NKR OFFICIAL DELEGATION TAKES PART IN CEREMONY OF INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT
OF ABKHAZIA

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14. ARMINFO. Official delegation of Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic took part in the ceremony of inauguration of President of
Abkhazia Sergey Bagapsh, Saturday.

ARMINFO was informed in the representative office of NKR in
Yerevan, Speaker of NKR National Assembly Oleg Yesayan headed the
delegation. NKR Foreign Minister Arman Melikian was in the delegation
staff, as well.

Armenian New Times party poised to stage “national revolution”

Arminfo
9 Feb 05

Yerevan, 9 February: The Armenian New Times party intends to stage a
national revolution in spring this year, the board of the party said
in a statement released today.

The worsening domestic political situation in Armenia, which is the
result of rampant corruption, connivance and impunity, will lead to
a revolt, the statement noted. It was also said that the party would
start preparations for early parliamentary and presidential elections.

Despite our calls, with the authorities’ connivance, the domestic
political crisis was exacerbated further this year, which can be
clearly seen in the evident union of the criminal world and the ruling
political elite. Instead of carrying out structural reforms proposed
by us, the Armenian authorities have aggravated the political crisis,
suffering defeats both in domestic and foreign policy.

The New Times party said it was important to carry out a national
revolution and noted that in order to get out from the current critical
situation, this revolution should be implemented either by the “top
echelons” or the “lower echelons”.

Revolution by the “top echelons” implies the implementation of radical
reforms – the parliament should be dissolved and a new government
should be set up on the party principles.

“But since the radical reforms suggested by us are not being
implemented, the board of the New Times party states that a party
congress will be held in the end of March which will outline some
strategic tasks and the party will start carrying out the national
revolution with the participation of masses,” the statement said.

IRAN DETERMINED TO MEDIATE IN KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9. ARMINFO. Visiting Armenian National Security
Council Secretary Serzh Sarkgsyan conferred here Tuesday with the
Chairman of the Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on issues
of mutual interests.

Rafsanjani said that the Islamic Republic of Iran is willing to broaden
ties with neighboring countries, he pointed out. Iran is determined to
mediate to find a solution to the issues of Karabakh through peaceful
means, he said. Rafsanjani called for expediting the project on gas
transfer to Armenia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian minister rules out second OSCE monitoring in Karabakh

Arminfo, Yerevan
9 Feb 05

Yerevan, 9 February: In response to Azerbaijan’s initiative to carry
out monitoring by an OSCE expert group on the territories controlled
by the Armenian side, Nagornyy Karabakh should initiate international
monitoring in the Armenian villages of Artsvashen [Baskand in Gadabay
District], Shaumyan [Gulustan in Goranboy District] and Getashen
[Caykand in Xanlar District] controlled by Azerbaijan, Armenian
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan told journalists today.

Commenting on the Azerbaijani deputy foreign minister’s statement
that Baku will make efforts to arrange a second monitoring on the
territories controlled by the Armenian side if the expert group’s
conclusion is “pro-Armenian”, Oskanyan said: “Baku’s statements of
this kind testify to the fact that Azerbaijan realized from the outset
that accusations against the Armenian side were wide of the mark,
and this will be registered in the expert group’s conclusion.”

If Baku tries to doubt the OSCE expert group’s conclusion, this
will undermine the international image of this country, and the
international community will not take Azerbaijan’s statements seriously
in the future, Oskanyan added.

“Azerbaijan has always believed that all international documents,
conclusions and proposals of the OSCE Minsk Group should reflect
its interests. However, today facts and reality do not meet the
interests of Azerbaijan,” Oskanyan said. He said that monitoring on the
territories under [Armenian] control will not be held for the second
time. At the same time, he hoped that in their conclusion the experts
would register what they had seen on the aforesaid territories. The
Armenian side is ready to accept the conclusion by the OSCE expert
group, Oskanyan emphasized. One can speak about an impact of the
monitoring on the territories controlled by the Armenian side on the
talks for the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict only after
the experts’ conclusion is made public, he added.

Armenian speaker, Bahraini officials discuss developing ties

Arminfo
8 Feb 05

Yerevan, 8 February: Armenian Speaker Artur Bagdasaryan today met
parliamentarians of the upper and lower chambers of Bahrain’s
parliament. The chairman of the lower chamber of the Bahraini
parliament said that relations between Armenia and Bahrain could be
developing in the trade and economic spheres.

He said that in Bahrain there are specialists who studied in Armenian
institutions of higher education, and the kingdom is interested in
continuing cooperation in the scientific and education spheres.

The chairman of the upper house of the Bahraini parliament (?Abdul
Hamad al-Jufayni), also spoke out in favour of developing relations
with Armenia in all spheres. He said that the first visit of the
Armenian delegation will lay the foundations of the development of
bilateral relations.

The Armenian and Bahraini parliaments today signed an agreement which
will strengthen the legal field of friendly relations between the two
countries’ parliaments within the framework of the newly-established
commission.

Artur Bagdasaryan also met Bahraini Prime Minister Shaykh Khalifah
Bin-Salman Al Khalifah. The shaykh said that Armenia and Bahrain
have similar positions regarding the countries of the region. The
Bahraini prime minister voiced his readiness to defend Armenia’s
initiatives. Specifically, the League of Arab States will be informed
of Armenia’s desire to set up a centre of Arab culture in Yerevan.

Today’s meeting of the Armenian delegation ended with a reception
at the residence of King Shaykh Salman Hamad Bin-Isa Bin-Salman Al
Khalifah. Bagdasaryan conveyed Armenian President Robert Kocharyan’s
greetings to the king and invited him to visit Armenia, which was
accepted with gratitude.

The king stressed that with the aim of speeding up Armenian-Bahraini
relations and developing friendly ties between the parliamentarians
of the two countries, he is ready to send experts of the Bahraini
parliament to Armenia to participate in the second session of the
Armenian National Assembly. The king also expressed his wish to open
an Armenian trade centre in Bahrain.

[Passage omitted: information about Bahrain]

Azerbaijan entering caliphate?
By Gayane Movsesian

Yerkir/arm
11 Feb 05

A number of websites linked to â~@~Hasb Ut-Tahrirâ~@~] and other
radical organizations have posted the â~@~new world mapâ~@~], which
has a caliphate in the center of the superpower. From 1517 to 1924,
â~@~caliphateâ~@~] stood for the Ottoman Empire. Presently it
involves 49 states. And later on, the ideologists of caliphate believe
it will include the empire of the whole world.

The article â~@~Basics of Caliphateâ~@~] says that the countries,
considered by the Islamic fundamentalists as their part, are called the
core and the dubious states are suburbs. There is data that indicates
that the potential caliphate today includes 49 countries and 4 lands
that are in Central Asia, Africa, and South-Eastern Asia.

The core of the caliphate includes: Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan,
Brunei, Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Guinea, Iran, Iraq,
Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Oman, Pakistan,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somali, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Togo, Tunisia,
Turkmenistan, UAE, Uzbekistan (31 states in total).

The suburbs of the caliphate are: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso,
Comorian isles, Djibouti, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Indonesia,
Kuwait, Malaysia, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Yemen
(18 in total).

And now the actual caliphate also comes to include Chechnya,
Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, territories controlled by Palestinians
(4 in total).

According to approximate calculations, over 10 per cent of the world
population lives in the core caliphate as of 2005, while the suburbs
have 10.5 per cent of the world population.

Note for a comparison that USA have 10 per cent of the world population
and China â~@~S 20 per cent. In addition, some of the territories
are currently controlled by the caliphate ideologists. They have a
number of illegal armed groups. And there are also great deals of
people who support the caliphate ideology. The article also says
that most of them are not linked to terrorism. They live in the free
world states and promote the caliphate ideology via information items.

The Echo daily of Baku reports that the inclusion of Azerbaijan in that
list is conditioned by the presence of a number of fundamentalist
ideologists and relevant organizations in this country some of
which were consistently shut down by the government in them past
years, namely: â~@~Hasb Ut-Tahrir,â~@~] Islamic brothers and
others. However, â~@~Hasb Ut-Tahrirâ~@~] still reports on its
website that has a functioning cell in Azerbaijanâ~@¦

Baku believes this kind of network tries to diverge Azerbaijan from the
secular direction. On the other hand, certain analysts in Baku report
that the role of Islam in the life of the countryâ~@~Ys society grows.
As the Azerbaijani historian Arif Yunosov believes, it is first of
all related to the â~@~heating around the Karabakh issue, where
it was attempted to label the Azerbaijanis as fundamentalists.â~@~]
By the way, Yunosovâ~@~Ys book â~@~Islam in Azerbaijan is to come
out soon. We shall touch on this in our next edition.

–Boundary_(ID_X+Is8eZEo2UzDevS7jagEg)–

Armenian Kurds hail victory in Iraqi polls

Mediamax news agency
15 Feb 05

Yerevan, 15 February: The chairman of the Kurdistan committee in
Armenia, Charkaz Mstoyan, said in Yerevan today that the second place
taken by the Kurdish alliance in the Iraqi elections will “favourably
reflect on the resolution of the Kurds’ national tasks and serve as
a basis for the strengthening of Armenian-Kurdish relations,” Mstoyan
said in reply to a question from our Mediamax correspondent today.

[Passage omitted: Turkish reaction to polls]

The Kurdistan committee today staged a procession through the central
streets of Yerevan in defence of the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’
Party [PKK], Abdullah Ocalan, who was arrested six years ago. Mstoyan
said that “protest actions demanding the release of the leader of the
Kurdish people will be staged today in the countries where there are
Kurdish communities”.

“We demand freedom for Abdullah Ocalan. No peace and stability can be
established in our region without a harmonic solution to the Kurdish
problem,” the chairman of the Kurdistan committee said.

Paper: Bagapsh Inauguration Turned into ‘Forum of Separatists’
/ Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 2005-02-14 13:01:22

Civil Georgia, Georgia
Feb 14 2005

An article published on February 14 by the Russian daily Kommersant
described the presidential inauguration ceremony of Sergey Bagapsh in
the breakaway Abkhazia as a “forum of separatists, which was openly
backed by Russia.”

Delegations from secessionist regions of South Ossetia, Transdnestria
and Nagorny-Karabakh, as well as officials from the Russia’s North
Caucasus Republics and regions, representatives from Moscow’s
Mayors office and a group of Russian parliamentarians attended the
inauguration ceremony in the Abkhaz capital Sokhumi on February 12,
Kommersant reported.

“Only representatives of the Chechen Republic were absent, because
Chechen separatism is not backed by Russia and their presence would
have been a vivid demonstration of Russia’s double standard policy,”
the paper says.

Georgia’s other secessionist region of South Ossetia was represented
by the de facto President of the region, Eduard Kokoity.

“Abkhazia will be an independent and strong state. Many react badly
to the relationship between the Republic of South Ossetia and the
Republic of Abkhazia. I want to tell them: we will continue the
traditions historically launched by our ancestors, which are directed
at strengthening the friendship and brotherhood between our peoples.
We will multiply these traditions; we will cooperate for the sake
of the future of our peoples, for the sake of strengthening the
independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” the Kommersant quoted
Kokoity as saying.

“Today we not only welcome the President of Abkhazia, it can be said,
that a forum of the entire North Caucasus has gathered here today.
Certain forces try to dictate new rules for cooperation within the
Caucasus. I want to tell these forces: nobody will ever teach us –
Abkhazians, Adigeis, Kabardians, Balkarians, Karachay-Cherkessia’s,
Daghestanis, Ossetians and Russians – how to live. And let everybody
know that they will fail to agitate the situation. I hope we will
prove to everybody that the Caucasus is not a ground for experiments.
Long Live the Republic of Abkhazia! Long Live the Republic of South
Ossetia! Long Live our Union with great Russia,” Kokoity stated.

In his inaugural speech Sergey Bagapsh stressed that Abkhazia will
be open for investment and for becoming “an important international
transit” territory. “We are ready to discuss these issues with every
state interested in it. But with one condition – the unconditional
respect for [the] independence [of Abkhazia],” Sergey Bagapsh added.

Agency WPS
What the Papers Say. Part A (Russia)
February 14, 2005, Monday

ANDREW KUCHINS: AMERICA WANTS TO SEE A STRONG AND DEMOCRATIC RUSSIA

SOURCE: Rossiiskie Vesti, No. 5, February 10, 2005, p. 4

by Stanislav Tarasov

The world of American political science is extremely diverse, not
only in its political views, but also in its attitudes to Russia.
Some continue to view our country as the Cold War enemy; others
approach the new Russia with goodwill, understanding the difficulties
it encounters along the path to establishing itself as a great power
of a different kind. Andrew Kuchins, director of the Carnegie Moscow
Center, is among the latter; so his thoughts about the development
and prospects of relations between Russia and the United States are
always relevant and interesting.

Question: Preparations are under way on both sides for the
forthcoming Putin-Bush summit in Bratislava. In your view, what will
the agenda for that meeting look like?

Andrew Kuchins: From the formal standpoint, the summit agenda may
look as follows: WMD non-proliferation, the “war on protectionism,”
cooperation in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the situation in the Middle
East, taking account of the changes in Palestine since the death of
Yasser Arafat. My impression is that the American side will also
mention some domestic policy issues in Russia: democracy, the YUKOS
affair. Energy cooperation will also be discussed.

In my view, Washington is disappointed by some aspects of Russia’s
domestic and foreign policy. A special point is the situation taking
shape in the “frozen conflict” zones: Nagorno-Karabakh, South
Ossetia, and Abkhazia. Perhaps the Trans-Dniester region as well. On
the whole, however, the relationship between the presidents of Russia
and the United States is open enough for any issue to be raised at
the summit, in principle.

Question: In shaping their policy on post-Soviet territory, are the
United States and Russia acting as partners or opponents?

Andrew Kuchins: My impression is that we are currently acting more
like opponents. The problem of the “frozen conflicts” within
post-Soviet territory – that is one of the most disputed points in
our relations. Besides, there is the “challenge of Europe.”
Develoments in Ukraine have also left a certain aftertaste. In the
United States, attitudes to Russia have grown noticeably cooler among
the political and financial establishment. So the two presidents need
to give the summit some sort of concrete content, in order to damp
down emotions in the United States, and in Russia as well.

Question: The United States has obviously intensified its attacks on
Russian-Iranian cooperation in the field of peaceful nuclear energy.
What does this mean? Could it be that Iran’s turn is approaching,
after Iraq?

Andrew Kuchins: This is an old problem. The United States is
concerned about Russia’s assistance in building the Bushehr nuclear
power plant. The United States suspects Iran of developing technology
capable of creating nuclear weapons. On the whole, my own view is
that the United Staes will end up agreeing to the Bushehr nuclear
power plant being built, on the condition that Iran would not be able
to use enriched uranium.

Question: In the second administration of George W. Bush, the State
Department is headed by Condoleezza Rice, a well-known American
expert on Russia. Is this good for Russia or not?

Andrew Kuchins: I believe the appointment of Condoleezza Rice as
Secretary of State is not a negative factor for Russia. I cannot
agree with the arguments of some Russian experts who describe Rice as
“worse than Zbigniew Brzezinski.” Firstly, she is not from the ranks
of American neo-conservatives. She is capable of competently
assessing all aspects of relations between the United States and
Russia. Think of her famous words after the Iraq situation: “Punish
France and Germany, forgive Russia.” That is her visiting card. I can
personally attest, based on my contactsin Washington, that
Condoleezza Rice will aim to develop and expand cooperation with
Russia; she will seek and work on a broad range of options for
achieving that goal. In her previous position at the Security
Council, she did a great deal to establish personal contact between
George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin. I suspect that some similar work
is now under way as the Bratislava summit approaches. Let me expand
on that. There was an informal “communications channel” between the
Security Councils of the United States and Russia. Moreover, when the
US policy rhetoric regarding Russia started changing late last year,
and Colin Powell made some strong anti-Moscow statements, it was Rice
who neutralized them. I’m told she was the last bastion that stopped
the neo-conservative backlash against Russia’s policies.

Question: Nevertheless, in the lead-up to the Bratislava summit Time
magazine has suddenly published an article entitled “The Russians are
Coming: FBI concerned about the expanding scale of Russian espionage
in the United States.” The authors are Timothy Berger and Brian
Bennet. Who is behind this attempt to create an unfavorable media
background for the summit?

Andrew Kuchins: I have, of course, read reports that the number of
Russian spies in the United States has increased noticeably. The
thing is that a process of shifting emphasis is under way in American
politics, in which the positions of the neo-conservatives are
starting to coincide with those of left-wing Democrats. The essence
of this alliance is that democracy issues should be the key point in
US foreign policy. In other words, a barometer is being established,
which is intended to measure the level of democracy in any particular
country, and Washington’s foreign policy would be structured on that
basis. This position is clearly discernible in the president’s recent
address to the nation. So we might say that the understanding of
democracy and freedom issues is being restructured. I repeat, this
has happened because the positions of Republicans and left-wing
Democrats are merging. Some individuals, such as Richard Perle or
James Woolsey, suspect Russia of cultivating undemocratic trends.

Then again, there are also the moderate Democrats and moderate
Republican pragmatists – they’re in the center of the American
political spectrum – who take quite a different view of Russia. And
this is the field on which Condoleezza Rice is playing. She recently
stated that democracy in Russia is developing unevenly, and has not
yet become an irreversible process. All the same, recent history has
shown that the United States and Russia are capable of effective
cooperation in pursuing common objectives and meeting the challenges
of common threats. Actually, Rice also outlined future prospects: she
made it clear that a breakthrough in relations between our countries
is only possible if Russia is democratic. At the same time, as a
Russia specialist, she takes account of the fact that this involves a
historical long-term process. Therefore, she is focusing everyone on
concrete work, concrete action. I would add that we need to seek
opportunities to cooperate, despite temporary failures. Remember how
the left-wing Democrat Roosevelt and Stalin cooperated for the sake
of victory over a common enemy.

Question: Would strategic cooperation ever be possible between the
United States and Russia?

Andrew Kuchins: Anything can happen. If the United States is
thoroughly convinced that Russia is developing in the direction of
democracy, an intensive search will begin for as many points of
contiguity as possible, and an understanding will emerge of Russia’s
interests on post-Soviet territory and worldwide. At present,
however, it’s true to say that the majority in Washington still
suspect that Russia is moving towards establishing an authoritarian
regime.

I am convinced of this: the United States and Russia are simply bound
to seek ways and means of working together, since a confrontation
between us as rivals would have an impact on the whole world.
Everyone would be worse off. Once again, I would like to emphasize
that there are some people in the United States, some politicians,
who want to weaken Russia and cast it out onto some sort of
geopolitical periphery. But they are in the minority. A weak Russia,
a weak Russian state, would never be of interest to the United
States. In my country we understand that security throughout Eurasia
ultimately depends on a strong Russia.

Of course, there are certain twists connected with the role Americans
played in Russia in the early 1990s. Back then, it was said that
Russia had a “high level of democracy” – but now that level is
allegedly gone, so we need to change our policy regarding Moscow. But
it isn’t that simple. And now we say we are interested in seeing a
strong, democratic Russia, if only because we are coming to
understand the need to cooperate on many aspects of world affairs,
and to expand that cooperation. As you know, working with a weak
partner is easier, but addressing substantial tasks is more
difficult. Yet such tasks are accumulating with every passing day.
That’s why I am an optimist and believe that Bush and Putin will
reach agreement on everything.

Translated by Pavel Pushkin

French mediator points to settlement in Armenian-occupied Azeri district

Turan news agency, Baku
15 Feb 05

Prague, 15 February: The OSCE mission to look into facts of settlement
in the seven Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani districts outside Nagornyy
Karabakh completed its work last week.

The French co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Bernard Fassier,
has told Radio Liberty about his impressions of the trip.

The mission became possible thanks to an agreement between Armenia
and Azerbaijan. The Armenians consented to the visit in exchange for
the assurances of the Azerbaijani authorities to stop pressing for
the discussion of the issue at the UN Security Council.

Baku maintains that the Armenian authorities have settled 23,000
Armenians on the occupied territories and demands an end to the policy
of “colonization”.

Fassier said it would be wrong to speak about deliberate settlement on
these territories except for Lacin [Lachin] District. The settlement
of other districts looks like “spontaneous migration”, he said.

‘The settlement of Lacin is encouraged and sponsored. But in the six
other districts, 80-90 per cent of settlers have either arrived on
their own or with the support of the Armenian diaspora. The number
of Armenian settlers in the occupied territories considerably differs
from the estimates of the Azerbaijani side,” Fassier said.

A considerable portion of settlers is made up of refugees from
Azerbaijan who emerged at the very start of the conflict in 1988. The
second group of settlers are people afflicted by the Armenian
earthquake in December 1988, while the third group of settlers are
those who left Armenia because of socioeconomic problems and livestock
breeding farmers who came from the mountains together with their
cattle because of the winter, Fassier said. He said many settlers do
not receive assistance from Armenia or Karabakh.

[Passage omitted: background information about the mission]