Council of Europe urges Azerbaijan to honour commitments
Assa-Irada
6 Oct 04
Baku, 5 October: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
today discussed a resolution on Azerbaijan’s commitments to the
Council of Europe. The resolution says that serious reforms have been
conducted in the country following Ilham Aliyev’s election as
Azerbaijani president in 2003, and this was important from the
viewpoint of honouring Azerbaijan’s commitments as a member of the
Council of Europe. As far as foreign policy is concerned, the
resolution points out that Azerbaijan has been conducting a
pro-European independent foreign policy. At the same time, the
resolution stresses the possibility of tension within the government
which could lead to slowing down the pace of the current reforms in
the face of the president’s wish to have them speedily implemented.
In addition, the resolution demands that the government and parliament
resolve a number of issues. These demands include clearing up cases of
human rights violations during and after the presidential elections,
pardoning seven opposition activists arrested after the elections,
resolving the issue of political prisoners in full, eliminating
problems with regard to freedom of the press, publishing the
presidential election results in every polling station and punishing
those guilty of election fraud.
There was a discussion on the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict as
well. Rapporteur Mevlut Cavusoglu [Turkish MP] said that while being a
Council of Europe member, Armenia occupies one-fifth of the territory
of another Council of Europe member country, Azerbaijan. The Council
of Europe should take serious measures to address this issue, he
added.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Finnish foreign minister discusses disputed enclave during visit to Armenia
AP Worldstream
Oct 05, 2004

A disputed enclave whose status has prevented Armenia and neighboring
Azerbaijan from normalizing relations topped discussions between
Finland’s foreign minister and top Armenian officials, Armenia’s
foreign ministry said Tuesday.
In meetings with Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan, Erkki Tuomioja
also discussed Armenia’s efforts to strengthen economic and political
ties with Europe and Armenia’s relations with its giant neighbor and
historic adversary to the south, Turkey, according to the Armenian
ministry.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war in the early 1990s that ended with
a cease-fire in 1994. No final settlement has been reached, however,
as the two countries remain at odds over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave,
which ethnic Armenians seized after heavy fighting.
Tuomioja and his Armenian counterpart, Vardan Oskanyan, also signed
new agreements on defense and investment, the ministry said.
Before coming to Yerevan, Tuomioja was in Baku, the Azerbaijani
capital, meeting with top officials for discussions on
Nagorno-Karabakh and bilateral trade.

PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN RECEIVES AGBU CONGRESS DELEGATES
A1plus
6 Oct 04
President Kocharyan received overseas delegates of 83rd congress of
AGBU, Armenian benevolent organisation, held in recent days in
Yerevan.
He welcomed the congress participants and stressed the importance of
such a kind of events.
The union chair Perch Sedrakyan, in turn, said positive changes are
visible in Armenia though there are many obstacles that are
successfully being overcome.

Armenian-US working group discuss wide-ranging issues
Mediamax news agency
6 Oct 04

YEREVAN
The ninth session of the US-Armenian Task Force on economic
cooperation took place on 4 October in Washington, the press service
of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told our agency today.
The session discussed issues pertaining to the implementation of a
poverty reduction strategy in Armenia, maintaining a higher rate of
economic growth, an improvement in social conditions, reforms in the
banking sector and the development of power, agriculture and water
systems.
The Armenian delegation included Finance and Economy Minister Vardan
Khachatryan; the presidential aide Vagram Nersisyants; the chairman of
the Central Bank, Tigran Sarkisyan; the chairman of the State
Committee for Water Resources, Andranik Andreasyan; and the Armenian
ambassador to the USA, Aram Kirakosyan.

Georgian border closure not to affect Russian-Armenian relations – paper
Hayots Ashkarh, Yerevan
6 Oct 04

Text of Vardan Grigoryan report by Armenian newspaper Hayots Ashkarh
on 6 October “Situation at Verkhniy Lars and around it”
The fact that hundreds of lorries bound for Armenia have been stranded
at the Verkhniy Lars checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border is
being assessed differently.
The situation was created after the incredible terrorist act in Beslan
when the Russian leadership decided to close land borders with Georgia
and Azerbaijan. But this has affected Armenia more than the countries
mentioned. It turns out that due to limited communication
opportunities and the blockade imposed by Turkey and Azerbaijan,
Armenia has found itself in this situation “through no fault of its
own”.
It has nothing in common with the rumours disseminated recently that
allegedly by closing the Verkhniy Lars checkpoint on the
Russian-Georgian border, Russia is trying to punish Armenia along with
Georgia for cooperation with NATO or for the intention to send
Armenian servicemen to Iraq. If Russia had really wanted to punish
Armenia, it could undoubtedly have found more effective levers.
This forcible step taken by Russia in the context of the antiterror
fight has created a very contradictory situation in both
Russian-Georgian and Armenian-Georgian relations.
The speaker of the upper chamber of the Russian State Duma, Sergey
Mironov, who was in Yerevan recently, promised that the situation
would be settled. Moreover, he hinted that the problem of the
Transcaucasus railway link to Sukhumi would be also
settled. Certainly, it is a very pleasant piece of news for Armenia,
but at present the settlement of such a complex problem is coming up
against the political dispute about the return of Georgian refugees to
Gali District, as well as the fact that the Sukhumi-Zugdidi sector of
the railway is badly damaged.
A question arises: Are these measures of Russia fruitful while it is
evident that terrorists penetrate this country through mountains and
gorges? Georgia, which has sea ports and receives large western loans,
does not at all submit to Russia’s requests to capture and extradite
them [terrorists] to Russia. Thus, the problem is not in closing the
Verkhniy Lars checkpoint but in turning the measures against Georgia
into “targeted” ones. We think that in this context economic and
political steps could be taken which will not directly affect
Armenia’s interests. This gives us the hope that they will finally
find mutually acceptable solutions that will take Armenian cargo
transportation out of this misunderstanding.
By the way, the closure of the Verkhniy Lars checkpoint may be used by
some forces to call into question Russian-Armenian strategic
partnership. Certain political forces in Armenia are interested in
this, they are spreading incredible rumours about Moscow-Yerevan
relations and politicizing the problem. But the majority of the public
understand that the situation created at the Verkhniy Lars checkpoint
is not that problem which can cast doubt on Armenian-Russian strategic
partnership. Russia is not the country which Armenia can have problems
with because of this kind of incidents. Thus, we are sure that today’s
search for mutually advantageous options to resolve the situation
created around the Verkhniy Lars checkpoint will yield positive
results and thwart all attempts to discredit Armenian-Russian
relations.

Russia agrees to let cargo through Georgian border to Armenia
Noyan Tapan news agency
6 Oct 04

YEREVAN
Russia has given the go-ahead for the opening of the road through the
Verkhniy Lars border checkpoint [in Georgia] for cargo bound for
Armenia following a telephone conversation between Presidents of
Armenia and Russia Robert Kocharyan and Vladimir Putin on the evening
of 5 October. This checkpoint has been closed for a long time over the
Beslan events.
Our agency has learnt from the press service of the Armenian Ministry
of Transport and Communications that talks are under way with the
Georgian side to arrange unimpeded and quick delivery of goods to
Armenia.

CIS defence and security committee opens session in Armenian capital
Mediamax news agency
6 Oct 04

YEREVAN
A three-day session of the permanent defence and security commission
of the CIS Parliamentary Assembly began in Yerevan today.
The Mediamax parliamentary correspondent reports that those taking
part will discuss a number of proposals for basic model legislative
programmes for combating crime and illegal trading in narcotic and
psychotropic substances and also programmes for cooperation in the
military-technical spheres.
Not taking part in the forum are any representatives from Georgia,
Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The chairman of the permanent
defence and security commission of the CIS Parliamentary Assembly,
Viktor Voytenko, said he was sorry that colleagues from these
countries were absent.

Armenian nuclear plant back after major repairs
Arminfo
5 Oct 04

YEREVAN
The Armenian nuclear power plant was connected to the national power
grid today at 1419 local time [0919 gmt], the director-general of the
plant, Gagik Markosyan, has told Arminfo news agency.
He said that the Armenian nuclear power plant was closed for major
repairs and refuelling on 31 July 2004. The reactor is repaired once
every four years. The director-general said that the uniqueness of
the repairs in 2004 was that the amount of work was unprecedentedly
large.
[Passage omitted: Fuel was sent from Russia]

Austrian defense expert argues against Turkey’s EU membership
Kurier, Vienna
5 Oct 04
The issue of Turkey’s EU membership has now entered the intensive
phase of the debate. Irrespective of any arguments for or against, it
is somehow regarded as a fact that Turkey joining the EU will be of
considerable advantage in security-policy and strategic terms.
Turkey’s geostrategic position and large armed forces, the argument
goes, give the European Union greater influence and security
benefits. This argument is entirely inappropriate. The opposite is
true. A NATO member, Turkey is firmly integrated in the Euro-Atlantic
security system. There is no need to act out of security policy
concerns.
Let us look at Turkey’s geostrategic position. Turkey shares borders
with Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, among others. Relations
with these countries may be called problematic. Turkey has no respect
for minority rights, although it is a country with considerable
minorities. Because of its strategic partnership with Israel and/or
the strategic triangle with the United States and Israel, Turkey is
not only a player in the Middle East, but it is directly and
indirectly involved in Mideast problems. The European Union would have
external borders with Iraq and Iran, thus becoming a frontline state
in the largest crisis region in the world.
As a result, the European Union would not, as it hopes, reach the
status of objective mediator in the Middle East as a result of
Turkey’s membership, but become itself part of the Middle East
problems. Turkey is confronted to a great extent with problems of
transnational terrorism and organized crime and would bring these
problems into the EU. On top of this, Turkey is a kind of “natural”
competitor of Russia when it comes to influencing the Caucasus and, in
particular, Central Asia. Its accession would contribute nothing at
all to the EU in security policy terms, if the European Union wants to
develop its own security policy profile alongside NATO.
[Passage omitted]

People remain in limbo a month after Russia closed border with Georgia – TV
NTV, Moscow
6 Oct 04

[Presenter] Hundreds of people have been caught between two
states. Russia announced the closure of its border for people crossing
from Georgia. Tbilisi promised to solve the problem quickly. But
passengers on scheduled buses and lorry drivers have been living in
their vehicles for over a month.
Here reporting from the so-called neutral territory is Nugzar
Kereselidze.
[Correspondent] In the Dariali Gorge on the Georgian military road 50
lorries and buses have been caught in a stubborn trap. Having passed
through the Lars border crossing in Georgia they did not manage to get
across the so-called neutral zone of a sector of the Russian-Georgian
border under review when Russia closed its frontier. The official
reason for the closure of the border was the Beslan tragedy, and the
necessity to apprehend all the people involved in the terrorist
attack. The closure was made unexpectedly in the course of a few
hours. For this reason hundreds of vehicles piled up on both sides. In
the course of the next few days their number even increased, partly
because the Georgian authorities gave a promise, as is said, to come
to an agreement about opening the border. However, a month later
passengers from Armenia are living in buses. There are many women and
children among them.
[Unidentified woman] People have been here for a month and two
days. They are living or surviving. It’s worse than survival. There
are children, sick people and old people. And the older people are
suffering. In the evening it’s cold. Really cold.
[Correspondent] When the passengers ran out of the food they had
brought with them the drivers came to their aid with food that was
beginning to go off. What had actually gone bad was thrown into the
river Terek. A businessman from Yerevan, (?Artur Bagasyan), had to get
rid of 30 tonnes of peaches.
Several vehicles from Azerbaijan, Belarus and other countries turned
round and went to Russia through South Ossetia using the Roki tunnel
where the border had not been closed. This caused bewilderment in
Tbilisi.
[Korneli Salia, chief of headquarters at the Georgian Department of
State Border Protection, captioned] Russia did not close this sector,
which we don’t understand. It turns out that Russian official bodies
support the separatists prospering in South Ossetia.
[Correspondent] More and more freight has now started passing into
Russia through South Ossetia, despite the fact that a lot of money has
to be paid for escorts and security. But businessmen have no
choice. They agree to pay more rather than lose everything.