Author: Chaltikian Arsine

HARRISON HITS BACK AT ABELYAN

SkySports, UK
June 17 2004

Scott Harrison has hit back at William Abelyan as the rivalry between
the two boxers heats up ahead of their showdown on Saturday, live on
sky sports.

The Scottish fighter puts his WBO featherweight title on the line
against the Armenian after regaining the belt from Manuel Medina at
the end of last year.

The Armenian has been quick to taunt Harrison for his problems in
overcoming the veteran Mexican at the second attempt and is confident
he can take the title.

However the current champion has dismissed his opponents comments and
believes he has the experience to come out victorious at the weekend.

“I put Medina down about seven times and he could have been stopped
in the first round,” said Harrison.

“He’s going to say that anyway but that’s good. He’s going to be
ready for the fight and so it’s going to be good for the fans.”

His sentiments were echoed by his father, and trainer, Peter who
questioned Abelyan’s abilities and suggested he was a ‘spoiler’.

“The guys not a Medina and he’ll never be a Medina,” he stated. “They
can talk him up and do what they want but he’s just an awkward guy,
that’s all he is.

“I don’t see him as a fighter, I see him as a runner who’s more
interested in defence. The guy’s a spoiler.”

He added: “People just talk about Scott’s size and strength but he’s
got everything and can be ready for any tactic during the fight.”

Azerbaijan: Is President Ilham Aliyev’s Power Base Wobbling?
By Jean-Christophe Peuch

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
June 11 2004

Members of the Azerbaijani government and other state officials have
been trading accusations of corruption and other misdeeds through the
media for the past few weeks. Indications that political jockeying
among the ruling elite may be intensifying have, in turn, fueled
speculation about President Ilham Aliyev’s ability to control his team.

Prague, 11 June 2004 (RFE/RL) — In Baku, a power struggle among the
country’s top leadership is the talk of the town.

The political jockeying kicked off a few months ago with a media
campaign directed at Baku Mayor Hacibala Abutalibov.

The “Azerbaycan” official newspaper published an article criticizing
Abutalibov for failing to regulate the city’s expansion and improve
communal services. Other attacks soon followed, blaming the Baku mayor
for building fountains during a water shortage and demolishing the
city’s commercial kiosks, a move that left many unemployed.”Everyone
was expecting that after the October elections Ilham Aliyev would
launch a few purges and that all of those officials who were tainted
with corruption and bribe-taking…would be progressively replaced
with younger reformist cadres. Unfortunately, [Ilham Aliyev’s]
cadre policy is the same as that of the previous president.”

A former deputy prime minister, Abutalibov was appointed Baku mayor
in January 2001 by then President Heydar Aliyev.

Like the late head of state, Abutalibov was born in Nahcivan, an
Azerbaijani exclave in Armenia that has been virtually cut off from
the rest of the country since the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict broke
out in the late 1980s.

Abutalibov reportedly belongs to the so-called Nahcivani clan, an
informal grouping of political leaders that dominated Azerbaijan’s
political life for most of Heydar Aliyev’s rule.

For many years, a power struggle positioned representatives of the
Nahcivani clan against government officials originating from Armenia,
known in Azerbaijan as Yeraz.

Fragmentation along regional lines has also affected the ruling Yeni
Azerbaycan (New Azerbaijan) party.

Yet, Heydar Aliyev never allowed infighting to become public, let alone
to make headlines. But his son, Ilham, who took over the presidency
after last October’s disputed polls, has failed to prevent the feuding
from coming into the open.

Eldar Namazov, who served as a close aide to Heydar Aliyev in the
1990s, tells our correspondent the political succession brought a
major change in domestic politics.

“That at the top of the executive different groups are vying for
influence has long been an open secret. These groups do exist,
and in this respect Azerbaijan is no exception. The problem is that
Heydar Aliyev, who was a shrewd politician, was able to arbiter these
conflicting interests. Never before had this infighting become so
obvious. In any case, it had never made the headlines of newspapers
or was discussed on television. But the situation has changed since
the last elections. These groups are now openly trading accusations,
and the problem has become much more acute than it used to be under
Heydar Aliyev,” Namazov said.

Since the first attacks targeting the mayor appeared in the media,
Baku residents have witnessed a string of campaigns aimed at vilifying
a number of government officials, including Education Minister Misir
Mardanov, Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov, Health Minister Ali
Insanov, and Customs State Committee Chairman Kamaletdin Heydarov.

Media reports indicate the current dispute once again pits members of
the Nahcivani clan against their traditional Yeraz rivals. However,
“blood connection” is no longer a deciding factor.

Sahin Abbasov is deputy editor in chief of the Baku-based independent
“Ekho” newspaper. He says political clans are no longer solely
organized along regional relationships.

“The situation is much more intricate today. Regional belonging is no
longer the driving force behind these groups. Different sub-groups
with different interests have formed within these regional groups,
and today it is more financial interests that link people together,”
Abbasov said.

Analysts believed that, after the election, Aliyev would bring in a
new team that would progressively evict the presidential “old guard.”

Yet, with the exception of Foreign Minister Vilayat Quliyev and a
few middle-ranking officials, the 42-year-old Azerbaijani leader has
kept most of his father’s ministers and advisers. He even reappointed
former Prime Minister Artur Rasuzade — whom he had replaced a few
months earlier at that position — to head the government.

Former presidential aide Namazov, who heads a nongovernmental
organization known as Civic Forum, says Aliyev is now paying the
price for failing to bring in new blood.

“Everyone was expecting that after the October elections Ilham Aliyev
would launch a few purges and that all of those officials who were
tainted with corruption and bribe-taking, or those who were holding
very conservative political views and opposing democratic values,
would be progressively replaced with younger reformist cadres.
Unfortunately, [Ilham Aliyev’s] cadre policy is the same as that of
the previous president. These groups are now fighting each other
to preserve their corporatist interests, and this poses a serious
problem to Azerbaijan,” Namazov said.

Among the factors that have contributed to the present situation,
political analysts cite Ilham Aliyev’s lack of experience in pulling
the strings of shadow politics. They also point to the vacuum left
by Heydar Aliyev’s death, which brought an end to the apparent
cohesiveness of the ruling team needed to ensure a smooth political
transition.

But these are not the only reasons.

Before the ballot, most experts predicted the opposition would pay
a high political price for failing to unite behind a single candidate.

The crushing defeat suffered by Musavat Party leader Isa Qambar and the
police crackdown that followed the disputed polls profoundly modified
Azerbaijan’s political landscape. Today, the opposition is a mere
shadow of its former self and, despite Aliyev’s offers of dialogue,
remains under constant threat of renewed harassment.

“Ekho” deputy editor in chief Abbasov believes Aliyev has fallen
victim to his own success against the opposition.

“Before the elections, there was an opposition. One can argue whether
this opposition was strong or weak, but it had a certain influence.
After the elections, the opposition has been wiped out and the
political struggle that before pitted the party in power against
the opposition has moved and is now limited to the ruling elite,”
Abbasov says.

Political infighting has reached such a scale as to become a potential
embarrassment to the Azerbaijani leader. Aliyev recently entered the
fray, warning he would not let himself be influenced by “politically
motivated” newspaper articles.

Whether he will be able to stop the political infighting and restore
control over his father’s team remains uncertain, however.

“One thing is clear,” Abbasov says. “The system that was elaborated
by Heydar Aliyev is starting to misfire. Will this have serious
consequences? It is too early to say. In any case, this ‘war of
compromising materials’ that is splashing across the front pages of
newspapers shows that the system is misfiring and that something needs
to be done. Everyone expects the president to do something about it
and try to reassert his control, either by structurally changing the
system, or by appointing new people.”

In a report released last month, the International Crisis Group said,
“Azerbaijan’s ruling elite is increasingly divided, with several
clans competing for control of a pyramidal distribution structure
that allows substantial funds to be skimmed from the oil business.”

“Ilham Aliyev needs to embrace the democratic process and dismantle
autocratic rule,” the Brussels-based think tank added, saying that
his “best chance” to achieve this objective is “to nurture a new
generation of technocratic professionals while steadily dismantling
the corrupt patronage network that strangles politics and keeps the
economy overly dependent on oil.”

Yet, critics doubt Aliyev is willing to change the system. They point
to the president’s failure to deliver on pre-election pledges and
the conflicting signals he has been sending since the ballot on his
commitment to reforms.

Former presidential aide Namazov fears Aliyev’s attempts to reassert
his authority over the ruling elite may not be sufficient.

“The exasperation of these clannish wars is, of course, a problem on
the tactical level for the country’s leadership because it undermines
its prestige in the eyes of society and contributes to blackening the
image of the government. This is why I think there will certainly
be attempts to put out these wars. But this does not mean that
the problem will be solved. Should these clans strike a deal to
redistribute economic resources among themselves, that would neither
meet the interests of society nor those of the country. This is not
what our society is expecting,” Namazov says.

“What is needed is the political will to reform the country,” Namazov
adds. “If there is political will, I believe the rest will follow, and
the conservative part of the top leadership will be doomed to failure.”

The Real War
By Tom Engelhardt

Mother Jones, CA
June 8 2004

We were engulfed this last week by vast waves of media-driven nostalgia
— for a past American war and a past president. The urge to feel good
— a post-Vietnam desire that Ronald Reagan rode to the White House
— is certainly powerful. At least, Reagan promised a new “morning
in America” (whatever he actually delivered). It’s striking that the
Bush administration in its speeches promises only a drumbeat of fear,
terror, and war to eternity. Perhaps that’s why George looked so
generic in Normandy yesterday, his pallid speech buried in stirring
clips of Ronnie speaking there twenty years ago. In fact, it may be
a barometer of the times that, to experience a few good moments,
Americans have had to reach into the relatively distant past —
the landings at Normandy and the Reagan Presidency — and then to
narrow the focus and blur the lens so dramatically. The heroic,
bloody, near-disastrous landings at Normandy now exist in “history”
without so much as a nod toward the larger panorama of the global war
against fascism; and the figure of Ronald Reagan, the genial host,
stands alone on stage with most of his administration out of sight.
(For a wider lens on the Reagan presidency, don’t miss Juan Cole’s
Reagan’s Passing) You might say that blotting out both allies and
history is a distinctly unilateral way of feeling good.

Christopher Endy at the History News Network website suggests that we
might have celebrated the 60th anniversary of D-Day more in the —
gasp — French manner (“French memories of the war are more inclusive
and accurate than our own. Americans have lost sight of the fact that
even World War II’s ‘greatest generation’ could prevail only with
substantial help from its allies, including the Soviets, British,
Canadians, Chinese and many others. When Americans ignore this
lesson, as they have in Iraq, the result is a world that resents,
rather than admires, the United States”); and he reminds us that, to
this day, you can descend into the Paris Metro and travel underground
from Franklin D. Roosevelt station to Stalingrad station and back
again. Mike Davis offers a similarly timely reminder below.

Remembering Bill and Ivan
By Mike Davis

The decisive battle for the liberation of Europe began sixty years
ago this month when a Soviet guerrilla army emerged from the forests
and swamps of Belorussia to launch a bold surprise attack on the
mighty Wehrmacht’s rear. The partisan brigades, including thousands
of Jewish fighters and concentration-camp escapees, devastated the
rail lines linking the German Army Group Center to its bases in
Poland and Eastern Prussia.

Three days later, on 22 June — the third anniversary of Hitler’s
invasion of the Soviet Union — Marshal Zhukov gave the order for the
main assault on German front lines. Twenty-six thousand heavy guns
and rocket launchers pulverized German fortifications in a matter of
minutes. The banshee-like screams of the Katyusha rockets were
punctually followed by the roar of 4000 tanks and the battle cries
(in more than 40 languages!) of 1.6 million Soviet soldiers. Thus
began Operation Bagration, an assault launched over a 500 hundred
mile long front.

But what American has ever heard of Operation Bagration? June 1944
signifies Omaha Beach not the crossing of the Dvina River. Yet the
Soviet summer offensive was almost an entire order of magnitude
larger than Operation Overlord (the invasion of Normandy) in both the
scale of forces engaged and the direct cost to the Germans.

By the end of summer, the Red Army (which included full divisions of
Poles and Czechs) had reached the gates of Warsaw as well as the high
passes of the Carpathians which command the entrance to Slovakia as
well as Hungary. Soviet tanks, in a stunning reverse blitzkrieg, had
caught Army Group Center in steel pincers and destroyed it. The
Germans would lose more than 300,000 men in Belorussia alone. Another
huge German army had been encircled and would soon be annihilated
along the Baltic coast. The road to Berlin had been opened.

Thank Ivan.

It is no disparagement of the brave men who died in the sinister
hedgerows of Normandy or in the cold forests around Bastogne, to
recall that 70% of the Wehrmacht is buried on the Russian steppes not
in French fields. In the struggle against Nazism, approximately forty
“Ivans” died for every “Private Ryan.”

Yet the ordinary Soviet soldier — the tractor mechanic from Samara,
the actor from Orel, the miner from the Donetz, or even the
high-school girl from Leningrad — is invisible in the current
celebration and mythologization of the “Greatest Generation.” It is
as if the “new American century” cannot be fully born without
exorcising the central Soviet role in the epochal victory of the last
century.

Indeed, most Americans are shockingly clueless about the relative
burdens of combat and death in the Second World War. And even the
minority who understand something of the enormity of the Soviet
sacrifice tend to visualize it in terms of crude stereotypes of the
Red Army: a barbarian horde driven by feral revenge and primitive
Russian nationalism. Only G.I. Joe and Tommy are envisioned as truly
fighting for civilized ideals of freedom and democracy.

It is thus all the more important to recall that — despite Stalin,
the NKVD, and the massacre of an entire generation of Bolshevik
leaders — the Red Army still retained powerful elements of
revolutionary fraternity. In its own eyes, and that of the slaves it
freed from Hitler, it was the greatest army of liberation in history.

Moreover, the Red Army of 1944 was still a Soviet Army. The generals
who led the brilliant breakthrough on the Dvina included a Jew
(Chernyakovskii), an Armenian (Bagramyan), and a Pole (Rokossovskii).
In contrast to the class-divided and racially segregated American
forces, command in the Red Army was an open, if ruthless, ladder of
opportunity.

Anyone who doubts the revolutionary élan and rank-and-file humanity
of the Red Army should consult the extraordinary memoirs by Primo
Levi (The Reawakening) and K.S. Karol (Between Two Worlds). Both
hated Stalinism but loved the ordinary Soviet soldier and saw in
her/him the seeds of socialist renewal.

So, as George W. Bush demeans the memory of D-Day to solicit support
for his war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, I’ve decided to hold my
own private commemoration.

I will recall, first, my kindhearted Uncle Bill, the salesman from
Columbus, although it is hard to imagine such a gentle soul as a
hell-for-leather teenage GI in Normandy. Second — as I’m sure my
Uncle Bill would’ve wished — I will remember his comrade Ivan. The
Ivan who drove his tank through the gates of Auschwitz and battled
his way into Hitler’s bunker.

Two ordinary heroes: Bill and Ivan. Obscene to celebrate the first
without also commemorating the second.

Mike Davis is the author of Dead Cities: And Other Tales, Ecology of
Fear, and co-author of Under the Perfect Sun: the San Diego Tourists
Never See, among other books.

Top Armenian officials attend trade forum

RosBusinessConsulting Database
June 2, 2004 Wednesday

Armenia is ready to back offers to enhance trade and economic
cooperation within the framework of the CIS, Armenian Trade and
Economic Development Minister Karen Chshmartian had announced at
meeting between the leaders of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry
of the CIS before Armenian President Robert Kocharian addressed
participants of the meeting. Activities of the Chambers of Commerce
and Industry of the CIS members and their decisions should meet the
target of enhancing trade and economic cooperation between CIS members,
the President stressed in his address. According to Armenian news
agency Arka, the President stressed the necessity to find new forms
of cooperation.

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
May 31 2004

Georgia: Government Closes Border Checkpoint With Azerbaijan, Sends
Police Reinforcements To South Ossetia

By Jean-Christophe Peuch

The Georgian government in recent months has taken a series of
measures aimed at curbing the trafficking of goods from neighboring
Armenia and Azerbaijan. It has also ordered new checkpoints to be set
up to stop the inflow of contraband goods through the breakaway
Republic of South Ossetia. Tbilisi on 30 May decided to move a step
further in its fight against smugglers.

Prague, 31 May 2004 (RFE/RL) — Georgia has decided to temporarily
restrict border trade with Azerbaijan in a bid to curb illegal trade
with its southeastern neighbor.

New regulations were finalized yesterday by the National Security
Council.

They include closure of the so-called Red Bridge checkpoint, in the
southeastern Kvemo Kartli region, where four policemen were wounded
yesterday while trading fire with suspected smugglers.

Addressing reporters at a press briefing late yesterday, Georgian
security officials said illegal trade with Azerbaijan has presented
long-standing problems for the national economy. They said closure of
Red Bridge — which is the main checkpoint between the two countries
— should help law-enforcement forces restore control over all border
traffic.

The chairman of the Georgian Parliament’s committee for defense and
security affairs, Givi Targamadze, said that law-enforcement agencies
may be able to resolve the trafficking crisis within a few weeks,
hinting that similar operations may be conducted in the near future.

“I believe this problem could be solved within approximately one
month,” Targamadze said. “If there is a need to perform security
operations [such as the one conducted on 30 May], we should be given
the opportunity to do so. We must once and for all get free access to
Red Bridge and nearby [ethnic] Azerbaijani territories.”

Authorities in Tbilisi have noted a recent increase in illegal border
traffic through Kvemo Kartli, where most of Georgia’s ethnic
Azerbaijanis live. They say smugglers operating along the border have
created a criminal enclave that has become inaccessible to
law-enforcement agencies.”If smugglers want to fight us with bare
fists, we will respond in kind. But if they want to use their
weapons, we will respond with fire.” — Georgian Interior Minister
Baramidze

Georgia’s Deputy Security Minister Gigi Ugulava yesterday blamed
former Kvemo Kartli Governor Levan Mamaladze for making the region
open to illegal border trade with Azerbaijan.

Mamaladze was dismissed from his post after President Eduard
Shevardnadze resigned last November. Facing corruption charges, the
former Kvemo Kartli governor fled to Russia, where he is still
believed to be hiding.

Yesterday’s operation took place in the villages of Ponichala and
Karajala, which Georgian law-enforcement agencies claim have become
major regional smuggling hubs.

Early yesterday, some 200 special police forces raided Ponichala,
Karajala, and other nearby border villages, reportedly seizing
weapons, ammunition, explosives, drugs, jewelry, and other contraband
goods.

Georgian media report the dawn security sweep also resulted in the
arrest of an unspecified number of people.

Authorities in Tbilisi said suspected smugglers opened fire on
law-enforcement personnel, slightly wounding four of them.

Local residents in return complained about the strong-arm tactics,
saying police officers searched houses without proper warrants.

The new Georgian government, which has vowed to put an end to
corruption and other financial crimes, has recently taken steps to
restore control over border traffic with Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Soon after President Mikheil Saakashvili’s election last January,
security officials closed contraband paths leading from Armenia to
the border village of Sadakhlo, some 30 kilometers west of Red
Bridge.

Located close to the point where the borders of all three South
Caucasus countries meet, Sadakhlo has long been the site of a major
wholesale market.

Because of the unsolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, there are no
direct trade links between Azerbaijan and Armenia. But residents from
both countries come to Sadakhlo to trade goods, including products
manufactured in Turkey and Iran.

Armenian authorities have complained that Sadakhlo has become a major
contraband center and that the giant open-air market there should be
closed. But regional experts believe Sadakhlo’s closure would be an
unpopular move, since it is one of the main sources of goods for
ordinary people in the region.

International experts believe a substantial amount of Afghan-produced
narcotics meant for European markets transit through Sadakhlo and Red
Bridge.

Other major smuggling routes are believed to pass through Georgia’s
separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The Georgian Interior Ministry today said it has sent police
reinforcements into the South Ossetian area, which is formally under
the control of Russian peacekeepers.

Interior Minister Giorgi Baramidze explained the move today in
comments to reporters. He said the Russian Army general in charge of
South Ossetia’s peacekeeping operations had ordered the dismantling
of Georgian police checkpoints established there only last month.

Nabzdorov has denied any plans to remove Georgian checkpoints, saying
such a decision can be made only after consultations with Tbilisi.

South Ossetia claims these checkpoints represent a threat to its
security and testify to Georgia’s eagerness to impose an economic
blockade on the region, which it hopes to reclaim as part of its
territory.

Meanwhile, Baramidze today warned that Georgia would not hesitate to
use force to defend its interests.

“We are not planning to attack anyone. We’re only fighting
smugglers,” Baramidze said. “If smugglers want to fight us with bare
fists, we will respond in kind. But if they want to use their
weapons, we will respond with fire. We are here to defend the
interests of the Georgian government.”

Also today, Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania said that the
decision to set up police checkpoints in the villages of Tkviavi,
Pkhvenisi, Nikozi, and Eredvi has helped cut off the main smuggling
route from Vladikavkaz, the capital of Russia’s Northern Ossetia
republic.

Zhvania also said any attempt at preventing his government from
fighting illegal trade through South Ossetia would be “fruitless.”

ARKA News Agency – Interview
May 28 2004

WE WANT TO HELP PEOPLE TO BUY HOUSING

Exclusive interview of Robert Galstyan, the Chief Director of First
Hypothec Company, to ARKA News Agency.

ARKA-Being a universal credit organization, what kind of crediting
does First Hypothec Company do? What criteria are you guided with for
this?

R.Galstyan – As of today, First Hypothec Company grants three kinds
of credits: hypothec, consumer, and commercial ones. We put the
emphasis on granting credits for the purposes of purchasing real
estate. Initially, funding in Yerevan is planned, and then -in
regions. Credits are granted for 4-7 years at 12 -14% depending on
the sum of fore-payment, the state of housing, and other parameters.
The amounts of fore-payments are set beginning from 30%. Besides, we
grant consumer credits, in particular, for purchasing cars. We hold
negotiations to find partners among legal entities that are engaged
in distributing processes in Armenia. The conditions for crediting
are as follow: 18% -20% of annual rate. The third kind of credits
granted is business- credits. With regard to criteria for crediting,
they first of all propose for maximal information about a loaner to
ensure return of a credit and to minimize risks in this respect.

ARKA – How productively may hypothec market develop in Armenia?

R.Galstyan – It’s clear that in the conditions of developing economy
we have a lot to do. In particular, we have to create classical
hypothec market with low interest rate and grant credits for 25-30
year-term for paying them off. Economy itself dictates that certain
financial means may be assigned for crediting real estate. At the
initial stage we plan to grant credits for 7 years, but in future we
will prolong the period to 10 years. Most likely, it will be possible
to do already next year. With regard to effective development of
hypothec, the legislative amendments to be made are very important,
as they will regulate the field, as a consequence of that risks rate
will decrease and less expenditures will be spent connected with
transactions. It will allow prolonging the terms for crediting that
are not enough but are quite good for the conditions in Armenia.

ARKA – How can growth of prices on real estate influence on demand?

R.Galstyan- Of course, we trace tendencies, since the prices on real
estate are closely related to our business. I think that the prices
will get stable. I think that they will reduce within 30% that we
anticipate as fore-payment. According to the international
experience, the tendencies changes on the real estate market take
place every 20-25 years, and this stimulates the development of
hypothec business. In our case, we shouldn’t neglect the factor of
artificial increase of prices in Yerevan.

ARKA- How can you explain the recent agiotage about the real estate
market in Armenia?

R.Galstyan – First of all it should be noted that the interest in the
market is caused by the situation in the country. The factor of
stable growth of economy for the recent years caused interest of
businessmen to hypothec market. We can fix today rapid growth of
construction works in the capital. Besides, with improvement of life
conditions, certain strata of the society either buys new apartments,
or changes the old ones for new more comfortable apartments. We think
that our potential clients are among such people.
ARKA – Are there any calculations on the growth of demand?

R.Galstyan- We have no such calculations. But I can say that the
conditions for crediting that we have would satisfy at least 5- 7
thsd clients.

ARKA- The issue of hypothec attracts a lot of attention nowadays in
Armenia. In particular, CBA proposed legislative initiative, and
there is an interest in it on the part of banks and international
organizations. How do you position yourself in such conditions?

R.Galstyan – We do not aim at competing with banks regarding
crediting. The market development will show the efficiency of the
product we offer. The company has stable resources, and we hope that
we will use them. It’s not a secret for anybody that the owner of the
company is a non-resident. As of today, our capital amounts to $300
thsd. and will be brought to $600 thsd till the end of 2004,
according to law on credit organizations. We plan to increase the
capital to $1,5 mln during 2005.

ARKA – What can hypothec development stimulate in Armenia?

R.Galstyan – Of course, first of all legislative amendments are
necessary. As it’s known, there are already some legislative
initiatives in that area and they are considered in the Government.
The support of the RA President and CBA Chairman is very important in
this case. Systematized information about an apartment fund is also
very important, and such kind of info is very difficult to get. The
issue is not only is an apartment estimation. There is very little
info about the technical conditions of apartment blocks. Though the
Cadastre of real estate does some steps in this direction but they
are not enough. More stable basis for systematization is necessary.

ARKA – Does the company have any contacts with realtor organizations
and insurance companies?

R.Galstyan – We hold negotiations with some realtor companies that
would provide with services when real estate estimation. Such policy
of insurance and reliable partners in this area are very important
for us. At present, we hold negotiations we two insurance companies,
namely: London-Yerevan and Efes. It’s not excluded that we will
co-operate with both of them.

ARKA – And what about banks?

R.Galstyan -We co-operate with Armeconombank and HSBC Bank Armenia.
Most likely Unibank will joint hem. Our work is very specific, we
sell a type of a banking instrument not being a bank and are willing
to have the banks as our partners.

ARKA – Is the First Hypothec Company going to issue hypothec
securities?

R.Galstyan – It’s a very interesting question. But positive answer to
that question may be given only after the securities market develops.
People should first of all trust in securities. There is no doubt
that the development of this market will by 100% improve the
conditions of hypothec from the standpoint of the terms of crediting
and reduction of interest rate.

ARKA – What’s the main goal of First Hypothec Company on the hypothec
market?

R.Galstyan – We want to help people to buy housing at possibly low
prices. Of course, we are interested in it. We try to find our niche
and try to give our clients the possibility of choice. –0–

ARAMAZD ZAQARYAN WON’T CHANGE HIS MANNER OF ACTIVITY

A1 Plus | 20:56:56 | 26-05-2004 | Politics |

Aramazd Zaqaryan, member of “Republic” Party political board, was
just released. But he says he won’t stop fighting for restoration of
the constitutional order in Armenia.

Zaqaryan intends to fight in the legal field, too, for illegalities he
suffered. He is going to appeal to Court for his arrest and unlawful
imprisonment for more than a month.

The issue to reconsider the preventive punishment was discussed in
both Review and Appeal Courts. Aramazd Zaqaryan is going to appeal
to the European Court of Human Rights.

AZERI STATE BROADCAST CHIEF THREATENS TO SUSPEND BBC FROM NATIONAL RADIO

Trend news agency, Baku
25 May 04

Baku, 25 May: The broadcasts of the world-famous BBC on the Azerbaijani
state radio channel (national first programme) may be suspended,
the chairman of the Azerbaijani state television and radio company,
Nizami Xudiyev, told the Milli Maclis today, Trend reports.

He said the company had sent an official warning to the BBC. The
message condemns a BBC reporter’s recent visit to Nagornyy Karabakh
and the preparation of a series of reports from there without notifying
Baku officials. The document describes this as unacceptable and against
Azerbaijani legislation. Xudiyev added that if such circumstances
are repeated, the BBC broadcasts on the state radio channel Araz will
be suspended.

BBC programmes are broadcast on Araz two hours a day (one hour in
Azeri and 30 minutes each in Russian and English). According to an
international agreement on broadcasts, to which Azerbaijan is party,
the broadcasts of a radio station cannot be suspended without official
notification.

Turkey in EU only after reconciliation with Armenia

Reformatorisch Dagblad
May 21, 2004

The relation between Turkey and Armenia must be re-established before the
admission of Turkey to the European Union can be considered, states prof.
dr. J. A. B. Jongeneel.

The European Union (EU) will probably decide this year upon the possibility
and desirability for allowing Turkey to become a member in the long run. The
Netherlands will soon be President and will therefore have extra
responsibility.

It is extremely remarkable that neither Dutch policy, nor the Dutch press
publicly pay attention to the broken relation between Turkey and its
neighbouring country Armenia. This relation must be re-established before a
EU membership of Turkey can be considered seriously.

When Turkey is admitted to the EU in the long run, we will become direct
neighbors with Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaidjan, Iran, Iraq and Syria. This
article will only discuss the external border with Armenia.

Change

Approximately 99 percent of Turkey is Muslim today. A century ago, however,
this was entirely different. An estimated 77 percent was Muslim and
approximately 22 percent was Christian. At that time most of the Christians
in Turkey belonged to the Armenian church or the Greek Orthodox church. In
the past century Christianity in Turkey has thus on the one hand been
excessively marginalised and on the other hand Islam has developed into a
religion which has an uncontested monopolized position. This development to
a mono religious society – with barely any churches, synagogues and temples
still in use – is problematic.

The enormous degradation of the number of Christians in Turkey at the end of
the nineteenth century and in first half of the twentieth century has been
caused by terrible events there. Two things stand out. First of all the
‘exchange’ of population between Greece and Turkey, which was enforced by
the politicians at that time: approximately 1,000,000 Greek orthodox were
forced to move from Turkey to Greece, and approximately 400,000 Moslems from
Greece to Turkey.

Much more terrible than this “ethnic cleansing” was the deportation and the
massacre of approximately 1,500,000 Armenians. This genocide, dating from
the time before Atatürk came to power in Turkey, is still strongly denied by
the current government of Turkey. Without batting an eye, Turkish historians
also deny this historically well-established fact.

Compensation

Similar to Germany being able to become a full member of Europe after the
second world war only by doing penance and giving compensation, present-day
Turkey must also be able to qualify as a member of the EU right after
recognition of and dealing with the above mentioned genocide. The
Netherlands as temporary president of the EU must take the initiative for
the reconciliation by means of a thorough historical study into the charged
past.

The best way for this to happen is through an EU commission of two Turkish,
two Armenian and two European top historians (with a European President),
with the task to describe and analyze the said genocide within a maximum of
five years and consequently indicate ways in which to re-establish the
mutual relations. A “great reconciliation” is desirable and subsequently
history books should be rewritten for Turkish schools and other Turkish
institutions.

This way Turkey can not only learn how it has lost its multi religious and
multicultural society in one hundred years¹ time, but also learn how it can
regain this in the coming one hundred years. Reorientation will also be
necessary for Armenia. As the victims of the apartheid in South Africa have
required that peace be based on justice, in the same way the Armenians too
will have their conditions for the reconciliation with Turkey.

The Netherlands

The admission of Turkey to the EU in the long run is one of the greatest
European questions of this moment. Nevertheless it plays no role of meaning
in the run-up to the European elections. Let us hope that the Dutch
government will exploit its temporary presidency of the EU to turn the
Armenian Genocide into a hard point of negotiation in the discussion
concerning the admission of Turkey to the EU and will pursue an equitable
reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey.

The author is Professor Emeritus in Missiology at the University of Utrecht.

NEIGHBORS

Charleston Gazette (West Virginia)
May 20, 2004, Thursday

Meagan Estep has been invited to join Alpha Kappa Mu National Honor
Society for juniors and seniors at West Virginia State University.
Estep is co-captain of the WVSU cheerleaders and is also the girls’
track coach at Poca High School. She is a member of honor societies
Kappa Delta Pi and Phi Eta Sigma, with a 3.85 grade point average.
Estep is the daughter of Perry and Judy Estep of Scott Depot.

Noah Walters was selected to receive the 2004 Concord Book Award and
a $ 500 scholarship from Concord College. Walters was selected as the
most outstanding student in the junior class at South Charleston High
School. He is the son of Bill and Debbie Walters of South Charleston.

Rebekah Horn received a bachelor’s degree in English writing recently
from Eastern University in St. Davids, Pa. She is the daughter of
Jim and Diana Horn of St. Albans.

Crystal Allene Cook has been awarded a yearlong Fulbright Scholarship
to Yerevan, Armenia, where she will study the Armenian language,
culture and literature. Cook is a 1989 graduate of Winfield High
School. She earned a degree in European culture and history,
with minors in English, Russian and German language from Columbia
University in New York City in 1993, followed by a master’s degree
in education in 1994. Cook is presently a professional writer living
in Hollywood, Calif. She is the daughter of Amy Cook of Eleanor and
Dan Cook of Hurricane.

Holly Rhinehart, daughter of Karen Smith Rhinehart of Davis Creek and
Robert Paul Rhinehart of Ocoee, Fla., will receive her master’s degree
in reading education from Marshall University Graduate College this
month. Rhinehart graduated from George Washington High School with high
honors. She is also a summa cum laude graduate of West Virginia State
College with an elementary education degree. Rhinehart will graduate
from Marshall with a 4.0 grade point average. She is a fourth-grade
teacher at Sissonville Elementary School.

Brian L. Hager received the juris doctor degree on May 8 from the
Washington and Lee University School of Law. While at Washington and
Lee, he was editor in chief of The Washington and Lee Law Review,
a member of Omicron Delta Kappa honorary leadership fraternity and a
member of Phi Alpha Delta. He graduated cum laude. Hager is the son
of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Hager of Winfield.

Metro West always welcomes submissions for the Neighbors column. Send
brief news summaries, along with good photographs, to Metro West,
c/o Charleston Newspapers, 1001 Virginia St. East, Charleston, W.Va.
25301. Please include a daytime telephone number.