FM MAMMADYAROV MEETS VATICAN’S AMBASSADOR
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
April 17 2006
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Azerbaijan Republic Elmar
Mammadyarov on 17 April met with the ambassador of the State of Vatican
Apostolic Nuncio Claudio Gujerotti also accredited in Azerbaijan.
Ambassador Gujerotti said he is pleased from the visit to Azerbaijan,
expressing his deep impressions on the country’s development, the
accomplishments reached in numerous fields.
Speaking of the negotiations carried out for settlement of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Minister Mammadyarov
said solution of the problem is possible only in the frame of
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, international legal principles
and norms, and according to the Constitution of the Republic.
Ambassador Gujerotti emphasized necessity of establishment of closer
ties between the two countries, development of mutual exchange in
the field of education and culture.
Minister Mammadyarov informed about the Academy of Diplomacy to be
established in Azerbaijan and expressed wish to cooperate in the
said area.
The sides exchanged views on a range of issues of mutual interest.

ELMAR MAMMADYAROV RECEIVES VATICAN AMBASSADOR CLAUDIO GUGEROTTI
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 17 2006
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov received accredited
ambassador of Vatican in Azerbaijan Claudio Gugerott, the Foreign
Ministry’s press center told APA.
Expressing his gratitude for the cordial welcome, ambassador Gugerotti
said it gives him pleasure to be in Azerbaijan.
Touching on the Nagorno Garabagh conflict and its settlement, Mr.
Mammadyarov stressed the importance of solving the conflict in the
framework of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, within international
law norms and principles and in accordance with the Constitution
of our country. The Minister also informed about the Academy of
Diplomacy which will function in Azerbaijan, stressing the importance
of expanding exchange between our states in educational field as well
as developing cooperation relations between the two sides. The sides
also exchanged views on issues of mutual interest.

AZERBAIJAN FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS VATICAN REP IN BAKU
Author: S. Agayeva
TREND Info, Azerbaijan
April 17 2006
Issues of cooperation between Vatican and Azerbaijan were discussed on
April 17 meeting of Azerbaijani foreign minister, Elmar Mammedyarov
and the Vatican ambassador to Azerbaijan, Claudio Guggeretti, the
ministry press-service told Trend .
Guggeretti announced the intensions of Vatican to expand the bilateral
relations and develop cultural cooperation with Azerbaijan.
The Minister informed his guest about the progress in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict regulation stressing the importance of
solving the conflict on the basis of international principles and
norms.

SYMPOSIUM TO BE ORGANIZED IN ERCIYES UNIVERSITY ON TURKISH – ARMENIAN RELATIONS
Anatolian Times, Turkey
April 17 2006
KAYSERI – Plenary discussion panel on: “The Art of Living Together
in the Ottoman Society: The Case of Turkish-Armenian Relations” will
be organized in Erciyes University (EU) in Central Anatolian city of
Kayseri, it was reported on Sunday.
EU Rector Prof. Cengiz Utas held a news conference and said the
university will host the symposium between April 20 and 22
Utas said 125 scientists from various countries and Turkish Armenians
Patriarch Mesrob II would attend the symposium where social dimensions
of the Turkish-Armenian relations would be examined rather than
political dimensions.
Prof. Metin Hulagu, the Chairman of the Symposium Organization
Committee said they hoped the symposium to be a new start in
Turkish-Armenian relations, stating that issues based on documents
would be discussed.
“We want the symposium to establish a new bridge between Turkey and
Armenia. We hope to organize the second symposium in Armenia. Peace,
tolerance and dialogue between Turks and Armenian will be taken up,”
he noted.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION RETURNS FROM NAKHICHEVAN
Anatolian Times, Turkey
April 17 2006
ARALIK – The ruling Justice & Development Party (AKP) deputy Mahmut
Kocak and 14 deputies returned to Turkey on Sunday concluding their
2-day visit to Nakhichevan.
The parliamentary delegation visited Nakhichevan upon the invitation
of Vasif Talibov, chairman of the Nakhichevan Assembly.
Kocak told A.A correspondent that they had the opportunity to see
the economic and social problems of Nakhichevan.
Kocak said both Azerbaijan and Turkey exerted efforts for establishment
of peace in the Caucasus, and stated that intransigent policy of
Armenia was problem in the region.
Kocak said policy of Armenia should be constructive and in line with
the facts of the history and should contribute to the regional peace.

TURKISH PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION IN NAKHICHEVAN
Anatolian Times, Turkey
April 17 2006
NAKHICHEVAN – The ruling Justice & Development Party (AKP) deputy
Mahmut Kocak and 14 deputies met Vasif Talibov, chairman of the
Nakhichevan Assembly.
Kocak stated that the Armenian diaspora have increased their activities
recently, noting that Turkish nation never committed genocide. He
added that archives in Turkey were open for everyone in the world.
On the other hand, Talibov stressed that the economy of Nakhichevan was
developing day by day, noting that Turkish companies made investments
in Nakhichevan worth 100 million USD in 2005.
Talibov added if Turkey became a full member of the EU, Nakhichevan
would also be mentioned as a neighbor of an EU member state.

IRANIAN “EASTERNIZATION” IS STRONGER THAN TURKISH “WESTERNIZATION”
Hazem Saghieh Al-Hayat
Dar Al-Hayat, Lebanon
April 17 2006
Lying in the dark shadow of dealing with the US-Iranian issue is the
Turkish issue, and by extension, the Turkish-Kurdish issue.
If Washington and Tehran reach a settlement over Iraq, after a partial
military clash caused by Uranium enrichment, or even without this
enrichment, the issue of Turkish influence and interests in northern
Iraq will be raised. One of the geo-political constants that have
accompanied this region is the preservation of balance between the
Turkish and Iranian roles, whether extending toward Iraq or keeping
distant from it.
Currently, the probable course of this issue joins up with two other
courses, making the problem even more unstable.
With the creeping civil war in Iraq, the Kurds of the North might
survive; they have lived in a state of quasi-independence since
the secure zone was established there in 1992. The situation
was strengthened by the establishment of independent political
institutions, like a Parliament and autonomous government, as well
as the Kurds’ own political parties.
If this is added to what is taking place in terms of infrastructure,
economic development and security arrangements, the “separatist”
form involves a serious amount of content.
Perhaps Washington, if there is a total collapse in Iraq and the
reshaping of the country along communal spheres of influence, will
approach Iraqi Kurdistan as the “share” that it can retain and perhaps
transform into the model that was desired for the entire country.
However, all of this is connected to Turkey, to a great extent,
to the degree that American interests and its own become one. It is
a complex matter, naturally, which complicates the second direction
that further crisis is likely to take, a direction that involves the
relationship between Ankara and its Kurds. It was interesting to see
the situation explode, with no obvious introduction, in a way not seen
since 1994. The violent clashes between Kurdish fighters and Turkish
security forces led to the killing of 20 people in south-east Turkey
as well as Istanbul itself.
In fact, Ankara, under constant pressure from the European Union,
lifted the state of emergency in Kurdish regions and began paying
compensation to Kurds for the destruction of their villages by
the Turkish Army. The government also endorsed some cultural and
linguistic rights for the Kurds. This is of course insufficient,
especially since the economic despair that hovers over the Kurds of
Turkey, the widespread unemployment, low wages and lack of investment,
makes Kurdish anger an event to be anticipated. But the defeat of this
course is another thing altogether, quantitatively and qualitatively
different. In this sense, some observers fear that the recent clashes,
sparked by the funeral of 14 members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party,
was the beginning of a wide-scale deterioration, especially since
the KWP two years ago ended a unilateral truce that had lasted for
six years.
If things goes this way, and militarization and oppression return to
the southeast, Turkey’s desire to join the EU will be threatened again;
it is a desire about which doubts of its success are growing.
That said, the possibilities of “easternization” via Iran remain
stronger than the possibilities of “westernization” via Turkey. Even
if the Iraqi Shiite Coalition splits off, this possibility remains
“safer” and easier to travel.
Pure authoritarianism, which characterizes the Iranian state, makes
it a candidate for imperial expansion in a way that does not suit the
current nature of the Turkish state. Turkey has become a complicated
mixture of aspects that are authoritarian, democratic, nationalist and
Islamic, not to speak of civilian and military. In times of crisis,
the decisive entity wins out over the confused entity.
The Turkish stumbling is revealed in its points of contact with
all concerned parties, and all of the issues that concern them. It
reveals that the deadlocks practically represent impossibilities. If
relations with Europe are threatened because of the Kurds, in sympathy
with the Armenian genocide and the rest of the “human rights” agenda,
following the US policy will provoke the majority of people, which
will make the claim of democracy purely that – a claim.
Meanwhile, a just solution of the Kurdish problem will mobilize a
rainbow in Turkey consisting of the military, the nationalists, and
some Islamists; dealing with the matter through repression will weaken
any Turkish role in Iraqi Kurdistan, especially if the Kurdish-Turkoman
conflict there explodes, in parallel to the Kurdish-Arab conflict,
over Kirkuk.
The Iranian authorities appear to be united around Khamenei and
Ahmadinejad, while “opponents” like Rafsanjani and Khatami are out of
the spotlight. However, when these two are in line with the regime,
the Turkish authorities, after the fall of the one-sided Kemalism,
seem closer to coalitions that are made and broken on a daily basis
between the Islamists and the army, and the president of the Republic
and these two groups.
In this situation, it is said that what made democracy fail in Iraq
could make it fail in any part of the country, despite the good
thinking shown by the Kurds ever since their mid-1990s fighting.
However, the Kemalism of Turkey that involved modernization from
above requires some rethinking, about the ways it can be corrected
and the methods used.
If it is true that Turkey went too far in its anti-pluralistic
nationalism, especially regarding the Kurds, its militarism remains
more effective in a region that voted for Ahmadinejad as president.
These are certainly narrow options, and ones likely to provoke
despair. However, they put us face to face with certain questions:
Why, at a stone’s throw away from India, with its different experience,
has no instance of modernization arisen in our region, unless it comes
at the expense of freedom. And when freedom arises, modernization
collapses, while the nation either collapses or is paralyzed. This
question will be increasingly asked in the event of a wide-scale
military confrontation between Tehran and Washington, doing away
with the Khamenei regime or weakening it until it does away with
many of the above-mentioned hypotheses, without doing away with the
question itself.

POLITICAL COORDINATION CENTER LEADS ROUND TABLE ON NK
Today, Azerbaijan
April 17 2006
Political coordination center of opposition (PCCO) has led a round
table “Influence of new regional situation on Azerbaijan, expected
changes in Karabakh problem” April 17.
Trend reports that state deputies and representative of Azadlyg
political block were partaking at the session.
The session was opened up by Faradj Guliyev PCCO cofounder and leader
of National Renascence Movement. He spoke on influence of the current
regional situation in Karabakh problem. To speed up the resolution
of the problem, Azerbaijan should change the course it adheres to now.
Speaking after him, deputies Nasib Nasibli and Fazil Gazanfarogli said
of tension between the USA and IRI and importance of such situation
for Azerbaijan. In case this conflict turns into a war Azerbaijan
will be in great danger.
The word then was given to Sardar Djalalogli, first deputy chairman
of Democratic party, but Mr. Djalalogli denied. “I haven’t prepared
speech on this issue in public,” – Mr. Djalalogli explained.
At the session the politicians demanded the state inform the public
on the process of conversations on resolution of Karabakh problem.
URL:

… DISCUSSES COOPERATION ON GAS EXPORTS WITH IRAN…
New Europe, Greece
April 17 2006
Russian gas giant Gazprom is negotiating on cooperation with Iran in
the gas export sphere, Gazprom’s press service reported following
the company’s CEO Alexei Miller’s meeting with Iranian Ambassador
to Russia Gholamreza Ansari. The meeting addressed “prospects in
the sphere of exporting Iranian gas to other countries’ markets
and Gazprom’s participation in projects creating Iranian gas export
flows, based on the principle of participating in every stage of the
price chain – from the extraction of carbohydrates to the sale to
consumers,” the statement read. Gazprom negotiated the purchase of
Armrosgazprom from the Armenian government last week, along with a
40-kilometre section of the Iran- Armenia gas pipeline. Armrosgazprom
will also place an order for the construction of 197 kilometres of the
Iran-Armenia pipeline. “Gazprom’s participation in the construction
of the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline and the refurbishing of one or
two lines at the Southern Pars deposit, to export carbohydrates,
has been recognised as promising,” the statement read.
aynews.asp?id=123492

ARMENIANS STAGE ANTI-TURK MARCH OVER MASSACRE
Middle East Times, Egypt
April 17 2006
ATHENS – Around 300 Greeks of Armenian descent marched on the
Turkish embassy in Athens on April 15 to mark the 91st anniversary
of massacres allegedly committed against their kin by the Ottoman
Empire during World War I. The message warned Ankara that “the gates
of Europe, which it so greatly desires to cross, will remain closed”
if it continues to refuse to recognize the 1915-17 massacre. Turkey
is seeking to join the European Union, of which Greece is a member.