Hurriyet, Turkey
Feb 24 2005

ARMENIAN MOTION FROM MERKEL

German Christian Democrats Union leader Angela Merkel, who could not
prevent Turkey from taking a date for EU entry talks, is presenting
an Armenian motion to parliament this time. The motion claims that
Turkey killed 1.5 million Armenians but not confess it.
”This rejective attitude contradicts EU’s view of peace and
forgiveness,” claims the motion.

MosNews, Russia
Feb 24 2005

Georgia Wants to Sell Coastal Pipelines to Russia’s Gazprom

MosNews

Georgia would like to make hundreds of millions of dollars on the
sale of coastal pipelines that supply Russian gas to Georgia and
Armenia. This information was revealed on Thursday, Feb. 24, by
Georgia’s Minister for Economic Reform and former Russian businessman
Kakha Bendukidze.

`We want to sell the coastal pipelines to [Russian gas monopoly]
Gazprom or to a Western investor,’ Bendukidze told Reuters, adding
that the sale would include a clause to guarantee supplies to
Georgia. `The price for the pipeline will not be tens of millions but
hundreds of millions of dollars,’ he said.

He also said the buyer could extend the network, enabling Gazprom to
pipe gas from Russia to Turkey.

The pipelines’ capacity has fallen to 7-8 billion cubic meters
annually since the fall of the Soviet Union, when they supplied 16
billion cubic meters.

Repairs are likely to cost around $200 million, experts say

Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
Feb 24 2005

Armenian women to share International Day of Prayer

Armenian women from all area Armenian churches will gather for a
special women’s service on the International Day of Prayer, March 4,
at the Armenian Memorial Church, 32 Bigelow Ave., Watertown. Held at
11 a.m., the ecumenical service will include an address in Armenian
by Nevart Khederian and one in English by the Rev. Dr. Shoushan
Salibian.

Silva Khoshafian of the First Armenian Church of Belmont,
chairman of the event, reports that women will be observing this Day
of Prayer throughout the world. Serving with her on the committee are
women from seven Armenian churches of all the Armenian faiths. The
Protestant churches are represented by Doris Markarian, Angel
Parseghian and Arpi Boynerian of the Armenian Memorial Church of
Watertown; and Silva Khoshafian and Sossi Haroutunian of the First
Armenian Church of Belmont. Committee members from Armenian Apostolic
churches are Elaine Westermark from Saint James Church of Watertown,
Nevart Khederian of Saint Stephen’s Church of Watertown, Arpi
Kouzouian of Holy Trinity Armenian Church of Cambridge, Liza
Zeytoonian of Metro-West Armenian Church of Framingham, and Margaret
Stepanian of Saint Asdvadzazin Church of Whitinsville. Armenian
Catholics are represented on the committee by Liza Zeytoonian of the
Holy Cross Church of Belmont.

Women from all the Armenian churches are invited to this
inspirational service. This year’s basic worship service was prepared
by the women of Poland and will be repeated in churches all over the
world. Following the service, there will be a lenten luncheon served
in the Arpen Abrahamian Hall of the church. Reservations for the
luncheon, which will cost $5 per person, may be made by calling Silva
Khoshafian at 781-373-3075.

Civil Georgia, Georgia
Feb 24 2005

Chief of Russian Railway Calls for Restoration of Link via Abkhazia

Chief of the state-run Russian Railway Company Genadi Fadeev said
on February 24 that restoration of the railway link through Georgia’s
breakaway republic of Abkhazia `will be the key for resolving
problems in the Caucasus,’ RIA Novosti news agency reported.

The railway link via Abkhazia has been defunct for the past eleven
years, after the armed conflict in the region ended. However, Russia
unilaterally restored rail traffic between Moscow and the Abkhaz
capital of Sokhumi in 2004.

Genadi Fadeev said that the current situation with the railway
communication is absolutely acceptable for Abkhazia. `[Rail] traffic
is organized there,’ he added.

He also said that involved parties should launch talks in order to
restore the railway connection between Russia and Georgia via
Abkhazia, which will also be beneficial for Armenia.

EurasiaNet
Feb 24 2005

ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS FACE UNCERTAIN TIMES
Samvel Martirosyan 2/24/05

Despite Moscow’s strong interest in Armenia’s energy sector,
officials in Yerevan worry that the Kremlin is considering a policy
realignment that would enhance Azerbaijan’s stature at the expense of
the Russian-Armenian special strategic relationship.

The main source of Yerevan’s concern is a planned railway project
that would connect Iran to Russia via Azerbaijan. Armenian officials
fear that the railway, if built according to current plans, would
deepen Armenia’s regional economic isolation. The proposed Kazvin
(Iran) – Astara (Azerbaijan) line would skirt Armenian territory,
denying Armenia an opportunity to expand trade with Russia. Given the
existing economic blockade maintained by Turkey and Azerbaijan,
Armenia can ill afford to be left on the sidelines of such a project,
officials in Yerevan say. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive].

Since the 1991 Soviet collapse, Armenia has maintained a close
strategic relationship with Russia, in part to offset the
geopolitical disadvantage of having hostile neighbors on its eastern
and western flanks. In recent years, the special relationship has
shown signs of fraying. Russia-Azerbaijani relations have thawed,
while Yerevan has expanded contacts with both Iran and the United
States. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Armenian officials took note of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov’s February 2 trip to Azerbaijan. Lavrov’s comment in Baku that
“there are no unresolved problems” between the Russian and
Azerbaijani governments heightened concerned in Yerevan about
Moscow’s potentially shifting loyalties in the South Caucasus.

Lavrov’s February 16-17 visit to Armenia did little to assuage
Yerevan’s concerns. During talks with Lavrov, Armenian Prime Minister
Andranik Markarian voiced concern about the railway project,
according to official sources. In response, Lavrov merely indicated
he would relay the Armenian government’s views to Russian Transport
Minister Igor Levitin and Russian Railways President Gennady Fadeyev.

Markarian and Lavrov also reportedly discussed the possibility of
reopening the Abkhaz section of Georgia’s railway system, a link that
would reestablish Armenia’s railway ties with Russia. Officials
provided no details on the substance of those discussions.

Problems between Yerevan and Moscow are not limited to rail-related
topics. For the past two years, five Armenian companies, handed over
to Russia as compensation for $100 million in unpaid Armenian debt to
Moscow, have stood idle. In his meeting with Markarian, Lavrov
assured the prime minister that Russia is doing everything possible
to reopen the companies, but neither Moscow nor Yerevan has announced
a concrete plan for getting the firms up and running again. Golos
Armenii (Voice of Armenia), a Yerevan-based Russian-language
newspaper, has described the fate of these companies as the most
sensitive issue in relations between Russia and Armenia.

Armenian media outlets also looked askance at Lavrov’s actions on his
recent visit to Azerbaijan, when the foreign minister visited Baku’s
Martyr’s Avenue, a memorial to the 130 people killed during the
Soviet Army’s 1990 crackdown on anti-Armenian pogroms in the
Azerbaijani capital. Meanwhile, as Armenia commemorates 2005 as a
Year of Russia, Russia has declared 2005 a Year of Azerbaijan.

Moscow’s recent behavior has left some Armenian political leaders
feeling confused. “Honestly speaking, Armenia sometimes does not
understand some of Russia’s steps, especially those concerning
relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey,” Giro Manoyan, international
secretary of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, a member of
Armenia’s ruling coalition, said in a recent interview with the
Caucasus Journalists Network.

Amid the uncertainty surrounding the Armenian-Russian special
relationship, Armenia’s energy sector is one strategic area in which
Russia, sensitive to growing Western influence in the South Caucasus,
maintains a strong interest. Accordingly, Lavrov probed economic
cooperation possibilities with Markarian.

The Russian energy company United Energy Systems (UES) is reportedly
considering the purchase of Armenia’s electricity distribution
network, according to the Armenian news agency ARKA. UES already
holds three power stations in Armenia – Sevan-Hrazdan hydropower
plant, the Hrazdan thermal power station and the Armenian Nuclear
Electric Plant – facilities that generate some 75-80 percent of the
country’s electricity. With the purchase of UK holding company
Midland Resources’ 80 percent stake in the distribution network, UES
would hold control over almost the entire Armenian electrical power
grid.

Russian energy giant GazProm, has been similarly active. The
Iranian-Armenian gas pipeline, scheduled to be operational before
2007, could provide stiff competition for gas in European markets
from GazProm’s own Blue Stream gas pipeline project with Turkey,
according to GazProm Deputy Chief Executive Officer Alexander
Ryazanov. “If we do not take part in the construction of [the] Iran –
Armenia gas pipeline, no one knows where that gas will go,” the news
site PanArmenian Network reported Ryazanov as saying at a recent
session of the Federation Council, the Russian parliament’s upper
chamber.

During his trip to Armenia, Lavrov confirmed Russia’s interest in
joining a pipeline construction consortium. “We received an offer,
inviting our corresponding structures to take part in this project,”
Lavrov said, repeating past assurances that the pipeline meets with
Russia’s approval. “This offer is presently under consideration and I
am convinced we will be able to give an answer in the nearest
future.”

Editor’s Note: Samvel Martirosyan is a Yerevan-based journalist and
political analyst.

Minneapolis Star Tribune , MN
Feb 24 2005

Movie review: ‘Vodka Lemon’ serves up yearning and hardship

Leisurely to a fault but emotionally generous, “Vodka Lemon” shows us
a season in the life of an icebound Armenian village and the economic
and emotional travails of several locals. Objectively, it’s a sad
story of yearning and hardship, but it’s structured and performed
like a comedy. As life is.

Hamo, a rugged old veteran, puts the best face on events as he talks
to his late wife’s headstone. He’s supplementing his skimpy pension
by selling off their possessions, and there’s not much left but the
wallpaper. Romen Avinian, who plays the part, bears a striking
resemblance to Omar Sharif and shares that actor’s aura of
unassailable dignity even in advanced age. Iraqi-Kurdish
director-writer Hiner Saleem uses that quality to stage some physical
comedy that would otherwise feel cruel.

A scene from “Vodka Lemon”Minnesota Film ArOn a visit to the
graveyard, Hamo crosses paths with Nina (Lala Sarkissian), a pretty
widow who works in the Vodka Lemon liquor store. (“Why is it called
Vodka Lemon when it tastes like almonds?” a patron asks. “That’s
Armenia,” she shrugs.) Nina is a decade younger than the courtly Hamo
but in equally dire straits. Saleem is in no rush to pair them up,
and their gradual realization that they might be good company for
each other proceeds as gradually as winter giving way to spring.

Vodka Lemon

*** out of four stars

Unrated; brief violence and adult themes. In Kurdish, Russian and
Armenian, subtitled.

Colin Covert

Bloomberg
Feb 24 2005

German CDU to Demand Turkey Acknowledge Killings of Armenians

Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) — Germany’s main opposition parties, which
oppose Turkey’s bid to join the European Union, plan to submit a
motion to parliament calling on Turkey to acknowledge responsibility
for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in 1915.

The Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the
Christian Social Union, said the Turkish government arrested the
Armenian political elite in Istanbul in 1915, marking the start of
mass deportations and murders in which as many as 1.5 million
Armenians are estimated to have died.

The Turkish government’s refusal to accept responsibility for the
crimes committed 90 years ago “stands in contrast to the idea of
reconciliation that spearheads the shared values of the European
Union, which Turkey aims to join,” said the draft motion, a copy of
which was e-mailed to Bloomberg News.

CDU leader Angela Merkel and CSU head Edmund Stoiber have called for
Turkey to be allowed a “privileged partnership” with the 25-nation
bloc. EU leaders including German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder agreed
two months ago that Turkey should start membership talks in October
this year.

Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper today called the motion an attempt by
Merkel to block the country from joining the EU. The CDU leader has
said Turkey isn’t European enough in terms of its culture and history
to join the union.

“It isn’t true that we want to bar Turkey from EU entry with this
proposal, but still we think it’s important to honor the memory of
the Armenian victims,” the CDU’s Christoph Bergner, one of the
legislators who signed the motion, said in a telephone interview.

Germany has a part in the crimes because the government at the time
didn’t act to prevent the killings in spite of detailed evidence
documented by German ambassadors in Turkey, Bergner said.

Not all CDU lawmakers back the motion.

“I reject this proposal and didn’t vote for it,” said Volker Ruehe,
the chairman of the all-party parliamentary foreign- affairs
committee, in an interview. “I think it will be modified eventually.
We’ve no right to thrust this demand” on Turkey.

The Turkish government denies accusations of genocide over the
deaths. It says the Armenians were killed during civil conflicts in
which many Turks also died.

;sid=aQUvaAIvGS4w&refer=germany

Journal of Turkish Daily
Feb 24 2005

Turkey and US Agree to Set up Consultative Forum

Turkey and the United States agreed on Wednesday to set up a
permanent ”consultative forum” on matters like Russia, Caucasus and
Central Asia within the framework of their ”strategic dialogue.”

Halil Akinci, the Director General of Turkish Foreign Ministry
responsible for Russia-Caucasus and Central Asia, met Laura Kennedy,
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for European & Eurasian Affairs of
the Department of State, in Washington yesterday.

Sources told A.A correspondent that the situation in Georgia,
developments in Russia and Caucasus, Nagorno Karabakh problem,
relations with Armenia and energy were discussed in the meeting.

The U.S. Department of State issued a press release about Akinci’s
contacts which was entitled ”United States-Turkey Strategic
Dialogue.”

The press release said, ”as part of the strategic dialogue between
the United States and Turkey, the Department of State and an
interagency team led by Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and
Eurasian Affairs, Ambassador Laura Kennedy, hosted today, February
23, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Director General for
Bilateral Affairs, Ambassador Halil Akinci, to discuss Eurasian
issues. The bilateral meetings provided a forum for us to discuss
common interests and explore ideas for greater collaboration on
issues including, inter alia, the resolution of frozen conflicts in
the region, energy, and political and economic reform. The Turkish
delegation invited the United States side to come to Turkey for the
next session of what our two countries agree should become a
permanent consultative forum.”

TURKISH OFFICIALS TO MAKE VISITS TO UNITED STATES

Observers in Washington think that the press release of the U.S.
Department of State regarding Akinci’s contacts is an answer to
recent discussions on Turkish-U.S. relations. With this statement,
the U.S. Department of State gives a message that ”every kind of
consultation is held between Turkey and the United States” and
stresses that relations (between two countries) are covering a large
geography, they said.

Richard Boucher, the spokesman of the Department of State, had
earlier made a statement, underlining ”positive and robust”
relations between Turkey and the United States.

Many U.S. officials including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice; Douglas Feith, the Undersecretary of Policy of the U.S.
Department of Defense; U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard
Armitage; and Gen. John Abizaid, the Commander of the U.S. Central
Command; visited Turkey as a part of bilateral relations.

Sources in Washington said that now they are expecting Turkish
officials to visit their country. After newly-appointed staff of the
U.S. Department of State take over their posts, Turkish Foreign
Ministry Undersecretary Ali Tuygan is expected to visit Washington at
the end of March or beginning of April. Some other high-level Turkish
officials will also visit the United States after Tuygan, the same
sources assert.

Source Anadolu Agency

NATO has no plans of interfering with OSCE Minsk Group, Simmons says

24.02.2005 18:12

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Speaking at a news conference in Yerevan on
Thursday, Robert Simmons, Special Advisor on Central Asia and the
Caucasus to NATO’s Secretary-General, said he was satisfied with his
meetings with the Armenian leadership.

When asked whether the NATO was planning to deploy peacekeepers to the
liberated territories of Karabakh, Simmons said: “The Nagorno Karabakh
conflict should be discussed and settled in the OSCE Minsk Group but
we are interested in a final settlement. We have no intention to get
involved with the issue.” Besides, he noted, deployment of
peacekeepers is only possible if both sides agree to it, and there is
no such agreement at this point.

Referring to the NATO’s stance to the relations between Armenia and
Russia, he indicated that NATO is for good relations between all
countries, and that his organization does not seek a competition in
this area. He also mentioned that NATO will continue to pay attention
to the South Caucasus, adding that “NATO’s doors are open” for the
countries which recognize “our values.”

Simmons also said that there is an ongoing cooperation between the
organization and Armenia, noting that a group of advisors will visit
Armenia next month to work with the Armenian Ministry of Defense. In
response to a reporter’s comment that NATO never expressed its
position over the murder of an Armenian military officer murdered by
an Azerbaijani colleague during a NATO-sponsored course in Hungary,
Simmons said that NATOhad offered its regret about the dire
incident. He, however, added that “today,we should look to the future
and discuss joint projects.”

ARMENIA ASSISTING NATO TO AVERT DANGERS

A1+
24-02-2005

Today NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus
and Central Asia Robert Simmons came to meet journalists alone though
he was scheduled to give a joint press conference with Armenian
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan. It turned out that the Minister has
caught a cold and slightly ails.

Robert Simmons said he is satisfied with the level of the cooperation
between Armenia and NATO and also introduced the NATO
Officer-Coordinator, who will assist to the working out and
implementation of the program of NATO-Armenia cooperation, to the
Armenian leadership.

`Armenia is assisting NATO to combat the threats we are facing,’
Robert Simmons noted.

Mr. Simmons highly appreciated the decision of the Armenian leadership
to send a contingent to Iraq. When touching upon Armenia’s being a
CSTO member-state he stated that NATO and CSTO are not rival
organizations and advised not to mix NATO’s historical relations with
the former USSR republics including today’ s Russia.

NATO Secretary General’s Representative said that NATO is open for
those states, which meet the accepted standards. Presently 3 states –
Albania, South Macedonia and Croatia – are aspirants for NATO
membership. Mr. Simmons also noted that the three South Caucasian
stated expressed wish to join NATO.