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12/09/2004
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1) Dutch Ambassador, ANC Meet on Turkey EU Talks
2) Sargsian Outlines Conditions for Karabagh Conflict Resolution
3) Azerbaijan Cuts off Rail Traffic Fearing Goods Going to Armenia
4) EBRD Purchases 25 Percent Stock in Armenian Bank
5) Cyprus Warns Veto of Turkey’s EU Talks
6) Javakhk Conference Pushes for Integration over Amalgamation
7) Armenian Theater Group Lands Iran Officials in Court
8) BRIEFS

1) Dutch Ambassador, ANC Meet on Turkey EU Talks

LEBANON (Aztagdaily.com)–A delegation from Lebanon’s Armenian National
Committee (ANC) met with the Dutch ambassador to Lebanon G.J. van Epen on
Wednesday to protest the December 17 summit that will decide whether to launch
European Union entry talks with Ankara. The Dutch currently hold the six-month
EU presidency.
The delegation expressed concern about Turkey’s entry into the Union, and
presented a letter to the ambassador, intended for the foreign ministry of his
country. In the letter, the ANC outlined issues that clearly reveal Turkey’s
inability to adhere to European norms and standards.
The meeting took place at the Royal Netherlands Embassy of Lebanon.

2) Sargsian Outlines Conditions for Karabagh Conflict Resolution

YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–Armenian’s Defense Minister Serge Sargsian, who also
serves as the country’s National Security Council Secretary, said that
recently
emerging fears that a Karabagh resolution would not favor the Armenia side are
“completely unfounded.”
In an interview with the Aravot newspaper, he noted that a resolution to the
conflict must guarantee not only the security of the population of Mountainous
Karabagh Republic (MKR), but also ensure that MKR would not subordinate to
Azerbaijan, and would no longer be qualified as an enclave.
“There is a struggle, and the struggle continues. No one has declared that
the
conflict is over,” Sargsian said in stressing that the international community
is actively pursuing a resolution.
Commenting on recent speculation that Armenia wants to convey its
war-readiness, via photos of its president taken in the trenches of Karabagh,
the defense minister said, “neither the republic’s president nor I, to put it
plainly, are new to trenches, and we do not visit these positions just once a
year.” He explained that President Kocharian wanted to personally witness the
great progress that has taken place in Karabagh in 2004.

3) Azerbaijan Cuts off Rail Traffic Fearing Goods Going to Armenia

(AFP)–Azerbaijan shut down its cargo rail traffic to other Caucasus republics
Thursday because it feared that some of the goods were being delivered to
Armenia, officials said.
Azerbaijan’s rail ministry said the traffic was cut off to neighboring
Georgia, whose rail line leads to Armenia, because “we have received
information that part of the cargo sent to Azerbaijan from Russia is meant for
Armenia,” Moscow’s regional ally.
The Azeri rail ministry told AFP that 1,500 rail cars holding oil and grain
were intercepted at the Azeri-Georgian border. The rail ministry official said
that Moscow and Baku had signed a 1998 agreement that goods from Russia headed
for Armenia could not be transferred by Azerbaijan.
“That is why we have every right to do this,” rail ministry spokesman Nazyr
Azmamedov said.

4) EBRD Purchases 25 Percent Stock in Armenian Bank

Yerevan (Armenpress)–One of Armenia’s leading commercial banks, Armeconombank
and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) sealed an
agreement in Yerevan on December 8 whereby the European bank purchased 25
percent of the Armenian bank’s stock.
Speaking after the signing ceremony, a senior EBRD executive said they will
pay Armeconombank $1 million and grant it $500,000 in “technical assistance.”
An EBRD finance director, Maria-Luisa Cicogniani, told a news conference that
the agreement was in line with EBRD’s plans to expand investments in the
private sector of former Soviet republics.
“This is our first investment in Armenia’s banking sector, and if further
opportunities arise we will certainly consider them,” Cicogniani said. EBRD
had
made similar investments in one bank in Azerbaijan and two banks in Georgia
which conform to Western-style management and transparency.
“We are a long-term investor in the bank, and our investments are usually
five-year-long and more,” she said.
Armeconombank, in which the majority of stock belongs to Khachatur Sukiasian,
a business tycoon and parliament member, is one of few Armenian banks
structured as a public joint-stock company, with 2,000 small shareholders
receiving dividends.
The head of EBRD Yerevan office, Nikolay Hajinsky said the EBRD will soon buy
minority stakes in several Armenian manufacturing companies, but he did not
name those firms.
The overall EBRD investments in the Armenian economy since 1993 have covered
11 programs totaling $150.

5) Cyprus Warns Veto of Turkey’s EU Talks

NICOSIA (Combined Sources)–Cyprus has upped the ante in its demands for
recognition from Turkey, warning its European Union partners it may otherwise
veto the start of accession talks with Ankara, local newspapers reported.
The warning that Nicosia may “have no other option” but to use its veto at a
December 16-17 summit of EU heads of state was issued at a meeting of the EU
ambassadors of the bloc’s 25 member countries in Brussels on Wednesday.
Cyprus’s EU representative warned that Nicosia “may be pushed down a path it
does not want to take” if Ankara refused to recognize it, the Cyprus Mail
newspaper reported from Brussels. Other dailies carried similar reports.
Turkey is resisting calls to recognize Cyprus before the summit, which will
decide whether to launch EU entry talks with Ankara.
Turkey recognizes only the Turkish Cypriot enclave in north Cyprus, while the
rest of the world views the Greek Cypriot government in the south, which
joined
the EU in May, as the sole legitimate representative of the whole island.
The Cypriot government has demanded full recognition before Turkey’s talks
start. Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 in reaction to an Greek-inspired coup in
Nicosia and has kept 35,000 troops on the divided island ever since.
Many in the EU are wary of admitting Turkey, a large, relatively poor, Muslim
country of 70 million people because of concerns of social and labor
upheaval.
In Brussels yesterday, the Dutch presidency of the EU said it was sure it
could resolve the question of Ankara’s refusal to recognize Cyprus before this
month’s summit.
“We are discussing this with both Cyprus and Turkey…I am absolutely sure
the
presidency…will find a formula that will satisfy everyone,” Dutch Foreign
Minister Bernard Bot, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told
reporters.
The Dutch presidency last week suggested a compromise under which Turkey
would
tacitly recognize the Greek Cypriot government by extending an existing
association agreement it has with the EU. Ankara and Nicosia have so far
rejected this idea

6) Javakhk Conference Pushes for Integration over Amalgamation

AKHALKALAK (A-INFO)–Javakhk Armenians are due to hold their first public
conference on December 11 to review the grave social and economic problems
that
are prevalent in the mostly Armenian-populated region of Georgia. The Council
of Armenian Social Organizations, which has organized the event, revealed that
additional conferences on language, culture, and local government will be held
in the future.
Organizers have chosen the theme “Integration But Not Amalgamation” to
reflect
that although they support integration, they categorically reject the
policy of
amalgamation advanced by Georgian authorities.

7) Armenian Theater Group Lands Iran Officials in Court

(Reuters)–Iran’s judiciary has arrested three cultural officials for
organizing a festival containing a brief display of dancing by a male and
female theater group from Armenia, the government-run Iran newspaper reported
on Thursday.
One hardline newspaper said the festival in the southern city of Ahvaz
contained “obscene and repulsive scenes of lewdness and ethical violations in
the guise of art.”
Physical contact between unrelated men and women in public is outlawed under
Iran’s strict Islamic moral code and female dancers and singers are banned
from
performing in front of men. Social and cultural restrictions have eased
somewhat under the government of moderate cleric President Mohammad Khatami.
But powerful conservatives deeply opposed to Western cultural influences have
stepped up their efforts to stamp out any watering down of Islamic values in
recent months.
Festival organizer Alireza Ajang, head of the Culture and Islamic Guidance
Ministry in southern Khuzestan province, and two of his colleagues were
arrested on charges of “encouraging immorality.” The three were later released
on $19,500 bail.
Deputy Culture Minister Mohammad Haqshenas said the incident had been blown
out of proportion. “The whole festival should not be questioned due to three
minutes out of an Armenian group’s 70-minute performance,” Iran newspaper
quoted him as saying.
But the hard-line Kayhan newspaper, in an editorial, called for the officials
to be fired. “The dancing of women in revealing gowns under the light of
strong
projectors, the mixed dancing of men and women, and other ugly scenes…were
just some of the scandalous incidents of that day,” the paper said.

8) BRIEFS

Pope Expresses Concern for Iraqi Christians

VATICAN CITY (CNS)–Pope John Paul II expressed concern for Christians in
Iraq
after the December 7 terrorist attacks on an Armenian Catholic church and the
Chaldean Catholic bishop’s residence in Mosul. Conveying his “spiritual
closeness to the faithful, ” the pope prayed for the intercession of the
Virgin
Mary to help “the
beloved Iraqi people” experience “a time of reconciliation and peace.”

Pope Visits Spanish Steps to Start Christmas

ROME (AP)–Waving from his white popemobile, Pope John Paul blessed shoppers
and tourists at the foot of the Spanish Steps on Wednesday as he began his
busy
Christmas schedule with a traditional visit to the popular square in the heart
of historic Rome.
Riding down narrow Via Condotti, a street lined with some of Rome’s swankiest
shops, John Paul read a prayer in honor of the Virgin Mary. Thousands of
Romans
and out-of-towners took a break from gift-buying on the first official day of
the city’s Christmas shopping season to catch a glimpse of the Pope in the
square with its towering column topped by a statue of Mary. Earlier Wednesday,
the Pope said he was praying for the Iraqi people after militants bombed two
churches in Mosul, the latest anti-Christian violence in the country.

Armenian Mining Giant Sold for $40M

YEREVAN (RFE-RL)–The government announced on Thursday the sale of Armenia’s
largest metallurgical complex to several private investors, including a large
German company, for just $40 million.
A government statement said Germany’s Chronimet will take over 60 percent of
shares of the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine, which was put up for
privatization last March. Fifteen percent of its stock will go to a
Yerevan-based metallurgical company, while two other firms–called Armenian
Molybdenum Production and Zangezur Mining–will each get 12.5 percent. The
Zangezur plant and adjacent mines are located near the town of Kajaran in the
southeastern Syunik region. The mountainous area has the country’s largest
deposits of copper and molybdenum ores, with thousands of people working
there.

Azeri Nationalists Unhappy with Armenian-Iranian Relations

YEREVAN (Yerkir)–Iran’s financial and moral support for Armenia has raised
concerns in Azerbaijan, reported Armenpress. The nationalist Yeni Musavat
party
is planning to picket the Iranian embassy in Baku on December 10, according to
the party leader, Giuduz Jalilov.

Turkish Envoy says Ankara Ready to Assist Azerbaijan in Karabagh conflict

YEREVAN (Yerkir)–Turkey is ready to participate more actively in settling
the
Karabagh conflict, newly-appointed Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan Turan
Morali said at his meeting with Azeri Parliament Speaker Murtuz Aleskerov on
Wednesday. Morali stressed the importance of settling the conflict both for
Azerbaijan and the region, including Turkey.

Armenian Patriarch Blames Turkey for Poor Relations

(NTV/MSNBC)–Catholicos of all Armenians Karekin II on Wednesday said
that Ankara was responsible for lack of formal diplomatic relations with
Yerevan, because of Turkey’s insistence on setting preliminary conditions for
the normalizing of relations. The Catholicos, however, said that it was
essential to resolve the question
of the Karabagh conflict. He stressed that the issue of genocide was not an
issue up for debate.

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