Birmingham Post and Mail Ltd , UK
Evening Mail
October 5, 2004
WHAT’S ON: REVIEWS: MASTERFUL MUSICIANS ON SHOW
by DIANE PARKES
BIRMINGHAM’S Symphony Orchestra celebrated the centenary of the birth
of Czech composer Antonin Dvorak with a rousing performance of his
Symphony No 7.
Pushed firmly into the background by Dvorak’s more popular works,
this evening gave this piece a well-deserved airing.
It shows Dvorak’s deep connection with the traditional music of his
homeland but reveals his success in fusing it with the symphonic
expectations of his time. Dvorak’s mastery of musical form was also
celebrated in his Carnival Overture. In less than ten minutes it took
the audience through a whirl of emotions, catching the party
atmosphere of the carnival.
Sandwiched inbetween was Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Here Armenian
soloist Sergei Khacatrian showed incredible mastery of the piece –
the maturity of his performance belying his teenage years. The CBSO,
under the baton of visiting conductor Walter Weller, proved a more
than able counter to the soloist.
And its lively performance of the two Dvorak pieces hopefully
convinced us there is a lot more to this composer than the New World
Symphony.

Xinhua General News Service
October 6, 2004 Wednesday 3:00 AM EST
Armenia squad for World Cup qualifiers against Finland
HELSINKI
Armenia’s French coach Bernard Casoni named Wednesday his 22-man
squad for this month’s World Cup Soccer European Zone Group One
qualifiers away to Finland and at home to the Czech Republic.
Midfielder Hamlet Mkhitaryan and striker Armen Shakhgeldyan were
recalled after a lengthy absence, while Albert Sarkisyan was also
included though the midfielder is suspended for the first match
against the Finns in Tampere on October 9 but can return to face the
Czechs in Yerevan four days later.
But Armenia will miss their first choice goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky
due to injury.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Edela Bete (Pyunik Yerevan), Armen Ambartsumyan ( Slavia
Sofia, Bulgaria)
Defenders: Sarkis Hovsepyan, Alexander Tadevosyan (both Pyunik
Yerevan), Arutyun Vardanyan (Aarau, Switzerland), Karen Dokhoyan (
Krylya Sovietov Samara, Russia), Romik Khachatryan (Olympiakos
Nicosia, Cyprus), Artur Mkrtychyan (Darida, Belarus)
Midfielders: Albert Sarkisyan (Alania Vladikavkaz, Russia), Artur
Petrosyan (FC Zurich, Switzerland), Egishe Melikyan ( Metalurg
Donetsk, Ukraine), Aram Voskanyan (Esil-Bogatyr Petropavlovsk,
Kazakhstan), Rafael Nazaryan (Darida, Belarus), Hamlet Mkhitaryan
(MTZ-RIPO Minsk, Belarus), Karen Aleksanyan ( Pyunik Yerevan), David
Grigoryan (Mika Ashtarak)
Forwards: Arman Karamyan (Rapid Vienna, Austria), Andrei Movsesyan
(FC Moscow, Russia), Ara Akopyan (Stal Alchevsk,Ukraine), Galust
Petrosyan, Edgar Manucharyan (both Pyunik Yerevan), Armen
Shakhgeldyan (Mika Ashtarak).

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
October 6, 2004 Wednesday
Armenia NPP connected to republic’s power grid
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN
The Armenian nuclear power plant is connected to the republic’s power
grid after 65 days of overhaul and full replacement of fuel. The
reactor of the nuclear power plant was put on the minimal control
level overnight to October 4 and the commissioning operations are
conducted on it.
The commissioned third turbine began operating with the capacity of
220 megawatt and generates five million kW per hour daily, director
general of the nuclear power plant Gagik Markosyan said. The fourth
turbine will be connected to the power grid in two weeks, the
director emphasized.
The operation at the nuclear power plant was suspended overnight to
July 31, and the current overhaul was the most large-scale for the
whole period of the plant operation. During the repairs spent nuclear
fuel was completely unloaded, the condition of the metallic hull of
the reactor was examined and fresh fuel was loaded. Specialists of
the all-Russian research institute for operations of nuclear power
plants and the Czech company Skoda made the overhaul. The managing
company Inter RAO UES acquired and brought to the plant 100 nuclear
fuel cases worth of 12 million dollars.
The Armenian nuclear power plant that was commissioned in 1979 was
stopped in 1989 after the devastating earthquake in December 1988.
The plant resumed its operation in 1996 involving Russian
specialists, and its second power unit also resumed its operation.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
October 6, 2004, Wednesday
VISA-FREE TERRITORY FOR THE RUSSIAN ARMY GROUP IN THE CAUCASUS
SOURCE: Krasnaya Zvezda, October 2, 2004, p. 3
by Oleg Gorupai
TBILISI PREVENTS NORMAL LIFE SUPPORT OF THE RUSSIAN MILITARY BASES
LOCATED ON THE TERRITORY OF GEORGIA
The authorities of Georgia do what they can to prevent normal life
support of the Russian military bases located on the territory of
this country.
For example, Foreign Ministry of Georgia is deliberately taking its
time to provide entry visas for servicemen assigned to the 12th
(Batumi) and 62nd (Akhalkalaki) military bases of the Russian Army
Group in the Caucasus. As of this June, over 400 servicemen
(conscripts, officers, and warrant officers) cannot reach their
destination in Armenia (the 102nd Military base). Some of the
conscripts have to be demobilized now.
The situation of whoever already been to Georgia and serves in the
Tbilisi, Batumi, or Akhalkalaki garrisons is somewhat better. Because
of unprecedented and unexplained delays with visas, many of them
cannot take a vacation in Russia and actually run the risk of being
jailed to violation of the visa regime.
Lieutenant General Alexander Studenikin (commander of the Russian
Army Group in the Caucasus), his Chief-of-Staff Andrei Popov, Colonel
Ramazan Krimcheyev (of the department of organization and
mobilization who tackles visa problems), and Russian diplomats
regularly appeal to the Defense Ministry of Georgia, Foreign
Ministry, and presidential administration… with nothing to show for
it. Only a few servicemen were given the necessary documents
permitting them to cross the Russian-Georgian border – even though
finances are not a problem because the Army Group has a special
foundation to tackle these matters. Even though official Tbilisi
claimed for the entire world to hear that Russian military bases had
not been involved in the Adjarian events.
It is common knowledge that the term of presence of the Russian
military bases in Georgia is a subject of negotiations between
Georgia and Russia. According to the international norms and
standards, unless the matter is settled Georgia is not supposed to
create any barriers or make life harder for the bases or servicemen
assigned to them. Unfortunately, official Tbilisi is quite selective
when it comes down to international standards. In other words, it
does not always apply them to its relation with Russia.
Translated by A. Ignatkin

The Times (London)
October 7, 2004, Thursday
How Iraq used its oil to buy favours from UN
by James Bone in New York
SADDAM HUSSEIN used the UN Oil-for-Food programme to subvert UN
sanctions by buying influence with UN officials and Security Council
members, the US Government alleged last night.
A report by the chief US weapons inspector in Iraq named Benon Sevan,
the head of the UN programme, and key officials in Security Council
member states as having benefited from Iraqi oil sales.
George Galloway, the British MP, also figured on the list shown to
reporters in London. But his name was apparently edited out of the
copy released on the CIA website.
The report was based on 13 secret lists of oil allocations kept by
Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan and Amir Rashid, the Oil
Minister.
The lists included alleged allocations to the Russian presidential
office, the Russian Foreign Ministry, the son of Russia’s
then-ambassador to Baghdad as well as members of the Dumas and
several political parties, including the Communists, Russia’s Unity
Party and the country’s Liberal Democratic Party.
France’s former Interior Minister, Charles Pasqua, and a “Jan
Mirami”, believed to be former UN Ambassador, Jean-Bernard Merimee,
were also named, as was the Iraqi-French Friendship Society.
The former Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri , the son of
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, the Yugoslav Radical Party, the
Spanish Public Party, the People’s Liberation Front of Palestine and
the anti-Iranian Mujahideen Khalq also figured on the list.
“Saddam personally approved and removed all names of voucher
recipients”, the report said. “He made all modifications to the list,
adding or deleting names at will.”
The Oil-for-Food programme has come under intense scrutiny since the
Baghdad newspaper Al-Mada published a list in January of companies
and individuals – including Mr Sevan -who allegedly received vouchers
conferring the right to lift specific amounts of Iraqi crude.
The programme allowed Iraq, which was placed under a comprehensive UN
trade embargo after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, to sell limited
amounts of oil and to use the proceeds to buy humanitarian supplies
abroad.
But Saddam was allegedly able to exploit a loophole in the system to
pay off allies and sympathisers around the world.
Because he decided who could buy Iraqi crude, Saddam could award the
right to purchase specific amounts of oil to his friends. Those
companies and individuals could then sell on those rights to oil
traders for a profit. The oil traders would then arrange to pick up,
or “lift”, the oil from Iraq and sell it on the world market.
According to a preliminary copy seen by The Times, the US Government
report describes the Oil-for-Food scheme as a burgeoning source of
real disposable income for Saddam, with ample scope for corruption.
It says lucrative allocations were made to UN officials and to Iraq’s
supporters around the world, including key figures in Security
Council members Russia, France and Syria.
The pay-offs meant that some Security Council members were actually
violating UN sanctions passed by the council itself, the report
claims.
Russia and Syria in particular were vocal defenders of Iraq on the UN
sanctions committee at a time when they had a financial stake in
closing loopholes in the system.
A senior US official said Saddam had used his control over the
distribution of Iraqi oil as an “important tool” to seek “leverage”
on the world stage in a bid to win the lifting of sanctions. “Iraq
used that process of allocating the rights to lift oil to suit its
national interests,” he said.
The official added that companies and individuals named on the US
list were an indication of whom Iraq was “seeking to influence, whom
they thought they were influencing”. But he cautioned that those
named should not necessarily be seen as having been “bribed.”
“This is a list of people who Iraq chose to give oil allocation to.
The circumstances of propriety or impropriety of that, well, you’ve
got to look at the recipient,” the official said.
The scandal is now being investigated by at least five US
congressional committees as well as the Iraqi interim Government and
a UN inquiry headed by Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the US
Federal Reserve. Criminal investigations into alleged sanctions
busting are also under way in the United States.
Mr Sevan, a Cypriot of Armenian descent who ran the programme from
1997 until it was closed down, reiterated his innocence yesterday in
the face of renewed allegations that he had profited from the scheme.

Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
October 7, 2004
Russian Government; Telecoms/Internet
Armenian govt puts off changing ArmenTel’s license to Oct 28
YEREVAN, Oct 7 (Prime-Tass) – The Armenian government postponed the
introduction of amendments to the license of Armenian national
telecommunications company ArmenTel aimed at partially depriving the
company of its monopoly position to October 28 from October 12, the
governmental press service reported Thursday.
On February 19, the government decided to introduce changes to
ArmenTel’s license due to the company’s violation of a number of its
terms.
The amendments to the license were expected to come into force from
June 30 but were postponed several times due to legal proceedings
related to the issue at the London Court of International
Arbitration.
The London Court of International Arbitration is currently hearing
two suits, the Armenian government vs the Greek company Hellenic
Telecommunications Organization S.A. (OTE) and ArmenTel vs the
Armenian government.
In 1997 OTE paid U.S. USD 142.470 million to gain control of the 90%
stake in ArmenTel that was formerly held both by the Armenian
government (41% stake) and Trans-World Telecom (49%).
ArmenTel was granted the right to a monopoly for 15 years, according
to the agreement.
On September 8, 2003, the government decided to deprive ArmenTel of
its monopoly license, but the decision has not yet been enforced due
to the ongoing lawsuits against the company. End

The New York Times
October 7, 2004 Thursday
Late Edition – Final
A Step Closer To Europe, Proud Turks Hold Off Glee
By SUSAN SACHS
ANKARA, Turkey
Turks reacted with relief on Wednesday to the European Commission’s
qualified endorsement of their country’s bid to start talks for
membership to the European Union, but civic and business leaders
acknowledged they face a more formidable battle to win the hearts and
minds of the European public.
In the boardrooms of Turkish companies, in the offices of human
rights groups and on the streets of the capital, many people said
they would reserve their celebrations for mid-December, when European
Union leaders will make their decision whether to put Turkey on the
road to eventual entry.
”It’s not a ‘yes,”’ said Can Paker, chairman of the Turkish
Economic and Social Studies Foundation. ”It’s a ‘yes, we’ll see what
you’ll do.’ There’s nothing unfair in this. Every situation is
politically different.”
The European Commission, the executive body of the 25-member bloc,
said Turkey had generally fulfilled the objective criteria for
advancing to the next stage of the membership process.
But its report also spoke of ”specific challenges” to Turkey’s
eventual entry and suggested it be held to a stricter standard than
other recent candidate countries and given no guarantee that
negotiations would result in full membership.
The preconditions, which were generally anticipated here, were a
reminder of the political divisions in many European countries over
whether to accept a largely Muslim labor-exporting nation into the
European Union’s fold.
As many Turks readily point out, the country’s focus has been on
Europe since 1923, when it emerged as a new nation from the ruins of
the Ottoman Empire.
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, its revered founder, saw Europe as the model
and aspiration for Turkey, a way of thinking that has been instilled
ever since in every Turkish schoolchild.
Over the past few months, as a debate has raged in Europe over
whether Turkey is fit for European Union membership, many Turks have
grown increasingly resentful that their credentials have come under
question.
”Frankly, I am so bored with all this back and forth about whether
they’re going to accept us or not, whether we are Asian or whether
we’re European,” said Atila Yildiz, 38, a government worker who was
taking a newspaper break on Wednesday in downtown Ankara.
”They talk as if we come from a completely different world,” he
said. ”But we’re the descendents of ancient civilizations on this
soil. We’re as civilized as they are.”
Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan, who has pushed through
substantial legal reforms to bring Turkey’s laws in line with
European Union standards, has occasionally displayed a similar
impatience with European misgivings about Turkey.
In a recent interview he noted that Turkey has been a full member of
NATO for 52 years.
”My country has given martyrs to NATO,” Mr. Erdogan said. ”Nobody
there has talked about a special kind of membership or special
conditions for us.”
Despite such public statements of indignation, many Turks who have
been deeply involved in Turkey’s European Union campaign said they
were not surprised that the commission hedged its recommendations.
Kemal Kirisci, director of the Center for European Studies at
Bosphorus University in Istanbul, said he considered the special
conditions set for Turkey’s accession talks an attempt to create
”breathing space” for Turkey’s advocates to argue its case to the
European public.
”We have to open up skeptical European minds to reality and try to
dismantle their fears,” he said. ”But if Turkey lives up to what is
expected of it, I don’t see how the skeptics can object without
dynamiting very foundations of the European Union as an institution
founded on the rule of law.”
The public debate over Turkey is likely to turn more bitter in
advance of the decisive Dec. 17, European Union summit meeting in
Amsterdam, where Turkey’s advancement to the next stage of the
accession process will be settled.
Armenians living in Europe have already begun lobbying for a
rejection of Turkey unless it admits that the Ottoman government
practiced genocide against Armenians in the early 20th century, a
charge long denied by modern Turkish governments.

Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
October 8, 2004
RusAl to invest $70 million to upgrade its Armenal plant
MOSCOW, Oct 8 (Prime-Tass) — Russia’s largest aluminum producer
Russian Aluminum (RusAl) plans to invest U.S. USD 70 million
upgrading its 100%-owned foil making subsidiary in Armenia, Armenal,
starting later this month, RusAl said in a press release Friday.
According to the press release, RusAl will invest USD 25 million of
its own funds and another USD 45 million will come as a long-term
export loan from a group of German banks, led by Bayerische
Landesbank.
RusAl plans to modernize equipment and raise the capacity of the
plant, concentrating on production of thin foil.
Germany’s Achenbach, having made a feasibility study for Armenal’s
upgrading program, is to act as a contractor. The project is to take
18 months to complete, and is to produce the first pilot batch of
thin foil by the end of 2005.
After realizing the project, Armenal’s output of thin foil, six-nine
micrometers in thickness, is expected to increase to 18,000 tonnes
per year. The plant has never produced thin foil for industrial
purposes, the press release read.
By 2008, Armenal’s share of the world market for thin foil production
is expected at about 2.5%, the press release read.
In 2003, Armenal’s output amounted to 10,476 tonnes of foil.
RusAl is the third largest primary aluminum producer in the world,
established in March 2000 from the merger of a number of the largest
smelters and other aluminum producers located in the CIS. RusAl
accounts for 75% of Russia’s primary aluminum output and 10% of the
global primary aluminum output.
The company’s shareholders are Oleg Deripaska and the Governor of the
Chukotka Autonomous District Roman Abramovich, who hold 75% and 25%
respectively. End

The Mirror, UK
October 8, 2004, Friday
BUYURUN!;
EXCLUSIVE LAWRIE’S ARMY HEAD TO TERROR WAR ZONE
by LAURIE HANNA
DIFFERENT WORLD: Azerbaijan national emblem over oil rigs at the
shore of the Kaspian Sea in Baku; TRIP: Manager Sanchez
NORTHERN Ireland football fans have been told to ignore scare stories
about Azerbaijan and support their team in the terror hotspot.
The East European country is at war with neighbours Armenia and
political terrorism is rife in certain regions.
And the British Home Office advises against travelling to the
Nagorno-Karabakh area, which the Armenian military control and where
gun battles ring out regularly.
But Graeme Johnstone, 43, a member of the Baku Rangers Supporters
Club in the Azerbaijani capital, said he has been looking forward to
the visit by Lawrie Sanchez’s men.
He added: “I know Azerbaijan has its problems but it is a great place
and well worth visiting.”
And he revealed the head of the Celtic Supporters Club in Baku, Billy
Quinn, would probably be more interested in the Republic’s test
against France tomorrow as he is the cousin of goalscoring legend
Niall Quinn. Vice-consul Derek Lavery, the UK’s official
representative in Azerbaijan, is a Scotsman but he insisted fans
would be welcomed by locals.
However, he warned against leaving Baku, where the vital World Cup
qualifier will be played tomorrow evening. He said: “The Armenian
military protect the area while the two governments are trying to
negotiate some sort of settlement.
“There is occasional firing, even though there is a ceasefire, but
fans coming out should be OK.”
Gary Hancock, secretary of the Amalgamation of Northern Ireland
Supporters Club, who has stayed at home, said: “I think there about
100 of our boys who went out, but they’re not worried.
“Last year, they went to Armenia in the middle of all the conflict in
Iraq, which was only 300 miles away.
20
FACTS ABOUT AZERBAIJAN
1. The country lies between Russia and Iran and is in Europe and
Asia.
2. The national language is Azeri and the currency is manat. One
thousand manat is the equivalent of 11p.
3. Northern Ireland are ranked 110th in FIFA’s world rankings, just
four places above Azerbaijan.
4. More people live in the capital Baku than in Northern Ireland. The
country’s population is 7.5 million.
5. It is a Muslim country and visitors are advised to avoid wearing
shorts in case they offend locals.
6. The country declared its independence from the Soviet Union in
August 1991.
7. Oil is Azerbaijan’s number one export and the world’s first oil
well was drilled in Baku in the 1800s.
8. About four per cent of the population have internet access. In
Northern Ireland, 33 per cent have access.
9. The country has nine airports.
10. It has the largest number of mud volcanoes in the world.
11. A person from Azerbaijan is known as an Azeri.
12. There are estimated to be more than 45million Azeris in the
world.
13. Garry Kasparov, once the world’s number one chess player, was
born in Baku.
14. The Nobel brothers, who the peace prize is named after, made
their fortune drilling oil in Baku.
15. A central part of Hitler’s vision was to create an empire
connecting Berlin and Bombay, via Baku.
16. There are two television stations.
17. December 31 is a national holiday.
18. Pancakes and spiced meats are popular in Azerbaijan.
19. Popular sports include basketball and karate.
20. The national anthem reads: “Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan, you are the
country of heroes. We will die so that you might be alive.”

RIA Novosti
October 09, 2004
HEADS OF CIS TAX SERVICES MEET IN YEREVAN
YEREVAN, October 9 (RIA Novosti) – The 7th session of the
coordination council of the CIS tax services’ heads opens in the
Armenian capital on Saturday.
Changes in the coordination council’s staff and reports on the
execution of previous council’s decisions on the development and
efficiency of CIS economic cooperation in 2003-2010 are on the
session’s agenda, said the press service of the Armenian State Tax
Service.
Moreover, the participants will discuss the analysis of small
business taxation systems used in the Commonwealth of Independent
States, analyze the activities of the CIS tax systems in 2003,
consider the mechanism of registration of the identification numbers
of taxpayers, draft the convention on mutual administrative
assistance in tax issues, and discuss the use of the agreement to
avoid double taxation and the plan of the coordination council’s work
for 2005.
The coordination council of the CIS tax services’ heads was
established on May 31, 2001. At the moment it is led by chairman of
the State Tax Service under the Armenian government Felix Tsolakyan,
elected for one year in October 2003.
The previous session of the coordination council took place in Minsk,
Belarussian capital, on May 29, 2004.