‘ROSE GAMES’ IN AZERBAIJAN
AZG Armenian Daily #154, 31/08/2005
Neighbors
Merab Jibutia, representative of the so-called Democratic Forces
of Georgia, was detained in Azerbaijan. He was earlier labeled an
agent of Armenia’s special services by Chief Prosecutor’s Office
of Azerbaijan. It’s noteworthy that another “spy”, Ruslan Bashirli,
leader of Yeni Fiqir oppositional party, was arrested on August 3 on
charge of an attempt to seize the power in the country. He conducted
secret negotiations with agents of Armenia’s special services Merab
Jibutia, Georgi Ispirian and Vartan in Tbilisi.
Detained while attempting to cross the border, the Azeri law enforcers
found no identifying document within him but found instead Armenian
money. The Azeri mass media keeps silent as to what Jibutia was
supposed to buy in Baku with Armenian drams.

PRESIDENTS OF LATVIA AND FINLAND TO VISIT ARMENIA
By Tatoul Hakobian
AZG Armenian Daily #154, 31/08/2005
Visit
The presidents of Latvia and Finland are going to visit Armenia till
the end of this year. Foreign minister of Armenia said that President
Kocharian will visit Belgium and another state.
Dmitri Rupel, OSCE chairman, will arrive in Armenia on September 5-6.
Vartan Oskanian will leave for Strasburg, Venice and Bologna in
September.
Kocharian Makes Remark to Oskanian
Vartan Oskanian confirmed that RA President made him a remark
concerning the recent incident connected with his son. Few days ago,
Mr. Oskanian’s son ran over a citizen who was taken to hospital with
injuries. Mr. Oskanian condemned himself for the incident again. In
response to the issue whether the Armenian authorities display
prejudiced attitude to Vartan Oskanian, Mr. foreign minister said:
“I am confused about the incident and concerned about the health of
Karen, the injured citizen.”

DAY OF THE UNACCOUNTED-FOR MARKED
AZG Armenian Daily #154, 31/08/2005
Event
Vanadzor office of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly informs that at 12.00
o’clock August 30 an arrangement dedicated to unaccounted-for people
was held at business center of American University of Armenia. As
part of the event “Hope Dies Last” film shoot by Ecumenical
Peace Council of Netherlands was shown. Head of the office Artur
Saqunts represented issues concerning unaccounted-for people in the
conflict zones. Armenian lawmakers and representatives of local and
international NGOs and mass media took part in the discussions during
the event.

RAFFI HOVANNISIAN IN POLAND FOR SOLIDARITY ANNIVERSARY
A1+
| 12:36:49 | 31-08-2005 | Politics |
Warsaw¯Raffi K. Hovannisian, represented Armenia at an international
conference marking the Solidarity movement’s 25th anniversary,
which was held here from August 29 to 31 under the auspices of the
Solidarity Center Foundation and the Lech Walesa Insitute.
Entitled “From Solidarnosc to Freedom,” the conclave brought together
world leaders, public figures, academicians, activists, and journalists
from across the globe. Former Prime Minister Vazgen Manukian also
traveled from Yerevan to take part in the proceedings.
In his intervention, Raffi Hovannisian addressed the past achievements
of the Solidarity movement and examined its contribution to the
transition from Cold War to European unification. He also underscored
the imperative of thinking prospectively, taking the lessons of the
“Solidarnosc” experience outside the Soviet box, and applying them
equally to all modern challenges of democracy, human rights, and
national dignity¯regardless of the provenance of each such challenge
or the sources of threat.
Against the background of contemporary geopolitical developments,
Raffi Hovannisian held meetings with Solidarity’s leader and later
Polish President Lech Walesa; former US Secretary of State Madeleine
K. Albright; and former US National Security Adviser Zbigniew
Brzezinski.
In the margins of the conference, Hovannisian also met with President
Jose Manuel D. Barroso of the European Commission; President Alexander
Kwasniewski of Poland; Polish Parliamentary Speaker Wlodzimierz
Cimoszewicz; former Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki; current
and former Polish Foreign Ministers Adam Rotfeld and Bronislaw Geremek;
former Polish Defense Minister Zbigniew Okonski; former Bulgarian
President Zhelyu Zhelev; former French Foreign Minister Jean-Bernard
Raimond; former Czech Foreign Minister Jiri Dienstbier; former head
of state of Belarus Stanislaw Shushkevich; and several others.
The participants traveled today to the city of Gdansk and its shipyard,
where the Solidarity movement originated, for a special session on
“The Legacy of Solidarnosc,” the signing of the founding act of The
European Solidarity Center, and the proclamation of August 31 as
International Freedom and Solidarity Day. German President Horst
Koehler, former Czech President Vaclav Havel, James A. Baker III,
Hovannisian’s American counterpart in 1991-92, and a score of other
government leaders joined the conference guests for these commemorative
activities.
–Boundary_(ID_v8s6/S8PZypTc/invzxZkA)–

US DEPARTMENT OF STATE TO HOST ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT CHAIRMAN
Armenpress
August 30, 2005
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS: The US Embassy in Armenia said the
U.S. Department of State, via its International Visitor Program,
will host a series of meetings for National Assembly Chairman Artur
Baghdasaryan during the Washington, D.C. portion of his trip to the
United States from August 31 through September 7. During his visit,
Mr. Baghdasaryan will meet with U.S. government officials, as well
as with non-governmental organizations and media outlets.
The State Department has arranged meetings for Mr. Baghdasaryan
with Speaker of the House of Representatives J. Dennis Hastert
(Republican-Illinois), Democratic National Committee Chairman
Howard Dean, and Congressmen Knollenberg (R-MI) and Pallone (D-NJ)
of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, as well as with
various high-level Department of State, National Security Council,
U.S. Agency for International Development and Millennium Challenge
Corporation officials. The State Department has also arranged for
Mr. Baghdasaryan to give a presentation at the Center for Strategic
and International Studies (CSIS) and to meet with the non-governmental
organization Transparency International.
Launched in 1940, the U.S. Department of State International Visitor
Program seeks to build mutual understanding between the United States
and other nations through carefully designed professional visits to
the U.S. for current and emerging foreign leaders. Through these
encounters, they gain a greater understanding of the cultural and
political society of the United States. Over 180 current and former
heads of government and state and many other distinguished world
leaders in the public and private sectors have participated in the
Department of State’s International Visitor Program. We are proud to
now have Mr. Baghdasaryan among the program’s alumni.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DAYS OF ITALIAN-ARMENIAN FRIENDSHIP TO LAUNCH IN ARMENIA IN OCTOBER
Armenpress
August 30, 2005
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS: Armenian foreign minister Vartan
Oskanian told a news conference today that Days of Armenian-Italian
Friendship, initiated by two governments and sponsored by the
presidents of Italy and Armenia will be launched in Armenia in early
October and will run until the end of the year.
An extensive set of events includes display of exhibits from Saint
Lazarus Museum in Venice run by the Armenian Mkhetarist Congregation of
Armenian Catholics at Armenian National Picture Gallery, a conference
on Italian-Armenian historical and cultural relations, Days of Italian
Cinema, theater and music performances, photo and cuisine exhibitions
and other events.

NO IMPASSE IN NKR SETTLEMENT
By Tatoul Hakobian
AZG Armenian Daily #154, 31/08/2005
Karabakh issue
Vartan Oskanian, RA foreign minister, stated that “no breakthrough was
fixed” in the meeting of the presidents in Kazan, but “the negotiations
go on positively.” “The meeting in Kazan creates a field for the
meeting of the foreign ministers,” he said. Oskanian added that there
is no dead end in the process now, “one enters a dead end, when the
presidents find no terms,” while it didn’t happen. RA foreign minister
didn’t connect the negotiation process with the parliamentary elections
in Azerbaijan and the constitutional referendum in Armenia. “We are not
in the stage when we can inform the publicity about the details. The
sides are not apt to write down anything on the paper,” Oskanian said.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER POSITIVE ON KARABAKH TALKS IN KAZAN
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
30 Aug 05
[Presenter] No changes have been registered in the process of settling
the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict during the meeting in Kazan, but there
is a positive development, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan
has said, while commenting on the meeting between [Armenian President]
Robert Kocharyan and [Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev.
The minister pointed out that the meeting created working conditions
for the foreign ministers to continue negotiations and, most
importantly, the foreign ministers of the two countries have not
reached the deadlock today. The Armenian foreign minister shied
away from reporting details of the negotiations process noting that
the sides have not yet reached the stage when the public should be
informed about the issue.
Oskanyan has also touched on the CIS summit and positively assessed
the meetings in Kazan.
[Oskanyan] We, the foreign ministers, have not reached the
deadlock. Given the results of the meetings between the presidents
of the two countries, we still have more tasks and we will try to do
everything in order to move forward. As for the CIS, we have never
said that the CIS is a productive working organization. Of course,
it has shortcomings and, therefore, issues of reforming the CIS are
being discussed today. However, it would be incorrect to assess this
situation as deadly. I think that we can again revive this organization
by reforms and economic developments.

AZERI FOREIGN MINISTER PESSIMISTIC ON CIS FUTURE
Ali Ahmadov, Emil Babaxanov, ANS.
ANS TV, Baku
28 Aug 05
[Presenter] Russia, which is considered Armenia’s strategic partner,
last week was forced to correct and change its policy with regard
to the countries, which once shared a similar position on the West’s
efforts to penetrate the post-Soviet countries. This is also explained
in Moscow by the fact that Russia, which put on the back burner such
a global issue as the strengthening of the CIS, wants to recover
its reputation which it has lost as a result of orange revolutions
[in the post-Soviet area].
Russia’s official circles say with full confidence that the Kremlin
has already lost the post-Soviet area and that it is high time to make
drastic changes in this area. For this reason, Moscow has decided to
make public its new policy at the reformist CIS summit in Kazan. The
Kazan summit was to define if there was a room for Russia and its
reforms in the post-Soviet area, and Russia did so.
[Correspondent, over video of summit] It was clear even before the
summit that the CIS had problems. Maybe, the Moscow meeting of the
foreign ministers of the CIS countries ended so unsuccessfully for
the first time. The ministers who were preparing for the meeting
of presidents, failed to agree on the summit’s final document and
its agenda.
[Passage omitted: more details about tasks of the summit]
Some CIS member countries did not sign many of the documents submitted
for discussion and agreed to sign the others on certain conditions. The
Baku government was also among those offering its own conditions.
[Head of the foreign relations department of the Azerbaijani
presidential administration Novruz Mammadov] Taking into account
its national and state interests, Azerbaijan has not signed many
of the adopted agreements. It signed some of them with special
proviso. Azerbaijan did not sign the documents about the establishment
of structures which might have threatened Azerbaijan’s independence
to some extent.
[Correspondent] Other documents which our country joined were full of
provisos. Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Xalaf Xalafov said that
Azerbaijan signed an agreement on humanitarian cooperation on proviso
that the agreement should be implemented in line with the Azerbaijani
Constitution and laws. Otherwise, it would not implemented. The Baku
government also refused to apply common education standards in the
CIS under this document.
The CIS leadership also wanted to make appraisals and confer scientific
degrees on people in the CIS area. That is Moscow was to decide who
would gain a scientific degree. Azerbaijan also denied the idea of
creating a common information space. Had the Baku government entered
the area, any CIS country, including Armenia, would have got any piece
of information in Azerbaijan, familiarized itself with systems here and
finally, distributed its information in Azerbaijan without obstacle.
Apart from Azerbaijan, its partners in the GUAM – Georgia, Ukraine
and Moldova – signed the agreement on humanitarian cooperation with
proviso. Azerbaijan and its partners in the GUAM have cautiously
signed the documents on terrorism and illegal migration which at
first sight seem to be harmless, but also important. For instance,
Baku wanted that the document also stressed the importance of the
fight against separatism along with extremism.
It is interesting that the CIS countries could have started freely
launching armed operations on territories of other countries on the
pretext of the fight against terrorism, had they adopted the document
as it was. The Baku government and its allies in the GUAM have denied
such dangerous assistance. Azerbaijan did not also sign a document
on common borders and military cooperation in the CIS.
[Passage omitted: the future of the CIS is vague]
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov admitted that he often
asked his older counterparts’ opinions about the fate of the CIS.
[Mammadyarov] It is difficult to say how its future will be. Countries
view the CIS in a different way. How the CIS will develop or will it
develop is under a big question mark.
The issue has reached such a point that during the summit some
countries, including Azerbaijan, have not signed the document on
marking 2006 as the year of CIS. Baku believes that holding such
events on a bilateral format is enough.
[Passage omitted: the CIS is gradually losing its reputation]

AZERI TV PRESENTS BOOK ABOUT KARABAKH
Lider TV, Baku
29 Aug 05
The Azerbaijani commercial TV station Lider presented a new book
entitled “Qarabag” (“Karabakh”) on its “After the Voice” programme
on 29 August.
This book will help counter Armenia’s anti-Azerbaijani propaganda in
the world, the programme noted.
No further processing is planned.