Author: Kamalian Hagop

RUSSIAN POLITOLOGIST: DURING ITS WHOLE HISTORY KARABAKH HAS NEVER BEEN
A PART OF AZERBAIJAN

YEREVAN, MAY 23. ARMINFO. The main and final resolution regarding
settlement of the Karabakh conflict may be passed only on the basis of
an agreement between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
Chairman of Armenian club “Miabanutyun” (Unity) in Moscow,
politologist Smbat Karakhanian expressed such an opinion in the
“Gazeta SNG” (Newspaper of CIS).

According to him, such an agreement may be based on the results of
referendum held in Karabakh. At the same time, one should take into
attention that the overwhelming majority of the NKR population pins
hopes for settlement of this problem on Russia, at the same time not
excluding the cooperation with other countries. Noteworthy, the
authorities and people of Karabakh during the last ten years proved
their tolerance more than once in the issues of inter-national
relations, the politologist adds. “Of course, the leadership of
Armenia has serious influence on the people and the power of Karabakh,
but without direct participation of the Karabakh side in the
negotiation process and adopting a resolution any settlement will be
inferior. One should not forget that the main condition of settlement
of the conflict and further ensuring of the vital activity of the
region is the guarantee of security”, Karakhanian stressed. According
to him, it is obvious that the negotiation process will be long.

“At the moment the life showed that the best version is to keep the
status-quo, which exists today”, the politologist said, at the same
time expressing an opinion that the Azerbaijani party should not be
led by Turkish politicians and generals, who have in aggressive and
bellicose attitude.

According to Smbat Karakhanian, despite the interests of largest super
powers, it is necessary to admit that the main component of settlement
of this problem remains the will of the population of Karabakh, and
the sooner involvement of the Karabakh side in the negotiation process
may become the key for settlement of the conflict. “It is necessary to
remember that during its whole history Karabakh has never been a part
of Azerbaijan”, said the politologist.

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| 16:06:59 | 23-05-2005 | Social |

ARMENIAN SOLDIERS TRANSPORTED TO GORI

The Armenian soldiers who had left the Akhaltskha Georgian military point at
the beginning of May have finally been transported to Gori. Let us remind
you that on May 2 14 Armenian soldiers of the Akhaltskha Georgian army 3rd
brigade 31st battalion, unable to tolerate the violations of the Georgian
soldiers, left their serving point.

According to `A-Info’, with the silent consent of the Commanders, the
Georgian soldiers maltreated the Armenian soldiers for being Armenian and
not speaking Georgian.

After the escape the Georgian Ombudsman, the authorities of the Akhalkalak
region and the parents of the soldiers interfered into the case. As a result
the Georgian Defense Ministry resigned Nodar Ivanidze, commander of the 3rd
brigade, and Zaza Chkheidze, commander of the 31st battalion.

Taking into account the moral atmosphere created, the Armenian soldiers have
been transported to the Gori military point by the Georgian Defense
Ministry.

EUROPEAN ECONOMIC CHAMBER TO CONTRIBUTE TO ECONOMIC REFORMS IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, MAY 20. ARMINFO. Speaker of Armenia’s National Assembly Artur
Baghdassaryan met today with President of the European Economic Trade,
Commerce and Industry Chamber Hans Helmut Weysputek.

As ARMINFO was informed in the press-service of Armenian Parliament,
Weysputek noted that the task of the Chamber is to contribute to
economic reforms in Armenia. In this connection, several projects in
educational, tourism and high technologies spheres will be realized.
He informed that after drawing the programs will be submitted to the
EU examination. In his turn, Baghdassaryan stressed the importance
of Armenia’s economy’s integration to the European economic field and
expressed readiness to assist the Chamber’s activity in Armenia. -r-

In 2004, turnover of Armenia with the 25 EU countries totaled $735 mln
– 35.6% of all Armenia’s foreign commerce (export from Armenia totaled
$259 mln, import – $476 mln). It grew by 7% as against 2003. -r-

This Stubbornness Is Disappearing

Kommersant, Russia
May 20 2005

// The Russian General Headquarters is getting used to the idea of
withdrawing from Georgia

People’s friendship

Speaking before journalists yesterday, Yury Baluevsky, chief of the
General Headquarters of the Russian Armed Forces, said that Russia
and Georgia would soon reach an agreement at the expert level on the
dates and procedure for removing Russian military bases from Georgian
territory, as well as the parties’ obligations connected with this
process. General Baluevsky claimed there had been instances of
blockades of Russian bases. Tbilisi categorically denied this claim.

“In the very near future, there will be agreements at the expert
level on the dates and procedure for removal and the obligations of
the parties, including safety of removal,” Yury Baluevsky said. In
his opinion, there would be positive changes in the negotiation
process. “Russia and Georgia must document their obligations connected
with the removal procedure; otherwise, the Russian Ministry of Finance
will not be able to plan the financial resources needed to remove the
bases. Until recently, there was a stubborn insistence on signing
some sort of memorandum or protocol of intentions on this issue,
but no agreement,” General Baluevsky said. “Today, this stubbornness
is disappearing; the actual question now is how to prepare all the
necessary documents as quickly as possible in order to organize the
removal of Russian bases.”

Baluevsky stressed that Russia’s main condition was that Russian
military bases – about 50 facilities – must go to areas with
infrastructure and not to open country. He said he did not rule out the
possibility of transferring part of the Russian military contingent
from Georgia to Armenia. General Baluevsky recalled that Russia
had previously required 10-11 years to remove the bases, but was now
expressing a willingness to do it within four years. He explained why:
“A certain amount of time has passed, and we have to consider both
the political situation and the situation on the Russian bases.” The
general noted in particular that there had been instances of blockades
of Russian military bases in Georgia.

Georgian leaders immediately denied this claim. Soon after General
Baluevsky’s speech, Georgia’s Interior Ministry made its own statement,
according to which a student demonstration had taken place a few days
before near the headquarters of the Russian base in Batumi. “Their aim
was not to blockade the base; it was only a peaceful demonstration in
full conformity with Georgian and international law.” The ministry said
that the demonstration had ended, no others were going on, and there
were no obstacles to supplying the Russian bases with food. They’re
saying in Tbilisi that the Georgian leadership has refused to take
drastic measures before the end of the negotiations on the dates for
the withdrawal of Russian troops, especially since there appear to
be signs of progress in the negotiations.

There are problems, however. General Baluevsky let slip that Tbilisi is
trying to make financial claims for so-called ecological violations,
as well as claims relating to nonpayment of debts by Russian bases
and the return of property to Georgia. Tbilisi is advancing another
version – there are concerns there that Russia will make financial
claims and will try once again to raise the question of paying it
$300 million in compensation for withdrawing its troops. Sources in
the Georgian government say if that’s the case, Georgia will advance
the counterargument that, according to the calculations of Georgia’s
Ministry of Finance, the Russian side owes the same $300 million to the
state budget for the use of the land and other services. And, according
to Finance Minister Valery Chechelashvili, if you calculate ecological
damage, the amount could reach $1 billion. The Georgian government
is dropping hints that this counterargument will be brought in only
if the Russian delegation starts talking about monetary compensation
at the next round of negotiations on Monday. In that case, Georgia
will suggest that Russia agree to a “zero option”.

Nik Lagidze, a senior staff member in the prime minister’s office,
categorically denied allegations that Tbsili was demanding that part
of the material resources belonging to the Russian army and subject
to removal from Georgia be left behind (movable property, including
weapons). In fact, he said, the matter concerned returning immovable
property used previously by the Russian army to state ownership.

At the same time, the Georgian government has repeatedly said it may
consider the possibility of a gift transfer to Russian officers of
the apartments they lived in during their service in Georgia. Most
of these apartments are located in the center of Tbilisi (where
apartment prices are about $300-400 per sq. m) and the officers could
sell them at a profit, which would provide them with funds to solve
their housing problems in Russia.

by Vladimir Novikov, Tbilisi; Pavel Belov

Baku alarmed at possible Russian arms transfer to Armenia

Interfax, Russia
May 20 2005

BAKU. May 20 (Interfax-Azerbaijan) – Baku is alarmed by the
announcement made by Russian chief of staff General Yury Baluyevsky
that some of the weaponry from Russian military bases in Georgia will
be transferred to Armenia, Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov told
reporters on Friday.

Azimov said that in the past, Russia diverted some of its weaponry
withdrawn from Georgia to Armenia.

“This greatly worries us and we would not want Russia to take this
step again,” he said.

“Our concern stems from the need to take into account the extremely
sensitive situation in the region and the atmosphere of regional
security and stability,” he said.

Muskets and Mustachios: The Turkic World

Book Review of “Sons of the Conquerors: The Rise of the Turkic World,” by Hugh Pope

The Economist
May 21, 2005

The emergence of a clutch of newly independent Muslim Turkic states
following the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1991 stirred up
an intense, if short-lived, interest in the Turkic presence that
stretches from the outer edges of China all the way to the Balkans. At
its core lay Turkey whose ready, if wobbly, democracy, its free-market
economy and its own brand of moderate Islam, western strategists hoped,
could serve as a model.

Fired by visions of leading this Turkic world, imams, entrepreneurs
and language teachers all poured into the former Soviet republics. But
their fervour was soon tempered by Russia’s continued political and
cultural grip over its one-time colonies. With the exception of tiny
landlocked Kirgizstan, each of these countries is still ruled by its
corrupt former communist dictator, its every potential unfulfilled.
Indeed, modern Turks often seem to have more in common with their
Christian Greek neighbours than they do with their ethnic cousins
in Azerbaijan.

Hugh Pope, a veteran Istanbul-based correspondent of the Wall
Street Journal and co-author with Nicole Pope of an unrivalled
history of modern Turkey, “Turkey Unveiled”, might agree. Yet, in
his ambitious new book, “Sons of the Conquerors”, Mr Pope seeks to
unearth the common strands that link the 140m Turkic speakers across
the globe. In a quest that takes him from the grim battlefronts
of Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan to secret
encounters with Turkic-speaking Uighur nationalists in China, he has
produced the most comprehensive work on the Turks today. His book
is also very timely. As Turkey prepares to open membership talks
with the European Union later this year, Mr Pope’s affectionate yet
often critical gaze should help redefine the Shorter Oxford English
dictionary’s description of the Turk as “a cruel, savage, rigorous
or tyrannical man”.

Part-travelogue, part-history and part-political analysis, “Sons of
the Conquerors” overflows with hilarious anecdotes and distinctive
characters that only someone who speaks Turkish, Farsi and Arabic
as effortlessly as Mr Pope could dig up. There is the pan-Turkist
Azerbaijani doctor, Timur Agridag, who milks Caucasus vipers; Aslan
Abashidze, the president of the tiny autonomous republic of Ajaria, who
believes his model of New York’s Statue of Liberty is an image of the
Virgin Mary; and Nadya Yuguseva, who is a witch-doctor cum priestess
from Altay. “She wore a splendid, tall, round hat of reddish fur. I
complimented her on it, and she told me it was a traditional shaman
artefact made from the front paws of 12 foxes,” recalls the author.

So what are the essential characteristics that bind such Turks? The
answer is not so clear, Mr Pope readily admits, as he charts their
beginnings from the nomad armies who once conquered the Byzantine
Empire, large chunks of Europe and the Middle East. Some are not
Sunni but Shia Muslims, as in Iran; many in Soviet Central Asia are
atheists. They often speak mutually unintelligible dialects.

Even so, Mr Pope sees some important and unmistakable similarities:
“An engaging bluntness, loyalty to family, fearlessness and a rash
love of risk,” that makes him hopeful for the future. Yet, the Turks’
“ignorant pride can often give way to bombastic, insecure assertions
of superiority.” Moreover, the “constant struggle in many Turkic
hearts pits a love of authoritarian rule against a belief that the
pleasures and profits in life are to be gained from bypassing the
law in the manner of the heroic, mustachioed brigand.”

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone 212.319.6383, x137
Fax 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, May 19, 2005

AGBU SYDNEY HOSTS INAUGURAL TASHDJIAN ART EXHIBIT

Sydney, Australia – From April 30 to May 1, 2005 at the AGBU Alex
Manoogian Center, AGBU Sydney hosted the inaugural Australian art
exhibit of Cypriot Armenian painters Vartan Tashdjian and daughter,
Nanor Tashdjian-Gauci. With local government representatives,
community leaders and artists attending the opening reception, over
130 visitors and all artwork sold, AGBU Sydney’s first art exhibit
was an overwhelming success.

Multi-talented and award-winning Vartan Tashdjian has shown his
artwork in 42 solo exhibits and 40 group exhibits in Cyprus and
abroad. He also has extensive experience in the theater and as a lyric
tenor soloist, lecturer and author. His artwork graces institutions
of distinction in Cyprus, such as the Contemporary Art Gallery and
Presidential Palace. To view Vartan Tashdjian’s artwork, please visit

AGBU Sydney is committed to preserving and promoting the Armenian
identity and heritage through educational, cultural and humanitarian
programs. For more information on AGBU Sydney, please visit

For more information on AGBU and its worldwide chapters, please
visit

Russia to move some military hardware to Armenia – Chief of Staff

MOSCOW. May 19 (Interfax) – The Russian military bases will be
withdrawn from Georgia to the Russian territory, while some of the
bases’ hardware will be deployed in Armenia, Chief of the Russian
General Staff Gen. Yury Baluyevsky told Interfax on Thursday.

“The bases will be certainly withdrawn to the territory of Russia,”
he said.

Yet some of the military hardware and property will be moved to
Armenia, he said. “That will help us to reduce the withdrawal period
to four years,” he added.

“It is impossible to build an infrastructure for the military hardware
and property on the Russian territory within four years,” he said.

Conflicts may jeopardize Europe’s future – FM

Baku, May 17, AssA-Irada

Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at the 3rd Council of Europe
(CE) summit in Warsaw on Tuesday that conflicts may represent a
serious threat to the future of Europe.

Mammadyarov said that conflicts resulting in ethnic cleansing and
occupation of lands are particularly dangerous.

“Not only conflicts but also national policies lead to the
establishment of mono-ethnic borders of countries, which contradicts
European principles.”

Touching upon the Upper Garabagh conflict, Mammadyarov said the
leadership of Azerbaijan sees settlement of the conflict in the
integration of the self-proclaimed Upper Garabagh Republic, which does
not have its own Constitution, into Azerbaijan, return of refugees
and internally displaced persons home and peaceful co-existence of
Azerbaijani and Armenian communities.

Mammadyarov stressed that the Azerbaijani authorities are ready to
guarantee the security of Armenian population in Upper Garabagh.*

ARMENIA NOT TO RETURN 7 REGIONS

Pan Armenian News
18.05.2005 06:05

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian party gives a positive estimate to
the meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani President Robert Kocharian
and Ilham Aliyev in Warsaw, Armenian Foreign Ministry’s Press
Secretary Hamlet Gasparian. In his words, the meeting appears as
one more step towards the Karabakh conflict settlement and provides
for the possibility to continue the discussion of the problem on the
ministerial level within the Prague process. As H. Gasparian noted,
the Kocharian-Aliyev meeting was also positively assessed by the OSCE
Minsk Group Co-Chairs. The mediators have already proceeded to the
organization of the next round of negotiations. As for the statements
by the Azeri party referring to Armenia’s alleged consent to return
seven territories Hamlet Gasparian stated this information does not
correspond to reality.