AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 29 2004

Publication claims Iran’s lands belong to Armenia

“Metsamor” newspaper run by Armenians has included Iran’s territories
into the map of “Great Armenia” published on its first page. The
Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan, in an interview with local ANS
television, stated that Armenians are distorting history. He said
that such statements are laughable and pose no threat to Iran’s
territorial integrity.

The mentioned map is provided in every issue of this newspaper
published in 5,000 copies. The publication’s editor-in-chief is a
well-known academician in Armenia.

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 29 2004

List of Armenia’s top homosexual officials forwarded to President

Armenia’s Supreme Union of Racists has sent the list of the country’s
seven top homosexual officials to the President, Prime Minister and
chairman of the National Security Council in a sealed envelope.
The Union has warned that the names of the officials will be made
public if no urgent measures are taken against them.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Dec 29 2004

Protests Against Occupation of Azeri Lands Continue

The Movement for Azerbaijan (MA) held a protest action in Birmingham,
the third largest city in Great Britain, under the slogan of
`Karabakh: Protest actions worldwide’ on Tuesday.

Azerbaijani students, Turkish people and ethnic Azerbaijanis from
Iran took part in the protest action. The proetsters adopted a
statement at the end of the action saying that Karabakh is the
integral part of Azerbaijan.

The MA held a picket outside the Armenian embassy in Moscow on
Monday.

The Movement started protests abroad on Sunday on the occasion of the
13th anniversary of occupation of Azerbaijan’s Khankandi region and
the Day of Solidarity of World Azerbaijanis – December 31.

Similar actions will be organized in Canada, France and Sweden.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Dec 29 2004

Baku Expects Progress in January Meeting of Azeri, Armenian FMs

Baku expects considerable progress at the meeting of Azerbaijani and
Armenian foreign ministers upcoming in January, Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov told local ATV channel.

`If Armenia continues to approach the issue seriously, as it did at
the Sofia and Brussels meetings of foreign ministers, remarkable
changes will be achieved in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement.’

Asked whether the January meeting can be termed as a start of the
second stage of Prague meetings, Mammadyarov said: `In general, I am
opposed to breaking the talks into stages. The meeting should be
considered continuation of the Prague process.’

The foreign minister added that the parties will set the exact time
of the meeting early next month after a telephone conversation.

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 29 2004

Thaw in Baku-Tehran relations

The visit by Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani to Baku was
considered one of the most important events of last week not only for
Azerbaijani public but also for western countries and Russia, which
maintain close relations with Azerbaijan. After the visit by the
Iranian President Khatami to Azerbaijan

last summer and the appointment of an energetic and active diplomat
Afshar Suleymani as Iran’s ambassador, who is approved of by Baku,
the relations between the two neighboring countries started to thaw.
On the eve of President Ilham Aliyev’s upcoming reciprocal visit to
Iran, visits by Iranian officials to Baku have become frequent.

A recent visit by Iranian deputy foreign minister was followed by
that of the country’s defense minister Shamkhani. This was the first
visit by an Iranian defense minister to Azerbaijan.
The Iranian Minister was received not only by his Azerbaijani
counterpart but also by President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov. As expected, no documents were signed upon
conclusion of the talks.

Iran ready to forge any ties
In a meeting with Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev, which
was held in a friendly atmosphere, the parties confined themselves to
conventional statements. Shamkhani said that Iran has always
supported and will continue to back Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity.
“Azerbaijan’s security is our security. Our defense capability means
your defense capability. We are ready to establish any ties with
Azerbaijan and there are no forces opposed to this.”
Minister Abiyev in turn, said that Iran, which considers Azerbaijan a
brotherly country, should assist in a fair settlement of the Upper
Garabagh conflict. Abiyev pointed out that “Azerbaijan will not yield
a patch of its land to the aggressor”.
The parties also exchanged views on developing Azeri-Iranian
relations in the area of defense and agreed upon mutual visits by the
two countries’ delegations to continue relevant consultations.
Independent analysts have issued conflicting views on Shamkhani’s
statement. Some say that Iran has started getting closer to
Azerbaijan.
Similar statements were made at Shamkhani’s meetings with the
Azerbaijani President and Foreign Minister.
President Aliyev, in the meeting with the Iranian minister, said that
Iran’s high-ranking officials have frequently visited Azerbaijan over
the last few months, which illustrates the expanding relations. The
successfully developing Azerbaijani-Iranian ties also promote
strengthening peace and stability in the region, the President added.

History
Azerbaijani people have always been interested in developing
relations with Iran. This is, first of all, explained by the fact
that there are over 30 million indigenous Azerbaijani Turks, who have
lived in the northern part of Iran for thousands of years.
In early 1990s, during the national liberation movement in
Azerbaijan, which was then a part of the Soviet Union, residents of
borderline regions, destroying the barbed wires and other borderline
structures, opened arms to their brethren who had a similar language
and religion, hopeful that the latter will assist them in repelling
the Russo-Armenian onslaught.
In those years, Iran tried to assume the role of a mediator in the
resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. Twice, on the
initiative of t e then President of Iran – in February in March of
1992, the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia were invited to Tehran
to hold peace talks in order to achieve a ceasefire and
reconciliation. However, as soon as the negotiations started, the
Russo-Armenian troops entered Khojaly and neighboring villages and
perpetrated the well-known massacre.
Similar developments took place in May, as the main town in Garabagh,
Shusha, was invaded.
Azerbaijanis realized then that superpowers and certain forces in
Armenia let Iran know that it should abandon its mission of
intermediary. However, the ensuing development of economic relations
between Iran and Armenia, supplies of Iranian energy resources and
vital goods to Armenia was complicating the ties between Iran and
Azerbaijan.
Due to its ties with Iran, Armenia was not considerably affected by
the ‘economic blockade on part of Azerbaijan and Turkey’,
persistently promulgated by this country in the international arena.
Considering the good relations between Iran and Russia, Iran can be
considered a ‘key factor’ for Armenia. This brings us to the
question: why has Iran unexpectedly decided to ‘break the ice’ in its
relationship with Azerbaijan?

Visit goal
Some experts say that Iranian officials tend to favor the neighboring
country’s aspiration to cooperate but also its global goals. More
precisely, Iran is trying to minimize the presence of the United
States in the region. This country’s key goal is to prevent
Azerbaijan’s becoming a forepost for US troops and members of the
anti-terror coalition in their struggle against Iran.
Competent analysts say that the issue of the US military presence in
Azerbaijan will be finally resolved as early as in 2005. This may
happen under the pretext of safeguarding the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
pipeline, the main export pipeline to take Azerbaijan’s oil to world
markets.
A reliable military source said that the key objective of Shamkhani’s
visit to Baku was to “eliminate the latent military stand-off between
the two countries” and learn Azerbaijan’s future policy with regard
to Iran. Many still remember the violation of Azerbaijan’s maritime
border and air space by Iranian aircraft and vessels.
Some pundits believe that in a move to prevent the possibility of
stationing NATO bases in Azerbaijan, Shamkhani presumably offered to
the Azerbaijani government a full support in resolving the Upper
Garabagh problem and weakening of its ties with Armenia. It appears
that otherwise the Azerbaijani government would simply have no reason
to negotiate with Iran.
The mentioned issues are to be clarified during the upcoming visits
by the Azerbaijani President and Defense Minister to Iran.
During Minister Abiyev’s visit, the parties may sign an agreement on
military and technical collaboration.

Prospects
Some analysts say that Azerbaijan, as an independent country, is
pursuing a balanced policy, which meets the country’s national
interests.
Most of the experts we have approached, however, say they see no
prospects for Iran-Azerbaijan military ties, and warn that by getting
closer to Iran, Azerbaijan is backing away from its positions on its
road of integration with Europe and may even enter the ‘list of the
United States’ opponents. Active visits by Iran’s representatives to
Azerbaijan are believed to have started after the NATO exercises were
cancelled in Baku this September. They warn that a change in
Azerbaijan’s strategic priorities may turn out costly for the
country.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Dec 29 2004

Armenia increases military expenses by 35%

After the discussions on the 2005 state budget the Armenian
parliament passed a decision last week to increase military expenses.

Although the military expenses earlier made up 13% of the state
budget ($98m), the figure was increased up to 18% by the parliament
to total the military expenses 35% of the next year’s state budget.
Thus, the funds scheduled to be allocated for education will be spent
on defense.
In 2004, Armenia’s military expenses constituted $82 million.
The military expenditures of Georgia will total $65 million in 2005.
In Azerbaijan, the government has decided to raise military expenses
up to $250 million next year. The figure stood at $180 million in
2004.
Commenting on Armenia’s unexpected move to increase military
expenses, political analyst Rovshan Novruzoghlu explained the fact
with the new aggressive position of Armenia in the South Caucasus
region and the country’s unsuccessful foreign policy pursued in the
international arena over the recent years.
Novruzoghlu said that the Armenian lobbyists in the United States
have appealed to the Congress with regard to allocation of $75
million to Armenia and $15 million to Upper Garabagh in military
assistance. Armenia intends to use financial assistance provided by
Diaspora and other foreign sources for military purposes, the
political analyst underlined.*

San Diego Union Tribune, CA
Dec 29 2004

Vazquez KOs Simonyan in first defense

By Jerry Magee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
December 29, 2004

Israel Vazquez was wearing black gloves when his fight began last
night and red gloves when it ended. With the gloves of both colors,
he was equally destructive.

With the black gloves, the stylist from Mexico City knocked down Art
Simonyan in the third round, inflicted a cut below the Armenian’s
left eye and had him bleeding profusely from the mouth.

In the fourth round, Vazquez had to change to red gloves after a
slash developed in one of his black gloves. Vazquez kept the red
gloves on for only 99 seconds – the 40 seconds remaining in the
fourth round when he put them on, and the 59 seconds of the fifth
that he required to stop Simonyan.

Vazquez (37-3, with 28 knockouts) thus made a successful first
defense of his IBF junior featherweight championship before what a
Sycuan spokesman said was a sellout gathering of 460 at the Sycuan
Resort and Casino.

For Simonyan (14-1-1, seven KOs), this was a first defeat. The
Armenian was in the scheduled 12-round fight through the first two
rounds, but in the third Vazquez reached him with a thunderous right.
A following left hook deposited Simonyan, clearly dazed, in his
corner.

Simonyan received a three-minute break in the fourth round while
Vasquez was changing gloves, but his reprieve was brief. In the
fifth, the champion got across another right that caused his rival to
sag.

Although Simonyan did not go down, Dr. James Jen Kin, the referee,
gave him an eight count. In concluding, Vazquez went on the attack
again and Jen Kin moved in to spare Simonyan additional punishment.

Frank Espinoza, Vazquez’s manager, said this was one of his man’s
best fights. The winner’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said he had
anticipated that Vazquez would be able to take Simonyan out, but not
this quickly.

“Art just couldn’t handle Israel’s power,” said Roach.

>From sparring with Simonyan, Vazquez said he had gained the
impression that his opponent did not possess a strong chin.

“I didn’t feel my strength,” said Simonyan. “My punches were not
there. I had no energy. I felt stiff.”

The undercard was made up of six scheduled four-rounders. For
punching power in these bouts, there was the sweeping right with
which Shawn Ross, a 254-pound heavyweight from Murrietta, knocked out
Bernard Gray of Oakland at 32 seconds of the third round.

For brevity, there was Crystal Hoy of Las Vegas stopping Sara Huntman
of Los Angeles at 31 seconds of the first round in the evening’s only
women’s match.

For class, there was Eddie Mapula, a junior welterweight from Tijuana
who would seem to have a future. He had too much in every area for
Hector Rivera of Michoacan, Mexico, and referee Raul Caiz Jr. wisely
called off matters following the third round.

For Mapula, 20, this was his fifth knockout in as many appearances.

For excitement, there was the cruiserweight go between Moses Matovu
of Las Vegas and Shane Johnston of El Cajon. Johnston, dropped in the
opening round of his first pro bout, rallied and had his rival
reeling in the second, but Matovu was able to gather himself and win
a unanimous decision.

In the other bouts, welterweight Francisco Maldonado of Guadalajara,
Mexico, outpointed Mauricio Borques of Caliacan, Mexico; and
heavyweight James Horton of Pomona knocked out James Harling of Las
Vegas with a counter right in the opening round’s final second.

The Messenger, Georgia
Dec 29 2004

President visits Javakheti

President Mikheil Saakashvili visited the southern region of
Javakheti Tuesday, where he spoke with residents of the regional
center Akhalkalaki and attended a concert arranged for his arrival.
The president stepped on the stage and joined in on an Armenian folk
dance. The vast majority of the population of Javakheti is Armenian
and the region has witnessed certain ethnic tensions over the years.
Rustavi 2 reports that Saakashvili addressed the people in Georgian,
Russian and Armenian, telling them the Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki highway
would be repaired in 2005 and that they would no longer be isolated
from the capital. The president also dropped by the house of a local
pensioner to wish his family a happy New Year.

Advertiser, Australia
Brisbane Courier Mail, Australia
Townsville Bulletin, Australia
Fox Sports, Australia
Dec 29 2004

Vazquez stops Armenian challenger

>From correspondents in El Cajon, California

MEXICO’s Israel Vazquez has stopped Artyom Simonyan of Armenia in the
fifth round to retain his International Boxing Federation junior
featherweight title.

Referee James Jen-Kin called a halt when Vazquez rocked Simonyan
2min:01sec into the fifth round.

He had already sent Simonyan to the canvas twice in the third round
and once in the fifth.

Vazquez, making his first defence of the title he claimed in March
with a victory over Venezuelan Jose Valbuena, improved to 37-3 with
27 wins inside the distance.

Simonyan, who now lives in the United States, suffered the first
defeat of his career as he fell to 14-1-1.

Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
Dec 29 2004

Interest low for board seats

Candidates include Armond Agakhani, Hoover alum Larry Miller and
parent Naira Khachatrian.

By Darleene Barrientos, News-Press and Leader

GLENDALE – The public school board race is not generating nearly the
same type of interest as the City Council and city clerk elections.

As of Tuesday, only incumbents Greg Krikorian and Chuck Sambar have
announced their intention to run for the three open seats on the
Glendale Unified School District board. That’s in contrast to the
crowded city races, where 10 are in line for the four open City
Council seats and six want to be city clerk.

“It is curious. It’s very curious,” said Patty Scripter, president of
the Parent Teacher Assn. of Glendale. “I’m hoping somebody will step
up, but it’s a big commitment, and there are a lot of issues facing
the school board that will make it a challenge.”

There are a few potential candidates, but they won’t confirm whether
they will run.

One of those possible candidates is Armond Agakhani, former field
representative for Assemblyman Dario Frommer and chairman of the
city’s parks, recreation and community services commission.

“I’m giving it serious consideration,” Agakhani said. “You will hear
something by the beginning of January.”

Another potential candidate was Naira Khachatrian, president of the
Armenian Parents Committee and frequent critic of the district’s
English Language Development program and Medi-Cal billing practices.

“I can’t answer that right now,” Khachatrian said. “We will wait to
see what’s going on.”

Sambar said he has been talking to people, encouraging them to run
for the spot board clerk Lina Harper will leave vacant when she steps
down in April. Hoover alumnus Larry Miller is also considering a run,
Sambar said. Efforts to reach Miller for comment were unsuccessful.

Scripter said she hopes a candidate with a similar background to
Harper’s will come forward.

“We’re hoping for someone with Lina Harper’s expertise,” she said.