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11/15/2004
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1) Estonian President Visits Armenia
2) Kocharian Pessimistic about Karabagh Peace
3) Armenia Denies Kurdish Rebel Link
4) Georgia Warns Moscow to Stay Away from Abkhazia Conflict

1) Estonian President Visits Armenia

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–President Robert Kocharian and Estonian counterpart
President
Arnold Ruutel decided to bolster commercial contacts during an official
meeting
in Yerevan on Monday.
Following their talks, the two officials said they discussed means to revive
bilateral economic ties that existed before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
They presided over the opening session of an Estonian-Armenian business forum
later in the day.
According to Armenian government figures, the volume of Armenian-Estonian
trade over the past four years is a meager $1.5 million. Ruutel, who had for
years headed Soviet Estonia’s parliament before spearheading its independence
drive in 1988, said his country’s recent accession to the European Union (EU)
and Armenia’s inclusion in the EU’s New Neighborhood program should boost
commercial exchange.
“Estonia is very interested in developing cooperation with Armenia,” the
76-year-old president told a news conference. He also said Estonia is ready to
share with Armenia its highly successful experience in the transition to
democracy and a market economy.
The tiny Baltic state is the most economically developed in the former Soviet
Union and is considered an established democracy in the West.
Estonia is also known for its widespread use of information technology by
government agencies and business community. Over 90 percent of Estonians have
access to the Internet, making their economy one of the most IT-oriented in
Europe.

2) Kocharian Pessimistic about Karabagh Peace

YEREVAN (REF/RL)–President Robert Kocharian voiced skepticism on Monday about
the long-awaited resolution of the Mountainous Karabagh conflict, citing
Azerbaijan’s refusal to negotiate with the Karabagh Armenians and engage in
joint economic projects with Armenia.
“I don’t have much optimism at the moment,” he said at a joint news
conference
with the visiting Estonian counterpart Arnold Ruutel.
Kocharian stressed that internationally sponsored peace talks will lead
nowhere unless they include representatives of the Mountainous Karabagh
Republic (MKR). “I think that this format is not quite correct and does not
reflect the essence of the conflict,” he said.
Azerbaijan, however, refuses to recognize MKR as a separate party to the
conflict, saying that the disputed region and Azerbaijani territories
surrounding it are controlled by Armenia proper. An Azeri Foreign Ministry
spokesman repeated last week that Baku will not negotiate with MKR
representatives. He also rejected Armenian warnings not to raise the Karabagh
issue with the United Nations.
The UN General Assembly is expected to discuss Azeri claims about a massive
resettlement of Armenians in the occupied Azeri lands later this year.
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian warned last week that Azerbaijan risks
reversing “serious progress” made during a series of talks earlier this year
between him and Azeri counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov. The Minsk Group of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, he stressed, must remain
the sole international mediator of the Karabagh peace process. Azerbaijan will
have to deal with MKR if it insists on bringing the UN into the picture, he
added.
Kocharian likewise stressed that the Minsk Group, which is co-chaired by the
United States, Russia and France, represents the optimal mediation framework.
He said the co-chairs have been “objective” to this point and should not be
blamed for the lack of progress.

3) Armenia Denies Kurdish Rebel Link

YEREVAN (Combined Sources)–The Armenian Foreign Ministry immediately
dismissed
allegations that members of a Kurdish rebel group arrested in southern
Netherlands, were planning to be sent to Armenia to fight for the PKK
following
their training session.
On Friday, Dutch police raided a suspected paramilitary training ground for
Kurdish militants, arresting close to 30 people.
“It is not apparent what grounds the Dutch press has to even link these
‘militant trainees’ to Armenia, or what the suspects have themselves said to
Dutch officials,” announced Armenia’s Foreign Ministry Press Secretary Hamlet
Gasparyan.
According to press reports, the detainees are all alleged members of the
former Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a rebel group which now calls itself
KONGRA-GEL. The group seeks to carve out an independent Kurdish state in the
mountains of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
“Certain Political motives have, in the past, prompted the circulation of
similar assertions which have not been substantiated. As in the past, this
‘revelation’ is considered not serious,” stressed Gasparyan.
According to prosecutors’ statements, more than 20 people were being trained
for armed conflict.
There were also indications that “a number of the trainees were destined for
Armenia,” it said.
Other detainees allegedly arranged money transfers, passports, and passed
along information to PKK members in Turkey and Armenia, prosecutors said.
The detainees, whose names were not released, included 33 men and five women.
Prosecution spokesman Wim de Bruin said the group had been under observation
for several months and that “the course was nearly finished.”
“We wanted to prevent the group from leaving the country and putting to use
the knowledge they had gained,” he said.
It has been on Europe’s list of terrorist organizations since April. Dutch
prosecutors said those arrested Friday will likely be charged as members.
The suspects apparently did not use weapons or explosives in their training,
which were described as “more theoretical.”
According to prosecutors, the suspects said they were Kurdish but were
considered Turkish nationals by the Dutch state.
On Monday, The Hague’s district court blocked the extradition of alleged PKK
leader Nuriye Kesbir to Turkey for her suspected role in a series of bombings
in the 1990s. The Turkish justice ministry said it would appeal the decision.

4) Georgia Warns Moscow to Stay Away from Abkhazia Conflict

(Financial Times/Itar Tass)–Georgia has warned Russia not to interfere in a
continuing political stalemate in its breakaway republic of Abkhazia.
The warning came after Georgia’s foreign ministry summoned Russia’s
ambassador
to protest the movement of a small group of Russian military forces towards
the
Abkhaz capital Sukhumi on Saturday.
The troop movement came after supporters of Sergey Bagapsh–the opposition
leader who won a disputed presidential election on October 3–took control of
the parliament and presidential administration buildings in Sukhumi.
The occupation, which began on Friday, is in protest of the government’s
decision to order a reelection that would null the October 3 vote.
Georgia urged Russia not to intervene in the Abkhaz power struggle after
Russia’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying Moscow would “take the
necessary measures to defend its interests” if Bagapsh’s supporters
“illegally”
seized power–a reference to Friday’s seizure of the public buildings.
Meeting with the candidates separately, Abkhazian Prime Minister Nodar
Khashba, told Itar Tass on Monday, that an understanding had been reached, and
that “the events of past Friday” have transcended the boundaries of legality.”
He expressed confidence about bringing the two men together in the coming few
days, or even hours, to “work out the only correct common decision, which will
make it possible to leave behind a political crisis in Abkhazia.”

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress