NATO DOESN’T OBJECT TO RUSSIAN TROOPERS IN ARMENIA – OFFICIAL
ITAR-TASS, Russia
April 11 2006
BAKU, April 11 (Itar-Tass) — NATO does not object to the deployment
of Russian forces in Armenia, special representative Robert Simmons
told a Tuesday press conference in Baku.
He said the alliance does not compete with Russia in the South Caucasus
and does not plan to interfere in regional conflicts. The conflicts
are being settled, and the alliance thinks that the sides are capable
of settlement, he said.
The NATO opinion of the Karabakh conflict is similar to that of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), he said.
The deployment of peacekeeping forces is up to the sides, if Armenia
and Azerbaijan make this decision, he added. If they reach the
agreement and make the request to the alliance, NATO is ready to
discuss the deployment of peacekeepers, Simmons said.
Regional conflicts do not hamper NATO cooperation with South Caucasian
countries, he said, adding that settlement of the conflicts would
make the partnership more efficient.
Simmons described Azerbaijan as a leading regional partner to NATO and
said that both sides are interested in the development of cooperation,
which needs to be updated to modern realities, and related changes
need to be made in the Azerbaijan-NATO individual partnership plan.

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIR DISCUSSES KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT
ITAR-TASS, Russia
April 11 2006
BAKU, April 11 (Itar-Tass) – French co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group
(MG) for Nagorno Karabakh Bernard Fassier said at a press conference
here on Tuesday that consultations held with the leadership of
Azerbaijan and Armenia on the Karabakh conflict settlement should
“help form the basic principles of the future peace agreement.”
The diplomat stressed that the work of international mediators will be
very intensive in the short run and said that after him the American
and Russian co-chairmen of the MG – Steven Mann and Yuri Merzlyakov
will visit the region. Fassier also did not rule out that he might
visit Baku and Yerevan again in late April.
“In May the co-chairmen will again visit the region in order to
prepare a meeting between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia,”
said Fassier. “The dates of the meeting between the two countries’
leaders have not been coordinated yet, but I hope that they will agree
to hold them. New principles of the settlement are to be presented
to the heads of Azerbaijan and Armenia this week,” Fassier pointed out.
According to the official, these principles “contain variants that are
50 or even 80 percent meeting the interests of the sides.” He said
the current stage is a “continuation and modification of the Prague
process” that had been launched in the Czech capital two years ago
by the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers with the mediation
of the MG co-chairmen.
Fassier expressed regret over the fact that the work carried out by
the MG co-chairmen in 2005 has failed to bring the desired results,
although the settlements principles were determined. “In Rambouillet
(a Paris suburb where the last meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian
Presidents Ilkham Aliyev and Robert Kocharyan was held on February
10-11, 2006) we tried to increase the results but unfortunately the
sides failed to reach agreement. However, we are glad that this did
not disrupted the negotiations and they are continuing,” the MG French
co-chairman said.
Fassier expressed concern over the aggravation of the situation
regarding the sides’ standoff recently saying that “the resumption
of the war will only aggravate it (the situation) and may result in
a crisis.”
After Baku Fassier is planning to visit Yerevan.
According to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, issues related to the
Karabakh problem settlement will be high on the agenda of consultations
of the American co-chairman of the Minsk Group, Steven Mann in Baku on
April 18. Mann is expected to discuss with the Azerbaijani leadership
certain proposals of the American side on the conflict settlement.
“These proposals are very interesting. Official Baku will study them
and express its view during Mann’s visit,” the Azerbaijani foreign
minister said in an interview to the AzerTaj state news agency. In his
view, the Karabakh conflict is the “largest obstacle to the political
and economic development of Azerbaijan and it is necessary to intensify
efforts in this sphere.”

WITHOUT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 3 MAJOR ASPECTS THERE CAN BE NO DEVELOPMENT IN THE TURKISH – ARMENIAN RELATIONS – MURAT MERDJAN
Author: R. Abdullayev
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
April 11 2006
Without the implementation of the 3 major aspects there can be no
development in the Turkish – Armenian relations, the head of Turkish
parliamentary delegation to PACE, Murat Merjan told in interview to
the Trend correspondent.
These 3 major aspects include; resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict on acceptable for both sides’ conditions, resolution of
so-called Armenian genocide issue in the Ottoman times, and acceptation
by Armenia of existing borders according to the Karsk agreement.
“Without implementation of the given conditions, we can not speak
about the normalization of Turkish – Armenian relations,” he said,
adding opening of the Turkish – Armenian border also depends on these
3 aspects.

TURKEY REFUSES TO ACCEPT SWISS DEFENSE CONTRACT BID
United Press International
April 11 2006
ANKARA, Turkey — Ankara has barred a Swiss aircraft producer from
tendering for a contract to supply the Turkish Air Force with trainer
planes, citing political reasons.
Defense officials said Pilatus, a Stans-based manufacturer of small
aircraft, had been forbidden from bidding for the $500 million contract
because of a diplomatic row between the two countries, Turkish Daily
News reported.
“There is an understanding that Swiss bidders should not join Turkish
military contracts,” a senior official said. “We don’t think Swiss
contenders would be reliable partners in defense contracts.”
Bilateral relations between the two countries were severely strained
by the Swiss parliament’s 2003 adoption of a resolution condemning the
Ottoman Empire’s “genocide” of Armenians during the First World War.
A 1991 arms embargo on Turkey was lifted by Bern last year.
However, Ankara seems determined to keep the Swiss defense industry on
its red list. Turkey last year removed South Africa from its red list
of countries that cannot participate in defense procurement contracts,
while opening up towards European Union defense industries.
There are currently three international bidders involved in the
procurement of the jet trainers: Brazil’s Embraer, Korea Aerospace
Industries and U.S. company Raytheon.

NEW PRINCIPLES OF NK CONFLICT’ SETTLEMENT IS CONTINUATION OF PRAGUE PROCESS
Baku Today, Azerbaijan
April 11 2006
The process for settlement of the Karabakh conflict continues,
Chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Bernar Fassier said at a press
conference today.
He also said that his visit to the region was agreed on by Azerbaijan
and Armenia’s leadership, and he will leave Baku for Yerevan.
After his trip there the co-chairmen will gather in Moscow to discuss
the results of their visits to the region, Fassier said, recalling that
the American and Russian cochairmen, Steven Mann and Yuri Merzliakov,
are also coming to the region.
The meetings must help to form the basic principles of a future
peaceful agreement, Fassier said. He said that their work would be
very intense, and in May they will again visit Baku and Yerevan for the
arrangement of a meeting between Armenia and Azerbaijan’s presidents.
“Then terms of meeting are not known, but I hope they will agree to
it. New principles of settlements will be submitted to the presidents,”
Fassier said.
According to him, there are some variants where the interest and
wishes of the sides have been taken into account by 50 and even 80
percent. He said that this meeting is a continuation and a changed
variant of the Prague process.
Fassier expressed concern however, because the work done in 2005 did
not have results, though principles of settlement were determined.
“In Ramboulliet we tried to multiply the obtained results, but
unfortunately could not reach an agreement. We are happy that it did
not bring a break in the talks, and that they continue,” Fassier said.
Fassier expressed concern about recent aggravation of the situation
on the front line, and said that resumption of war will worsen the
situation and could cause a crisis for “Azerbaijan’s prospering
economy”.
The Prague process provided for a stage by stage variant of the
conflict’s settlement: the Armenians must liberate occupied lands
around Karabakh and the refugees must return there; the opening of
communication between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and the question on
Nagorno Karabakh’s status is to be solved later.

ORTHODOX CHURCH BACKS PROPOSAL TO REINSTATE MILITARY CHAPLAINS
RIA Novosti, Russia
April 11 2006
MOSCOW, April 11 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Orthodox Church passed
a resolution Tuesday in support of a move to re-introduce chaplains
into Russia’s armed forces in a bid to curb hazing and other crimes
in military ranks, and to improve morale.
“The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church is calling on the state,
society, and all traditional religions in Russia to join efforts to
revive the institution of military chaplains,” the supreme canonical
authority said following its first session this year.
The military chaplains bill was drafted by the Chief Military
Prosecutor’s Office and reportedly sent to the Defense Ministry for
approval. Prosecutors hope chaplains will help improve morale in the
army, recently plagued by corruption and hazing reports that have
provoked public criticism in Russia and abroad. The Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Europe’s largest security
body, has said it would raise the issue at one of its sessions.
Advocates of the bill say the 2,000 priests who now preach at military
units have reduced violence in barracks, although critics question
the claim.
The bill, which proposes that chaplains serve on the same terms as
professional servicemen, earlier stirred up debate among religious
leaders.
Shafig Pshikhachev, spokesman for the North Caucasus Muslim
Coordination Center, said at a recent roundtable on cooperation between
the military and religious organizations that the armed forces could
use priests, but that priests should not be part of the chain of
command. He said their proposed inclusion in the official ranks would
be a violation of the Constitution, which stipulates the separation
of church and state.
Orthodox Church leader Alexy II said that priests focus on spiritual
matters rather than discipline, and warned against expecting chaplains
to do what in other armies is done by military police.
Today, however, Orthodox hierarchs pointed out that chaplains had
been part of Russia’s pre-Bolshevik military tradition. They also
said chaplains or their equivalents worked in the armies of many
countries, including the U.S., Britain, Germany, France, Israel, India,
and Pakistan. The Baltic States and Armenia were the first among the
post-Soviet states to bring chaplains back into their armies. Ukraine
and Georgia plan to follow suit.
“Positive domestic and world experience shows that the revived
institution of military clergy can be useful for the state and
society,” they said, adding that members of all traditional religions
should contribute to spiritual, moral, and patriotic education of
servicemen.
At the same time, the Orthodox Church, which is wary of other churches’
attempts to convert its members, said that religious organizations
whose members served in the armed forces should only be allowed to
work in military units.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CUT & PASTE: DON’T FORGET THAT JAPAN IS OUR BEST FRIEND IN ASIA
The Australian, Australia
April 11 2006
Former West Australian premier Geoff Gallop, in an address at
Murdoch University in Perth last week OUR growing links to China
and India [should be] put into the context of our long-term and
still developing partnerships with Japan. In all of our thinking
about Asian engagement we cannot ignore the strength of our links
to Japan. We share democratic values, face similar demographic and
social challenges, and have many interests in common in respect of
regional and international issues.
Let me take you back to the 1990s when Japan was in a protracted slump
and many questioned its ability to reform and revive. All through that
period Japan remained our major export market, with exports growing
by 44 per cent, and we worked together to ensure that the Asia-Pacific
[Economic] Co-operation [forum] was given a good start.
It has not just been a case of co-operation between the national
governments of Australia and Japan.
Each state of Australia has an active sister-state relationship
with a Japanese prefecture. There are 99 sister-city links and 369
partnerships involving higher education institutions. About 300,000
young Australians are learning Japanese today.
Add to that the 44 Japan-Australia societies in Japan and 15
counterpart associations in Australia, and you can begin to comprehend
the strength of the people-to-people links.
Deep beneath the surface of the high-level political relationships, a
level of trust and understanding has been built up and new directions
for the Australia-Japan partnership explored. This is an invaluable
asset and it is not surprising, then, that there has been an important
deepening and broadening of the trade and investment relationship…
All too often we hear Australia’s leaders using the distinction between
history (European) and geography (Asian) to describe our position in
the world. It is as if we are on the outside looking in, interested
but not really committed. This has led to mixed signals being sent
about our belief in regional participation and co-operation, and has
fed the assumptions of those who want to exclude Australia on the
basis of Asian values.
Japan is a country that supports Australian participation. In his
visionary speech delivered in Singapore in 2002, Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi outlined his conception of East Asia. He spoke
of an East Asian community, including Australia and New Zealand,
that sought harmony despite the diversity of historical, cultural
and ethnic traditions, and one that would not be exclusive but open
to those outside the region, most notably the US and India.
Australia was initially lukewarm about the idea but eventually came
to the party and the first East Asian summit was held in Kuala Lumpur
last December. Although incremental, this is a first move towards
consolidation within the Asian community … To be cynical and
half-hearted about genuine Asian engagement would be to let down our
people and take a risk with the future that we simply cannot afford.
William Pfaff, in the International Herald Tribune, on a welcome and
long-overdue debate about the Israel lobby:
THE note of panic in some of the attacks on distinguished US academics
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt [who discuss the Israeli lobby’s
effect on US foreign policy] contrasts with the fact that what they
say is no secret in American foreign policy circles. People have for
years taken for granted the informal censorship, or self-censorship,
exercised in the government and the press on this issue. It is a
fact of democratic life in the US that determined interest groups
annex their own spheres of federal policy. Energy policy is run by
the oil companies, and trade policy by manufacturers, exporters and
importers, with an input from Wall Street. US Cuba policy is decided
by the Cuban lobby in Florida and policy on Armenia by Americans
of Armenian descent. The Middle East, or at least its part of it,
belongs to Israel.
However, in the Israeli case, the lobbying effort is linked to a
foreign government, even if the lobbyists sometimes take a policy line
not that of the government. Moreover, the lobbying involves issues of
war and peace. US President George W. Bush said a few days ago that,
in connection with the supposed threat of Iran, his concern is to
protect Israel. Critics ask why Israel should not protect itself. The
same has been asked about Iraq.
In this respect, the controversy over the Israeli lobby is potentially
explosive. This is why denials, secrecy and efforts at intimidation
are dangerous. David Levy, a former adviser to [former Israeli prime
minister] Ehud Barak, is right when he says that Israel itself would
be served “if the open and critical debate that takes place over here
[in Israel] were exported over there”, meaning the US.

ARMENIAN MILITARY SAYS HUNDREDS STILL KEPT IN AZERI CAPTIVITY
By Ruzanna Stepanian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
April 11 2006
Hundreds of Armenian prisoners of war and civilians remain in
Azerbaijani captivity nearly twelve years after the end of large-scale
fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, a senior Armenian Defense Ministry
official claimed on Tuesday.
“We have information that they are used as slave labor in Azerbaijan,”
Colonel Ashot Balian, a member of a ministry commission dealing
missing Armenian soldiers and civilian hostages, told RFE/RL.
“The Azerbaijani authorities keep moving them around and leaving no
traces of them.”
“I therefore can’t name any specific locations, but we are convinced
that they are in Azerbaijan. Some are even said to have been relocated
to Turkey,” he said. “We still hope that our missing sons will return
to their families one day.”
The Azerbaijani authorities have denied holding any Armenian prisoners
in the past and allege, for their part, that thousands of missing
Azerbaijani soldiers and civilians are being held in Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian dismissed such claims as “unfounded”
during a meeting on Friday with the visiting chairman of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Jacob Kellenberger.
Sarkisian said he hopes ICRC will certify “the absence of hostages
in Armenia” in its future reports.
The Red Cross, which has offices in both Baku and Yerevan, is the main
international institution that arranges Armenian-Azerbaijani prisoner
exchanges and repatriations. Both conflicting armies continue to turn
to it for assistance after reporting soldier disappearances.

IRAQI WOMEN WANT PEACE
Kamala Sarup
Los Angeles Chronicle
April 11 2006
“Many Iraqi Women and Children want to be able to go to the market
without being afraid.” These words spoken by 21 years old my own
brother Jitendra who is in Iraq, working with American Army.
Political instability and the Maoist insurgency have droves leaving
him our old town home Nepal so left the country and reached to Iraq
for employment. As it is difficult to survive the deteriorating
conditions in Nepali villages, large number of young people tend to
leave their villages looking for better opportunities even going to
Iraq or Afghanistan.
“I came to Iraq because people including women were being killed in
Nepal. We were very scared. All of us fled. Many other people in our
town have had similar experiences. But when I came to Iraq I see, with
the escalation of murders, bombings, and other forms of violence and
disruptions, thousands of Iraqi women and children have problems of
depression. The indirect effect is much larger.” He sent me an email.
War Times, December 2003 reported “The situation for women is worse
now than before the war,” said Eman Ahmed Khammas, director of the
Occupation Watch Center in Baghdad. Yanar Mohammed, co-founder of a
new Iraqi group called the Organization of Women’s Freedom, agrees:
“Organized gangs are kidnapping women, to be exploited and sometimes
to be sold. This has created fear and horror for women.”
State Press, 3/2/04 said “Things are a lot worse now. There’s no
security. Women cannot go out, cannot express themselves. The veil
has become compulsory for Muslims and Christians. This situation has
forced many Iraqi women to re-order their lives, wearing the hijab
for the first time and only traveling with male relatives”.
Yesterday A Swiss institute reported “Nearly 40,000 Iraqis have been
killed as a direct result of combat or armed violence since the US-led
invasion. A study published in The Lancet, a British medical journal,
last October that said there had been 100,000 “excess deaths” in
Iraq from all causes since March 2003. Military deaths in the US-led
coalition forces are closely tracked and now total 1937.
The Swiss institute said it arrived at its estimate of Iraqi deaths
resulting solely from combat or armed violence by re examining the
data gathered for the Lancet study and classifying, when it could,
the cause of death.
Report also says “Despite billions of dollars of improvements,
thousands of jammers and tonnes of armour plate, the so-called
improvised explosive devices in Iraq killed more Americans in May and
June than in any previous months, US military figures show. Attacks
in May alone reached 700, and the roadside bombs, car bombs and other
devices are now the cause of more than half of US casualties in Iraq”.
“Iraqi women unemployment in the cities is twice as high as male
unemployment. Iraq war has produced poverty, unemployment, internal
migration. As refugee women are especially most vulnerable. Because
of the war, many women are separated from their families”. Jitendra
my brother is one of hundreds of thousands of Nepali boys directly
affected by the Maoists war who went to Iraq for employment said.
“Kamala, cities and towns are the battlefield and women and children
the victims in Iraq. With the destruction the women and children are
badly affected in Iraq. Thousands of women and children have lost
their husbands, and parents”. He said yesterday.
“People can’t expect girls and children to grow up normally amid guns
and explosives. We can see that thousands of women and children have
been killed in Iraq. This figure will go up”. Jitendra further said.
“On the other side, the exploitation of women and children in the
ranks of the Iraqi rebels must end. In order to solve the issue of
the war and guarantee human rights to the Iraqi women, all have to
arrive at a conclusion on how this challenge to the security of the
women can be met. Innocent people and women have been victims.
Attacks occur in different parts of the country, so the situation is
very tense,” Jitendra said.
Even today Mr. Khalilzad, said the United States is willing to talk to
some elements of the Iraqi insurgency. ” Iraqis who have an interest
in a successful Iraq, who would like to live in a situation where
minority rights are protected, where Iraq can work for Iraqis.
So, yeah, we’re willing, in cooperation with the Iraqi government
and others, to talk to them,” he said.
My brother Jitendra said. “The Iraq war ruined dozens of lives. On the
other hand Iraqi people have also a particular dread of terrorism. The
atmosphere of terror ruined the Iraqi national economy also. A
humanitarian crisis is taking place in Iraq. Terrorist activities
cannot and should not be tolerated but Iraq war is also not good for
the people here. Iraqi people do not want war. They want peace”.
It is true, the wars being waged in Afghanistan and Iraq are the
immediate objectives of this war against terrorists. Even we Nepali
speaking world energetically condemns terrorism, but we do not like
any war including Iraq war to Maoists war.
In the past several years, the war has continued not only in Iraq
or in Nepal but in Sierra Leone, Burundi, Angola, Nigeria, Liberia,
Guinea, Zimbabwe, Congo. Several years after mass killings in Bosnia,
Somalia, and Rwanda, there are at least six major cases of genocide.
The mass killings of Armenians by Turks, Jews by Hitler, Cambodians
by the Khamer Rouge, Kurds of the northern Iraq by Saddam Hussein,
Tutsi of Rwanda by the Hutu and of Croats, Muslims the Albanians of
Kosovo by the Serbs.
There have been nearly thirteen thousands six hundred wars since
thirty six B.C. The toll of human misery measures around thirty
millions direct battle deaths since Waterloo and one hundred million
since three thousands six B.C. Then there are uncountable deaths,
broken bodies and lives from the ravages and effects of these wars.
About ninety five million of people have been killed in communist
countries only.
Suffering of civilians in war is increases substantially during any
kind of war. In the first World War, five percent of the casualties
were civilians, and in the second World War, the figure was fifty
five percent. Since then civilians have accounted for ninety percent
of the casualties.
Peace is an essential aspect of the safer world from Iraq to Nepal.
s/viewArticle.asp?articleID=7966
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH FM: ARMENIANS CREATED 450,000 SITES ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Regnum, Russia
April 11 2006
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has taken measures “to fully inform
the international community” via internet “about the historic truth
that denies statements on the alleged Armenian Genocide.” In these
words, reports the Azerbaijani State Television, Turkish Deputy Prime
Minister, head of the foreign ministry Abdullah Gul has started his
answer to an inquiry by members of the Turkish National Assembly.
Gul announced that Armenians created more than 450,000 sites on the
issue. These sites, mostly in English, French, German, Italian and
Spanish, according to him, propagate “far-fetched genocide.” The
Turkish foreign ministry has prepared, from its part, an appropriate
action plan.
According to the minister, parliaments of 18 countries adopted
resolutions in support of the Armenian statements, and ambassadors
of those countries in Ankara were invited to the ministry and handed
over protest notes. The Turkish government has taken other measures
as well. Bilateral ties with those states are subjected to revision,
some visits of top officials postponed, joint projects frozen,
concluded the Turkish minister.