Russia strengthens contacts with Armenia

ITAR-TASS News Agency
March 21, 2005

MOSCOW, March 21 — Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Armenian
counterpart Robert Kocharyan have exchanged messages on the occasion
of a festival “The Year of the Russian Federation” that opened in
Armenia on Monday,

“Russia invariably attaches great importance to strengthening
of friendly contacts with Armenia – its reliable and strategic
partner,” President Putin said in a message addressed to his Armenian
counterpart. “I am confident that the Year of Russia in Armenia will
promote further rapprochement of the two countries, development of
friendship and a direct dialogue between our people. Events devoted
to the 60th anniversary of victory in World War II are of particular
importance in the program of the festival. That is a tribute paid to
the exploit and heroism of all those who shoulder-to shoulder fought
against fascism,” Putin said in the message.

For his part, the Armenian president said in his message that the
decision to hold the Year of the Russian Federation in Armenia in
2005 offered broad opportunities to develop Russo- Armenian contacts,
promote full realization of the political, economic and cultural
potential in cooperation between the fraternal people. ” I am confident
that the Year of Russia in Armenia will help enrich the agenda of
the Russo- Armenian cooperation with new ideas and projects. Armenia
is very fond of Russia art and it is looking forward to a meeting
with Russian workers of culture, meetings between representatives
of science and education, business communities and regions that are
great practical importance.

The festival “The Year of Russia in Armenia” that coincides with the
celebrations of the 60th anniversary of victory over fascism is of
symbolic significance. This heroic page in our common history linked
the fates of our people and brought them closer together,” President
Kocharyan said in his message.

Azerbaijan president sure that Karabakh settlement is possible
By Sevindzh Abdullayeva, Viktor Shulman

ITAR-TASS News Agency
March 21, 2005

BAKU, March 21 — Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev hopes that 2005
proves important for settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and
is sure that possibilities for that are not exhausted.

“I want to hope that progress will be achieved on this track,” he
said at celebrations of Novruz Bairam festivity in Baku on Monday.

He stressed that “diplomatic successes of Azerbaijan and its political
steps to settle the conflict have created a new situation in the
negotiation process and can positively influence it”.

“Azerbaijan wants to restore the territorial integrity on the basis of
the international law and to do it in a peaceful ways,” Aliyev said,
referring to a six-year war of Azerbaijan and its mostly Armenian
breakaway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“If, however, we are unable to reach a fair resolution of the conflict
on the basis of the negotiations, a new situation will arise and
Azerbaijan will take up other variants of settlement,” Aliyev added.

He stressed that Azerbaijan would be able to solve its problems by
enhancing its economic potential, strengthening its army and improving
the well-being of people.

“We must make Azerbaijan a strong and rich state,” Aliyev said.

He outlined a concept of development of the country, stressing that
national interests of other states should be secured and mutually
beneficial relations with all friendly neighbour countries established.

Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili’s wife Sandra took part in
the celebrations.

She arrived in Azerbaijan for a three-day visit at the invitation of
the Azerbaijani president’s wife Mikhriban Aliyeva.

Agency WPS
The Russian Oil and Gas Report (Russia)
March 21, 2005, Monday

THE US IS AVERSE TO PRIVATIZATION OF GEORGIAN GAS PIPELINES

The US, which is attentively watching the actions of Tbilisi, is
trying to prevent Gazprom from acquisition of control over the
Georgian trunk gas pipelines. Georgian State Minister Kakha
Bendukidze, supporter of privatization, is convinced that thus
Americans wish to get rid of a potential competitor.

In February 2005, President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili announced
that the country might sell its pipeline system and was negotiating
on this with Gazprom. Now Gazprom uses the Georgian pipelines
belonging to the state for gas transit to Turkey and Armenia.
Throughput capacity of the pipelines is about 7-8 billion cubic
meters of gas per year. The pipes are seriously worn out and their
repair requires investment of $200 million within the next five
years. The current gas flow via Georgia is 50% less than the gas flow
during the Soviet times.

On March 17, American Ambassador to Georgia Richard Miles announced
that Georgian privatization “should not create problems for strategic
interests and security of the country.” According to Miles, the
system of Georgian trunk gas pipelines should remain in state
ownership because a private owner would become a monopoly by
definition. In response ideologist of the Georgian privatization,
State Minister for Economic and Structural Reforms Kakha Bendukidze,
said that in reality Miles was concerned not about security of
Georgia but about possible growth of competition on the part of
Gazprom. According to Bendukidze, Americans undertook lobbying of
interests of investors of the South Caucasian gas pipeline being
built from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field to Turkey, reserves of
the offshore Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea amount to 1 trillion
cubic meters of natural gas and 300 million cubic meters of gas
condensate. Participants of the project worth $3.2 billion are
British BP (25.5%), Norwegian Statoil (25.5%), Azerbaijani SOCAR
(10%), LUKAgip belonging to LUKoil (10%), Iranian NICO (10%) and
Turkish TPAO (9%).

Roman Gotseridze, chair of the financial budget committee of the
Georgian parliament and opponent of sale of the Georgian pipelines to
Gazprom, is convinced that in any case “we should not privatize the
pipelines until the energy security of the country is insured.”
Gotseridze explains that acquisition of the gas pipelines by Russia
may strengthen dependence of Georgia on Russian fuel. Thus, when
Gazprom buys the pipelines it will be able to prevent access of
Azerbaijani gas (the Shah Deniz project makes such provisions) to
Georgia. Gotseridze also explains that from the commercial standpoint
the worn out Georgian gas pipelines cannot be interesting for
Gazprom, which means that the company wants to buy them for purposes
different from business. Along with this, adds Gotseridze, such deal
will guarantee gas supplies to “Russia’s strategic partner Armenia.”
According to him, the parliament does not support the privatization
and only Bendukidze advocates it in the government.

Lev Snykov from Sovlink Securities states that the US tries to hinder
expansion of Gazprom in Georgia proceeding from political reasons.
The expert concludes that for the US Georgia is a transit route for
Caspian fuel that is why the US is not interested in broadening of
Gazprom’s presence in Georgia.

Gazprom started negotiations on a possibility to privatize Georgian
trunk gas pipelines back in 2003 with the government of Eduard
Shevardnadze. At that time member of the Executive Board of Gazprom
Mikhail Axelrod said that the company was interested in acquisition
of the Georgian trunk gas pipelines to export gas to Turkey and
Armenia through them. On March 17, a spokesperson for Gazprom
confirmed that his company was still interested in acquisition of the
Georgian gas pipelines.

Source: Vedomosti, March 18, 2005

Armenian authorities arrest three men in connection with U.S. smuggling case
By AVET DEMOURIAN

AP Worldstream
Mar 21, 2005

Armenian authorities have arrested three men in connection with an
alleged plot uncovered by U.S. authorities to smuggle Russian military
weapons into the United States, a top security official said Monday.

The three suspects allegedly worked with Artur Solomonyan, an Armenian
who was among 18 people charged by U.S. authorities earlier this month
in an alleged scheme to smuggle grenade launchers, shoulder-fired
missiles and other Russian military weapons into the United States,
said Grach Arutyunian, a National Security Service official.

He said no weapons have been smuggled out of Armenia, where the
Russian military has a base, and there was no evidence indicating
Russian soldiers were involved in the scheme.

Arutyunian said the three suspects arrested in Armenia _ Spartak
Elibekian, Armen Barekamian and Grigor Martirosian _ had helped take
digital pictures of weapons at Solomonyan’s request at an Armenian
military base. A check has shown that no weapons have been smuggled
from the base, Arutyunian told reporters.

He didn’t say when the arrests were made.

The arrests of suspects in the United States resulted from a year-long
investigation in which an FBI informant posed as an arms buyer who
claimed to have ties to al-Qaida. Using a digital camera, members
of the ring, which included Armenians and South Africans, provided
pictures of the weapons they said they had available for sale,
prosecutors said.

Husband, dad fought to keep family in U.S.
By Virginia Culver, Denver Post Staff Writer

Denver Post, CO
March 21 2005

Max Noland worked for years to keep his wife and her sons from being
deported to Armenia, but he died before that goal could be assured.

Noland, 55, died March 7 from injuries suffered in a fall from a roof
he was working on in Durango.

He was a person of “deep principles and always reliable,” said Pete
Whiskeman, whose home Noland was renovating when he died.

Whiskeman has stepped up to head the team carrying on the battle to
keep Noland’s wife and children in the United States.

Noland, who was a painter and photographer as well as a construction
worker, married Nvart Idinyan in 1999 in Craig.

“We met on a blind date and didn’t like each other at first,” Idinyan
said. “We fought the whole evening.”

Noland picked the movie, she hated it, and by the time the evening
was over, Idinyan considered Noland “a jerk.”

But he asked her out the next night, and they fell in love and were
“never apart again,” she said.

He adopted two of her sons and was in the process of adopting her
youngest son. He spent hours with the boys, teaching them English
before they started school in Ridgway.

Noland took up his wife’s cause in trying to clear up visa disputes
with the federal government.

Residents of Ouray joined the fight, and altogether the family and
supporters have spent an estimated $100,000 to keep the family from
being deported, Whiskeman said. Idinyan has said the family faces
persecution danger if they return to their native Armenia.

Lloyd “Max” Noland was born Aug. 11, 1949, in Birmingham, Ala., where
he graduated from high school. He served in the Navy in Vietnam and
lived in Texas before coming to Ouray.

He worked for Vanden Branden Construction Co. of Placerville.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his wife’s sons, Joseph
Sargsyan of Ouray, Hyak Sargsyan of Ridgway and Gevorg Sargsyan of
Boulder; his parents, Tom and Charlotte Weaver of Birmingham, Ala.;
his brother, Ross W. Smith of Baltimore; and three sisters, Charlotte
Rose and Kitty Graff of Birmingham, and Martha Bolton of Abingdon, Va.

Congressional Record: March 17, 2005

A TRIBUTE TO FLORA DUNAIANS, 29TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT WOMAN OF THE
YEAR–2005

______

HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF

of california

in the house of representatives

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Women’s History
Month. Each year, we pay special tribute to the contributions and
sacrifices made by our Nation’s women during the month of March. It is
an honor to pay homage to outstanding women who are making a difference
in my Congressional District.
I would like to recognize an outstanding woman in my Congressional
District, Ms. Flora Dunaians. For many years, Flora has brought an
abounding spirit and energy to her service in the community. Those
fortunate enough to meet and work with Flora instantly recognize her
enthusiasm and passion for helping others, especially on behalf of the
Armenian American community and the arts.
Born and raised in Pasadena, Flora Jane Calusdian married George
Dunaians in 1958 and they had 2 daughters, Gigi and Suzie. In 1968 the
Dunaians formed their own business, Western Medical Supply, Inc., where
Flora is currently the Vice President and Secretary.
Flora is devoted to her church and community. For over 40 years,
Flora has been active at St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Apostolic
Church, serving as Trustee and member of the St. Gregory Auxiliary. On the
occasion of the visit of His Holiness Vasken I, Catholicos of All Armenians
to the United States in
1987, Flora and George donated to the new cathedral fund for the
Diocese. In 1988 following the devastating earthquake in Armenia, the
Dunaians arranged for donated emergency goods to be flown to Yerevan on
Armand Hammer’s private plane. She has been involved in many church-
related projects throughout the Diocese, such as the Operation Karabakh
Fund, Operation Winter Rescue and Operation Fuel, and continues to
support various projects throughout the Diocese and the Holy See of
Etchmiadzin.
Constantly finding ways to improve the social condition for children
in Armenia, Flora co-founded Developmental Services for Armenia, a non-
profit organization that helps schools, orphanages and short term
projects. She also established and continues to support a dental clinic
at the Nork Military Academy in Yerevan.
Flora and George are both founding members of the Consulate of the
Republic of Armenia in Los Angeles. Flora is also a board member of the
Armenian Assembly of America, the National Board of Team Armenia, and
the Armenian Professional Society, where she and her husband have
opened their home to raise funds for student scholarships for the last
25 years.
In addition to her extensive community service, Flora is a supporter
of the Arpa Foundation for Film, Music and Art, the Pasadena Playhouse,
and the New York Foundation for the Arts.
I ask all Members to join me today in honoring an outstanding woman
of California’s 29th Congressional District, Flora Dunaians. The entire
community joins me in thanking Flora for her success and continued
efforts toward making the 29th Congressional District a more enjoyable
place in which to live and work.

ARMENIAN DIOCESE IN GEORGIA REQUESTS THAT ACTS OF VANDALISM AND OFFENSE TO THE DEAD BE PUT AN END TO

TBILISI, MARCH 21, NOYAN TAPAN. The conflict surrounding the Armenian
Church Norashen is gaining new momentum and the frontiers of trust,
it seems, are being left far behind. After the attention it attracted
in relation to the “fake tombstones with Georgian inscriptions”,
which are still not taken away from the church’s yard, Georgian
Church officials convincingly assured the Armenian Diocese that the
Georgian Patriarchate had best intentions for a positive resolve of
the Norashen question and that the actions of Father Tariel were
very much his own. However, according to the Armenian Diocese in
Georgia, just a few days later, Father Abgar, Deputy Head of the
Armenian Diocese in Georgia, witnessed the undertaking of new works
by the Georgian clergy and handymen in front of the Armenian Church
Norashen (digging of holes, planting of trees etc.). Despite the
earlier agreement, the appropriation efforts aimed at the Armenian
Church of Norashen continue secretly, probably with the intention to
put the Armenian Diocese in front of a fait accompli. The Georgian
priest Tariel (the same who had destroyed famous frescoes from the
Hovnatanyan school and Armenian khatshkars) stated: “The land is ours,
hence the church is ours and we do what we want and what I have been
told. Leave us in peace, you are getting on our nerves…” Against the
backdrop of the Norashen problem, the Armenian Diocese in Georgian
is worried about a growing anti-Armenism in Georgia (where according
to official figures from 1989 about 500.000 Armenians live), which
finds expresses in the form of anti-Armenian propaganda in Georgian
mass-media, such as in the Georgian Times of 24.02.2005: “Armenians
do anything to undercut the formation of Georgia as a state… and
this is why it is necessary to create a one-nation-state”, “if the
Armenians had the material means, they would destroy our language”,
“I don’t remember one single time, when Armenians did something good
for Georgia”, “a Georgianised Armenian can never become a Georgian,
he will always strive to power. The clearest example for this is
the Georgian President himself”. The Diocese is furthermore worried
about the continuous acts of vandalism that Armenian cemeteries are
subjected to in Georgia. The century old cemetery of Vera, in Tbilisi,
has been almost completely destroyed in the past 17 years. The graves
of well known politicians, generals, professors and poets, who were
not just Armenians but who played an important role in historical
Georgia are being annihilated. And the latest horrendous news, reaching
the Press Office, are from Dusheti (a provincial town in Georgia),
where yet another Armenian cemetery has become the victim of acts
of vandalism. The Armenian Diocese in Georgia requests that acts of
vandalism and offense to the dead be put an end to. It asks not to
impede the fruitful dialogue between the Georgian Patriarchate and the
Armenian Catholicosate, which is undercut by the unqualified actions
of Father Tariel, resulting in a negative impact on the century old,
brotherly relationship between the two churches. The Diocese hopes to
attract the attention of the international community to this situation.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CIS FOREIGN MINISTERS REJECT AZERBAIJAN’S PROPOSAL TO INCLUDE
PROVISION ON SEPARATISM IN DECISIONS ON FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM

MINSK, MARCH 21, NOYAN TAPAN. The delegation headed by the RA Deputy
Foreign Minister Gegham Gharibjanian paricipated in a regular sitting
of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the CIS member states in Minsk
on March 18. The sitting was chaired by the RF Foreign Minister,
Chairman of the Council Sergei Lavrov. The process of the work on
imrovement and reforms of the CIS structures was under discussion.
The document submitted was approved, a decision was made to continue
this process. According to the RA Foreign Ministry Press and
Information Department, during the discussion of the draft decision
on the concept of CIS member states cooperation in the fight against
terrorism and other violent manifestations of extremism, as well of the
draft decision on the program of CIS member states cooperation in the
fight against terrorism and other violent manifestations of extremism,
the Azeri side proposed to include a provision on “separatism” in the
documents, in which it was joined by the delegations of Ukraine,
Moldova and Georgia. The Armenian delegation’s head suggested
adopting the document in the version previously agreed by the
experts. He explained the Armenian position using the argument that
there is no internationally recognized notion of “separatism”. The
proposal of Azerbaijan was not accepted by the other CIS states and
was formulated as a reservation by the delegations of the 4 above
mentioned states. At the CIS Foreign Ministers’s Council sitting, the
RF delegation officially submitted a draft memorandum on the CIS member
states cooperation in the humanitarian sphere. After being dicussed in
the states, the draft will be submitted for discussion at an unofficial
summit of the heads of the CIS states to be held in Moscow on May 8.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Better relations that hark back to the imperial era

The Times Supplement
March 21, 2005

Michael Binyon on the indelible legacy of the Ottoman Empire

Some 26 countries with seats in the United Nations were once under the
sway, in varying degrees, of the Ottoman Empire. And the legacy of
this rule, lasting in some cases for 400 years, is indelible – be it
buildings, laws or cultural and culinary traditions of a world that
stretched from Morocco to the Gulf, from the gates of Vienna to Yemen.

The shrinking of the empire was a melancholy, long withdrawal as the
provinces broke away – by war, through colonial conquest or after
the empire’s final collapse in 1918.

Many of the newly independent states tried to bolster their individual
credibility with strident opposition to Turkey and the Ottoman past.
Greece, Serbia, the Arab world and the Balkans have all incited
popular emotion against the Turks.

Times have changed. Astute diplomacy has strengthened Turkey’s links
with its neighbours.

Reconciliation with Greece has been recent but spectacular. Turkey’s
size and economic strength gives it a regional weight that has proved
influential. Turkey has also begun, cautiously, to explore links
with its neighbours that hark back to imperial days.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the field of culture. Istanbul is
the most vibrant city got 1,000 kms in any direction. At a crossroads
between East and West, it is well placed as a centre where cultures
interact.

There has been a steady growth in regional links. The city is
reaching out to its old constituency. Arab writers and film-makers,
restricted in what they can say or show at home with censorship and
social taboos, feel freer in Istanbul. They come from Cairo or
Damascus, Tunis and Amman to take . up residence in a city that is
sufficiently Muslim and eastern to provide a familiar framework but
far more in touch with European culture than their own capitals.

Turkey is also reaching out to its Balkan neighbours. As one
intellectual remarked: “Every Turk has some ancestral connection.
There is a homesickness for these lands running through our music
and literature.”

The old connections were strikingly revealed during the Bosnian
wars. Turkey took in a million Bosnian refugees seeking shelter.
Turkey also took steps to save the physical heritage damaged by war.
After its destruction, the famous bridge at Mostar, built in 1556,
was rebuilt by Turkish engineers.

There is no unifying language; the Ottoman empire was itself polyglot
and did not insist on the use of Turkish everywhere. Northern Cyprus
is the only fully Turkish area outside Turkey, and the cultural,
political and ethnic connection to the mainland is as strong as it
is controversial. Dervis Denis, Turkey’s Minister of Tourism, says
that Ankara is giving help to Northern Cyprus to develop its cultural
assets, pointing out that 90 per cent of the island’s heritage,
including sites important to the Greeks and Christians such as the
Orthodox monastery Apostoilos Andrea, are in the north.

Mehmet Ala Talat, the Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus, says: “Arts
and cultural activities should be used for peacemaking and to make
people create empathy.”

In other areas, Turkey now understands its culture in a broad and less
nationalistic sense and is taking tentative steps in controversial
areas. There is, for example, daily discussion of the Armenian
massacres, with columnists arguing over the claims that this was
genocide.

A museum in Istanbul recently put on a display of sepia postcards
of the Armenian-inhabited towns before the First World, an evocative
reminder of a world whose recall would once have been taboo.

PanArmenian News
March 21 2005

IT IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT FOR US TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE, US
CONGRESSMAN CONSIDERS

21.03.2005 03:52

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Representative James Langevin, a well-known champion
of Armenian issues, is urging President Bush to follow the example
of other leading US public officials and formally recognize the
Armenian Genocide in his statement of remembrance next month, the
Armenian Assembly of America reported. Langevin, in a statement issued
yesterday to Congress, urged Bush to properly label the atrocities
as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans so candidly did during his
meetings with Armenian-Americans throughout the U.S. last month. During
those public exchanges, Evans declared that “the Armenian Genocide
was the first genocide of the twentieth century.” “Therefore,
it is critically important that the United States speak with one
voice in condemning the horrors committed against the Armenians,”
he concluded. In other news, Langevin this week signed his support to
a congressional letter to President Bush, asking that he acknowledge
this crime against humanity.