Anadolu Agency
Sept 15 2004

5th Regional Conference On Migration To Be Held In Istanbul
Anadolu Agency: 9/15/2004

ANKARA – The 5th Regional Conference on Migration organized by the
Council of Europe (COE) will be held in Istanbul between September
30th and October 1st.

Sources said on Wednesday that the venue of the conference would
be Conrad Hotel, and gave the following information regarding the
participating countries:

-10 transition countries: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria,
Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia
and Ukraine,

-Six target countries: Norway, France, Germany, Britain, Greece
and Spain,

-Nine countries, not members of COE: Afghanistan, Belarus, Bangladesh,
China, Libya, India, Pakistan, Egypt and Morocco,

-Three countries from which people migrate: Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Georgia.

Nearly 60 participants from international organizations, universities,
nongovernmental organizations and COE Parliamentary Assembly are
expected to attend the conference.

Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu and COE Deputy Secretary
General Maud de Boer-Buquicchio will jointly open the conference.

Turkey, which is located in a region with a high flow of migrants,
has earlier offered to host the 5th Regional Conference on Migration,
sources added.

PRESS RELEASE

Armenian National Committee
San Francisco – Bay Area
51 Commonwealth Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118
Tel: (415) 387-3433
Fax: (415) 751-0617
[email protected]

Contact: Roxanne Makasdjian (415) 641-0525

Armenian-Americans Join “Sudan: Day of Conscience” in San Francisco

San Francisco, August 25, 2004 – Armenian-American community members
joined hands with others at San Francisco’s Civic Center to raise public
awareness about continuing massacres in Sudan. The event, called
“Sudan: Day of Conscience” was organized by the Save Darfur Coalition in
tandem with several other organizations, including the Bay Area Armenian
National Committee, the Interfaith Council, Human Rights Watch, the
Jewish Community Relations, and the United Muslims of America. Local
Armenian priests from the St. Gregory and St. John churches also
participated it the rally.

In light of the escalating violence and the looming threat of genocide
in Sudan, representatives spoke about the desperate need for united
action on all levels–regionally, statewide, nationwide, and globally.
Referring to the recent past, they illustrated the destructivenss of
international blindness to gross violations of human rights. It was
only ten years ago that the genocide in Rwanda took the lives of 800,000
victims as the world stood idly by despite the many warning signs of the
atrocities. In Sudan, government-backed Arab militias, known as the
Janjaweed, have been engaging in campaigns to displace and wipe out
entire communities of African tribal farmers. Witnesses report that
villages have been razed, women and girls are systematically raped and
branded, men and boys murdered, and food and water supplies specifically
targeted and destroyed. There have also been reports of government
aerial bombardments of explosives as well as barrels of nails, car
chassis and old appliances hurled from planes to crush people and
property. Over fifty thousand have died and over a million have been
driven from their homes. Only in the past few weeks have humanitarian
agencies had limited access to a portion of the affected region.

Representing the ANC, Haig Baghdassarian spoke to the several hundred
people gathered about the Armenian Genocide and traced the bloody
history of the 20th century, pointing to the genocides which followed
and condemning international reluctance to take action. “When will we
learn that we cannot tolerate this to happen time and time again?
Perhaps not until, we as Americans, can tell our Turkish allies, that
although we may be friends, we will not allow them to deny history and
escape with impunity for the murder of a nation. And perhaps, not
until, we as Americans can come to terms with our own bloody past – and
the destruction of the indigenous peoples of America.”

“But these noble goals may take years or even decades to achieve, and we
cannot stand by and watch yet another genocide occur, whether it’s in
central Europe or in the heart of Africa, or on the very periphery of
human civilization,” said Bagdassarian

Reverend Father Avedis Torossian, pastor of St. Gregory Armenian
Apostolic Church, and Reverend Father Sarkis Petoyan, pastor of St. John
Armenian Apostolic Church were also present to express their solidarity
with the “Sudan: Day of Conscience”. The peaceful collaboration of the
representatives of the Armenian community with those of the Jewish,
Cambodian, and Rwandan communities demonstrated how the one common
aspect of these groups’ histories can unite them in trying to prevent
genocide from becoming a dark chapter in the lives and history of
another people.

####

Armenian, Azeri presidents pleased with CIS talks

Mediamax news agency
15 Sep 04

Yerevan, 15 September: The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents,
Robert Kocharyan and Ilham Aliyev, have positively assessed the
results of their talks that lasted for several hours in Astana today
[15 September].

A Mediamax special correspondent reports from the Kazakh capital that
Robert Kocharyan announced at the end of the meeting between the two
countries’ presidents and the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group
that the two countries’ leaders positively assessed the work of the
Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers.

“It is time to clarify certain positions, which we did today. Now
we need some time in order to define our further steps, knowing each
other’s position,” the Armenian president said.

“Generally speaking, there is nothing to boast about, but I am happy
with the circumstance that we are discussing ways of the settlement
calmly and patiently,” Robert Kocharyan noted.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that a wide range of issues
connected with the settlement of the Karabakh conflict was discussed
in Astana today. He announced that he is assessing positively the
exchange of views that has been taking place of late between the
Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers.

“Our meeting today allowed us to draw a certain line under the dialogue
between our countries’ foreign ministers,” Ilham Aliyev said.

Parliament Members Discuss NATO

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Sept 15 2004

Abolition of NATO maneuvers “Cooperativ Best Effort 2004” in Azerbaijan
was discussed at yesterday’s session of Azerbaijani parliament
(Milli Mejlis).

Turan/BT — Deputy Ibrahim Isayev expressed his regrets that NATO
yielded to Armenians and abolished maneuvers in Baku. “We did not
let Armenian officers to Baku, and I want to congratulate you on
this occasion,” he said. The leader of the Party of Popular Front
of United Azerbaijan Gudrat Hasanguliyev expressed his satisfaction
and called this event as “big achievement”. Hasanguliyev called to
be “vigilant” concerning persons and companies, who “contact” with
Armenians, and indicated on non-admission of such cooperation.

At the same time, the deputy Musa Musayev expressed his doubt
concerning positive results of cancellation of NATO maneuvers. He
reminded about significant efforts, which Azerbaijan put for joining
of Azerbaijan as associated member of the parliament assembly of
NATO. If Azerbaijan strives settling Karabakh problem by peaceful
means, then it must cooperate with NATO, said Musayev.

The parliament speaker Murtuz Aleskerov said to certain extent
NATO decision served as response to appellation of the Azerbaijan
parliament. “We protested against arrival of servicemen, who occupied
our lands and shed blood of our nation and achieved their purpose,”
he said.

The Association of Banks Intends To Cooperate With Banks of CIS

Baku Today
Sept 15 2004

The Association of Banks of Azerbaijan (ABA) intends to offer their
colleagues from Ukraine, Moldova and Kazakhstan to sign agreements
on cooperation at the international banking conference in Baku on
6-7 October.

Bankers from the bank associations of Georgia, Poland, Turkey
and Uzbekistan will also attend this conference dedicated to the
development of regions and regional cooperation. The ABA has signed
agreements on cooperation with the bank associations of Russia and
Georgia. They are to exchange data and experience, attend the actions
organized by one another, etc. But the partnership with the Russian
bank association faces problems coming from the fact that Mr. Gareghin
Tosunian, Armenian by nation, is the Chairman there. So the ABA plans
to offer cooperation to the Association of Regional Banks of Russia.

KIRK SERVES UP WINNER OF A YEAR FOR BIG DEALS
By PAUL THARP

New York Post, NY
Sept 15 2004

September 15, 2004 — At 87, wily investor Kirk Kerkorian still has
his healthy vigor and up to $20 billion to spread around. His two
mega-deals this year – the sale of his fabled MGM studios for $4.6
billion and the creation of a proposed $10 billion casino empire
he controls – has nearly tripled his personal fortune in the most
lucrative year of his colorful life.

Kerkorian is celebrating his success by taking his tennis racquets
in hand this week to scramble against other players – all over the
age of 50 – in a remarkable tournament, the World Seniors Tennis
Championship in Philadelphia.

One of his archrivals on the grass courts is 92-year-old former Davis
Cup player Gardnar Mulloy, the second-oldest player in the event,
which concludes for its 1,250 accomplished players on Sept. 26.

Kerkorian is, meanwhile, awaiting word on his effort to collect still
another $3 billion from DaimlerChrysler AG in a tangled lawsuit over
his one-time control of the automaker.

The car maker claims in other court papers that Kerkorian actually
made a profit of $2.7 billion on his investment in the company,
but Kerkorian claims in his suit he took a $3 billion bath on the
1999 merger.

In any event, Kerkorian clearly has a plan for his swollen fortune –
giving it away.

He has set up foundations for his two daughters to spend on making
the world a better place.

The endowment is enough to last a century, based on government
regulations that require a foundation to give away just 5 percent
annually of the profits earned by its investments.

Tax experts say Kerkorian’s estate, worth up to an estimated $20
billion, would be spared heavy taxation by making endowments to the
key foundation.

Some of the cash flows would come from Kerkorian’s casino merger of
his MGM Mirage and Mandalay Resort Group – should regulators clear
it later this year. It would create one of the world’s largest gaming
empires, throwing off cash flows of up to $6 billion a year.

The thrice-married and divorced Kerkorian recently stepped up his
contributions to one of the charitable foundations he founded in 1988 –
the Lincy Foundation, named after his two daughters, Linda and Tracy.

His business holding company, Tracinda Corp., is also named after the
daughters, both from his second marriage in 1954 to Jane Maree Hardy.
Kerkorian’s third wife is in her 30s.

Tracinda supports the charitable foundations with as much as $40
million a year in direct donations.

Their family foundation has awarded hundreds of millions to a wide
range of humanitarian efforts around the world, in areas including
health, education, athletics and global economies.

One favorite cause in recent years was rebuilding the economy of
Armenia, Kerkorian’s homeland.

The foundation, headquartered on South Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills,
has awarded more than $165 million alone in support to Armenia’s
government and economic organizations.

Kerkorian has placed some of his trusted executives on the foundation
board to protect its assets, which exceed $220 million, according to
recent filings.

Kerkorian built his first big fortune by flipping the MGM movie studio
three times since first acquiring it in 1970.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Putin to attend CES, CIS summits in Astana

ITAR-TASS, Russia
Sept 15 2004

MOSCOW, September 15 (Itar-Tass) – Russian President Vladimir Putin
leaves for Astana on a working visit on Wednesday . He will meet with
the leaders of the CIS states that are forming a common economic space
(CES), while on Thursday, he will take part in a broader CIS summit.

The leaders of the four CES countries — Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine
and Belarus — will first have a narrow-format meeting, and then
continue their talks together with members of their delegations.

The four leaders are expected to sign joint documents and give a news
conference. The main item on the agenda is the discussion of the list
of 29 first-priority agreements subject to signing, presidential aide
Sergei Prikhodko told Itar-Tass.

“The implementation of these documents is expected to create the
necessary conditions for deepening economic integration and phased
headway towards free movements of goods, services, capital and labor
forces within the confines of the four states,” Prikhodko noted.

“An agreement on setting up a commission on trade and tariffs will
be signed within the framework of the prepared package of documents,
which is expected to become a single regulating body for the CES
states,” the aide said.

On Wednesday evening, a tripartite meeting will take place between
the presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan: Vladimir Putin,
Robert Kocharyan and Ilkham Aliyev.

In the course of his working visit to Astana, Putin is likely to hold
a separate meeting with the summit host: Kazakh President Nursultan
Nazarbayev.

Armenia wants broader cooperation with NATO

Interfax
Sept 15 2004

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Armenia is open for serious and more extensive
cooperation with NATO, President Robert Kocharian assured a NATO
Parliamentary Assembly delegation on Tuesday.

Kocharian expressed satisfaction with the current extent of
Armenia-NATO cooperation and said his country was involved in a number
of NATO programs.

He also called for regional cooperation in the South Caucasus. This
would provide a good basis for settling conflicts, he argued.

He said Armenia had repeatedly proposed “the settlement of conflicts
in the South Caucasus via cooperation” but that Azerbaijan had rejected
the idea.

Armenia takes an active part in NATO’s Partnership for Peace program.
NATO held an exercise in Armenia in 2003 as part of the program.

The Armenian presidential press service told Interfax that Kocharian
would leave for Astana on Wednesday to take part in a Commonwealth
of Independent States summit.

The service also said the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents
planned to hold their next round of talks in Astana to settle the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Globe and Mail, Canada
Sept 15 2004

Chechens live in fear of reprisals

Anti-Caucasian discrimination hits new high in wake of Beslan, MARK
MacKINNON reports

By MARK MacKINNON

MOSCOW — The day after the siege ended at Beslan’s Middle School No.
1, terror came to the Khadayev home outside Moscow.

Asya Khadayeva, 43, first spotted the car with the dark windows as
she left for work at about 7:30 a.m. The car followed slowly as she
and her daughter walked to the bus stop, and she was relieved when
the bus picked them up and their pursuers didn’t follow. An ethnic
Chechen, she had been worried about revenge attacks on her family
following the tragedy in Beslan.

What she didn’t know is that the men in the car were waiting for her
to leave. After the bus pulled away, about 30 men burst through her
home’s doors and windows. Some wore masks and security-service
uniforms, others carried grenades and automatic weapons.

Her three teenaged children, who were still in the house, were forced
to lie facedown on the floor with blankets over their heads. A gun
was pressed against her 15-year-old son Magomed’s skull. Her
five-year-old daughter Amina was dragged from under her bed and
forced to kneel beside her siblings at gunpoint while the home was
searched.

“She was screaming, ‘Don’t shoot me and don’t kill my brothers,’ ”
said Ms. Khadayeva, who moved to Moscow with her family four years
ago to escape the war in Chechnya. “They wouldn’t even let her older
brothers comfort her.”

The children’s father, Ramzan Khadayev, said the men identified
themselves as members of various Russian security services, including
the Federal Security Bureau.

They were at the house for several hours, Ms. Khadayeva said. Some of
the officers later drove to the food market where both parents and
Ms. Khadayeva’s brother work, and questioned all three.

“One officer told us, ‘You should leave [Moscow], it’s not your
home,’ ” she said. “I told them, ‘Okay, give me back my apartment,
which your soldiers destroyed, and the property that was stolen from
me and I’ll leave tomorrow,’ ” Ms. Khadayeva said. “They said that
wasn’t their problem. They told us we are Chechens so we are
terrorists.”

Chechens have been persecuted and feared in Russia since the 19th
century, when the armies of Czar Alexander II first tried to subdue
the fierce people who live along the north end of the Caucasus
mountain range. But the discrimination has hit new heights in recent
years as dozens of acts of terrorism across Russia have been blamed
on Chechens.

The hatred grew again after the hostage-taking at Beslan, where more
than 350 people were killed. Yesterday, Russian prosecutors charged a
Chechen man identified as Nurpashi Kulayev in the deadly
hostage-taking, the Interfax news agency reported.

With a fresh wave of anti-Caucasian xenophobia sweeping the country,
many Chechens say they now rarely leave their homes, fearful of even
their neighbours.

In Moscow, police have arrested dozens of Chechens in the past few
days, including a group of 20 men yesterday who were renovating
schools in the region. They were released later in the day. Last
week, in the Ural mountain city of Yekaterinburg, gangs of youths
armed with clubs, chains and Molotov cocktails attacked cafés owned
by Armenians and Azeris, killing one person and hospitalizing two
others.

Human-rights activists say the police are among the worst offenders
when it comes to anti-Caucasian racism.

“They have orders from the authorities to check every Caucasian
person, man or a woman. They treat every Caucasian as a potential
terrorist,” said Yuri Tabak of the Moscow Human Rights Bureau.

The situation for Chechens and other Caucasians living in Moscow has
become so dangerous that some say they’ve stopped going outside
unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Fatima Dudayeva fled the ruins of Grozny to join her sister in Moscow
a month ago, hoping to find work and “have some fun” in the big city
after almost a decade of constant war. But her arrival coincided with
a string of suicide bombings carried out by young Chechen women —
two on passenger planes and another outside a Moscow metro station.

Denied registration papers that would allow her to look for work or
rent a place of her own, she stays with her cousin in a small
apartment in the city and says she’s gone further than the corner
store only once in the past two weeks.

During that single trip out, Ms. Dudayeva was stopped by a policeman
who asked her to prove she wasn’t wearing a suicide belt. She had to
pay him a 500-ruble bribe (about $25) to avoid being taken into
custody.

“They look for a Chechen trace in everything that goes wrong,” the
dark-eyed 26-year-old said. “The next time something happens in
Moscow, the next terror act, it will be better to go back to
Chechnya, despite the war there, and stay for a while until things
calm down here.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Ayatollahs play in Russia’s backyard
By Sergei Blagov

Asia Times Online, Hong Kong
Sept 15 2004

MOSCOW – Amid growing Western pressure over Iran’s nuclear
ambitions, Tehran is losing no time in boosting its clout north of
its frontiers. Furthermore, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami toured
three former Soviet states when their former “big brother”, Russia,
was distracted by terrorist attacks and domestic political reforms.

During a three-day official visit to Tajik capital Dushanbe this week,
Khatami and his counterpart President Emomali Rakhmonov discussed
energy and infrastructure projects. The two nations also clinched a
deal to launch a joint venture that would finalize construction of
the 670-megawatt Sangtudin hydropower station in Tajikistan.

Last December, Tajikistan and Iran agreed to launch a consortium to
raise funds to complete the Sangtudin plant. On Monday, Rakhmonov
said Iran would bear 51% of the total construction cost, estimated
at about US$500 million. Forty-nine percent of the project is to be
funded by Tajikistan and other countries, including Russia. Moscow
has put up $100 million for the project.

Khatami is also reported to have observed the construction site of the
five-kilometer-long Anzub Tunnel crossing the Gissar mountain range,
which is slated to be part of a highway project to link Tajikistan and
Iran via northern Afghanistan. The tunnel is being built by Iranian
firm Sobir, which won an international tender by pledging to complete
construction by the end of 2006 for $39 million. The 110km road from
Iran to Herat, Afghanistan, has already been built. Khatami also
pledged that Iran would invest more than $700 million in the Tajik
economy in the coming five years.

Subsequently, Iran’s leader opted to come up with some diplomatic
overtures toward Moscow. On Sunday, Khatami told journalists in
Dushanbe that cooperation with Russia had benefited the region. He
hailed Iran’s nuclear plant deal with Moscow, and lauded Russia for
continued ties with Iran, despite US pressure. “We need cooperation
with Russia for safeguarding stability in Central Asia, the Caspian
and Caucasus regions,” Khatami was quoted by Interfax news agency
as saying.

Nevertheless, Khatami’s tour of the former Soviet states could be
viewed as Tehran’s attempt to poach a territory still considered by
Moscow as “near abroad”, at a time when Russia is overwhelmed by its
terrorist outbreaks.

>>From last Thursday to Saturday, Khatami visited Belarus, where he met
with President Alexander Lukashenko, Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky
and other top Belarusian officials. Iran has close relations with
Belarus, which is regularly under verbal attack from the West for the
authoritarian regime of Lukashenko. Russia has also been struggling to
create a “union state” with Belarus. And despite Western criticism,
Belarus sold Russian-made conventional military equipment and spare
parts to Iran.

While in Belarus, Khatami took the opportunity to criticize the
US-led “war on terror”, saying that “crises and tensions in the
Middle East only serve the illegitimate interests of outsiders”, and
that “countries that prevent others from living in peace” in their
homelands are the real members of the “axis of evil”. He also claimed
that “injustice and discrimination” were the causes of terrorism.

“Those who illegally occupy land belonging to others and those who
fuel chaos and extremism worldwide are the main components of the
axis of evil,” Khatami said. Leaving no doubt whom he bore in mind,
Khatami also lashed out at “the Zionist regime”.

Top Belarus officials told Khatami that they shared Iran’s
opposition to unilateralism and believe that countries that label
others as members of the “axis of evil” do so just to pursue their
own interests. Incidentally, some years ago, Lukashenko gained
international notoriety by suggesting that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler
had certain merits for restoring order in Germany and making the
economy grow.

Prior to the Belarus visit, on September 8-9, Khatami traveled to
yet another former Soviet state, Armenia, mainly driven by economic
reasons. Khatami and his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharian
signed a framework treaty on the “principles and bases” of bilateral
relations. They also formalized the release of a $30 million Iranian
loan to Armenia, to be used for construction of a gas pipeline
that will link the two neighboring countries. The construction of
the Armenian section of its gas pipeline with Iran is expected to
begin by the end of next month. Iranian company Sanir is to become
a subcontractor for the project.

Hence Armenia is limiting its dependence on Russian energy supplies.
In May, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh traveled to Armenia
and signed an agreement on the construction of the 114km Iran-Armenia
gas pipeline that would cost $120 million. Iran reportedly agreed to
supply 1.27 trillion cubic feet (36 billion cubic meters) to Armenia
from 2007-27.

The Iran-Armenia pipeline could also be extended through
Georgia to Ukraine and on to the European Union. The
Iran-Armenia-Georgia-Ukraine-Europe gas pipeline, with a 550km
underwater section from the Georgian port of Supsa to the Crimean
town of Feodosia, has been estimated to cost $5 billion. The planned
gas supply would amount to 2.12 trillion cubic feet (60 billion cubic
meters) per annum, including 353 billion cubic feet (10 billion cubic
meters) for Ukraine.

Russia has been wary that Armenia’s extended pipeline could be
used to funnel Iranian gas to European markets. It could also allow
Turkmenistan to circumvent Russia’s gas-pipeline network. Presumably
fearing Moscow’s wrath, Armenia is yet to make a decision on the
extended pipeline.

Meanwhile, Russia has reiterated its proactive approach in the
“near abroad”. Last Thursday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated
that Russia is ready to face Western competition in the former Soviet
states. “Our world is being globalized and one need learn to compete,”
he told Voice of Russia Radio. “We have to defend our line in the
pursuit of energy and other natural resources, we have capabilities
for it,” Lavrov said.

It remains to be seen, however, whether Russia is prepared to face
non-Western competition, such as Iran.

Sergei Blagov covers Russia and post-Soviet states, with special
attention to Asia-related issues. He has contributed to Asia Times
Online since 1996. Between 1983 and 1997, he was based in Southeast
Asia. In 2001 and 2002, Nova Science Publishers, New York, published
two of his books on Vietnamese history.