51% OF PEOPLE SUPPORT MILITARY ACTION: SURVEY
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Oct 6 2005
51% of the Azerbaijani citizens believe settlement of the long-standing
Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper Garabagh conflict is possible through
military action, while 32% via negotiations, according to a survey
held by the hard-line Garabagh Liberation Organization (GLO) among
2,100 respondents on Saturday.
54% of young men and 31% of women want the conflict to be settled
through military operations, while 29% and 49% respectively –
by peaceful means. Most of the elderly said they support conflict
settlement through military action.
According to the results of a similar poll conducted by the GLO in
September, 49% of people deemed resolution of the Garabagh conflict
through war possible, while 35% gave preference to peace.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EVENT ON SELF-PROCLAIMED REPUBLIC’S ANNIVERSARY HELD IN US CONGRESS
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Oct 6 2005
An event dedicated to the 14th ‘anniversary’ of the self-proclaimed
Upper Garabagh republic was held at the US House of Representatives
building in Washington last Wednesday, Radio Liberty reported.
Pro-Armenian Congressmen spoke at the meeting attended by Vice-speaker
of the British House of Lords, Baroness Caroline Cox.
Commenting on the matter, a source from the US embassy in Baku said
that the United States supports Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity
and does not recognize the self-proclaimed republic.
The Azeri Foreign Ministry said that the event does not reflect the
official position of the USA. Deputy foreign minister Khalaf Khalafov
said that the meeting took place in the Congress premises leased by
pro-Armenian Congressmen. “However, the ministry negatively assesses
the event and considers it an attempt of propaganda and assistance
to separatism.”

AZERI, ARMENIAN FMS TO MEET IN DECEMBER
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Oct 6 2005
Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers are due to hold talks for
the next time on the sidelines of a meeting of the OSCE council of
foreign ministers in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana December 5-6
to discuss ways of peacefully settling the Upper Garabagh conflict,
officials said.
Deputy foreign minister and the President’s special envoy on the
Upper Garabagh conflict Araz Azimov said the two ministers are
expected to hold a private meeting as part of the event. Co-chairs
of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group are due to visit the region prior
to the ministers’ meeting, Azimov said. “The issue was discussed at
a recent OSCE meeting. A final decision was not made in this respect,
but the co-chairs’ visit is expected on the eve of the parliamentary
elections”, the deputy foreign minister said.
Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oskanian told a press conference on
Thursday that the conflicting sides – Azerbaijan and Armenia – should
step up progress achieved in the conflict settlement. “A very suitable
moment has come about from the standpoint of resolving the Garabagh
conflict”, he said. “There are positive processes and achievements
and we should use them in order to continue the negotiating process
and deepen the accomplishments after the parliament elections in
Azerbaijan.”

RUSSIA’S NOUVEAUX RICHES SHAKE UP MONACO
Andrei Cherny
MosNews, Russia
Oct 6 2005
Russia’s newly affluent flaunt their wealth on Cote d’Azur with
oligarch Roman Abramovich setting the pace. The hot spot where Arabian
sheiks and American millionaires once came to gamble is now crowded
with Russians and Ukrainians.
Monaco is a sickle-like strip of prosperous land terracing up the
mountains and cascading down toward the sea, with a population
of 30,000, only 7,000 holding citizenship. A toy state sandwiched
between France and Italy, it is one of the most affluent countries in
Europe. Flowers, palms, and greenery on every square inch of land;
marinas packed with yachts; streets looking as though they have
just been shampooed; restaurants, boutiques, casinos, nightclubs,
and sandy beaches. Monaco is a country of legitimate luxury, one of
the most expensive and exclusive places in Europe. People from all
over the world come here to spend their money. This past summer has
seen a “Russian boom.”
“We’ve been working in Monaco for 22 years and have not until recently
seen any Russians here. They appeared three years ago, but this year
they have made our season!” Chantal Sobra, director of the Louis
Vuitton store, says. The three-level, renovated, sparkling Vuitton
is one of the most expensive boutiques on the coast.
“Russians are au courant on everything – competition, new products,
the latest trends.
“And they are tres chic,” the director says amid a flurry of activity
around three Russian women clients. The provincial looking Russians
are ordering about a sales assistant with the help of sign language
and are terribly reminiscent of Cinderella’s sisters from the prewar
Russian film.
“I was walking about Monte Carlo and I saw this shop. I had just
been given a watch from that firm. I walked in. A similar model
cost $40,000. But mine has fewer diamonds so it’s probably worth
just $20,000,” a Barbie kind of girl says plaintively to her macho
companions at Cafe de Paris.
There are legends about Russians in Monaco.
This week, a Russian sugar daddy with several female companions had
breakfast at a restaurant, shelling out 110,000 euros and then giving
a 10,000 tip.
An unfamiliar word, screamed out in a horrifying voice, attracted
everyone’s attention at Casino SUN. Three-hundred thousand euros that
an unknown Russian lost in one fell swoop enriched the Monegasques’
vocabulary with a Russian profanity. The loser walked out of the hall,
while the game continued as usual.
The beach at the Beach Hotel is the best in Monaco: It is used by the
prince himself. Yet even here everyone was stunned by the appearance
of a boy of about 10 with a wad of pink 500-euro bills, saying:
“Dad gave it to me to celebrate my birthday!”
Last year, the yacht of a minor oil tycoon called at the Port
d’Hercule. At midnight, its lights went up to the accompaniment of
disco music. Before long, however, the yacht’s owner lost moorage
rights and was told never to enter Monaco waters again. Well, you
don’t argue with the prince.
Still, the more money they spend, the better. Even the harsh traffic
police try not to fine the drunk drivers of luxury cars when they
leave casinos.
Monaco’s uncrowned king – Societe des Bains de Mer (SBM) which owns
the country’s best hotels, casinos, and banks – has for the past one
and a half centuries been managing its properties with an iron hand.
Each SBM hotel, where prices start at $1,500 for a single room, has
luxury suites at 2,000 to 7,000 euros a night during the high season.
Earlier, they were used only by Arab sheiks and U.S. millionaires.
Today, Russians seem to have crowded them out.
“The local atmosphere of permanent holiday and festivity produces
a strong psychological effect. This summer, very serious money has
been won and lost at Monte Carlo,” Alex Oppenot, the SBM marketing
director, says.
SBM sees the “Russian invasion” as renaissance – the Return: After
all, the place was a favorite with Russia’s grand dukes; there were
Diaghilev Russian seasons and Nijinsky shows, and Russian industrial
magnates played the roulette wheel here.
The new Russians’ lineage does not really matter: What counts is
their money. Today, they have loads of money. One indication of this
are the prices at Russian art auctions.
A recent match between a Russian and a Monaco soccer club, according
to Alex Oppenot, increased the Russian presence in Monte Carlo by 64
percent. The match was not simply a sporting event but an excellent
opportunity for self-promotion. Attendance at the stadium is a sign
of affiliation with the caste of wealthy, happy, and successful. The
number one name here is Roman Abramovich. His appearance at Monte
Carlo, which has seen plenty, created a stir: Roman and his party
on the coast; Roman and his yacht, the Pelarus (resembling rather
a warship); Roman and his girlfriends – according to eyewitness
accounts, not quite of age; Roman at Jimmy’z, a night club where a
glass of water costs 40 euros.
The blatant flaunting of wealth is an infectious example for dozens
of his Russian compatriots.
Real estate is the first and foremost concern for Russians on Cote
d’Azur. Villa prices range from 70 million to 200 million euros, but
at Cannes, Cap Ferra, Antibes, and especially Monaco, everything has
already been bought up. La Vigie, a three-level villa overlooking
Monte Carlo’s best beach (80,000 a month) was rented by a Russian
for the entire swimming season – April through October.
Yachts are another important prestige factor. There is a kind of
tacit competition for yacht size. Every extra meter costs about 1
million. Yacht builders meet at Port d’Hercule every year, showing
their products, striking deals, and taking orders.
Finally, the life style. There are more car showrooms than groceries
here. A Maybach or a Lamborghini here costs one-half of what it does,
e.g. in France, where the luxury tax is charged. Motor vehicles
parked outside the Grand Casino, built by the legendary Garnier and
reminiscent of the Opera de Paris building, are not to be seen anywhere
else. You cannot, however, drive to neighboring Nice in such a car,
gold coast people complain: Its body will be scratched or its tires
will be slashed there. You’ve got to live in Monaco: It has everything
– golf fields, tennis courts, sea baths, and spa salons.
Russians in Monaco are clients who must not be humiliated by low
prices, especially when comfort, heat and excitement are closely
intertwined.
The Monte-Carlo Casino overlooking the Mediterranean is the best
known casino in the world. Royal persons and upstarts, aristocratic
old ladies and golden youth, cardsharpers and spies have all played
there. These include fortune seekers from the CIS. They are referred
to indiscriminately as “Russians.” As a matter of fact, they are
Ukrainians, Kazakhs, Moldovans, Armenians, etc. A running joke here
has it that one day the Monegasques will learn to tell Kazakhs
from Belarusians as they once learned to distinguish between the
Japanese and Chinese. The naive SBM managers are going to introduce
a special seminar to teach Russians “civilized gambling” – i.e.,
how to play cards without relying on luck alone. They must not have
read Dostoyevsky’s The Gambler.
On Avenue des Beaux-Arts, a tiny street in downtown Monaco comprised of
luxury boutiques and jewelry houses, the strong smell of petrodollars
is converted into the fragrance of orchids. Fall-season collections
have been swept by a hurricane from Russia. One of the most popular
types of massage on the list offered to SBM luxury hotel clients is
“after-shopping massage.” This year, Monaco’s couture stores have
seen their profits rise 30 to 40 percent – mainly due to Russian and
Ukrainian money.
“This summer, Americans stayed at home: Because of the dollar’s low
exchange rate, it is unprofitable to travel to Europe. The Arabs have
their own problems to deal with. There are also very few Japanese:
They are afraid of terrorist attacks on airplanes. If it was not
for the Russians, we would have been left without any profit,” SBM
managers say.
The exuberant lifestyles and spending practices that Russians,
dizzy with the unlimited opportunities, demonstrated at first
by buying the most expensive things, are now giving way to the
“getting-into-the-mainstream” ambition – i.e., being like everyone
else. Today, SBM managers believe, wealthy Russians are striving to
be accepted into the fold of civilization. The Monegasques, however,
only want to see the tip of the iceberg – that is to say, profits
from the Russians’ exuberant spending practices.
Prince Albert, the patron of sports, however, objected to the
idea of selling the Monaco soccer club to a Russian businessman,
Aleksei Fedorychev, saying that the club must not be in the hands of
a foreigner. That was the first time when the issue of the provenance
of money came up. Nevertheless, that did not prevent Fedorychev from
becoming the main sponsor of the Monaco club.
Russian oligarchs, raised on oil, natural gas, and god knows what else,
seem to be living in total ignorance of their own country – vast and
impoverished, with low living standards and high mortality rates.

MILAN LIKELY TO HOST ITALIAN-ARMENIAN BUSINESS FORUM NEXT AUTUMN
Armenpress
Oct 06, 2005
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6, ARMENPRESS: Armenian ambassador to Italy, Ruben
Shugarian, told an Armenian-Italian business forum in Yerevan today
that Italy’s industrial and financial center, Milan, is likely to
host in 2006 autumn an Italian-Armenian business forum, which may be
attended also by businessmen from Spain and Portugal.
Italian industrial activities minister Adolpho Urso said he had
outlined several initiatives during a meeting with Armenian trade and
economic development minister Karen Chshmaritian. He also expressed
hope that this conference will lay the foundation of establishment of
an Italian-Armenian trade chamber. Italian ambassador, Marco Clemente,
said Italy’s foreign trade representation in Moscow will open a branch
in Yerevan in several months.
According to official statistics, there are now 33 joint
Armenian-Italian ventures in Armenia, which have invested a total of
$13 million in Armenia’s economy.

ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR TO US PAYS FIRST WORKING VISIT TO LA
Armenpress
Oct 05, 2005
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS: Armenian ambassador to US Tatul
Margarian paid his first working visit to Los Angeles from September
29 to October 2.
Armenian Foreign Affairs Ministry press service said Margarian visited
Armenian Consulate-General in Los Angeles and conducted meetings with
its staff and discussed issues on the activity of the Consulate and
its further programs. In the Consulate the ambassador also met with
the heads of parties and organizations acting in Los Angeles.
On the same day the ambassador also visited the office of the Lincy
Foundation and thanked for the wide range of programs it implements
in Armenia. Within the frameworks of the working visit he was also an
honorable guest in the meeting-reception organized by the “Hayastan”
Pan-Armenian Foundation. The event was organized for the support of
the foundation’s annual telethon.
During the visit Tatul Margarian was also present at the annual
reception organized by the Southern Californian University’s Institute
of Armenian Studies. At the end of his visit the ambassador gave an
interview to Armenian-based “Horizon” TV channel.

DEMOCRACY WITH DECENTRALIZATION
A1+
| 14:55:40 | 06-10-2005 | Politics |
“Modern democracy is not only division of powers but also their
decentralization,” President of the Congress of Local and Regional
Authorities of the Council of Europe Giovanni Di Stasi stated during
today’s conference.
In his words, it would be illogical to expect Armenia to become a
democratic state within a period of 15 years. Consequently it is
not surprising that the election to the local self-government was
not “absolutely positive” however considerable progress has been
fixed. Mr. Stasi noted that the Congress was glad to know that the
Mayor of Yerevan will be elective henceforth.
To note, the CoE Congress President is in Armenia to propose formation
of a network of local governing bodies of the three South Caucasian
states.
When asked if the formation of such a structure is possible in case the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict is not settled, Mr. Stasi said, “Complicated
situations may be solved via the dialogue established between the
governing bodies”, and addded that the local self-government bodies
can established ties with analogous European structures.
These issues were also raised at the 18th seminar titled “Training
and trans-border cooperation in Europe”, being held in Yerevan October
5-7 with participation of 100 representatives of different countries
including Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AFTER 22-DAY STUDY
A1+
| 13:57:14 | 06-10-2005 | Politics |
October 5 Robert Kocharian signed the law adopted September 13 on
introducing amendments to the RA Criminal Code.

ARMY OF PROTESTERS REPLENISHED
A1+
| 16:51:46 | 06-10-2005 | Social |
Today the faithful protesting against the social cards joined the
residents of the amortization zone of the Northern and Main Avenues,
the tenants of Dalma gardens and ground areas of Malatia community.
To remind, the residents of the Northern and Main Avenues claim
compensation for their flats, tenants – privatization of the ground
areas or prolongation of lease term while the faithful insist the
social cards were issued upon request only.
The believers say that only the design of the cards has changed but
the idea remained the same.

RA PRESIDENT RECEIVED ITALIAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN TRADE
A1+
| 15:56:42 | 06-10-2005 | Official |
Today RA President Robert Kocharian received the Italian delegation
headed by Minister of Foreign Trade Adolfo Urso.
Positively assessing the development rate of the Armenian-Italian
cooperation, Robert Kocharian noted that the political dialogue
has activated and the commodity turnover between the two states
is increasing.
In his turn Mr. Urso informed that chambers of commerce are well
developed in Italy and he has already discussed the possibility of
conveying the Italian experience to Armenia.
The parties also considered possible ways to encourage small and
middle business.