296 HIV INFECTED REPORTED IN ARMENIA AS OF NOV 1
ArmenPress
Nov 22 2004
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS: On the international day of HIV/AIDS
on Dec 1, USAID funded Academy for Educational Development Armenia
office, UN, World Vision Armenia office and the national center for
HIV/AIDS prevention will organize a concert in the big hall after
Aram Khachatrian to pay respect to people who died of HIV/AIDS and
advocate prevention measures. This year runs under the motto Women,
Girls: HIV/AIDS Prevention, taking into consideration the high rate of
the disease reported among women and their vulnerability to infection.
There were 296 HIV cases in Armenia as of Nov 1, 280 of who were
the citizens of Armenia. Among the infected, 217 were men and 63
women. Four cases have been reported with children.
HIV is mainly transmitted in Armenia through intravenous injection
of drugs and heterosexual sex. If by 1999, transmission through
heterosexual sex prevailed over drug injection, infection from the
last considerably increased during the last year. All infected through
drug injection have been men. Most of the infected are from Yerevan,
with number two rating in Lori. AIDS have been detected among 50 of
HIV carriers. Since the first AIDS reports in Armenia, 42 fatal cases
have been reported with HIV/ AIDS, 8 of which only this year.
The Academy for Educational Development sources said that prominent
Armenian singers will take part in the action concert, including
Alla Levonian, Andre, Zaruhi Babaian, Arsen Grigorian, Aramo, Emma
Petrossian, Theater of Soul and Dance of Sofi Devoian, Nane Dance
Club other leading performers. Expected is the participation of
top Armenian officials, US ambassador to Armenia, UN, World Bank
and representatives of other international organizations. Thirteen
addresses will be made during the concert summarizing the recent
achievements in fight against HIV/AIDS, statistics and prevention
measures. Information leaflets will be distributed during the event.

AZERI DEFENSE MINISTER WANTS NATO TO DISCUSS KARABAGH
ArmenPress
Nov 22 2004
BAKU, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS: Receiving Belgian defense minister
August Vandel in Baku, Azerbaijan’s defense minister Safar Abiyev
said the priority goal of Azerbaijan’s armed forces was to move to
NATO standards as close as possible.
Abiyev said the process of armed forces’ training was in may aspects
conforming NATO requirements. He also spoke in favor of placing the
Nagorno Karabagh conflict on NATO agenda. “By joining the NATO’s
Partnership for Peace program Armenia has committed not to lay
territorial claims to neighbor countries. I believe it is time to
discuss that issue,” he was quoted by Azeri news media as saying.
Belgian defense minister spoke for his part in favor of a bigger EU
involvement in the conflict regulation process and suggested also
that Azerbaijan could use Belgium’s experience in building a mobile
and easily managed armed forces.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
November 22, 2004, Monday
U.S. SOLDIERS LANDED IN AZERBAIJAN
SOURCE: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, November 16, 2004, pp. 1, 5
by Rauf Mirkadyrov
An Azerbaijani newspaper has reported lately that over 50 NATO
servicemen, mainly U.S. soldiers, have been stationed in the training
center in Chukhanly (Saliany district, Azerbaijan). According to the
newspaper, since 2005 the Americans intend to carry out a program in
Azerbaijan similar to the Train & Equip program held in Georgia.
Ilgar Verdiyev, an official of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry
confirmed this information to journalists but said that foreign
servicemen arrive in Azerbaijan only to take part in specific
projects on the implementation of NATO-led Partnership for Peace
program. In his words, various courses in the framework of this
program are often held in the Chukhanly training center. “These are
the language courses, courses on introduction of NATO terminology,
arranging the peacekeeping activities,” Verdiyev said.
However, Ramaz Melikov, press secretary of the Azerbaijani Defense
Ministry flatly denied this report and said he has no information
that the U.S. instructors are training Azerbaijani servicemen.
At the same time, Alimamed Nuriyev, member of the standing
parliamentary defense and security commission indirectly confirmed
the rumors concerning arrival of the U.S. servicemen: “No wonder that
the Americans are training our servicemen. It is not a secret that
Americans are using our military airfields for transit purposes after
the hostilities have been launched in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is the
fact that is commonly omitted.”
Araz Azimov, deputy defense minister of Azerbaijan doesn’t rule out
that U.S. mobile forces may appear in the country. “In the future,
Azerbaijan may be involved in rapid response NATO-led operations,
since new challenges require flexible and immediate response. Under
conditions of globalization, development of any crisis requires an
immediate response,” Azimov said.
Azerbaijani analysts draw attention to the formulation “any crisis.”
In opinion of Uzeir Dzhafarov, an independent military expert and
former ranking Defense Ministry official, cooperation between Baku
and NATO has exceeded the framework of Partnership for Peace program
long ago. He told our reporter that the information concerning the
cooperation is confidential: “neither the Defense Ministry, nor NATO
officials are trying to say anything concerning this fact.” The
expert reminded that NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
said when in Baku of late that Azerbaijan has already received its
“homework.” According to Dzhafarov, preparations for implementation
of a program similar to Train & Equip program conducted in Georgia is
underway in Azerbaijan now; the program is likely to be launched in
2005. Used for these purposes could be the “military training ground
in Garaiebat, in the vicinity of Baku, as well as the Chukhanly
training center in Saliany. They satisfy NATO standards.” Dzhafarov
says that dozens of U.S. servicemen are already in the country.
Almost all independent Azerbaijani media are discussing reports
issued by the foreign media that Baku and Washington are involved in
consultations concerning the use of Azerbaijan’s territory to deliver
a strike on Iran. Referring to military sources, some media are even
publishing scenarios of the future military operations.
According to Azer Rashidoglu, an expert at the East-West Center of
Political Studies, an assumption is possible now that all almost EU
member states will be opposed to an anti-Iranian military campaign.
Besides, Azerbaijan will unavoidably spoil its relations with Turkey,
which is its closest regional partner. “No less than Europe Turkey is
dependent of supplies of energy resources from Iran. Moreover, Ankara
is not concerned for appearance of another pesthole of the armed
Kurdish separatism by its borderline,” the expert told our newspaper.
Washington might hypothetically use the territory of Armenia, Syria,
Iraq, Afghanistan and Azerbaijan as a land bridgehead for
intervention. Armenia and Syria could be eliminated from this list
immediately. At the same time, neither Iraq, nor Afghanistan, which
are engaged in the guerrilla war, make a reliable rear.
Azerbaijani military experts conclude that the USA may only regard
Azerbaijan as a reliable bridgehead for intervention in Iran.
Independent military expert Dzhasur Mamedov told us: “Noteworthy is
the register of military objects in which the Americans have either
been stationed, or are to be stationed. These are primarily Chukhanly
and Nasosny settlements in the vicinity of Baku; both of them are
close to military airfields, which have been upgraded of late; the
airfields are prepared to deliver air strikes on Iran. Besides,
reports have emerged of late that the Americans have plans to station
TRML-3D air defense radar stations in Azerbaijan. It is clear that in
case they deliver strikes on Iran, the Americans can hardly hope to
get the required data from the Gabala radar installation,” the expert
says.
At the same time, Mamedov stressed, the Chukhanly military base has
an entrance to the Caspian Sea. The Americans have already begun
upgrading the Azerbaijani navy. According to the expert, the
Chukhanly base has a suitable location from the operative point of
view. “This base is in a stone’s throw from the Iranian border,”
Mamedov noted.
–Boundary_(ID_wDTxJQZLIFSdRwBSzPXk3g)–

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
November 22, 2004, Monday
IT IS NOT PLANNED TO RAISE THE STRENGTH OF THE 102ND RUSSIAN MILITARY
BASE IN ARMENIA
Colonel Nikolai Baranov, chief of the mobile press center of the
Russian armed forces said this last Friday. Baranov also denied an
intention to move to Armenia the Russian military base stationed in
the Akhalkalakhi district of Georgia. He only mentioned that the arms
of the 102nd Military Base of Russia would be gradually upgraded in the
framework of the general rearmament in the Russian army. “The condition
of arms and military equipment is now satisfactory in the base and
renovations of the small arms might be held alone,” Baranov said.

AGGRESSIVE PETROSIAN SURPRISES BERKES
by Stan Rayan
The Hindu, India
November 22, 2004
He is named after one of the legends of the 64-square game. On Sunday,
Armenian Tigran Petrosian lived up to the name by stunning the boys’
top seed Ferenc Berkes in the World junior chess championship at the
Casino Hotel here.
The attacking 40-move victory, in Tarrasch Defence, gave the
fourth-seeded Petrosian the lead after the fourth round. With
four points, he has only India’s P. Harikrishna, the second seed,
for company.
“I was born just a month after the former world champion Tigran
Petrosian’s death. That’s how I got this name,” said the Armenian
Grandmaster. But unlike his famous namesake, he plays a very aggressive
game.
Playing black, Petrosian turned down the offer of a draw on the 23rd
move and triumphed with a powerful king-side attack. Hungarian Berkes
had lost the edge earlier with a pawn blunder on the 15th move.
Petrosian was very cautious about his chances against Harikrishna,
his next big rival. “To play Hari in India is very difficult. But
nothing is impossible,” he said.
Harikrishna, also playing black, was in fine nick today, winning
against Swede Hans Tikkanen comfortably in 40 moves of Bogo Indian.
Former Asian junior champion Deepan Chakravarthy was another impressive
Indian, surprising seventh-seeded Uzbek Grandmaster Timur Gareyev
with a lethal king-side attack.
While the boys’ section produced decisive results on all the top ten
boards, three of the top five boards in the girls section ended in
draws. Four players – Poland’s Joanna Madjan, China’s Zhang Jilin
and Woman GMs Elisabeth Paehtz (Germany) and Anna Ushenina (Ukraine)
were at the top of the pack after fourth round.
The results (fourth round, Indians unless stated):
Boys: Ferenc Berkes (Hun, 3 pts) lost to Tigran Petrosian (Arm, 4);
Hans Tikkanen (Swe, 3) lost to P. Harikrishna (4); Evgeny Alekseev
Vladimirovich (Rus, 3.5) bt Yunieski Quezada Perez (Cub, 2.5);
Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Pol, 3.5) bt Jianu Vlad-Cristian (Rom, 2.5);
Abhijeet Gupta (2.5) lost to Mark Paragua (Phi, 3.5); Zhe Quan
(Can, 2.5) lost to Erwin l’Ami (Ned, 3.5); Deepan Chakravarthy (3)
bt Timur Gareev (Uzb, 2); Artem Iljin (Rus, 3) bt Poobesh Anand (Ind,
2); Zhao Jun (Chn, 3) bt Lorin A. R. D’costa (Eng 2);
Koneru Humpy (3) bt Johannes Manyedi (RSA, 2); Stanislav Cifka (Cze,
2) lost to M. R. Venkatesh (3); David Smerdon (Aus, 3) bt C. V.
Balaji Raghuram (2); Jan Smeets (Ned) lost to Leandro Perdomo (Arg,
3); Elshan Moradiabadi (Ira, 2.5) bt G. N. Gopal (1.5); Deep Sengupta
(2.5) bt Anastasios Mihailidis (Gre, 1.5).
Girls: Joanna Majdan (Pol, 3.5) drew with Anna Ushenina (Ukr, 3.5);
Zhang Jilin (Chn, 3.5) bt N. Vinuthna (2.5); Alina Motoc (Rom, 2)
lost to Elisabeth Paehtz (Ger, 3.5); Ekaterina Korbut (Rus, 2.5)
drew with Siti Zulaikha (Mas, 2.5); J. E. Kavitha (2.5) drew with
Eesha Karavade (2.5); Aleksandra Mijovic (SCG, 2) lost to Anastasiya
Gutsko (Ukr, 3); Dana Aketayeva (Kaz, 3) bt Meenu Rajendran (2);
Tania Sachdev (2.5) bt Shaesteh Pour Ghader (Ira, 2); Marties Bensdorp
(Ned, 1.5) lost to Kruttika Nadig (2.5); Arlette Van Weersel (Ned,
2.5) bt I. Ramyakrishna (1.5); Koneru Chandra Hawsa (2.5) bt Nimmy
George (1.5); Paloma Gutierrez (Esp, 1.5) drew with C. Delphin (2);
N. Raghavi (2) bt Alexandra Stiri (Gre, 1); P. Sivasankari (1) lost
to Saheli Nath (2); N. Sandhya (.5) lost to Shobana L. Iswarya (2).

Agency WPS
What the Papers Say. Part B (Russia)
November 22, 2004, Monday
21ST CENTURY PROBLEMS
SOURCE: Novoe Vremya, No. 47, November 21, 2004, p. 10
by Nikolai Popov
In evaluating the most pressing problems facing Russia and the world
as a whole, our people come up with various priority rankings for
ourselves and the rest of the world. The majority, however, viewed
one particular problem as the top priority: poverty. Forty-seven
percent of respondents name poverty as Russia’s major problem; 49%
say it is the major problem for the world as a whole. Subsequent
priorities differ. According to 45% of respondents, Russia’s second
most important problem is rising prices, or inflation. For the world
as whole, respondents put environmental protection in second place –
named as the biggest problem by 13%. Finally, Russian respondents
name “conquering AIDS, malaria, and other major diseases” as the
third most important problem for the world as a whole; for Russia,
third place goes to unemployment, named by 37% of respondents.
Further down the ranking of global problems, Russian respondents
named the following: reducing child mortality (7%), creating an
organization for helping poor countries (4%), better healthcare for
mothers (3%), eliminating illiteracy (3%), and gender equality (1%).
The selection of problems to be ranked was compiled by the United
Nations, which has set the goal of resolving them by 2015.
After the top three, respondents named the following problems as the
most important for Russia: drug abuse (33%), rising crime rates
(29%), weakness of state authority (20%), greed and bribe-taking
among the bureaucracy and state officials (15%), housing and
utilities problems like heating, water, and electricity supplies
(12%), delays in payment of wages or pensions (7%), international
problems (3%), and interethnic problems within Russia (3%). The total
adds up to over 100% because respondents were allowed to pick two or
three choices from the list of domestic problems.
As a recent international Gallup poll indicated, most of the world’s
population views eliminating poverty and hunger as the top priority:
44% of respondents named this as the main problem. The highest
percentage of respondents named this as the top priority in the
Middle East (62%); the lowest percentage (29%) in North America,
where people are evidently poorly-informed about poverty and hunger
in other parts of the world. The global poll’s second priority was
creating an organization for helping poor countries (12%), followed
by 10% each for environmental protection, fighting disease, and
ensuring universal basic education. These average figures conceal
some strong disparities between responses from various parts of the
world. For example, environmental protection was named as the top
priority by 21% of respondents in the Asia-Pacific, but only 1% in
Africa, where fighting disease scored 22%.
Actually, whether any particular problem is given priority in any
particular country depends on various considerations, frequently
contradictory. In East-Central Europe, where economies still lag
behind those of the developed world, only 5% of respondents consider
it very important to create an organization for helping poor
countries. The people of East-Central Europe aren’t counting on
getting any such aid themselves, but they are not yet prepared to
participate as donors. In these countries, fighting epidemic diseases
is viewed as more important than the global average response: 14% of
respondents in East-Central Europe name this problem as the most
important. And this problem is viewed as very serious in some
countries: 26% of respondents in Ukraine named it as the world’s top
priority, 21% of respondents in Estonia, and 20% in Lithuania.
In general, respondents in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union
are similar in their evaluation of their own problems, although there
are some substantial differences. In all these countries, the top
three problems named as the most serious are the following: poverty,
inflation, and unemployment. In some countries, respondents give
unemployment second or even first priority among their concerns:
Armenia – 82%, top priority; Kyrgyzstan – 69%, second place;
Lithuania – 62%, top priority; Bulgaria – 63%, second place. Drug
abuse is gradually pulling ahead of corruption as the most serious
problem: 35% of respondents in Kazakhstan name it as their top
concern, 33% in Russia, and 23% in Ukraine. At the same time, only
11% of respondents in Moldova and 5% in Armenia name drug abuse as
the top priority.
Translated by Andrei Ryabochkin
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FIRST HOLOCAUST OF 20-TH CENTURY
PanArmenian News
Nov 22 2004
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Fronda Warsaw publishing house printed a book by
Polish historian, doctor of the Poznansky University Gregosh Kukharchik
titled “The First Holocaust of the 20-th Century” (Pierwszy Holocaust
XX wieku). The book consists of 220 pages and is dedicated to Armenian
Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. To note, Armenian businessmen residing
in Poland Ruben Yesayan contributed to the publication of the book.

US TERMINATED JACKSON-VANIK AMENDMENT ON ARMENIA
PanArmenian News
Nov 22 2004
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The US Senate approved introducing a number of
changes into the bill “On US Customs Duties”, the constituent of
which is the establishment of normal permanent trade relations with
Armenia, thus terminating the Jackson-Vanik amendment in regards to
Armenia. The Jackson-Vanik amendment functioning since 1974 bans normal
trade relations between the US and several states (specifically with
the former USSR republics), which practice restrictions of migration
rights, especially in respect to the religious minorities. January 2002
President George Bush sent a letter to the Congress with a request
to terminate the Jackson-Vanik amendment’s application to Russia and
eight ex-USSR republics, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan,
Moldavia, Tajikistan, Ukraine. To note, the amendment is not applied
to Georgia and Kirghizia since 2000.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Mideast Mirror
November 22, 2004
>>From today’s Turkish press
[parts omitted]
EU: An editorial in the secular, Kemalist Cumhuriyet reveals some
deep concerns about Turkey and the EU: “EU sides are eager to insist
on severe political terms for Turkey at the negotiation phase. What
has come onto the agenda on Cyprus is quite striking. The Armenian
genocide claim is being put before us. Greece follows the strategy
of exploiting any opportunity it gets. Calculations about ethnic
contradictions in Anatolia are being made. Let us say that for
the sake of joining the EU, we accept in advance all the political
terms that are being thrust upon us and yet the bargaining is still
open-ended. What will happen if Turkey faces a ‘No’, years after it
says ‘Yes’ to everything in advance?”
Engin Ardic also has doubts about the EU in the centre-Right Aksa:
“We cannot say ‘Let’s join the EU but on our own terms’. Either you
accept their terms or you do not. There is nothing in between. If you
insist on joining the EU, you must pull your troops out of Cyprus,
recognize the South the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot
authority over the whole of Cyprus and moreover be a mere bystander as
it swallows the North self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
. It will be very good if you can make them add some ‘guarantees’
to the agreements you will make. Still, there is no guarantee that
you will join the EU even after you have made all these concessions…”

30 MORE ARMENIANS TO BE EXPELLED FROM KRASNODAR REGION OF RUSSIA
PanArmenian News
Nov 22 2004
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today 30 more Armenian citizens, who do not have
Russian registration, will be expelled from the Krasnodar region
of Russia according to the decision of the local court. To remind,
on Friday 10 people were returned to Armenia in the same way. The
tickets are paid by the federal budget.