ARMENIAN-GREEK COOPERATION INCLUDES NEW SPHERES
YEREVAN, AUGUST 9, ARMENPRESS: The Armenian-Greek relations are
developing dynamically including new spheres of cooperation. Besides,
among a set of towns of both countries fraternity memorandums have
been signed.
Verona mayor Nicolas Khartalias and Noyemberian mayor Levon
Mkrtchian called today a press conference at ARF’s Supreme body’s
office during whichthey noted that the cooperation between Verona and
Noyemberian towns started in 2000 and since then the friendly
relations between the towns have been deepening and strengthening more
and more on economic and cultural basis. Verona mayor said that being
in Armenia for the second time he was once again convinced that the
cooperation between the towns will be maintained. He said Verona is
ready to support Noyemberian in solution of the issues it is facing.
Last year with their support the Noyemberian park and this year the
central Zoravar Andranik street were renovated. It has provided 15,000
USD and is going to give another 25,000 for the construction of gym
and a cafe in the town.
On its part the Greek side benefits by importing Armenian culture: the
sides agreed on sending Armenian singing and dancing groups to
Verona. Nikolas Khartalias said besides, Verona benefits from the
contributions of the local Armenian community.
The leader of the Greek Diocese of Armenia, representative of the
Armenian Central Committee Gaspar Karapetian said that September 23 a
memorandum of fraternity will be signed between Greek Nika and
Armenian Ijevan and in October such like memorandum will be signed
between Armenian Alaverdi and Greek Rendis. Karapetian said that in
September the reconstruction of Dilijan hospital which is implemented
with the support of the Greek Foreign Affairs Ministrywhich provided
500,000 euros to Armenia will be finished.
This year with the efforts of the ARF’s Greek central committee the
Greek side will provide 1.6 million euros for the implementation of 4
programs – construction of maternity hospital in Akhurian,
construction of school for Greek in Yerevan, organization of training
program for teachers in Gyumri and repair of agricultural engineering
in Armavir province. For the next year the Greek Foreign Affairs
Ministry will provide 1.5-2 million euros which will be directed
towards creation of working places.

09 Aug 2005

Azerbaijan politics: Orange squash
COUNTRY BRIEFING
FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT
Azerbaijan’s authorities, eager to forestall a repeat of Ukraine’s
“Orange revolution” at their parliamentary elections in November, have
arrested the leader of the main youth opposition group; they also seem
to be increasing the pressure on independent media. These moves, just
two months after the lifting of a ban on public demonstrations,
underline the sense of unease with President Ilham Aliyev’s
regime–even though the opposition look ill-prepared to seize power by
votes or violence.
In the wake of Azerbaijan’s 2003 presidential election, which was
widely regarded as fraudulent and brought Mr Aliyev to power in his
father’s stead, Azerbaijan’s authorities imposed a ban on public
demonstrations. The move was taken in response to a series of bloody
clashes between opposition activists and the police. Subsequent
opposition attempts at public rallies were forcibly repressed, mostly
recently in late May 2005, when police arrested between 45 and 300
people ahead of a rally that numbered several thousand.
Letting off (too much) steam
In June, and perhaps under pressure from the US administration to
observe some basic democratic norms, the authorities lifted the ban on
demonstrations. An estimated 10,000 participated in a rally in Baku on
June 4th that called for regime change and warned the authorities not
to attempt to manipulate the results of the parliamentary election
scheduled for November this year. Two weeks later an estimated 20,000
demonstrators returned to the streets of the capital in a protest
organised by three leading opposition parties–Musavat (Equality), the
reformist wing of the Party of the Popular Front of Azerbaijan (PPFA)
and the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan (DPA). As before, many
participants wore orange clothing to evoke links with the Ukrainian
popular protests that ensured Viktor Yushchenko became president in
spite of official efforts to steal the election. A third major
demonstration, held on July 10th, brought an estimated 18,000-20,000
opposition supporters onto the streets. Later that month, the
coalition began selecting joint candidates to contest seats in the
parliamentary election.
It appears that the momentum generated by the opposition, although
limited, has unnerved Azerbaijan’s government. In late July the
authorities began preparations for the election by launching what the
opposition claims is a smear campaign conducted via state-controlled
television against Ali Kerimli, the leader of the PPFA. Arguably, this
was inevitable in the run-up to the election. The authorities’ latest
move, however, was more surprising and it smacks of an over-reaction:
on August 7th Ruslan Bashirli, the leader of the youth group Yeni
Fikir (New Thought) was arrested on charges of plotting a coup in
league with Armenian special services and the US-based National
Democratic Institute (NDI).
Mr Bashirli’s group is modelled on the youth movements that played a
catalysing role in the “popular revolutions” in Serbia, Ukraine and
Georgia. The charges against him are reminiscent of others levelled
against Azerbaijan’s opposition leaders now in exile. The alleged
connection with Armenia paints Mr Bashirli in a very bad light
domestically, given the unresolved conflict between Azerbaijan and
Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. The inclusion of the NDI in the alleged
coup plot draws on conspiracy theories–espoused by many CIS
governments–that insist the US masterminded political change in
Georgia, Ukraine and the Kyrgyz Republic and plans to topple other CIS
regimes.
Since Mr Bashirli’s arrest there have been clashes between pro-Aliyev
and Yeni Fikir/PPFA supporters outside a building that houses several
independent and opposition media outlets. On August 8th the editors of
those newspaper and agencies issued an international appeal, saying
that their building was in danger of being overrun and asking for
pressure to be put on the authorities to guarantee media freedom,
particularly in the run-up to the election.
Oil versus freedom
The authorities’ latest moves to crack down on the opposition are not
dissimilar to the tactics employed in the past–breaking up opposition
rallies, harassing independent and opposition media, using the full
weight of the state apparatus to support the main ruling party, Mr
Aliyev’s Yeni (New) Azerbaijan Party (YAP), and preventing opposition
leaders from contesting elections. For instance, seven prominent
opposition activists were sentenced in October 2004 to prison terms of
between two and five years, on charges of inciting violence in the
aftermath of the 2003 presidential election. The authorities wanted to
keep these leaders out of politics until after the parliamentary
election, but have bowed to outside pressure to release them.
Nevertheless, the convictions have not been revoked, so the opposition
leaders are unable to stand in the forthcoming parliamentary election.
In this context, the decision to arrest Mr Bashirli and to disrupt is
hardly surprising. Western states, principally the US government, were
only mildly critical of the election process that brought Mr Aliyev to
power despite well-founded criticisms by international observers. This
laid the US and its allies open to accusations of a double-standard,
because it appeared willing to tolerate a non-democratic regime in
Baku so long as multi-billion-dollar oil investments in Azerbaijan
remained secure. However, it is arguable that the situation is no
longer so favourable for Mr Aliyev. The US has become more assertive
in its promotion of democracy within the past year and there is an
expectation that Azerbaijan’s president, as a young moderniser, will
be more liberal in the political sphere than his father.
The US has called for the parliamentary election to be free and fair
and to meet international standards; the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan,
Reno Harnish, says that the US will provide US$7m towards the cost of
the ballot. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
has also hinted that if the November election is marred by electoral
fraud it may consider temporarily suspending Azerbaijan’s mandate. In
this context, it may be that the arrest of Mr Bashirli–on charges that
are likely to be met with incredulity among Western governments–is a
step too far for Azerbaijan’s government.
The domino’s not for toppling
Mr Bashirli’s arrest betrays nervousness on the part of the
authorities ahead of the parliamentary election. This is slightly
surprising because the conditions in Azerbaijan are much less
favourable for the opposition than was the case in Georgia and Ukraine.
First, the opposition is still far from united and has generally
proved to be ineffectual. It will not take much for any new-found
sense of unity in the opposition to crumble, nor does Azerbaijan have
the depth of civil society development that has often proved to be a
necessary base for political change.
Second, the anti-government demonstrations organised by the opposition
following the 2003 presidential election discredited the main
opposition groups in the eyes of the public, largely because the
demonstrations resulted in violence, leaving many Azerbaijanis afraid
of a return to the instability of the early 1990s. Indeed, the public
is wary of many of the leading opposition figures, since they are
associated with the leadership of the early 1990s that brought the
country to the brink of civil war. Although Mr Kerimli, the PPFA
leader, is not tainted by having served in government in the early
1990s, he still does not have sufficient support as yet to put any
significant pressure on Mr Aliyev.
Third, the security services and other state agencies appear to be
loyal to the president. This was demonstrated most notably in the
aftermath of the 2003 presidential election, when the police and
security services violently dispersed demonstrators who were
protesting against the election result. Moreover, the government’s
control over the state apparatus allows it to exert a high degree of
influence over the final election results.
Nevertheless, the ouster of Askar Akayev as president of the Krygyz
Republic demonstrated the potential for a regime to crumble in the
face of mass street protests, even if the opposition is barely united,
civil society is little developed and the president tightly controls
the state apparatus (including the army and police). The chances that
Azerbaijan will see a repeat of the Orange revolution were and remain
slim; Mr Bashirli’s arrest shows that the authorities want to lengthen
the odds still further–and that they are not particularly concerned
whether the country’s image is damaged in the process.
SOURCE: ViewsWire Eastern Europe

CIS MILITARY REPRESENTATIVES TO DISCUSS AIR SECURITY ISSUES
09.08.2005 04:13
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today a conference of CIS MOD representatives on
issues of use and enhancement of a joint system of radar recognition
of air, above-water and ground objects is opening in Moscow. As
reported by the CIS Military Headquarters, the joint radar recognition
secures air force flights of CIS member states, rules out cases of
uncontrolled presence of trespasser objects in the air space, as well
as unintentional hitting of own objects by means of own arms. Providing
the armed forces with a reliable radar recognition of air, above-water
and ground objects is a component of military security of states and a
priority military efficiency enhancement task, CIS Headquarters
representatives consider. Issues demanding working out joint views of
on implementation of intergovernmental agreements are included in the
agenda of the four-day meeting. Military representatives of Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan and Ukraine are expected to take part in the event,
reported Kazinform.

Sunday, August 07, 2005
**********************************
BEFORE AND AFTER
***************************
Because by the age of fourteen I had read the 19th-century Russians, I thought I knew all I needed to know about human nature. I thought, like all Armenians, I was smart, sensitive, good, tolerant, blameless, and so on. Whenever evidence to the contrary presented itself, I thought I should make allowances for a people that have experienced an extensive array of misfortunes imposed on them by conditions, circumstances, and forces beyond their control.
*
My initial intentions might as well have been utopian. I was going to be kind with the uncivil and reasonable with the preposterous. I was not going to make any enemies. I went further: I propagandized with the propagandists, and I kissed posteriors with the brown-nosers. I compromised, or so I thought, in the hope that eventually common sense and decency would prevail.
*
I ignored the lessons of history because I operated in a dream world. I confused wishful thinking with hope, betrayal with concession, reality with Hollywood movies.
*
Disagreement and criticism I understand, insults and threats I don’t. One must be deaf, dumb, and asinine not to see that by insulting and threatening anonymously one exposes oneself as a coward and a bully.
*
I am not an elitist. I don’t feel the need to be for underdogs simply because I have always been one of them. As the offspring of Ottoman refugees I was born and raised in a Greek ghetto that looked like a gypsy encampment. Greeks used to call us “Turkish gypsies.” Southern rednecks would have called us white trash.
*
My prose is not academic or scholarly. It makes no demands on the average reader. And yet, some smart (self-assessed, of course) readers pretend to misunderstand me perhaps because they understand me too well but are too craven to see themselves as they really are.
#
Monday, August 08, 2005
**********************************
Whenever as a boy I would make outrageous assertions, adults would smile at me, and I would think they were smiling at my brilliance. I know now that their smile had nothing to do with admiration and everything to do with sarcasm tinged with pity. “No use explaining things to him,” it said. “Obviously he is not open to reason.”
*
The question I ask myself today is “Who taught and encouraged me to make wild assertions thinking they were brilliant?” The only answer is: I must have been emulating my elders – schoolteachers, parish priests, partisans, panchoonies, charlatans…all of whom dealt in certainties and considered doubt as unpatriotic or unchristian.
*
There are positive and negative role models. With one or two exceptions mine have been negative.
*
The Romans were wrong when they fed Christians to lions, but they were right when they punished the parents for the misdeeds of the child.
*
Bolsheviks under Stalin, Fascists under Mussolini, Nazis under Hitler, Americans under McCarthy: sometimes entire nations experience insanity as surely as individuals.
#
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
**********************************
If you believe in the evidence of your own eyes and use your common sense, you shall have to conclude that the earth is flat, and the sun and the moon are about the same size. It is this type of “logic” that leads some Armenians to believe that the West is corrupt, the Turks Asiatic barbarians and bloodthirsty savages, and Armenians the only truly civilized, smart, progressive, and Christian people.
*
To understand only one side of a story that may have more than one side is to misunderstand it.
*
Some of my readers have been generous in sharing their Ottoman venom. I look forward to the day when they will be equally generous in sharing their Armenian wisdom – assuming of course they can tell the difference between one and the other, which is assuming a great deal.
*
Civics is not a subject we like to talk about. I had an Armenian education and I don’t remember anyone mentioning it. I was taught all about authority and obedience but not about fundamental human rights. I was taught about power but not about abuses of power. I was taught to sing songs about freedom but I was told nothing about free speech.
#
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
******************************************
ENVY
*********
Whenever as a boy I heard rumors to the effect that Jews support Jews but Armenians do not always support Armenians, I dismissed them as exaggerations made by disgruntled failures. I know better now.
*
An Armenian-American composer once told me: “I no longer expect Armenian support. I will be grateful if I don’t get Armenian hostility.”
*
Nothing comes more naturally to an Armenian than to say, “If he is Armenian, he is bound to be a mediocrity.”
*
Speaking of Arshile Gorky, one of our elder statesmen once told me: “When he was alive, no Armenian every bought a single painting of his.”
*
In his ISLAND AND A MAN, Zarian ascribes this Armenian peculiarity to envy. And true enough, most of his contemporaries either ignored or denigrated him.
*
Did Sultan Abdulhamid II’s mother (who was Armenian) say anything in support of her fellow Armenians to him? Or was she the type who rationalized her silence by saying she did not want to get involved in politics?
*
“I don’t want to get involved in politics,” one of our eminent editors (may the good Lord have mercy on his soul) once told me when I raised questions central to our ethos and survival as a nation. He preferred to publish stories about grandmothers and Armenian celebrities who had made it in the odar world – Armenians like Arshile Gorky, Michael Arlen Sr. (who warned his son to stay away from Armenians) and Michael Arlen Jr. (who concludes his PASSAGE TO ARARAT by saying there is no such thing as Armenian culture).
#

JTW Condemns The California Courier Publisher Harut Sassounian
Source: JTW Press Release
Press Release, 9 August 2005
As Journal of Turkish Weekly (JTW) we have been making constructive
publishing on Armenian issue. We have argued that Turkey and Armenia
could be very close partners even allies in the Caucasus. We defended
that the diaspora should be more positive in solving historical
disputes. The JTW has always supported dialogue between Turks and
Armenians. Naturally we have Turkish perspective in comments though we
also publish the other approaches in JTW. The problem is that some of
the ultra extremist Armenians in diaspora cannot bear different ideas
and they blame differences of being lies. We named this Armenian
approach as “shut-up and accept it” approach. Armenian extremist
groups do not want to listen, do not want to discuss, but they just
impose their ideas as truth.
Two days ago JTW published a news titled “Swiss Senate: ‘Genocide’
Allegations is Not Parliament’s Job”. As expected many Armenians did
not share the ideas in the news. Actually it was compiled news and was
reporting Peter Briner’s latest declaration about the Armenian
issue. According to the news reported by Swiss news sources and JTW
Briner said other countries had no business pointing the finger at
Turkey 90 years after the disputed events. Having published the news
we received a letter from Maral Der Ohanesian. We thanked her and
replied our point of view. We exchanged two letters on the report. But
then we received a really rude letter from Harut Sassounian, publisher
of The California Courier, instead of Mrs Maral. It is unfortunate
that Mr. Sassounian’s letter was full of insults. We as the JTW
condemn Harut Sassounian, and we remind him that JTW and our editor
will use all the legal rights regarding the insults. The JTW will
start a legal action in California against this rude letter. However
we consider his letter as a good example to show the extremist
Armenian approach to our readers. Therefore we added his letter below
so all Turks and Armenians could assess how he is constructive and
polite.
Sassounian’s ‘letter’ made us sad. Nevertheless we know that all
Armenians are not the same and we, Turks and Armenians, can find a
base to construct a dialogue environment.
—————–
SASSOUNIAN’S ‘LETTER’
——————-
Sir:
I don’t know what your background or training is, but I am sure you
know nothing about journalism. Your replies to Maral Der Ohanesian
confirm my suspicions about your ignorance. How dare you give a
lecture to her on a subject you know nothing about? Not only your
distorted and perverted version of this news item was full of lies,
every piece of news you have released has been nothing but a pack of
lies. I will be happy to give you one free lesson in journalism: there
is no such thing as Armenian or Turkish journalism. There is only one
kind of universal journalism, which is reporting the truth. What you
added to the … news is not the Turkish point of view, but sheer
lies. Maybe lies ARE the Turkish point of view, in which case you have
a point. I would normally list the lies in your news, but I am sure
you do not need my help, since you know the lies that you have made
up. To report such lies and try to convince others that you are
reporting the truth, you must be truly “sharafsiz”! (*) And you
shamelessly call yourself “Editor” and “Dr.”
Harut Sassounian
Publisher
The California Courier
(*) ‘sharafsiz’ is a Turkish word and it means one who has no honor)
Updated 24/7 – 365 days
Journal of Turkish Weekly is an ISROÂ (USAK) publication
ISRO is an Ankara based NGO
“Statements of facts or opinions appearing in the pages of Journal of
Turkish Weekly (JTW) are not necessarily by the editors of JTW nor do
they necessarily reflect the opinions of JTW or ISRO. The opinions
published here are held by the authors themselves and not necessarily
those of JTW or ISRO.
Materials may not be copied, reproduced, republished, posted without
mentioning the mark of JTW or ISRO in any way except for your own
personal non-commercial home use. For the news and other materials
republished by the JTW you must apply the original publishers. JTW
cannot give permission to republish this kind of materials.”

Azerbaijan set to agree accepting US bases – Russian daily
BBC Monitoring Caucasus
9 August 2005
Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Moscow, in Russian, 3 August 05, p 1, 5
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov’s three-day visit to
Washington has probably to do mostly with the talks on the future
deployment of US bases in Azerbaijan, the Russian daily has suggested.
It said that Uzbekistan’s decision to close the US base strengthened
Azerbaijan’s positions in these talks as President Ilham Aliyev could
now demand the lessening of pressure on his government ahead of the
November parliamentary elections. The following is a text of report by
Sohbat Mammadov and Anatoliy Gordiyenko in Russian newspaper
Nezavisimaya Gazeta on 3 August headlined “US bases will strengthen
Ilham Aliyev’s position. Pentagon set to transfer its aircraft from
Uzbekistan to Azerbaijan”; subheadings as published:
After several years of hesitation, official Baku is nevertheless
inclined to site US military bases on Azerbaijani territory.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta has been told by an informed source in Azerbaijani
security structures that several dozen US military instructors are
already working in Azerbaijan, without advertising their presence.
They have identified two facilities for future bases: one on the
Abseron peninsula, a 30-minute drive from Baku, and the other in the
south of the republic, near the border with Iran.
Gift From Karimov
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov’s three-day visit to
the US, which ends today [1-3 August], has every chance of being
epochal in resolving this tricky issue for Baku. Moreover, strange
though it may seem, Uzbek President Islom Karimov has played an
important role in expediting the US-Azerbaijani accords. By demanding
that the USA’s Qarshi-Xonobod airbase, which the USA has been actively
using since autumn 2001 in order to support its antiterrorist
operation in Afghanistan, be removed from Uzbekistan’s territory
within 180 days, Karimov has forced the Pentagon to hastily seek
another springboard and a new, more reliable and predictable ally.
Not necessarily in Central Asia, but at least nearby. Everything
points to Azerbaijan becoming that ally. In the light of this, Islom
Karimov has unwittingly given a downright lavish gift to his
Azerbaijani colleague Ilham Aliyev by seriously strengthening his
position in the long-standing bargaining with the Americans.
As is well known, Washington has long been pushing the idea of
deploying a military base in Azerbaijan. There remains a minor detail
– a political decision by President Aliyev to give the green light for
implementation of the idea. An informed source in circles close to the
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has told Nezavisimaya Gazeta on condition
that he remain anonymous that the involvement of Mammadyarov in
discussing this issue “could signify that the problem is switching to
the political dimension”.
In the source’s opinion, the situation is that “the political decision
required by Washington is practically ripe, and President Aliyev will
eventually agree to deploying a US military contingent in the
country.” But not just for the sake of it, but in exchange for a
lessening of US pressure on Aliyev over very sensitive issues for him
concerning the observance of democratic standards in the forthcoming
November parliamentary election.
Wide Range of Issues and Secret Mission
Admittedly, officially Baku is insisting that Elmar Mammadyarov, who
hastily travelled across the ocean 1 August after an unscheduled
invitation from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, is discussing
in Washington “the widest range of issues, including the present
status of the peace talks on settling the Karabakh conflict, regional
problems, the development of interstate relations, and, finally, the
forthcoming parliamentary election in Azerbaijan”.
However, most local analysts note that official information about the
visit carefully glosses over the point in the schedule of meetings
relating to Elmar Mammadyarov’s talks with the Pentagon leadership.
However, analysts believe, the main subject of these talks will be not
only general prospects for military cooperation between the two
countries, but also an extremely specific issue – the possibility of
transferring the US airbase from Uzbekistan to Azerbaijan. Evidence in
favour of this theory is the fact that US Defence Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld is expected to pay another working visit to Baku in the next
few days.
However, as before the previous visits to Baku by the Pentagon boss,
Ramiz Malikov, head of the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry’s press
service, is stating that he “possesses no such information”. Touching
on the prospects of the US military base being transferred from
Uzbekistan to Azerbaijan, the head of the press service again confined
himself to a routine remark: Decisions of this kind, he said, are made
by the country’s political leadership, not the military
department. Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov also
essentially gave the same answer, telling journalists that Washington
“has not yet made any” such proposal to official Baku.
But this is not entirely true. During his “quiet and low-profile”
visit back in April at Baku’s Bina airport Rumsfeld closely discussed
the subject of an American military presence in Abseron with his
Azerbaijani counterpart, Safar Abiyev. It was clear even then that the
Pentagon has very specific plans in this regard. Experts from
Stratfor, the American-Israeli centre for strategic forecasts, claimed
at the time that during the initial stage the US military contingent
in Azerbaijan would act as “temporarily stationed mobile forces”. They
even named three local airbases where US fliers will be stationed –
Kurdamir [central Azerbaijan], Nasosnyy and Qala [both near Baku]. The
airstrips there have been modernized in good time to NATO standards
and are now capable of taking all types of aircraft.
According to Stratfor’s forecasters, the US bases in Azerbaijan will
be small, and it is planned to change their contingent “according to
US military needs in the region”. According to the Pentagon’s plans,
the centre’s experts noted, these forces “can be swiftly redeployed
elsewhere to fulfil a task…[ellipsis as published] and will be
capable of handling several strategic missions”.
Uzeir Cafarov, an authoritative independent military expert in Baku,
believes that the issue of these mobile forces is now being studied in
detail in the Azerbaijani foreign minister’s talks at the Pentagon.
“Until now the Azerbaijani leadership has managed by various means to
avoid giving a specific answer to this proposal from Washington. But
Tashkent’s anti-US demarche is clearly spurring both sides to make
urgent decisions,” Uzeir Cafarov has told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. In his
view, “during the first stage the Americans could transfer to Baku
their Qarshi-Xonobod airbase or part of it in the form of mobile
groups and thereby really make Azerbaijan an important Pentagon
bridgehead in the Afghan campaign”.
The likelihood of this development confirms that Azerbaijan has long
been part of the coalition for the antiterrorist operation in
Afghanistan. Admittedly, today this participation is confined to two
spheres: Azerbaijan has allowed its Qala airfield near Baku to be used
to refuel military aircraft transporting coalition humanitarian
freight to Afghanistan, and then sent a squad of its servicemen to
maintain order in Kabul.

Karabakh Republic registers 22-per-cent GDP growth in six months
Mediamax news agency
8 Aug 05
YEREVAN
The GDP of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR] grew by 22.6 per cent
in the first half of 2005 as against the same period of 2004 totalling
20.1bn drams [38.9m dollars].
The GDP mostly grew due to the output of industry (8.4 per cent),
transport and communication (3.3 per cent) and construction (1.7 per
cent), the NKR National Statistics Service told Mediamax today.
In January-June 2005, the volume of the NKR ‘s foreign trade was
28.1bn drams [54.5m dollars], which is 18.2 per cent higher than in
the same period of the last year. Meanwhile, the volume of export was
8.8bn drams [17.1m dollars] (growth 8.5 per cent) and the volume of
import – 19.3bn drams [37.4m dollars] (growth 23.2 per cent).

School of Public Administration to Train Ethnic Minorities
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 2005-08-09 18:37:06
A School of Public Administration named in honor of late Georgian
Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania will start functioning in September,
Education Minister Kakha Lomaia said on August 9.
The school, which is based in Georgias second largest city, Kutaisi,
will mainly focus on training representatives of the ethnic
minorities, as well as residents of Georgia’s mountainous regions.
A total of 300 Azerbaijanis, Armenians and Ossetians will be able to
enroll in the school and after going through the courses, they will be
able to be employed in the local self-governance bodies, Kakha Lomaia
said at a news conference.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Public TV to Start Broadcasting in August
Baku Today
09/08/2005 23:42
The Public TV (PTV) will start broadcasting during August, the Public
TV Director General Ismail Omarov told the news conference on 9
August, Trend reports.
He noted, the PTV proof programs were successfully broadcast and
during August the TV will transmit on the 14-th channel. Two TV
studios equipped with modern facilities are already prepared.
According to Omarov, in terms of its technical equipping the PTV will
be the leading TV channel in Azerbaijan. He also noted, PTV cooperates
with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies for
establishing the mobile 10-camera studio.
PTV is not able to transmit to Nakhchivan, Karabakh,
Zagatali-Belokani, the western and the northern part of
Azerbaijan. However, some months later the translator will be set up
and PTV will be accessible within 98% of the country’s area.
The morning PTV broadcasting will commence with the `New day’ program,
the ` Djarchi’ (`Messenger’) news issue will be broadcastevery three
hours. The PTV broadcasting will be intensive, programs on various
subjects, preparations to the elections and `soap operas’ are in the
pipeline.

A truckload of high-tech help
SMALL BUSINESS
Detroit Free Press
August 8, 2005
BY CAROL CAIN, FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
It wasn’t that Robin Manoogian didn’t have an interest in computers or
technology. Rather, she was so busy running About Face Beauty Spa in
Royal Oak that she didn’t have time to stop and figure out what kind of
computers could help her better manage her shop.
Manoogian, who has done makeup for Aretha Franklin, former President
Bill Clinton and numerous anchors at local TV stations, opened her shop
nine years ago. It’s grown to 19 employees.
With a growing clientele and business, things became more complicated in
recent years. She knew there had to be a better high-tech solution to
keep track of store receipts, store products and the payroll.
But she just didn’t have time to investigate.