Author: Chilingarian Babken

Diaspora Armenians to protest at British envoy’s genocide remarks

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
1 Apr 04

[Presenter over video of British ambassador] The hullabaloo over the
remarks by the British ambassador to Armenia, Miss Thorda Abbot-Watt,
about the Armenian genocide is not dying out in the diaspora.

Armenians intend to stage demonstrations outside the British embassies
in many countries on 24 April, complaining because the British
ambassador said that the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire were not genocide. US newspaper California Courier has
written about this.

Our correspondent has reported that French Armenians will stage a
protest rally in Paris tomorrow outside the British embassy to condemn
Ambassador Abbot-Watt’s remarks.

LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER ARRIVES IN ARMENIA

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
1 Apr 04

(Presenter over video of arrival ceremony at airport) New Lebanese
investments are expected in the Armenian economy. An agreement will be
reached during Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri’s visit to
Armenia, which started today.

An agricultural cooperation agreement between the two country’s
governments has been drawn up. An Armenian member of the Lebanese
parliament, (?Ekya Cherichyan), who is accompanying the prime
minister, hopes that Rafiq al-Hariri’s third visit to Armenia will
help to step up bilateral economic relations, as the ministers engaged
in investing in foreign countries have also come to Armenia.

(Ekya Cherichyan, in Armenian, at airport) The main aim of this visit
is to sign an agreement on setting up a Lebanese-Armenian economic
commission. Agreements on education, science and agriculture will
also be signed during this visit. The delegation consists only of
ministers and Armenian members of the Lebanese parliament.

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway

The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief

=================================================

Tuesday 30 March 2004
TURKMENISTAN: MUSLIMS BARRED FROM OPENING NEW MOSQUES

Turkmenistan’s largest religious community, the Muslims, appear to have
been barred from benefiting from the promised easing of the harsh
registration restrictions that have prevented most of the country’s
religious communities from registering since 1997. “Do not build any more
mosques,” President Saparmurat Niyazov told officials of the government’s
Gengeshi (Council) for Religious Affairs on 29 March, insisting that its
officials must continue to appoint all mullahs and control mosque funds.
More than half the 250 registered mosques were stripped of their legal
status in 1997, and only 140 have registration today. Shia mosques appear
likely to remain banned. Forum 18 News Service has learnt that the only
other current legal faith, the Russian Orthodox Church, is planning to try
to register new parishes in the wake of this month’s presidential decree
and amendments to the religion law easing the restrictions.

TURKMENISTAN: MUSLIMS BARRED FROM OPENING NEW MOSQUES

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service

Despite a new presidential decree and amendments to the religion law this
month lifting the tight restrictions on registering religious
organisations, the country’s president Saparmurat Niyazov has apparently
barred Muslim communities from benefiting from the new procedures.
“Religion is free,” he claimed to officials of the Gengeshi (Council) for
Religious Affairs on 29 March, saying he was handing over to it three
mosques, before adding: “Do not build any more mosques.” A range of
previously “illegal” religious communities – including the Catholics,
various Protestant communities and the Baha’is – are planning to lodge
registration applications, while Forum 18 News Service has learnt that one
of the two current permitted faiths – the Russian Orthodox Church – is also
planning to take advantage of the simplified procedures to register new
communities. It remains unclear why Turkmenistan’s majority faith – Islam –
will be unable to benefit from the new law.

Niyazov made the remarks the same day that Shirin Akhmedova, the head of
the department that registers religious communities at the Adalat (Justice)
Ministry, assured Forum 18 that both the Muslim community and the Russian
Orthodox could avail themselves of the new registration procedures along
with other religious communities. She said 140 Muslim communities and 12
Russian Orthodox parishes currently have registration. Before the harsh
registration restrictions were introduced in 1996, the Muslims had 250
registered communities.

Forum 18 was unable immediately to reach anyone at the Gengeshi or among
the Muslim leadership in the capital Ashgabad.

In his remarks to the Gengeshi staff, broadcast by state television on 30
March, Niyazov also insisted that the Gengeshi – a governmental body that
reports to the Cabinet of Ministers – must retain control over all aspects
of Islamic life, although under Article 11 of the country’s constitution
religion is supposed to be separate from the state. “They [mosques] should
not choose the mullahs themselves. Since you work here, you should appoint
mullahs from among those who have graduated from the department of religion
and have them approved by the court,” he ordered. “Otherwise, they select
anyone they want in the localities.” He also instructed that Gengeshi
officials should maintain “proper order” over donations to mosques. “We
will not take it from you. You just need to maintain order in it and look
at their expenditures.”

Although Sunni Islam has been one of only two faiths permitted to function
in Turkmenistan since 1997, it remains under tight state control. President
Niyazov ousted the chief mufti, Nasrullah ibn Ibadullah, in January 2003
and appointed Kakageldy Vepaev to replace him. The state authorities have
removed all ethnic Uzbek imams in the northern Dashgovuz region and
replaced them with ethnic Turkmens (see F18News 4 March 2004
). Nasrullah ibn
Ibadullah was arrested in Dashgovuz in mid-January of this year, according
to the Moscow-based researcher Vitali Ponomarev, and was sentenced to 22
years’ imprisonment on 2 March (see F18News 8 March 2004
).

President Niyazov’s dislike of Shia Islam has prevented Shia mosques from
registering and it now appears that the ban might continue. In a bizarre
case, the writer Rahim Esenov is facing criminal charges partly as a result
of defying the president’s criticism that in his novel about the
sixteenth-century regent of the Moghul empire, Bayram Khan, the hero was
correctly presented as a Shia, not a Sunni Muslim (see F18News 23 March
2004 ). Forum 18 is still
unable to reach Esenov by telephone in Ashgabad as his line continues to be
blocked.

President Niyazov issued his decree on religion on 11 March removing the
requirement that religious organisations must have 500 adult citizen
members before the can apply for registration, a provision introduced in
1996 which left all but the Sunni Muslims and Russian Orthodox stripped of
their registration. The religion law, revised only in October 2003 to
increase control over religious groups, was again revised this month to
reflect the simpler registration requirements. The new amendments,
published on 24 March in the government press in Turkmen and in Russian and
available on the government website
(), requires that
“religious groups” must have between five and fifty adult citizen members
to register, while “religious organisations” must have at least fifty. In
theory at least, this removes the obstacle to registering non-Sunni Muslim
and non-Orthodox communities.

Akhmedova of the Adalat Ministry told Forum 18 on 29 March that various
communities have come to her office to seek information on how to register.
“They come constantly to seek information,” she declared. She said she had
given communities a model statute that they could adapt for use. She added
that no community has yet lodged a registration application under the new
procedure.

Among the Protestant churches preparing to lodge an application is Greater
Grace church in Ashgabad, as its pastor Vladimir Tolmachev reported. “We
are collecting signatures and we expect to lodge the application within the
next week,” he told Forum 18 on 29 March. Describing the current situation
as “strange”, Tolmachev was optimistic that his church would get
registration, having read the text of the amendments to the religion law.

Aleksandr Yukharin, vice-president of the New Apostolic Church in Russia,
who maintains links with its community in Ashgabad, said his church is
pleased that it now has the opportunity to register. “We have been trying
to do so for a long time,” he told Forum 18 from Moscow on 30 March. “We
were warned last year not to meet, so we had to halt all our religious
activity. All over the world we abide by the laws of the state, which is
why our Ashgabad community stopped its activity.” He stressed that his
Church wants to resume its activity, but would do so only once it has
registration and can do so legally. “We do not conduct religious activity
illegally.”

Despite the denial of the possibility of registering new Muslim
communities, the Russian Orthodox Church is planning to try to register new
parishes to add to its current 12 registered communities. “Registration is
now a lot simpler,” Fr Ioann Kopach, the dean of Ashgabad, told Forum 18 on
30 March. He said the first two parishes likely to seek registration are in
the town of Khazar (formerly Cheleken) on the Caspian Sea and in the
northern Caspian Sea port of Bekdash. “We will seek the blessing of our
bishop, Metropolitan Vladimir of Tashkent, and then lodge the applications
and see what happens.”

He said the Church might also found parishes in other towns, though he said
most of the parishes that need registration already have it. He said the
Orthodox have already built a new church in the town of Tedjen and have
nearly completed a new church in Dashoguz to replace churches destroyed
during the Soviet period.

Both Fr Ioann and Fr Andrei Kiryakov, the priest of Turkmenabad (formerly
Charjou), admitted to Forum 18 that many of their parishioners are Armenian
Apostolic Christians, although the Armenian Church and the Orthodox Church
are of differing families of Churches. The Armenians have so far been
prevented from reopening churches in Turkmenistan, but Fr Ioann told Forum
18 that “it is a question for the Council for Religious Affairs why there
are no Armenian churches in Turkmenistan”.

Fr Ioann said that after the religion law was amended last October,
Orthodox parishes had expected to have to re-register with the Adalat
Ministry. However, given the latest religion law amendments he said it was
unclear whether this was still the case and if and when any re-registration
of existing registered communities might take place.

One draconian provision of the religion law that the new amendments have
not lifted is the ban on unregistered religious activity and the criminal
penalties imposed on those taking part in it. “I believe that they will
allow all the churches to register, then they will conduct checks and those
that continue to function without registration will be fined,” Pastor
Tolmachev of the Greater Grace church told Forum 18. If this does indeed
happen, one group that has already suffered numerous raids and punishments
on its communities – the Baptists of the Council of Churches who refuse to
register on principle in any of the post-Soviet republics where they
operate – is likely to be penalised once again.

For more background see Forum 18’s report on the October 2003 religion law
at

and Forum 18’s latest religious freedom survey at

A printer-friendly map of Turkmenistan is available at
x.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=turkme
(END)

© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved.

You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News

Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at

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RUSSIAN OLIGARCH’S DONATIONS AIM TO HELP GEORGIA FIGHT CORRUPTION

Moskovskiy Komsomolets, Moscow
29 Mar 04

It is wrong to accuse Russia’s oligarchs of being uncaring or
miserly. It emerged yesterday that Senator Andrey Vavilov, former
owner of the Severnaya Neft (Northern Oil) company, who has now
retired from business, is ready to make his own contribution to
combating corruption in Georgia.

Let us recall the famous US philanthropist George Soros’s announcement
that he would supplement the monthly salary of Georgian President
Mikheil Saakashvili by 2,000 dollars and his ministers’ salaries by
1,500 each dollars. The US billionaire wants in this way to make a
contribution to fighting the corruption that is eating away at
Georgia. The official salary of the neighbouring country’s top leaders
is absolute chicken feed. And therefore Soros’s offer should indeed
appreciably improve their financial position. The American’s logic is
that a Georgian president who receives 2,000 dollars per month simply
has no reason to steal. He is able to buy everything he needs himself.

The general consensus of opinion is that it was the Soros Foundation’s
money that paid for the “rose revolution” last fall. It seemed that,
after Tbilisi, the leading financial speculator had decided to turn
his attention to Yerevan. But it is now becoming clear that Georgia
continues to be the central focus of his concerns.

Andrey Vavilov informed your Moskovskiy Komsomolets correspondent
yesterday that, on hearing about the Soros initiative, he is also
unable to remain aloof. In his view it is not only the Americans that
should be fighting corruption and, to that end, paying the Georgian
leaders’ wages. Corruption in Georgia affects Russia even more
severely than the United States – we are neighbours, after
all. Vavilov has set his contribution at the following level: He is
prepared to supplement Mikheil Saakashvili’s pay by 600 dollars per
month and Georgian ministers’ pay by 300 dollars. Vavilov reckons they
will be happy in the knowledge that they are getting money not from a
single source – the Soros Foundation – but also from Russia. This
should increase the independence of Georgia’s top functionaries even
further.

Andrey Vavilov did not clear his personal initiative with Saakashvili
and his subordinates. But he hopes that they will accept it with
gratitude. He is also calling on other Russian businessmen to join him
in the fight against corruption in Georgia.

Houston Chronicle, TX
March 25 2004

White’s fund-raising effort heads to Austin
Out-of-town money won’t exceed self-imposed 5 percent cap, campaign
says

By JOHN WILLIAMS

During his campaign for mayor, Bill White made an issue of his
opponents collecting money from outside Houston.

He challenged them to sign his pledge to limit out-of-town influences
by taking no more than 5 percent of their campaign contributions from
non-Houstonians.

But four months after winning, White traveled to Austin on Wednesday
expecting to raise $25,000 at a fund-raiser there, the second time
this year he has left the city to raise money. He went to Washington,
D.C., in January for the same reason.

The out-of-town events are not expected to bust the 5 percent cap,
White fund-raiser Herb Butrum said Tuesday.

In winning, White spent a record $9.7 million, including $2.5 million
of his own money. Fund-raising efforts since then, including the ones
out of town, may add as much as $900,000 to White’s war chest by
April 4, the city-imposed deadline for raising campaign money until
the next campaign cycle begins in spring of 2005, Butrum said.

Houston political consultant Craig Varoga said the post-election
fund-raising is a good way to prevent a candidate from running
against White next year.

“Money like that is called the invisible primary because it kills
opponents before they can even get out of the cradle,” Varoga said.

If White can avoid major opposition in 2005, Varoga said, “he can
concentrate on city issues for four years rather than worry about
political ones after two years.”

White was as blunt. “I’m hoping not to have an opponent next year,”
he said.

During the campaign, White made three ethics pledges. In addition to
limiting his contributions from outside Houston to 5 percent of the
total, he promised not to take more than 10 percent from those who do
a majority of their business with the city and not to hire campaign
staffers who lobby City Hall or other local governments.

White said this week that he placed the cap on contributions from
those outside Houston to create “a balance so we don’t have to rely
disproportionately on any particular interest groups.”

The campaign pledge to limit money from outside of Houston was partly
a dig at mayoral candidate Sylvester Turner, a state representative
who transferred his legislator’s campaign account to his mayoral
race. Much of that money came from interests outside of Houston that
do business in the Texas Capitol.

Turner said this week he had no problem with White soliciting money
in Austin and Washington.

“A lot of things are said during campaigns,” Turner said. “The race
is over. He can raise money where he needs to.”

Wednesday’s fund-raiser in Austin was at the home of investor Bo
Baskin, an investment banker who helped establish a private equity
firm last year called Blue Sage Capital LP.

Limited partners in the firm include state pension funds, financial
institutions and the federal government.

Baskin said the company has no investment with the city of Houston or
any of the city employee pension funds.

Also hosting the event at Baskin’s home were Austin Mayor Will Wynn
and former Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, both Democrats.

Baskin, a Republican and former Houston resident who is related to
White through marriage, said he is hosting the fund-raiser partly
because he believes White “de-partisanized politics in Houston.”

In January, White was beneficiary of a Washington fund-raiser hosted
by energy consultant Kyle Simpson, a former Coastal Corp. official
who served as staff director for White when he was deputy secretary
in the Department of Energy under President Clinton.

In 1992, White and Simpson coordinated fund-raising efforts in the
Houston area for Clinton’s first presidential campaign.

In 1997, Simpson was called to testify before a Senate investigating
committee that was looking into international businessman Roger
Tamraz.

Tamraz had testified that he gave $300,000 to the Democratic Party in
1996 to “open the doors to the White House” so he could promote his
overseas oil pipeline venture from the Caspian Sea to Turkey through
Azerbaijan and Armenia.

During the investigation, Simpson was questioned about his role in
helping Tamraz gain access in the White House because of his
contributions to the Democratic Party. Simpson repeatedly denied
introducing campaign donations into policy discussions.

Tuesday, White said the investigation “vindicated Mr. Simpson, who is
very well regarded.”

He said that Tamraz had no connection with the company he created
after leaving the Department of Energy in 1995 to develop oil fields
in the Caspian Sea region. Investors in that company, Frontera
Resources, included former U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and Houston
businessman J. Livingston Kosberg.

MONDAY March 22, 2004
Natural dyes trigger renaissance for Oriental rugs in home decor

By Glen Elsasser
Knight Ridder News Service

WASHINGTON — To the delight and enthusiasm of dealers, collectors
and many homeowners, Oriental rugs are beginning to reclaim their
status as the monarchs of home decoration, accompanied by a revival of
natural dyes and hand-spun wool.

Some see this as a way to dispel once and for all the so-called
Dark Ages of rugmaking. In the early part of the 20th century,
chemical dyes began to dominate and, in the opinion of many, to lower
the quality of hand-woven rugs.

The results were not always easy on the eyes of this ancient craft’s
aficionados.

And over the past 20 years, “prices for the very best pieces have
gone up while the market has softened for middle- and lower-end
examples,” said Wendel Swan, of Alexandria, Va., a collector who has
lectured at Washington’s Textile Museum and an official of the 10th
International Conference on Oriental Carpets. The conference, founded
in London in 1976, is dedicated to advancing the knowledge of carpets
and handmade textiles with sessions featuring scholarly lectures and
an exhibition.

“Thirty years ago,” Swan added, “you couldn’t buy a new rug with
the color or quality of wool of an antique.”

But all that has changed. In the 1970s, Harald Bohmer, a German
chemist who taught in Turkey for a number of years, rediscovered the
plants used for the ingredients of the old natural dyes, the staple of
rugmaking prior to 1860.

With the sponsorship of the School of Fine Arts in Istanbul, Bohmer
organized the Natural Dye Research and Development Project, a
profit-sharing cooperative known by the Turkish acronym DOBAG.

The first beneficiaries of DOBAG were villagers in western Turkey
who began using plant roots and insects again as sources of dyes in
what would usher in the modern renaissance in rug weaving.

“The designs were based on the patterns of their nomadic ancestors
from hundreds of years ago,” said Bill McDonnell, who operates a San
Francisco rug emporium called Return to Tradition.

The exclusive U.S. dealer for DOBAG, O’Donnell emphasized that
each rug has a spontaneity, carrying the initials of the weaver as
well as the symbol of the village where it originated. DOBAG carpets
come in all sizes and cost roughly $60 a square foot.

The DOBAG project produces about 1,600 rugs a year, O’Donnell
said, half of which go to the United States. “Perhaps one of the
weaker points of the project is that they can’t crank up their
production,” he said. “It’s a very pure form of cottage industry, and
rug buyers like that limited availability.”

Europeans, notably British and Germans, have been familiar players
since the 19th century in establishing workshops overseas that
produced handmade rugs for export that were simpatico with Western
homes. One of the most prominent of these firms was Ziegler & Co.,
which had headquarters in Manchester, England, and made highly
regarded rugs in Turkey and Iran using natural dyes and hand-spun wool
more than a century ago.

But among those leading the current revival is an American, George
Jevremovic, who along with his former wife established the
Philadelphia-based company Woven Legends in 1981.

“DOBAG was a catalyst, a stepping stone for us,” said Jevremovic,
who enlisted native Turkish weavers skilled at reproducing traditional
patterns.

Woven Legends has sought to encourage weavers to produce
one-of-a-kind pieces rather than reproduce centuries-old carpet gems.

“The idea was to go to the weavers who were very skilled at
traditional patterns and urge them to make personal statements about
themselves — their weddings, landscapes — and create a folk-life
carpet,” Jevremovic said.

“Probably two-thirds of what is done is an open-ended experiment.”

With the advent of the computer, other U.S. dealers have followed
Jevremovic’s example and have become directly involved in the
production ofcarpets in far-flung places such as China, Pakistan,
India and Nepal, where Tibetan refugees make unique hand-knotted
pieces in designs distinct from Middle East examples.

While natural dyes have become commonplace in contemporary
Oriental rugs, many of today’s handmade rugs and textiles often mix
synthetic with natural dyes. Armen Babaian, a third-generation dealer
in Milwaukee, said certain reds or blues come from natural dyes while
blacks are generally made from synthetics.

It was the cheap aniline dyes that transformed once
“fantastic-looking” Turkish rugs, for example, into a sorry sight,
according to Emmett Eiland, author of Oriental Rugs Today: A Guide to
the Best New Carpets from the East (Berkeley Hills Books, 216 pages,
$34.95). “The purple would fade and run to nothing, while the orange
would stay orange.”

Eiland also mentioned “the eccentric colors” that infused Chinese
rugmaking, especially in the 1920s and 1930s with the popularity of
the ArtDeco style. While such notable decorators and craftsmen as
Louis Comfort Tiffanywere genuinely enthusiastic about the more
traditional Chinese rugs, the Chinesesaw rugmaking essentially as a
moneymaking operation.

By the early 1960s, the classic designs of Persia, the Caucasus,
China and Afghanistan were being reproduced by expert weavers in India
and Pakistan.

“Salesmen from New York would show up with rugs of the same design
year after year, and it became boring,” Eiland said.

At the same time, the collecting and veneration of antique rugs
thrived not only in the museum world but also in domestic settings.

During the Cold War, the United States remained a storehouse of
antique rugs and a favorite haunt of foreign dealers and their agents
in search of bargains. The reason for this abundance of treasures:
Beginning in the late19th century, Gilded Age prosperity nurtured a
new taste for luxury among the increasingly cosmopolitan homemakers in
booming metropolises such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and
Boston.

But as the prices of antique pieces skyrocketed, wall-to-wall
carpeting or machine-made rugs in Oriental designs became the floor
coverings of choice.

Carpets lacking an antique pedigree often wound up being offered for
sale as “estate rugs” rather than simply “used rugs.” Today, consumers
confront the challenge of frequent “going out of business” sales,
often a ploy for selling off rugs of lesser quality.

But even as we move out of the Dark Ages into this Oriental
rugmaking renaissance, Jevremovic admitted that the new handmade rugs
may not appeal to everyone.

“A lot of our rugs go to people who are worldly and well-traveled,
often with an art background,” he said. “They have a special
presence. Some people may like them in a gallery or a museum but not
want to live with them.”

Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune.

ArmenPress
March 15 2004

EUROPEAN UNION COMMITS TO ASSIST ARMENIA WITH 20 MILLION IN 2004-2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS: On 15 March Armenian Finance and
Economy Minister Vartan Khachatrian, who is also EU National
Coordinator, and Torben Holtze, Head of the European Commission
Delegation signed National Indicative Program 2004-2006. The program
describes overall objectives and ways to assist Armenia through the
European Union’s Tacis program for the three years. The Indicative
Program will support the overall European Union strategy of
strengthening the independence of Armenia and its progress to a
market economy and fully developed democracy.
Tacis Indicative Program 2004-2006 covers the following two
priority areas:
a) support for institutional, legal and administrative reform with
an indicative budget allocation of 13.5 million and b) support in
addressing the social consequences of transition with an emphasis on
the vocational education sector. The indicative budget allocation for
the latter is 6.5 million. The overall funding under the Indicative
Program 2004-2006 will be 20 million euros.
“As it was reiterated by the current Government, strengthening
Armenia’s partnership with the EU remains one of the main priorities
of Armenia’s foreign policy and is aimed at gradual deepening of
integration with the EU. Tacis along with other EU programs will
continue to be the main tool to assist the Government in the
implementation of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, being
the cornerstone of our partnership relations between Armenia and the
EU,” said Mr. Khachatrian.
Holtze stressed: “The present Indicative Program shows commitment
of the EU to assist Armenia and aims to respond to the priorities of
the deeper political relationship, with the expectation that each
project should contribute in some way towards meeting the objectives
worked out jointly.”
A more detailed bi-annual Action Program will be adopted setting
out specific projects and the funding available, within the
guidelines given in the Indicative Program.
Speaking to reporters after the signing ceremony, the Minister
mentioned that the construction of Iran-Armenia gas pipeline is
possibly to start later this year, and added that there is some
ongoing work for development of alternative sources of energy,
particularly, three airheads are expected to be built this year,
apart from negotiations on building 2 or 3 hydro power plants. He
argued also that after upgrading the Yerevan Thermal Power plant the
prime cost of electricity will decrease significantly, nearing the
price of electricity produced by the nuclear plant. These measures,
according to the minister, would enable the authorities and EU
representatives to start negotiating a closure deadline of the
Armenian nuclear power plant. He added that the EU has pledged only
100 million euros to that end, while replacing the nuclear plant by a
similar facility will require at least $1 billion.
Torben Holtze in turn said that the EU’s support in the
construction of Iran-Armenia pipeline may come only after fixing the
concrete date of the nuclear power plant’s closure. He said that the
pipeline may also ship gas to Europe, but added that for the time
being it is still early to speak about it. Khachatrian added that the
plant will be closed as soon as there are equal facilities to replace
it, without even waiting for construction of Iran-Armenia pipeline.

Trend news agency, Baku, in Russian
10 Mar 04

Azeri, Armenian ministers to meet OSCE mediators in late March –
Russian envoy

BAKU

Trend correspondent E. Huseynov: The Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign
ministers will meet the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group on the
Nagornyy Karabakh settlement in late March, the Russian ambassador to
Azerbaijan, Nikolay Ryabov, has told Trend news agency. He did not
name the venue for the meeting, but said that the discussions would be
held in a European country.

Ryabov also commented on a recent statement by the [Russian]
president’s special representative for the Nagornyy Karabakh
settlement [and first deputy foreign minister], Vyacheslav Trubnikov,
that the conflict had reached deadlock. “This was said somewhat
emotionally and hastily. The search for a mutually acceptable agenda
is under way,” Ryabov said. The forthcoming meeting of the foreign
ministers and the co-chairmen is to elaborate the agenda of a
peaceful settlement to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, he added.

RIA Novosti, Russia
March 11 2004

GEORGIAN PRESIDENT TO PAY OFFICIAL VISIT TO ARMENIA

YEREVAN, March 11, 2004. (RIA Novosti). Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili will arrive in Armenia on Friday on a two-day official
visit at an invitation from his Armenian counterpart Robert
Kocharyan.

The Georgian delegation includes the ministers of foreign affairs,
energy, infrastructures and development, the President’s
representative in Samtse-Dzhavakheti (a Georgian region inhabited
mainly by Armenians) and parliamentarians, the press service of the
Armenian President said on Thursday.

On Friday the two leaders will hold private and extended talks.

Mikhail Saakashvili is to meet with Armenian parliamentary speaker
Artur Bagdasaryan and Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan.

The Georgian President is also scheduled to meet with Catholicos of
All Armenians Garegin II and to attend the memorial to the victims of
Armenians genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

Mikhail Saakashvili’s visit will focus on a wide range of bilateral
and regional issues, in particular, transit tariffs on Armenian
cargoes.

Agence France Presse
March 11, 2004 Thursday

Murder scandal to impact Karabakh peace talks: Armenia

YEREVAN

An Azeri officer’s alleged murder of an Armenian colleague during a
NATO training course in Hungary will affect the talks between the two
countries over the separatist enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian
President Robert Kocharyan said.

“This is a disgrace for every country and society. Anti-Armenian
phobia found its physical outlet,” Kocharyan told students at
Yerevan’s university Wednesday, adding that “this murder will
certainly impact the talks.”

Armenian Lieutenant Gurgen Markarian was hacked to death with an axe
while he slept in a student dormitory in the Hungarian capital,
Budapest.

Police there have arrested Azeri officer Lieutenant Ramil Safarov,
who was studying alongside Markarian, in connection with the killing.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war between 1989 and 1994 over
Nagorno-Karabakh, in the course of which about 35,000 people were
killed on both sides and over a million had to flee their homes.

A ceasefire was agreed in 1994, by which time Armenian forces had won
control of the mostly Armenian populated enclave within Azerbaijan.
But Azerbaijan has vowed to regain control and the two sides are
still formally at war.

Armenia attributed the murder to the “anti-Armenian hysteria” fanned
by the Azeri government, while Azeri officials countered that the
alleged killer was himself a refugee from the conflict with Armenia
and that the victim had taunted him over the conflict.

The murder in Budapest has unleashed a new round of verbal sparring
between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which are still locked in a tense
military stand-off.