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.

EVENT MARKING 4TH ANNIVERSARY OF FRANCE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE HELD IN MARSEILLES
PanArmenian News
Feb 17 2005
17.02.2005 16:43
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Marseilles-based structure of the Coordination
Council has organized an event in the city Culture Center, devoted to
the 4-th anniversary of France acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.
Addressing the measure Council Chairman Jacques Tonapetian noted:
“Today when the entire world gathers in Osventsim to say a resolute
“Never again!”, the law passed by France is the only thing we can
devote to the memory of our innocent victims.” The event participants
noted that “Turkey’s possible accession to the EU will become a
political decease for Europe” and that “Turkey should stop denying
the tragedy.”

KASPRZYK TO DRAW REPORT ON SITUATION AT KARABAKH AND AZERI ARMED FORCES CONTACT LINE
PanArmenian News
Feb 17 2005
17.02.2005 13:55
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs have addressed the
OSCE Chairman-in-Office a request for the structure special mission
to draw a report on the situation at the contact line between the
armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan. It was reported by
the Office of Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office
Andrzej Kasprzyk in Tbilisi. As reported by the source, the Co-Chairs
are seriously concerned over the periodical breaks of the cease-fire
regime at the front line lately. “The situation is clear and simple:
the cease-fire agreement is being broken and this should be cut
short. The tension at the front causes the concern of the countries
co-chairing the Minsk Group. This also prejudices the OSCE mediation
activities,” A. Kasprzyk office reported.

Russia and Armenia discuss cooperation
RosBusinessConsulting Database
February 17, 2005 Thursday 11:24 am, EST
Armenian President Robert Kocharian met with Russian foreign minister
Sergey Lavrov, who is on a two-day official visit to Armenia.
Kocharian said he was satisfied with the level of Russian-Armenian
relations, the ARKA news agency has reported with reference to the
president’s press service. The sides also discussed issues concerning
the activities of the Russian-Armenian intergovernmental commission.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Russia, Armenia FMs satisfied with intensive political dialogue
By Ksenia Kaminskaya, Tengiz Pachkoria
ITAR-TASS News Agency
February 17, 2005 Thursday
TBILISI, February 17 — The Russian and Armenian foreign ministers,
Sergei Lavrov and Vartan Oskanyan, “are satisfied with the intensive
political dialogue and the positive dynamics of the economic ties and
interdepartmental cooperation, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman
Alexander Yakovenko said on Thursday, summing up the results of
Russo-Armenian conversations in Yerevan.
“The sides exchanged opinions on the main directions and prospects
for the development of bilateral cooperation, also in the energy and
transport areas”, the spokesman said. “Close attention was given
to the analysis of the implementation of the arrangements at the
summit level reached when Armenian President Robert Kocharyan was on
a working visit to Russia in May 2004”.
Yakovenko said, “Special attention at the talks was given to the
discussion of international problems”. The sides “confirmed their
adherence to the stepping up of coordinated efforts in the bilateral
and multilateral formats to fight terrorism and oppose other threats
and challenges”. Besides, he said, questions of the reform of the
United Nations and of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe were raised at the talks.
Discussing the ways of settling the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, the
ministers “expressed support for the Prague process of consultations
between the ministers with the participation of the Minsk group of
the OSCE”, Yakovenko said.

Date for Putin’s visit to Yerevan to be set soon
By Kseniya Kaminskaya, Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
February 17, 2005 Thursday
YEREVAN, February 17 — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said
in Yerevan late on Thursday that Russia would be ready to set a
specific date for President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Yerevan in
the near future. The minister explained that the time of the trip
“depended on the president’s schedule in the foreseeable weeks.”
Putin’s visit to Armenia was one of the topics of Lavrov’s talks with
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan.
The presidential press service reports that the Russian Foreign
Minister conveyed Putin’s message to Robert Kocharyan and told him
that the Russian president was looking forward to his trip to Yerevan
that will open the Year of Russian Culture in Armenia.

Rus, US presidents to discuss whole gamut of Russo-American relat
By Ksenia Kaminskaya, Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
February 17, 2005 Thursday
YEREVAN, February 17 — “The whole gamut of Russo-American relations”
will be on the agenda of the meeting of the presidents of Russia
and the United States in Bratislava, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov, who wound up his visit to Armenia, said here on Thursday.
“The agenda will encompass the security area, the fight against
terrorism and illegal arms-and-drugs trafficking, and the prevention
of terrorists getting hold of arms”, the minister said. “There will
be on the agenda also the energy dialogue, matters of commercial,
economic, investment interaction between Russia and the United States,
and all the regional conflicts, particularly those that are connected
one way or another with the need to strengthen the non-proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction”, Lavrov said.
“We expect the summit in Bratislava to sum up the results of the
present stage of the work being done on the instruction of the two
presidents in virtually every direction of bilateral relations, on
many regional and international questions”, the foreign minister said.
“We also expect the presidents, summing up the results of the work
done, to decide on the new agenda and set additional tasks to speed
up the work in the areas, in which they will find it not prompt and
efficient enough, and also to spread the dialogue to new areas”, Lavrov
said. He expects “specific arrangements of the two presidents”. “They
got used to working in such a spirit, and it is in this spirit that
they conduct their summits”, Lavrov said.

Armenian foreign minister describes talks with Lavrov as fruitful
By Kseniya Kaminskaya, Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
February 17, 2005 Thursday
YEREVAN, February 17 — Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan
has described his talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
as fruitful.
Oskanyan told reporters that an entire range of issues concerning
Russian-Armenian relations had been discussed with the Armenian
president, prime minister and at the Armenian Foreign Ministry.
Firstly, “they concern bilateral relations, which are rather deep
and substantive. They cover political and economic spheres, military
cooperation, culture and education,” Oskanyan stressed.
Secondly, they include regional problems that are particularly
important in view of the events unfolding in the region, in the
direct vicinity from Armenia and Russia. “All this provides for more
intensive Armenian-Russian relations and private consultations,”
Oskanyan went on to say.
Thirdly, there are global problems and cooperation in international
organizations. “The United Nations and the OSCE are undergoing serious
structural reforms, we have common interests and tasks whose solution
calls for cooperation and clarification of positions,” he stressed.
Finally, it is the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh. Oskanyan said that
he had informed Sergei Lavrov about the Armenian side’s approach
“directed at achieving shifts in the settlement process.”