Armenpress
ARMENIANS OF JAVAKHETI SPEAK OF THEIR PROBLEMS
YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS: Leaders of several
Armenian and Georgia-based Armenian non-governmental
organizations warned yesterday that the region of
Samtskhe-Javakheti, in the south of Georgia, populated
largely by ethnic Armenians, may lose its Armenian
population in 30 years unless urgent measures were
taken to prevent outflow of young men from the region.
The region lacks industrial enterprises for
processing of agricultural goods. Private
entrepreneurs face a set of problems at Georgia’s
border with Armenia, when dealing with customs office,
let alone the poor condition of roads. The only
‘enterprise’ that gives jobs to around 3,000 local
people is the Russian military base, which is set to
be pulled out next year. Local population accuses
central authorities in Tbilisi of ignoring their
problems, of doing nothing to attract domestic and
foreign investors, forcing thousands of young men to
look for jobs in Russia or in Armenia.
Another factor stimulating outflow of young
population is the absence of higher educational
establishments. The majority of young men and women
who get education in Russia and Armenia choose to stay
there as they see no prospect of finding jobs in the
homeland. Central authorities are transferring all
administrative bodies from Akhalkalaki, the center of
Javakheti region to Akhaltsikhe, the administrative
center of Samtskhe-Javakheti province, while all force
bodies are being concentrated in Akhalkalaki. Young
Armenian males of the region are not drafted to the
army and few of locals speaks Georgian.
Overall 100,000 Armenians live in Javakheti , who
make 95 percent of the local population, 32 percent
are people aged from 16 to 35 years, but only 7
percent have jobs, the rest are jobless. Around 9,000
young men leave the region for Russia every year to
work there and only half of them comes back home. The
yesterday’s meeting also denounced Armenian members of
the Georgian parliament who are reluctant or are
afraid to raise these issues.
Georgian ambassador Revaz Gachechiladze, who was
also present, argued that the problems faced by
Armenians of Javakheti are common for all Georgian
regions. He said more efforts should be made to
attract private investments and urged local Armenians
to learn Georgian to facilitate their integration with
the society.

Armenpress
WHO REPORTS ELEVEN SUSPECTED HUMAN BIRD FLU CASES IN AZERBAIJAN
GENEVA, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS: Eleven suspected
human cases of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu
virus, three of them fatal, are under investigation in
Azerbaijan, the World Health Organization said
Thursday. Maria Cheng, spokeswoman for the UN health
agency, was quoted by ÀFÐ as saying that the suspected
victims, including eight members of a single family,
all came from the same village near the Azerbaijani
capital Baku.
“It is possible that they caught H5N1, because we
already know that poultry were hit by the virus in
neighboring areas,” said Cheng. Flocks belonging to
the patients had also been infected, but experts had
yet to identify by what, she added. Samples from the
suspected human victims were being sent to a
WHO-accredited laboratory in London to establish
whether they had the H5N1 virus, Cheng said. The
results could be available in 24 hours or within two
weeks, depending on the sample quality, she noted.
On Sunday, Azerbaijani authorities said they were
investigating whether the deaths of two young children
in the republic were caused by bird flu. The two
children were part of a family whose six members had
been hospitalized with suspected pneumonia. Several
days earlier, Azerbaijani authorities had said that
the H5N1 virus had hit poultry flocks, and ordered the
slaughter of half a million birds. Since it resurfaced
in 2003, the virus has infected 175 people in seven
countries and killed 96 of them, according to the WHO.
H5N1 spreads from birds to people in close
proximity, but experts fear that it could mutate into
a form that transmits easily among humans, leading to
a global pandemic that could claim millions of lives.

Armenpress
ETHNIC GEORGIANS SUSPECTED OF KILLING AN ARMENIAN
YOUTH AND WOUNDING TWO OTHERS IN GEORGIAN TSALKA
AKHALKALAKI, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS: A group of
Ajarians or Svans (ethnic Georgians) are suspected of
attacking and stabbing to death a 23-year-old Armenian
man in Tsalka, in southern Georgia and wounding two
other young Armenian men.
A-Info news agency that operates in the
predominantly Armenian populated region of Javakheti
in southern Georgia, said the Armenians were attacked
by a 15-member group in Tsalka on March 9 afternoon at
a busy section of the town. The killed man was
identified as Gevorg Gevorkian, resident of Ghushchi
village. The other two, V. Sahakian and G, Baloyan,
were rushed to the local hospital with heavy wounds.
A-Info quoted the wounded Armenians as saying they did
not know what was the reason behind the attack.
A special squad of Georgia’s interior ministry that
is deployed in the region under the pretext of
preventing inter-ethnic clashes, has arrested three
suspects. The attack on Armenians sparked a protest
action by local Armenians. A crowd of 300 people
demonstrated outside the building of the local police
department demanding a fair trial of the suspects.
Meantime Georgia’s interior ministry has dispatched
extra officers to the region to foil a fresh
inter-ethnic clash after the crowd broke the windows
of the police station. A-Info said police used
truncheons to disperse the crowd.
Tsalka, population 22,000, is predominantly
populated by ethnic Armenians and Greeks. Up to 2,000
Azerbaijanis also live there. In the early 1990s, the
Georgian government moved a group of ethnic Georgians
(about 2,500, mainly Ajarians and Svans), to Tsalka
after a devastating landslide in their native
mountainous villages.
Tsalka is also close to the predominantly
Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakheti locality, which
is considered a “complex region” because of the
presence of a Russian military base and increasing
demands for political autonomy by some local Armenian
groups. Clashes between ethnic Georgians and the
Greek-Armenian community in Tsalka have been reported
for several years, nevertheless, Georgian officials
continuously argue that the conflicts in Tsalka have
no ethnic context and represent mostly “communal
violence.”

Armenpress
OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS URGE ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN
TO PREPARE THEIR PUBLICS “FOR PEACE NOT WAR”
YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS: The three co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group, which deals with the conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh, have issued a statement
regretting the lack of forward movement in the recent
negotiations and calling upon Armenia and Azerbaijan
to “work vigorously” to achieve a result in 2006.
Their statement reads: “The Co-Chairs of the OSCE’s
Minsk Group, Ambassadors Yuri Merzlyakov of Russia,
Steven Mann of the United States, and Bernard Fassier
of France, joined by Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, the
Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office, met in Washington on 7 and 8 March
to discuss the latest developments regarding the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and to assess the future
direction of mediation efforts. The Co-Chairs reviewed
the discussions that took place in Rambouillet on 10
and 11 February and expressed again their gratitude to
the President of the French Republic for making that
meeting between President Robert Kocharian and
President Ilham Aliyev possible.
Assessing the current state of affairs in the
region, the Co-Chairs reaffirmed their belief that a
great deal of progress has been achieved in the past
year and a half. They regret that the process has not
moved forward in recent weeks though, despite ample
opportunity to do so. They urged both parties to build
on the basic principles for a future settlement that
have already been developed in order to achieve an
agreement in 2006.
Referring to their joint statement at the OSCE
Permanent Council on 2 March, the Co-Chairs continue
to believe that objective conditions make 2006 a
highly favorable year for substantial progress, and
they call upon the Governments of Armenia and
Azerbaijan to work vigorously to achieve this result.
The Co-Chairs further call upon the Government of each
country to take steps with their publics to prepare
them for peace, and not for war. The Co-Chairs will
decide on their next trip to the region after further
assessment of the readiness of the parties. Their next
meeting is planned for 20 March in Istanbul.”

AZG Armenian Daily #044, 11/03/2006

Open letter
`ARMENIAN SOLDIERS ARE NOT AFRAID OF THREAT’
Letter of Artsakhi Freedom Fighters to Armenia
First commander of Nagorno Karabakh Army, Arkady
Karapetian, chairman of “Tigran Mets” Military
Council, Khachatur Galstian, former commander of
Shushi regiment, Zhirayr Sefilian, commander of
“Kornidzor” squad, Ara Khudaverdian, commander of
“Nartsis” squad, Paylak Kirakosian, field commander
Voskan Gyulumian, commander of “Artsakh” squad Mikael
Apresian, field commander Paykar Khalumian, commander
of “Unified Armenia” squad Aramayis Mkrtchian and
founder of Hoktemberian offshoot of “Army of
Independence”, Levon Sahakian, applied to Armenian
society with an open letter responding to the
statement of Artsakhi intellectuals, clergymen and
public figures on February 23 who complained of the
fact that Armenia negotiates with Azerbaijan and its
defeatism in the talks.
“It was official Yerevan’s strategic mistake to step
in the talks with Baku ousting Stepanakert thus
opening way to diplomatic defeats. But today it would
be not less unacceptable if Stepanakert continuous
negotiations on its own. Armenian-Azeri dialogue will
be possible only when Baku stops anti-Armenian
hysteria, recognizes that Artsakh belongs to Armenians
as well as takes responsibility for forced deportation
of Azerbaijani-Armenians and for provoking war. Only
after that it will be meaningful for Stepanakert to
receive Baku’s suggestion to negotiate,” the letter
reads.

AZG Armenian Daily #044, 11/03/2006

World press
IRAN: “EVERYTHING IS ON THE TABLE”
The biggest pitfall in predicting the behaviour of
radical groups like the inner circle of the Bush
Administration is that you keep telling yourself that
they would never actually do whatever it is they’re
talking about. Surely they must realise that acting
like that would cause a disaster. Then they go right
ahead and do it.
“(The Iranians) must know everything is on the table
and they must understand what that means,” US
ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton told a
group of visiting British politicians last week. “We
can hit different points along the line. You only have
to take out one part of their nuclear operation to
take the whole thing down.” In other words, he was
calmly proposing an illegal attack on a sovereign
state, possibly involving nuclear weapons.
Bolton knew his words would be leaked, so maybe it was
just deliberate posturing to raise the pressure on
Iran. But on Sunday, addressing the American-Israeli
Public Affairs Committee in Washington, Bolton
repeated the threat: “The longer we wait to confront
the threat Iran poses, the harder and more intractable
it will become to solve…We must be prepared to rely
on comprehensive solutions and use all the tools at
our disposal to stop the threat….” He may really
mean it – and no one in the White House has told him
to shut up.
With the US army already mired in Iraq, the Bush
administration lacks the ground strength to invade
Iran, a far larger country, but the strategic plans
and command structure for an air-attacks-only strike
are already in place. The National Security Strategy
statement of September 2002 declared a new doctrine of
“preemptive” wars in which the US would launch
unprovoked attacks against countries that it feared
might hurt it in the future, and in January 2003 that
doctrine was elaborated into the military strategy of
“full spectrum global strike.”
The “full spectrum” referred specifically to the use
of nuclear weapons to destroy hardened targets that
ordinary weapons cannot reach. Earth-penetrating
“mini-nukes” were an integral part of Conplan 8022-02,
a presidential directive signed by Bush at the same
time that covered attacks on countries allegedly
posing an “imminent” nuclear threat in which no
American ground troops would be used. Indeed, the
responsibility for carrying out Conplan 8022 was given
to Strategic Command (Stratcom) in Omaha, a military
command that had previously dealt only with nuclear
weapons.
Last May, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld issued an
“Interim Global Strike Alert Order” putting Stratcom
on high military readiness 24 hours a day. Logic says
there is no “imminent” danger of Iranian nuclear
weapons: last year’s US National Intelligence Estimate
put the time needed for Iran to develop such weapons
at ten years. But experience says that this
administration can talk itself into a “preemptive”
attack on a country that really does not pose any
threat at all.
So what happens if they talk themselves into
unleashing Conplan 8022 on Iran? Thousands of people
would die, of course, and the surviving 70 million
Iranians would be very cross, but how could they
strike back at the United States? Iran has no nuclear
weapons, no weapons of any sort that could reach
America. Given the huge American technological lead,
it can’t even do much damage to US forces in the Gulf
region. But it does have two powerful weapons: its
Shia faith, and oil.
Iran is currently playing a long game in Iraq,
encouraging the Shia religious parties to cooperate
with the American political project so that a
Shia-dominated government in Baghdad will turn Iraq
into a reliable ally of Iran once the Americans go
home. But if Tehran encouraged the Shia militias to
attack American troops in Iraq, US casualties would
soar. The whole American position there could become
untenable in months.
Iran would probably not try to close the Strait of
Tiran, the choke-point through which most of the
Gulf’s oil exports pass, for US forces could easily
dominate or even seize the sparsely populated Iranian
coast on the north side. But it would certainly halt
its own oil exports, currently close to 4 million
barrels a day, and in today’s tight oil market that
would likely drive the oil price up to $130-$150 a
barrel. Moreover, Tehran could keep the exports turned
off for months, since recent oil prices, already high
by historical standards, have enabled it to build up a
large cash reserve. (Iran earned $45 billion from oil
exports last year, twice the average in 2001-03.)
So a “preemptive” American attack on Iran would ignite
a general insurrection against the American presence
in Shia-dominated areas of Iraq and trigger a global
economic crisis. The use of nuclear weapons would
cross a firebreak that the world has maintained ever
since 1945, and convince most other great powers that
the United States is a rogue state that must be
contained. All this to deal with a threat that is no
more real or “imminent” than the one posed by Iraq in
2003.
No American policy-maker in his right mind would
contemplate unleashing such a disaster for so little
reason. Unfortunately, that does not guarantee that it
won’t happen.
By Gwynne Dyer

AZG Armenian Daily #044, 11/03/2006

Interview
THE LUXURY AND HOLLOWNESS OF AZERI OIL
Mayis Gyulaliev: Oil shipment is not in Azerbaijan’s interests
Beginning in previous issue
– But Aliyev talks of military solution.
– Armenia and Azerbaijan are too small to settle this
issue on their own, and the West currently pursues the
following goals: stability, therefore it needs now
neither war nor regulation and also it needs secure
balanced development of three national economies. This
means that even if Azerbaijan produces 50 million
tones of oil annually its economy will never surpass
those of Armenia and Georgia because the necessary
balance will be upset in that case. It is not playing
into the West’s hands. It strives to keep the Karabakh
issue unresolved in order to keep the republics under
its control. In my opinion, the aim of Aliyev’s
statements is to upset the balance between Azerbaijan
and other states, including Russia, Kazakhstan,
Georgia, Iran and even the USA and the West as a
whole.
– Do others agree with this opinion of yours?
– Regrettably, no. Only 2-3 non-parliamentary parties
do but no NGO. In general there are two approaches to
this issue in the society: governmental – peaceful
settlement and radically oppositional – military
settlement, which I think will bring no solution and
is just a means to keep the people in fear. Those two
approaches oppose the interests of the Azerbaijani
people and the Caucasus as a whole because it has only
one way of development – integration of three South
Caucasus states.
– Is that possible that the West’s stance as you
portrayed it will change at some point in time?
– Only when Azerbaijan will run out of oil.
– But Azerbaijan has a purely economic interest; now
is it better to go on with or without the pipeline?
– When I speak of damaging influence of oil agreements
on politics I mean the economic aspect; we did not
need to expand oil production and we should direct the
oil money to other spheres especially educational and
expect revenue in 10 or 15 years. But today only the
oil production is developing and other branches do not
and will not develop. All structures are serving oil
production.
– What has changed after Rambouillet? Why have accents
shifted?
– Before the Rambouillet I said and wrote that the
Karabakh issue will not be settled before 2025. More
precisely, before Azerbaijan runs out of oil as the
threat of war first of all endangers Western projects.
There is also a threat that Armenia and Azerbaijan may
make friends and settle the issue on their own –
something that goes against Western plans.
– How you personally see the regulation? (answering
this question the civilized Azeri displayed his true
Azeri nature)
– If we begin with useless historic questions such as
to whom this land belongs, then let us begin with
Darwin’s theory… There are two options: Karabakh
remains within Azerbaijan and solves all its problems,
Karabakh gets out of Azerbaijan’s structure and unites
with Armenia. If Azerbaijan does not give up the first
option and Armenia the second one trying jointly to
find the third option then our states cannot develop.
– Which is the third one?
– I do not have the recipe either. But I believe that
the Armenian and Azeri societies can recuperate. We
need to get rid of historic hostility toward each
other.
By Marietta Khachatrian

AZG Armenian Daily #044, 11/03/2006

Armenia-USA
BUSH ADMINISTRATION REDUCES MILITARY AID FOR ARMENIA
The administration of US President George W. Bush
suggests the Congress to render Azerbaijan more
military aid to Azerbaijan ($4.5 million) than to
Armenia (3.5 million) in 2007. In effect, this is a
violation of an agreement between the Bush
administration and the US Congress in the aftermath of
9/11 attacks on the size of military aid to Armenia
and Azerbaijan.
The draft US budget envisages $50 million of economic
aid for Armenia. “Every year the Bush administration
provides less aid to Armenia than the Congress
envisages,” Frank Pallone, co-chair of the
Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, said
promising to make every effort to increase economic
and military aid for Armenia.

AZG Armenian Daily #044, 11/03/2006

Education
IN CONCERT WITH 2 UNIVERSITIES LYCOS-ARMENIA PREPARES
HIGHLY QUALIFIED SPECIALISTS
On March 9, 35 students participating in the classes
of Internet technologies organized by Lycos-Armenia
Company, Yerevan State University and State
Engineering University received certificates. Robert
Chaplin, executive director of Lycos-Armenia, said
during the ceremony that thanks to co-financing of DEG
(German Public Fund) Lycos opened computer rooms for
20 students in the aforesaid universities. Previous
years’ projects included optional lessons on JAVA,
JavaScript, Web Technology, OOP, MySQL PHP and Flash.
This year’s projects will enroll students with
bachelor’s degree and undergraduate later on.
The meeting participants noted that 17 students who
took part in the Lycos course already work for the
company and 20 others work at Sourcio Company.
Representatives of YSU and Engineering University
underscored the importance of these projects and
mutually beneficial cooperation with Lycos.
By Aghavni Harutyunian

AZG Armenian Daily #044, 11/03/2006

Home
A PROJECT OF WATER RESOURCE PROTECTION
Eurasia Foundation and US Agency for International
Development finance a project of Support to Universal
Management of Water Resources in the South Caucasus.
The Ecological Vitality organization implements the
project in Armenia.
As a first stage of the project, information centers
were set up in three regional towns – Akhtala, Bolnis
and Khazakh – to familiarize people with ecological
issues. The second stage that was set in motion last
January aims at studying and presenting to the
population the condition of water resources. “Guide to
Hydroecologic Monitoring” book deals with Debed River
basin and other related issues. The guide looks to
providing residents of the riverbank with applicable
knowledge to organize and realize monitoring on water
quality.
The project pursues educational-informative goal to
help people find out the quality, pollution extent and
other things about river water.
By Gohar Gevorgian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress