Author: Hovhannisian John

ILHAM ALIYEV: PRAGUE PROCESS IS THE MOST ACCEPTABLE WAY OF SETTLING KARABAKH CONFLICT
By Gohar Gevorgian

AZG Armenian Daily
31/08/2006

On the sidelines of "Caspian Perspectives-2008" congress in Slovenian
town of Bled president Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan stated that
presently the negotiation process is being conducted within the
framework of Prague format that means stage-by-stage settlement
of dispute. Commenting on Aliyev’s words Vladimir Karapetian,
spokesperson for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, told Regnum that
Armenia continually touches upon the Prague process. "We are talking
about the basic principles lying on the negotiation table.

Thus, the Armenian side has nothing new to say about the Prague
Process," he said.

Day.az news agency reports that dubbing the Prague Process most
acceptable option, Aliyev expressed hope that Armenia will at last
display constructive approach and will in turn make efforts for
conflict’s regulation. Aliyev also demanded to liberate "occupied"
lands without any prerequisite saying he is not going to give up his
position that is based on international regulations. Aliyev senior
did not forget to add that the unresolved Nagorno Karabakh conflict
is a source of serious threat to the whole region.

Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian also touched upon Karabakh
conflict in Slovenia saying that the negotiations today are at
critical point and the world community has to do everything to bring
Azerbaijan back to realistic and constructive position for discussing
the principles on the negotiation table.

As to the meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, Tair
Kakhizade, head Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s Information Department,
said that the meeting between FMs will be held in mid-September but
the date and place are not finalized yet, Regnum reports. The Armenian
Foreign Ministry says that information about future meeting will be
released only upon Oskanian’s return.

EU NEIGHBOURS DRIFTING INTO WAR, BRUSSELS WARNS
By Andrew Rettman

EUobserver.com, Belgium
Aug. 29, 2006

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Brussels has voiced alarm at the mounting
risk of open warfare in the EU’s southeast neighbours – Georgia,
Armenia and Azerbaijan – amid European plans to sign new cooperation
pacts and build new pipelines in the region.

"Negative trends are coming together, the combination of which
is, frankly, alarming," external relations commissioner Benita
Ferrero-Waldner said at an experts’ forum in Slovenia on Monday
(28 August), citing a recent upswing in aggressive rhetoric and
arms spending.

"Defence spending is going through the roof," she stated, adding
"there is a serious danger of the rhetoric lowering the threshold
for war" in reference to the so-called "frozen conflicts" of Abkhazia
and South Ossetia in Georgia and Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.

The three regions tore away from Georgia and Azerbaijan in three
separate conflicts in the early 1990s which together claimed some
35,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands before the various
warring parties ceased fire after reaching tense impasses.

Local diplomats say potshots are still exchanged "daily" on the
Nagorno-Karabakh border and "monthly" on the borders of the Georgian
territories, with one woman shot dead in fighting between Georgian
troops and Abkhazian separatists in the Kodori Gorge in July.

The International Crisis Group’s (ICG) Europe director, Nicholas Whyte,
shared Ms Ferrero-Waldner’s analysis, saying "That’s an extremely
reasonable concern…they are preparing for war."

He cited potential Georgian military aggression in Abkhazia and
potential Azeri aggression in Nagorno-Karabakh as the most likely
threats to peace in the short term.

Preparing for war Georgia’s military budget proportionally increased
faster than any other country’s in the world last year, he stated,
while Azerbaijan has boasted that its military budget in 2007 will be
the size of the total budget of Armenia – its main aggressor in the
conflict over the ethnic-Armenian dominated Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Georgian and Azerbaijani diplomats in Brussels both say they
are committed to diplomatic conflict resolution under the various
multinational formats at work in the region, but Tbilisi sees Abkhazia
and South Ossetia as Russian-run mafia enclaves while Baku makes no
secret of its growing impatience with the status quo.

"[Displaced] Azerbaijani people have been waiting for the liberation
of the occupied territories, to return to their occupied lands for
15 years," an Azeri diplomat told EUobserver. "It’s ridiculous to
wait for ever, to stand and do nothing."

Russia is an added complicating factor in the region, with between
2,000 and 3,000 Russian "peacekeeping" troops stationed in Abkhazia and
South Ossetia as well as significant numbers in Armenia, with Moscow
issuing thousands of Russian passports to the Georgian separatists.

If fighting breaks out, the ICG’s Mr Whyte believes both Georgia and
Azerbaijan "are underestimating" the severity of the international
and Russian reaction, with Baku also underestimating the tactical
defensibility of Nagorno-Karabakh by an inferior force.

EU goals at risk Ms Ferrero-Waldner is planning to visit the region
in October to sign political and economic "action plans" for closer
EU integration, with the Georgian and Armenian action plan texts set
to "take note that [these countries] have expressed their European
aspirations" for future EU membership.

The texts are also set to give Georgia and Armenia the option to
formally "align themselves" with "some" future EU statements on common
foreign and security policy topics.

But the EU commissioner warned that sepratism could derail the
integration process, saying on 28 August that "the most important
impediments to the region’s development are the frozen conflicts."

South Caucasus is strategically important to the EU, with Azerbaijani
oil already flowing from Baku via Georgia and Turkey to Europe
through the so-called BCT pipeline, and with plans afoot for major
gas pipelines to the EU from the Caspian Sea basin in the next five
to ten years.

Western analysts agree that the energy income to supplier state
Azerbaijan and transit state Georgia is helping to buy extra arms
and creating a bullish atmosphere however. "Oil is not helping to
lubricate conflict resolution," Mr Whyte said.

CHINESE AND KAZAKHS INTEND TO JOIN KARS-TBILISI-BAKU RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION

Yerevan, August 28. ArmInfo. China and Kazakhstan got interested in
the Project of Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway construction, passing over
Armenia, Kazakh "IA" informs with reference to Turkish Mass Media.

The source noted that the Chinese intend to join the railway
construction to be launched in 2007. In case of the Project success,
Turkey will become the main transport and power corridor, which
bounds Europe, Caucasus and Asia by a ground transport and power
communications. The Turkish representatives had already called this
Project a "New Silk Way from Asia to Europe". It is envisaged that
the annual cargo turnover by this railway will be no less than 20
mln tons. After the transport network commissioning, the town of
Kars will be joined with Chinese Shanghai. The Kazakh Agency informs
Turkey pins great hopes on Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway Project which,
as to Ankara, will radically change the whole region face.

Kars-Tbilisi-Baku will establish a direct connection between Azerbaijan
and Turkey which is an important element, meeting the strategy of
Ankara and Baku for strengthening of all-round military-political
relations.

To be reminded, about $400 mln is envisaged to direct for the Project
implementation. In the opinion of some Turkish experts, in case of
Kars-Tbilisi-Baku Project fulfillment, positions of Armenia and Russia
in the region will greatly weaken.

SOME 20,000 PEOPLE TO BECOME MEMBERS OF ELECTION COMMITTEES

Panorama.am
16:17 28/08/06

Some 19,697 citizens of Armenia may become members of election
committees, Tsovinar Khachatryan, press spokeswoman of Central
Electoral Committee, told Panorama.am. The Election Code requires that
election committee member pass trainings and receive certificates
before they can participate in elections as committee members. Some
36383 citizens have applied for such certificates but only half of
them received them. Citizens have been especially active in Yerevan.

Some 10013 people applied for training but only 6860 could pass the
test.

Concord Monitor, NH
Aug. 25, 2006

Our place of peace, their world of war
No summer idylls for Lebanese kids

By KATY BURNS
For the Monitor

August 25. 2006 8:00AM

It was a near-idyllic evening just a month ago in the only Henniker
on Earth.

A local barbershop chorus, the Concord Coachmen, was the
entertainment. Listening were well over 100 people, most of whom had
brought their own folding chairs, gathered on the shaded lawn outside
New England College’s art gallery.

Many were gray-haired and a bit wrinkly, but there were young
families, too. A few toddlers took full advantage of the soft grass
and their indulgent overseers, and they romped, sweetly, in front of
the chorus. One particularly exhilarated young lady ran first one
way, then the other, always followed by one of her adult keepers. She
was having the time of her extremely young life. And she was also
about as safe as a child could be.

As harmonies filled the summer air, a welcome breeze arose, almost
dispelling the heat we had all been enduring.

The singers took a break. Much of the audience retreated to folding
tables laden with punch and cookies that had been provided, we were
told, by "the peace group." We had no idea what the peace group was,
and it didn’t matter. In this quintessential college town, there had
to be a peace group. Peace groups are as much a part of our New
England heritage as stone walls and steepled meetinghouses.

—ADVERTISEMENT—

Refreshed, the audience and the entertainers enjoyed a few more
songs, including a medley of stirring patriotic tunes. Then all
dispersed into the deepening dusk.
It was wonderful. But it was hard to forget that, half a globe away,
in the perpetually tortured Middle East, society had abruptly,
explosively shattered once again. There were no peace groups there,
not really. Had there been one, it would have been far too busy to
serve punch and cookies.

Children were not cavorting on soft grass. They were huddled in bomb
shelters, at best. They were stranded amid piles of rubble, clutched
tightly in the arms of their shell-shocked and frantic parents. They
were dead, horribly dead, or lost, separated from their mothers and
fathers, accidents of war, collateral damage.

The picture in Henniker that evening was an updated 19th century
Currier and Ives illustration brought to life. In Israel and Lebanon
– and in violence-wracked Iraq and in Gaza, where Israel’s bombing of
a power plant has created a humanitarian nightmare – we had the raw
and vivid footage of the savagery of 21st century warfare.

Now, at least in the case of Israel and Lebanon, there’s a ceasefire.
No one seems to know exactly what that means, and few believe it will
last.

Much of Lebanon is rubble. Its infrastructure – roads, bridges, power
plants, ports – has been laid waste by Israeli bombs and warships. It
is an ecological calamity as well, especially an 87-mile long oil
slick caused by Israeli destruction of an oil storage depot – a
moving catastrophe that threatens not only Lebanon’s fragile
coastline but also that of its neighbors, including Israel.

Lebanon had spent nearly two decades rebuilding after another clash
with Israel and a brutal civil war. It was bright and shiny and open
for business. Now it’s shuttered again. Close to 1,200 people are
dead, the vast majority civilians.

Israel got off a lot better when it came to physical damage. The
rockets that streaked incessantly into the country, terrifying as
they might have been, were far less damaging than Israel’s massive
air strikes. While fires devastated farmlands along the Lebanon
border, Israel’s infrastructure is essentially intact, and fewer than
one-third of its 157 dead were civilians.

Yet the more seriously damaged party in this madness may well be
beleaguered Israel, surrounded by mortal enemies. Its aura of
military invincibility is seriously damaged, and its principal
nemesis in the latest conflict is lionized by Arabs throughout the
Middle East.

No matter what anyone claims, there are no winners here.

Tranquility lost

We can be thankful that at least some guns have gone silent, however
temporarily. But the future of the most recent combatants, and that
of the benighted citizens of Gaza, looks bleak. Nearby Iraq is a
cauldron of violence and sectarian hatred that boils furiously each
day, clearly beyond the control of our military or its nominal Iraqi
"allies."

It is nearly impossible for most of us, whose forebears probably came
to this country to escape Europe’s incessant and bloody wars, even to
begin to imagine the day-to-day stress and sadness of living in such
places. Despite the efforts of some politicians to scare us half to
death, the truth is we live in security and even tranquility.

Once, Lebanon offered a similar tranquility to those fleeing violence
elsewhere, as our friend Steve reminded us in an e-mail the other
day. His father and several relatives were among the lucky few who
escaped Turkey’s brutal, bloody purge of its ethnic Armenian
minority. For 20 years, the remnants of the shattered family found
welcome refuge in Beirut.

Steve’s father emigrated from Lebanon to the United States in 1939,
but he never lost his love for the nation and the city. Once a
vibrant, tolerant city known as the Paris of the Middle East, Beirut
gave him sanctuary, and he instilled that same affection in his only
son. Today, that son is heartbroken, as are so many other Americans
with ties to that blood-soaked part of the world.

And all of us who live far removed from the conflict find woes half a
world away casting their sad shadow here, even in a place as serene
as the only Henniker on Earth.

(Monitor columnist Katy Burns lives in Bow.)

AZG Armenian Daily #162, 26/08/2006

Obituary

CONDOLENCE

On occasion of death of great poetess, worthy daughter
of the Armenian people Silva Kaputikian, Tekeyan
Cultural Association of Armenia expresses its
condolence to the Armenian people in Armenia and in
Diaspora and the poetess’ son Ara Shiraz as well as
her other relatives.

5TH GYUMRI BIENNALE OF CONTEMPORARY ART IS A SUCCESS
By Nana Petrosian

AZG Armenian Daily
25/08/2006

The 5th Gyumri Biennale of Contemporary Art was held this year on
August 12-18. 102 artists from 19 countries arrived in Armenia,
the organizers said at a press conference at the Gevorgian Gallery
meanwhile stressing their satisfaction with biennale’s results.

Organizer Arpi Tokmajian says that the biennale "was a real celebration
for the representatives of the contemporary art and the residents
of Gyumri, of course." With the framework of biennale an open-air
exhibition on the shore of the Lake Sevan was staged.

"We all know that the cultural life is focused in Yerevan. We wanted
to transfer it to the regions," said founder of Gyumri Biennale, Azat
Sargsian. He also said that they received no financial assistance from
the state, and Arpi Tokmajian added: "This time we decided to spare
our efforts directing them to inviting foreign artists and searching
for other sources of funding."

AZG Armenian Daily #157, 19/08/2006

Armenian Genocide

GERMANS TO PAY HOMAGE TO VICTIMS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Tomorrow, representatives of the Red Cross of
Germany’s Marburg Biedenkopf district headed by Hans
Kalonska will visit Tsitsernakaberd, memorial to the
victims of the Armenian Genocide, to pay homage to
innocent victims and will plant a spruce as well as
will visit the Armenian Genocide Institute-Museum.

The representatives of German Red Cross closely
cooperate with their colleagues in Armenia organizing
contests of quick response teams. In 1989, more than
100 people from the German Red Cross arrived in
earthquake-hit Spitak rendering medical aid and
building 500 living blocks, kindergartens and Schools
in Stepanavan. The organization also helped "Zatik"
orphanage.

The rescuers of Armenian Red Cross took the first
place in a European contest in Austria in 2004.

EURASEC – UKRAINE’S CHESTNUTS, ARMENIA’S FEARS AND KYRGYZSTAN’S LESSONS: INTERVIEW WITH KONSTANTIN ZATULIN

Regnum, Russia
Aug. 17, 2006

Konstantin Zatulin is Member of the Russian State Duma, Head of the
CIS Institute

REGNUM: Mr. Zatulin, the EurAsEC summit in Sochi is over. Experts
say that its key topic is energy. What agreements could have been
reached at the summit, particularly, to overcome the Ukrainian-Russian
"gas conflict"?

The Sochi forum is certainly a very important event, and one of its
most important points – to me – is that Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovich is taking part in it. It is hardly a coincidence that the
head of the new Ukrainian government has first come to Russia exactly
now that it is hosting a EurAsEC summit.

Here we can see a hint from both sides that the former plans to
involve Ukraine in the Common Economic Space (CES) are coming back.

It was exactly because of Ukraine’s setback from real integration
that the SEC project was stalled. Now, after some pause – the orange
policy in Ukraine and the comeback of Viktor Yanukovich – integration
projects are coming back into the spotlight. And this moment should
not be missed even despite the seemingly domineering energy agenda.

Of course, energy security is a very painful problem for Ukraine, and
in Sochi Yanukovich will have to raise the problem of energy supplies
to make it clear – first of all, to his opponents – why exactly he
is there. This is especially important as those very opponents have
left him not a very good legacy: I mean not so much the contracts
made as the very simple fact that there is very little gas in Ukraine
and the winter is not very far. No gas has been stored so far, while
Naftogaz is almost bankrupt. That’s what Yanukovich has to deal with,
and even his most active supporters – somewhere deep in their hearts –
rely, first of all, on his ability to agree with Russia.

At the same time, I would like to note that today the key vexing
factor for Ukraine in its aggravating gas problems is not Russia but
Turkmenistan. Ashgabat’s plans to raise the disbursing price of its
gas from $60 to $100 may cause quite a dramatic change in the structure
of the Turkmen-Russian gas cocktail Ukraine is receiving today.

REGNUM: Is there any possibility that the policy of the new Ukrainian
government or the interference of Russia in the Ukrainian-Turkmen
talks may reduce the gas tariff for Ukraine?

I don’t see any possibility of Russia’s reducing the tariff. It would
be a naïve and irresponsible step on Russia’s part – a step that would
be contrary to the general tendencies in the world. On the other
hand, they may well review the terms of gas supplies. For example,
they may credit Ukraine or reconsider some accompanying problems,
like the ownership of Ukraine’s gas networks or the possibility of
Russia, Ukraine and Germany forming a consortium. I don’t see why
the sides cannot discuss these problems again, though it seems it
was the Ukrainian politicians who preferred to drive their own selves
into a deadlock.

As regards the talks with Turkmenistan, Russia has certain ways to
interest the Turkmen side, though it will be hard for the Russians to
explain why they can raise the tariffs while the Turkmens can’t. The
Russians should, first of all, understand why, in the first place,
they are pulling others’ chestnuts out of the fire. First of all, they
should understand the logic and the dynamics of the home politics in
Ukraine. Yanukovich himself has given cause for that by saying that,
for example, the status of the Russian language is a pragmatic problem
because of the lack of Constitutional majority. In Sochi he made a
symptomatic statement that, as soon as they form such a majority,
the Party of Regions will redeem its electoral promises.

So, what the Universal says is not a dogma for Yanukovich and
even though in considering the status of the Russian language the
Universal refers mostly to the Constitution, it also refers to the
European Charter.

I would like to especially note that, besides the problems of energy
and integration, Russia and Ukraine have many more problems to
discuss. They in Russia realize that the Yanukovich government is a
government of compromise who is capable of showing positive dynamics
in relations. This is one more coin to Yanukovich’s "money-box,"
which will allow him to further strengthen his positions in Ukraine,
especially as there are different people in the new Ukrainian
government. It’s no coincidence that Yanukovich has come to Sochi
without Foreign Minister Tarasyuk, who is well known for his
anti-Russian views.

REGNUM: How real is the prospect of Armenia’s joining EurAsEC and
Moldova’s getting closer to it?

I am not sure that Moldova will show a constructive position. There are
serious grounds for not trusting the words of Moldavian politicians.

For Armenia EurAsEC membership is certainly of strategic importance.

No coincidence that Armenian President Robert Kocharyan is now in
Sochi as an observer. Of course, Armenia should make this decision
itself, based on its own economic priorities and goals. However,
we should also keep in mind that Armenia is full member to the CSTO.

Another significant factor influencing Armenia’s plans is the Karabakh
problem, which will hardly be solved in the near future.

On the other hand, Armenia’s integration plans are strongly
restrained by the position and behavior of Georgia, who prevents
normal communication between the South and the North. Yerevan is
greatly suffering from Georgia’s destructive policy of blockading the
Armenia-Russia railroad in Abkhazia and from its revengeful plans
with respect to Abkhazia and South Ossetia – something Armenia has
nothing to do with. It seems that the moment of truth is ripening
not only in Russian-Georgian but also in Armenian-Georgian relations.

Until now Armenia has been demonstratively neutral. They have tried to
avoid any tensions with Georgia, they have been consciously damping
down the problem of Javakheti and have even refused to support the
protest actions of Armenians in that Georgian region.

I think that they in Armenia should also realize that Georgia’s
adventurism will certainly cause complications – and Armenia will
be the first to suffer from them – as this all is leading to drastic
changes in the force distribution in the region, which is certainly bad
for Yerevan. I can understand the fears of the Armenian authorities,
but they should realize that this problem is caused by Georgia and
does not depend on Armenia. The slapdash policy of the Georgian
leaders is a big threat to all the region’s countries. In fact,
the Georgian authorities are implicating their own country into a
new civil war that may spur up new conflicts all over the regions.

As regards Armenia, it continues being dependent not so much on its
neutral relations with Georgia as on the presence of Russia and its
position in the region.

REGNUM: Some Russian experts say that Moscow will use the Sochi summit
for warning the EurAsEC member-states against getting much too close
with the US and note that this, first of all, refers to Kyrgyzstan…

They probably mean that under Akayev Kyrgyzstan was the first CIS
country to join WTO. Let’s admit that this membership has given no
special happiness to the Kyrgyz people. The country has turned into
a kind of Klondike and has gone through most severe crisis. Its very
integrity is under question and is being preserved just artificially
for fear of a possible chain reaction in the region. The US’ support,
particularly, its military base in Manas, has not insured the country
against such developments.

Balancing between the interests of Russia and the US in hope for
results gives no results, as a rule. Kyrgyzstan should better refrain
from hypocrisy and show more clarity in its attitudes. Left to the
mercy of the fate, many in Central Asia hoped that the role of the
US’ closest friend will help them to strengthen their positions, but
later they understood that to be friend with the US means to give it
part of one’s own sovereignty. The most vivid example is Karimov. The
Americans proved this with the "knack" of elephant in china-shop, which
resulted in a civil war in Kyrgyzstan and Andijan events in Uzbekistan.

At the same time, I think that today Russia has no claims against
Kyrgyzstan. The sides are cooperating on a whole range of issues,
and Kyrgyzstan is fulfilling its commitments. By the way, it
was exactly and exclusively Kyrgyzstan who officially objected to
Ukraine’s admission into WTO even though they in Ukraine did much –
even against their own interests – to push their country into WTO
ahead of Russia. And their stumbling was due mostly to Kyrgyzstan.

As regards Kyrgyzstan’s own membership, once they have joined
WTO, nobody is going to persuade them to leave it. True, this is
contradictory to Russia’s EurAsEC plans, but this is up to the Kyrgyz
leaders to overcome all possible contradictions.

–Boundary_(ID_s2rCPwEihwapuKugE5 6oLA)–

ROBERT KOCHARIAN DESCRIBES EURASEC NON-OFFICIAL SUMMIT AS CONSTRUCTIVE, EFFECTIVE AND INTERESTING

Armenpress
Aug 16 2006

SOCHI, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS: The leaders of the Eurasian Economic
Community (EurAsEC) countries met today at the Sochi’s "Rus" health
complex as part of the non-official summit of the members of the
EurAsEC to discuss issues on creation of legal basis for the formation
of customs union within the establishment and issues on the development
of the organization.

At a press conference which followed after the meeting Vladimir
Putin said they have discussed a wide-range of issues which are
very important for the organization and underscored the necessity of
creation of general economic system.

For the creation of the customs union the leaders signed a document
instructing EurAsEC Secretariat as well as Russia, Belarus and
Kazakhstan undertake necessary steps for the creation of legal basis
for the formation of the union. The Russian president said that the
most important achievement at the summit was that all the countries
supported the idea of creation of general energy market. A great
attention was also paid to the cooperation of EurAsEC countries in
the sphere of nuclear energy.

The participants of the summit also discussed issues on deepening
cooperation of the EurAsEC and CSTO. As a positive example of the
cooperation, Armenia’s membership to CSTO and its status of observer in
the EurAsEC was noted. Vladimir Putin thanked his Armenian counterpart
for participating in the summit and said that the cooperation of
the two organizations has serious prospect as "it is impossible to
develop the economy and deepen cooperation without ensuring security."

During the summit a document was signed according to which Uzbekistan
has become a full member of the CSTO.

Armenian President Robert Kocharian described the summit as
constructive, effective and interesting suggesting that non-official
meetings be organized more often and wider range of issues be discussed
during them – starting from issues on cultural cooperation to economic
one. The summit will continue tomorrow.