RUSSIA MAKES EVERY EFFORT FOR NORMAL FUNCTIONING OF ARMENIAN ENTERPRISES CONVEYED TO IT

PanArmenian News
Feb 17 2005

17.02.2005 18:22

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia makes every effort for normal functioning of
the Armenian enterprises, conveyed to it within the framework of the
Property in Exchange for Debt agreement, Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov stated at a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister
Andranik Margarian. Lavrov assured that “the Russian party is doing
its best for the necessary investments into the Armenian enterprises
conveyed to Russia,” including Mars factory and the scientific
research institutes and for securing their normal functioning. He
also emphasized the importance of timely provision of nuclear fuel for
securing uninterrupted functioning of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant
and works for modernization of the atomic station. At the same time the
parties noted that there are some problems in the bilateral commercial
and economic relations, which are being discussed within the framework
of the Armenian-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission for Economic
Cooperation and the Armenian-Russian Business Association. Speaking of
the transport cooperation Andranik Margarian noted, “Armenia pays much
attention to the opening of rail and ferry road Caucasus (Russia) –
Poti (Georgia), which will allow to considerably increase the cargo
transportation volume between Armenia and Russia.” Margarian also
said he was satisfied with the completion of the process of Armenia
joining the North-South transport corridor agreement. At the same
time he state that Armenia is concerned over the issue of possible
launching of Kazvin-Resht-Astara new line, which will link Russia with
Iran through Azerbaijan when there is a real infrastructure in Armenia,
allowing to connect all countries of the region. On his part speaking
of regional transport problems Lavrov noted that “Russia in that field
takes into account Armenia’s interests to the most degree possible
and it will not take steps, which can harm it.” Margarian emphasized
that at present “Russia is the largest trade and economic partner of
Armenia.” During the meeting the parties also exchanged view on the
prospect of opening the Abkhazian lost of the Transcaucasian railway
and discussed other issues of mutual interest.

HALF OF APPLICANTS OF US VISAS TURNED DOWN LAST YEAR

ArmenPress
Feb 17 2005

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS: Some 11,204 Armenian citizens applied
last year to the US embassy in Yerevan to request permissions to travel
to the USA, and more than half of them, 6,016 applicants were denied
visas. The rest, 5,188 applicants were issued nonimmigrant visas.

In last December alone 1,211 Armenians sought visas and 548
applications were turned down. The US consular in Yerevan said some
9,098 applicants requested visas to travel to the USA as tourists
and 181 sought student visas.

ARMENIAN AND RUSSIAN FMs DISCUSSED KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

PanArmenian News
Feb 17 2005

17.02.2005 14:36

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Foreign Ministers of Russia and Armenia Sergey
Lavrov and Vardan Oskanian discussed the problem of the Nagorno
Karabakh settlement,” official representative of the Russian Foreign
Ministry Alexander Yakovenko told journalists Thursday. In his words,
the interlocutors also focused on practical aspects of promotion of
bilateral cooperation, political dialogue and commercial and economic
relations.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AGGRESSION AGAINST CSTO MEMBER STATE CONSIDERED AS AGAINST ORGANIZATION

PanArmenian News
Feb 17 2005

17.02.2005 14:11

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Aggression against any CSTO (Collective Security
Treaty Organization) member state is considered as aggression against
the organization, CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha stated.
“Within the framework of the passed Treaty on Collective Security,
in case of aggression against one of the Organization member states,
the rest of the states consider it as aggression against themselves
with all the ensuing consequences,” he said. Including, as specified
by the Secretary General, any type of assistance may be provided
to the country in question if needed. However he emphasized that
the Organization is inclined towards the political solution of any
problems. “The history teaches us that any steps of armed nature are
easy to undertake, but it is virtually not possible to localize the
problem after that. It develops into bloodshed thus we are oriented
to the political solution of the question,” N. Bordyuzha said. He
also stated that the CSTO is open to all those wishing to join it if
the political course of the state and political leadership of those
countries are in line with the principles, which the organization
advocates. “We are ready to consider the accession of any state to the
organization,” he said. When commenting on the situation in the South
Caucasus from the point of view of obvious division of geo-political
preferences: Armenia as a CSTO member and Georgia and Azerbaijan,
which obviously gravitate towards the NATO, N. Bordyuzha depicted it
as a sovereign right of every state. “If those countries link their
future with securing themselves with the NATO, it is their sovereign
right. It means that they think it is better for them,” he said.

PanArmenian News
Feb 17 2005

17.02.2005 13:35

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The recurrent sitting of the CIS Council of Foreign
Ministers is planned in Minsk March 18. The ministers will discussed
the work done within the accountable period, will outline the plans
for the coming months. One of the most important issues on the agenda
will be the topic of reforming the CIS bodies. The parties intend to
hear reports, as well as to consider drafts of documents on the CIS
reform. Finally, the drafts will be considered at the summer summit
of CIS leaders in Tatarstan.

PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Tel.: 617-489-1610
E-mail: [email protected]
Contact: Marc A. Mamigonian

FORMER TARC CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS

TO GIVE LECTURE AT NAASR

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 with TARC in a lecture entitled
“Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation: Lessons Learned from TARC,” on
Tuesday, February 22, at 8:00 p.m., at the Center and Headquarters of
the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR),
395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA.

First Lecture to the Armenian Community

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 audience,
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.

Extensive Background in Foreign Affairs and Conflict Resolution

David L. 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. Phillips has written more than one hundred
articles and editorials in publications such as the New York Times,
the International Herald Tribune, the Wall Street Journal, and the
Financial Times.

Admission to the event is free (donations appreciated). The NAASR
Bookstore will open at 7:30 p.m. The NAASR Center and Headquarters is
located opposite the First Armenian Church and next to the U.S. Post
Office. Ample parking is available around the building and in adjacent
areas. The lecture will begin promptly at 8:00 p.m. and interested
parties are strongly encouraged to arrive early as space is limited
and a large turnout is anticipated.

AZERI CITIZEN SUSPECTED OF TERRORISM DETAINED IN RUSSIAN TYUMEN REGION

PanArmenian News
Feb 17 2005

17.02.2005 17:05

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A citizen of Azerbaijan suspected of terrorism
is detained in the Tyumen region of Russia. The detainee was in
international search of the CIS countries for complicity to acts
of terrorism and participation in illegal armed formations. The
operation on detention was held February 15 by the officers of Tyumen
Regional Department of the Federal Security Council of Russia. The
suspect identity is not made known. The question of his extradition
to Azerbaijan is not solved yet. Last year reports that terrorists
use Azerbaijan as a base for acts of terrorism appeared in the press.
Representative of the operative headquarters for direction of the
counter-terrorism operation in the South Caucasus Ilya Shabalkin stated
that Chechen fighters frequently go to Azerbaijan for treatment or
rest. Shabalkin spoke after a fighter from Shamil Basayev’s band was
detained on his way from Russia to Azerbaijan. The National Security
Ministry of Azerbaijan flatly denied the accusations in not being
able to control the situation. Ministry representatives say that
the operative situation in the country is fully controlled by the
law-enforcement bodies.

Smooth take-off for Aeroflot
By Malcolm Pein

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
February 17, 2005, Thursday

THE leading players were on their mettle in the first round of the
Aeroflot Open at Moscow.

Etienne Bacrot of France and Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk scored
comfortable victories. Of the top seeds only Ivanchuk’s Ukrainian
team mate, former Fide champion Ruslan Ponomariov, was unable to
secure the full point against Dragan Solak of Yugoslavia.

One previous winner, Grigory Kaidanov of the USA, was outplayed by
Alberto David of Luxembourg.

The total prize fund is $175,000, with $30,000 going to the winner.

Tigran Petrosian of Armenia did well at the last world junior but he
clearly does not have the solid style of his Armenian namesake and
former world champion.

A. Naiditsch – T. Petrosian

Aeroflot Open (1)

Sicilian Defence

1 e4c5 2Ne2d6

3 d4cxd4 4Nxd4Nf6

5 f3e5 6Nb3d5

7 Bg5Be6 8Bxf6gxf6

9 exd5Bxd510Nc3Bb4

11 Qd3Bxc3+12Qxc3Be6

13 Bb5+Kf814Nc5Kg7

15 f4!exf4160-0Qb6

17 Rxf4Rc818b4Kg8

19 Qxf6!Qxb520Qg5+Kh8

21 Nxe6Qxg522Nxg5Nc6

23 Rxf7Re824Rxb7h5

25 h4andWhitewon.

Petrosian

Naiditsch

Position after 25.h4

THE local IM Richard Palliser of York Railway Institute Chess Club
completed a comfortable victory at the 18th Fulprint York Congress
last month; 238 players competed in another well-attended weekend
congress in the north of England. Not even Palliser could secure the
special prize of pounds 250 for scoring 5/5, but 42 players shared a
generous prize fund of more than pounds 2,000. Peter Gayson took the
qualifying place for the 2005 Smith & Williamson British
Championship.

Open: (50 players) – 1 IM Richard Palliser (York RI) 4=/5, 2-4 David
Adams (York), Peter Gayson (Bradford), Robert Shaw (High Peak) 4.

Major: BCF U161 (46 players) – 1 Martin Carpenter (York RI) 4=/5.

Intermediate: BCF U131 (57 players) – 1 Richard Desmedt (Netherton)
4=/5.

Minor: BCF U101 (85 players) – 1 Kevin Wilson (Darlington) 4=/5.

TURKISH WRITER STATEMENT ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CAUSE DISPLEASURE IN TURKEY

PanArmenian News
February 17, 2005

17.02.2005 16:55

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish writer Orkhan Pamuk stated that early last
century the Ottoman authorities exterminated over one million Armenians
and 30 thousand Kurds. The statement causes extreme discontent in
Turkey. Thereupon Ulku Ojakh organization located a statement at its
site, demanding that Pamuk apologize to the Turkish people. If the
Turkish authorities do not make Pamuk and people like him answerable,
these people “will feel our anger and will stop disseminating hatred
towards Turkey and the Turkish people,” the statement says. Pamuk was
condemned by some other Turkish writers and media. Vatan newspaper
has sharply criticized Orkhan Pamuk and Taner Akcam, calling them
opportunists, “whose only desire is to sell their books full of lies.”

RIA OREANDA
Economic News
February 17, 2005 Thursday

230 Thousand People Got Material Aid from “Fund of Mutual
Understanding and Reconciliation” Since August 2001

Moscow. The federal official body “Fund of mutual understanding and
reconciliation” and the Savings Bank of Russia have been making
payments of material aid to the citizens injured of national
socialism within the World War Two from means of the German Fund
“Memory, Responsibility and Future” since August 2001, and since
April 2002 – from means of the Austrian Fund “Reconciliation, Peace
and Cooperation”. For the period of payments, 230 thousand people got
the material aid for the total sum of approximately 250 million EUR.

Payments are made in more than 7 thousand branches of the Savings Bank
of Russia, located in 2400 settlements of the Russian Federation from
Kaliningrad up to Vladivostok.

The Savings Bank of Russia transfers sums of material aid to the
citizens living outside the Russian Federation on their accounts
opened in foreign banks. The greatest number of addressees is living
in Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Belarus. The sums of material aid
were transferred also to Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Armenia, Germany, and
Israel. In total, material aid has been paid to more than 2 thousand
people in 25 foreign countries for the total sum of 2,2 million EUR.

In 2004, the fund and bank have begun payments of material aid to
assignees of addressees. In total, 15 thousand people have received
inheritance material aid for the total sum of 11 million EUR.