ARAKS VALLEY IS THE PROBLEM

A1 Plus | 15:03:09 | 29-09-2004 | Politics |

“The situation around Karabakh arose because of stupid political
leadership”, Jirayr Sefilyan, Coordinator of social initiative for
“Protection of Liberated Territories” announced in National Press Club.

He considers there is no issue of liberated territories for the super
states. “Araks valley is the problem. Turkey doesn’t care whether
Aghdam is in the hands of Armenians or Azerbaijanians’. The task of
the super states is to take Araks valley, South Araks, South Syuniq
and Nakhijevan into their hands. The one controlling that territory
will control Southern Caucasus”.

Sefilyan thinks the solutions to Karabakhi conflict unfavorable to
Armenians are imposed on our Authorities in the form of pressures
because they are not legitimately elected. Sefilyan considers the
suggestion of Vladimir Putin on returning “the occupied territories”
and to hold referendums in Karabakh and Azerbaijan as pressure upon
Kocharyan.

Mr. Sefilyan thinks only leaving of the present regime as soon as
possible will save Karabakh. Jirayr Sefilyan excludes prospects of
returning the liberated territories. “If the Armenian people decide
that those territories must not be returned, no meter will be given
back”, Sefilyan announced.

By the way, Jirayr Sefilyan liked the statement of Vardan Oskanyan
saying “Karabakh has no price” and his speech. He called other
statements and actions of Authorities as nonsense.

BRAMA (press release), Ukraine News stand – United States
Sept 28 2004

Statement
by H.E. Mr. Kostyantyn Gryshchenko,
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
at the General Debate of the 59th session
of the UN General Assembly
New York, 27 September 2004

Mr. President,
Mr. Secretary-General,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to congratulate His Excellency Mr. Jean Ping on his
election as the President of the United Nations General Assembly at
the 59th session.

H.E. Mr. Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, Minister for Foreign Affairs of
Ukraine at the General Debate of the 59th session of the UN General
Assembly, New York, 27 September 2004
——————————————————————————–

Let me also pay tribute to His Excellency Mr. Julian Hunte for his
highly professional and fruitful work at the helm of the General
Assembly.

Mr. President,

A year ago the UN Secretary General stressed in this hall that the
United Nations reached a fork in the road.

Today it is still true.

We have a long list of problems, but not a clear vision of how to
deal with them.

To choose the right way, to solve a conflict of wishes and resources,
of desirable and achievable we should concentrate on priorities.

Let me outline Ukraine’s vision of the most important issues, which
the United Nations should focus on.

Tragedy in Russian city of Beslan and other recent terrorist attacks
leave no doubt that fight against terrorism is truly the major
priority.

We express sympathy to the victims and strongly condemn terrorism in
all its forms and manifestations.

The reason behind terrorism is to create chaos, to disrupt the global
system of peace and security established and promoted by our
Organization.

So, we have to act collectively.

We have to overcome old prejudices and to establish a spirit of
confidence and a new culture of international cooperation, which
would embrace the whole spectrum of political, law ,enforcement and
security instruments.

Creation of a new efficient system of information exchange on
terrorism will help prevent new attacks and save priceless human
lives. We support views expressed by previous speakers on the need of
a broader approach to address the complex and interdependent nature
of security.

To prevent terrorist acts and to eliminate roots of terrorism, the
United Nations must promote better understanding, if you wish – a
global rapprochement between different civilizations and religions.
There are universal values of peace and security, which are a
corner-stone of our Organization and which can serve as a basis for a
new atmosphere of tolerance in the world.

Mr. President,

As a country actively participating in Stabilization forces in Iraq
we are concerned with terrorist insurgency and continuing violence
there. Though the situation in Iraq remains difficult, there are some
positive trends.

Ukraine welcomes the transition of power to Iraqi people, formation
of the interim authorities. It is important to ensure effective
implementation of the timetable for comprehensive political
transition process in the country, particularly through holding free
and fair election with the highest possible under the current
circumstances standards. The UN Security Council resolution 1546
(2004) clearly extends a central role to the United Nations in
comprehensive political transition in the country, as well as in the
reconstruction process.

However, the Iraqi crisis and international fight against terrorism
revealed the need to strengthen the United Nations as a key
instrument of safeguarding international peace and security.

Institutional reform of the United Nations, including the Security
Council, which should become truly representative and balanced, is an
important task.

We understand reasons behind suggestions to enlarge the Council in
both categories — permanent and non-permanent and are ready to
consider carefully relevant proposals.

In this respect Ukraine attaches primary importance to allocation of
an additional non-permanent seat to the Group of Eastern European
States.

But the reform must not mean only some structural changes. We should
not embark on it every twenty years, trying to reflect a new balance
of power on international arena.

Universal criteria, common understanding of threats and challenges
are necessary to ensure effectiveness and efficiency of our
organization in the XXI century.

We fully share the views expressed by the Secretary General at the
beginning of the general debate that rule of law should be a priority
both at home and in international affairs.

We are looking forward to the outcome of the High Level Panel on
Threats, Challenges and Changes.

Authority of the UN should be increased, particularly, through its
greater involvement into conflicts prevention and resolution. As the
President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma emphasized, conflict prevention
should become pivotal in the philosophy of the United Nations work in
the new millennium. In our region frozen conflicts in Abkhazia, South
Osetia, Nagorny Karabakh, and Transdnistria need to be solved as soon
as possible.

As one of the major contributors to the UN peacekeeping operations
and the largest in Europe, Ukraine is deeply concerned with
increasing danger to the peacekeeping personnel.

We stand for universal application of the Convention on Safety of the
UN and Associated Personnel and call upon all Member States to abide
strictly by its provisions.

Role of the UN in the field of non-proliferation and disarmament
should be also strengthened.

This year Ukraine will mark the 10th anniversary of its accession to
the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The
landmark decision to eliminate the third largest nuclear arsenal and
relinquish nuclear capability has significantly enhanced
international non-proliferation regime and global security.

We hope that this positive example will be followed by countries,
which entertain ideas of protecting their security through the access
to nuclear weapons.

Mr. President,

All achievements by the international community may become futile
should we succumb to the threat of HIV/AIDS that kills each year more
people than all armed conflicts on the planet taken together.

We highly appreciate the work carried out by the United Nations, its
specialized agencies and personally by the Secretary-General in
combating this pandemic.

Ukraine supports the initiative to hold in June next year a high
level meeting to review progress in the implementation of the
Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS.

At the same time we believe that millions of our infected fellow
citizens need concrete actions.

We are convinced that HIV/AIDS poses one of the fundamental
challenges not only to human health and well-being, but to the very
security of our world. In this regard we attach particular
significance to declaration by the Organization of a global emergency
alert on fighting HIV/AIDS.

The main focus must be placed on prevention and treatment of the
disease.

As President Leonid Kuchma stressed last year at the high-level
meeting on HIV/AIDS, we need to elaborate a clear system of
encouraging sponsorship of medical projects as well as expand
educational campaign on preventing the pandemic.

A leading role in this regard should be played by mass media. Ukraine
has launched an active mass media campaign with the involvement of
all social groups and is ready to lead regional media movement in the
field of prevention of HIV/AIDS.

Another pressing problem is trafficking in persons, especially in
women and children. Ukraine spares no effort to address it.

This year Ukraine has become a party to the UN Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime and to its two optional protocols.

However, tackling these issues requires a comprehensive approach and
close cooperation of the international community. We need to create a
truly functioning and efficient mechanism to combine the efforts of
the countries of origin, transit and destination.

Effective strategies to combat human trafficking should be based on
both – law enforcement measures and improvement of economic and
social conditions of potential victims.

Ukraine welcomes the appointment of the Special Rapporteur of the
Commission on Human Rights on trafficking in persons, especially in
women and children, and stands ready to render every support in
implementing respective mandates. Excellencies,

Last year the world observed the 70th anniversary of the horrible
genocidal famine, which took lives of over 7 million of Ukrainian
people. Taking this opportunity I wish once again to express our
gratitude to all States, who signed the Joint Statement on the
Seventieth Anniversary of the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine
(Holodomor), whose parliaments adopted acts of condemnation and
sympathy, and to all organizations and individuals who took part in
the events to honor the victims of the Great Famine.

International community must thoroughly study this phenomenon in
order to prevent it in the future.

We hope that the newly appointed Special Advisor to the UN Secretary
General on the Prevention of Genocide will also duly focus on this
issue.

Almost two decades have passed since Ukraine was struck by another
tragedy – Chornobyl disaster.

Ukraine together with other interested delegations put forth an
initiative to hold in the framework of the 60th session of UN General
Assembly in spring 2006 a special plenary meeting to commemorate the
victims of Chornobyl disaster.

Ukraine has fulfilled its commitments related to the closure of
Chornobyl nuclear power plant.

What needs to be done today is to construct a new safe confinement.
We expect that funds to this purpose promised by G7 in 1995 will be
fully provided.

Chornobyl remains a burning wound, which proves every day how fragile
is our world and how easily broken is our nature. No one should doubt
our commitment to the preserving of our environment.

That is why Ukraine is so sensitive to environmental protection,
whether it concerns building of roads, construction of new power
plants or reopening of a navigable waterway that existed before.

Mr. President,

There was a fashion some years ago to criticize the United Nations
for inability to solve the most important problems. Today we all come
to this Assembly with ever stronger conviction that there is no
alternative to our Organization.

I am confident, that despite all obstacles and doubts of the past, we
can act for the attainment of the UN goals, common for all of us. Act
swiftly, collectively and with a vision.

I thank you.

EU Commission welcomes Turkish penal code law

BRUSSELS, Sept 28 (Reuters) – The EU’s executive Commission said on
Tuesday it welcomed Turkey’s adoption of a new penal code seen as
crucial to its bid to start accession talks with the 25-member bloc.

“We can of course only welcome the step taken on Sunday by the Turkish
National Assembly,” a Commission spokesman said of the legislation,
describing it as “central element of the democratisation and
modernisation process in Turkey.”

The spokesman repeated EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen’s
comment last week that such a move would allow him to make a “clear
recommendation” to EU leaders on opening entry talks in a report due
to be adopted by the Commission on Oct. 6.

The new penal code will bolster women’s rights and punish torture
more severely.

It was approved at an extraordinary session of the Turkish parliament
on Sunday after the Commission made clear the reforms were a condition
for granting Ankara a green light to start the entry negotiations.

09/28/04 06:53 ET
From: Baghdasarian

EU, Georgia forge open skies aviation agreement
By Jeff Mason

BRUSSELS, Sept 27 (Reuters) – Georgia has agreed to an “open skies”
aviation pact that will allow European Union airlines to fly to
the former Soviet republic from any EU city, the 25-nation bloc’s
executive Commission said on Monday.

The agreement follows a decision by the European Court of Justice
in 2002 that ruled bilateral deals between individual EU countries
and the United States broke European rules that create a single
internal market.

Such agreements would prevent, for example, a French carrier from
flying to a U.S. city from a British airport.

The European Commission was granted a mandate after the court
ruling to negotiate a new U.S.-EU agreement and to eliminate similar
discrimination in pacts with other countries such as Georgia.

The latest agreement, which has been initialled by both sides but
still needs to be signed, will allow EU airlines to start in any EU
city en route to Georgia, the Commission said in a statement.

Bilateral agreements remain in place, but the new pact will remove
their illegal, discriminatory aspects.

“Both delegations welcomed the agreement as a concrete step forward
in the development of the overall relationship between the EU and
Georgia, and in particular as the beginning of the strengthening in
their relations in the field of air transport,” the Commission said.

The pact replaces those aspects of the bilateral accords that were
discriminatory without negotiating a new, more wide-ranging deal,
thus making it a “horizontal agreement,” a Commission spokesman said.

A similar agreement has also been forged with Chile.

The Commission has been negotiating toward a more wide-ranging
open skies pact with the United States that includes new ownership
rules. The latest deal between the two sides was rejected by EU
ministers in June largely because it lacked significant opening of
U.S. domestic routes to European airlines.

A U.S.-EU agreement is seen as a precursor to eventual mega-mergers
between airlines on both sides of the Atlantic.

09/27/04 15:16 ET

VILLAGERS GATHER IN ANGRY PROTEST

A1 Plus | 15:47:08 | 28-09-2004 | Social |

Residents of Charishat, a village of Armenia’s Shirak region, gathered
Tuesday outside the presidential seat in Yerevan demanding to give
them their cattle back or compensation of $8,000.

The thing is that 26 heads of cattle were stolen on June 9 with alleged
implication of Armenian and Russian border guards in that. Villagers
say the cattle were sold to Turkey.

The villagers’ suspicion is grounded on the assumption that one can’t
cut barbed wire without being noticed as the border is secured by
reliable alarm system.

Law enforcement officers tried to break up the protest action by
pushing the protesters and threatening to take them in custody.

Four months have passed since investigation was launched into the
incident. However, no sign of imminent progress is seen so far.

After their failed attempt to find justice near the president’s
residence, the demonstrators went to National Assembly and reached
no success.

Then they headed the way for Russian Embassy in Armenia.

Bourj Hammoud: Tension under the surface

Monday Morning, Lebanon
Sept 27 2004

Tension has been very much alive in the Beirut suburb of Bourj
Hammoud following the cold-blooded murder of Pierre Affara, 20,
allegedly by a group of Kurds. There were unconfirmed reports that
the affair was a contract killing provoked by someone who had a
property dispute with the young man or with a member of his family.
Following Affara’s funeral, there were clashes between friends of the
deceased and young Kurdish men in which several of the latter were
injured. There were also clashes between Kurds and ethnic Armenians,
who are the largest single group in Bourj Hammoud.

Several days later, scores of Syrian workmen, employees at the
Sukleen company, demonstrated in favor of their Kurd compatriots.
The Armenian Tashnak Party issued a statement saying that the violence
had been provoked by “an incident of a personal nature and was in no
way motivated by confessional motives”.

EUROPEAN ARMENIAN FEDERATION
for Justice and Democracy
Avenue de la Renaissance 10
B – 1000 BRUSSELS
Tel. +32 (0)2 732 70 26
Tel. /Fax. +32 (0)2 732 70 27
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
Contact: Talline Tachdjian
Tel. +32 (0)2 732 70 26
September 28th, 2004

THE NEW TURKISH PENAL CODE WOULD CRIMINALIZE
RECOGNITION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

— The European Armenian Federation calls on the European Commission
to end its silence in the face Turkey’s campaign of denial

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – Following its recent attempts to criminalize
adultery, the Turkish government is now trying to place several
articles in the provisional penal code that threaten freedom of speech,
including, notably, criminal sanctions against those who recognize
or otherwise affirm the facts of the Armenian Genocide.

The European Armenian Federation condemns article 306 of the new
Turkish penal code. This provision threatens authors with jail
sentences over statements, that are construed by government officials
to undermine Turkish “national interests”. Examples of so-called
offensive statements listed in the provisional law include, “The
Turkish Army must withdraw from Cyprus” and “Armenians endured a
genocide during the Ottoman era.” Some parliamentarians introduced
an amendment, which would mandate sanctions against authors and
individuals, if it is determined that their statements are motivated by
“material interests.”

The provision gives no legal justification for the law, which
remains fundamentally incompatible with the European values of free
expression. The European Commission scarcely reacted when the Turkish
Ministry of Education brought genocide denial into the classroom, by
institutionalizing it in the curriculum. A coalition of European NGOs
expressed its concern about the denialist curriculum and called for
the suspension of EC grants to the Turkish educational system. The
European Parliament also expressed its concern in the Oostlander
report on the Turkish application for EU membership.

“Today, far from repenting for the Genocide, Turkey now wants
to include denial of this crime in its penal code. Clearly, the
indifference of the European Commission is partially responsible
for the hardening of the Turkish position on this issue”, said Hilda
Tchoboian, Chairperson of the European Armenian Federation. “Prime
Minister Erdogan’s about-face on the adultery issue will simply be a
media ploy if Europe does not demand that Ankara grant full freedom
of speech to its citizens. We call on political parties, governments,
and human rights organizations to urge the European Commission to
call for justice for the Armenian Genocide. It is unthinkable that
the Commission would not consider Turkey’s denialist position a key
obstacle to the initiation of preliminary talks,” added Tchoboian.

“Whether they are in favor of a European Turkey, or whether they are
against its accession, the Union’s democrats cannot tolerate these
attacks on the freedom of press and thought that have free reign
in Turkey. It is time for the European Union to call on Turkey to
recognize the Armenian Genocide,” concluded Federation’s chairperson.

#####

N.B. In the French version of the Press Release we mentioned
the former article number which was the article 127. An English
version of this article is available to the following web link:
;id_article=60&lang=en

China, Armenia to promote comprehensive cooperation

Viet Nam News Agency, Vietnam
Sept 28 2004

Beijing, Sept. 28 (VNA) – China and Armenia will continue with exchange
of high-level delegations to strengthen bilateral cooperation, says
a Sino-Armenian joint communique issued in Beijing on Monday.

The joint communique, signed by Chinese President Hu Jintao and
his Armenian counterpart, Robert Sedrakovich Kocharyan, who ended
his five-day state visit to China on Monday, says the two countries
will increase exchange of delegations between their parliaments and
encourage cooperation between their businesses.

The Armenian president said China’s market economy status will be
conducive to enhancing trade relations between the two countries.

He also reaffirmed that the People’s Republic of China Government is
the sole legitimate government representing the entire Chinese people.

Meanwhile, President Hu confirmed China’s support to the efforts of
the international community to address the Nagorno-Karabakh issue
peacefully, saying he hoped that the conflict will be settled in a
just and reasonable way in line with relevant international rules
and practices.

The two presidents witnessed the signing of three China-Armenia
cooperation agreements, including an agreement on technical and
economic cooperation.–

Ecologist Ferdinand Grigoryan to Take Home Know-How for Vanadzor Nursery
By Daphne Abeel

Armenian Mirror-Spectator
September 25, 2004

WATERTOWN, MA–Massachusetts’ forests, farms, nurseries and arboretums have
proved a fertile research laboratory for Armenian ecologist Ferdinand
Grigoryan, who is in the US for seven weeks, to learn and collect
information for Tsiatsan (Rainbow), the environmental NGO which he founded
in 1997.

Now working in partnership with the Armenia Tree Project (ATP), Grigoryan
has visited Levon Kachadoorian’s Everlast Nursery in Leicester, Concord’s
Walden Pond, Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum, Mahoney’s Rocky Ledge Nursery in
Winchester, various supply stores and talked to a local Armenian-American
farmer, Krikor Soujian, about his corn crop. Each visit has been an
opportunity to study planting and cultivation techniques, or to learn about
how small retail nurseries work.

What he has absorbed he will take back to Armenia where Tsiatsan’s main
project will be to develop a 15-acre reforestation nursery in Vanadzor, in
the Lori district, which by 2006, is hoped to have the capacity to produce
one million trees a year. The goal is to plant trees that are indigenous to
Armenia such as maple, oak, linden, walnut and beech.

“Mainly, I am learning about how people care for the environment here,” said
Grigoryan in an interview at ATP’s headquarters. “The idea of protecting the
environment is still new in Armenia. There is a lot that needs to be
grasped, not just about protecting the environment, but new growth
techniques that can be applied in agriculture.”

Grigoryan will be taking seeds home for testing as well as books and some
specific implements such as sprinkler heads, which will be used in the
irrigation system at Vanadzor. But, it is education that will ensure the
long-term success of environmental and reforestation projects, he said.

“Trees were being cut down at a great rate in the early ’90s, due to the
energy crisis. But people have learned that deforestation leads to
degradation of the soil and to erosion. We now have a program in the Lori
schools about environmental protection. We want to educate the students to
become stewards of the land,” he said.

To reach people who live in rural areas outside of Yerevan, Grigoryan plans
to produce a series of television programs on the environment to air twice a
month on community stations free of charge.

“We especially need to train people who are dependent on the land. If they
cut down a tree, we are teaching them to plant a tree to replace it,” said
Grigoryan. “In this way, we can change people’s psychology. Someone who has
planted a tree is much less likely to cut it down.”

There are signs that Armenia is beginning to pay more attention to its
environment, said Grigoryan. “Some legislation has been passed, and the
Armenia Forestry Agency has been transferred from the Ministry of
Environmental Protection to the Ministry of Agriculture. All of these
ministries have a limited budget. But, as an NGO, Tsiatsan can have access
to the top professionals in Armenia, in topography and many other fields.”

Also, Yerevan State University and more importantly, community colleges are
beginning to teach courses on ecology and protection of the environment. And
the Armenian Volunteer Corps (AVC) is encouraging their members to help with
environmental education in the schools.

He added, “The Armenia Tree Project has done a tremendous job in Armenia.
They are a great partner for us. There is no organization like it.”

Grigoryan said he had a special appreciation for what has been accomplished
at Walden Pond.
“I wanted to learn how natural forests are being protected,” he said. “There
is no cutting of trees there and when erosion occurs, the problem is
addressed immediately. I admire the way the area has been conserved, and
there is a relationship there between the animals and people that I haven’t
seen before.”

While he was here, Grigoryan visited St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary
School and invited the students to come to Armenia, meet students there and
work on the Vanadzor planting project.

Beyond planting trees, Grigoryan said, care and maintenance are extremely
important. He cited a recent case of the fir trees planted at Echmiadzin in
honor of all previous catholicoses. The trees died soon after as a result of
neglect.

“The NGO involved in the planting should have been responsible for the
maintenance. The trees were not watered properly. Yes, people should have
been educated to take care of them, but there should be accountability,” he
said.

Grigoryan concluded, “Each tree I plant is for the future and for future
generations. And each generation can do this. It’s very important. This is
the most important work of my life.”

Photo: Left to right, Ferdinand Grigoryan with Chris Adanalian of Armenia
Tree Project and Everlast Nursery owner, Levon Kachadoorian

Photo: The irrigation pipeline at Tsiatsan’s nursery project in Vanadzor

KARABAKH IN STAMPS

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
28 Sept 04

At the end of the previous year one of the world’s most popular
journals in the sphere of philately German “MICHEL” published an
article headlined “A Letter from Nagorni Karabakh” on the stamps of
Nagorni Karabakh. For the author of the article Gerdt Bundesman the
core problem is that MICHEL refuses to include the stamps of Karabakh
in the catalogue; the reason is that the Republic of Nagorni Karabakh
has not been recognized, and according to the catalogue, the stamps
are not legal in world postal services. The article also informs that
the German post had recognized the stamps of Karabakh equally with
those of other countries and they are in fact used for sending mail to
other countries. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union we also used
the postal stamps of the USSR. But after the collapse of the Soviet
country, in the years of the Artsakh movement the necessity of issuing
the stamps of Nagorni Karabakh occurred. The issuing was undertaken by
the head of the information-analytical agency of the Supreme Soviet of
Nagorni Karabakh, advisor to president Sergey Kalantarian. During the
talk with him he told that in mid-1992 when he still worked at the
Supreme Soviet, he suggested issuing the stamps of the republic. The
suggestion was approved and on October 7, 1992 the decision on issuing
of Karabakh stamps was adopted. Sergey Kalantarian was responsible for
issuing and received a corresponding status. S. Kalantarian said that
the first stamps of the republic were used on June 11, 1993. The series
included the stamps “The National Flag”, “Artur Mkrtichian”, “The
National Monument”, “Church Gandzasar”. “In 1994 I sent information to
the catalogue MICHEL hoping that the stamps would be included in the
same catalogue. I was not refused at the beginning, they even promised
to publish the stamps. But in several months they refused saying
that the Republic of Nagorni Karabakh had not been recognized. Then,
in 1998 the publisher of the English catalogue “Stanley Gibbons”
got interested in our stamps to which I again sent the stamps and
information. This time they published the stamps but in the section
of Azerbaijan. I suggested the editor to place the stamps in the
catalogue separately in order for us to continue cooperation, as we
have no relations to Azerbaijan. Due to disagreement the relationships
were stopped,” said Kalantarian. According to him, owing to Gerdt
Bundesman recently the stamps of Nagorni Karabakh have been included
in the same journal “MICHEL” and later they will be included in the
catalogue as well. The Karabakh stamps were also placed in the French
catalogue “Yvert & Teller – 2003”. Sergey Kalantarian also informed
that in 1996 new stamps were issued dedicated to the fifth anniversary
of the independence of Karabakh on the funding of the German company
“Edition 2002” (M. Mittelstrass). According to S. Kalantarian, this
company wished to continue issuing our stamps. There is already an
arrangement and after signing the contract with “Artsakhpost” works
will hopefully begin. By the way, in 1997 on the means of the same
company stamps devoted to the New Year and Christmas, and in 1998
(with delay) stamps devoted to the fifth anniversary of liberation
of Shushi were issued. In the latter coloured pictures of Shoushi
of the beginning of the previous century were used. On February 20,
1998 together with Armenia stamps devoted to the 10th anniversary
of the Karabakh movement were issued and printed in Netherlands. On
2001 a series devoted to the 1700 years of adoption of Christianity
in Armenia was issued again on state funding. Besides the thematic
stamps there were also reprinted stamps on the basis of the previous
ones. According to Sergey Kalantarian, presently in the Republic of
Lithuania they are interested in issuing of our stamps. In Karabakh
there are people ready to issue new stamps at certain conditions and
provide them free of charge to “Artsakhpost”. Presently the joint NKR
and RA stamp “Karabakh Horse” is printed. While new stamps are issued
in our republic, different complaints are made by the neighbouring
country connected with the appearance of our stamps in the catalogue
“MICHEL” and in acceptance of our stamps in other country posts at
all. The NKR stamps are issued officially, they bear the national
symbols which provide collectors with certain information about
Nagorni Karabakh.

ANAHIT DANIELIAN.
28-09-2004