GEORGIAN SECTION OF BAKU-CEYHAN OIL PIPELINE OPENS
AZG Armenian Daily #185
14/10/2005
On October 12, the leaders of Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan
witnessed the opening of the Georgian section of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
oil pipeline.
According to Novosti agency, President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia
emphasized that the pipeline is firstly of political importance. “The
importance of Georgia grows on the world map. Next year, we’ll have
a gas pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzrum) that will also contribute to
Georgia’s economic and energetic independence,” Saakashvili said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE FIRST CENSUS IN KARABAKH
A1+
| 13:44:34 | 14-10-2005 | Social |
October 18-27 2005 in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic a census of
population will be held. It will be the first in the history of the
independent Republic.
The first census was organized in Karabakh in 1926. According to its
results, there were 125.3 thousand people living in the autonomous
region, from which 111.7 thousand Armenians and 12.6 thousand
Azeris. Censuses have also been organized in 1939, 1959, 1970, and
1989 which was the last one.
Today, according to statistics, there are 144.6 thousand people living
in Karabakh. The Karabakh Government has allotted 120 million AMD to
the organization of the Census, karabakh-online.com informs.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HEADS OF EUROPEAN BANKS ARE IMPRESSED
A1+
| 12:59:56 | 14-10-2005 | Official |
Today RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan received the members of
the Directors’ Council of the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development.
They congratulated the Government on the impressive economic indexes
of development for the last few years mentioning that the European
Bank intends to enlarge the number of its programs in Armenia and
enhance cooperation.
Andranik Margaryan highly appreciated the activity of EBRD in our
country underlining that it has improved its quality greatly. According
to the RA Government head, the work with the business community in
the private sector, and programs realized by EBRD in bank, power,
and security systems have had their direct effect on the development
of economy.
He found cooperation in these directions extremely important offering
to discussed possibilities of long-term and low-interest credits
in future.

KARABAKH CONFLICT DISCUSSED IN SINGAPORE
A1+
| 12:29:50 | 14-10-2005 | Official |
The RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan who is Asia on official visit
met the Foreign Minister of Singapore Mr. George Yeo.
During the meeting Minister Oskanyan represented the state of Armenia
in the present geo-political environment, and the perspectives of
development of our region. The sides also discussed the possibilities
of development of the two-party relation.
During the meeting they also spoke about conflicts present in different
parts of the world and the ways of their settlement. In these margins
Minister Oskanyan represented the present state of negotiations of
the Karabakh conflict and its perspectives.

THE ADVOCATE WILL NOT REMAIN DEFENCELESS
Panorama
18:32 13/10/05
“Vahe Grigoryan will not remain defencelss. We shall discuss his
question in the plenary meeting of Armenian Bar. Afterwards we’ll find
out what do further”, said today the president of AB Ruben Sahakyan.
Let us mentioned that the advocate of four families Safaryans,
Danielyans, Grigoryans and Vahanyans living in Buzand street,
was arrested.
Vahe Grigoryan is charged with extortion. /Panorama.am/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

“ROYAL-ARMENIA” IS IN THE “WAR”
Panorama
18:08 13/10/05
As jurist of the “Royal-Armenia” company Gevorg Minasyan informed,
Ashot Sargsyan will be a new advocate of president of the company
Gagik Hakobyan and the vice-president Aram Ghazaryan.
Let us remind you, that both president and vice-president of the
company were recently called to the National Security and were
arrested. Nobody knows what was the reason for the arrest. But Gevorg
Minasyan implied that the State Tax Service, by all means, has sent
some materials to the NS.
The thing is that “Royal-Armenia” and State Tax Service have been
‘battling’ with each other for already two years. The tax service was
periodically checking the documents of the company, and the company,
in its turn accused the tax service in corruption. As a result
“Royal-Armenia” brought a civil sue against the STS.
If the National Security wins the ‘battle’ so what about the coffee
war?

‘INNER TENSION IN JAVAKHK IS THE RESULT OF UNCERTAINTY’
By Tatoul Hakobian
AZG Armenian Daily #185
14/10/2005
Diaspora
Davit Rstakian: If it goes on like this people might even demand
independence
On October 12, a group of unknowns distributed leaflets in Javakhk
signed the Liberation Brigade of Akhaltskha – an organization that
nobody heard of before. The Russian-language leaflets that featured
Turkish symbols – star and crescent – ordered the Armenians of Javakhk
to leave the region immediately for Armenia, Russia, America or any
other country. Otherwise Armenians will be massacred as it happened
in 1915.
In their statement on this occasion the Council of NGOs of
Samtskhe-Javakhk voiced an opinion that no matter who the author
of this action is “he plays with fire”. “This is another attempt to
derail the population of the region.
Aggravation of the situation will be beneficial neither for the
Georgians, nor for the Armenians.”
Davit Rstakian, head of Virq organization of Akhalkalak, thinks that
the leaflet action was organized by Georgia’s special services. He
reminded that Georgian state secretary Georgi Khaindrava sets off for
Azerbaijan, Russia, Uzbekistan and other countries where Meskhet Turks
exiled from Samtskhe live since 1944. President Mikheil Saakashvili
ordered him to negotiate the Turks return to Georgi on the spot.
“Georgia is not ready to accept them. The Georgians will try to
bring the issue to a deadlock blaming Armenians as though they oppose
the Turks’ return. Those leaflets aim at raising anti-Turkish moods
among the Armenians,” Rstakian said. The overall impression from the
conversation with Davit Rstakian is that the situation is outwardly
calm “but there is inner tension that comes from uncertainty.”
Rstakian said that the Georgian authorities make attempts to
“break” the Armenians of Javakhk but they fail. On October 5,
the police put down the rally of hundreds of Armenians who were
protesting the sanctions of tax officers who closed ten Armenian
stores in Akhalkalak. Armenian policemen used bludgeons and warning
shots to calm protesters down. “The people did not lost heart, and
they understood that it’s difficult to crush the spirit of Javakhk
Armenians,” Rstakian said.
The Georgian President justified the police’s violence reminding that
Javakhk rested in post-independence permissiveness and “now we are
bringing in control which means that clashes are possible at some
point.” Others link the violence in Akhalkalak with the demand of
several organizations of Javakhk to grant the region autonomy.
“It is the policy of Georgian authorities that makes us push for
autonomy. I always say that the status is only a means to settle the
problems of Javakhk Armenians. If it goes on like this people might
even demand independence.
The major problems of Javakhk Armenians are not of socio-economic
character as the authorities claim. We have deficiency of rights,”
Rstakian said.

ARMENIANS SHOULD SQUEEZE CONCESSIONS OUT OF TURKEY DURING EU NEGOTIATIONS
By Harut Sassounian; Publisher, The California Courier
AZG Armenian Daily #185
14/10/2005
Turkey-EU
Turkey finally embarked on a journey that it had been anxiously
awaiting for more than 40 years. The long and arduous negotiations
for Turkey’s membership in the European Union officially started last
week and are expected to last 10 or more years.
Armenians are of two minds over the benefits of Turkey joining
the EU. Some of them are of the opinion that Armenia is better
off if its old nemesis is kept under check by EU’s strict code of
conduct. Armenians in this camp believe that a “civilized Turkey”
is more apt to recognize the Armenian Genocide, lift its blockade of
Armenia, and conduct peaceful relations with its neighbors.
Other Armenians believe that Turkey is simply going through the
motions of transforming itself, without having any honest intentions
of doing so.
Besides, these Armenians believe that there are no guarantees that
“an enlightened Turkey” would be more inclined to recognize the
Genocide. Turkey could well become an EU member, and like Britain,
still refuse to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. Even worse,
should Turkey not change its denialist policy after joining the EU,
Armenians would be deprived of whatever clout they may have had
in creating obstacles for its EU membership. Furthermore, Turkey
would have by then the largest population among the EU countries,
and thus be entitled to have the largest number of votes in various
EU councils. Turkey could thus block pro-Armenian initiatives and
help pass pro-Turkish and pro-Azeri resolutions in the EU.
Therefore, the time to get any possible concessions out of Turkey is
now, before it joins the EU.
Whether or not Turkey eventually becomes an EU member in 10 or 15
years from now is very difficult to determine in advance. To begin
with, no one really knows with any degree of certainty the domestic
and foreign developments that would shape Turkey’s decisions and as
well as the attitudes of Europeans about Turkey years from now. Here
are some of the factors that could influence the outcome of Turkey’s
EU membership negotiations:
1) The social, economic and political conditions within Turkey that
would impact its government’s desire to make the extensive changes
required by the EU negotiations framework;
2) The stability of neighboring Iraq and the repercussions on
Turkey arising from Iraqi and Turkish Kurds pursuing their national
aspirations;
3) The social, economic and political conditions within various EU
member states, particularly the attitude of their citizens towards the
influx of more foreign workers at a time when they may be suffering
from high unemployment and social unrest;
4) The state of negotiations on the settlement of the Cyprus problem;
5) The clout of the US government in terms of its ability and
willingness to influence the EU on Turkey’s membership;
6) Whether or not more terrorist acts are committed by radical Islamist
groups, particularly in Western Europe;
7) The results of the referendums that are to be held in several
European countries on whether to allow Turkey to join the EU; and
8) The status of Armenian-Turkish relations that are partly linked
to the outcome of the negotiations on the Karabakh conflict.
While Turkey will most probably have to lift its blockade of Armenia,
since “the EU-Turkey negotiation framework” document requires that it
unequivocally commit to “good neighborly relations,” the recognition of
the Armenian Genocide by Turkey is not certain at all. Aside from the
repeated non-binding resolutions adopted by the European Parliament
demanding Turkey’ s recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the EU
itself has not made such acknowledgment a part of its requirements
for membership.
It would be naïve, if Armenians believe that they could block
Turkey’s EU membership because of its non-recognition of the
Armenian Genocide. If several years from now, Turkey successfully
fulfills all EU requirements and settles the conflict in Cyprus, its
EU membership would be just about guaranteed. Armenians should not
expect European countries to rise to their defense, at the expense
of their own self-interests. The Europeans would care about Armenian
issues only when they happen to coincide with or serve their own
national interests.
To be able to squeeze the maximum concessions out of Turkey, Armenia
and the Diaspora would need to make common cause with the majority of
Europeans who are strongly opposed to Turkey’s EU membership. Turkish
officials must realize that unless they sit down at the negotiating
table with Armenians and try to accommodate some of their grievances,
Armenians would work tirelessly for the next 10 or more years to
ensure that Turkey’s membership is delayed indefinitely. It is not in
Armenians’ interest to block Turkey’s EU membership, but to drag it
out as long as possible. The longer the negotiations take, the more
concessions can be squeezed out of Turkey. This is the logic behind
the positions of Cyprus and Greece. Despite the fact that they could
have vetoed the start of Turkey’s EU talks, Cyprus and Greece allowed
the talks to go forward with the aim of extracting concessions from
Turkey during the negotiating process. Had they used their veto last
week, they would have deprived themselves of the opportunity to get
any concessions from Turkey.
The interest of Armenians requires that, on the EU issue, Turkey remain
a bridesmaid, as long as it refuses to pay the dowry to become a bride!
–Boundary_(ID_AtGDPK30A5oGa3ASpByHbA)–

KOCHARIAN: REFORMS DRIVING FORCE OF COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT
Pan Armenian
13.10.2005 23:58 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian met
with members of the Board of Directors of the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), reported the Press Service of
the Armenian leader. R.
Kocharian noted with satisfaction that the EBRD-Armenia relations
are converting to a more actual level. He specially noted EBRD active
work with the private sector. Reforms are implemented in Armenia with
confidence that they are the driving force of country’s development,
Kocharian stated. In his words, reforms resulted in a rather impressing
economic growth and the joint programs with the Bank have a certain
role in it. The parties also discussed possible directions of future
cooperation. R. Kocharian said he would like the EBRD to participate
in development of Armenia’s economy more actively.

RUSSIA HAS NOT MET ALL CONDITIONS DETERMINED AT RECEIVING ARMENIAN ENTERPRISES
Pan Armenian
13.10.2005 23:34 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “I consider that up to now Russia has not fulfilled
all conditions, based on which the Armenian enterprises were conveyed
to it within the framework of the Property for Debt Agreement,” said
Co-Chair of the Armenian-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission for
Economic Cooperation, Russian Minister of Transport Igor Levitin. The
Minister stated it when answering the question on fulfillment of
obligations to run the enterprises Armenia had conveyed to Russia
within the framework of the Property for Debt Agreement. In his words,
Russia has not determined yet whether to produce military or civil
destination output at these enterprises. “Thus, we agreed to create
a working group over launching these enterprises,” Levitin said.
He informed that “yesterday and today the working group held its first
meetings and they have also reached a specific plan of measures over
production types.” He hoped for the group to report to the co-chairs on
the type of the production in the course of the next meeting. “Russia
understands its responsibility for these enterprises, we were to
organize their functioning and it is one of the points Russia has not
fulfilled yet,” I. Levitin said. The protocol of the working group
first session titled “For securing efficient work of enterprises
Armenia conveyed to Russia” is available, he also reported. “The
first document is signed today,” he reported. Answering the question
whether the enterprises will produce military items, Levitin said
“when assuming ownership of these enterprises we did not plan to launch
works on producing military destination goods there.” At the same time
he noted that the enterprises are property of the Russian Federation,
“thus a question like that will not prevent production of these goods.”
From: Baghdasarian