Armenia keen to join North-South transport corridor, PM says in Moscow

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
14 Jul 04

[Presenter] The North-South international transport corridor project
can be a guarantee of stability in the region. Armenian Prime Minister
Andranik Markaryan and Federation Council Speaker Sergey Mironov have
discussed the possibility of constructing this transport
corridor. Iran and Georgia have signed an agreement on implementing
this project. Andranik Markaryan noted that the transport corridor has
great importance for Armenia too.

[Correspondent Tereza Kasyan from Moscow by phone] Speaking about
Armenian-Russian economic relations, Andranik Markaryan and Sergey
Mironov stressed cooperation between the Armenian regions and Russian
Federation. The participation of representatives of Armenian and
Russian business circles and local authorities in seminars and
economic forums will promote cooperation, the Armenian prime minister
noted.

The sides also spoke about the North-South international transport
corridor project. Andranik Markaryan said that Iran and Georgia had
agreed to implement this project. The specialists will adopt a final
decision by the end of this year. The Armenian prime minister and
Russian Federation Council speaker discussed the possibilities of
cooperation in education and science. The establishment of an
Armenian-Russian university in Moscow has been approved. Sergey
Mironov said that it will provide the opportunity to have a good
education not only to Armenian, but also to Russian young
people. Andranik Markaryan added that the Russian-Armenian university
in Armenia will promote the opening of the new education centre.

Sergey Mironov will pay a working visit to Armenia in October.

OSCE Karabakh mediators arrive in Azeri capital

Lider TV, Baku
15 Jul 04

[Presenter] After meetings in Yerevan and Xankandi [Stepanakert], the
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen arrived in Baku this morning. Although
the Russian co-chairman, Yuriy Merzlyakov, described the talks as
fruitful, he said no new proposal had been made during the
discussions. Merzlyakov also commented on the participation of
Nagornyy Karabakh’s Armenian community as a third party in the talks.

[Passage omitted: Merzlyakov about the aim of the visit]

[Correspondent] How realistic is the participation of the Armenian
community of Nagornyy Karabakh in the talks as a third party?

[Merzlyakov] I cannot say. The issue of changing the format of the
talks should be resolved preliminarily by the current parties to the
conflict.

[Presenter] The head of the foreign relations department at the
Azerbaijani presidential administration, Novruz Mammadov, said that
statements about the signing of the cease-fire agreement [in Bishkek
in 1994] by the occupation regime [in Nagornyy Karabakh] were wide of
the mark. Mammadov said that official Baku did not intend to give its
consent to the participation of representatives from the
self-proclaimed republic in the talks as a [third] party.

[Mammadov, speaking to microphone] Russian and other co-chairmen in
the OSCE Minsk Group should act in line with the mandate that the OSCE
granted to the group. This mandate does not envisage the participation
of the Nagornyy Karabakh community in the resolution process. Their
participation in the talks is envisaged only together with the
Azerbaijani community, as parties interested in the solution. We do
not recognize the signing by [the Armenian community of] Nagornyy
Karabakh of the document, later presented by Armenians in the form you
refer to.

Karabakh set to print own money – Azeri paper

Ekho, Baku
10 Jul 04

The Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho has announced alleged plans by
Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagornyy Karabakh to print its own
money. It says that the US-based Educational Coin Company is offering
NKR banknotes to international collectors. Ekho quotes an Azerbaijani
pundit as saying that by printing its own money the NKR is seeking
material evidence to flesh out “the myth of the NKR”. The manat
remains the only legal tender on Azerbaijani territory, including
Nagornyy Karabakh, says the governor of the National Bank of
Azerbaijan. Subsequent to this, a report from the Armenian news
agency Arminfo said that the head of the NKR government press service,
David Mikaelyan, had described Ekho’s report as “extremely
frivolous”. He said that the NKR was in a common economic zone with
Armenia and has a common currency with it – the dram. The following is
the text of N. Aliyev and N. Quliyeva’s report by Azerbaijani
newspaper Ekho on 10 July headlined “Separatists are minting their own
money”. Subheadings have been inserted editorially; all quotation
marks and ellipses as published:

Karabakh plans separate currency

Separatists in [Azerbaijan’s breakaway region] Karabakh are preparing
to circulate their own currency with the same name as the Armenian
dram. Thus,the NRK [Nagornyy Karabakh Republic] may be the first
unrecognized entity on CIS territory to get its own money. Nothing of
this kind has been seen in the Dniester region, Abkhazia or South
Ossetia. The money is available in printed form. The Ekho editorial
board has pictures of two denominations, two drams and 10 drams,
available and has sent them to the National Bank of Azerbaijan
[NBA]. The paper money was printed for the NKR this year. There is no
reliable information about the company which assumed the
responsibility to issue cash for separatists. Nonetheless, Ekho has
found out that the Educational Coin Company based in New York is
currently promoting the new “currency” among collectors of paper
money. In all likelihood, this particular firm is directly connected
with the printing of “Karabakh money”. At the same time, Armenia
itself has its money printed in Europe. Probably, Xankandi
[Stepanakert] decided not to “fail” official Yerevan and refused to
use the services of Armenia’s European partner.

In a profile of its activity, the US-based Educational Coin Company
says it has 40 years of experience in supplying inexpensive world
coins and banknotes to be used as articles for resale, awards and as
“educational decorative components”. In any event, this or any other
company had no legal right to take on an order from separatists. Ekho
has learned that there are no uniform regulations for printing paper
money or minting coins.

Decision said “political manoeuvre”

Every state is entitled to set up such a mechanism on their own based
on their legislation. In Azerbaijan, for instance, the mechanism is
determinedby the law “On the National Bank”. It reads: “ýPaper
currency of the Azerbaijani Republic is an obligation of the National
Bank and is guaranteed with all of its assets. The National Bank has
the exclusive right to issue banknotes and coins that are legal tender
on the territory of the Azerbaijani Republic, to organize their
circulation and withdrawal from circulation.” There is another nuance
of importance. The printing of money is a pretty costly pleasure
forany state. For example, it was announced earlier that Azerbaijan is
planning tospend 75bn manats (15m dollars) in 2004 on the renovation
of old notes. The printing of new ones might cost the state several
times more. To what extent is the separatist regime capable of bearing
such expenses? It is known that the “budget” of the “NKR” totals only
about several million dollars. By all accounts, the attempt to
circulate its “own currency” looks more like a political
manoeuvre. The unambiguous design of the notes supports the
idea. Thus, forinstance, the separatist money bears the “official
name” of the unrecognized entity: the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic. The
emblem contains the word Artsakh [the Armenian name for Karabakh]. The
name of the “owner and customer” of the currency is also identified at
the bottom of the note: the Ministry of Economy and Finance. This
particular structure placed the order, as the NKR has no central bank.
Instead, it has Artsakhbank, a bank registered in Yerevan. It has for
a long time described itself as the NKR central bank. When most of its
partners broke off under pressure from Azerbaijan, Artsakhbank was
forced to declare itself an Armenian bank with branches in Karabakh.

The NKR leadership chose religious themes for the design of its
money. The two dram note depicts the Gandzasar Monastery and the St
Hovanes Mkrtich [John the Baptist] Cathedral. The other side shows
John the Baptist baptizing Jesus Christ. The 10 dram note features the
Dadivank Monastery. The other side shows patterns of a Karabakh
carpet, bunches of grapes and the Xudafarin bridge over the River
Araz.

Azeri National Bank probes report

The latter circumstance is especially curious. The bridge is located
in Azerbaijan’s Cabrayil District which is occupied by Armenia. It is
outside the geographical limits of the former Nagornyy Karabakh
Autonomous Region. Thismeans that the separatists have no plans to
return Cabrayil. It should be pointed out here that Armenia’s national
emblem features Mount Ararat which is located in Turkey. Armenian
drams have circulated in Karabakh until now. By issuing their own
“currency”, the separatists probably decided to additionally reduce
its exchange rate to the dollar. Currently, one dollar sells for about
540 drams in Yerevan. So the real value of two and 10 dram notes is
not high in Armenia. NKR separatists hope that their “own currency”
will get stronger as it comes into circulation.

“The introduction of an internal currency in the separatist NKR is the
funniest Armenian joke I’ve ever heard,” a well-known political
analyst, Eldar Namazov, commented on the situation for Ekho. He sees a
possible explanation for the separatists’ actions in a “pathological
ambition of Armenians to attach material evidence to the myth of NKR”.

As regards official reaction from the Azerbaijani regulator of money
printing, the National Bank of Azerbaijan, it was predictably
sharp. Ekho has learned that the National Bank of Azerbaijan had been
advised on the separatists’ plans to print their own money, but the
bank did not believe it was a serious project. Nonetheless they
launched a probe. “We have been receiving some data that need
verification. I’ve seen sketches that you provided and ordered that
the inscriptions on the notes be translated from Armenian,” Elman
Rustamov, the head of the National Bank of Azerbaijan, has told
Ekho. In his view, this might be just another separatist
provocation. Rustamov is not sure such currency might come into
circulation. “The Karabakh economy now totally depends on Armenia; the
separatists would not benefit from circulating their own moneyunder
such conditions,” Rustamov said.

Azeris unhappy with currency plans

In any event, it is against the law to print “Karabakh” money because
under the constitution, it [Karabakh] is Azerbaijani land where the
manat is the only legal tender. “It’s an outrage on justice,” Rustamov
said in conclusion. The design of most national banknotes of
Azerbaijan was drawn up in early in 1990s, at the beginning of
Azerbaijan’s independence. Later on, they underwent changes and larger
denominations were issued. Under current law, the par value, size,
weight, composition and other features of notes and coins which are
legal tender in Azerbaijan, shall also be subject to the regulatory
documents of the National Bank. It is the NBA board again that shall
decide on circulating new notes and coins or withdrawing old ones from
circulation and approve the patterns of new paper currency. According
to the law, a resolution to this effect is to be published in the mass
media, relevant decisions shall specify the time frame to replace
notes and coins and the credit organizations in charge of the
process. It is known that old notes are replaced with new ones every
four years, the last such replacement took place in 2000. The NBA has
long been placing its orders to print the manat with the UK company De
La Rue Int.

Experts have explained to Ekho that, prior to taking an order to print
paper currency, any company is obliged to make sure that the customer
has the legal right to make such an order. “For example, no autonomy
within the limits ofa state has the right to issue its own currency
without the permission of its central authorities. This is a grave
abuse of international law and no serious company would ever assume
this kind of responsibility,” a banking expert has told Ekho.

International organizations and the world community regard Nagornyy
Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, he recalled. Therefore, any monetary
and financial transactions should be done here on the basis of
Azerbaijani legislation, he said. “Given the conflict situation on
this territory, all serious international companies and firms refrain
from any cooperation with Karabakh. No company that respects itself
will allow itself to have ties with separatists,” the expert said.

Karabakh solution depends on conflicting parties – OSCE mediators

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
14 Jul 04

The OSCE’s mediators on Nagornyy Karabakh have said that resolution of
the conflict depends on the sides’ political will. Addressing a press
conference in Yerevan on 14 July, US mediator Steven Mann said that
no-one could propose a magic solution: “The solution to the problem
will require compromises from the conflicting parties and they will
have to define those themselves.” Russian mediator Yuriy Merzlyakov
said that the OSCE team had travelled to Karabakh from Armenia, rather
than from Azerbaijan, because the last time they had travelled from
the Azeri side an Azerbaijani soldier had been wounded by a landmine.
The following is the text of a report by Armenian Public TV on 14
July:

[Presenter] The OSCE Minsk Group has described as unreasonable
statements that the negotiations on the settlement of the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict have reached deadlock. The US co-chairman of the
OSCE Minsk Group, Steven Mann, said that the settlement of the
conflict mainly depends on the conflicting sides’ political
will. No-one, not even the international mediators, can propose any
magic solution to the conflict. The solution of the conflict will
demand compromises from the conflicting sides and they themselves will
have to define the level of the complexity of these compromises,
Steven Mann said.

[Correspondent over video of news conference] Such a difficult problem
as the Karabakh conflict cannot be solved in two or three
meetings. The negotiations need time, the French co-chairman of the
OSCE Minsk Group, Henry Jacolin, said, asked when they will put
forward new proposals.

[Henry Jacolin captioned, in English with Armenian voice-over] Now
there is a new situation. The new president has been elected in
Azerbaijan. The two presidents [Robert Kocharyan and Ilham Aliyev]
must get to know each other. This requires time.

[US co-chair Steven Mann, captioned, in English with Armenian
voice-over] This is a process and we cannot stop after each step and
assess it. The question that is asked repeatedly is does the Minsk
Group have a new proposal? I can say that the solution of the conflict
depends on the sides. I do not think that the Minsk Group itself must
suggest a new proposal.

[Russian co-chair Yuriy Merzlyakov, captioned, in Russian with
Armenian voice-over] The co-chairmen consider that it is impossible to
miss the opportunity and the problem must be solved now. The new
presidents have been elected, the new agenda of the negotiations is
being discussed and we think that we must act right now.

[Correspondent ] Armenia and Azerbaijan should decide themselves the
issue of the involvement of the Nagornyy Karabakh side in the
negotiations. The conflicting sides themselves bear responsibility for
the resolution of the conflict, the US co-chairman of the Minsk Group,
Steven Mann noted.

[Steven Mann] The resolution of the conflict depends on the existence
of the conflicting parties’ political will. No-one, including
international mediators, can propose any magic solution to the
conflict. A solution to the problem will require compromises from the
conflicting parties and they will have to define those themselves. We
do not know what compromises they should be.

[Correspondent] Asked why they preferred to travel to Nagornyy
Karabakh via Armenia, Mr Merzlyakov said that the co-chairmen do not
want to be responsible for possible unpleasant incidents.

[Yuriy Merzlyakov] They also asked in Azerbaijan why we did not go to
Karabakh via Azerbaijan. The answer is clear, as a rule, we choose the
route that is possible. Unfortunately, last time that we crossed via
Azerbaijan, the security measures which were arranged ended with an
unfortunate result. When we crossed via the Azerbaijani side, an
Azerbaijani soldier lost his leg in the security zone and the
mediators do not want to bear responsibility for similar incidents.

[Correspondent] Mr Merzlyakov denied information disseminated in
Azerbaijani newspapers that he had said in Baku that the Armenian
forces’ withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territories must be one of the
main subjects of the negotiations.

[Yuriy Merzlyakov] I did not and could not make such a
statement. Somebody has got something confused.

[Correspondent] The Minsk Group has not been able to suggest a
solution to the conflict so far.

[Henry Jacolin] The two countries [Azerbaijan and Armenia] did not use
the assistance which the OSCE is suggesting for the solution of the
problem.

[Correspondent] Jacolin hoped that it will be possible to achieve
something soon.

Tatevik Nalbandyan, “Aylur”.

ESTONIA TO TAKE PART IN INTERNATIONAL EXERCISES IN LITHUANIA

Molodezh Estonii web site, Tallinn
15 Jul 04

Estonia will take part in the international military exercises in
Lithuania due this summer and autumn.

On Wednesday (14 July), the Lithuanian government endorsed the holding
in Lithuania of exercises Resceur Medceur 2004 in conjunction with
foreign countries from 17 July to 4 August, the government’s press
service has reported. Taking part in them will be the military of the
USA, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Croatia, Latvia, Estonia, Romania,
Bulgaria, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, as
well as civilians with vehicles, weapons and ammunition who are on a
par with the military: in total, about 410 people. The exercises will
be held in the spirit of (the NATO programme) Partnership for
Peace. In the course of the exercises, joint military action skills
will be boosted, the provision of medical aid practised and so on.

The international naval exercises Open Spirit 2004 will be held in
Lithuania from 3 to 14 September. Taking part in them will be naval
vessels of Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Great Britain, Ireland, Latvia,
Poland, Norway, the Netherlands, France, Russia, Sweden, Germany, as
well as representatives of the Finnish military forces. Twenty-seven
vessels and about 1,080 military men are expected to take part in the
exercises.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
July 14 2004

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS TO VISIT BAKU
[July 14, 2004, 13:49:37]

According to the information received by AzerTAj, co-chairmen of the
OSCE Minsk Group for Nagorny Karabakh settlement, Yury Merzlyakov
(Russia), Steven Mann (USA) and Henri Jacolin (France), will pay a
2-day visit to Azerbaijan.

As the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry reported, the aim of the visit by
the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group is to conduct consultations
with the Baku officials concerning the settlement of the Nagorny
Karabakh conflict. They plan to meet with a number of the Azerbaijan
leaders.

The co-chairmen will arrive in Baku from Armenia where they stay now
in the context of their Trans-Caucasian tour.

As Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said, “I would not
say that the co-chairmen would arrive with some new proposals. Since
they did not visit the region in the course of the last six months,
the sides will only exchange opinions.’

Before the visit of the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group to the
region, special representative of the European Union for the South
Caucasus Heikki Talvitie said at the news conference in the
Azerbaijan capital that there were “new moments” with regard to the
settlement of the conflict, which the co-chairmen will discuss with
the sides to the conflict. This visit will be very important,” he
added. “I am glad that both Yerevan and Baku support the activity of
the Minsk Group co-chairmen who have done a great work,” he said.

The EU spokesman did not specify these “new moments.” However, the
official position of Baku, Yerevan and Stepanakert has not changed
today, at the tenth anniversary of the armistice. Baku is ready to
give Nagorny Karabakh the broadest autonomy, but it is flatly against
the independence of the territory.

PolitInfo.com, Germany
July 14 2004

Congressman Arrested Protesting Sudan Regime’s Actions in Darfur

Jul 14, 2004 Washington
Representative Charles Rangel (Democrat of New York) was arrested
Tuesday as he blocked the entrance to the Sudanese Embassy to protest
the Khartoum government’s support for militia groups that have killed
between 15,000 and 30,000 people in Sudan’s Darfur region while
making a mockery of international efforts to stop what the lawmaker
termed “genocide.”

Standing with crossed arms in front of the embassy’s door on
Washington’s Massachusetts Avenue at high noon, Rangel and a band of
about 50 protesters sang the defiant civil rights anthem “We Shall
Overcome,” evoking similar protests against racism in America during
the 1960s and against apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s.

The protesters, joined by Armenian-Americans who claim their people
suffered a similar genocide under the Turks last century, also
unfurled a large banner that proclaimed: “Slavery & Genocide = Sudan”
while they chanted: “Stop the Genocide. Free Darfur Now” and “Every
Life Is Precious. Stop the Genocide in Sudan.”

Rangel told the crowd: “I am protesting today to urge the United
States government and the United Nations to take immediate action to
stop the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.”

Showing impatience at recent efforts by the United Nations and a
“troika” of nations including the United States, the United Kingdom
and Russia to rein in the Khartoum regime’s support for the Jingaweit
militias, Rangel said, “While I applaud Secretary [of State Colin]
Powell for his efforts, I am worried that our government is not
constructively engaging a government who has, by almost all accounts,
been the primary sponsor of genocide in Sudan.”

According to the influential lawmaker: “The situation in Sudan has
clearly reached the level of a genocide. U.S. Agency for
International Development Administrator Andrew Natsios has declared
that at least 300,000 people will be dead by year’s end in the
best-case scenario, and over a million will perish if things continue
on their present course. We must take immediate actions to condemn
the government of Sudan for their complicity and save the lives of
these innocent people.”

Rangel warned: “We acted too late to save million of Jews during
World War II. We didn’t act at all when hundreds of thousands of
innocents were slaughtered in Rwanda. We have the opportunity now to
stop a genocide and we must act.”
After being asked several times by uniformed members of the Secret
Service to step aside, Rangel declined to do so and was handcuffed
and carried away in a police van.

It was almost 20 years ago to the day that the congressman was
arrested down the street at the South African Embassy while
protesting against the apartheid regime.
The Reverend Walter Fauntroy, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, vowed to continue
the protests, with more arrests of prominent African-Americans in the
offing. “We will prick the conscience of the American people and
their elected officials to declare it what it is and then go in to
stop the genocide,” he declared.

Fellow protester, radio talk show host and social activist Joe
Madison said he would begin a hunger strike that would not end until
the Sudanese government stops its obstruction of humanitarian aid to
the stricken Darfur region.

The crisis in Sudan has become a hot foreign policy issue in a humid
and steamy Washington. While Rangel was being arrested on Embassy
Row, across town on Capitol Hill Senator Sam Brownback (Republican of
Kansas) told a news conference that Congress would introduce
resolutions that day declaring the Khartoum government’s actions in
Darfur to be genocide.

Meanwhile, at a White House ceremony in which he signed the latest
African Growth and Opportunity Act earlier in the day as Congressman
Rangel looked on, President Bush said: “I’m deeply concerned about
the humanitarian and human rights crisis in Darfur, Sudan. For the
sake of peace and basic humanity, I echo the sentiments of the
secretary of state. I call upon the government of Sudan to stop the
Jingaweit violence.”

The president added: “I call on all parties of the conflict to
respect the cease-fire, to respect human rights, and to allow for the
free movement of humanitarian workers and aid. The United States and
the United Nations and the leadership of the African Union are
working to bring relief to the suffering people of that region.
America will continue to strongly support these efforts for peace.”

Daily Telegraph, Australia
The Advertiser, Australia
Brisbane Courier Mail, Australia
Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia
NEWS.com.au, Australia
July 14 2004

Give Aussie athletes a fair go: ASC

THE Australian Sports Commission today called for a fair go for the
country’s Olympians as another cyclist became the third athlete
dumped from the team for Athens.

Former world champion sprint cyclist Sean Eadie was cut from the team
over doping allegations, just five days after fellow cyclist Jobie
Dajka and weightlifter Caroline Pileggi suffered similar fates.

But the ASC asked the public to keep an open mind about the innocence
and dedication of the vast majority of the 480 or so Australian
athletes expected to go to Athens for the Olympics from August 13-29.

“I just ask that they (the public) take a deep breath and think of
all the athletes that have given their all to represent their country
in Athens,” said Mark Peters, executive director of the federal
government-funded sports body.

“Any suggestion that there is a drugs crisis in Australian sport or
that there has been an attempt to cover up are just plain wrong.”

Prime Minister John Howard weighed into the debate today saying he
hoped the Australian Olympic Committee could live up to its
commitment for a drug-free team in Athens.

“I hope that that goal can be realised,” Mr Howard told ABC radio.

At this stage the drug allegations are restricted to cycling and
weightlifting.

Cycling Australia withdrew Eadie’s nomination after the AOC wrote to
them saying the cyclist was not an acceptable team member.

Eadie, 35, who has never returned a positive drugs test, was issued
with an anti-doping infraction notice after Customs said they had
intercepted a package of banned human growth hormones mailed to his
address from San Diego, California in January 1999.

Eadie denies all knowledge of the matter.

He has 48 hours to appeal against his dropping from the team, and he
is already appealing separately against the infraction notice issued
to him over the mailed package of growth hormone tablets.

“It’s a complicated legal process, and that’s the lawyers’ job,” he
said.

“My job is to train and that’s going very, very well.”

Dajka’s place in the Olympic team is on hold pending awaiting a
report from South Australian police into an investigation into him,
Eadie and three other cyclists over claims made by now banned cyclist
Mark French.

Investigator Robert Anderson, QC, said he was not satisfied with some
of Dajka’s testimony, including the fact he had lied about his
involvement with greyhound racing.

Meanwhile Pileggi, dumped for refusing a doping test in Fiji last
month, is appealing her case at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
in Melbourne tomorrow.

And Australia’s sole male weightlifter for Athens, Sergo Chakhoyan,
who served a two-year ban after a positive test at the 2001 Brisbane
Goodwill Games, has had his nomination for Athens deferred pending
the outcome of recent drug test conducted in Armenia.

Pioneer Press Online, IL
July 14 2004

Mixed group focuses on library
BY CHUCK FIELDMAN
STAFF WRITER

With a long-range plan for the Elmwood Park Public Library due to the
state in October, director Shawn Strecker figured it was a good time
to get some input from the community.

Instead of writing such a plan herself or having one of the
librarians compose something, Strecker opted to form sort of a focus
group and invite approximately 30 Elmwood Park residents to a May 22
meeting. The result of that forum was a collection of opinions and
information that will be used to write a new long-range plan and a
mission statement for the library.

“I haven’t been here that long, only a couple of years, so I thought
it would be beneficial to invite members of the community for some
input,” Strecker said.

She made it a point to have a good cross section of residents at the
May 22 meeting, including educators, village officials, seniors,
teens and representatives from a variety of community groups.

“We had people who use the library and some who really don’t,”
Strecker said. “There wasn’t a lot of difference (from those two
groups) in what they had to say.”

The first part of the meeting focused on Elmwood Park as a village
and not the library specifically. From there, discussions were
conducted about how the library fits in with opportunities, strengths
and weaknesses in the village.

“Elmwood Park has become a combination of different ethnic groups,”
Strecker said, “and there are a lot of new residents who have just
come from another country. We talked about these people fitting in
and what the library can do to help.”

The biggest surprise to Strecker, she said, was a consistent opinion
about the importance about preserving the heritage of the residents,
regardless of where they came from.

Elmwood Park traditionally has had a very large Italian population.
That still is the case, but many newer residents come from other
places. There has been an especially large increase in both the
Polish and Armenian populations over the past few years, Strecker
said.

“It was very important to everyone that four generations from now
that there still is something to mark the heritage of where people
(in Elmwood Park) came from,” she said.

Strecker said there also was considerable input about how many
Elmwood Park residents feel that the train tracks that run through
the village create a dividing line.

“It seemed that a lot of people feel like it’s almost two different
communities, one south of the tracks and one north,” she said. “And
some of the people who live south of the tracks feel separated from a
lot of things in the community, like the library, which are north of
the tracks.”

Strecker said there was a particular concern from parents of young
children who live south of the tracks because about safety because
train tracks have to be crossed in order to get to the library.

A mission statement is being worked on by Strecker and the Library
Board, as is a new long-range plan, written to cover the next three
to five years.

“The (focus group meeting) definitely was beneficial,” Strecker said.
“It will help us to create a better long-range plan and mission
statement.”

ARMENIA THIS WEEK
Monday, July 12, 2004

NEW SOUTH OSSETIA CLASHES CAUSE CONCERN IN ARMENIA
Georgians and Ossetians were shooting at each again last week, following
twelve years of relative peace in the breakaway province of South Ossetia.
The province lies in direct proximity to the Russia to Georgia gas pipeline
and highway, both of key economic significance to Armenia. Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian noted that any tension in Georgia is of concern to Armenia
and expressed hope for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili claimed this Monday that a new
conflict “has been averted” this week due to diplomatic efforts involving
Russia and the United States. But media reports suggest both sides are being
reinforced with personnel and equipment. The fighting came amid
Saakashvili’s effort to regain control over parts of the country that had
effectively broken away in the early 1990s and comes on the heel of
Saakashvili’s success in re-imposing Tbilisi’s authority in Ajaria. But
unlike Ajarians, who are ethnically Georgian and whose long-time leader
Aslan Abashidze never sought secession from Georgia, Ossetians are a
separate ethnic group, who speak a language related to Persian, and are
seeking to become part of Russia.

South Ossetia was an autonomous province within Soviet Georgia and as of
1989 had a largely ethnic Ossetian population of 90,000 people. A larger
North Ossetia autonomous republic just to the north was and is to this day
part of the Russian Federation. As the Soviet Union disintegrated, the new
post-Soviet Georgian government of nationalist President Zviad Gamsakhurdia
stripped South Ossetia of autonomy in an effort to reassert control.
Following bitter fighting in and around the provincial capital of
Tskhinvali, Ossetians ousted the Georgian forces and by 1992 the two sides
negotiated a cease-fire agreement brokered and policed by Russia and
endorsed by the OSCE.

Despite the war, there has been considerably less ethnic tension between
Georgians and Ossetians than in other Caucasus conflicts. Although Tbilisi
has lost control of the province, economic ties remained and there are still
Georgians living in South Ossetia and Ossetians in the rest of Georgia.
Saakashvili has made an effort to woo in the Ossetians by launching
Ossetian-language TV broadcasts and distributing “humanitarian aid” to the
province. While stating that Georgians and Ossetians are “brothers,”
Saakashvili assailed South Ossetia’s elected leader Eduard Kokoiti and
unnamed “imperialistic” forces in Russia for driving a wedge between the two
nations. Saakashvili has said that he is committed to a peaceful settlement
of the conflict.

But in a simultaneous show of force, Georgia sent additional security forces
to the area, which the Russian peacekeepers said was in violation of the
1992 cease-fire. Also, some 1,000 volunteers from Russia, particularly from
North Ossetia, and Georgia’s other breakaway province, Abkhazia, reportedly
arrived in Tskhinvali following Kokoiti’s call to join in defense of South
Ossetia. In a weekend speech, Saakashvili, in apparent reference to these
volunteers, said, “their blood… will flow. We will kill them off without
mercy.” Saakashvili, who has committed to regain control over South Ossetia
“within a year,” is currently in London to drum up Western support.
(Sources: Armenia This Week 6-7; Arminfo 6-8, 7-8; RFE/RL 7-8, 9, 12;
7-10, 12; 7-12)

NATO PLEDGES “SPECIAL FOCUS” ON CAUCASUS
Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) pledged renewed
attention to the “strategically important regions of the Caucasus and
Central Asia.” The commitment came in a joint communiqué issued at the
conclusion of the alliance summit held in Istanbul, Turkey. Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian led the Armenian delegation to the event.

NATO will now assign a special representative and two liaison officers to
the regions. The Caucasus countries cooperate with the alliance through
NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) program. So far only Georgia has publicly
opted to join NATO, but both Armenia and Azerbaijan desire closer links with
the alliance. Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili said that he expects
NATO to officially designate his country as a candidate in 2006 with formal
accession in 2008. But in its statement, NATO identified only three
countries, Albania, Croatia and Macedonia as possible future candidates.

While in Istanbul Oskanian held talks with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah
Gul and, briefly, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan. Oskanian said
the talks “confirmed his impression… that the Turkish government really
has a sincere desire to achieve progress in relations with Armenia.”
However, following several years of meetings, no such progress has been
achieved yet. (Sources: NATO 6-28; RFE/RL Armenia Report 6-30; RFE/RL
Caucasus Report 7-2)

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