BAKU: Germany intends to cooperate with Azerbaijan in military scher

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
July 2 2005

GERMANY INTENDS TO COOPERATE WITH AZERBAIJAN IN MILITARY SPHERE
[July 02, 2005, 14:54:15]

Germany is planning to cooperate with Azerbaijan in military sphere,
said Ambassador Detlef Lingeman at his meeting with Azerbaijan’s
Defense Minister Safar Abiyev.

As have informed in AzerTAj from the press-service of the ministry,
at a meeting had familiarizing character, colonel-general Safar
Abiyev has emphasized successful continuation of cooperation of
Azerbaijan with Germany both in a bilateral format, and within the
frames of OSCE, the Council of Europe and NATO. Minister has told: we
are measured to establish cooperation with Germany and in military
sphere. With this purpose in January of this year we have presented
the draft agreement on cooperation in military sphere and we look
forward to hearing.

Having noted, that Germany also is planning to cooperate with
Azerbaijan in military sphere, ambassador Detlef Lingeman has
informed, that the answer to the directed draft agreement one of
these days will be received. At a meeting the exchange of opinions on
present military-political conditions in the Caucasian region, the
Armenian-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been lead.

The ambassador has told: during official visit of the President of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to Germany chancellor Gerhard Shroeder has
noted, that supports territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and supports
peace settlement of the Armenian–Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict on the basis of norms of international law.

Then, Minister Safar Abiyev has answered questions interesting the
diplomat.

Nagorno Karabakh again

Euro-reporters.com, Belgium
July 2 2005

Nagorno Karabakh again
Written by Brussels journalist David Ferguson
Saturday, 02 July 2005

“There is no alternative to a peaceful solution. In fact there is an
urgent need to solve the conflict in order to end the personal,
economic and social suffering on both sides,” says Swedish MP Göran
Lennmarker, who, in 2002, was appointed OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
Special Representative on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

The armed spat that broke out between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis
in the dying days of the Soviet Union, leaving 30,000 dead, is far
from frozen according to Lennmarker. “Several people are killed along
the line-of-contact every year,” says the Swede. By the time a
ceasefire was brokered in 1994, the conflict had left territories
occupied and over a million displaced people in miserable conditions
on both sides.

Lennmarker was speaking yesterday in Washington at the OSCE’s
Parliamentary Assembly annual session. His report on Nagorno Karabakh
vied, together with documents on the Akhaz and Transnistrian
conflicts, and a host of other issues, for the attention of 800
participants, including almost 300 parliamentarians from the 55
participating states. Thirty years after its foundation by the
Helsinki Final Act in 1975, OSCE parliamentarians are also discussing
the organization’s future and attempting to gain greater
accountability from the OSCE headquarters in Vienna.

A draft resolution also up for discussion in Washington, proposed by
Azerbaijan MP Sattar Safarov, notes that the conflict “has led to the
occupation of 20% of the territories of Azerbaijan, including the
Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven adjacent districts by the Armenian
armed forces and [the] flow of about one million refugees and
internally displaced people…” Safarov’s proposed resolution calls
for Armenia to withdraw military forces from “all occupied
territories of Azerbaijan” and urges “Armenia to stop the
continuation of the settlement of civilian population in the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan, which can impede the peaceful solution of
the conflict.”

Appointed OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative on the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict in June 2002, Lennmarker still remains
optimistic of the chances for a peace settlement and talks of ‘golden
opportunities’ and ‘win-win concepts’. Lennmarker says OSCE
parliamentarians from Armenia and Azerbaijan have also contributed to
dialogue. “Once a peace agreement has been finalized by the two
Governments, the parliamentary dimension becomes invaluable in
informing the public and in ensuring the implementation. It is of
utmost importance that networks of Members of Parliaments already
exist and stand ready to take on these tasks.”

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BAKU: OSCE PA discusses Karabakh conflict

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
July 2 2005

OSCE PA DISCUSSES OF NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT
[July 02, 2005, 11:29:24]

Swedish MP Göran Lennmarker, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special
Representative on the Nagorno Karabakh Conflict, presented his report
to Heads of Delegations to the OSCE PA. The Report spells out his
ideas on how to promote a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict within the ongoing OSCE Minsk Peace-process.

The conflict between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis over the region
of Nagorno Karabakh broke out more than a decade ago, leaving
territories occupied and resulting in displaced people living under
miserable conditions on both sides. Although a ceasefire was
established in 1994, the conflict remains unsolved.

Mr. Lennmarker stresses that `the conflict is not frozen. Several
people are killed along the line-of-contact every year’. He adds:
`there is no alternative to a peaceful solution – in fact there is an
urgent need to solve the conflict in order to end the personal,
economic, and social suffering on both sides of this conflict’.

He suggests basing a solution on experiences from Europe, where
democracy and integration are fundamental components in securing a
lasting peace. Strong European and international institutions stand
ready to support Armenia and Azerbaijan. This is a generous offer and
must be seized.

He also stresses the usefulness of the work done by the Parliamentary
Delegations of Armenia and Azerbaijan: `Once a peace agreement has
been finalized by the two Governments, the parliamentary dimension
becomes invaluable in informing the public and in ensuring the
implementation. It is of utmost importance that networks of Members
of Parliaments already exist and stand ready to take on these tasks’.

Mr. Lennmarker was appointed in June 2002 and has since then visited
Armenia and Azerbaijan on numerous occasions, meeting with
representatives of all sections of society including refugees on both
sides. He has also met with international actors, including the
Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

Armenian DM unruffled by increase in Azeri military spending

Armenian defence minister unruffled by increase in Azeri military spending

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
1 Jul 05

[Presenter] In two years the Armenian armed forces will be fully
equipped with professional officers. In 2015, the Armenian armed
forces will no longer be behind the best armies of the world, Armenian
Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan has said in his address to graduates
of the Vazgen Sarkisyan Military Academy.

[Passage omitted: reported details]

[Correspondent] The Armenian defence minister described as senseless
and hopeless the recent statement of the Azerbaijani president about
an increase in [Azerbaijan’s] military spending. We also have the
opportunity to increase funding for our armed forces and not to lag
behind Azerbaijan’s military spending.

[Sarkisyan] A military solution to the problem cannot yield positive
results. I am confident that it is impossible to solve the problem in
a military way today. Let’s assume that Azerbaijan’s military spending
is not 300m, but 400m dollars. This cannot change anything
considerably.

This is not the arms race of the Cold War period between the USA and
the Soviet Union which were trying to achieve supremacy by spending
billions of dollars. The situation is different today. As the saying
goes, everyone is working as they can.

[Passage omitted: reported details]

[Video showed the ceremony at the Military Academy]

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian paper questions Azeri leader’s new Karabakh proposals

Armenian paper questions Azeri leader’s new Karabakh proposals

Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
30 Jun 05

Text of unattributed report by Armenian newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak on
30 June headlined “Secrets of the negotiations”

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said yesterday that Azerbaijan is
ready to provide security guarantees and privileged rights to the
Armenian community of Nagornyy Karabakh. “I am sure that the problem
will be settled in this context,” he said.

Nevertheless, if everything is clear with regard to security, then
what does privileged rights mean? In all probability, he means that
the people of Nagornyy Karabakh will be given an opportunity to hold a
referendum in the future and determine the status of the Nagornyy
Karabakh Republic [NKR]. At this stage of the negotiations, Armenia
and Azerbaijan are discussing this problem as well.

According to our information, holding discussions on these issues is
acceptable to Armenia. At first sight, this option seems to be very
favourable for Armenia, but in reality everything will be clear after
we find out details that might be numerous.

And if this option is acceptable to Armenia after these details are
clarified, we shall clearly support the stage-by-stage, not the
package settlement, because now that a peace agreement is being
prepared, the status of Nagornyy Karabakh, which was very important to
the [Armenian President Robert] Kocharyan administration until
recently, will not be finally determined.

Nevertheless, we should admit that it is unlikely that the
negotiations on this issue will provide Armenia with any favourable
settlement. This settlement will have nothing in common with the
principle which Kocharyan used to come to power and which is quite
similar to [ex-President Levon] Ter-Petrosyan’s option for settling
the conflict.

And if Robert Kocharyan manages to come to a logical conclusion today,
the Armenian public will be presented with an alternative: either to
remind Kocharyan of how he came to power or to allow him to go for a
Karabakh settlement based on mutual compromises. The answer to this
question will depend on mutual compromises suggested by Kocharyan.

Aravot: US bases to be deployed in Azerbaijan in “coming weeks”

Armenian paper says US bases to be deployed in Azerbaijan in “coming weeks”

Aravot, Yerevan
2 Jul 05

Excerpt from report by Dmitriy Martirosyan in Armenian newspaper
Aravot on 2 July headlined “Another US ‘outpost’ is being created”

The USA’s military presence in Azerbaijan will become reality in
several months. On 12 April 2005 the US and Azerbaijani governments
made an arrangement on the deployment of the US troops and bases on
the territory of Azerbaijan.

This arrangement between Washington and Baku was made during US
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s “noiseless” visit to Baku. The US
forces will be deployed for a long period also because the US bases
fighting the Taleban in Central Asia [as given] have obviously become
less effective.

The first US bases will be deployed in Azerbaijan in the coming
weeks. The USA’s predicted military presence is not unexpected. The US
pressure in this sphere has coincided with Baku’s readiness to please
Washington. Fearing Moscow’s retaliatory action, Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev has been doubtful [about the issue].

[Passage omitted: the USA has urged the Azerbaijani government to
agree on the deployment of bases]

Experts think that the following points should be emphasized among the
important strategic purposes of the US troops in Azerbaijan: a) to
finish the process of the geopolitical blockade of Iran which will
give an opportunity for the US arms’ deployment to counter-attack our
neighbours; b) to provide energy resources and establish a strategic
corridor from Europe towards Central Asia, including the
transportation of military units and equipment; c) to get new levers
of pressure on Russia in close proximity to the North Caucasus, where
the situation is unstable because of the war in Chechnya; d) to
support pro-US states in the region and confront pro-Russian Armenia;
e) to fight international Islamist activists [as given].

Georgian Armenians want BP compensation for Azeri pipeline

Georgian Armenians want BP compensation for Azeri pipeline

Arminfo
30 Jun 05

YEREVAN

Residents of the Armenian-populated villages of Tapatskhur and Molit
in Georgia’s Borjomi District have staged another protest action
against BP, the contractor of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.

A-Info news agency reports that the organizers of this action believe
that BP has not paid them full compensation for constructing the
pipeline on the territory of these villages.

In protest against this, the residents of these villages hampered work
on the pipeline on 28 June. Georgian Minister of Natural Resources and
Environmental Protection Giorgi Papuashvili has visited the scene of
the incident. He promised the villagers to solve the problem of
compensation.

Daily critical of Armenia stance on Turkish-Georgian-Azeri railway

Daily critical of Armenia’s stance on Turkish-Georgian-Azeri railway project

Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
1 July 05

Excerpt from report by Arman Karapetyan in Armenian newspaper Haykakan
Zhamanak on 1 July headlined “Kars-Akhalkalaki should not be built”

Turkish Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan’s visit to Baku which
started yesterday [30 June] could be considered one of the regular
visits of Turkish officials to Baku, if not one
circumstance. Yesterday Turkey’s official circles confirmed
information that the construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku
railway is one of the main issues that will be discussed in Baku. The
Armenian authorities have been continuing to keep silence about the
activity on the implementation of this project that has been noticed
for the last period.

Generally speaking, neither the authorities nor the opposition in
Armenia can fully realize the consequences that the construction of
the said railway may have for our country. This is not an accidental
fact in the country which for more than seven years has been guided by
a slogan: “National interests are higher than the Constitution”.

At present, a situation occurs when our enmity with Turkey is more
important for us than economic, military and strategic interests of
the country. After all, an enmity with Turkey brings significant
dividends to the authorities of our country. By preserving this
enmity, [Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan confirms loyalty to
Russia, France and anti-Turkey forces of Europe because it is
important for these forces to have the Armenian factor in their hands
when settling problems with Turkey.

[Passage omitted: political parties’ approach on the issue is similar]

An enmity with Armenia is hampering Turkey’s desire to settle one of
its main political problems, that is, to guarantee a certain economic
and political presence in the Turkic-speaking states of Central
Asia. The fulfilment of this task is impossible without the railway
communication, and the only railway that connects Turkey with Central
Asia goes via Armenia [Kars-Gyumri].

Today to watch calmly the construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway
means to lose the only strong economic lever of influence on Turkey,
i.e. our railway. Moreover, for Armenia the construction of the new
railway [via Georgia] means losing the status of the only railway
corridor that connects the West with the East. This is a political
aspect, but there is also an economic one.

The opening of the Armenian-Turkish border could have brought billions
of dollars to Armenia, about half of which could have been the profit
received from the operation of the [Kars-Gyumri] railway. The
construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway will reduce Armenia’s
profit twice. However, the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway will significantly
improve Turkey’s political position in its relations with
Armenia. After this railway is put into operation, accusations of
Turkey’s blockade of Armenia will weaken as Turkey may say that it
sees no obstacles for the transportation of the Armenian cargo via the
Kars-Akhalkalaki railway and it does not hinder the transportation of
the Armenian cargo via the Bosporus or the Georgian-Turkish highway.

[Passage omitted: criticism of Armenia’s policy on the Baku-Ceyhan oil
pipeline; background details on the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway]

In this situation the main task of Armenia’s foreign policy should be
hampering the further development of the said railway’s construction
and, if it is necessary, making certain compromises for
this. Otherwise we will lose all our levers of pressure on Turkey.

[Passage omitted: reiteration of similar ideas]

We have repeatedly mentioned that the railway communication with
Central Asia is of military and strategic significance for the USA as
it has got a problem of strengthening its military presence in Central
Asia and Afghanistan. It is impossible to settle this problem without
the railway communication: the “front” should have the railway
communication with the rear area. It is clear that the Russian railway
[to Central Asia] may not contribute to the settlement of this
problem, but the Armenian railway is very convenient in this case.
However, if Armenia is indifferent, Turkey may involve the USA in the
construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway, as it was the case with
the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline.

Armenian DM dismisses Azeri statement on Karabakh autonomy

(Corrected)Armenian defence minister dismisses Azeri statement on
Karabakh autonomy

Mediamax news agency
1 Jul 05

(Correcting the year in the last paragraph to “1998”. A corrected
version of the item follows.)

Yerevan, 1 July: Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan has
described as “empty words” the statement of the Azerbaijani leadership
about its readiness to grant Nagornyy Karabakh the “highest decree of
autonomy” and some “preferential conditions”.

The Armenian defence minister said that similar proposals “could have
a certain value 20 year ago if they had been submitted by [Azerbaijani
ex-President] Heydar Aliyev,” Mediamax new agency reports.

Sarkisyan also said that the Armenian leadership has not deviated from
the principles of settling the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict which were
voiced when they came to power in 1998 and described as groundless the
statements that Yerevan keeps to “a defeatist position”.

Tajik-Armenian government board signs cooperation deals

Tajik-Armenian government board signs cooperation deals

Avesta website
1 Jul 05

Dushanbe, 1 July: Five agreements were signed at the end of the second
meeting of the Tajik-Armenian intergovernmental commission for
economic cooperation in Dushanbe yesterday, Avesta has been told at
the Tajik Ministry of Economy and Trade.

The source said the sides agreed to cooperate in the agroindustrial,
cultural and education sectors. The meeting also signed an agreement
on avoiding double taxation and on the intergovernmental commission’s
statute.

The relevant ministries and departments of the two countries have been
instructed to prepare and submit for approval the drafts of
Tajik-Armenian intergovernmental agreements on cooperation in air
communications and health care.

[Passage omitted: a Tajik-Armenian business forum to be held soon; the
commission’s third meeting to be held in Yerevan in 2006]