ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
January 25, 2005 Tuesday 9:48 AM Eastern Time
PACE calls for settlement of Karabakh conflict
By Yuri Ulyanovsky
STRASBOURG
Ten years after the end of the hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh the
conflict in this region is not settled yet, the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) said on Tuesday.
In a PACE resolution that was adopted after the discussion of a
report on settlement of the Karabakh conflict within the framework of
the OSCE Minsk Group the PACE supported the work of the group, called
on Azerbaijan and Armenia to keep going on the way to reconciliation
and proposed to delegations of the countries to discuss the
negotiating process at PACE sessions.
The PACE instructed the secretary general of the Council of Europe to
prepare the plan of actions to assist Armenia and Azerbaijan in this
process.
Russia has never taken the side of Armenia or Azerbaijan in the
Karabakh conflict, chairman of the State Duma Committee for
International Affairs Konstantin Kosachev told Itar-Tass.
“As for arms supplies, Russia cannot be reproached of any bias. We
supply armaments to Armenia and Azerbaijan and fulfill equally our
commitments to both sides,” he pointed out.
“As for Tuesday’s resolution on settlement of the Karabakh conflict,
we worked on this project with our colleagues from Armenian and
Azerbaijani delegations, found common language on many issues and
reached compromise agreements,” Kosachev remarked.

Aberdeen Press and Journal
January 24, 2005
Icas helps armenia rebuild its economy
by Keith Findlay
Scotland’s prized reputation for financial prudence is helping the
former Soviet state of Armenia rebuild its economy. The Caucasus
republic aims to have its fledgling accountancy profession
rubber-stamped by international governing bodies in the next two
years and has enlisted the help of the world’s oldest accountancy
body – the Institute of Chartered Accountants Scotland.
Hundreds of young Armenian students are now being put through
professional exams as part of an international effort to encourage
investment in the country and secure its membership of the respected
International Federation of Accountants.
Armenia’s best-known exports are its fine brandy and cut diamonds,
but the economy has depended heavily on foreign aid since
independence in 1991.
It has been forced to rebuild its formerly Soviet-funded power
industry.
Neil Wallace, ICAS head of international services, has been leading
the project from Armenia’s capital Yerevan and is now seeing
Japanese, Korean, German and French investors looking for business
opportunities.
“It sounds a bit pie in the sky to say you can help people become
rich, but it does happen,” he said.
“If you can put in an accounting and auditing system in these
countries, it does help attract investment and you can see the
progress.” He added: “Whenever a country’s coming out of a period of
crisis, accountants are among the first people called in by the
international agencies because no one is going to invest in an
organisation unless they have an idea of its financial position or
projections.
“Joining IFAC will give credibility to members of Armenia’s local and
international institutes because they’ll be regarded as working to
the highest international standards.” ICAS, which celebrated its
150th anniversary last year, is collaborating with Armenia’s ministry
of finance to set up an independent body along the lines of the UK’s
Financial Reporting Council.
It is also helping the Armenian Association of Accountants and
Auditors to develop ethical standards, disciplinary procedures and
training resources.
“We’re the oldest professional accountancy body in the world and
probably the most respected,” Mr Wallace said. “Scotland has
generally got a solid reputation for producing good, honest
accountants and people tend to trust what we say.” ICAS is working on
similar projects in Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Poland and is
tendering for contracts in other countries around the world.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Las Vegas Sun, NV
Jan 25 2005
Girls’ plight sparks community support
By Timothy Pratt

LAS VEGAS SUN
Friends and family of Emma and Mariam Sarkisian — two Armenian teens
who have lived most of their lives in Las Vegas and are threatened
with deportation — rallied in support of the girls Monday, as their
attorney filed additional arguments to a federal judge in favor of
releasing them from a Los Angeles cell.
Meanwhile, Emma, who is 18, expressed frustration in a call from her
cell at being detained under what she described as “gross,
disgusting” conditions and being kept in the dark about their case.
The rally of about 30 people was held outside George Federal Building
in downtown Las Vegas on Monday afternoon. Some of the Sarkisians’
supporters had come from Los Angeles, holding signs with messages
such as, “To become American is not a crime.”
One of them was Grayr Nikogosyan, a neighbor of the Sarkisian family
when they lived in the Los Angeles area during the mid-1990s who has
maintained a friendship with them since then.
“The girls don’t deserve all this,” Nikogosyan said, referring to
their detention since Jan. 14 and possible deportation to Armenia.
The case began in July when Rouben Sarkisian, father of the girls,
was surprised at the Las Vegas office of immigration authorities by
the news that his daughters had no legal status in the United States.
Rouben Sarkisian is a U.S. resident, the step below citizenship, and
thought the girls were also residents. He has three other daughters
who were born in the United States.
Instead, they were told the girls were under orders to be deported
since 1993, according to their attorney, Jeremiah Wolf Stuchiner.
A twist got added to the case when the Republic of Armenia didn’t
recognize the girls, since they left the country when it was still a
Soviet republic, making them Soviet, not Armenian, citizens.
But by Jan. 14, Armenia changed its position on the issue. The girls
were sent to Los Angeles the same day. Since then, their legal team
has twice had to make 11th hour moves to keep the teens from being
placed onto flights to Moscow. The maneuvers bought time to argue
before a federal judge that the girls should be allowed to stay for
humanitarian reasons.
The girls are in the middle of something they shouldn’t have to
endure, their friends and family said Monday.
“They are just trying to lives their lives as normal teenaged girls,”
Nikogosyan said.
Nikogosyan also said that his daughter, Mari, who attends Clark
Magnet School in Glendale, Calif., had rallied hundreds of friends to
send letters to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., about the case.
Mari said her school and other schools in Glendale are taking up the
cause, since most of the students at those schools are Armenians or
children of Armenians.
“Everybody’s sending e-mails about this,” she said.
Alisa Petrossian, a news editor at Horizon TV, an Armenian station in
Los Angeles, said her station had broadcast news of the Sarkisian
girls three times over the weekend to an estimated 250,000 viewers
nationwide.
The Los Angeles area is home to about 150,000 Armenians, according to
the U.S. Census.
The girls are being detained during the day in a federal holding cell
in Los Angeles and are taken at night to a Best Western hotel that
immigration authorities rent out for children and families awaiting
deportation, Emma said.
Emma said the girls did not obtain soap and shampoo until three days
after arriving to Los Angeles.
When she had a headache during the first couple of days, she said she
asked for Tylenol and was told she would have to be taken to the
hospital.
“I didn’t want to be separated from my little sister,” she said,
referring to 17-year-old Mariam.
There has been no nurse or doctor to see them to inquire of their
health during the 10 days they have been detained, she said.
A sergeant and two officers guard them at all times, including when
they sleep, she said.
Emma described the cell as having a phone that uses pre-paid cards, a
window that guards use to observe them, a television that is usually
tuned to the news, benches and a toilet that is “filthy.”
She said that only the benches had been cleaned since the two have
been detained.
An immigration services spokesman this morning said he was not
immediately able to comment on the allegations.
The sisters are able to call their parents with cards they buy with
$190 their parents gave them before being taken into custody. They
have $120 left, she said.
Attorney Jeremiah Wolf Stuchiner, part of the legal team for the
Sarkisians, filed arguments to a Las Vegas federal judge Monday
arguing for their release. He said that parental rights and
international law favors his motion.
The idea is to bring the girls back to Las Vegas while the federal
judge rules on Stuchiner’s underlying argument — that the girls
should be given humanitarian consideration and allowed to remain in
the United States a few months longer while their father finally
becomes a citizen.
At that point, their father can petition for them to become
residents.
Meanwhile, Stuchiner said, they should be home and not in a cell.
“They’re not exactly a flight risk. Why should they be away from
their family?” he said.

BBC News, UK
Jan 25 2005
Regions and territories: Nagorno-Karabakh

Situated in south-western Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh is a richly
fertile area of striking beauty scarred by its violent history.
The word Karabakh has Turkic and Persian roots and means “black
garden”. The word Nagorno is Russian and means mountainous.
OVERVIEW
The ongoing bitter rivalry for control between ethnic Armenians and
Azeris has roots dating back well over a century into competition
between Christian Armenian and Muslim Turkic and Persian influences.
AT A GLANCE
Territory is inside Azerbaijan, but population predominantly ethnic
Armenian
War followed 1991 declaration of independence; up to 30,000 were
killed, more than one million fled their homes
Ceasefire was signed in 1994, but peace talks are bogged down and
refugees remain stranded
History
Populated for hundreds of years by Armenian and Turkic farmers,
herdsmen and traders, Karabakh became part of the Russian empire in
the 19th century.
Armenia insists that it was part of an early Christian kingdom,
citing the presence of ancient churches as evidence. Azeri historians
argue that the churches were built by the Caucasian Albanians, a
Christian nation whom they regard as among the forebears of the Azeri
people.
Islam arrived in the region more than a millennium ago.
For long periods Christian Armenians and Turkic Azeris lived in peace
but they were both guilty of acts of brutality in the early 20th
century. These live on in the popular memory and fuel mutual
antagonism.

There have been many deaths to mourn
The end of World War I and the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution
in Russia brought carving up of borders. As part of their
divide-and-rule policy in the area, the Soviets established the
Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, of which the population was
predominantly ethnic Armenian, within Azerbaijan in the early 1920s.
Armenian discontent at this situation smouldered throughout the
Soviet period. Ethnic Armenian-Azeri frictions exploded into furious
violence in the late 1980s in the twilight years of the USSR.
As the violence escalated, the ethnic Azeri population fled Karabakh
and Armenia while ethnic Armenians fled the rest of Azerbaijan. With
the break-up of the Soviet Union, in late 1991, Karabakh declared
itself an independent republic. That de facto status remains
unrecognised elsewhere.
Although there was no formal declaration of war, there was
large-scale combat between Azerbaijani and ethnic Armenian forces.
That fighting ultimately brought victory for the ethnic Armenians who
then pushed on to occupy Azeri territory outside Karabakh, creating a
buffer zone linking Karabakh and Armenia.
Ceasefire but no final settlement
A Russian-brokered ceasefire was signed in 1994 leaving Karabakh de
facto under ethnic Armenian control. The deal also left swathes of
Azeri territory around the enclave in Armenian hands. No final
settlement has ever been signed. Both sides have had soldiers killed
in sporadic breaches of the ceasefire. The closure of borders with
Turkey and Azerbaijan has caused landlocked Armenia severe economic
problems for nearly 15 years.
It is estimated that between 20,000 and 30,000 people lost their
lives during half a decade of conflict, and that more than one
million fled their homes. The Azeris have yet to return to areas of
Azerbaijan now under ethnic Armenian control and have little prospect
of returning to Karabakh itself. Similarly, the Armenians who fled
Azerbaijan during the conflict have not returned there.
The ethnic Armenians who now account for virtually the entire
population of Nagorno-Karabakh prefer to call it Artsakh, an ancient
name dating back around 1,500 years.

Guns now silent, future unresolved
The situation throughout over a decade since the ceasefire agreement
has been one of simmering stalemate. Azeris bitterly resent the loss
of the land which they regard as rightfully theirs. The Armenians
show no sign of willingness to compromise or give one square
centimetre of it back.
Russia, France and the USA co-chair the OSCE’s Minsk Group which has
been attempting to broker an end to the dispute for over a decade.
In 1997 the group tabled settlement proposals seen as a starting
point for negotiations by Azerbaijan and Armenia but not by the de
facto authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh itself. When the then Armenian
president, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, tried to encourage Nagorno-Karabakh
to enter into talks he was forced to resign amid cries of betrayal.
Hopes of a peace deal were raised in 2001, after a series of meetings
between Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and Heydar Aliyev, the
late president of Azerbaijan.
However, ultimately the talks came to nothing, and contacts between
the two countries’ presidents have never looked so promising again.
FACTS
Status: de jure part of the Republic of Azerbaijan, unilaterally
declared itself an independent republic in 1991
Capital: Stepanakert/Khenkendi
Area: 4,400 sq km
Main religion: Christianity
Languages spoken: Armenian, Russian
Currency in use: Dram
LEADERS
President: Arkadiy Gukasyan
First elected president of the unrecognised republic of
Nagorno-Karabakh in 1997, Mr Gukasyan won a second term in 2002.
He survived an assassination attempt in 2000. Samuel Babayan, whom he
had recently sacked as defence minister, was convicted of organizing
the attack and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Although Mr Gukasyan has expressed the desire for a peaceful solution
to the dispute over the republic’s status, he has pledged never to
compromise on Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence. He insists that the
unrecognised republic must have full representation at any future
negotiations on the way forward.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Gazette (Montreal)
January 25, 2005 Tuesday
Final Edition
For the Record
A story in the Jan. 19 paper about Jewish school funding in Quebec
incorrectly stated that Armenian private schools have for many years
received 100-per-cent government subsidies for their secular
curriculum.
In fact, Armenian schools have never received 100-per-cent funding.
They get no more than 60-per-cent funding, as other private schools
do.
The Gazette regrets the error.

The Gazette (Montreal)
January 25, 2005 Tuesday
Final Edition
‘I was counting on that’: Witness shocked his account was blocked
by PAUL DELEAN, The Gazette
His years are numbered since a diagnosis of terminal cancer three
years ago, but clothing importer Ara Markarian, 58, cannot access
most of his savings at CIBC Wood Gundy.
The brokerage has blocked him from touching about $380,000 in his
investment account, claiming it covers a guarantee made on the
trading account of his business partner and cousin, Harry Markarian.
Ara Markarian said he had no knowledge of the guarantee until he
called the brokerage in February 2002, hoping to take out $250,000
for a business opportunity that had come up.
The adviser who replaced his previous CIBC broker, Harry Migirdic,
told him she could still manage the portfolio for him, but couldn’t
withdraw the money.
“For the years I have left, I can’t do much with my money blocked. I
was counting on that money for my retirement,” Ara Markarian
testified yesterday in Superior Court.
He was a witness in the lawsuit of his brother and sister-in-law,
retirees Haroutioun and Alice Markarian, two other former Migirdic
clients who are seeking from CIBC World Markets (parent company of
CIBC Wood Gundy) $1.4 million they claim was taken from them by the
CIBC under fraudulent guarantees, as well as $10 million in punitive
damages.
Ara Markarian said he became a Migirdic client in the late 1980s,
when both were members of the Canadian Armenian Business Council.
His instructions to the broker, he said, were to put money in the
safest, most secure investments.
At first, Migirdic complied, but later he recommended more
speculative titles such as Intergold and Bre-X, Markarian said.
In the early 1990s, he recalled receiving a phone call one morning
from Migirdic who said his bosses wanted to update the files and
needed him to sign a guarantee covering the investment account of his
wife, Janet.
When Migirdic arrived at his home that night with the form, Markarian
said, “I noticed there was no name of who I was guaranteeing,”
Markarian said he planned to write Janet’s name in the blank space,
but Migirdic told him it had be typed in and he’d take care of it at
the office. Markarian signed, but said he asked Migirdic to send him
a copy, and was assured that would be done.
He never did get a copy, and forgot about it, Markarian said.
Asked why he signed, Markarian replied: “I had invested $500,000 with
him. …To invest half a million, you have to believe it’s in good
hands. It’s a reputable firm, supposedly.”
Evidence introduced at the trial indicated the name on the guarantee
was Harry Markarian, Ara Markarian’s cousin and business partner.
But Ara Markarian said he always assumed the guarantee was for his
wife and never had cause to doubt it, since there was never a
follow-up communication from CIBC.
Even a phone call from his brother, Haroutioun, in the summer of
2001, advising him to look closely at his CIBC statement, did not
spark any concerns. Though the actual name of the person he was
guaranteeing did not appear on the statement, there was an account
number, and since it was only one digit higher than his own
eight-digit number, Ara Markarian said he felt reassured it was
indeed his wife.
He found out otherwise in 2002. On the copy of the guarantee document
in CIBC’s files, the witness was someone he said he didn’t know.
Surprised and “very mad,” Markarian confronted his partner. But Harry
Markarian – also a Migirdic client – denied knowing about or asking
for any guarantee.
“He was very upset by the situation,” Ara Markarian said.
Throughout a partnership that dated from 1970, the two had always
kept their personal and business interests separate, Ara Markarian
testified. “I didn’t know his investments; he didn’t know mine. We
never did anything together in our private accounts.”
When they called Migirdic, Markarian said the broker told them: ”
‘I’m sorry. I regret what happened. I talked to my bosses. They
know.’ ”
The trial resumes next week.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
January 25, 2005, Tuesday
12:31:34 Central European Time
COE parliament calls for resolution of Nagorny Karabakh crisis
Strasbourg
Eleven years after a ceasefire was declared in the disputed region of
Nagorny Karabakh the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe
(COE) called Tuesday on the parties to the conflict, Armenia and
Azerbaijan, to reach a political solution.
The parliamentary assembly passed a resolution stating that the
conflict in the Armenian enclave has not been resolved and calling on
Armenia and Azerbaijan to commence talks to do so.
The resolution said that the admittance of the two Central Asian
countries to the Council of Europe in 2001 obliged them to find a
peaceful solution and it confirmed the right of return for people
displaced from their homeland by the crisis.
Nagorny Karabakh, a 4,400-square-kilometre part of Azerbaijan, is
mostly populated by Armenians. A 1992-1994 war saw 750,000
Azerbaijanis flee their homes. A ceasefire was agreed in May 1994 and
Armenia continues to control the disputed region.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe groups 630
parliamentarians from 46 national parliaments. dpa hs pmc

RIA Novosti, Russia
Jan 25 2005
ABKHAZIA PLANS TO COORDINATE ITS FOREIGN POLICY WITH RUSSIA – BAGAPSH
MOSCOW, January 25 (RIA Novosti) – Abkhazia plans to coordinate its
foreign policy with Russia, announced president-elect of the
self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh during a joint
press conference with vice-president Raul Khadzhimba in Moscow.
“The future of Abkhazia in becoming an independent state. We will
build partnership relations with Russia and will orient ourselves on
Russia and strengthening economic relations with it,” Mr. Bagapsh
underlined.
“We will participate in the meeting of the Russian Security Council
today. We plan to discuss existing economic issues and problems at
the meeting,” Mr. Bagapsh continued.
He said the discussion of economic issues at the meeting would be
held with participation of “representatives of other structures that
deal with economic issues in Russia.” The participants also plan to
discuss the reopening of the railway transit through Abkhazia to
Armenia and the issues related to energy industry.
Talking about the necessity of coordinating the Russian and Abkhazian
legislation, Mr. Bagapsh explained, “We have to do it in order to
avoid controversy in our economic relations, in order to protect
investments.” “Nobody is trying to change the Russian legislation,”
Mr. Bagapsh added.
Answering the question about the future relations with the Georgian
leadership, Mr. Bagapsh stated that the Abkhazian position on the
Georgian-Abkhazian settlement remains unchanged.
Mr. Bagapsh stated that the forcible solution of the
Georgian-Abkhazian conflict was unacceptable and all issues must be
settled through negotiations.
One of the journalists asked Mr. Bagapsh whether Abkhazia was going
to choose the alliance with Russia or it would prefer the alliance
with Georgia.
“If we are forced to make a choice, and the issue does not include
only Georgia, but also some Western countries, we will make it
immediately,” Sergei Bagapsh stressed.
Speaking about the possibility of his personal meeting with Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili, Mr. Bagapsh stated that such a meeting
would have to be thoroughly prepared. “If the sides have too many
antagonisms, such a meeting will be unreasonable. Meeting without a
purpose does not make any sense,” Mr. Bagapsh said. He mentioned that
there were Georgian-Abkhazian working groups and committees that must
tackle the entire range of bilateral issues.

ArmenPress
Jan 25 2005
NATURAL GAS OPERATOR DOES NOT PLAN PRICE RISE FOR 2005
YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS: Hayrusgazard natural gas operator
has dismissed rumours that it may raise the price of natural gas in
2005. The Russian-Armenian company, which is the sole supplier of
Russian gas to Armenia, has sent its 2005-2007 investment program to
Public Utilities Regulating Commission to seek its approval.
The company plans to invest more than 22 billion drams in three
years and wants to end the full gasification of the country in 2007.
Before the collapse of the Soviet Union Armenia had 450,000 gas
consumers. Hayrusgard’s ambitious plans envisage to surpass this
number.
Last year 1.330 billion cubic meters of gas were shipped to
Armenia from Russia, in 2005 some 1.680 billion cubic meters are
expected to be delivered. In 1991 Armenia imported more than 6
billion cubic meters of gas.

ArmenPress
Jan 25 2005
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT TO VISIT ITALY
YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS: Armenian president Robert
Kocharian is flying January 27 to Italy for an official three-day
visit at the invitation of his Italian counterpart Carlo Azeglio
Ciampi. Foreign minister Vartan Oskanian, trade and economic
development and agricultural ministers, other officials and
businessmen will accompany the president.
In Rome Kocharian will be received by the President of the Senate
Marcello Pera, the President of the Chamber of Deputies (the Italian
Parliament’s Lower Chamber) Pier Ferdinando Casini and Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi. Meetings are also scheduled with representatives
of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and
Italian businessmen.
Armenian and Italian officials will sign a Memorandum on the Small
and Medium Enterprises Sector and an agreement on co-operation
between the two Ministries of Justice. A Joint Declaration will be
also issued during the visit.
In Vatican Kocharian will be welcomed by Pope John Paul II and
Cardinal Angelo Sodano. Kocharian will also meet with Patriarch
Nerses-Poghos, the head of Catholic Armenians and will watch also the
recently erected monument to Gregory the Enlightener in Vatican.
On January 28 Kocharian will travel to Venice to meet with its
mayor and members of the Italian Armenian community. In Venice
Kocharian will visit Murad Rafaelian School and the Mkhetarist
Congregation.
This will be the second official visit by Kocharian to Italy.
In an interview to Armenpress Italian ambassador to Armenia, Marco
Clemente, described bilateral political relations as “excellent.”