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Russian NTV channel off the Armenian air for good

A1+ web site
14 Jun 04

14 June: Russian NTV channel will no longer be broadcast in
Armenia. Today the National Commission for Radio and Television
[NCRT] unanimously decided to hand over the 23rd decimetre channel,
which previously relayed NTV channel programmes, to the Armenian
government for the transmission of Kultura [Culture] TV programmes.

The frequency was not put out to tender as it was given to the
government within the framework of an intergovernmental agreement on
the transmission of TV programmes concluded between Armenia and Russia.

The frequency was transferred to the Transport and Communications
Ministry. It is not yet clear who will rebroadcast. “The company
Paradiz [Paradise], which rebroadcast NTV, has no claims on it,”
the head of the NCRT, Grigor Amalyan, said. “The government has the
right to use it at its own discretion.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IRAN, ARMENIA SIGN CUSTOMS MEMORANDUM

ArmenPress
June 14 2004

YEREVAN, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS: Last year Iran sold to Armenia $47
million worth goods, while Armenia exported to that country $18 million
worth goods. In 2002 this ratio was respectively $43 million and $24
million. Armenia sells to Iran mainly copper, aluminum and synthetic
rubber. Around 50,000 people from both sides visit the two countries
and 32,000 trucks cross the border from both directions.

A frame memorandum was signed last Friday by the two governments’
customs services to regulate bilateral trade, stipulated by the
inter-government cooperation agreement. The memorandum will regulate
information exchange and struggle against customs violations. It will
also approve the list of customs officials of both sides entitled to
directly contact with each other.

Karen Beglarian, head of an Armenian customs service department, said
the memorandum will also approve the list of some goods (all in all
16, such as arms, ammunition, cultural values and psychoactive drugs )
that are not subject to customs tariff regulation.

According to Gholamreza Safari Taheri, the chief of Iranian customs
service office for international cooperation, the memorandum envisages
also reciprocal administrative assistance, training of personnel,
exchange foe experience and holding of seminars.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
06/14/2004
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1) Council of Europe Wraps-up Fact Finding Mission to Armenia
2) Armenians in Paris Rally against Turkey EU Entry
3) Georgia’s President Reaffirms $100 Million Allocation to Repair Javakhk
Roads
4) Former Armenian Defense Chief Released From Jail
5) Party Leader Shot in Azerbaijan

1) Council of Europe Fact Finding Mission to Armenia Wraps-up

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–A representative of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary
Assembly (PACE) met on Monday with President Robert Kocharian and a string of
other senior Armenian officials, to end a fact finding mission on Armenia’s
compliance with democratic standards set forth by the organization.
Jerzy Jaskiernia, the Armenia rapporteur of the PACE’s Monitoring Committee,
is to draft a report on whether the Armenian administration is following the
recommendations contained in the assembly’s April 28 resolution on the
Armenian
political crisis.
“We will present our findings in our report. We don’t like to make any
comments during the visit,” Jaskiernia told reporters when asked to comment on
his findings.
Pointing to the release of all senior members of opposition parties, he
commented, “I think there is an intention by the government to fulfill that
resolution. Several of its elements have already been fulfilled,”
The PACE resolution warned that the Armenian government must immediately free
all individuals arrested for their participation in the opposition protests
and
investigate “human rights abuses” or face the possibility of PACE sanctions
next September.
However, the main focus of Jaskiernia’s meetings in Yerevan was the idea of a
referendum of confidence in Kocharian, suggested by the Armenian
Constitutional
Court in the wake of last year’s disputed presidential election. Government
officials reiterated their view that the proposal was not binding. Jaskiernia
agreed.

2) Armenians in Paris Rally against Turkey EU Entry

PARIS (Yerkir)–A public rally in opposition to Turkey’s accession to the
European Union took place in Paris on Friday, June 12. The rally was organized
by the Armenian National Committee of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation of
France.
Participants of the rally gathered around the monument of Komitas, which was
built in dedication to the victims of the Armenian genocide. From there, they
marched to the presidential palace, where in December of this year, French
President Jacques Chirac is expected to announce his final opinion on Turkey’s
admission to the European Union.
In addition to the recognition of the Armenian genocide, EU resolutions
adopted in 1987 and 2004 specify that Turkey must withdraw its troops from
northern Cyprus, lift its blockade of Armenia, guarantee the rights its
minority population and release its political prisoners before talks dealing
with the country’s accession to the Union are to begin.

3) Georgia’s President Reaffirms $100 Million Allocation to Repair Javakhk
Roads

TBILISI (Armenpress)–Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili reaffirmed plans
to allocate approximately $100 million for the reconstruction of roads
connecting Georgia’s Armenian-populated region of Javakhk to the capital city
of Tbilisi. The money is expected to come from $400 million in combined US and
IMF assistance for the repair of Georgia’s infrastructures.
Javakhk’s A-Info news agency reported Saakashvili confirmed the allocation
while in Adjaria, meeting with activists of his National Movement, saying that
improved roads would have a drastically positive effect on the region and its
population.

4) Former Armenian Defense Chief Released From Jail

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–Vagharshak Harutiunian, Armenia’s former defense minister
and
prominent member of the opposition, was released from jail late Friday
evening.
Harutiunian was arrested two months ago, charged with conspiracy to overthrow
the government.
The head of the investigations department at Armenia’s Office of
Prosecutor-General Andranik Mirzoyan, said that Harutiunian was set free
because he did not impede the ongoing criminal inquiry into his political
activities. Mirzoyan said that the charges leveled against the ex-minister
have
not been dropped, and that he may still face trial.
The move followed calls for Harutiunian’s release, by the head of the Yerevan
office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Ambassador
Vladimir Pryakhin, who, earlier in the day said that the criminal case is
“weak.”
A senior member of the Artarutyun alliance, Harutiunian was among over a
dozen
opposition activists arrested last April on charges of calling for a “violent
overthrow of constitutional order” and insulting senior government officials.
“We do support enforcement of the law, but in this case the accusations are
quite weak because the suspect’s alleged crimes have not been properly
specified,” Pryakhin said, adding that he has repeatedly raised the issue with
Armenian prosecutors.
Harutiunian’s defense attorney, Robert Grigorian, argued that the prosecutors
have still not elaborated on their accusations. “They must specify which
speeches by Vagharshak Harutiunian… are deemed an insult against government
officials and which of his actions were aimed at a violent seizure of power,”
he said.
Harutiunian did not speak at any of the anti-Kocharian rallies held by
Artarutyun and the allied National Unity Party this year. The Office of
Prosecutor-General refused to comment on the details of the case, stating only
that “investigative actions” continue.

5) Party Leader Shot in Azerbaijan

BAKU (AP)–An opposition party leader known for his bold military exploits in
the war over the Mountainous Karabagh was shot and killed early Monday in
Azerbaijan’s capital, police said.
Fatulla Huseynov’s body was found by his neighbors outside his Baku home,
said
Yashar Aliyev of the city police. Neighbors reported hearing between four and
six gunshots minutes earlier.
Aliyev said police did not yet have a motive or suspect.
Huseynov, 67, was one of the leaders of Azerbaijan’s opposition Justice
party.
He also served as the vice president of the Association of Football
Federations
of Azerbaijan. He had previously worked in Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry and
headed the nation’s road police.
In 1992-93, Huseynov fought in Karabagh, earning the nickname the “black
colonel” for his unit’s military feats.

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkish Speaker condemns Canadian parliament’s ruling on Armenian genocide
   
TRT 2 television, Ankara
11 Jun 04
   
The Turkish Grand National Assembly reacted against the Canadian
House of Commons decision which recognized the so-called Armenian
genocide. In a letter to the Canadian House of Commons, National
Assembly Speaker Bulent Arinc said: This decision runs counter to
the efforts to normalize Turkish-Armenian relations in a sensitive
place in the world.

In his letter, Arinc said that describing the 1915 events on the
basis of distorted historical data as genocide is an inexcusable
mistake. Harshly condemning the one-sided and erroneous decision of
the Canadian House of Commons, Arinc demanded that this mistake be
corrected as soon as possible.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri daily reflects on reasons behind US general’s “unexpected” visit

Ekspress, Baku
11 Jun 04

The deputy commander of the US European Command, Gen Charles Wald,
paid an unexpected visit to Baku yesterday morning [10 June]. The
US embassy in Azerbaijan told Ekspress newspaper that the delegation
accompanying the Pentagon official had included 70 American civilian
representatives and business leaders who are members of the Joint
Civilian Orientation Conference (JCOC).

[Passage omitted: about the JCOC programme and reported details]

Why did Wald come to Azerbaijan? According to official reports,
one might answer the question as follows. The visit by the Pentagon
official aimed at ”inspecting” the implementation of joint programmes
between the European Command and Azerbaijan and looking into the
preparations for NATO’s Cooperative Best Effort 2004 exercises. In
any case, one should admit that the visit to our country by such
a high-ranking Pentagon general as the deputy commander of the US
European Command in Stuttgart is not limited to the ”inspection of
cooperation programmes” only. Moreover, the importance of the visit
for Washington is obvious, bearing in mind that it was Wald’s second
visit to Azerbaijan in the past two months.

So it was clear from the brief statement which Wald made in Azerbaijan
that the USA is concerned about the state of security programmes in
the region (concretely, security issues and the protection of oil
pipelines). However, this might be understood as a gesture by the
Pentagon to show its presence in the region, since the concern was
expressed at the same time as the five-sided working group on Caspian
status was holding its summit in Astana. Moreover, by declaring the
creation of a special group to carry out US programmes on the South
Caucasus, Wald showed that the White House did not intend to hold
back from projects on the Caspian.

To recap, at the working group’s Astana meeting Russia and Kazakhstan
suggested the creation of “a military balance” in the sea and a ban
on the entry of “foreign forces” to the Caspian.

Finally, let us recall that Wald, who visited Yerevan some time ago,
regarded as necessary the participation of Armenian officers in the
NATO exercises due in Azerbaijan this autumn and said that he had
received official Baku’s guarantee on the issue. It is no coincidence
that the US general’s sudden visit coincided with Yerevan officially
expressing its intention to attend the NATO conference in June and
saying that it would approach the Azerbaijani embassy in Georgia
over this issue on 12 June. It seems that the Pentagon general had
to visit Azerbaijan again in order to ”resolve the issue on the spot”.

[Passage omitted: Azerbaijan ex-foreign policy adviser positive
on visit]

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Party Leader Shot in Azerbaijan

The Associated Press
06/14/04 05:42 EDT

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) – An opposition party leader known for his bold
military exploits in the war over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave was
shot and killed early Monday in Azerbaijan’s capital, police said.

Fatulla Huseynov’s body was found by his neighbors outside his Baku
home, said Yashar Aliyev of the city police. Neighbors reported
hearing between four and six gunshots minutes earlier.

Aliyev said police did not yet have a motive or suspect.

Huseynov, 67, was one of the leaders of Azerbaijan’s opposition Justice
party. He also served as the vice president of the Association of
Football Federations of Azerbaijan. He had previously worked in
Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry and headed the nation’s road police.

In 1992-93, Huseynov fought in Nagorno-Karabakh, the ethnic Armenian
enclave in Azerbaijan, where he earned the nickname the “black colonel”
for his unit’s military feats.

Azerbaijani forces were driven out of Nagorno-Karabakh, and
a cease-fire was signed in May 1994. But Nagorno-Karabakh’s final
status has not been resolved and firing sporadically breaks across the
“line of control,” a demilitarized zone that separates Azerbaijani
and Armenian forces.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress