LATVIAN PRESIDENT EMBARKS ON CAUCASUS TOUR
RIA Novosti, Russia
Oct 3 2005
RIGA, October 3 (RIA Novosti, Yury Guralnik) – Latvian President Vaira
Vike-Freiberga arrived in Azerbaijan Monday for the beginning of her
six-day tour of the Caucasus, a presidential spokesman said.
Vike-Freiberga’s agenda in Azerbaijan includes a meeting with
President Ilham Aliev, a tour of the Sangachal oil terminal, and the
presentation of a book on Latvian art. She is also planning to sign
several agreements during the visit.
On October 5, Vike-Freiberga will travel to Georgia for meetings
with President Mikheil Saakashvili, Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli,
and Speaker of Parliament Nino Burdjanadze. She is also scheduled to
address an international forum, The Road to the EU.
On October 7, the Latvian president will visit Armenia to meet with
President Robert Kocharyan and Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan. Her
itinerary includes a tour of a cognac distillery and a ceremonial
tree planting at the Armenian Genocide Institute-Museum in Yerevan.

EU ON PRECIPICE OVER STARTING TURKEY TALKS
By Marie-Louise Moller and Mark John
Herald News Daily, ND
Oct 3 2005
LUXEMBOURG – Britain said the European Union was on the “edge of a
precipice” on Monday over terms for historic membership talks with
Turkey, and the Muslim country accused critics of hindering a alliance
of civilizations.
EU president Britain said it was no longer certain the talks would
start at all on Monday. Austria was sticking to demands that the vast,
poor, Muslim country be offered an alternative to full membership
and Turkey raised a new potential obstacle.
Diplomats said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had told the 24
other EU foreign ministers upon resuming talks after only a couple
of hours’ sleep: “Yes, we are near (to a deal) but we are also on
the edge of a precipice.
“If we go the right way we reach the sunny uplands. If we go the
wrong way, it could be catastrophic for the European Union.”
After meeting Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik and speaking
by telephone with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, Straw told
reporters he was by no means sure the talks would start as planned
on Monday.
“We are at a difficult stage in these negotiations and I cannot say
what the outcome will be,” he said.
Turkey’s share index fell 2.3 percent from Friday’s close after his
comments. The lira and bonds also weakened.
In Ankara, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told a meeting of the ruling
AK party that Turkey was not prepared to compromise further on the
conditions for opening the long-awaited talks.
“Those in the EU who cannot digest Turkey being in the EU are against
the alliance of civilizations. What I declare is this: the costs
resulting from all this will be paid by them.” Turkey has frequently
portrayed its entry to the EU as a way of bridging a gap between
the Christian and Islamic worlds and easing tensions that may have
fostered Islamic militancy.
Diplomats said Turkey had raised new objections to a clause in the
talks mandate that stipulates Ankara may not block accession of EU
states to international organizations and treaties.
Turkish nationalists and the powerful military argued that might
prevent Turkey blocking a divided Cyprus from joining NATO , but
Straw and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana insisted the clause
could not impinge on sovereign defense arrangements.
EU officials said the planned 5 p.m. (1100 EDT) opening ceremony was
bound to be delayed, if it happened at all.
Diplomats said German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told ministers:
“Time is running out. We have got to get this right. We seem so
close. We cannot let this opportunity slip away.”
Failure to start the talks could deal a blow to political reform
and foreign investment in Turkey, a NATO member which straddles
Southeastern Europe and the Middle East.
It would also deepen a sense of crisis in Europe, after referendum
defeats for the draft EU constitution in France and the Netherlands,
and an acrimonious failure in June to agree on a long-term budget
for the enlarged bloc.
“If there is no deal, my personal judgment is that we are increasingly
starting to look like a Union of failing states because we cannot make
any decisions,” Latvian Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks told Reuters.
Ratcheting up pressure on Austria, Straw postponed a planned review
of Austrian ally Croatia’s progress toward EU entry talks until the
Turkey issue was sorted out.
A Turkish official said nerves in Ankara were “extremely stretched
.. Every minute that passes is making things more bitter and it.
won’t be nice starting negotiations with all these bruises.”
With Austrian voters overwhelmingly hostile to Turkish entry,
Plassnik waged a lone battle on Sunday to demand that the EU spell
out an explicit alternative to full membership.
But diplomats said Vienna dropped its objection on Monday to a key
phrase that the shared aim of the talks was accession, and they hoped
Austrian concerns could be overcome by adding wording underlining
the need for the EU to be able to absorb Turkey.
WALK AWAY?
Fischer warned his colleagues that Turkey might walk away if the EU
watered down the terms on offer any further.
“If you want to open negotiations, you have to remember we have to
have someone to open them with,” a diplomat quoted him as telling
the meeting.
The European Parliament compounded Turkish irritation last week by
saying Turkey must recognize the 1915 killings of Armenians under
Ottoman rule as an act of genocide before it can join the wealthy
European family.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

US INTERVENES TO RESCUE STALLED EU TURKEY TALKS
By Marie-Louise Moller and Paul Taylor
Herald News Daily, ND
Oct 3 2005
LUXEMBOURG – The United States intervened on Monday to try to rescue
membership talks between the European Union and Turkey as a diplomatic
deadlock deepened hours before the historic negotiations were due
to open.
EU president Britain said the 25-nation bloc was “on the edge of
a precipice” after Turkish objections to a clause it fears could
affect NATO membership piled on top of Austrian demands that the
Muslim nation be offered an alternative short of full membership.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Turkish Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan to assure him that the proposed EU negotiating
framework would not impinge on NATO, diplomats said.
A presidency spokesman said Britain still hoped to hold the opening
ceremony on Monday but it would clearly be later than the planned 5
p.m. (1500 GMT) start.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was waiting nervously in Ankara
for the EU to adopt a negotiating mandate before he could set off
for Luxembourg.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw telephoned Austrian Chancellor
Wolfgang Schuessel to try to clinch agreement on a formula to satisfy
Austrian concerns that the EU may not be able to absorb the vast,
poor, Muslim country, diplomats said.
The United States had also contacted Vienna to try to overcome
objections fueled by overwhelming public hostility to Turkish
membership, they said.
Turkish financial markets yo-yoed amid the uncertainty. Stocks fell
some 2.3 percent from Friday’s close and the lira was down nearly 2
percent against the dollar, but both recovered in mid-afternoon amid
hopes the problems would be resolved.
Rice’s involvement was potentially embarrassing for the EU,
highlighting its inability to solve its problems alone.
Straw told the 24 other EU foreign ministers upon resuming talks
after only a couple of hours’ sleep: “Yes, we are near (to a deal)
but we are also on the edge of a precipice.
“If we go the right way we reach the sunny uplands. If we go the
wrong way, it could be catastrophic for the European Union.”
In Ankara, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told a meeting of the ruling
AK party that Turkey was not prepared to compromise further on the
conditions for opening the long-awaited talks.
“Those in the EU who cannot digest Turkey being in the EU are against
the alliance of civilizations. What I declare is this: the costs
resulting from all this will be paid by them.”
Turkey has frequently portrayed its entry to the EU as a way of
bridging a gap between the Christian and Islamic worlds and easing
tensions that may have fostered Islamic militancy.
Diplomats said Ankara had objected to a clause in the EU negotiating
mandate that stipulates it may not block accession of EU states to
international organizations and treaties.
Turkish nationalists and the powerful military argued that might
prevent Turkey blocking a divided Cyprus from joining NATO. Cyprus
refused to let the EU change the wording.
But diplomats said Straw and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana
hoped to assuage Ankara with a letter clarifying that the clause did
not impinge on sovereign defense arrangements.
TIME RUNNING OUT
As the clock ticked down, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer
told ministers: “Time is running out. We have got to get this right.
We seem so close. We cannot let this opportunity slip away.”
Failure to start the talks could deal a blow to political reform and
foreign investment in Turkey, a strategic country of 72 million people
straddling Europe and the Middle East.
It would also deepen a sense of crisis in Europe, after referendum
defeats for the draft EU constitution in France and the Netherlands,
and an acrimonious failure in June to agree on a long-term budget
for the enlarged bloc.
“If there is no deal, my personal judgment is that we are increasingly
starting to look like a Union of failing states because we cannot make
any decisions,” Latvian Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks told Reuters.
Ratcheting up pressure on Austria, Straw postponed a planned review
of Austrian ally Croatia’s progress toward EU entry talks until the
Turkey issue was sorted out.
A Turkish official said nerves in Ankara were “extremely stretched
.. Every minute that passes is making things more bitter and it.
won’t be nice starting negotiations with all these bruises.”
The European Parliament compounded Turkish irritation last week by
saying Turkey must recognize the 1915 killings of Armenians under
Ottoman rule as an act of genocide before it can join the wealthy
European family.
Several hundred Armenians staged a noisy demonstration outside the
EU meeting, demanding that Turkey be forced to make amends for what
they called the Armenian genocide.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ASHKANI ADDS SILVER TO IRAN’S WORLD GRECO-ROMAN GOLD
Tehran Times
Oct 3 2005
Tehran Times Sports Desk
TEHRAN – Ali Ashkani brought Iran’s world Greco-Roman tally to two as
he finished runner-up to the Armenian-born Bulgarian wrestler Armen
Nazarian in Budapest, capital of Hungary, Sunday night.
The Iranian wonderkid, who overpowered all his opponents, was handed
a defeat by twice Olympic gold medalist Nazarian in the final showdown.
Nazarian garnered six points in 1min 7sec in the first half and
came from 3-0 down after the break to win the second period 4-3,
with Ashkani receiving three cautions within 1min 35sec.
Ashkani’s silver was a boost to his teammate Hamid Sourian’s 55kg gold.
Eusebiu Diaconu from Romania and the Czech representative Petr Svehla
tied at No. 3.

PAPER CRITICIZES ANKARA FOR ITS USELESS EFFORTS TO JOIN EU
Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Iran
Oct 3 2005
An Iranian newspaper here Monday criticized Turkey for its useless
efforts during the past decades to win the membership of the European
Union.
`Iran Daily’ slammed Ankara for continuing “to endure the humiliation
and insults from Europe” which refused to give “the Islamic state”
a green light to join the “Christian club”.
The editorial noted that the majority of the public opinion in the
EU countries like France, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria are
against Muslim Turkey’s entry in the grouping.
“In fact, Turkey was one of the main reasons for the rejection of
the European Constitution by France and the Netherlands in June,”
stressed the English-language paper.
The editorial said the EU has set up “a string of roadblocks on
Turkey’s complicated path towards Europe” and among them referred
to issues such as Cyprus, human rights, reforms, Armenian “genocide”
and “special relationship”.
“If Turkey had invested so much of its effort and focus in
consolidating relations with the Muslim world instead of Europe,
it would have paid dividends and it would have been accepted with
dignity and respect,” the daily regretted.
It further noted that even if the EU agrees to begin accession talks
with Turkey on October 3, “The negotiations will likely be open ended
and without any guarantee that Ankara will ever become a member.
“Needless to say, the Europeans have lot of tricks under their sleeves
to make the talks more difficult – human rights, reforms and religion –
with Turkey whenever they feel like.”
According to the paper the assertion by the Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan that by joining the EU, Turkey will become
“a bridge between the EU and Muslim world sounds hollow”.
It stressed that having embraced the secular Kemalist ideology,
Ankara has “lost all its influence in the Islamic world”.
“Secular Turks are gradually learning the hard way that the European
grapes are sour,” stressed the paper.

DIPLOMACY – SUCCESSION OF POSSIBLE MOVES
Nane Makuchyan
A1+
| 14:38:37 | 01-10-2005 | Politics |
This is the opinion of head of the department of political programming
Sarmen Baghdarasyan. Any work targeted at the elaboration of foreign
political trajectory starts usually in this department.
-How many poles of forces to lead complimentary policy with does
official Yerevan see at present?
-Complimentarity does not imply the essential presence of various
poles. We should support this policy towards all the countries that
show interest in our republic.
-Do these interests cross within our state?
-Certainly politics is the presence of contradictory positions. But
there are problems of common nature and they cannot hinder cooperation.
-Do you have the possibility to separate contradictory and reconcilable
interests in order to unite the positive ones.
-The complimentary policy pursued by our state should be viewed
in the context of international global processes. For example,
many countries have different attitude towards Iran though all are
unanimous on stability.
Common issues are peace and stability, anti-terror processes, poverty
reduction, etc. The realization of these objectives by common efforts
implies complimentary policy. We should cooperate with all the forces
under the circumstances that coincide with our own foreign political
interests.
-What priorities do we have?
-First of all it is the consolidation of the economic element. What
does it mean? The settlement of energy issues, establishment of
communications, foreign trade and investments. Then comes the
resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and relations with our
neighbors followed by the relations with Turkey and the Armenian
Genocide recognition. Membership in various international structures
is as well important.
-Do you think complimentary policy is the absence of orientation?
-I can say it a multi-vectorial orientation. It means that we will
speak out against any initiative that will draw a separating line
not only between the states of the regions but also before the states
adjacent to the region.
Complimentarity is a working principle. It means that we should become
a reliable and predictable partner, capable of attracting investments
and cooperation.
-Can we say that Armenia has not oriented itself precisely yet over
the geopolitical processes within the country.
-Yes, of course.
-Can we mark out any positive results achieved via the complimentary
policy?
-These are several security lines including Armenia-Russia,
RA-CSTO member-states, RA-NATO. From economic viewpoint it is energy
cooperation with Russia and Iran, transport cooperation with Georgia,
stimulation of trade and investments with the U.S. The list can
be continued.
-Is the European Union the final goal of Armenia or adoption of
European values is enough?
-Europe did not invite us to join its union. We cooperate with it
to adapt to the European system of values. I do not rule out that we
can join the EU.

Commentary: Turkey’s EU accession not likely
By Arnaud de Borchgrave
UPI Editor-at-large
World Peace Herald, DC
Oct 3 2005
WASHINGTON — It will be an exercise in diplomatic futility and
hypocrisy, choreographed to remain on stage, kabuki-like, for 10 years,
with a cast of hundreds of diplomats and Eurocrats (EU’s civil servants
who micromanage everything from the size of condoms to the curvature
of bananas).
Turkey, with 5 percent of its land mass and 10 percent of its people
on the European side of the Bosporus and 95 percent of the country
and 90 percent of its population in Asia Minor, wants to become a
full-fledged member of the European Union. This would give EU a common
border with Syria, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, a
notion that has already given Europeans an acute attack of Turkophobia.
EU membership negotiations, which were scheduled to start this week,
are programmed to last 10 years. By then, Turkey’s population will have
increased from 71 million to 82 million, making a Muslim country the
largest in the 25-nation European Union. That’s why it’s not going to
happen. But the European players, eyes blazing with insincerity, have
to convince the spectators that if the negotiations are successful,
and Turkey agrees to all European demands, preconditions, codicils,
and 80,000 pages of EU law, membership, strongly endorsed by the U.S.,
will be forthcoming.
Turks are beginning to question the utility of what now strikes
them as a charade whose pantomime hints have already been correctly
interpreted. These voices now say Turkey should distance itself from
a Europe that doesn’t wish to go beyond “privileged partnership”
status. Most European leaders understand that rejection could tip
Turkey, now governed by an Islamic party, into the camp of radical
Islam. But one European opinion survey after another says Turkey does
not belong in EU.
French and Dutch voters rejected the proposed new European constitution
last spring because the move was widely interpreted as facilitating
Turkey’s membership application.
A fear that transcends all others in Europe these days is called
“Eurabia.” The nightmare this conjures up is of militant Islam
overshadowing a Judeo-Christian Europe. The Ottoman Empire and before
that the sword of Islam carved out a nice chunk of Europe through
the Iberian Peninsula into southern France.
The Muslims of 1,000 years ago put the Europeans to shame. It took
Europeans several centuries to match their architecture and their
gardens. They also outclassed Europeans in astronomy, medicine,
engineering, geography and mathematics (algebra is an Arabic term).
Cordova, their capital in Spain, was Europe’s richest city, replete
with magnificent palaces and mosques.
The age of Islamic military conquest lasted until 1669, when the
Ottoman Empire made its last acquisition by conquering Crete from
the Venetians. Fourteen years later, it was curtains for the Ottomans
in Europe. They failed to take Vienna and retreated in disarray. On
the southwestern end of Europe, Islam’s armies collapsed almost 200
years earlier when they lost Granada, the last Islamic city in Spain,
in 1492, the year Columbus arrived in America.
Islam’s big mistake was to ban the printing press, which was
banned by Ottoman decree in 1485. It would have been a sacrilege,
flat earth clerics decided, to use the Arabic language in mechanical
equipment. That was the geopolitical ball game. When Napoleon arrived
in Egypt in 1798, Cairo had no printing presses. By then the European
intelligentsia had been embarked on self-improvement through books
for almost two centuries.
Today, there are approximately 20 million Muslims, including 3.8
million Turks, living in Europe, a number that is projected to double
by 2020. Poor immigrants, most of them illegal, continue to flow into
EU countries from the Middle East, including Turkey, North Africa
and sub-Sahara Africa.
New arrivals fade into the masses of mostly unemployed Muslims that
huddle in the poorer neighborhoods of Europe’s major cities. For the
most part, they are not integrated. Even second- and third-generation
European-born Muslims, now holders of EU passports, and free to travel
to the U.S. without visas, resist assimilation.
Their hero is neither European nor American, but Saudi. Pro-Osama
bin Laden literature can be found at kiosks all over Europe and on
thousands of websites.
In Europe, would-be jihadis continue to volunteer to fight
in Iraq. They use the Internet to learn how to make bombs from
store-bought chemicals. They also learn the names of mosques in Syria
and Jordan that can hide a jihadi making his way into Iraq, and then
to learn the different locations in Iraq where jihadis should report
for training and combat assignments. An unknown number have already
returned from Iraq with newly acquired terrorist skills, the ability
to form sleeper cells, and encourage others to sign up for “holy war
against the infidels.”
The Dutch intelligence service — AIVD — says radical Islam in the
Netherlands now encompasses a multitude of movements, organizations
and groups that embrace the fundamentalist line, 20 of them hard-line
Islamist. In London, authorities believe as many as 3,000 veterans
of al-Qaida training camps over the years were born or based in
Britain. And in France, a study of 1,160 recent French converts to
Islam found that 23 percent of them identified themselves as Salafists,
another way of spelling Wahhabi.
EU countries are tightening their immigration laws in response to
popular demand to retard the growth of their Muslim populations. So
talking turkey about Turkey in this environment can only produce
a turkey.

ETIBAR MAMEDOV – THE ETERNAL OPPOSITIONIST WITHOUT ANY CHANCE TO WIN
Axis News
Oct 3 2005
Asim Oku, AIA Turkish and Caucasian section
Etibar Mamedov was born on April, 2, 1955 in Baku. He graduated
from Faculty of History, Baku State University. He participated in
anti-Soviet activity being a member of unformal student’s organizations
of nationalistic trend. After getting the diploma Mamedov started to
teach in the University, later he passes qualifying examination for
the candidate degree.
Political career
In 1988 Mamedov was actively participating in creating of Popular Front
of Azerbaijan (PFA) – first massive national-democratic movement of
the republic. In 1989 he was elected to the PFA board, the headed
by Abulfaz Elchibey. At the same time Mamedov becomes the defense
adviser in the leadership of PFA . In January, 1990 the army units,
the troops of the Ministry of Interior and KGB took over Baku . The
Kremlin aspired to suppress by force the activity of PFA which was
uncontrolled by it and struggled for preserving Upper Karabakh as
a part of Azerbaijan and for resignation of official leadership
of the republic that discredited itself. In this situation Mamedov
decided to come to Moscow. There he was arrested and put in jail for 10
months. After being released Mamedov comes back to Baku and was elected
into the Higher Council of Azerbaijan and then to the Parliament
from PFA. In 1991 after the disagreements with the leadership of
Popular Front he abandoned it and in 1992 created his own party –
Azerbaijan National Independence Party (ANIP or Azerbaijan Milli
Istiglal Partiyasi). Mamedov’s party was joined by the representatives
of intellectuals, businessmen, famous public activists. The peak of
popularity of this party was in 1992-93. At this period the number
of its members reached several tens of thousands.
Meanwhile in the spring of 1992 PFA comes to power in Azerbaijan. The
leader of the movement
Etibar Mamedov in 1996 Abulfaz Elchibey was elected the President
of the republic. But in the summer of 1993 Russia oriented
military-political forces revolted against the ruling regime. Despite
the fact that Mamedov came into big politics thanks to PFA, he not only
refused to help Elchibey, but also actively supported his opponent
Heydar Aliyev. But as soon as Heydar Aliyev came into power Mamedov
refused to be the member of the new cabinet and even refused to take
the post of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. However, the events of
1993 became one of the main reasons to accuse the leader of ANIP in
cooperation with Aliyev’s regime.
The suspicions of such a cooperation were sounded more and more later,
in 1995 when Mamedov, as against many opposition leaders became the
Member of the Parliament. At the end of the 1990s ANIP splited. A
part of its activists created their own party, which soon joined the
ruling party Yeni Azerbaycan. Mamedov’s influence on the political
scene of the country became very limited. In 1998 the leader of ANIP
proposed his candidacy at the presidential elections. By the official
data, he received only 12% of the vote. At the end of 2000, as a
result of elections (which were falsified by regime, as the leaders
of opposition say) the representatives of ANIP, including Mamedov,
didn’t get into the Parliament. During the presidential elections in
October 2003 Mamedov tried his luck again and came forth – after Ilham
Aliev, Isa Gambar and Lala Shevket Hajiyeva. In December, 2004 Mamedov
unexpectedly announced his resigning from the post of the leader of
ANIP. But at the same time, on March, 26, 2005 he announced that
“by the decision of the last session of the National Independence
Party he is given the status of the leader of the party on March,
13, and he has the rights to gather ANIP any time he wishes to”.
On April, 12, 2005, together with the group of other social and
political activists Mamedov announced the creation of oppositional
bloc New Politics (Yeni Siyaset – YeS). Presently he is one of the
leaders of this political movement .
Views and References.
Etibar Mamedov – the representative of Gyandjinsk clan from the west
part of the republic. The largest part of his electorate – refugees
from Armenia and Upper Karabakh, the citizens of the regions,
which suffered from Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. The Conflict
with Armenia: The electorate base of Mamedov announces about the
sharp and even military position of ex-head of ANIP with regard to
Upper Karabakh. He thinks of useless to make agreements with Yerevan
and is on the side of only power decision of the conflict. Internal
Politics: Mamedov announces his sights as right conservative. For
the years of leadership he showed himself as out of compromised
and ambitious politician. Because of the sharp critics of the power
disregard of who is the president, Mamedov got the stamp of “forever
oppositionist”. ANIP was created as the political platform for
Mamedov’s activity in the beginning and is still known as “the party
of one leader”. As for Azerbaijani an politicos, the formal refusal
from the post of the leader of ANIP was made by Mamedov to show more
liberal image in it within the parliament’s elections of 2005. Being
one of the leaders of YeS, Mamedov disregarded the opportunity to
combine with Azadliq block. Mamedov is voting against the poverty of
the religious factor in the republic and calls for creation of “common
front” for “Islam revolution” prediction. Political Potential: At
the present time Mamedov’s electorate quantity is not more then 15-20
thousands of people. Financial opportunities of ANIP in consideration
with 1990s are highly narrowed. The party’s newspaper is published
only before the election’s campaign starting. Economics: Mamedov is
the voter for radical economical reforms. He announces the support
to small and middle business (in that case providing the country
guaranties to the owners of private companies) and for creating optimal
conditions for foreign investors. Mamedov announces not to limit of
developing only oil sector and create multi-aimed economics. He is
positioning himself as the deep struggler with corruption, which,
by his words, “got the threatening for national interests of the
country character”. Mamedov promises to held social reforms in case
of success in the elections. International Relations West: Mamedov
is the supporter of joining with West. For a long period of time
he made the main rate to the cooperation with EU, but for the last
time he is trying to strengthen his positions in USA. In July 2005
Mamedov took part in the commitment of International Democrat Union
in Washington where he met with national secretary Kondoliza Rice and
prime-minister of Australia Dhon Howard. Russia: In the relations with
north neighbor of Azerbaijan, Mamedov has contradiction position. From
the first side hi supports the economical cooperation with Russia
and appeals for “returning to Russia’s market”. From the other side,
he looks at Moscow as at the strategic partner of Yerevan and insists
on limiting of its dealing role in Karabakh’s conflict.
Iran: Mamedov takes extremely sharp anti Iran position. He, in
that case, accused Tegeran of support of radical Islam movement in
Azerbaijan. In his speech in The Nixon Center, Washington, May 2001,
Mamedov announced that Iran is afraid of “Azerbaijan turning into
strong democratic country” as “They fear a strong and democratic
Azerbaijan would became a magnet for ethnic Azeris in Iran”.

IS CSTO A BLUFF?
Lena Badeyan
A1+
| 14:42:49 | 01-10-2005 | Politics |
“Today our republic is like a fireman who tries to blow off fire in
various places simultaneously”, political scientist Aghasy Yenokyan
says. According to him, complimentary policy is essential, however
in Armenia it is applied not as a principle or norm but as a mere term.
“Our policy is not complimentary, it can no orbit. First our
policy serves to the foreign policy of Russia, not Armenia,
second we just see a problem and immediately try to solve it. I
mean the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline,
Kars-Akhalkalaki railway, decisions taken against Armenia during
various conferences. Consequently we just react to activities but do
nor act ourselves”, the political science says adding however that the
Armenian foreign policy has already achieved certain goals and the RA
cannot be perceived as a weak state. “The Armenian foreign policy has
trumps, these being our geopolitical position and strong Diaspora,”
he says.
According to Aghasy Yenokyan, the Armenian leaders have made mistakes
and the incumbent leadership is not an exception. Diplomacy is the art
of deceit. This the only fact Armenians cannot master so far though
our official are rather keen on deceiving. “They promise to give air
to A1+ but they do not, they say we are close to the Karabakh conflict
settlement but the reality shows it is not so,” he notes.
According to his assessments Armenia lacks security system as well,
since Collective Security Treaty signed by several CIS member-countries
is not a security basis but a mere bluff. “Collective security means
that that a threat for one country is a threat for other CSTO member
states. However during the Islamic Conference Tajikistan votes for
a resolution that jeopardized Armenia’s security”, he resumed.

AMALYAN MUST BE APPOINTED BY NA
A1+
| 12:23:28 | 03-10-2005 | Social |
“Who should appoint members of independent committees? ” 220 readers
answered the question in our internet poll. The votes were distributed
the following way:
National Assembly – 52.7%
President and NA (50/50) – 16.4%
Undecided – 11.8%
President by NA’s proposal – 10.0%
NA by President’s proposal – 5.0%
RA President – 4.1%
This week the poll question of our site is “In you opinion, what line
should be a priority of the Armenian foreign policy? ” Before answering
to the question, you can read the materials about the theme in the
“Articles” section of our site.