Irano-Azeri DMs met for defense cooperation
IranMania, Iran
Dec 23 2004
LONDON, Dec 23 (IranMania) – Defense Ministers of Iran and Azerbaijan
met and conferred on Wednesday evening about regional armies`
cooperation to boost joint security in Caucasus region.
Islamic Republic of Iran`s Defense Minister Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani
referred to the two nations` shared historical, religious and cultural
backgrounds during the meeting, considering them the “huge capital
that can serve to boost bilateral ties.”
He referred to the deep bilateral understanding and mutual trust,
as well as comprehensive defense and security consultations, as main
prerequisites for establishment of a comprehensive bilateral defense
cooperation. Shamkhani added, “Joint efforts aimed at boosting
regional peace and stability is the main axis for Iran-Azerbaijan
comprehensive cooperation.”
The Iranian Defense Minister said, “Presently terrorism, narcotic
drugs and arms smuggling, organized crime, and vast presence of foreign
forces are biggest threats against regional security and such threats
cannot be eliminated, except through effective regional cooperation
and constant consultative interactions.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, stressing that the Islamic Republic of
Iran considers the Caspian Sea the “sea of peace and friendship”,
Shamkhani added, “This region`s security is in need of collective
cooperation and mutual trust.” Elaborating on Iran`s stand about
Karabakh conflict, Rear Admiral Shamkhani said, “Iran favors
peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict and is ready to continue
its mediation efforts in that regard.”
He referred to President Seyyed Mohammad Khatami`s state visit of
Azerbaijan and President Elham Aliev`s upcoming state visit to Tehran
as beset signs of both countries` officials` strong determination to
take advantage of all opportunities at service of boosting ties.”
The Azeri Defense Minister Safar Abiev, too, appreciated his country`s
ever-improving ties and cooperation with Iran and considered the
Iranian Defense Minister`s visit of Baku “a very effective move in
further strengthening bilateral ties.”
He emphasized, “Late Azeri President Geidar Aliev`s 2002 state visit of
Iran opened a new chapter in Tehran-Baku relations, agreeing with his
Iranian counterpart on the point that shared historical and cultural
backgrounds of the two nations serve as an excellent foundation for
boosting comprehensive ties.”
Abiev added, “The Islamic Republic of Iran was among the first
countries in the world to recognize the independence of Azerbaijan
Republic and the Azeri nation will never forget that.”
The Azerbaijan Republic is situated in eastern Transcaucasia, on
the western coast of the Caspian Sea. To the South it borders Iran,
to the West Armenia, to the North-West Georgia, and to the North the
Republic of Dagestan, in Russia.
The Nakhichevan autonomous Republic is a part of Azerbaijan, although
it is separated form the rest of Azerbaijan by Armenian territory.
Azerbaijan also includes the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast,
which is largely populated by the Armenians, but does not legally
constitute a part of Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Nagorno-Karabakh gets new foreign minister
The Moscow Times
Interfax. Friday, Dec. 24, 2004, 12:50 PM Moscow Time
STEPANAKERT. Dec 24 (Interfax) – Arkady Gukasian, the leader of the
self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, promoted the republic’s
Permanent Representative in Armenia Arman Melikian to the post of
foreign minister on Friday.
Melikian’s predecessor Ashot Gulian was appointed education and
culture minister.
As he presented Melikian to the foreign ministry’s personnel, Gukasian
said that Melikian’s appointment had been dictated by the need to
step up Nagorno-Karabakh’s foreign policy activities in response to
recent international developments.

Georgian television starts broadcasts in Armenian
Arminfo, Yerevan
23 Dec 04
Akhalkalaki, 23 December: The broadcasting of programmes in Armenian
started on Georgian state television today.
The programmes in Armenian will be broadcast for 30 minutes on
Georgian state television every Wednesday beginning from today,
A-Info new agency reports. According the source, the broadcasting
of the programmes in Armenian on Georgian state television was one
of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s election promises.

French mediator change not to affect Karabakh talks – Armenian spokesman
Arminfo
23 Dec 04
Yerevan, 22 December: The replacement of the co-chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group will in no way affect a settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict, the press secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry,
Gamlet Gasparyan, told Arminfo, commenting on the appointment of a new
co-chairman of the Minsk Group from France. Bernard Fassier replaced
Henry Jacolin in this post.
The appointment of the new Russian and US co-chairmen earlier did not
influence the resolution of the Karabakh problem, he said [Passage
omitted: background information].

DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSIT AIR TRAFFIC IN ARMENIA IS MAIN COMPONENT OF ARMAVIA’S
STRATEGY
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 23. ARMINFO. Timetable of the flights of Armavia
is now formed counting on the development of transit traffic and
involvement of air flows between Europe and Asia, the south and
the north. Commercial Director of the company Mushegh Sayadian told
ARMINFO.
Sayadian mentioned that at favorable concatenation of circumstances
before the completion of the new terminal of Zvartnots airport
Armavia plans to set stables transit flows in these directions. “Of
course in this plan it’s early yet to compete with Dubai or Istanbul,
but Yerevan has big opportunities to become the main air-transport
centre of the TransCaucasus”, the interlocutor mentioned. Besides,
Armavia connects its future just with the development of transit.
In 2005 the national transporter plans to be engaged in the development
of Gyumri airport, as 20-25% of the passenger flow of Armenia are
residents of Shirak region and the southern regions of Georgia.
It should be noted that during nine months of 2004 the national
transporter of Armenia – the company Armavia has transported over
316,000 passengers and 1,100 tons of post and cargo. The passenger
turnover of the air company totaled 557/7 mln p/km, and the cargo
turnover 2.3 mln tons km. The company today serves 20 routes and has
interline-agreements with over 40 air companies of the world.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER AND DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER OF RUSSIA MEET
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 23. ARMINFO. Thursday, Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanyan and Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Razov and
Assistance to the President for Education and Science Jakhan Poliyeva
discussed issues of reforms of CIS. The decision on the reforms was
made in September, 2004 in the course of CIS Summit in Astana, the
press-service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry informs ARMINFO. In
conformity with the decision, CIS signatories were instructed to
submit their notifications to Chairman of the CIS Council of FMs.
To fulfill the instructions, the Armenian Foreign Ministry directed
a package of the proposals presented by Kazakhstan to the Armenian
Government requesting introduction with the opinion of the ministries
interested, In the course of the inter-department discussion at the
Armenian Foreign Ministry, the Justice Ministry, the Ministry for
Finance and Economy, Defense Ministry, National Security Service
and the National Statistical Committee agreed with the proposals
of Kazakhstan. Armenian Police came out against the above proposals
pointing out that dissolution of the Council of CIS Interior Ministers
will considerab ly complicate the struggle against organized crime
in the CIS area. Permanent Plenipotentiary Representative of Armenia
in the legislative and other bodies of CIS, Armenian Ambassador to
Belarus Suren Haroutiunyan also expressed his opinion on the proposals
of Kazakhstan. The project of notifications of Armenia on the proposals
of Kazakhstan has been submitted to Armenian President.
In his turn, Armenian President instructed that the points related
to the insitution of permanent representatives in the CIS Economic
Court and Economic Council be amended. Then, notifications of
Armenia regarding Kazakhstan’s proposals were submitted to Chairman
of CIS Council of Foreign Ministers, Foreign Minister of Russia
Sergey Lavrov. In January of 2005, the Russian party will sum up
the opinions of the states and will present relevant information
to CIS signatory-states. In the course of his visit to CIS, Sergey
Razov will propose forming a task group on reforms of CIS, which
will include in it experts working under leadership of CIS Deputy
Foreign Ministers. Should need arise, the group will convene several
sessions in order that a final document be submitted to the session
of CIS Foreign Ministers planned for March of 2005 in Minsk, which,
in its turn, will submit a draft of the relevant document to the
session of CIS Leaders in August, 2005 in Kazan.

PROVISIONS OF AGREEMENT FOR MILITARY COOPERATION BETWEEN ARMENIA AND POLAND
MEET CONSTITUTION OF ARMENIA
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 23. ARMINFO. The provisions of the Agreement on
military cooperation between Armenia and Poland meet the Constitution
of Armenia. Constitutional Court of Armenia made a decision Thursday.
Secretary of Council of national security attached to the president
of Armenia, Defence Minister Serge Sargsian, who was representing
the interests of the president in the sitting hall, said that the
document was signed on Sept 6, 2004 in Warsaw. The agreement is
the first document on development of Armenian-Polish cooperation in
the sphere of defence. According to the document, the cooperation
between Armenia and Poland may develop in the sphere of exchange
of experience, the participation in NATO’s program “Partnership for
Peace”, joint implementation of peacekeeping and humanitarian actions
within the framework of international organizations, fight against
terrorism. The cooperation will also be implemented by joint contacts,
military-political consultations and meetings between the ministers
of defence, commanders of General Headquarters and other high-ranking
military officials, Serge Sargsian informed.
For the document’s coming into force it must be ratified by National
Assembly of Armenia.

Israeli security officials hope for kinder, gentler Bethlehem Christmas
By PETER ENAV
The Associated Press
12/23/04 12:45 EST
JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel is taking special steps to insure a
merry Christmas season in Bethlehem, an Israeli military official
said Thursday, raising hopes for a kinder, gentler holiday in the
traditional birthplace of Jesus after four years of Israeli-Palestinian
violence.
International attention focuses on the West Bank town on Christmas
Eve, so Israeli officials see an improved Christmas atmosphere there
as a boon to Israel’s troubled image.
“The importance of Bethlehem to the Christian world is clear to us,”
said Lt. Col. Aviv Feigel, head of the army’s Bethlehem district
liaison office. “We in the army are preparing ourselves for this
momentous occasion.”
The main difference with previous years is the perception of an
improved atmosphere following the death of Yasser Arafat, though the
military could point to no actual changes in procedures.
Arafat died Nov. 11. Israel accused him of involvement in Palestinian
violence and is hoping for a more pragmatic, nonviolent leadership
to replace him.
Briefing reporters on Israel’s Bethlehem Christmas preparations, Feigel
said Israel would transfer security control there to Palestinian
forces between Dec. 24 and the Armenian Christmas on Jan. 19, and
provide detailed instructions to Israeli soldiers manning Bethlehem
area checkpoints on how to deal with Christian visitors.
Shortly after violence erupted in September 2000, Israel took
control of main West Bank towns and roads, setting up dozens of
roadblocks. Bethlehem is surrounded by Israeli roadblocks, controlling
entry and exit, and the barrier Israel is building in the West Bank
cuts through the town.
Within that framework, the military says it will allow Israeli and
Gaza Christians to visit Bethlehem and will not restrict the numbers
of West Bank Palestinians arriving there.
“Every soldier at the checkpoints will receive a detailed sheet of
information about the importance of Bethlehem to Christians, so they
will know how to behave,” he said.
However, Feigel himself seemed a bit confused by the religious
intricacies of the holiday. In distinguishing Dec. 25 from the separate
Greek Orthodox and Armenian celebrations, he referred to it as the
“Catholic Christmas,” apparently unaware that hundreds of millions
of Protestants celebrate it on the same day.
A town of 40,000 located 6 kilometers (4 miles) south of Jerusalem,
Bethlehem was once a magnet for foreign Christmas visitors, with tens
of thousands crowding Manger Square during the annual midnight mass.
But following the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian violence in
September 2000, the numbers dropped precipitously, falling to only
2,000 last year.
This year Israeli officials are expecting about 4,000 visitors,
reflecting the recent reduction in violence and more relaxed
atmosphere.
(pe/ml)

‘Clerical leader’s intention to engage in politics contradicts Constitution’
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 23 2004
The Caucasus Clerical Office chairman Sheikh Allahshukur Pashazada’s
intention to engage in politics contradicts constitutional regulations
and laws, chairman of the State Committee on Work with Religious
Organizations Rafig Aliyev said.”Under the existing legislation,
religion is separate from the state, and accordingly, from politics.”
He stated that the law “On Freedom of Conscience” also forbids
religious figures’ involvement in politics.
“The establishment of a democratic, secular and a sovereign state was
the main principle in Heydar Aliyev’s activity. Individuals holding
religion-related positions cannot run for legislative bodies either.
I believe that the Caucasus Clerical Office chairman is aware of these
constitutional provisions. However, in order for the clerical leader
to resemble the Armenian Catalicos Garegin II or Georgian Patriarch
II, and particularly, Ayatollah Khomeni, his aspirations are not
sufficient, as such activity must be consistent with the law.”
Sheikh Pashazada earlier said that he intends to become actively
involved in political activity.

USA to provide equal aid package to Azerbaijan, Armenia
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 23 2004
The US Congress intends to provide equal military assistance to
Azerbaijan and Armenia next year, the US ambassador to Azerbaijan
Reno Harnish said.
Considering Azerbaijan’s active involvement in the anti-terror
coalition, the US President has proposed to set the military
assistance to Azerbaijan in 2005 at $8 million, he said. However, the
US Congress exercised its authority and set the figure at $2 million,
the same package to be allocated to Armenia. But the law on foreign
allocations is not the only source to be used in providing military
aid to Azerbaijan, the ambassador said.
“We highly appreciate cooperation with Azerbaijan in the area of
security and fighting global terror,” said Harnish, adding that the
US administration plans to continue this collaboration in the future.