Author: Kharatian Ani

SOLANA SAYS AGREEMENT WITH EU WILL GIVE A LOT TO ARMENIANS
By Harry Tamrazian in Brussels

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep
Nov 15 2006

Below is an RFE/RL Armenian Service interview with EU High Commissioner
for Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana.

Q.: What will the European Neighborhood Action Plan bring to the
people of Armenia and Azerbaijan?

A.: This is a plan of cooperation with the governments of Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Georgia. It has an objective to bring the three
countries closer to the European Union with a mechanism that we have
used with countries that finally became members of the European
Union. The important part of it is that it is agreed between the
governments of the respective countries and the European Union. That
is, it is not the EU that will be governing your countries, but
you will govern yourselves and will receive help from the EU. If
the government is good, if it does things properly, it will receive
help accordingly.

Q.: And what if the government is not good?

A.: In that case the cooperation with the government will diminish.

If the government takes advantage of the help, the element of the
neighborhood policy is to keep on help and increase the cooperation.

If you do things better you’ll get more. If the government fails to do
sufficiently it will get less. This is the same political technology
that was applied to countries that later became EU members, sector
by sector, chapter by chapter in a very well-organized fashion that
we have tremendous experience in.

Q.: The Action Plan mentions something about frozen conflicts. How
is the EU planning to help the countries of the region to have
cooperation?

A.: These countries are close to the EU, the Black Sea and the Caspian
Sea, this is a very important region because it unites two parts of
the planet and therefore it may have a very important role.

But we would like those three countries also to work among themselves
and that is also the focus of the program. We want to work with you
as a region, and as a consequence of that the conflicts that exist in
the regions will be resolved, otherwise it will be very difficult to
construct a region if you have conflict among themselves. So we want
to have a region that works together, that can progress together, that
can take advantage of all the added value of working together, which
is accompanied by the resolution of what you call frozen conflicts. I
hope very much that we will be a catalyst for good in the matter of
peace and not the opposite.

Q.: Do the countries of the region really share European values? Do
you reward them because of values or because, as critics say, for
example, in Azerbaijan you need oil?

A.: The example you bring is very wrong. Most of the energy doesn’t
come from Azerbaijan, for us Azerbaijan is not a source of energy
as other countries are. We want Azerbaijan and Armenia to develop
because they are important countries.

The values that we share are the values of democracy and rule of law.

And we are establishing an action plan with you that requires
governments not only to do well in economy, but also properly guard
the democratic values that we and you defend.

Q.: Can you give hope that these countries can one day become members
of the EU?

A.: The EU is a group of countries with very good and solid relations
with the rest of the world and also the countries we have will be
closer to the EU from the geographical point of view and from the
viewpoint of shared values. But being close to the EU doesn’t mean
being part of it. We can sign very profound cooperation agreements
with countries, but membership is a different story… We never say no,
we always say let’s keep on moving, cooperating as much as possible.

Q.: What do you tell Turkey regarding its closed border with Armenia?

A.: I’ve always told them [Turkey] that this is necessary and good
for Turkey and Armenia to open their borders. We don’t defend in any
case closed borders, we defend open borders and movement of trade,
people, goods. This is very important in today’s global world where
you cannot be closed, you have to be open by definition. We would like
very much to see Armenia and Turkey cooperate. History is history,
we have to look into the future, not to the past.

Q. Can Kosovo create a precedent for other conflicts?

A.: No conflict is like the other. Conflicts normally have origin,
development and solution. And it is very unlikely that all the three
elements are the same in different conflicts. You can learn from some
conflict, but cannot apply the same model. There is no clone-ation.

EUROPE DOES NOT RECOGNIZE THE INDEPENDENCE OF OSSETIA

A1+
[06:03 pm] 13 November, 2006

"The referendum in South Ossetia was unnecessary, unhelpful and
unfair", declared Terry Davis in reaction to the voting in the
breakaway Georgian region on Sunday.

"The results will not be recognized by the international community,
the vote did nothing to bring forwards the search for a peaceful
political solution and the circumstances in which it has been carried
out, especially the fact that the ethnic Georgians were not given
the right to vote, makes it irrelevant even as an indicative poll",
Terry Davis stressed.

By the way, the calculations are still under way, but the local
authorities claim that the people have voted for independence and
for the acting President Edward Kokoyt.

Nevertheless, the EU does not recognize the results of the referendum.

RAILA: ARTUR IS BACK
By Cyrus Ombati and Ayub Savula

Standard, Kenya
Nov 14 2006

Lang’ata MP Raila Odinga has sensationally claimed that one of
the Artur brothers is back in the country as part of a hit squad
assembled to complete "the unfinished business of assassinating top
ODM-Kenya leaders".

"One of them is back to complete their unfinished dirty business,"
the MP charged shortly before recording a statement at Kilimani Police
Station, Nairobi, on Monday.

The MP also named eight prominent personalities he claimed are
co-plotters in a "conspiracy" to take out the Opposition politicians
ahead of next year’s General Election.

He named one of the Artur brothers, a senior Cabinet minister, a
Member of Parliament for a Nairobi constituency, a political activist,
a senior police officer, two unfamiliar people and a recently retired
senior police officer.

Video footage showing the meetings took place

Raila said Good Samaritans present at the meeting gave him the list –
which reads like who is who in the Armenian brothers’ saga.

Lang’ata MP Raila Odinga with ODM-Kenya leaders Mr Musalia Mudavadi
(left), Mr Mutula Kilonzo (centre) and Mr Orwa Ojode after recording
a statement on assassination claims in Nairobi on Monday. Picture by
Jacob Otieno

And the intrigues around the assassination claims deepened late
Monday when independent police sources disclosed "the politicians
could actually be in possession of video footage showing the meetings
to plan the alleged killings actually took place".

An agitated Raila said: "Early this year, I said there were mercenaries
in the country and some people laughed, even mocked me. I went further
and directed them to the house in Runda where they lived. They were
found, but what did the Government do? They had better also take me
seriously on this one…

"Present at the secret meeting were very senior people in Government
and a person resembling one of the mercenaries supposedly expelled
from this country.

"We have concrete evidence that the purpose of the meeting was to
hatch a plan to assassinate some top ODM-Kenya leaders to weaken
the Opposition".

International criminals on the run

If Raila’s allegations are true, then Kenyans have cause to worry
as this would imply senior Government officers – some specifically
tasked with the country’s security – are breaking the law.

Artur Margaryan and Artur Sargasyan, both believed to be international
criminals on the run, were reportedly deported by the Government last
June 9 – and declared persona non grata – after a gun drama at the
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

The deportation marked the height of an acrimonious sojourn in
Kenya that wound up with a commission of inquiry into their conduct,
activities and associates.

But the Shedrach Kiruki-led commission of inquiry amounted to nothing
other than a public relations exercise gone awry after it failed to
summon key personalities believed to have important information.

They included Raila and Mwingi North MP, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, both of
whom were ready to tell what they knew about the fugitives.

As Raila reeled out the names in an exclusive interview with The
Standard on Monday just hours before appearing before the Nairobi Area
CID boss, Mr Isaiah Osugo, he warned that he should be taken seriously.

Team constituted to investigate the matter

He told police to investigate individuals implicated in the plot. The
latest meeting by the plotters was allegedly held in Kilimani last
week, said Raila.

Osugo later briefed Police Commissioner, Maj-Gen Hussein Ali, on the
contents of the recorded statement.

A team of police officers is understood to have been constituted late
Monday to investigate the matter.

Raila was accompanied by ODM-Kenya leaders Mr Musalia Mudavadi,
Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, Mr Mutula Kilonzo, Mr Otieno Kajwang’, Mr Reuben
Ndolo, Mr Paddy Ahenda, Mr Orwa Ojode and Mr Gideon Ndambuki.

Others were Mr Gor Sunguh, lawyers Mr Peter Maanzo, Mr Amolo Otiende
and Mr Tom Kajwang’. Mutula and Kajwang’ attended the one-hour
recording session at the Kilimani Police Station.

Uhuru and Ndambuki later left for a Kanu National Executive Committee
meeting.

The leaders had driven to Kilimani where Raila recorded the statement
at 10.30am. Addressing the Press after Raila recorded the statement,
Mutula complained the Government was harassing ODM-Kenya leaders.

Repeated summons to police stations

He said what they told the police was reliable, and asked for action
on the information.

"We did this in pursuance of and belief in law and order. However,
we are unhappy with the continuous harassment (against us) by police,"
he said.

He said ODM-Kenya leaders were being harassed by repeated summons to
police stations, and demanded they be left alone. He also demanded
that Internal Security minister John Michuki be compelled to record
statements following his claims that his life was in danger.

Mutula said some Cabinet ministers should also be asked to record
statements with the police for "being involved in crime-related
incidents".

Michuki has repeatedly claimed his life is in danger following a
shooting incident outside his Kangema compound a fortnight ago. The
gunmen killed Michuki’s neighbour – a chief – in the incident that
later saw the entire local security team shuffled.

On Monday, Mutula said his client had recorded a statement as a
witness and not a suspect in the investigations.

Raila urged the Government to provide all ODM-Kenya leaders with
adequate security because their lives were in danger.

Agence France Presse — English
November 10, 2006 Friday 2:04 PM GMT

Asia moves closer to "Iron Silk Road" railway network

by Jun Kwanwoo

BUSAN, South Korea, Nov 10 2006

Eighteen Asian nations, including China and Russia, Friday signed an
agreement to integrate the continent into a single railway network,
moving a step closer to realising a decades-old dream.

The inter-governmental agreement on establishing the Trans-Asia
Railway (TAR) network aims to promote trade and balanced development
in the world’s fastest-growing continent.

The signing came on the first day of a two-day annual ministerial
meeting on transport, organised by the UN Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

"By signing today, you infuse life into the agreement," UNESCAP
executive secretary Kim Hak-Su told them.

The 81,000-kilometer (50,200-mile) network, first mooted by the UN
back in 1960, is also dubbed the "Iron Silk Road" after the ancient
trade route. It would link capitals, ports and industrial hubs across
28 Asian countries all the way to Europe.

UN officials cited procedural matters rather than disagreement over
the project as the reason why 10 of the 28 states did not sign. They
have another two years to do so.

The railway network will ease international trade and create "the
conditions for shared prosperity," Kim told the signatories.

He said earlier in the day the TAR would "link the hinterland areas
in the deep interior of the Asian continent with Asia’s bustling
maritime cities and European markets."

Twelve of the world’s 30 landlocked countries are in Asia.

"These linkages will provide seamless connectivity through transport
arteries to Asian ports and European markets," Kim said.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in a message to the meeting, said
advances in transport "improve productivity, reduce costs and promote
trade. That in turn encourages economic growth and social
development."

Kim has said he expects the accord to come into force in the second
half of next year after eight countries ratify it.

The ratification would encourage international lenders such as the
Asian Development Bank to seriously consider loan requests from TAR
signatories, some of whom are in desperate need of finance, he said.

Wang Zhiguo, China’s deputy railways minister, said his country
ardently backs the project.

"The Chinese economy continues to grow through efforts to improve and
maintain efficient transport and logistic systems," he told the
forum.

"We’re signing the agreement because we can fulfil many of our goals
in transport with it."

Alexander Misharin, Russia’s deputy transport minister, said Moscow
was working hard to modernise its vast network, including the
trans-Siberia railway connecting to Korea, in support of the TAR.

His country was one of the signatories.

Despite the enthusiasm among many countries, the slow progress over
the past five decades indicates the challenges still ahead.

The TAR network would connect trans-Asian railway networks with
Russia and Mongolia in the north, Malaysia in the south, South Korea
in the east and Turkey in the west.

But one stumbling block is North Korea. South Korea would have to
traverse its territory to gain access to the Russian or Chinese rail
networks.

Work has been completed on laying track across the heavily fortified
inter-Korean frontier. But planned test runs were cancelled in May
amid tensions over other issues.

Continent-wide problems include switching between different-gauge
tracks, where to stop, how to handle sometimes tricky quarantine and
immigration paperwork, and how to safely ferry cargo and people
across many borders.

But Asia, home to 60 percent of the world’s population and generating
26 percent of the world’s economic output, deserves better transport,
UNESCAP chief Kim has said.

It boasts 13 of the world’s top 20 container seaports but has fewer
than 100 "dry ports" — inland container depots. Europe, by contrast,
has 200 and the United States 370.

Signatories of the TAR accord Friday were Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal,
South Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey,
Uzbekistan and Vietnam

At the Busan conference, delegates also plan to issue two sets of
declarations — one on the direction of regional transport
development in the next five years and the other on road safety.

RUSSIANS BUY EVERYTHING THEY NEED AND THEY DON’T NEED

Lragir, Armenia
Nov 8 2006

The Russian companies buy everything they can buy in the CIS, even if
they do not need to buy, says Mikhail Baghdasarov, citizen of Russia
running businesses in Armenia. He explains this tendency by the fact
that the CIS space is closer to the Russians in cultural and social
terms, and it is easier and more attractive to buy property in this
territory. And they buy because Russia is the richest country in the
CIS. Even despite the tensions with Georgia the Russian companies
buy property there. Gagik Abrahamyan, who owns a diamond company,
agrees with him. He says recently the Russian capital has especially
been interested in Armenia.

"Especially after the recent statement of the Russian president that
Russia is the third by its investments in Armenia, I think soon we’ll
see how many companies will make investments in Armenia," says Gagik
Abrahamyan. According to him, the Russian capital is mainly involved in
building, but presently they are negotiating over Russian investments
in diamond processing.

"I think, in the upcoming meeting with the Russian prime minister, I
think I will participate in it as well, we will discuss this with the
Russian Alrosa Corporation," Gagik Abrahamyan says. He mentions that
the circumstance of the Russian investments certainly has a political
motivation, and the evidence to this is Putin’s statement that it is
a shame to be the third by the amount of investments in Armenia.

TURKEY’S MEMBERSHIP IS USEFUL

Lragir, Armenia
Nov 8 2006

Speaker Tigran Torosyan thinks Turkey’s membership to the EU may be
useful for Armenia because "every country which becomes member of
this organization should honor the principles that exist within the
EU. And these principles are favorable for Armenia." In particular,
Tigran Torosyan mentioned the problem of opening the borders, and
said it would be strange if the question were not solved but Turkey
became member of the EU.

On the other hand, Tigran Torosyan is not optimistic about Turkey’s
moves because "in meetings with their representatives over the past
years he noticed that they have a fossilized approach and do not feel
free with regard to questions related to Armenia." In addition, the
prime minister of Turkey has announced today that Turkey is ready to
revise Article 301 of their Crime Code. This article bars expressing
an opinion on the Armenian Genocide, which differs from the official
standpoint.

MICHAEL BAGDASAROV HAS NOT PLANS TO SELL STOCK OF ARMAVIA

Panorama.am
15:19 07/11/06

Michael Bagdasarov, head of Mika Ltd., refuted rumors that he is
going to sell the shares of Armavia air company. However, Bagdasarov
said he is going to sell 30% of his shares at VTB Armenia Bank. VTB
Armenia is former Armenian Saving Bank which is currently owned by
Russian Vneshtorgbank. Bagdasarov disapproves the policy of the present
management saying regional offices have started to suffer losses. He
said that was the reason for his decision to sell his shares.

RA DM: IF CRIMINAL BRAWL ACTUALLY TOOK PLACE ON A-320 LINER BOARD, IT WOULD BE ANNOUNCED AT OFFICIAL LEVEL

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Nov 6 2006

"If a criminal brawl had actually taken place on A-320 liner board
and that could become the reason of the airplane crash, it would
be announced at an official level long ago", RA Defense Minister,
Serzh Sarkissyan, told the journalists today.

"You know, not only the Armenian side, but Russia and the liner
producer, the French-German "Airbus" Concern also examined this case.

If there was a brawl in fact, the Russian and French experts would not
hide this circumstance and would openly state about it", S. Sarkissyan
said.

To be reminded, A-320 airplane of the "Armavia" Air Company had
fallen into the Black Sea when landing in the airport of Adler. All
the passengers and the crew members died. The veteran of the Armenian
aviation , a first-class pilot, Vladimir Poghossyan, has recently
informed that there was a criminal brawl on the crashed liner board ,
which has become the reason of the tragedy. However, this statement
was denied in the Republic’s official circles.

POLISH DELEGATION VISITED TSITSERNAKABERD

Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 6 2006

The delegation headed by the Marshal of Senate of the Republic of
Poland Bogdan Borusewicz visited Tsitsernakaberd today to lay a wreath
of flowers at the memorial to the Armenian Genocide victims.

According to Bogdan Borusewicz, sufferings of the Armenian people
should become a outlook to the future. The Marshal the Senate urged
to remember the past without forgetting about future, since "it is
the responsibility of political figures to think about future."

The delegation visited also the Genocide Museum, where Bogdan
Borusewicz wrote in the Memory Book: "We should remember the history,
the tragedy of the Armenian nation without forgetting the future. And
the good future is the good relations between everyone in the region."

It should be noted that on April 19, 2005 the Polish Senate recognized
the Armenian Genocide.

ARMENIAN ORGANIZATIONS OF U.S. SHOULD COORDINATE EFFORTS FOR GENOCIDE RECOGNITION

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.11.2006 12:58 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The main task of the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA) is to bring up the young generation and strengthen the
lobby, ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian told a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter in Washington. In his words, the Armenian organizations of the
U.S. should coordinate efforts for achievement of the principal goal –
the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. "Our endeavors are targeted
at neutralization of the Turkish lobby led by Senator Bob Livingston
and the ATA (the American-Turkish Association). The latter’s rating
has considerable fallen down during the recent 10 years. Generally
the place of Turkey in the U.S. foreign policy has changed," Hamparian
said. At that he underscored that Turkey’s interests are supported by
Israel, which enjoys good relations with the United States. "However I
should mention that these relations have changed too. The Jews living
in the U.S. say that the Armenian Genocide should be recognized like
the Holocaust. I am convinced that the U.S. President Administration
is not far away from saying it was Genocide," he emphasized.