Ïðàî ûáîðà, Azerbaijan
Democratic Azerbaijan
April 14 2006
“Echo”: Armenian Lobbyists Change Position
14.04.2006

James Kolbe thanked Azerbaijan for partnership in anti terror
coalition
“Let me express gratitude of American nation to Azerbaijan nation for
partnership in anti terror coalition”. James Kolbe, US Congressman
from Arizona State, Chairman of Sub-Committee for External Affairs of
the House of Representatives of US Congress stated at the
press-conference. He underlined that Azerbaijan sent its peace-makers
to Afghanistan and Iraq, and also gave the right of flight all along
its air space and landing in its territory.
Talking of the settlement of Nagorno-Garabagh conflict, James Kolbe
reminded that the United States are one of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group, and urged for signing long-term just peace that could
set up conditions for development and prosperity of the region. He
also expressed a confidence that Azerbaijan President’s visit to
Azerbaijan will demonstrate development of US-Azerbaijan
relationship.
But journalists were interested with another: reportedly
well-informed sources, in due time James Kolbe was one of the
co-authors of the 907 Amendment “tied hands” of the Washington to
develop bilateral relations with Azerbaijan that called by Kolbe
himself as strategic ally of the US. At the instance of “Echo”
commenting this point James Kolbe hastened to assure that his role in
adoption of 907 Amendment “had been exaggerated a little” and
underlined that for the last five years he always voted for support
of the US Administration’s proposal concerning to suspend 907
Amendment. Demonstration of “change of positions” of the most
Armenian lobbyists in US Congress turned out more impressive.
James Kolbe did not exclude that the issue relating elimination of
907 Amendment will be discussed pending Azerbaijan President’s visit
to US, but underlined that last word is behind the US Congress. At
the same time, he said that one of the ways for elimination of 907
Amendment should be the conflict settlement.
James Kolbe also commented the fact that differing from Armenia and
Georgia Azerbaijan was not included to the Millennium Challenge
Programme. James Kolbe emphasized that no projects being implemented
within the framework of Millennium Challenge Programme concern
Nagorno-Garabagh. According to him, he took an active part in project
development that should give a new direction to US financial aid
abroad. According to him, annually, 6-7 new countries are included to
the Programme, and the main criterion of choice is efficiency of
national power branches. The corruption level determined by the
Congress on the basis of estimation of independent experts plays a
leading role.
At the instance of journalists James Kolbe commented the fact that US
Congress is not concern with reinforcement of neo-authoritarian
tendencies in Russian policy towards newly-established States. As
stated James Kolbe, the United States are, mostly, concerned with
political and economic aspect of this point rather military, and
assured of that Washington is ready to support political and economic
independence of the newly-established countries in the region,
including Azerbaijan.

Turkish Press
April 14 2006
Press Review
TURKIYE
GUL MEETS WITH POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday met with his Polish
counterpart Stefan Meller in Ankara. During their talks, the two top
diplomats discussed bilateral relations. At a press conference,
afterwards, citing the Polish Parliament’s decision last year on the
so-called Armenian genocide, Gul conveyed Turkey’s concern over the
matter. Stressing that the issue should be taken up by historians,
not politicians, Gul said the move could encourage Armenians. Turkey
has offered to Armenia to investigate the matter, but has so far
gotten no reply, added Gul. For his part, Meller stated that his
government’s support for Turkey’s European Union membership bid would
continue. /Turkiye/

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
April 14 2006
National renascence movement addresses Europe protesting unjust
sentence issued on Ramil Safarov Karabakh’s youth associations to
address international organizations

Source: «Trend»
Author: J.Shakhverdiyev

14.04.2006

National Renascence Movement (NRM) has addressed European
organizations in a way of protest the unjust verdict issued on Azeri
military officer Ramil Safarov charged with murder of Armenian
officer in Hungary, NRM head Faradj Guloyev told Trend.

Mr Guliyev said an official address had been sent through NRM
representatives in Switzerland, Russia and Turkey to the governments
of these countries and international organizations. «We have also
dispatched a protest note to the other European countries and all
diplomatic representations in Azerbaijan. In the event of any protest
rallies or campaigns run by some organization we will join them
immediately».

NRM leader said also some actions would be taken tom protect Mr
Safarov’s rights. Mr Guliyev stressed that the verdict issued by
Hungarian court on R. Safarov’s case is an unjust and unfriendly one.

New Anatolian, Turkey
April 14 2006
Meller: Turkey’s membership will bring positive added value to EU
The New Anatolian / Ankara
After pledging to further develop and strengthen bilateral ties with
Turkey, visiting Polish Foreign Minister Stefan Meller yesterday
said, “Turkey’s membership will bring a positive, added value to the
European Union.”
Meller made the remarks at a joint press conference with Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul following a meeting in Ankara where
they
Expressing his country’s support for the EU enlargement process,
Meller said, “The members of the bloc expect new political and
cultural values from possible future members.” In accordance with
this goal, besides Turkey’s contributions to the EU, the members
expect Turkish membership will bring with it a positive, added value
since the country has an important position in the region.
“I believe that the criteria applied to Turkey should be the same as
the EU criteria applied to other candidate states,” said the Polish
foreign minister while at the same time underlining the importance of
a complete fulfillment of obligations for Turkey to become a member
of the bloc.
‘Polish stance on Armenia shouldn’t affect relations with Turkey’
Meller stated that Poland’s positive stance towards the Armenians
shouldn’t negatively affect relations with Turkey, referring to the
Polish Parliament’s decision taken in favor of the Armenians over the
controversial “genocide” claims.
The visiting foreign minister denied the recognition of Armenian
genocide claims by the Polish Parliament, saying, “The Parliament
only expressed its view which reflected the atmosphere of that era.”
Meller also stated that Poland used to be composed of different
nations up until the end of 18th century, adding that many
Armenian-origin bureaucrats, soldiers and artists still live in
Poland.
Gul praises strengthening of ties between Turkey-Poland
Foreign Minister Gul, for his part, praised the development and
deepening of bilateral relations especially in the areas of trade,
economy, the defense industry and culture, citing 600 years of ties
between Turkey and Poland.
“The countries are together under NATO’s umbrella and I believe that
Polish support for Turkey’s EU membership will continue,” Gul said.
Meller said that Turkey and Poland are friends and allies in NATO,
adding that his country will never forget Turkey’s support during
Poland’s NATO membership process.
The polish foreign minister also praised the high level of investment
from Turkish businessmen in his country and called on Turkey to
cooperate in joint investment projects in third countries.
Gul: No Turkish mediation in Iranian nuke standoff right now
Asked whether a Turkish official will be asked to be responsible for
bringing Iranian and Western officials towards a diplomatic solution
to Tehran’s nuclear activities, Gul stated that such a role isn’t on
Ankara’s agenda.
Gul also called on all concerned states to contribute to efforts to
finding a diplomatic solution to the issue and to work towards easing
the standoff.

Interfax, Russia
April 14 2006
Duma ratifies agreement on CIS anti-terror center
MOSCOW. April 14 (Interfax) – The State Duma has ratified an
agreement signed by the Russian government and other CIS
member-states on the presence of the CIS anti-terrorist center on
Russian territory.
“The ratification of the aforementioned documents meets Russia’s
national interests and will make the fight against international
terrorism more effective,” the Duma’s CIS committee said in a report.
The agreement, which was signed by Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia,
Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Uzbekistan and
Ukraine in Moscow on October 21, 2003, and will be valid as long as
the anti-terrorist center continues to operate.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Messenger, Georgia
April 14 2006
Wine blockade update: Armenian winemakers plug their product
“There exists the opinion that Georgia is good in wine and Armenia in
cognac and it is high time to break these stereotypes,” Avak
Arutunian, Armenian Wine Producers head
By Keti Sikharulidze

The head of the association of Armenian Wine Producers Avak Arutunian
believes that his country’s product can easily replace Georgian wine
on the Russian market.
Speaking with the Russian news agency Regnum Arutunian called
Russian’s resolution to ban Georgian wine imports as a “correct
decision.”
Arutunian thinks that Armenian wines can compete with both Georgian
and Moldavian vintages and that the only country that is capable of
competing with Armenian wines, in terms of quality, is France.
“Our wines are highly competitive with Georgian, Moldavian and even
French wines. The thing is that there exists the opinion that Georgia
is good in wine and Armenia in cognac and it is high time to break
these stereotypes,” Arutunian stated on Thursday.
At the same time that Arutunian was speaking of the great merits of
his country’s wines, a Georgian delegation headed by Minister of
Agriculture Mikheil Svimonishvili left for Moscow on Thursday to hold
meetings with Russian officials to discuss lifting the Russian
embargo on Georgian wines.
“We should do everything we can to solve this problem in order to
avoid any kind of confrontation,” Svimonishvili told journalists.
Russia banned imports of all Georgian and Moldovian wine on March 27,
and last week the ban was extended to include cognac and sparkling
wine.
According to Russia’s Chief Sanitation doctor Gennady Onishenko 13
percent of the Georgian and Moldavian wine tested in 38 Russian
districts meet international standards, while 46 percent of the wine
tested in Moscow is of bad quality.

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 14 2006
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry: `We’ll try to commute unfair verdict
on Ramil Safarov’
[ 14 Apr. 2006 13:24 ]
`The Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan does not agree to the unfair
verdict passed on Azerbaijani army officer Rami Safarov for murdering
Armenian army officer Gurgen Markarian in Hungary,’ the spokesman for
the Defense Ministry Ilgar Verdiyev told APA. He said that Safarov’s
lawyer will appeal against the verdict.
`Ramil Safarov is the officer of the Defense Ministry. We’ll take
necessary steps to defend our officer, to commute the unfair verdict
on him,’ Verdiyev said.
Verdiyev also said the Ministry will defray all expenses for legal
defense of Ramil Safarov.
The Budapest court yesterday sentenced the Azerbaijani army officer
Ramil Safarov to life in prison. /APA/

Regnum, Russia
April 14 2006
Armenian MP considers spreading of anti-Russian feelings to be
inadmissible
Deal on selling of Hrazdan TPS 5th energy unit by Armenian government
to Russian Gazprom is enough interesting, and its details are not
confidential and accessible to everybody, MP Armen Ashotyan stated
during a press conference on April 13. According to him, the deal was
repeatedly discussed by mass media, as well as by the parliament.
As a REGNUM correspondent informs, the MP expressed his
dissatisfaction with negative mood of opposition forces toward the
deal. `It is wrong to say sell of the 5th energy unit considerably
crippled Armenian statehood. All European countries depend to some
extent on Russian gas, but they have not lost their independence and
statehood,’ stressed Armen Ashotyan. According to him, buying of
Hrazdan TPS 5th by Russian side is not directed against Armenian
statehood, and `it is not worth to take one fact and to black
everything’. `It is inadmissible to spread anti-Russian feelings,’
stressed the Armenian MP.
Mentioning rumors, that Armenian authorities had sold part of
Iran-Armenia pipeline and because of that had robbed Armenia of
perspectives to become transit country in perspective, Armen Ashotyan
stressed, if Russia wishes, so without regard to everything, Iranian
gas will not get into Europe. `Gazprom possesses Ukrainian
gas-distributing systems’, he stressed, adding, if the company
wishes, it will always use the advantage.

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
April 14 2006
Nagorno-Karabakh problem included in Istanbul Declaration – MP
Kazimly

Source: Trend
Author: J.Shahverdiyev

14.04.2006

The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has
been included in the Istanbul Declaration at a conference of the
Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Conference, MP
Khanhuseyn Kazimly, the chairman of the Social Welfare Party of
Azerbaijan, told Trend in an exclusive interview.
He noted that the Azerbaijani delegates made remarks on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. `It was our great achievement. Moreover,
the Azerbaijani representatives were included in the composition of
three commissions of the OIC Executive Committee,’ he said. The
conference mulled the problems of Islamic countries and the ways for
their resolution.
The event was organized in Istanbul from 8 to 13 April with the
participation of 437 delegates from 47 countries. Members of the
Azerbaijani delegation – Govhar Bakhshaliyeva, Javanshir Pashazade,
Khanhuseyn Kazimly and Sabir Rustamkhanly will be back on 14 April.

The Gauntlet, CA
April 14 2006
System Of A Down singer signs new act
System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian has announced a new signing
to his Serjical Strike record label. According to a press release,
Tankian has inked a deal with Dallas, Texas group Fair To Midland,
who were named as one of the top 100 unsigned acts of 2005. Tankian
said about the signing, “They are one of the best live unsigned bands
I have ever seen. Their songs are moody and dynamic, not dependent on
one catchy beat or emotion to present their art.”
Fair To Midland has already recorded and released a debut album on
its own, titled Inter.Funda.Stifle.
Tankian will serve as executive producer for the group’s next effort,
which it plans to begin recording later this year.
Through Serjical Strike, Tankian has previously released albums by
Kittens For Christian, Bad Acid Trip and former Guns N’ Roses
guitarist Buckethead, as well as Serart, his own collaboration with
Armenian vocalist and percussionist Arto Tuncboyaciyan.
System Of A Down will hit the road on July 1st as co-headliners of
this summer’s Ozzfest.