Russia hosts CIS air-defence exercise
ITAR-TASS news agency
20 Aug 05
Moscow, 20 August: Combat Commonwealth 2005, a live-firing exercise
of the CIS combined air-defence system, begins on Monday 22 August
at the Ashuluk range in Astrakhan Region.
Combined-arms and other units of the air forces and air-defence troops
of Russia, Armenia, Belarus and Tajikistan will jointly practise
interoperability in a broad range of areas. Four types of aviation
will be involved – fighter, ground-attack, bomber and reconnaissance.
The deputy commander-in-chief of the Russian armed forces for the
CIS air-defence system, Lt-Gen Aytech Bizhev, outlined the exercise
scenario in an interview in today’s edition of the Krasnaya Zvezda
newspaper. In the 10 years since the combined air-defence system was
set up, he said, its members’ military authorities have restored the
information sharing on airspace violations that existed between them
prior to the collapse of the USSR. This exchange is now automated and
flows between the central command posts of the Belarusian, Kazakh,
Ukrainian and Tajik air forces and air defences.
In the scenario for the exercise, “bandit gangs” and “terrorist groups”
have become more active in the North Caucasus, and Armenia asks the
CIS for assistance. Russia, Belarus and Tajikistan then urgently
deploy forces to the region.
According to Gen Bizhev, the main feature of this exercise is that for
the first time a regional air-defence group will be set up from the
participants’ air-defence forces and assets. Command of the group
will be automated, with the four countries’ missile forces being
coordinated from a single command post.
The creation of regional interstate air-defence groups is one of the
main trends in the development of the combined CIS system. The plan is
to establish such groups in the future in the East European, Central
Asian and Caucasus regions. Russia and Belarus have already agreed
a package of documents on setting up a regional air-defence system.

Azeri leader says no need for authorities-opposition dialogue
ANS TV, Baku
19 Aug 05
[Presenter] President Ilham Aliyev has visited Ismayilli District
[central Azerbaijan]. [Indistinct sentence omitted]
[Aliyev] There have been no results [in the Nagornyy Karabakh
settlement] and we can see this. At the same time, there are hopes.
As long as we have hopes, we should continue the talks because as a
result of the work done, the international community has adopted an
unambiguous approach to the issue.
I believe that the achieved progress is important but does not
guarantee the signing of a peace agreement. The occupied territories
must be freed. Refugees and displaced people should return to their
native lands.
[Correspondent] President Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan’s military
potential is much higher than that of Armenia and that the Armenians
should understand the importance of acting in accordance with this
reality.
[Aliyev] We understand that the security of the Armenians of Nagornyy
Karabakh should be ensured and this is natural and normal. However,
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity is not a subject of negotiations and
can never be so. Separatism is unacceptable. No-one and no structure
can exist for a long time in an isolated form.
[Correspondent] The president highly valued the authorities-opposition
dialogue and commented on the [opposition] Azadliq electoral bloc’s
calls on Ilham Aliyev to participate in this dialogue.
[Aliyev] There has never been a dialogue between the authorities and
opposition since our independence and we have not had such a political
experience. This was a major shortcoming.
In general, there is no need for dialogue since the public have made a
clear-cut choice and support our policy. But dialogue between parties
is important, of course. Major disagreements usually take place
between parties. From this point of view, I believe, the current
format is appropriate. High-ranking officials and an MP from the
[ruling] New Azerbaijan Party have attended the dialogue and I think
this level is enough for the present time.
[Correspondent] Ilham Aliyev believes it is pointless for the president
to intervene and stop smear campaign in the media.
[Aliyev] How can I intervene in this process? We have freedom of the
press and freedom of expression. Newspapers write what they want and
you know that we are not going to influence any media outlet. This is
why these requests should be made to those media outlets that have
specific flaws. As the president, I am in favour of the free press
and at the same time, I believe that for the normal development of
our country, any political struggle should be fought in compliance
with ethical standards.
[Correspondent] Speaking about the list of candidates [to run in
November parliamentary election], Ilham Aliyev said it was satisfactory
and was drawn up under his personal supervision.
[Aliyev] As the [New Azerbaijan] party chairman, I played an important
role in drawing up this list and my opinion was reflected there. I
believe that those who have done a lot for the party and influential
public figures should definitely be included in the list. At the same
time, there should be refreshing changes, like those in society. There
are refreshing changes taking place in our party.
[Passage omitted: reported details]

Civil Georgia, Georgia
Aug 20 2005
New Chief of Public TV Speaks of Priorities
Kintsurashvili vows to secure independent
editorial policy of the Public TV.
Tamar Kintsurashvili was elected for a six-year term by the Board
as the Director-General of the Public Broadcasting on August 19.
Appointment of the General Director is a crucial step in establishing
first-ever politically independent, publicly funded broadcaster.
Tamar Kintsurashvili of non-governmental human rights advocacy
organization Liberty Institute was herself member of the Board, but
withdrew membership on August 13 and joined those 23 candidates who
were competing to chair the Public Broadcasting.
Kintsurashvili’s decision was regarded as controversial and most
of the participants of the competition criticized her move as
“unethical.” Opponents claimed that the competition turned into
“formality” immediately after Tamar Kintsurashvili applied to run for
the position. But the new Director-General of the Public Broadcasting
downplays criticism and says that the law did not prohibit her to
participate in the competition.
This was the second competition, as in July the nine-member Board of
the Public Broadcasting declined all the sixteen candidates, citing
contenders’ lack of experience in media management.
Kintsurashvili, 35, worked for the newspaper Droni in 1993-2000 and
served as deputy editor-in-chief. She was a PR manager at the beer
producing company Castel-Georgia in 2001. Since 2001 Kintsurashvili
has led media programs at the Liberty Institute, where as she said,
gained a huge experience in working over the media legislation. Law
on Public Broadcasting was developed by the Liberty Institute.
In an interview with Civil Georgia on August 20, Kintsurashvili
outlined her policy priorities which she plans to carry. She said
that creation of the Public Broadcasting, which will be “a bearer of
the democratic and civil society values” and provider of genuinely
unbiased news and information will be her top priority.
“Strengthening of the news service is of crucial importance. Public
television should at first gain public confidence and it will happen
only after providing unbiased, balanced and genuinely objective
information and news to the society. So at the first stage I plan
to make a major focus on the news service. Only on the next stages
it will be possible to think about other services and programs,”
Kintsurashvili said.
She said that securing independent editorial policy will be crucial
in this regard. “I think that lack of independent editorial policy
is a major problem of the Georgian median organization. Although
legislation is perfect in this respect, but unfortunately this is
not realized in the practice,” Kintsurashvili said.
She thinks that distribution of duties and responsibilities to a
lower managerial level will foster independence of the editorial
policy. “We should delegate certain level of decision-making to
the lower level managers. But it will require highly professional
managers and producers, that is why we should re-train existing staff
in accordance to the international standards,” Kintsurashvili said.
The new Director-General believes that the Public Television has an
advantage and unlike the private television stations, which currently
dominate the Georgian media market (Rustavi 2, Imedi TV, Mze TV)
Public Broadcasting will have more opportunity to establish editorial
independence, as “it is not owned by a tycoon.”
“While private televisions are financed chiefly by tycoons who have
personal interests, the Public TV has a guaranteed financing, currently
up to 17 million Lari [USD 9,4 million]. This is an advantage which
should be utilized,” Kintsurashvili said.
She said that there is “absolute mess” in the issues related with
the television’s finances and property.
“We should immediately carry out inventory of property. It is
impossible now to find out what kind of property the television owns.
According to the documentations quite a large amount of money has
been spent in recent years for upgrading the television’s equipment.
But the reality is that the TV still urgently needs technical upgrade
and no one knows where the money has went,” Kintsurashvili said.
In her brief concept over development of the Public Broadcasting
submitted to the Board for consideration, there is a separate
chapter regarding the role of the public television in the process
of integration of ethnic and religious minorities.
“It is a long-term plan, but I think of creation of local regional
public broadcastings in those regions, which are predominately
populated by ethnic minorities, for example Public Broadcasting in
Samtskhe-Javakheti [Armenian-populated region], Public Broadcasting in
Shida Kartli [Azerbaijani-populated region] and of course these local
regional televisions will operate under the aegis of the Georgian
Public Broadcasting,” Kintsurashvili said.
She says that the covering of upcoming MP by-elections in Georgia’s
five single-mandate constituencies “will be kind of first test” for
her and the Public Broadcasting. “But less than two months remain
before these elections – it is a short period of time = so I can not
guarantee that we will pass this test perfectly,” she added.
Kintsurashvili will take over the office on August 22. She says that
“the public television should become a flagship in the Georgian media
space,” adding that she will immediately quit if fails to implement
her plans.

Georgian president to visit Armenia
Kavkasia-Press news agency
20 Aug 05
Tbilisi, 20 August: Mikheil Saakashvili will pay an unofficial
visit to Armenia on 21 August on an invitation from his counterpart
Robert Kocharyan, Kavkasia-Press has learnt at the presidential
administration. [Passage omitted]
Saakashvili will return to Tbilisi on 22 August.

PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Tel.: 617-489-1610
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
MOORAD MOORADIAN TO GIVE LECTURE AND ALL-DAY SEMINAR AT NAASR IN
SEPTEMBER
Dr. Moorad Mooradian of Yerevan State University will present “A New
Look at TARC (Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission)” in a lecture
at the Center and Headquarters of the National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR), 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, Mass., on
Thursday evening, September 8, at 8 p.m. On Saturday September 10,
Mooradian will offer an all-day seminar at NAASR entitled “Hurting
Stalemate or Mediation? The Conflict Over Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Dr. Moorad Mooradian’s writings on Armenian political and historical
issues are widely read on a weekly basis in English-language
Armenian newspapers, and he is also the author of a new book on the
Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission. His previous lectures at
NAASR have been to standing-room-only audiences.
A FRESH PERSPECTIVE ON TARC
One of the most contentious issues in the contemporary historiography
of Armenia and Turkey has been the Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation
Commission (TARC). In his new book, A New Look at TARC, Dr.
Mooradian has examined TARC and its composition and has analyzed it
in terms of conflict resolution theory.
Dr. Mooradian will offer his evaluation of TARC’s stated goals, its
performance, the quality and competence of its members as reconcilers,
and the course that chairman David Phillips allowed the commission
to travel. Dr. Mooradian maintains that the idea of TARC was good,
but was funded by the wrong parties and was unable to make the public
view it as impartial; it’s members, except for the chairman, were all
activists for their respective sides; and that TARC chose the wrong
issue upon which to attempt to build a bridge between the Armenian
and the Turkish governments and societies. It is Mooradian’s view
that TARC violated basic conflict resolution theory and practice and
thus was destined to be minimally, if at all, successful.
Professor Dennis Sandole of the Institute for Conflict Analysis and
Resolution at George Mason University, who wrote the foreword for the
book, states that for “those who are interested in understanding and
dealing with intractable, often violent conflicts, Dr. Mooradian’s
account of TARC is a must.”
Copies of A New Look at TARC will be on sale in the NAASR bookstore
and Dr. Mooradian will be available to autograph copies. The event
is open to the public at no charge (donations accepted at door).
AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF KARABAKH STALEMATE
Capitalizing on Mooradian’s presence in the Boston area, NAASR will
feature him in an all-day Saturday seminar on September 10, from 9:00
a.m. to 4:00 p.m., which will examine the various aspects of mediation,
its goals and various processes, in comparison with theory and with
what actually transpired in the Karabakh mediation efforts.
An analysis will be presented on the intensified warfare that
commenced with the Kelbajar offensive in 1993. Comparisons of the
several mediation efforts will be made to determine whether it was the
mediations themselves or the increased violence and destruction that
caused the opposing sides to seek an end to the organized violence
that culminated in the ongoing ceasefire.
The Russian mediation that competed with the CSCE (OSCE) effort will be
analyzed closely, with an effort to determine if it is valid to give
the Russians credit for bringing the Armenian and Azerbaijani side
to the negotiating table that led to the ceasefire. In the process
of evaluating the data, an examination via quantitative analysis will
be made to determine the logical outcomes of the mediations. Finally,
Dr. Mooradian will address the question–if a hurting stalemate brought
an end to massive violence in the form of set-to military battles,
why did/has it not led to a peace treaty?
Preregistration Recommended
Information on fees can be obtained from the NAASR offices.
Admission is open to all, but enrollment will be limited in order
to encourage active discussion and interaction. It is strongly urged
that participants register by September 1.
Dr. Moorad Mooradian received a PhD from the Institute for
Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University after a
distinguished 25-year career in the United States Army, from which he
retired as a colonel. He was Professor of History and International
Relations at the West Point U. S. Military Academy, N.Y.
Mooradian helped establish a Conflict Studies Curriculum at Yerevan
State University, which now awards both undergraduate and graduate
level degrees. He has been teaching at Yerevan State since 1995 as a
Visiting Professor and has developed a Long Distance Learning Center
there so that students may receive instruction from the U.S. as well as
Yerevan. He has also served as an unofficial advisor to the Minister
of Foreign Affairs and has been a Fulbright Scholar to Armenia.
Dr. Mooradian is a former member of NAASR’s Board of Directors.
More information on Dr. Mooradian’s lecture or seminar or about NAASR
and its programs for the furtherance of Armenian studies, research, and
publication may be had by calling 617-489-1610, by fax at 617-484-1759,
by e-mail at [email protected], or by writing to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave.,
Belmont, MA 02478.

Today.az, Azerbaijan
Aug 19 2005
Gyultekin Hadjiyeva: “I do not believe global changes to be
introduced in report of international crisis group”
19 August 2005 [11:13] – Today.Az
“The report of the International Crisis Group (ICG) was actually
far from the reality, therefore I am not sure, the document will be
entirely unbiased”.
Deputy Gyultakin Hadjiyeva told Trend about it.
The International Crisis Group will prepare two reports on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and disseminate them in September. Some
recommendations are included in the reports, reflecting the situation
in Azerbaijan and Armenia. A workshop, dedicated to the discussion of
this report took place in Tbilisi. At the closed door event, where
along with the International Crisis Group experts, representatives
of Azerbaijan and Armenia also took part, preliminary standpoints on
the report’s essence and details became known.
Hadjiyeva, involved in the workshop as the expert from Azerbaijan,
said, partial position was demonstrated on the Nagorno-Karabakh
issue. Biased attitude to the conflict and attempts to solve it
beyond the frames of the international law and regulations caused
the concern of the Azerbaijani side. Therefore, the deputy said
she adheres to the same opinion of the report to be made public in
September, as before. “Certainly, one should not voice the opinion
before the report is issued. However, I do not think, global
changes have been introduced in this document. Probably, changes,
supplements of a technical character. Perhaps, also, for the period
passed after the workshop in Tbilisi the ICG will study the situation
related to Karabakh deeper and will come to the unbiased, impartial
position in regard of the conflict. However, taking into account the
reality, existing up to now, personally I do not believe there will
be serious changes in favour of Azerbaijan, i.e. in accordance with
the international law.”, Hadjiyeva said.
The deputy noted, although she does not know about the reaction of
the government of Azerbaijan in regard of the report, to be made
public in September, she will declare a protest on her own behalf.
The vice president of the International Crisis Group Alain Deletroz
will arrive in Baku on 8-9 September. He is expected to submit a
report, developed by the Organization and about 20 recommendations
to the government of Azerbaijan.
The International Crisis Group studies existing and potential
conflict hotbeds and make its forecasts monthly for solution of
various conflicts.
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Outlook , India
Aug 20 2005
Ganguly suffers shocking defeat from Gooshchapov
>>From our Chess Correspondent Abu Dhabi (UAE) Aug 20 (PTI)
Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly suffered a shocking defeat at
the hands of Grandmaster Alexander Gooshchapov of Ukraine in the
fifth round of the Master’s section of Abu Dhabi International Chess
Festival here.
Grandmaster Ashot Anastasian of Armenia shot into sole lead with an
emphatic victory over GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan of Iran. The Armenian
took his tally to an impressive 4.5 points and is now trailed by five
players including Goloshchapov on 4 points. Ganguly, after the loss,
remained on 3 points.
Candidate International Masters Parimarjan Negi and Abhijeet Gupta
raised visions of a good finish on a much better day for the other
Indians in the fray. Negi drew with much higher rated Azerbaijani
International Master Rasul Ibrahimov while Gupta efficiently brushed
aside the challenge of Amanov Mesgen of Turkmenistan to reach three
points each with just four rounds remaining in this US $ 16400 prize
money tournament.
Ganguly was a trifle unlucky as he mishandled a better position to go
down. Playing against the French defense by Goloshchapov, the current
National Champion got a slight advantage after the opening and went
for an interesting pawn sacrifice in the middle game to initiate an
attack against the King. Goloshchapov found some solace in the trading
of queens even though his pawn structure was decidedly fractured in
the process.
At one point in the middle game Ganguly had a choice to take a draw
by repetition of position but the Indian simply tried too hard to
force matters.

Armenian president, US party leader discuss reforms, regional issues
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
19 Aug 05
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan met Howard Dean, chairman of the
National Committee of the Democratic Party of the USA, in Yerevan
today.
The sides discussed the implementation of reforms in the political
and economic spheres in Armenia and the situation in the South
Caucasus. Armenian-US relations are dynamically expanding, Kocharyan
said. The Armenian president rated highly the US support for reforms
in Armenia. The USA has made a significant contribution to all fields,
the president said.
At the request of the quest, the Armenian president informed him of
Armenia’s approaches to regional problems, as well as progress in
the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict and Armenia-Turkey
relations.

Armenian leader, Council of Europe official discuss constitutional reforms
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
19 Aug 05
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and the president of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Rene van der Linden,
have discussed the progress of fulfilment Armenia’s commitments to the
Council of Europe and especially the process of constitutional reforms.
The Armenian president said he was confident that the constitutional
reforms were important for Armenia in the first place. Kocharyan said
constitutional reforms were part of his election platform back in
1998 and that they were to ensure balanced relations between different
branches of powers.
Kocharyan rated highly the assistance of the [Council of Europe]
Venice Commission and said the reforms should fully meet European
standards. A referendum [on constitutional reforms] due to be held
in November is of special importance for Armenia and the authorities
will be consistent in order to achieve success, Kocharyan said.

Today.az, Azerbaijan
Aug 19 2005
Agreement on military partnership signed between Azerbaijan and
Latvia
19 August 2005 [09:29] – Today.Az
The visit of the minister of defense of Azerbaijan, general-colonel
Safar Abiyev to Latvia finished. The visit was realized on invitation
of the minister of defense of Latvia Eynars Repsher.
According to the information given to APA from the press-service of
the Ministry of Defense, a meeting was conducted between S.Abiyev and
the commander of the National Armed Forces of Latvia, Vice-admiral
Gaydis Andreys Zeybots during the visit. Safar Abiyev also met with
the minister of defense of Latvia Eynars Repsher on that day.
The minister of defense of Azerbaijan gave information about the
partnership of our country with NATO, participation of Azerbaijan in
the international anti-terror coalition and the Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict: ~SWe believe that all countries will recognize Armenia as an
invader country sooner and require it to leave the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan will restore its territorial
integrity and we will not give even one inch of our land to Armenia.
All occupied lands including Nagorno Karabakh must be returned back
to Azerbaijan. Only after this we can agree to give autonomy to
Nagorno Karabakh and guarantee security of its population and
development of the economy~T. E.Repsher, in his turn, stressed that
Latvia supports territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and valued highly
Azerbaijan~Rs participation in the peace-forming mission.
After the meeting, the ministers signed an agreement on partnership
in the field of defense between the Ministries of Defense of Latvia
and Azerbaijan. The agreement intends experience interchange in
connection with participation in the measures conducted in the frame
of the ~SPartnership for Peace~T program and NATO, defense policy and
strategy, commanding and management, supporting international peace
and humanitarian operations, military construction and military
reforms, partnership in the military education, military-technical,
military-scientific and other fields.
Besides, S.Abiyev also met with the chairman of the Sejm of Latvia
lady Ingirida Udre, minister of foreign affairs Artis Pabriks and
chairman pf the Defense and internal affairs committee of the Sejm of
Latvia Yuris Dalbinsh. S.Abiyev also was acquainted with the activity
of the Quest-Rescue Service Center acting inside Military Naval
Forces of Latvia.
URL: