68 FIRST YEAR STUDENTS STUDY AT CORRESPONDENCE COURSES OF VANADZOR BRANCH OF AGRARIAN UNIVERSITY
Noyan Tapan
Apr 12 2006
VANADZOR, APRIL 12, NOYAN TAPAN. Courses in the directions of the
“System of Land Tenure and Land-Survey,” “Accountancy and Audit,”
“Veterinary Sanitary Examination” specialities started in the newly
opened department of correspondence courses of the Vanadzor Branch
of the State Agrarian University of Armenia. As Alexander Hakobian,
the acting Director of the branch, a candidate of agrarian sciences
informed the Noyan Tapan correspondent, 68 first year students are
involved in the department. According to him, during the next academic
year, besides the above-mentioned specialities, it’s envisaged to
hold entrance in the direction of the “Forest Economy and Planting
of Greenery in Settlements,” “Livestock Farming,” “Agronomy,”
“Mechanization of Agriculture,” “Milk and Dairy Produce Technology,”
specialities. A.Hakobian mentioned that everything is done to organize
at the branch the courses corresponding to the modern educational
standards. According to him, existence of a qualified lecturers’ staff
and corresponding material-technical basis is a hopeful guarantee
for the educational institution becomes a good smithy for preparing
qualified specialists for the agriculture of the region.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BAKU PREPARES FOR NEW PHASE IN U.S.-AZERBAIJANI STRATEGIC RELATIONS
By Taleh Ziyadov
Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
April 12 2006
As Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliev prepares to visit the United
States at the end of April, several high-ranking officials from
Azerbaijan have already toured Washington and explored ways to
strengthen U.S.-Azerbaijan relations.
On March 29, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Araz
Azimov arrived in Washington to participate in the next round of the
U.S.-Azerbaijan security dialogue. Bilateral cooperation on security
in the Caspian region began in 1996 and has intensified considerably
since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Azimov, who headed the interagency delegation from Azerbaijan, was
accompanied by Azerbaijan’s deputy minister of national security,
Fuad Iskenderov; the deputy chief of State Border Services, Farhad
Tagizade; and the commander-in-chief of the Azerbaijani Navy, Shahin
Sultanov (AzerTag, March 31).
Azimov met with Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military
Affairs John Hillen, who represented the U.S. delegation. Officials
from both states discussed “a wide range of security and defense
issues, and highlighted the joint commitment to increased cooperation
[between Baku and Washington]” (State Department statement, March 31).
In his interview with the Azerbaijan state news agency AzerTag, Azimov
highlighted the main issues discussed during his talks, including the
“security of Azerbaijan at national and regional levels, relations
within NATO, the increasing role of the OSCE in the South Caucasus,
settlement of regional conflicts, relations among the Caspian coastal
states, and the military-political situation in the Caspian basin”
(AzerTag, March 31).
On March 30, Azimov delivered a speech at the Center for Strategic
and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, and talked about
the Karabakh peace process, Azerbaijan’s energy and security policies,
and its Euro-Atlantic agenda.
Asked whether Iran was a subject of discussions, he reminded, “Some
130-km long section of the Azerbaijan-Iran border is currently under
Armenian occupation and outside of Azerbaijan’s control, which is a
serious security threat.” In addition, Azimov stated that Iran’s recent
activities in the southern sector of the Caspian Sea, which Azerbaijan
shares with Iran, worried official Baku. As for the Iranian nuclear
program, he stressed that Azerbaijan supports a peaceful resolution
of the issue (AzerTag, March 31).
Following Azimov’s visit, the Minister Foreign Affairs Elmar
Mammadyarov arrived in Washington on April 7. Mammadyarov also met
with high-ranking U.S. officials, including U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice.
In his speech at Heritage Foundation on Friday, April 7, Mammadyarov
described Azerbaijan as a “strategic ally” of the United States and
listed Azerbaijan’s economic achievements in the last 15 years.
Deepening U.S.-Azerbaijan relations “corresponds to our national
interest” and Baku and Washington “are working quite successfully” in
this direction Mammadyarov remarked. He also mentioned the successful
cooperation between the United States and Azerbaijan in the energy and
security field, pointing to the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
oil and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural gas pipelines and two radar
stations in Azerbaijan (Heritage.org, April 7).
Mammadyarov told Jamestown that soon Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey
would begin construction of another strategically important project,
the Baku-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki-Kars railway. This project will connect
Trans-European and Trans-Asian railway networks and will allow
Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Central Asian states to ship their goods
and products to Turkey and onward to Europe by rail.
One of the central components of the U.S.-Azerbaijan security dialogue
has been the Karabakh peace process. The February meeting of the
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in France resulted in a deadlock
and produced no results. Although the OSCE co-chairs for the Karabakh
peace process remain optimistic about a possible breakthrough in 2006,
the failure of talks in Paris stressed the need for new proposals.
After meeting with Rice, Mammadyarov stated that Washington had made
him a “very interesting” proposal for resolution of the Karabakh
conflict. He added that the Azerbaijani government would consider
the U.S. proposal and would make its position public when U.S. OSCE
co-chair Steven Mann visits Baku on April 18 (Day.az, April 8).
The U.S. interest in speeding up the resolution of Karabakh conflict
has led the Azerbaijani media and local analysts to question the U.S.
role in the region. But official Baku has used Washington’s growing
interest in the region as an opportunity to strengthen U.S.-Azerbaijani
bilateral relations.
According to Ali Hasanov, head of the socio-political department of
presidential administration, “Clearly, the U.S. does not want the
resumption of hostilities in the region. We too would like to resolve
the Karabakh conflict this year. But the fact is that Armenia still
occupies Azerbaijan’s territories and Baku preserves its right to
restore its territorial integrity. We want the U.S. and other OSCE
Minsk group states to pressure Armenia” (Day.az, April 12).
For Azerbaijan, the return of internally displaced persons to
their homes and the question of the country’s territorial integrity
continue to play a critical role in the peace talks. Baku hopes that
its growing ties with Washington could result in a more favorable
peace agreement and change the status quo in the region by ending the
Karabakh conflict. Hence, the United States could become a leading
player in the Karabakh peace process and U.S.-Azerbaijan strategic
relations could further increase U.S. influence in the Caspian region.

15 VILLAGES OF TAVUSH TO BE ABLE TO USE SERVICES OF INTERNATIONAL TELEPHONE CONNECTION
Noyan Tapan
Apr 12 2006
IJEVAN, APRIL 12, NOYAN TAPAN. Works are implemented by “ArmenTel” in
15 rural communities of the marz of Tavush, for the local subscribers
are able to make use of the international telephone connection. 7 of
those villages are in the region of Noyemberian, and 5 ones are in
the region of Ijevan. At present inhabitants of the cities of Ijevan,
Berd, Dilijan, Noyemberian and of the village of Koghb have possibility
to make use of that service.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

2 MATERNAL DEATHS REGISTERED IN MATERNITY HOSPITAL OF KAJARAN IN FIRST QUARTER
Noyan Tapan
Apr 12 2006
KAJARAN, APRIL 12, NOYAN TAPAN. Two maternal deaths were registered
in the maternity hospital of the city of Kajaran in the first quarter
of this year.
Those extreme cases were discussed at the Health Care and Social
Security Department of the Syunik Governor’s Office. As the Noyan
Tapan correspondent was informed by the department, research of the
mentioned facts still continues.

TARIFF OF 1 CUBIC METER OF WATER TO BECOME 172.8 DRAMS FROM JUNE 1
Noyan Tapan
Apr 12 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 12, NOYAN TAPAN. Starting June 1, the tariff of 1 cubic
meter of water will become 172.8 drams (about 0.38 USD) instead of
the current 125 drams. NT correspondent was informed from the press
service of the State Water Industry Committee of the RA Ministry of
Territorial Administration that General des Eaux company (France),
which leases Yerevan Water Canal company (henceforth Yerevan Water),
has already submitted a water tariff increase bid to the RA Public
Services Regulatory Commission. Having leased the water supply and
sewerage systems of the area which was serviced by Water Canal,
the French company has already set new tariffs for the next 10
years. The tender package of General des Eaux envisages a change in
water tariffs in case of changes in electricity tariffs, currency rates
and inflation, while the RA Public Services Regulatory Commission only
has to approve these tariffs. To recap, within a 20 mln-dollar World
Bank credit program on Yerevan water supply and sewerage, General
des Eaux company will implement a project on improvement of the system.

CURRENTLY AIR TEMPERATURE EXCEEDS NORM BY 3-5 DEGREES IN ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
Apr 12 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 12, NOYAN TAPAN. Conditioned by penetration of
south-western currents of air, currently the air temperature exceeds
the norm by 3-5 degrees in Armenia. As Noyan Tapan correspondent
was informed from the Meteorological Forecasts Department of
Armstatehydromet, on April 13-14, the air temperature will not
undergo any essential changes and on April 15, will rise by 1-2
degrees. +30 is forecast on April 15 in Yerevan. And on April 16,
the air temperature will drop by 2-5 degrees.

MERZLYAKOV: “ARMENIA SHOWS GREAT INTEREST IN NEW PROPOSALS ON SOLUTION OF NK CONFLICT”
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 12 2006
The new proposals on settlement of Nagorno Garabagh conflict that the
co-chairs presented through the United States are about principles
of the settlement of the conflict. Russian co-chair of OSCE Minsk
Group Yuri Merzlyakov told APA exclusively.
Referring to his meeting with Armenia’s foreign minister Vardan
Oskanyan in Moscow on 5-7 April, the co-chair called it efficient and
constructive. Mr. Merzlyakov said that Oskanyan had been familiarized
with the new proposals in Washington before visiting Moscow. The
co-chair said Armenia shows a great interest in the new proposals.
Commenting on the US active participation in mediation after the
talks at Rambouillet, Merzlyakov said the main thing is not visiting
the region more often.
“Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev is due to have talks with US
President in late April but Russian President Vladimir Putin met
with Azerbaijani President following the talks at Rambouillet,”
the Russian co-chair emphasized.
Responding to the question whether the meeting between Azerbaijani
and Armenian Presidents will be organized within any international
and regional event or will be a special meeting, Merzlyakov said it
is early to speak about the meeting between the heads of state.
“According to the initial suggestion, the date and place of the
meeting should be agreed upon with the sides,” the co-chair said.
Merzlyakov also said that he will visit the region together with other
co-chairs by the first half of May and added he does not plan to pay
a visit by himself only.
Commenting on the question whether French co-chair Berdard Fassier’s
recent statement “current proposals can satisfy both sides 80 percent”
means that 80 percent of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan will
be liberated, the Russian co-chair said, “I cannot calculate how
much percent the future agreement will satisfy the sides. The main
thing is the sides realize impossibility of meeting their needs 100
percent. The main thing is not meeting one side’s needs 80 percent
and the other’s 20 percent. If the agreement satisfies both sides
50 percent, I would think I have fulfilled the mediation mission,”
the co-chair underlined.

PACE RAPPORTEUR SAYS 5,000 SOLDIERS DIED FROM SICKNESS AND MALNUTRITION IN AZERBAIJAN’S ARMY
Today, Azerbaijan
April 12 2006
At the PACE session Bulgarian parliamentarian Alexander Arabadjiev
presented his report on human rights of members of armed forces.
The rapporteur said rights of soldiers are violated in a number
of Council of Europe member states. He stressed the importance of
establishing military Ombudsman institution to watch human rights of
members of armed forces.
The reports reads in Azerbaijan section that 5 000 soldiers are
thought to have died from sickness, malnutrition. However, most of
PACE members were not in favour of applying all human rights enjoyed
in civil life in armed forces as well.
The correspondent of Europe bureau of APA reports from the session
that members of Azerbaijani delegation Aydin Mirzazadeh, Elmira
Akhundova and Ganira Pashayeva made a speech related to the report.
Mr. Mirzazadeh said that soldiers like civilians should also enjoy
fundamental human rights stated in the European Convention. He also
stressed the importance of establishing military Ombudsman institute
to receive complaints made by soldiers in anonymous way.
Ms. Akhundova said she does not agree to the statistics shown in the
report and refuted the information that so far, 5 000 soldiers have
died from sickness, malnutrition in Azerbaijan. She noted that this
statistics was quoted untested reports of NGOs.
She admited that a soldiers dies almost every day in Azerbaijan’s
Army but not from sickness or malnutrition but from bullet shot by
Armenian armed forces.
Ms. Akhundova advised to carefully consider some recommendations
in the report and did not advocate members of armed forces having
right to have party affiliation. She also considered it undesirable
to conscript young women bearing in mind national and historical
traditions of some member countries.
Armenian parliamentarian Hermin Nagdalian said that Azerbaijani Army
officer Ramil Safarov killed Armenian officer with an axe.
Ganira Pashayeva responding to him, explained the cause of this
incident.
She said Ramil Safariov is from internally displaced family, most of
his relatives were killed by Armenians.
“His native land has been occupied by Armenian armed forces. This fact
naturally had psychological impact on Ramil Safarov,” she concluded.
URL:

FEAR PREVAILS AFTER PRIEST’S MURDER
By Annette Grossbongardt
Spiegel Online, Germany
April 12 2006
Christians are a vanishing minority in predominately Muslim Turkey.
The murder of a priest in February shows that the situation has become
precarious — both for Catholics and for Turkey’s EU bid.
Father Pierre Brunissen is deeply immersed in thought as he bumps along
in the night bus along the Black Sea coast from Samsun to Trabzon in
northern Turkey. There is, on this trip, little for the priest to be
happy about. He is hurrying to a Christian congregation in Trabzon —
a city of 250,000 Muslims — which boasts barely a dozen members. And
he is needed because the former priest in Trabzon, Father Andrea
Santoro, was murdered in his church.
PHOTO GALLERY: THE MURDERED PRIEST OF TRABZON
Click on a picture to launch the image gallery (7 Photos).
It’s a church which is now casting about for a caretaker. In the
vicarage, which gives off a distinct air of neglect, a small plastic
tree left over from Christmas gathers dust in the visiting room.
Because no one volunteered to replace the murdered priest, the
75-year-old Father Pierre was instructed to travel the 250 kilometers
by bus from Samsun to Trabzon once a month to look after things in
the city’s tiny congregation.
The Catholic Santa Maria Church was founded by Capuchin monks
150 years ago. Santoro had the church restored, and now colorful
ornaments and images of the saints once again grace the building’s
walls and ceilings. But in early February, Santoro was shot dead by
two gunshots while he was praying in the last pew of the church. The
first shot penetrated his lung and the second went straight to his
heart. In the dark wood of the pew, a splintered mark made by one
of the bullets can still be seen. On this day, Father Pierre will
celebrate the first mass in the church since Santoro’s murder, but
the church bells remain silent — there is nobody there to ring them.
DER SPIEGEL Trabzon is on the Black Sea coast in northeastern Turkey.
Christians are a tiny, tolerated minority in Turkey, a country which
is 99 percent Muslim, and the Catholic priest is wary of being too
conspicuous. He even advises the members of his congregation in
Samsun not to wear any visible symbols of their faith, such as a
cross dangling on the outside of a blouse or shirt.
“Murdered priests aren’t good for Trabzon”
“We have nothing against Christians,” says Volkan Canalioglu, the mayor
of Trabzon. “On the contrary, we respect other religions; after all,
Turkey is home to many cultures.” A giant Turkish flag hangs in his
office, and he is a member of the Republican People’s Party (Cumhuriyet
Halk Partisi or CHP) founded by Kemal Ataturk, which promotes the
secular legacy of the founder of the modern Turkish state. “You will
find no one in Trabzon who approves of this horrible deed.”
The vice president of the local soccer team, Trabzonspor, is also upset
about the incident. “We were playing a match in Ankara when the murder
happened. We won the match, but we couldn’t really enjoy our victory,”
says Hasim Sayitoglu. “Headlines about murdered priests aren’t good
for Trabzon or for us.” Sayitoglu grew up not far from the Santa
Maria Church, although he says he doesn’t know a single Christian.
Trabzon, an ancient trading city that now hopes to develop a
thriving local tourist industry, places little value on its Byzantine
heritage. There are many churches and monasteries dating from centuries
of Byzantine Christian rule, although most have since been converted
into mosques. During the great population exchange between Turkey and
Greece in 1923, almost 1.5 million Orthodox Christians were expelled
from Asia Minor and replaced by 356,000 Muslims from Greece. As a
result of the mass murder and expulsion of the Armenians in World
War I, the country had already lost almost a million Christians. The
result was an almost entirely Muslim state.
Turkey is still home to about 100,000 Christians. Their status is
one of the barometers being used to determine Turkey’s suitability
for European Union membership, making the murder of Father Santoro
especially inconvenient for the administration in Ankara, which is
rooted in Islam but is doing its utmost to portray Turkey as tolerant
and liberal-minded. “The gunshots were not just aimed at Santoro,
but also at the atmosphere of stability Turkey enjoys today,” says
Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
describes the murder as an “isolated case.”
But isolated cases have been on the rise in Turkey.
Churches have few rights
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Recently a young man attacked a monk and a priest with a kebab knife
in a Catholic monastery in Mersin, a small city on the Mediterranean.
“We are no longer safe here,” says the Vicar Apostolic for Anatolia,
Luigi Padovese. “Until now, Mersin was one of our most peaceful
congregations.” Nowadays, the bishop never travels without bodyguards,
a precaution the interior ministry has practically forced him to
accept.
Shortly after the murder in Trabzon, nationalist youth attacked a
Catholic priest in Izmir. They grabbed him by the neck and shouted:
“We will kill you!” and “Allahu akbar! God is great!” The priest
barely made it to safety. After the incident, police officers were
routinely posted in front of the church in Izmir, a measure that had
already been taken in other cities.
Turkey’s Christian minorities had hoped that reforms introduced by
the administration of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan — as part of
its effort to gain EU membership — would not just lead to a few
improvements, but to complete religious freedom. Although Christians
are permitted to practice their faith freely, in many cases their
churches have practically no rights and often have no claim to the
property they stand on.
When Bishop Padovese requested work permits for two church employees
in Trabzon, the interior ministry denied his request, arguing that
because a Catholic Church doesn’t exist in Turkey, it cannot file
requests. “That’s the paradox,” says Padovese, “We are here, but
legally we don’t exist.” It was not until recently that pastors, who
were previously registered as consular employees, have been allowed
to register as members of their own profession.
“The basic level of anti-Christian sentiment has increased,” says
Felix Korner, a German Jesuit whom the Vatican sent to Ankara to
encourage a Christian-Islamic dialogue. Turkey’s efforts to enter the
EU have triggered nationalist counter-reactions, says Korner. “Even
in educated circles, people are saying that Turkish unity and national
sovereignty are in danger.”
Risking physical attack
Conspiracy theories have likewise been making the rounds in Turkey
for some time, producing a climate in which Christians distributing
the New Testament risk being physically attacked. In a sermon against
missionaries it distributed last year, the state religious authority
rails against what it calls “modern crusades,” claiming that their
goal is to “turn our young people away from the Islamic faith.”
Priests have been accused of seducing women in their churches or
encouraging young people to engage in sinful acts. Father Pierre
has already won four court cases for libel against defendants
who had spread rumors that he routinely watches porno films with
young people. To protect himself, he now maintains the best possible
relations with the local Turkish hierarchy, routinely paying visits to
the chief of police, the governor and the mufti. “It helps,” he says.
Sixteen-year-old Oguz, Andrea Santoros’s suspected murderer, is
currently being held under high security at the Trabzon prison. Four
bodyguards have been assigned to the boy to prevent him from harming
himself or being silenced by others. He has refused to make any
statements.
Was Oguz truly trying to avenge the humiliation of Muslims who saw
the Danish cartoon controversy as an affront to their prophet, as
his family claims? Or was the murder the work of the Mafia, which
was incensed over the church’s practice of giving shelter to Russian
prostitutes? Or perhaps the boy, apparently a loner, was a willing
tool for nationalist extremists.
According to his family, Oguz, a high-school student, had recently
become “very religious.” “He prayed five times a day,” says his brother
Alpaznar. His father, who runs a dental laboratory in Trabzon, claims
that he first heard about the Muhammad cartoons from his son. “He
was very upset, but I told him that it was none of his concern.”
The father, pale and bald, is constantly jumping up from his chair,
nervously rubbing his hands. He doesn’t have a photo of his son,
holding up a newspaper clipping instead. “I feel bad for the boy,”
he says, sounding almost as if “the boy” weren’t his own child.
Closed for a month
Oguz apparently spent most of his time in an Internet cafe in a
small shopping center in downtown Trabzon. “He was especially fond of
strategy games,” says the owner, Senol Sahin, adding that the boy had
recently become very aggressive. “He would send me e-mails in which he
used vile language. I even hit him once for doing it.” Sahin believes
the boy is “easily influenced.”
On the morning of the murder, Oguz apparently came home and asked for
directions to the Santa Maria Church. Then, according to his father,
he left the house with his younger brother. The murderer must have
known his way around, because the churchyard one passes through to
reach the church lies in the middle of a group of buildings, and is
in full view of half a dozen apartments, many displaying the Turkish
flag in their windows.
The priest’s young Italian housekeeper, startled by the shots, claims
that she saw a silhouette, and that it was that of a man, not a boy.
The church remained closed for one month. Meanwhile, Bishop Padovese
has sent two lay assistants and a visiting Polish pastor to Trabzon,
so that the church can be kept open at least two or three times a
week for the few Christians who still live in Trabzon.
Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

HALO TRUST COMPANY GIVES MILITARY TRAININGS TO ARMENIANS IN NK
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 12 2006
The Halo Trust Company registered in the US and England engaged in
illegal activity in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan under the
name of mine clearance. First secretary of Azerbaijan’s Embassy in
Belgium, Fuad Humbetov told APA about it. Humbetov said that the by
its official activity and statements the Halo Trust company questions
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
“According to exact information, the Halo was founded by resigned
military men. The organization members give military trainings to
Armenians in Garabagh,” Humbetov said.
Fuad Humbetov calls on all patriotic Azerbaijanis to protest
against the activity of the Halo Trust. Those willing to join
the protest campaign can send emails to [email protected] and
[email protected].
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress