Three Azeris said captured by Armenia

Agence France Presse
Feb 17 2005

BAKU, Feb 17 (AFP) – Armenian forces have captured three Azeri soldiers
along the ceasefire line dividing Azerbaijan and Armenian-occupied
territory, the defense ministry said here Thursday.

“The defense ministry has started working on freeing them,” a ministry
spokesman told AFP.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a stalemate over the ethnic
Armenian enclave Nagorno Karabakh ever since they ended large-scale
hostilities with an uneasy ceasefire agreement in 1994.

Armenia controls Karabakh and seven surrounding regions equal
to roughly 14 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized
territory.

In the past the Red Cross has sometimes intervened to negotiate the
release of Azeri soldiers captured by Armenian forces.

About a dozen soldiers lose their lives from sniper fire and mines
along the ceasefire line every year.

MINISTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY VISITS PAKISTAN
[February 17, 2005, 22:08:38]

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Feb 17 2005

Minister of National Security of Azerbaijan, Eldar Mahmudov was
staying on a business visit in Pakistan from February 11 to 14 at the
invitation of the Director General of the Military and Intelligence
Service of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Ashfag Pervez Kiyani.

During the visit, the Minister also met with Chief of Staff Committee
at the Joint Staff Headquarters, General Ehsan-ul-Haq, Interior
Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao and other officials.

The meetings were focused on development and deepening of cooperation
in fighting terrorism, illicit drug turnover, illegal migration
and other kinds of transnational crime threatening regional and
international security.

The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh was also
touched upon during the meetings. Pakistani officials reaffirmed
their country’s support of the fair stance of Azerbaijan in the matter.

Armenia and Russia agree on reforming CIS

RosBusinessConsulting, Russia
Feb 17 2005

RBC, 17.02.2005, Erevan 18:42:57.Armenia and Russia have agreed on
reforming the CIS before the summit of CIS leaders scheduled for
August 2005, Armenian news agency ARKA announced citing information
released by the foreign ministry. Russian foreign minister Sergey
Lavrov held a meeting with his Armenian counterpart Vardan Oskanian,
where the two parties reached a compromise on the issue. They discussed
bilateral cooperation within the framework of international and
regional institutions.

Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
Feb 17 2005

Talk about Turkish-Armenian reconciliation
Thursday, February 17, 2005

Perhaps no entity in recent years has occasioned so much comment in
the Armenian community as TARC, the Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation
Commission. It is difficult to find anyone without strong opinions on
the subject – yet the actual participants have kept a low profile and
the exact nature of their discussions is largely unknown to most of
the public.

David L. Phillips, who served as chairman of the commission,
will discuss his experiences in a lecture entitled “Turkish-Armenian
Reconciliation: Lessons Learned from TARC,” on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 8
p.m. at the Center and Headquarters of the National Association for
Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), 395 Concord Ave., Belmont.

Phillips is the first member of the commission to write
extensively about the experience of shaping and participating in the
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process in the newly published
“Unsilencing the Past: Track Two Diplomacy and Turkish-Armenian
Reconciliation.” The book will be on sale and available for signing
by the author on the evening of the lecture.

In his first lecture to the Boston-area Armenian community,
Phillips will offer a unique insider’s account of the ups and downs
of establishing a dialogue between Armenians and Turks: the
obstacles, accomplishments, and prospects for the future. A
question-and-answer period and refreshments will follow the lecture.

Phillips is senior fellow and deputy director of the Center for
Preventive Action at the Council of Foreign Relations and Director of
the Peacebuilding Program at American University, as well as a
visiting scholar at Harvard University and an analyst for NBC News.
Previously, he was a senior advisor to the U.S. State Department and
the United Nations.

Admission to the event is free (donations appreciated). The
NAASR Bookstore will open at 7:30 p.m. The lecture will begin
promptly at 8 p.m. and interested parties are strongly encouraged to
arrive early as space is limited and a large turnout is anticipated.

For more information call 617-489-1610, e-mail [email protected], or
write to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.

JOINT CIS AIR-DEFENSE SYSTEM GOING STRONG

RIA Novosti, Russia
Feb 17 2005

MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti military commentator Viktor Litovkin)

The joint air-defense system is perhaps the only CIS military
organization that has not experienced any serious problems or
contradictions since it was established in 1995. “Due to a lack of
discipline among pilots, we register thousands of CIS air-traffic
violations, but CIS air space is violated very rarely,” General of
the Army Vladimir Mikhailov, the Russian Air Force commander, told
RIA Novosti at a press conference devoted to the tenth anniversary of
establishing the joint CIS air-defense system. The general also chairs
the coordinating committee for air-defense issues of the Council of
CIS Defense Ministers.

The CIS air-defense system was established on February 10, 1995,
and comprises ten countries: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.
Although Georgian, Uzbek and Turkmen commanders did not attend the
Moscow celebrations, the joint system’s heads had a great deal to
tell reporters.

“First of all, we have restored complete radar surveillance outside
Russia,” General Mikhailov’s deputy, Lieutenant General Aitech Bizhev
told RIA Novosti. “Now, we scan 800-1,500km of air space outside our
external perimeter. Potential violators know this and do not risk
violating our country’s sovereignty and that of other CIS countries.
The only time this has happened was last year, when an American
light plane became lost over Mongolia and entered Russian air space.
Fighters escorted it to Chita airport, where it made an emergency
landing.”

General Bizhev continued that the Council of CIS Heads of State had
allocated two billion rubles on joint financing for CIS air defense,
which meant forces received state-of-the-art combat hardware and
equipment, including radars, surface-to-air missiles and aircraft.
The forces wield Osa, Buk, S-75, S-125, S-200 and S-300 SAM complexes,
and modified versions. Their fighter units fly modified versions of
the MiG-23, MiG-29, MiG-31 and Sukhoi Su-27. Apart from radars, CIS
electronic units are equipped with radio-electronic warfare systems.

In all, the joint CIS air-defense system comprises 19 fighter
regiments (11 Russian and two Belarussian), 29 SAM regiments (11
Russian), and 22 radar units (nine Russian and two other Russian
radio-electronic warfare battalions). Moreover, Russian air-defense
units are stationed in Armenia (102nd base), Tajikistan (as part of the
201st mechanized-infantry division, which has now been converted into
a Russian military base) and at the Kant air-force base in Kyrgyzstan.

Nonetheless, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are
the only countries to implement fully automated combat-duty programs
between national command centers, but interaction remains to be
streamlined in other CIS countries. According to General Bizhev,
these countries can buy and install new automated control systems at
domestic Russian prices. The coordinating committee for air-defense
issues is now tackling these problems.

Russian and Belarussian units and weapons have now been placed on joint
combat duty owing to the committee’s efforts and after the Council
of CIS Heads of State issued the relevant decision. An agreement on
joint combat duty operations by Russian, Kazakh and Kyrgyz air-defense
units has been signed. Armenian, Belarussian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and
Uzbek air-defense forces implement joint combat-duty programs. This
area of cooperation will continue to develop.

There are plans to set up regional air-defense systems in the
near future. In particular, the Russian-Belarussian air-defense
system will become the mainstay of the Eastern European theater
air-defense system. Russian and Kazakh forces will become the main
element of the Central Asian theater air-defense system. Meanwhile
Armenian air-defense units, the 3,624th Russian Air Force group,
a Russian SAM regiment featuring S-300V SAM complexes (partof the
102nd Russian military base in Gyumri) will be the Caucasian theater
air-defense system.

CIS air-defense units continue to streamline their interaction not
only during joint combat-duty programs and information exchanges about
national air-space situation reports and foreign air space. They also
do so during regular tactical exercises, headquarters exercises and
tactical war games with live ammunition. These exercises, codenamed
Boevoye Sodruzhestvo (Combat Cohesion), are regularly organized at
the Ashuluk firing range near Astrakhan. They involve virtually all
members of the air-defense system. Seventy SAM divisions, as well
as 60 fighter, bomber and ground-attack plane crews, have conducted
live target practice there since 1995. Dozens of electronic units
have facilitated their combat missions and missile launches.

The exercises will be expanded this year. Now, they will also be held
near Vorkuta above the Polar Circle, where combat hardware will be
tested in adverse conditions. Moreover, CIS units will train at the
Sary-Shagan firing range in Kazakhstan, where Russia’s S-300 Triumph
SAMs, developed by the Almaz-Antei concern, will be launched and
their maximum range evaluated. Ukrainian air-defense units will also
test-fire their missiles at Sary-Shagan, if Kiev and Astana sign the
appropriate agreement. The point is that S-200 system, with its long
range of 300km, cannot be tested in the Crimea, which is why Ukraine
is keen to attend the exercise in Kazakhstan.

Besides, the Sary-Shagan firing range, which was where Soviet
anti-aircraft weapons and ABM complexes (including those around Moscow)
were once tested, allows missiles to be launched against different
aerial targets, aircraft included, and the most difficult combat
environments simulated. It is unique in this respect.

Radio-electronic warfare systems will be used in April this year at
the test-firing exercises to create a difficult jamming environment.
SAM complexes will targetstrategic bombers, long-range cruise missiles
and unmanned air vehicles. Radio-electronic units will jam radars,
communications, reconnaissance and target-acquisition networks. Highly
effective, powerful and heterogeneous air-force units will “attack”
CIS air-defense units. So, how will the latter cope? General Bizhev
is highly optimistic: “I think we will prove the joint CIS air-defense
system’s reliability once again.”

Egypt houses up to 1 million stateless children

afrol News, Norway
Feb 17 2005

afrol News, 16 February – There are believed to be 400,000 to more
than a million children living in Egypt without proper citizen rights,
including the right to an education or to work. Many of them are
born into families were several generations have been stateless,
others are children of a foreign father and an Egyptian mother,
thus without citizen rights.

According to a new report on stateless people released this week by
the Washington-based group Refugees International (RI), Egypt is the
African country with the greatest population of people without citizen
rights. The large group of stateless people in Egypt has accumulated
during a century of immigration and strict nationality legislation,
creating an entire class without basic rights.

The story of many of today’s stateless people in Egypt started in the
early 20th century. The collapse of the Russian and Ottoman Empires
around 1917 led to large-scale displacement, with Egypt being a
favoured destination for refugees. Only the number of Armenians
residing in Egypt was estimated at about 70,000-75,000 prior to the
Egyptian revolution of 1952, according to the RI report.

Subsequently, an agreement between the Egyptian government and the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1954, and
later ratified in May 1981, assigned the UNHCR the responsibility
of caring for stateless populations living in Egypt – individuals of
Russian, Armenian, Yugoslav, Albanian, Hungarian, Czech, Bulgarian,
Polish, Romanian and Estonian origins.

Officially, only some 130 stateless persons remain of concern to
UNHCR. In reality, however, large numbers of descendents from these
Eastern European and Middle East immigrants still live in Egypt, the
country they were born, without citizen rights. Also the children of
later immigrants live in this stateless limbo.

They cannot obtain an Egyptian passport as their father is not
Egyptian, according to current legislation. Only males may confer
citizenship. This in effect also leaves any child born to an Egyptian
mother and a non-Egyptian father stateless.

According to RI, these children “cannot attend public school or
state universities, are barred from certain professional schools,
and cannot work without meeting foreign residency requirements and
obtaining work permits.” There are believed to be 400,000 to more
than a million such children in the country, RI estimates.

These children and adult descendents of immigrants only know Egypt as
their country. They were born there and – due to a lack of citizenship
– mostly have been barred from leaving the country. They risk not
being let to return to their home if they go abroad. They must pay
large annual fees to get a work permit. They pay taxes but are not
entitled to social security.

In 2003, President Hosni Mubarak closed the annual ruling party
conference with a number of announcements, including a statement that
the Interior Ministry would begin processing citizenship applications
for children of Egyptian mothers and foreign fathers. It has been
predicted that if the President’s assurances are implemented, Egyptian
women will gain the historic right to pass their nationality on to
their children.

Excluded, however, are the many Palestinians residing in Egypt –
estimated at 55,000 to 77,000 – based on a 1959 agreement not to
give Palestinians citizenship in order to preserve their national
identity. Palestinian authorities expect these refugees to return to
Palestine once a state is established there.

Also, Palestinian men who have left the country to work abroad face
further difficulties because Egypt has closed the office that issues
return visas. “They live abroad illegally and cannot return to Egypt,
a situation that makes them stateless,” according to the RI report.

By staff writer

RUSSIA WANTS TO SETTLE CONFLICTS ON POST-SOVIET TERRITORY

RIA Novosti, Russia
Feb 17 2005

YEREVAN, February 17, (RIA Novosti) – The settlement of all conflicts
on post-Soviet territory meets our national interests, Russia’s
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said while negotiating with Armenian
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan.

The Russian Foreign Minister suggested that he and Mr. Oskanyan
discuss issues of bilateral relations, as well as the implementation of
presidential proposals. We maintain partner-like and allied economic
relations and those in the field of security, Mr. Lavrov went on
to say.

This is a historic visit, Mr. Oskanyan noted, reminding that this
was Mr. Lavrov’s first visit to Yerevan as Russia’s Foreign Minister.

You had first visited Yerevan in 1993 as Deputy Russian Foreign
Minister, Mr. Oskanyan noted. Many things have changed since then,
with Russia playing its role in the course of such changes, Mr.
Oskanyan added. We have managed to build top-level relations over
this period. Right now, our relations amount to strategic partnership,
Mr. Oskanyan went on to say.

Armenia and Russia lack any political differences, Mr. Oskanyan
stressed. We share common regional and global interests, he said
in conclusion.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN REACTS TO AZERI DEPUTY FM’S STATEMENT

ArmenPress
Feb 17 2005

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS: Hamlet Gasparian, a spokesman for
Armenian foreign ministry, was asked by Russian Regnum news agency
to comment on a recent statement by Azeri deputy foreign minister
Araz Azimov.

Question: In his interview to Azeri ATV, Azerbaijan’s deputy foreign
minister A. Azimov announced that “The government of Azerbaijan rules
out any chance of discussions about a corridor between Armenia and
Nagorno Karabagh”. If this is the position of Baku, how can we ensure
that one of our main negotiation points, i.e. exclusion of Nagorno
Karabagh’s enclave status, be met? On the other hand, does this mean
that Azerbaijan’s communication routes with Nakhichevan and Armenia’s
communication routes with Nagorno Karabagh are discussed within the
same negotiations framework?

Answer: It is true that the Azeri party has recently been coming
up with various far-fetched schemes, often voiced by Araz Azimov,
intended to complicate and confuse the issues on the negotiations
agenda. In this specific case, they are probably concerned by
preliminary findings of the fact-finding mission, already covered
by the media. These findings by no means suit Azerbaijan’s claims,
hence their attempts to throw in all kinds of unrealistic speculations.

While this and other misleading statements by the Azeri party should
not be taken too seriously, they may still cause confusion among our
society. Therefore, it is worth mentioning that Nakhichevan, which
does not have any communications problems to start with, cannot be
viewed within the same framework with Nagorno Karabagh. Nakhichevan’s
communications with its neighbor states are not constrained in any
way. The issue is about Nagorno Karabagh and the consequences of the
conflict, and in this sense the status of Lachin corridor cannot be
juxtaposed to any other such issue.

ABA/CEELI PROMOTES GENDER EQUALITY IN ARMENIA

ArmenPress
Feb 17 2005

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS: The American Bar Association/Central
European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI) presented today
the premiere of its latest video in the Alphabet of Law Series –
Gender Equality.

The Alphabet of Law Series consists of short animated public service
announcements that teach children about government, law, and individual
rights. The series can be viewed on television stations around the
country and is also used for classroom instruction throughout Armenia.

“In terms of gender equality Armenia is among the leading nations,
though it has still a lot to do to achieve absolute equality,” Lisa
Wosson, the head of ABA/CEELI Yerevan office said before the launch of
the series. “Due to their high level intellectual capacities Armenian
women have the full right to fight for absolute equality,” she added.

The animated announcements were short with the assistance of the
USAID, Armenia.

RUSSIA WANTS PEACEFUL AND SOONEST SETTLEMENT OF ALL POST-SOVIET CONFLICTS, LAVROV SAYS

ArmenPress
Feb 17 2005

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS: Armenian and Russian foreign
ministers Vartan Oskanian and Sergey Lavrov discussed today a wide
range of issues in Yerevan, from economic cooperation, Nagorno Karabagh
conflict and the two countries’ interaction within international
organizations.

Russia wants peaceful and soonest settlement of all conflicts on the
post-Soviet territory, Lavrov said while negotiating with his Armenian
counterpart. In a reference to the Nagorno Karabagh conflict Lavrov
expressed hope that “the Prague process” will help the two sides to
find a mutually acceptable peace formula, saying also that Russia is
ready to act as its guarantor.

“We maintain partner-like and allied economic relations and those
in the field of security, ” Lavrov said.

For his part Oskanian said: We have managed to build top-level
relations and right now our relations amount to strategic
partnership. Armenia and Russia lack any political differences. We
share common regional and global interests.”