Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Jan 13 2005

Military action possible if diplomacy fails – political analyst

Azerbaijan has considerably stepped up its diplomacy in 2004 in the
area of settling the Upper Garabagh conflict, Director of the Center
for Political Innovations and Technologies Mubariz Ahmadoglu told
AssA-Irada. This was manifested both in peace talks and building the
army.
`Since the Azerbaijani President pays greater attention to
strengthening the military, this process is carried out
purposefully.’
The political analyst continued that if no diplomatic success is
achieved early in 2005 and Armenia does not comply with Azerbaijan’s
demands, the latter will choose the military action alternative.
`If the peace talks assume a practical nature, this could be
considered as initial success which will allow continuing the
negotiations. Otherwise, the diplomacy will weaken, which in turn,
will lead to stepping up the military process.’
Although early last year Armenia rejected the `from a scratch’ and
`stage-
by-stage’ options of conflict resolution, as the year drew to an end
this country started to favor the latter alternative. It is not by
mere chance that late last year, an expert on the `stage-by-stage’
conflict settlement Baiburdyan, who earlier headed a department at
the Armenian Foreign Ministry, was appointed deputy foreign minister.
This shows that Armenia, under pressure from the international
community and Azerbaijan’s active diplomacy, is making changes to its
policy.*

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Jan 13 2005

French parliament to discuss Garabagh conflict

The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper Garabagh will be discussed
at the French parliament this month.
A report suggesting possible ways of settling the conflict and the
status of peace talks between the conflicting sides will be
considered and the position of official Paris on the negotiating
process expressed during the discussions.*

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Jan 13 2005

Armenia wants to forge ties with Turkey without pre-conditions

Armenia supports forging ties with Turkey without any pre-conditions,
Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oskanian told journalists on
Wednesday.
`Despite this position of Armenia, Turkey continues to link the issue
of opening the Armenia-Turkey border and eliminating the existing
differences with a number of unacceptable terms.’
Oskanian said that no changes have been observed in the
Armenia-Turkey relations in 2004 due to the non-constructive position
of Turkey. However, he noted that last year he met with his Turkish
counterpart Abdullah Gul in Istanbul and New York to discuss the
political situation in the region and the world. Moreover, foreign
ministers of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey met as part of the NATO
summit in Istanbul, he added.*

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Jan 13 2005

Armenians hit landmine

A `Kamaz’ truck owned by Armenians ran into a mine in the Shotlanli
village of the Adgham region currently under Armenian occupation, ANS
TV channel reported quoting an employee of the Azerbaijan National
Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA).
The Defense Ministry neither denied nor confirmed the report.
Armenia planted mines in the occupied Azerbaijani territories in
1993-1994.*

ArmenPress
Jan 13 2005

JUSTICE MINISTER TO HAVE NEW DEPARTMENTS TO DEAL WITH EUROPEAN HUMAN
RIGHTS COURT

YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS: The Armenian government has
ordered to establish a special department at the justice ministry
that will be supervising contacts with the European Human Rights
Court in Strasbourg. Gevork Kostanian, the representative of the
Armenian government at the Strasbourg-based court, told Armenpress
that the prime minister has also ordered to create “the institution
of Armenia’s authorized representative at the Court,” which he said
is in line with the requirements of the European Convention on Human
Rights. The new institution is to become a liaison between the
Armenian government and the Court. He said the new department will
represent the interests of Armenia in the Court.
Kostanian said the new department’s main objective will be to
prepare the position of the government regarding cases filed against
the Republic of Armenia and in case of need, to take measures to
correct possible violations. “If the government representative finds
that an official has violated the European Convention on Human
Rights, which has led to filing a lawsuit against Armenia at the
European Court, he or she will have to prepare a report and suggest
proposals to eliminate the violations,” Kostanian said.
Apart of his or her main duties the representative will also be
eligible to make suggestions concerning improvement of legislation.
The new department is already hiring its staff who were selected
through a competition.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ArmenPress
Jan 13 2005

GOVERNMENT GIVES MORE AUTHORITY TO COMMISSION ON PROTECTION OF
ECONOMIC COMPETITION

YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS: The Armenian government pledged
today to make protection of economic competition a focal point of its
current economic policy and has approved a bill on making changes to
the relevant law.
Speaking to reporters after the regular government session, deputy
trade and economic development minister Armen Gevorkian said the bill
is expected to give more authorities to the state-run commission on
protection of economic competition, to specify the range of its
operations and apply more clearly-cut punishment measures to business
entities breaking the law.
One of the changes enables the commission to break up into smaller
units those dominating companies which would prevent their
competitors to enter their market. Another change demands that
companies with dominating positions in the domestic market provide
information about their economic activities twice a year.
Some other changes also envisage penalties for companies with
dominating positions for abuse of their position, unfair competition,
which, according to the deputy minister are a frequent occurrence in
Armenia now.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ArmenPress
Jan 13 2005

ARMENIANS TO MARK THIS YEAR THE 1,600-TH ANNIVERSARY OF THEIR
ALPHABET

YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS; The government of Armenia is
planning to hold an extensive range of events this year to mark the
1600-th anniversary of invention of Armenian alphabet. A special
commission was set up, chaired by prime minister Andranik Margarian,
to steer the preparation of events.
The events will include, particulalry, a theater performance
showing Mesrop Mashtots, the inventor of the scripts and his
disciples’ return from Syria where they worked to create the first
Armenian alphabet.
The origins of the Armenian alphabet were derived after the
official adoption of Christianity by King Tiridates III in 301 AD.
The difficult task of inventing the alphabet was assigned to Mesrop
Mashtots whom the Armenian Church reveres among her saints.
St. Mesrop was born in the year 361 in the village of Hatzekatz in
the province of Taron, now in Turkey. In his early years, he learned
both Greek and Persian and served in the Armenian Royal Court. Later,
he decided to enter the ranks of the clergy and with some other young
men, he went to preach in the province of Goghtn around 395 A.D.
During this period he felt the great need of the Armenian people for
an “Alphabet” of their own so he petitioned the Catholicos Sahak and
together they requested the aid of King Vramshapouh.
After receiving the approval of Catholicos Sahak, the saintly head
of the Armenian Church and himself a scholar, Mesrop set out on this
enormous undertaking at a time when Armenian religious and cultural
integrity was threatened by the Persian regime to assimilate the
Armenian population.
Mesrop determined a need of 36 characters for the alphabet and
decided to write the characters from left to right as in Greek. He
retained a number of Greek letters and altered others to fit in with
the aesthetic pattern that they had adopted, thereby retaining the
order of the Greek alphabet as much as possible. Three letters were
added in the 10th-12th cc, for a total of 39 letters.
After much research and many travels, Mesrop was able to come up
with the skeleton of an alphabet. However, it did not meet the needs
of the Armenian language. According to tradition, while meditating in
a cave near the village of Palu, the saint had a vision in which,
“the hand of God wrote the alphabet in letters of fire”.
Upon his return to the Catholicos and King, the saint was received
with great honors and much joy. Mesrop completed the Armenian
alphabet in 405 AD.
The original Armenian alphabet was written in large capital
letters of a monumental character and size. Though nowadays written
in modern cursive script, the Armenian alphabet has continued in use
to the present day with the original set of characters.

RIA Novosti, Russia
Jan 13 2005

MOST OF FOREIGN MERCENARIES KILLED IN CHECHNYA ARE TURKS

WASHINGTON, January 13 (RIA Novosti, Alexei Berezin) – Turkey is a
record-breaker among the nations whose citizens have been killed as
mercenaries operating as part of illegal armed formations in
Chechnya, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told a news
conference at the Russian embassy in Washington.

“I see no major problems in the Russian-Turkish relations, except the
double standards towards the fight against terrorism. I mean Turkey
is a record-breaker in terms of the number of its citizens killed in
Chechnya while operating with Chechen illegal armed formations,” the
minister noted.

Minister Ivanov also stressed that the Russian-Turkish relations had
been on the rise, all the more so that Russian President Vladimir
Putin has recently paid a visit to Turkey and a large Turkish
businessman team led by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan
reciprocated as early as in the beginning of this week.

Responding to questions about the Russian-Armenian relations in light
of Russia’s links with Turkey, the Russian defense minister noted
that Armenia was a closest Russian ally.

“Our two countries are members of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (along with Armenia and Russia, the members of this
defense organization under the CIS auspices are Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan). There is a large Russian military base in
Armenia. We have very close economic and cultural links,” Ivanov
said.

At the same time, he said, “We are not going to push Armenia in any
direction. Armenia is a sovereign nation that will take its own
decision on where it wants to go. This is a principle of ours.”

RosBusinessConsulting Database
January 13, 2005 Thursday 1:54 am, EST

Armenian minister comments on relations with Russia

In 2004, Russian-Armenian relations were focused on maintaining
economic ties and on cooperation in the transportation sector,
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian said at a news conference
devoted to the 2004 results. According to him, the sides managed to
solve many economic problems. In particular, they agreed on Armenia’s
participation in organizing an international transportation route
North-South, which is of strategic importance for Armenia as an
alternative transportation link through Iran, the ARKA news agency
quoted him as saying.

Among other important issues of Russian-Armenian economic
cooperation, Oskanian mentioned the necessity to increase cargo
transportation between the two states and promote Russia’s
investments in Armenia’s economy as well as use Armenia’s energy
generating facilities in full volume.

Oskanian pointed out that last year, bilateral relations continued
developing and strengthening in the military, political and
humanitarian spheres. The Armenian-Russian association of business
cooperation that unites some 100 companies in both countries was
created in 2004. Officials also agreed to declare the year 2005 as
the Year of Russia in Armenia and 2006 as the Year of Armenia in
Russia.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
January 13, 2005 Thursday 3:10 PM Eastern Time

Expelled population should be able to participate in Abkhaz polls

By Eka Mekhuzla

TBILISI

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said on Thursday that the
elections in Abkhazia would be considered legitimate only after all
the population that had been expelled from the autonomous province
takes part in them.

“When the Georgians, Abkhazians, Armenians, Russians, Greeks,
Estonians and many others who were forced to leave Abkhazia would
return there and take part in the elections, these polls will be
considered legitimate,” Saakashvili, who is staying at the Bakuriani
Alpine Skiing resort, said.

Asked whether he is going to congratulate Sergei Bagapsh on his
victory in the Abkhazian election, Saakashvili replied, “We are going
to congratulate ourselves when Georgia restores its territorial
integrity.”

The Georgian authorities claim that two thirds of the autonomous
republic’s population were forced to flee Abkhazia during the
1992-1993 arms conflict.