are of particular impatience,
he stressed. “The country is open to businessmen of world counties,
socio-political stability has been guaranteed, the investments
are protected, and any condition for activity in the Republic is
available”.
Speaking of the works done for joint development of prospects at the
Azerbaijan sector on the Caspian, President of Azerbaijan said the
Japanese Itocu had greater share in the projects.
During the talk, also were focused the prospects of the
Azeri-Japanese cooperation, the situation in region, settlement of
the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict and other questions.
After the meeting, His Majesty Akihito and Empress Michiko with great
respect and honor have seen off President Aliyev and Ms. Aliyeva.

ARMENIANS NOT INVITED TO OSCE’S BAKU EVENT
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 14 2006
Baku, March 13, AssA-Irada
Armenian representatives have not been invited to an event of the
European security body in Baku that is expected to draw over 100
visitors from a number of countries.
The international conference being held by the OSCE member states as
part of the preparations for the organization’s 14th economic forum
will focus on averting risks in the area of transport security.
Although it was earlier reported that an Armenian delegation was
invited to the discussions, the OSCE office in Baku did not confirm
the reports. Its spokesman Ulvi Akhundlu told AssA-Irada that such
an event is taking place in the Azeri capital for the first time and
is open for attendance by all OSCE member states.
“No special invitation has been sent to Armenian representatives or
preparations made for Armenia representatives’ visit.”
Akhundlu noted that the OSCE office is not planning to be utterly
disturbed over Armenians’ visa-related problems and security issues.
“Armenia too is an OSCE member state, and the event is open for its
representatives, just like those of other countries. It is up to
Armenians whether to come or not.”
The mentioned OSCE forum is due in Prague in May, Akhundlu added.
The hard-line Garabagh Liberation Organization (GLO) warned it would
not allow for Armenians to attend the event.
“If the OSCE tries to bring in Armenians to Baku, we will impede this
and disrupt the conference,” its chairman Akif Naghi said. He added
that GLO will stick to its tough stance, considering Armenia has
failed to take any steps to normalize its relations with Azerbaijan.

‘ROOTS AND RICHES OF ARMENIA’
Medford Transcript, MA
March 8 2006
“Roots and Riches of Armenia” is showing at Springstep, 98 George P.
Hassett Drive, now through March 15.
This gallery exhibit features examples of traditional Armenian
decorative arts, textiles and clothing, in addition to contemporary
artworks by Minas Avetisian and Paradjanov, two men who distinctly
influenced Armenian art in the 20th century.
Articles on display are courtesy of the Armenian Library and Museum
of America and the private collection of Carolann and George Najarian.

MORE TRUCE VIOLATIONS REPORTED IN NORTHEASTERN ARMENIA
By Hrach Melkumian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
March 8 2006
The Armenian military accused Azerbaijani forces on Wednesday
of continuing to violate the ceasefire regime in the westernmost
section of the heavily militarized border between the two South
Caucasus states.
Echoing statements by the Defense Ministry in Yerevan, military
commanders in Armenia’s northeastern Tavush province said their
border posts have been under daily automatic gunfire from Azerbaijani
positions for more than a week. They insisted that their troops are
not returning fire to prevent the situation from escalating further.
“I have just been informed that our positions were again fired upon,”
Major Tigran Gevorgian, chief of staff of an Armenian army regiment
stationed in the regional capital Ijevan, told RFE/RL. “We registered
five such incidents yesterday.”
“There have been no cases of truce violation from our side,” he said.
“We haven’t even returned fire. But we have increased our vigilance
and are ready to defend our land at any moment.”
One of Gevorgian’s soldiers, the 19-year-old Arsen Zakevosian, was
wounded and died while being transported to a military hospital in
Ijevan on Friday from his unit’s positions just outside the border
village of Kayan. The Armenian military says it has not suffered any
other casualties so far.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has not reported any fighting in the
area close to eastern Georgia and denies the Armenian accusations. It
said on Monday that the Armenians themselves breached the truce by
killing an Azerbaijani army conscript in a section of the frontline
east of Nagorno-Karabakh. Karabakh Armenian forces dismissed the
claims.
Residents of Kayan, meanwhile, confirmed that gunshots on the border
have been more frequent in recent days. “We are all used to shootings,”
said Arsen Ghazarian whose family house is located on the edge of
the village, just meters from an army roadblock.
“The Azerbaijanis shoot all the time,” said one of his neighbors,
Telman Pirumian. “Even small children are not quite scared of that.”
Susanna, an elderly villager, harked back to the pre-war Soviet years
when local residents lived in peace with their Azerbaijani neighbors
and took pride in Kayan’s status as the main gateway to Armenia. “We
could go to Tbilisi and any other place from here. But now the road
[running through Kayan] is closed. We are in quarantine.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA CONSIDERS IRAQI FORCE REFORM
United Press International
March 14 2006
EREVAN, Armenia, March 14 (UPI) — The Armenian Minister of Defense
is contemplating reorganizing its peacekeeping contingent in Iraq,
according to a news report.
Armenia currently has 46 peacekeeping troops in Iraq and a platoon of
peacekeepers in Kosovo in the U.N. mission there. The troops in Iraq,
deployed in January, are the third rotational contingent the country
has sent and are under Polish command.
The U.S. government is underwriting all the costs of the Armenian
contingent in Iraq.
On Mnday, Regnum news agency reported that Deputy Minister of Defense
Artur Agabekyan said that the change was being considered because of
reforms in the county’s military defense system to align the nation’s
military more closely to NATO standards.
Additionnal details, however, were not immediately available.
Armenia is working with NATO to develop its Individual Partnership
Action Plan as it is extremely interested in joining NATO. In 2003
Armenia hosted its first NATO Partnership for Peace military exercise
and host another one later this year.