Armenian speaker hails outgoing US envoy’s role in cooperation

Arminfo
13 Jul 04

YEREVAN

The speaker of the Armenian parliament, Artur Bagdasaryan, today met
the US ambassador to Armenia, John Ordway, in connection with the
expiry of his diplomatic mission in Armenia.

Bagdasaryan praised Ordway’s contribution to deepening Armenian-US
cooperation, the press service of the National Assembly told our
agency.

In turn, the ambassador highly praised the process of democratization
in Armenia. Ordway said that his successor would continue the policy
of deepening Armenian-American cooperation.

Armenian leader, CIS secretary discuss upcoming summit

Mediamax news agency
13 Jul 04

YEREVAN

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today received CIS Executive
Secretary Vladimir Rushaylo who has arrived in Yerevan on a working
visit.

Vladimir Rushaylo discussed with Robert Kocharyan issues on the agenda
of the session of the council of CIS leaders which will be held in
Astana in September, the press service of the Armenian president told
Mediamax news agency.

The Armenian president and CIS executive secretary also exchanged
views on reforms in the executive committee and in other structures of
the Commonwealth.

Armenian paper displeased Russian-owned plants still not operating

Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
13 Jul 04 p 2

Text of Hayk Gevorkyan’s report by Armenian newspaper Haykakan
Zhamanak on 13 July headlined “We are not demanding, we are simply
asking”

“By taking over these enterprises, Russia hopes that the industrial
capacities and the scientific and technical potential of these
enterprises will operate in full. They will operate within the
framework of programmes that exist in Russia: electronic industry, the
development of the production of armament systems, etc,” the former
prime minister of Russia, Mikhail Kasyanov, made this statement in
Yerevan in November 2002, when he was signing the so-called “property
for debt” agreement together with Armenian Prime Minister Andranik
Markaryan. According to this agreement, five Armenian enterprises
became the Russian government’s property, for which the latter
“forgave” 98m dollars of Armenia’s debt to Russia. Kasyanov’s hopes
did not come true. Nothing has changed in the life of the biggest
enterprises which were handed over to Russia: the Razdan power plant
and Mars. The Razdan power plant is operating as before, Mars is
almost non-operating (it operates even less than before).

In the remaining scientific-research institutes, the volume of orders
from customers has grown slightly, but nobody dares to say that this
growth is due to the fact that the institutes were handed over to
Russia. That is, the orders would have probably grown even if they had
not been handed over to Russia. In a word, the economic results, which
were spoken about so much while handing over the enterprises to
Russia, have not been achieved. They said that as a result of the
property for debt agreement, Russian investments will flow into
Armenia, new technologies will be brought, new jobs will be created,
etc.

Within the framework of Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan’s
visit to Russia, the further fate of the Armenian enterprises that
have become Russian property will be discussed. “We shall try to
clarify the schedule and the approaches of the Russian party. This
concerns mainly Mars,” Andranik Markaryan told journalists at
Zvartnots airport before his departure to Moscow. His careful answers
are not accidental. From a legal point of view, the Russians did not
undertake to put other enterprises into operation or provide them with
equipment. On the contrary, they were given numerous privileges. For
instance, the Razdan power plant received a tax privilege of more than
6m dollars that it could not even dream of when it was Armenia’s
property.

In a word, we have nothing to demand from the Russians. “We are not
demanding, we are simply asking,” Trade and Economic Development
Minister Karen Chshmarityan said. There are also problems concerning
the fifth block of the Razdan power plant. The point is that within
the framework of the property for debt agreement, the fifth block was
put to a so-called “option”, i.e., the Armenian party promised not to
sell it to a third party until the end of the current year and gave
the Russians a privileged right to buy it. Our delegation will try to
clarify in Moscow if the Russians will buy the fifth block or we can
sell it to somebody else.

On the whole, we have the impression that we, as well as the Russians,
are searching for excuses to explain why nothing has changed in the
enterprises that were handed over to Russia within the framework of
the property for debt agreement. Elections were being held in Russia,
a government was being formed, etc. [Russian MP] Nikolay Ryzhkov
expressed his displeasure in Yerevan that the enterprises belong to
Russia, but the Armenian laws are operating there, as if in Russia the
French laws are operating in enterprises that belong to France. It is
evident that it is only a justification so as to deny in some way that
the property for debt agreement was only a political decision which
helps Russia ensure its presence in the region, and the Armenian
authorities support this by all means. And in this case, we can only
ask and never demand.

Armenian Court of Appeal upholds verdict of lower instance court

Arminfo
12 Jul 04

YEREVAN

The Armenian Court of Appeal on criminal and military cases refused to
satisfy a complaint by Artak Gabrielyan, who is being accused of calls
for forced change of the constitutional order. The court also decided
to add to Gabrielyan’s punishment term the 56 days that he spent in
the National Security Ministry’s investigation isolation cell.

Let us say that the first instance court in the Nor-Nork community
found Artak Gabrielyan guilty under Article 301 of the criminal code
of the Armenian Republic. He was given a one year suspended sentence
for making calls to forced change of the constitutional order in
Armenia. The Court of Appeal found arguments of the prosecutor
convincing and the fault of the accused was proven.

“This is purely a political process. In my case, the authorities
staged a demonstrative process in order to frighten the Armenian
people and to prevent them from manifesting their massive
dissatisfaction with the anti-people line of the country’s
leadership. I have not committed a crime and I am planning to obtain a
verdict of not guilty,” Artak Gabrielyan told our correspondent.

He is planning to appeal to the Armenian Court of Appeals, he said.

RIA Novosti, Russia
July 13 2004

RUSSIA-ARMENIA: ECONOMIC TIES TO RISE TO POLITICAL CONTACTS’ LEVEL,
SAYS FRADKOV

MOSCOW, July 13 (RIA Novosti) – Bilateral problems related to Russian
capital investment in Armenia will soon be settled, reassured Mikhail
Fradkov, Russia’s Prime Minister. He was addressing the media to sum
up Moscow negotiations with Andranik Margaryan, his Armenian
counterpart.

A recent arrangement envisages Armenia paying its foreign debt in
kind, with government companies privatized in Russia’s favor. Russia
is to respond with capital investment in the Armenian economy-but is
marking time. A reporter asked Mr. Fradkov why. “The matter needs
in-depth studies, promotion and coordination between involved
companies-but it will be settled quite soon. We [Russians] are
interested in buying up more projects. The issue is certainly not
exhausted by far,” he replied.

As for today’s agenda, it involved a wide range of commercial,
investment and other aspects of bilateral economic contacts.

“The intergovernmental commission will gather for its nearest session
within the year to discuss economic, humanitarian and
military-technological partnership, and Armenia’s prospects to pay
its debt by ceding property to Russia, its creditor.

“We have reserves which we have not used up, and are in duty bound to
raise bilateral economic contacts to the level of what we have in
politics.”

Russia is interested in updating military technologies it has
exported to Armenia. “Our military-technological partnership is
gaining momentum. Russian higher educational establishments are
training the Armenian military, and either Party is eager, and able
to make the links ever closer as Russia updates its previous
military-oriented exports to Armenia, and supplies spare parts.

“Gas-industrial contacts are also making dynamic progress. A related
cooperation agreement will be ready within a few days.”

Both countries’ interests lie not merely in fuel and power supplies
but spreading them to third countries’ markets, Mr. Fradkov went on.

Russia is enthusiastic about the Russian language use increasing in
Armenia. Its tuition spectacularly improves. Russia is eagerly
helping-in particular, with study book donations. A total of 55,000
copies came in within the preceding two years alone. Armenia
presently has 65 secondary schools with extended Russian language
curricula, plus fifty Russian language classes: Armenians need a
working command of Russian as bilateral relations are ever improving,
said Mikhail Fradkov.

Andranik Margaryan, too, highlighted his country’s great public
respect for the Russian language. “Armenian-Russian economic ties
help to improve language tuition, which life itself has made a must,”
he stressed.

An intergovernmental agreement on educational partnership was signed
today, following the prime-ministerial negotiations.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Karabakh’s security important to OSCE – Armenian MP

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
12 Jul 04

The Armenian deputy speaker has said that the OSCE is in favour of
ensuring Nagornyy Karabakh’s security. According to Vaan Ovanesyan,
the special representative of the OSCE for the Karabakh problem, Goran
Lennmarker, does not see Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan and his report
on the conflict settlement does not mention Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity. Nor does the report contain any mechanisms for settling the
conflict, he said. The following is the text of report by Armenian
Public TV on 12 July:

[Presenter] The special representative of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly on Nagornyy Karabakh, Goran Lennmarker, attaches great
importance to the security of Karabakh. The deputy speaker of the
Armenian National Assembly, Vaan Ovanesyan, today denied reports that
the special representative of the OSCE for the Karabakh problem had
spoken about the return of the occupied [Azerbaijani] territories. On
the contrary, Vaan Ovanesyan said, the Azerbaijanis were seriously
dissatisfied with the document which did not point to Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity, did not mention the Artsakh [Karabakh] problem
and attached great importance to the security of Nagornyy Karabakh.

[Correspondent over video of meeting] Mr Lennmarker, the special
representative of the OSCE for Nagornyy Karabakh, asked not to
publicize the contents of his report, as it is still a draft. Vaan
Ovanesyan said that this document does not put forward any settlement
mechanisms. As some Armenian media representatives said, commenting on
the return of the occupied territories, Vaan Ovanesyan added that the
document says all the occupied territories must be liberated and
cleared from the land mines for future resettlement. But it does not
say who the occupied territories belong to.

[Vaan Ovanesyan] There are many documents which speak about the
territories occupied by Azerbaijan. There is nothing about the
occupied territories of Azerbaijan there.

Second, the document does not speak about the administrative return of
the territory, it applies only to the conflict settlement.

Third, the document does not say who has occupied the territories. We
tried to clarify this in the presence of Azerbaijani MPs and asked Mr
Lennmarker whether the expression “occupied territories” implies
villages occupied by Azerbaijan, for example, Shaumyan [Goranboy
District], Mardakert [Agdara] and part of Martuni [Xocavand] occupied
by Azerbaijan. Mr Lennmarker said yes.

[Correspondent] In his report, Mr Lennmarker suggested setting up a
reconciliation commission which would include representatives of the
Armenian and Azerbaijani sides. As for the refugees, it was noted
without repeatedly mentioning the territories that they must be
granted the right to return home if they wish and get back their
lands.

[Vaan Ovanesyan] The document does not mention the territories we are
always concerned about – Shusha [Susa], Lachin [Lacin] and other
territories which are of strategic importance.

[Correspondent] The main section of the document, which is the most
important to us, is that the security of Nagornyy Karabakh must be
ensured.

[Vaan Ovanesyan] Lennmarker did not mention the settlement [of the
Karabakh conflict], which is important to us. He does not see Karabakh
as part of Azerbaijan. In general, he did not mention the issue of its
status. Irrespective of the final settlement, the security of Karabakh
must be ensured. This is the main point of the document signed by all
the factions of the previous National Assembly, which is the main
guarantee for the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.

The Azerbaijanis were dissatisfied that the document did not mention
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.

Tatevik Nalbandyan for “Aylur”.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RIA Novosti, Russia
July 13 2004

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRMEN DISCUSS KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

YEREVAN, July 13 (RIA Novosti) – Armenian President Robert Kocharyan
and OSCE Minsk group co-chairmen Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Steven
Mann (U.S.) and Henry Jackolin (France) discussed prospects of
peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

RIA Novosti was told in the press service of the Armenian president
that the Russian, U.S. and French ambassadors in Armenia took part in
the meeting.

The Minsk group co-chairmen met with Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanyan.

“During the meeting, the co-chairmen submitted a generalized variant
of their own observations in regard to meetings held at the level of
presidents and foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well
as prospects to settle the Karabakh conflict,” RIA Novosti was told
in the Armenian Foreign Ministry information and press department.

In this connection, Mr. Oskanyan again specified Armenia’s position
on the issue of the Karabakh conflict settlement.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RIA Novosti, Russia
July 13 2004

FRADKOV: RUSSIA, ARMENIA CAN INCREASE MUTUAL TRADE

MOSCOW, July 13 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Prime Minister Mikhail
Fradkov believes that Russia and Armenia have the opportunities of
increasing mutual trade turnover drastically.

“We have been successfully co-operating in the economic sphere, trade
turnover has grown 30% as compared to last year, but we should take
additional measures to use the remaining opportunities – the trade
worth $200 million is not the limit,” Fradkov said in his opening
remarks at the Tuesday talks with Armenian Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan.

The Russian premier noted that Margaryan was making his first visit
to Russia and, hopefully, it will become a landmark in
Russian-Armenian relations.

According to Fradkov, this is a busy year in terms of meetings
between the Russian and Armenian leaderships. “The dialogue is
constantly filled with new contents, and I think that today’s meeting
will be made the most of,” noted the Russian premier.

Fradkov believes that today’s talks should result in specific
economic steps, agreements and efforts to solve the remaining
problems in the economic sphere. Mikhail Fradkov also remarked that
the dialogue would be maintained in such spheres as energy, gas
deliveries, high technologies, and military and technological
co-operation.

Armenian paper says country bowed to Russians over Iran gas pipeline project

Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
8 Jul 04

An Armenian paper has said that Armenian has bowed to Russian pressure
and refused to take part in the “game” of Iranian gas exports to
Europe. An agreement on the construction of an Iran-Armenia gas
pipeline had been signed as Iran was interested in exporting its gas
to the West and Georgia via Armenia. However 1,200mm diameter pipes
were needed for this and at the last minute Armenia “succumbed to
Russia’s pressure” and changed the planned diameter to 700mm. This
meant that it would not be possible to export Iranian gas from Armenia
by this pipeline and Armenia would therefore not benefit from the
transit. Russia, the paper said, did not want any new rivals in the
gas market. However Iran would now want to seek new partners, and
Azerbaijan and Georgia were both possibilities. The following is the
text of Arman Karapetyan’s report by Armenian newspaper Haykakan
Zhamanak on 8 July headlined “Rapprochement at the expense of Armenia”

During hearings in the National Assembly, Armenia’s Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanyan said that after the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline
is put into operation, Azerbaijan’s income will be incomparable with
Armenia’s. And even the Dashnaks admit that the Baku-Ceyhan oil
pipeline was a lost chance for Armenia. But you are wrong if you
think that such regrets can make certain changes to Armenia’s foreign
policy, because the countries of the region give us new reasons to
worry.

A delegation led by Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili is in Iran
at the moment. A member of the delegation, Fuel and Energy Minister
Nikolay Gilauri, told journalists yesterday that one of the issues
discussed in Tehran was the possibility of exporting Iranian gas to
Georgia. He added that they have already made an arrangement and
Iranian gas will go to Georgia via the territory of Azerbaijan. There
is a gas pipeline which connects Georgia with Azerbaijan, as for the
connection between Iranian and Azerbaijani gas systems, it requires
serious expenses, and gas supplies from Iran to Georgia may start in
2005.

Undoubtedly, the reader has guessed what Armenia’s interest is in this
context? It is certainly the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline, the contract
on the construction of which was signed on 13 May in Yerevan. Iran was
interested in the construction of this gas pipeline because it was
hoping to export its gas to the West, Georgia, etc. via Armenia. It
would be possible to fulfil this programme if the Iran-Armenia gas
pipeline was constructed using 1,200mm diameter pipes. But Armenia
succumbed to Russia’s pressure and changed the diameter to 700mm at
the last minute. This means that it will not be possible to export
Iranian gas from Armenia by this pipeline. That is, Armenia will not
benefit from the transit of Iranian gas. It was clear from the very
beginning that Russia would be an obstacle to the construction of the
promising Iran-Armenia gas pipeline. If we do not take into account a
little exception, today Russia has a monopoly on the European gas
market and the appearance of new rivals on this market is not
advantageous to it.

On the contrary, Iran is in dire need of this market because although
it has great gas reserves this country, in fact, cannot make
productive use of them. Iran regarded the construction of the 1,200mm
diameter gas pipeline to Armenia as the first step towards the
European market, in the sense that the gas pipeline will extend to the
West later. While making arrangements on the construction of the gas
pipeline, our political elite, which loves to talk about a
Russia-Armenia-Iran “geopolitical axis”, was caught in the crossfire
between Iran and Russia for the first time and succumbed to Russia’s
pressure in these disagreements. That is, it has de-facto established
a bloc with Russia in order not to let Iran into the European market.

Today it does not matter any more how many millions of dollars Armenia
has lost because of this. But it is important that, by its behaviour,
Armenia lost the opportunity to Azerbaijan, which has the privilege of
the Baku-Ceyhan and other oil pipelines, and has allowed it to have
common interests with our partner Iran. It is natural that as a result
of Armenia’s behaviour, Iran will not refuse the strategic goal of
exporting gas to the European market and will start looking for
another transit territory after Armenia’s failure. Apart from Armenia,
Azerbaijan is the only country that can serve as such a territory,
especially as Georgia, in turn, might make Russia understand that it
will support Iran in the matter of directing its gas to
Europe. Certainly, all these are projects, but sometimes projects have
much more value than their implementation. To understand this simple
reality, let us enumerate once again what happened: succumbing to
Russia’s pressures, Armenia refused to take part in the game of
Iranian gas exports to Europe. Iran could not but refuse that game,
but needed a partner. Since Armenia’s departure, the role of partner
was vacant and Azerbaijan and Georgia occupied it.

In general, Azerbaijan and Georgia do not really need the programme of
Iranian gas exports to Europe. But they are taking part in this game
to bring Russia to its knees. Undoubtedly, Russia will try to persuade
Azerbaijan and Georgia to give up the idea of letting Iranian gas into
post-Soviet territory. At any moment, Azerbaijan will be ready to
discuss this suggestion and demand that Russia, say, help return the
territories controlled by the Armenian troops. It is clear that Russia
cannot return these territories to Azerbaijan, but it can reduce arms
supplies to the Armenian armed forces.

In turn, for giving up the idea of importing Iranian gas, Georgia will
demand that Russia make compromises on the Abkhaz and South Ossetian
problems. It does not matter how this geopolitical “argument” ends. It
is important that Armenia cannot pursue its own interests any more,
and it gives Armenia’s rivals a wide opportunity and new blank
cheques, some of which will be used against us. It seems there is no
point in explaining that all this is the consequence of the simple
fact that an illegitimate president cannot pursue the interest of a
country. It is evident that our president cannot talk to Putin as one
equal to another and cannot tell him that the Iran-Armenia gas
pipeline should be constructed using not 700, but 1,200mm diameter
pipes because this meets Armenia’s interests. Maybe it is possible to
see Robert Kocharyan as a friend of Vladimir Putin, but it is
obviously impossible to see him as Armenia’s president.

Armenia and Cyprus to boost cooperation in health sphere

Arminfo
13 Jul 04

YEREVAN

Armenian ambassador to Greece, and concurrently to Cyprus, Vagram
Kazhoyan visited Cyprus on 5 July.

The press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told Arminfo news
agency that during the visit the Armenian diplomat and Cyprus’s health
minister, Akel Akkelidhou, signed an agreement in Nicosia on
cooperation between the Armenian government and Cyprus in the health
and medical spheres. Within the framework of the agreement Cyprus will
present to the Armenian Health and Defence Ministries drugs and also
an apparatus called Fresenius for regulating and ensuring blood
circulation during heart surgery which will be given to a hospital in
Armenia in the nearest future.

An agreement on charitable acts was signed during the Armenian
ambassador’s previous visits. Within the framework of the visit
Kazhoyan met Minister of Education and Culture Pevkios
Yeoryiadhis. The sides discussed the signing a programme On
cooperation between Armenia and Cyprus for 2004-2007 in the spheres of
education, science, culture and youth and sport and also prospects of
developing cooperation in the sphere of education.