Caucaz.com, Georgia
Jan 18 2005
US-Armenia Relations : The Challenges of Cooperation [GEOPOLITICS]
By Annie JAFALIAN in Paris
On 18/01/2005
In a press release dated December 23, 2004, the news agency
ArmenPress announced that the construction work for the new US
embassy in Armenia will be completed by the end of March 2005. Built
on a nine-hectare site, this embassy will be the largest US
diplomatic mission in the world. For many observers, this project,
which was concluded in August 2001 and budgeted at$80 million, would
be a demonstration of Washington’s growing interest in Armenia.
Although Armenia is geographically isolated, economically weak and
sparsely populated, American leaders are considering it as an
important country for the United States. Since 1992, Washington has
been pursuing two strategic objectives in its relations with Armenia.
The first one has been to promote the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: the US administration is acting as a
mediator in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. The United States
is notably interested in strengthening security around the
neighboring oil pipeline stretching from Azerbaijan to Turkey. Its
second objective has consisted in tying Armenia to the Euro-Atlantic
structures, and in encouraging its rapprochement with Turkey. One of
the major stakes of the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement has been the
opening of the economic borders between the two countries. Indeed,
Washington wants to promote the development of a regional East-West
axis so as to diversify those countries’ relations with other states
than Russia and to limit Iran’s role in the region.
Given the US interest, Armenia has, under the leadership Foreign
Affairs’ Minister, Vartan Oskanian, adopted a foreign policy based on
the concept of « complementarity ». As a matter of fact, the country
has developed its links with the regional powers along a North-South
axis. As a member of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization,
Armenia has perceived Russia as its major strategic partner, the
guarantor of its security. As for Iran, it is providing Armenia –
with its only connection with the rest of the world outside Georgia.
But Yerevan has also strengthened its relations with Washington.
Since 1992, the Armenian government has received $1.4 billion from
the US government. More recently, military cooperation between
Armenia and the United States has increased, notably for the fight
against terrorism. In other respects, Armenia has joined NATO’s
Partnership for Peace. However, contrary to its Georgian and
Azerbaijani neighbors, it has officially declared that it was not
willing to integrate the Atlantic alliance. Besides, Yerevan has
taken a different stance to Washington’s regarding the Iraq crisis.
Indeed, its position was closer to Moscow’s oneand partly motivated
by security concerns for the Armenian community in Iraq.
The Need for A New Balance
During the year 2004, it seems that Armenia, which has developed
asymmetric cooperation with the US, Russia and Iran, has been under
indirect pressure from Washington. In February 2004, the Bush
Administration submitted to the Congress a budget request for
-foreign assistance programs that would have broken the military
parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan.For the fiscal year 2005, it
requested to allocate $ 8.7 million military aid to Azerbaijan, and
$2.7 million to Armenia. The US Administration has emphasized that it
was determined to prioritize cooperation with Baku in order to fight
against terrorism, promote peacekeeping operations and secure oil
flows. In April 2004, it also named ambassador Steven Mann to be the
special negotiator for Nagorno-Karabakh and Eurasian conflicts. As
such, it showed its intention of reactivating the mediation process,
paralyzed by the inertia of both sides.
Consequently, Armenia has strived to set new strategic balances in
its foreign relations. At several occasions in the year 2004, it has
demonstrated its commitment to taking part, like Georgia and
Azerbaijan, in the operations supported by NATO. In February 2004, a
platoon of 34 Armenian soldiers was deployed in Kosovo and joined the
multinational brigade East led by American general Tod Carmony.
Moreover, in September, President Kocharian officially offered to
send 46 Armenian medical doctors, drivers and engineers to Iraq, in
the framework of the Polish-led Center-South multinational division.
According to the Armenian Defense Minister , Serge Sargsian, this
decision, which was highly debated throughout the nation, was aimed
at breaking Armenia’s regional isolation. Probably because of these
measures and the reactions of the Armenian diaspora living in
Washington, the American Congress eventually passed a budget that
restored military parity between Yerevan and Baku.In FY 2005, it will
allocate an equal $5 million foreign military aid to Armenia and
Azerbaijan.
Coordinating the different partnerships
Contrary to the strategic objectives prioritized by the United
States, Armenia has also strengthened its partnership with Iran,
especially in the field of energy. According to the US Department of
State, Armenia was to satisfy its energy demand by opting for the
development of domestic sources such as the hydroelectric power or
the wind power. In May 2004, Yerevan preferred to finalize its
agreement with Tehran for the supply of Iranian gas to Armenia for a
period of 20 years. Toward that end, the Armenian government
officially started in November 2004 to build a gas pipeline that will
connect the two countries. This event was celebrated as an historical
day for the republic as it gives Armenia the tangible prospect of a
strengthened energy security . Owing to this agreement, Yerevan will
become able to import gas from another country than Russia. Thhis
deal will also alleviate the effects of the Nagorno-Karabkh war, and
particularly the economic blockade by Turkey and Azerbaijan.
In parallel to those decisions, the Russian-Armenian partnership,
contested in the economic sphere, was not criticized in the military
field. A part of the Armenian political elite and media, notably from
the opposition, deplored that the investments made by Russian
companies inside the republic were not high enough to bring about
economic development. Besides, the relations between Russia and
Armenia got deteriorated after the Beslan attack. When Vladimir Putin
decided in September 2004 to close the border between North Ossetia
and Georgia, he shut down the only road connecting Russia and
Armenia. As a consequence, Armenia has been getting deprived of
supply essential to the workings of its economy. On the other hand,
the military cooperation between Yerevan and Moscow has not been
questioned. On the contrary, it was asserted by the joint military
exercises organized in Armenia in August 2004.
Without any agreement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenia does
not have much room for developing its foreign policy. In order to
ensure its security, the country has to deal with the USA, as well as
with Russia and Iran. For the Armenian government, the diplomatic
challenge will consist in finding ways to preserve Armenia’s
interests in the framework of evolving relations between Washington
on the one hand and Moscow, Tehran and Ankara on the other hand. As
for the US government, it will probably give increasing importance to
the Armenian domestic and foreign policies in order to lift the last
obstacles that stand in the way of realizing its strategic objectives
in the Caucasus.
Annie JAFALIAN is a Research Fellow at the Foundation for strategic
research (FRS, Paris).

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Jan 18 2005
Powell states support for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity

US Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a reciprocal letter to
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, stated US support for
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.
`The United States supports Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and
believes the Upper Garabagh conflict must be fully resolved through
peace talks being held by the two sides, considering their
positions.’
Powell expressed his gratitude for the letter sent by Azerbaijan,
which lays out the country’s initiative to discuss the situation in
the occupied Azeri land at the UN General Assembly. Powell said
Washington remains committed to a peace conflict resolution and
welcomed the talks between Azeri and Armenian foreign ministers in
the Prague format and those held by the two countries’ Presidents in
Warsaw and Astana.
With regard to the draft resolution submitted by Baku to the UN
General Assembly, Powell said the OSCE Minsk Group, while keeping the
talks in the same format, will outline actual ways of eliminating the
concerns indicated by Azerbaijan.
Powell also said he was satisfied with the fact that the fact-finding
mission to visit occupied Azerbaijani territories will include
experts and is looking forward to getting the results.*

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Jan 18 2005
Armenia one of major spenders on military in CIS

Amidst the 7-9% increase of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in CIS
states in 2004, these countries’ military spending has increased 30%
on average.
Russian Marketing and Consulting news agency reports that the share
of 2005 designated military expenses of Armenia in the GDP grew 3.6%.
The same source said that the Upper Garabagh army is supported at
Armenia’s expense. This country’s military spending, including these
expenses, make up over 4% of the GDP, or $127 million. The figure
exceeds that of 2004 by 35%.
The news agency said that Azerbaijan has also earmarked more funds
for the military this year. Whereas the figure grew 12% and 20% in
2003 and 2004 respectively, the increase in 2005 made up 36%.
Azerbaijan allotted a total of $245 million from the state budget for
this year.
The same source said that Georgia increased its 2005 military
expenses 44% as compared to 2004. It said that the South Caucasus
countries are conducting new large-scale military exercises to
increase their defense capability. This implies that the Upper
Garabagh and Abkhazia conflicts may resume this year, the news agency
said.*

US-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (USACC), DC
Jan 18 2005
US Extends Waiver of Section 907
President of the United States George Bush signed a Presidential
Determination to extend the waiver of Section 907 of the Freedom
Support Act with respect to assistance to government of Azerbaijan on
January 13.
Section 907 prohibits U.S. assistance (with the exception of
humanitarian assistance and assistance for nonproliferation and
disarmament programs) to the government of Azerbaijan under the
Freedom for Russia and Emerging Eurasian Democracies and Open Markets
Support Act of 1992 (also known as the Freedom Support Act) `until
the President determines, and so reports to the Congress, that the
Government of Azerbaijan is taking demonstrable steps to cease all
blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh.’ The legislation imposed sanctions on Azerbaijan,
despite Armenia’s continued occupation of Nagorno-Karabagh and seven
additional regions of Azerbaijan.

Daily Star, Lebanon
Jan 18 2005
Behind the lens in Sidon: 50 years and 50,000 images
A new book pays tribute to Hashem El Madani’s recording of social
history
By Kaelen Wilson-Goldie
Daily Star staff
BEIRUT: When Hashem El Madani was five years old, his cousins in
Palestine sent him a set of portraits to keep as souvenirs. Madani’s
father, a moderate sheikh who had settled in Lebanon from Saudi
Arabia, wanted to return the favor but these images gave him pause.
Were they haram (a sin)? Madani’s father decided no, they were not.
They were just like seeing one’s reflection in a pond. So he sent
Madani and his brother to a photography studio to have their pictures
taken. This was in the early 1930s in Sidon, and in all likelihood,
the novelty of sitting in a studio, watching a photographer work and
grabbing hold of a postcard-size print of oneself sparked Madani’s
lifelong fascination with portraiture. Seven decades later, Madani is
the oldest living studio photographer in Sidon. He has maintained a
business there for more than 50 years, building up an archive of some
50,000 images and posing close to 90 percent of the city’s
inhabitants in front of his camera. He recently turned his entire
collection over to the Beirut-based Arab Image Foundation (AIF), a
nonprofit organization that was established eight years ago to
locate, collect and preserve the region’s photographic heritage. This
past fall, the AIF (which is directed by Zeina Arida) assembled an
exhibition of Madani’s work for the Photographer’s Gallery in London.
Last month, the AIF (in collaboration with the Photographer’s Gallery
and the Beirut graphic design firm Mind the Gap) published a slim but
potent volume of Madani’s photographs. And given the sheer breadth of
Madani’s archive, more projects are in the works. “Hashem El Madani:
Studio Practices” is a tiny, black, cloth-bound book of just under
130 pages. It is densely packed with a surprising wealth of
information – both visual and textual – conveyed through essays,
interviews and over 150 reproductions of Madani’s pictures. All the
images have been reprinted under Madani’s supervision from 35
millimeter, 6-by-6 centimeter, 6-by-4.5 centimeter and 4-by-5 inch
negatives. Edited by Akram Zaatari and Lisa Le Feuvre, the book opens
with a forward that slips Madani’s work into the context of rising
(art world) interest in studio portraiture and its role in the
history and understanding of photography at large. The Paris-based
writer and theorist Stephen Wright offers a nuanced essay on the
meaning of Madani’s images – how pictures taken for commercial
purposes can be read for sociopolitical and philosophical content.
And Akram Zaatari assembles a lively, often acutely detailed and at
times hilariously revealing interview with the photographer, covering
the development of his business, the intricacies of his working
process and the silent societal observations that have registered in
his mind over the past half century. After falling in love with
photography at the age of five, Madani finished school and left
Lebanon for Palestine to find work. He hooked up with a Jewish
photographer in Haifa named Katz, who taught him the tools and tricks
of the trade. When Israel declared its statehood in 1948, Madani
traveled to Amman and then to Damascus before securing the necessary
paperwork to get back home. When he arrived in Sidon, he bought a
cheap box camera, picked up some chemicals from a photographer in
Beirut and set up shop in his parents’ living room. Madani developed
his business slowly. He bought equipment on credit, one piece at a
time, from a photo shop run by an Armenian in Bab Idriss (the old
downtown district of Beirut). As soon as he paid off one purchase,
he’d make another. He retired the box camera for a Kodak Retinet; he
shelled out for a 35 millimeter enlarger. He started selling 6-by-9
centimeter contact prints for just 25 cents. Business picked up, and
in 1953, Madani moved his studio into the first floor of the
Shehrazade building in Sidon. He bought himself a large desk, props
and a stool for his subjects to sit on, a podium for elevation when
necessary. He named his business Studio Shehrazade.
On average, 30 customers strode into Madani’s studio a day. During
the 1960s and ’70s, Studio Shehrazade was flooded with over 100
portrait-seekers a day. Part of what propelled Madani’s business was
a government decree requiring photographs on passports and ID cards.
The Lebanese Army insisted that all candidates for service submit
both frontal and profile portraits. But judging from the pictures in
this book, Madani’s customers had fun with having their pictures
taken too. They decked themselves out in cowboy costumes and aped the
gestures of film stars. They played with all manner of identity
markers. Two maids dolled themselves up as glamour girls. A
particularly effeminate man returned again and again to pose like a
screen siren. Civilians donned the guise of resistance fighters.
Pairs of women and pairs of men assumed opposing gender roles and
arranged themselves in intimate embraces and campy kisses.
Intriguingly, these couples were always of the same sex. Madani
remembers only one instance of a man and woman kissing for the
camera. They were not married. “Films inspired people a lot,” he
explains in the book. “They came to perform kissing in front of a
camera … People were willing to play the kiss between two people of
the same sex, but very rarely between a man and a woman.” In his
interview with Zaatari, Madani insists that his photography practice
has always been a profession. He never considered himself an artist.
He provided a service and accommodated the desires of his customers.
In addition to producing black and white prints, he taught himself
retouching and hand-coloring to make his subjects more beautiful. The
only quasi personal project he ever embarked on was an attempt to
take pictures of every resident in Sidon, simply because it was his
home. He remarks with admirable grumpiness that some of his customers
never bothered to pick up their prints. Still, Madani felt it
necessary to run his business up on the first rather than the ground
floor of his building. In Haifa, photographers could operate on
street level because the city was cosmopolitan and religiously
diverse. In Sidon, however, discretion was key as photography,
particularly for women, was still considered shameful. In the book,
Madani relates a tragic incident in which a local woman used to come
in for portraits, unbeknownst to her husband. When he found out about
the photo sessions, the husband crashed into Studio Shehrazade and
insisted that Madani destroy the negatives. Not wanting to wreck a
full roll of film, Madani scratched out her face as the husband
watched. Years later, the woman burned herself to death. The husband
returned to the studio, desperate to see if Madani had any
photographs of his dead wife to develop. Two images of her, the
surfaces deeply gouged, are reprinted in the book. Madani remembers
the time when Mir Shakib Arslan, then the defense minister, came in
and uttered brusquely, “Make me a good portrait.” He also recalls how
a supporter of Adel Osseiran, who would later be prime minister, paid
a visit to the studio during the election season of 1952, when
Osseiran was running as a deputy to the South. The supporter asked
Madani to take pictures of all the area’s voters who didn’t have
valid picture ID cards. Another time, representatives from the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency came in and asked Madani to take ID
pictures for all the students in their schools, both for their
records and for the students’ refugee cards. During the civil war of
1958, people began showing up at the studio to have their pictures
taken with guns. The same convention took root with the rise of the
Palestinian resistance in the late 1960s, and again, after the civil
war broke out in 1975 and a crew of Iraqi Baathists took over the
Shehrazade building. When Gamal Abdel Nasser died, members of the
militias loyal to him let their beards grow for 40 days and then came
in for a portrait at the end of the mourning period. “It was all show
off,” Madani recalls in one of the interview’s most brilliant little
interludes. “They came and acted sad faces. It was fashionable to be
sad when Nasser died.” In addition to the anecdotes and observations
on human behavior, “Hashem El Madani: Studio Practices” is
interesting as an attempt to frame what was essentially a
commercially driven trade in a broader and more inquisitive context.
The book’s texts are clear-sighted in detailing what these pictures
were and what the motivation for taking them was. They do not leap
across the line and consider these images as artworks proper (as has
been the case with photographers such as Malick Sadibe and Seydou
Keita, who maintained commercial studios in Bamako, Mali and were
then feted by the art scenes in New York and London). Stephen Wright
is particularly adept at navigating these nuances. “Inserting these
images into a narrative, thus giving them a use-value, is an act of
reconstruction,” he writes. “Though it was not their initial intent,
Hashem El Madani’s photographs offer one of the most extensive and
fascinating laboratories of how, for instance, Christians perform
Christianity, or patriots perform patriotism, and perhaps most
strikingly, how men perform masculinity and women perform femininity
… Understanding an image is not only to focus on its declared
meanings – that is, the explicit intentions underwritten and
authorized by its user – but above all to decipher the surplus
meaning which it betrays in its role in the symbolic complex of a
social class, a particular confession, or simply, to some extent, of
an individual.”

Iraq to Seal Borders During Election
Guardian/UK
Tuesday January 18, 2005 1:46 PM
By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – Iraqi officials announced Tuesday that they will
seal the nation’s borders, extend a nighttime curfew and restrict
movement inside the country to protect voters during the Jan. 30 vote,
which insurgents are seeking to ruin with a campaign of violence.
Attacks continued Tuesday, with a suicide car bomber detonating
explosives outside the offices of a leading Shiite political party,
killing three other people as part of an apparent rebel campaign to
frighten Shiites from this month’s election. Also, masked gunmen
killed a Shiite Muslim candidate in the Iraqi capital.
A video surfaced Tuesday showing eight Chinese workers held hostage by
gunmen who claim the men are employed by a construction company
working with U.S. troops, in the latest abduction of foreigners in
Iraq.
Elsewhere, a Christian archbishop kidnapped by gunmen in the northern
city of Mosul was released Tuesday, a day after his abduction. The
Vatican had called his kidnapping a “terrorist act.”
Sunni Muslim militants, who make up the bulk of Iraq’s insurgency, are
increasingly honing in on Shiites in their campaign to sabotage the
parliamentary election that is widely expected to propel their
religious rivals to a position of dominance.
Tuesday morning’s car bombing gouged a crater in the pavement, left
several vehicles in flames and spread shredded debris and flesh on the
street outside the offices of the Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq, a main contender in the election.
The party, known here as SCIRI, has close ties to Iran, and is
strongly opposed by Sunni Muslim militants.
The U.S. military reported the bomber and three others were dead and
four people were injured.
A spokesman for the Shiite party said it would not be cowed. “SCIRI
will not be frightened by such an act,” Ridha Jawad said. “SCIRI
will continue the march toward building Iraq, establishing justice and
holding the elections.”
Iraq’s Independent Electoral Commission announced that the country’s
international borders would be closed from Jan. 29 until Jan. 31
except for Muslim pilgrims returning from the hajj in Saudi Arabia.
Iraqis will also be barred from traveling between provinces and a
nighttime curfew will be imposed during the same period, according to
a statement from the commission’s Farid Ayar.
Such measures had been expected because of the grave security
threat. U.S. and Iraqi authorities are hoping to encourage a
substantial turnout but fear that if most Sunnis stay away from the
polls, the legitimacy of the new government will be in doubt.
Iraq’s interior minister warned Tuesday that if the country’s Sunni
Arab minority bows to rebel threats and stays away from the polls, the
nation could descend into civil war.
Falah Hassan al-Naqib, a Sunni, told reporters he expects Sunni
insurgents to escalate attacks in the run-up to the election,
especially in the Baghdad area. Voters are to choose a new 275-member
National Assembly.
“Boycotting the elections will not produce a National Assembly that
represents the Iraqi people,” he said.
If that happens, he added, the Iraqi people “will enter into a civil
war that will divide the country.”
Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said in a news conference that he
will boost the country’s armed forces with 70,000 more troops in an
effort to take over more security tasks from U.S.-led forces. He said
they’d be “equipped with the most advanced weapons.”
A video delivered to several news organizations showed eight Chinese
captives in front of a small mud brick building. The men displayed
their passports for the camera and were flanked by two gunmen with
headscarves wrapped around their faces.
The Chinese government later confirmed they had been kidnapped.
In a handwritten note delivered with the tape, an insurgent group
calling itself the al-Numan Brigades said it abducted the men as they
were leaving the country.
“After interrogation, we found that they are working for a Chinese
construction company that is working inside American sites in Iraq,”
the note said.
The note indicated the group might release the hostages because China
did not participate in the war.
In Mosul, Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa of the Syrian Catholic
Church was freed a day after he was seized near his church, according
to local church officials and The Vatican.
“I’m happy to have returned to the bishop’s office,” Casmoussa told
Vatican Radio. “I can say that I wasn’t mistreated.”
He didn’t identify his captors but said he didn’t think his kidnapping
was meant as an attack on the Church.
The Vatican said that the 66-year-old archbishop’s captors had
demanded a $200,000 ransom for his release.
Christians make up just 3 percent of Iraq’s 26 million people. The
major Christian groups include Chaldean-Assyrians and Armenians with
small numbers of Roman Catholics. Several churches have been bombed in
recent months, presumably by Islamic extremists.
Elsewhere, a third American trooper died in fighting in Iraq’s
troubled Anbar province, west of Baghdad, the military said
Tuesday. Two other soldiers assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary
Force were also killed in action there on Monday.
It was unclear if the three were killed in a suicide car bombing in
the western city of Ramadi that U.S. officials said resulted in
American casualties. Further details were withheld for security
reasons.
In Baghdad, bursts of heavy machine gun fire were heard for about half
an hour in the afternoon coming from a southern neighborhood, and
witnesses said Iraqi National Guard units were battling insurgents in
that area.
Two U.S. Apache attack helicopters hovered over the area near the bend
in the Tigris River that flows through the center of the capital.
Also, masked gunmen Monday shot dead Shaker Jabbar Sahl, 48, a Shiite
who was running on the ticket of the Constitutional Monarchy Movement,
headed by Sharif Ali bin Hussein, a cousin of Iraq’s last king.
Iraq’s Shiite Muslim majority has welcomed the vote, but many members
of the country’s Sunni Muslim minority want the ballot postponed,
arguing that security is precarious and the election should not take
place under foreign occupation.

SHARE OF FLESH COMPANY IN CAPITAL OF ALIANZ INSURANCE COMPANY
INCREASED TO 55%
YEREVAN, JANUARY 18. ARMINFO. In connection with a governmental
decision to increase the minimum size of the authorized capital of
insurance companies, the share of the largest oil trader in Armenia,
Flesh company, in the capital of Alianz Insurance Company has been
increased to 55%. Executive Director of Alianz IC Karen Vahramyan told
ARMINFO.
He said that Flesh has been the promoter of Alianz IC since 1997, with
its share being 25%. Since promoters are provided with a top-priority
right to buy out shares, a decision was made to increase the size of
the authorized capital to the demanded size due to an increase in the
share of the above oil trader company. Vahramyan said that in
connection with redistribution of the participants’ shares, no
cardinal changes are expected in the company’s management and tariff
policy. The company has been just renamed into Alianz Flesh. Vahramyan
noted that the authorized capital will be increased in 2006 at the
expense of undistributed profits. He added that already at the end of
2004, a 100% growth of profits was secured due to an 80% increase in
the volume of insurance premiums and some decrease in the size of
compensations.
By the end of the current year, the volumes of insurance premiums and
profits will also be doubled due to an increase in insurance
operations and maintenance of last year’s level of risk
operations. “We intend to activate transport and property insurance as
well as to participate in the programs of compulsory automobile
liability insurance in case if a relevant law is adopted,” he said.
Vahramyan also pointed out that despite the increase in the share of
Flesh company, Alianz will not insure the imported fuel and
lubricants.
It should be noted that in conformity with the governmental decision,
starting from January of 2005, the minimum size of the authorized
capital of insurance companies was increased to 100 mln AMD. In 2006,
this figure will total 200 mln AMD, in 2007 – 350 mln AMD, and already
in 2008 – 500 mln AMD.
It is noteworthy that as a result of the first half of 2004, the
assets of Alianz IC totaled 113.9 mln AMD, funds – 29.5 mln AMD. At
the same time, the volume of premiums reached 174 mln, compensations –
2 mln AMD. The profits of the company totaled 10.5 mln AMD on June 1.

ISSUE OF KARABAKH CONFLICT TO BE RAISED AT CE SUMMIT
YEREVAN, JANUARY 18. ARMINFO. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
will participate in the third Summit of CE Leaders in Warsaw and will
speak at the sitting, Head of the Foreign Relations Department of the
Presidential Executive Staff of Azerbaijan Novrus Mamedov told the
525th newspaper.
He confirmed the information of the Karabakh problem will be discussed
at the CE Summit, alongside with a number of urgent issues of Europe
and the conflicts in the South Caucasus. He said that raising the
Karabakh issue at such a representative forum may have positive
results only, Mamedov said.
The newspaper also presents a statement by a certain source at the CE
that advancement of the Karabakh issue for discussion at the
forthcoming session of PACE and adoption of a relevant resolution
allows a conclusion that the CE approaches the problem rather
seriously. According to the source, the CE Summit, which will start
only several months after discussions at PACE, will discuss the ways
of resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in the course of
discussion of the issue “On taking of immediate measures on resolution
of urgent problems in Europe” on the basis of January resolution. At
present, inclusion of the Karabakh problem into the list of the issues
to be discussed at CE Summit is determined, the newspaper writes.

ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano
Martedì, Il 18 Gennaio 2005
PAPA: DOMANI INAUGURA NUOVA STATUA SUL LATO ESTERNO S.PIETRO
CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
(ANSA) – CITTA’ DEL VATICANO, 18 GEN – Domani, prima
dell’udienza generale, Giovanni Paolo II inaugurera’ una nuova
statua, che rappresenta San Gregorio l’Illuminatore, collocata
in una delle nicchie di sinistra della basilica vaticana. Il
papa, come di consueto, benedira’ la statua, commissionata dal
collegio Armeno di Roma: e’ di marmo bianco di Carrara, alta
5,64 metri e pesa circa 20 tonnellate. E’ opera dello scultore
armeno Kazan Khatechik

Gregorio l’Illuminatore e’ l’apostolo degli Armeni, nazione
che si converti’ al cristianesimo nel 301. Nato nel 260 circa,
sopravvisse ad una strage della sua famiglia e venne educato
alla fede cristiana dalla nutrice.

Vicino al re Tridate, si rifiuto’ di sacrificare agli dei
pagani, come richiesto dal sovrano. Per questo fu imprigionato,
ma rilasciato in un secondo tempo dallo stesso Tridate ammalato.
La sua liberazione coincise con la guarigione del re: da questo
episodio deriva l’origine cristiana degli armeni, un popolo che
anche recentemente ha molto sofferto in persecuzioni e stragi, a
causa della fede.

Alcune reliquie del santo sono nella chiesa di San Gregorio
Armeno a Napoli, altre a Nardo’ e Costantinopoli. La piu
importante e’ il braccio destro, con cui in Armenia si benedice
il nuovo Katholikos. (ANSA).
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano
Martedì, Il 18 Gennaio 2005
IRAQ: 46 SOLDATI ARMENI IN MISSIONE ‘UMANITARIA’
(ANSA-AFP) – EREVAN, 18 GEN – Un gruppo di 46 militari armeni
ha lasciato oggi Erevan per il Kuwait, da dove proseguira’ per
una missione a carattere “umanitario” in Iraq, sotto il
comando del contingente polacco.

“E’ un giorno molto importante per le forze armate armene.
Non possiamo restare fuori dal processo internazionale per la
stabilita’ e la pace nella nostra regione e in particolare in
Iraq”, ha detto il ministro armeno Serge Sarkissian.

Il contingente armeno comprende anche tre medici e un’unita
per la bonifica dalle mine e sara’ di stanza a Kerbala e Hilla.

Il parlamento armeno aveva approvato a fine dicembre la
decisione del governo di inviare per la prima volta dei
militari, non combattenti, in Iraq.

L’opposizione e le organizzazioni della gioventu’ armena
hanno protestato contro questa decisione, preoccupati che la
diaspora armena in Iraq, circa 20.000 persone, venga esposta
alle vendette della guerriglia irachena.(ANSA-AFP)
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress