Author: Nahapetian Boris

CENN – MAY 31, 2005 Daily Digest

Table of Contents:

1. New Reports Find that BTC Pipeline is Unsafe as Safety of Azeri
Citizens is also Jeopardized
2. BTC to Export “Color Revolutions”
3. Turkey’s Energy Role: Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline
4. Baku – Ceyhan Turning Point
5. Oil Starts Flowing into the Pipeline of Century
6. Environmentalists Challenge BTC’s Long term Safety
7. Tourism Employees to Hold Seminars in Regions
8. Customer Relations Skills (CRS) Course
9. Vacancy Announcements
10. EIA Reports

1. New reports find that BTC pipeline is unsafe as safety of
Azeri citizens is also jeopardized

Immediate release: Tuesday, May 24 2005

CEE Bankwatch Network * Friends of the Earth International

New reports find that BTC pipeline is unsafe as safety of Azeri
citizens is also jeopardized

Two reports released today, ahead of tomorrow’s Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
(BTC) pipeline ‘opening’ ceremony in Baku, reveal significant
concerns regarding the environmental and social damage being caused
by the World Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction & Development
(EBRD) backed project in Azerbaijan and Georgia.

As western dignitaries gather to celebrate the initial flow of
Caspian oil – although the Georgian section of the pipeline is still
incomplete – local and international environmental groups pointed to
the reports’ findings from the field and believe that there is
considerable unfinished BTC business.

The reports [1] produced by CEE Bankwatch Network, Friends of the
Earth England, Wales & Northern Ireland, Les Amis de la Terre,
France, and Green Alternative, Georgia, National Ecological Center
for Ukraine, summarie information obtained during fact-finding
missions to Azerbaijan and Georgia in October 2004. The reports come
only four days after peaceful demonstrators in Baku were forcibly
removed by police [2].

The Georgian report contains leaked documents detailing disputes
between the Georgian Government, BP and International Financial
Institutions regarding some of these safety concerns, and overall the
two reports reveal a catalogue of unresolved problems with the BTC
project such as environmental risks and compensation not being
adequately addressed [3].

Manana Kochladze, CEE Bankwatch Network’s Regional Coordinator for
Caucasus, said, “The developments around the construction of the BTC
pipeline unfortunately prove the serious environmental and safety
risks highlighted by national and international environmentalists.
These risks have been rashly neglected by the IFC and the EBRD and as
a result the number of violations and breaches of international
standards is growing, putting the people and environment along the
pipeline at ever greater risk.”

Hannah Ellis, International Financial Institutions Campaigner at
Friends of the Earth, said: “It is outrageous that public money,
provided by institutions like the World Bank has been used for this
project under the guise of aid. The Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline is causing
immense problems for the people and the environment it is claiming to
serve. The World Bank and the other backers of the pipeline should
suspend operations until key environmental and social risks
associated with the project have been addressed.”

For more information, contact:

Hannah Ellis, Friends of the Earth England, Wales & N. Ireland,

Tel: +44 (0)207 490 1555, Mobile: +44 (0)7952 876929

Manana Kochladze, Green Alternative/ CEE Bankwatch Network Georgia,

Tel: +99599 916647, Mobile: +99599 223874

Notes for editors:

1. An executive summary and full copies of the reports are available
at:
gia_report_04-05.pdf

i_report05-05.pdf

The leaked documents are available at:

-ceyhan/downloads/2005/leaks_sa
fety_04-05.pdf

2. On Saturday, five days before the ceremony, the Azerbaijan
authorities in Baku demonstrated their willingness to cancel out
opposition to the project. Demonstrators were not allowed to uphold
their constitutional right to demonstrate as riot police broke up a
peaceful action in Baku, on the grounds that it would have been
“inexpedient” before the arrival of the US Energy Secretary,
attending the opening ceremony.

3. Concerns included in the reports include:

* Uncompensated expropriated land
* Damage to property
* Drinking water pollution
* Non-compliance with Georgian state environmental permit
conditions
* High environmental and safety risks
* Increased pressure from the Ilham Aliev regime human rights
advocates
* Extreme lack of due diligence on the part of the International
Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Greig Aitken

Media coordinator

CEE Bankwatch Network

Bratislavska 31

602 00 Brno

Czech Republic

Tel: +420-545 214 431, ext 19

2. BTC to export “color revolutions”

Source: Pravda, May 26, 2005

The most cheerful guest on the inauguration ceremony was the Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili. He uttered that the BTC pipeline would
make “the whole region, including Georgia, entirely independent.”

The commercial functioning of the pipeline will begin by the end of
this year; in the nearest months it will filled with oil. From now on
the Caspian nations are directly linked to the West centered world
economy. The oil which will be pumped through the BTC pipeline is
being extracted by the Western oil giants. The commander in chief of
the US forces in Europe, general James Johns has already disclosed
the US plans to deploy the so called “Caspian Guard” along the
pipeline.

As the oil flows westward, the spirit of the “color revolutions”, the
series of coups d’etat installing staunchly pro western puppet
regimes, will penetrate further eastward. And the most probable
targets Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

3. Turkey’s Energy Role: Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline

Source: Central Daylight Time, May 28, 2005

On May 25, 2005 the presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia,
and Turkey inaugurated the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC), a
major artery linking oil fields in the Caspian Sea region to the
Mediterranean Sea and Western markets beyond. It will take several
months for oil pumped from Baku, Azerbaijan, to pass through Tbilisi,
Georgia, and reach the Turkish coast at Ceyhan. Eventually, BTC will
carry up to 1 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of crude oil to the
Mediterranean. With growing concern over Western dependence on Middle
Eastern oil and rising global oil prices, Turkey is emerging as a key
country in providing Caspian oil to the Western world.

Background: A Pipeline Born of U.S.-Turkish Cooperation

According to British Petroleum’s Statistical Review of World Energy,
proven oil reserves in the Caspian Basin total 16.5 billion barrels,
comparable to the reserves of Canada, Mexico, or the OPEC member
state Qatar.

President Bill Clinton and Turkish President Suleyman Demirel settled
heated debate in the mid-1990s over how best to bring Caspian oil to
world markets by throwing their weight behind the BTC. Washington and
Ankara saw the BTC as a key east-west corridor that would ensure the
independence and economic viability of the newly independent states
in the Caspian Basin. The BTC also made strategic sense to the United
States and Turkey because it would bypass politically unstable places
like Iran, the northern Caucasus (including Chechnya), and
Armenian-occupied parts of Azerbaijan.

Further, the BTC was seen as useful to easing the burdens on the
Turkish Straits of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. Today, more than
5,000 tankers cross the Turkish Straits each year, carrying Caspian
oil from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. The sea traffic through
the narrow, zigzagging straits carries grave risks, especially since
any accident could cause an environmental catastrophe in downtown
Istanbul, which sits along the Bosporus.

When others questioned the project’s feasibility, Clinton appointed a
special envoy for Caspian energy affairs and Demirel visited Georgia
and Azerbaijan to push for the project. The unprecedented level of
U.S.-Turkish cooperation, as well as successful coordination by both
countries’ diplomats, made the seemingly impossible pipeline
possible.

Building the BTC

In 1997, Western oil companies started to explore the commercial
viability of the BTC project. An international consortium of eleven
partners — Britain’s BP; Azerbaijan’s SOCAR; Norway’s Statoil; U.S.
based Unocal, Amerada Hess, and ConocoPhillips; Turkey’s TPAO;
Italy’s Eni; Japan’s INPEX and Itochu; and France’s TotalFinaElf —
began construction of the pipeline in May 2003. With a 30 percent
share in the project, BP is the largest stakeholder, and served as
acting leader for the project’s design and construction phases.

The BTC, which cost an estimated $3.7 billion for construction,
financing, and line-fill, has received limited public funding. The
European Bank of Reconstruction and Development and the International
Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private-sector arm, pledged
$250 million in loans. Although a small amount compared to the
project’s total funding, World Bank participation acted as a catalyst
to bring foreign direct investors to the project.

Because it traverses 176 widely varied and sensitive terrains while
crossing the politically unstable Caucasus region, the BTC was
bedeviled by worries about its security and environmental risks.
Accordingly, the U.S. military’s Special Forces trained 1,500-2,000
Georgian soldiers in anti-terrorism techniques under a $64 million
program aimed at protecting the pipeline against saboteurs. In
addition, a BP-led consortium granted an additional $25 million to
local non-governmental organizations to manage environmental
programs.

The entire length of the 1,094-mile BTC, the longest oil-export
pipeline in the world, is buried. Once the pipeline becomes fully
operational, Azerbaijan will be the main beneficiary of the sale of
its oil in international markets, collecting (at current prices)
about $29 billion per year in oil revenues, while Georgia and Turkey
will respectively collect transit fees of $600 million and $1.5
billion per year.

Ceyhan Becomes a Nexus of Global Energy Lines

With BTC, Ceyhan will emerge as a major energy supplier to the world.
Ceyhan’s port, Yumurtalik, is already the terminus of Kirkuk-Ceyhan
pipeline, which has the capacity to bring about 1.5 million bbl/d oil
to the Mediterranean from northern Iraq (though it is presently
closed due to continuing attacks by Iraqi insurgents). Another
pipeline is now under consideration to bring Caspian gas from Baku,
via Tbilisi, to Erzurum in eastern Turkey from where it would be
transported to Ceyhan. There are other new projects designed to make
Ceyhan into an even bigger hub of energy supply:

·Samsun-Ceyhan gas/ oil lines and terminal. Turkey intends to enlarge
its natural-gas transmission by extending the Blue Stream pipeline,
which connects Russia with Ankara through the Black Sea, through an
Ankara-to-Ceyhan extension. After a liquid-natural-gas export
terminal is built in Ceyhan, this plan would enable Turkey to
re-export Russian gas. Turkey also wants to build a cross-Anatolian
oil line, from Samsun on the Black Sea to Ceyhan on the
Mediterranean, to further decrease traffic through the Turkish
Straits.

Kazakhstan Extension. In March 2005, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan agreed
to build the Aktau-Baku pipeline, connecting the Kashagan offshore
oil fields near Aktau in Kazakhstan to the BTC in Baku via a
sub-Caspian in 2008. The Kashagan field is expected to produce 1.2
million bbl/d by 2016, when 600,000 bbl/d of its production is to be
shipped across the Caspian Sea to be fed into the BTC line.

·Ceyhan-Haifa Pipeline. This project, first discussed during Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s May 2005 visit to Israel, aims
to bring BTC oil to Israel via a sub-Mediterranean pipeline through
Cyprus. There are also plans for parallel pipelines to carry water,
gas, and electricity, and perhaps fiber-optic lines, to Israel, as
well as to Northern Cyprus, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories,
bringing the latter closer to Turkey and Israel economically and
politically.

Implications of Turkey’s Emergence as an Energy Entrepot

Turkey’s new position as a way-station for energy distribution could
be a useful asset in its relations with both the European Union and
the United States. Turkish membership would give the EU a direct
route to Caspian energy resources that does not cross Russia; as a
major energy producer; Russia has not been very helpful getting
Caspian energy to outside markets.

In the post-Iraq War period, the energy issue should also strengthen
U.S.-Turkish relations. Turkey’s strategic value sometimes comes
under doubt. But Turkey is an important route for the export of oil
from northern Iraq. By binding the Caucasus region with the West
through the BTC, Turkey is now a key country in accessing the energy
sources of the landlocked Caspian Basin. And the BTC has
significantly limited the share of Caspian oil that must be
transported through Iran. Tehran currently transports a mere 35,000
bbl/d Caspian oil, which it buys from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan
through a swapping agreement. The BTC and other projects involving
Turkey should remind Americans and Turks alike that as members of the
Western world, they have shared interests that can be promoted
through cooperation.

Soner Cagaptay is a senior fellow and director of the Turkish
Research Program at The Washington Institute. Nazli Gencsoy, a Dr.
Marcia Robbins-Wilf young scholar, is a research assistant at the
Institute.

4. Baku – Ceyhan Turning Point

Source: TurkishPress, May 29, 2005

The first oil was pumped through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC)
pipeline in Azerbaijan two days ago. The huge project is a turning
point not only for Turkish-Azerbaijani relations, but also for the
region’s future. For the first time, one of the ex-Soviet republics
has succeeded in opening to the world through an energy
transportation line with Russia excluded. The new pipeline will spur
steady growth in the Azerbaijani economy. Azerbaijan expects a growth
of 20% over the next few years. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, one
of the longest pipelines in the world at 1,774 kilometers, will
contribute to the cooperation and stability of the three countries
through which it passes. A natural gas pipeline has started
construction in parallel with the BTC, and its completion is planned
for 2006. This way the friendship will be strengthened even more.
British Petroleum (BP), the largest partner in the project, claims
that the benefits to the three countries will amount to $150 billion
from the oil and gas transportation. The Turkish, Georgian and
Azerbaijani leaders at the BTC opening ceremony also signed a pact
for the Kars-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki-Baku Railway project, which is an
indication of the emerging stability of the Caucasus. This project,
which will connect Turkey and Eurasia, has been delayed for years due
to the Armenian minority’s threat in the Akhalkalaki region.

Kazakhstan will also connect to BTC through Aktau. This way they will
have an alternative route to Russia. This way tanker traffic and the
threats to the environment and lives posed by tankers in the Turkish
Straits will fall. The BTC has a great strategic importance for
Turkey. Our port of Ceyhan’s importance has risen as an energy
transfer point. Turkey has become an energy route for Iranian and
Azerbaijani gas and Iraqi and Caspian oil, and Turkey’s strategic
importance rose for the EU. Now transferring natural gas to Europe
through Greece isn’t a dream anymore. In addition, the Turkish
Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) is a partner of the projects with a
share of 6.5% and for the first time, Turkey is signing a partnership
with international companies with oil and natural gas fields of this
scale. Of course this experience will have a contribution and
financial benefits for the TPAO’s future roles. In sum, pumping the
first oil in the BTC pipeline is a turning point in many ways and
strengthens the search for multidimensional cooperation among
countries of the region.

5. Oil Starts Flowing into the Pipeline of Century

Source: The Messenger, May 30, 2005

With the taps turning on, Presidents of Georgia, Turkey and
Azerbaijan send the first flow of crude oil flow into a long awaited
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline last Wednesday May 25, 2005.
The Washing backed oil conduit is expected to turn the region into a
transport corridor connecting Central Asia to Western Europe and
loosen Russia’s stranglehold on exports from the region.

Calling the opening day historical for the region, the President of
Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili said at the ceremony the pipeline should
help attack investment and improve living standards.

“This project is a guarantee of Georgia’s energy independence,” he
said.

Built with financial support from the US, the pipeline was initiated
in 1994 under Eduard Shevardnadze and was labeled as the Deal of
Century. Mr. Shevardnadze considered the BTC project to be the
crowning achievement of his presidency. While he was in office the
media depicted the project as the solution to most of Georgia’s
problems. But Mr. Saakashvili has sought to downplay pipeline’s
importance telling Georgians not to pin unrealistic hopes on it.

Nonetheless, the benefits of the pipeline are going to be significant
to Georgia which sees BTC as a way of lessening its dependence on
Russian energy supplies. Besides, Georgia stands to earn substantial
revenue through transit fees. The tariff for one barrel crude oil
totals 12cents making 50 million USD annually.

The pipeline has been an international effort and was built by a
consortium led by UK oil giant BP, which has a 30% stake. While the
pipeline crosses areas plagued by conflicts, the countries involved
hope it will bring economic benefits and enhance political stability.
Other consortium members include Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company
Socar, Amerada Hess, ConocoPhilips, Eni, Inpex, Itochu, Statoil,
Total, TPAO and Unocal.

Most Caspian oil exports currently go through Russian pipelines t the
Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, where the oil is loaded onto tankers
that squeeze through the very busy Bosporus.

The pipeline has a capacity of 10 million barrels, and the fields are
expected to produce more than 400, 000 barrels of oil a day
initially. By 2008, the project is expected to pump 1 million barrels
of oil a day. BP said the pipeline could take more than six months to
fill, with the loading of the first tanker at Ceyhan expected in the
fourth quarter. Oil is expected to reach Georgia at the end of June.

Kazakhstan’s participation in the project has until now remained
under question as it does not want to irritate former overlord
Moscow, thus lose another alternative route for exporting its oil but
Kazakhstan’s President who was attending the inauguration ceremony
gave firm confirmation of joining the BTC pipeline.

“For us this route will be one of the main ways to supply world
markets”, Nazarbayev said Wednesday at the ceremony where he signed
bilateral agreements with the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

Calling it a magnificent engineering achievement, the State
Department warmly welcomed the official opening of the pipeline.
President Bush said in a letter read at the opening ceremony by US
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodmen that the pipeline “opens new era in
the Caspian Basin’s development.”

“The BTC pipeline will reinforce the sovereignty and prosperity of
Azerbaijan and Georgia. It will further integrate Azerbaijan and
Georgia into the international free market economy and promote their
development, associated press quoted Richard Boucher said, spokesman
for US State Department as saying.

6. Environmentalists Challenge BTC’s Long term Safety

Source: Georgian Times, May 30, 2005

While the four presidents and the US Energy Secretary attended the
inauguration of the giant Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) project in Baku,
NGOs express doubts in Tbilisi as to its safety guarantees.

In a special statement issued on May 25, 2005 the World Wildlife Fund
(WWF) Caucasus office stated that despite its political and economic
significance, the BTC oil pipeline “is not safe from an environmental
point of view,” and especially the pipeline’s 17-km long stretch
which extends through Georgia’s Borjomi Valley.

The WWF reports that the pipeline crosses the Ktsia-Tabatskuri
protected area, and despite any planned mitigation measures in the
Tabatskuri area, an oil spillage could quickly lead to widespread
contamination of Lake Tabatskuri or the Ktsia River, and via the
river to Lake Tsalka. The internationally renowned wetlands of
Ktsia-Nariani, one of the largest high altitude wetland areas in the
Caucasus and an important bird migration area, would also be at risk.

Kakha Tolordava, communications officer for the Caucasus Office of
WWF, told GT that the original Akhkalkalaki route would have been
ideal. “As this (BTC) was a political project, we have never aimed at
stopping it, but we have indicated faults and possible dangers. When
a company with such a reputation is in charge of the construction,
our function is limited to simplify monitoring the process.
Geologists and hydrogeologists have warned of the risks. The pipeline
will; be use for 40 years. Nobody knows what is going top happen in
10 or 15 years. What will the company do in case of spill?”

BTC is one of the world’s largest pipelines. The presidents of
Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Kazakhstan and the US Energy
Secretary attended to official launch of the pipeline on May 25,
2005. Meanwhile, Georgian environmentalists speak of problems with
the construction. Speaking with GT, Keti Gujaraidze, monitoring
program coordinator for the BTC pipeline for the Green Alternative
NGO, raised the issue sustained to the local infrastructure such as
roads, homes and agricultural plots along the route its vicinity.

The construction of the BTC pipeline in Georgia has continued against
the background of constant protest rallies. Over 44 households of the
village of Gardabani in the Krtsanisi region staged a protest rally
at BP’s Tbilisi office on December 13, later blocking the
construction of BTC and demanding reimbursement for damage inflicted
by the British company. Residents of Georgia’s southern province of
Samtskhe-Javakheti have also held demonstrations, claiming that BP
has deceived them and failed plots taken for construction. The
pipeline goes through 72 populated districts. The question remains
open, as the company refuses to offer any compensation.

The second issue that Green Alterative complains about us the quality
of construction. Ms. Gujaraidze told GT: “There are no safety
guarantees for the Borjomi section of the pipeline. You might
remember the issue of the cover up of damaged areas of the pipeline.
A month ago we appealed to the Ministry of Environmental Protection
and Nature Resources, asking about the state of these damaged areas,
but they have not responded yet.”

The BTC oil pipeline construction was suspended in Georgian from late
spring to early autumn of 2004, when the Georgian authorities
demanded BP take additional safety measures in the Borjomi valley and
allocate additional funds for this purpose.

In December of 2004, the British newspaper The Sunday Times reported
that, as operator of the BTC oil export pipeline and the South
Caucasus (SCP) gas pipeline project, which runs from Azerbaijan
through Georgian to the Turkish Mediterranean coast, BP was on
collision course with the Georgian parliamentary inquiry that it has
misled people about the safety of the strategic international
pipeline, which is backed with ₤60 million of public money.

According to WWF’s Caucasus office, the public was not well informed
about safety flaws in BTC’s construction, including reports about the
cracking of a vital anti corrosion coating used to protect pipeline
joints. WWF also complained that it was impossible to hold
constructive dialogue with BP over these problems, and reiterated
that despite the “unprecedented” safety measures used during
construction, the pipeline still poses a risk to Borjomi, a famous
resort area renowned for its mineral waters, and to Borjomi `s
ecology.

7. TOURISM EMPLOYEES TO HOLD SEMINARS IN REGIONS

Source: State Telegraphic Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan,
Azertag, May30, 2005

A specialists from Baku sport and Tourism College and Cookery center
of the ministry of Youth, Sport and Tourism are planning to organize
a seminars for tourism employees in Guba, Gusar and Khachmaz regions,
reported our correspondent refers to Ministry’s press service.

According to officials of the Ministry’s Department on Tourism, a
main goal for seminars is improvement of the service level for
tourists. The potential attendants of tourists’ centers will be
getting certificate after seminars. Trainings will be held in the
Guba rest home and “Atlant” tourist center in Nabran.

8. Customer Relations Skills (CRS) course

On June 15-17, 2005 – offered by ctc — Centre for Training and
Consultancy

What is Customer Relations Skills (CRS)?

Avery single company is it a business entity, public body or
non-governmental organization has a customer, who is the reason of
their existence. Therefore, it is essentially important to make and
keep the customer happy. Besides products, companies deliver service
and as we all know good service largely determines customer
satisfaction. In order to provide perfect service, staff should
possess basic customer relations skills and this is something anyone
can be trained in. CRS course aims to convey general knowledge about
customers, to train participants in customer relations skills and to
develop positive attitude towards their job. These all will help
participants in future to improve their performance, level and the
quality of the service provided and teach them how to exceed the
customer expectations.

For the more detailed information please see the attached file.

9. Vacancy Announcements

Dear CENN Readers,

Please see the attached file ToRs for two open positions: National
and Local Stakeholder Consultant under the UNDP/GEF project “Reducing
trans-boundary Degradation of the Kura-Aras River Basin”.

10. EIA Reports

Source: “Sakartvelos Respublica” (“Republic of Georgia”), May 29,
2005

In accordance with the Georgian legislation on “Environmental
Permits” were submitted the following reports to obtain the
environmental permits:

1. Technical-technological report and mitigation
measures KP 114, KP 119+300 deposits (Tsalka region) development
technological schemes (project) submitted by Spi Petrofac to obtain
the environmental permit for the activity of second category;

2. Program of development and maintenance of the
hunting farms “Fauna”, technical-economical statement project in Gori
region submitted by Ltd. “Fauna” to obtain the environmental permit
for the activity of second category;

3. Development and Bottling of the Spring Water
“Kokatauri” in Kedi region. Village Kokatauri submitted by Ltd.
“Kokatauri” to obtain the environmental permit for the activity of
second category;

4. Development of the Sand-gravel deposit with
acquire of sand in Bolnisi region, Village Nakhiduri submitted by
Ltd. “Mashavera 2003” to obtain the environmental permit for the
activity of second category;

5. Research and Development of Inert materials in
Tsalka Region, Village Beshtasheni and along the Imeri submitted by
the entrepreneur “Iakubovich Koriaki” to obtain the environmental
permit for the activity of second category;

6. Research and Development of the Inert materials
in Tsalka region, Villages Tsintsvari, Darakovi, Jinisi and
Vezelkilsa submitted by the entrepreneur “Lursparonian Ambarcum” to
obtain the environmental permit for the activity of second category;

7. Development and Bottling of the Mineral Water
“Skuri” in Tsalenjikha region. Village Skuri submitted by Ltd.
“Skuri” to obtain the environmental permit for the activity of second
category;

8. EIA Report of the Oil Reservoir in Tbilisi, 10,
Moscow Ave., submitted by Ltd. “Metekhi 95” to obtain the
environmental permit for the activity of first category;

EIA reports are available at the Department of Environmental Permits
and State Ecological Expertise (6 Gulua Str.). Interested
stakeholders can analyze the document and present their comments and
considerations until July 14, 2005.

Public hearing will be held on July 14, 2005 at 12:00, at the
conference hall of the Ministry of Environment.

*******************************************
CENN INFO
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)

Tel: ++995 32 75 19 03/04
Fax: ++995 32 75 19 05
E-mail: [email protected]
URL:

–Boundary_(ID_3FSdIHhXbWoh9mEv78lvyA)–

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
May 30 2005

The Armenian Issue: Inventing a Past
View: Dr. Sedat LACINER

Armenians claim that The Ottomans consciously and systematically
killed the Armenian citizens in 1915 and afterwards. This claim had
been denominated as ‘massacre’ until the end of the World War II,
it has been denominated as “genocide” since 1965. In this respect,
the Jewish example has a significant role in skillfully transforming
to be ‘genocide victim’ into political and monetary earnings. As it
is known that, as the Jewish people have accepted that, the Jews who
were died in the World War II left a loaded indemnity and a state to
their sons and grandchildren. The more important than that, grievance
also has prepared ground for an important esteem in the world. So,
this is the most important benefit which charmed the Armenians.

The Armenian side claims that approximately 1.5 million Armenians
vanished in the Ottoman territory in 1915 and afterwards. This number
is controversial and excessive but additionally, the numbers which
are approved by the Turkish side also can reach hundred thousands.
Except one difference, while the Armenian side claims that the state
killed these people consciously, the Turkish side claims that most of
these people died due to hunger, famine, epidemic diseases, the
negative conditions of war, bad weather and some of them were killed
in the local-ethnic disputes. The Armenian historians and who adhered
to even some of the Turkish people claims that thousands of people
could not die because of famine or epidemic disease in such a short
period of time. According to them, the negative circumstances of the
war, surely, led to death of some Armenians, but this number could
considerably be limited.

The ones who claim in this way, unfortunately, know nothing about the
conditions of the period. They do not know that in this period the
epidemic diseases and famine could still totally destroy all
population of cities or districts. They do not remember that even the
thousands of Ottoman soldiers died in Sarikamis because of cold
without shooting a single bullet. Above all, they also do not know
about how thousands of Armenians died even in Armenia because of
epidemic diseases and famine after 1915 under the Armenian rule.

Georgia and Azerbaijan declared their independence after the
revolution in Russia. Hereon, after a short time, the Armenians
established their state. Anyhow Tasnaks’ (nationalist Armenian armed
group) also had a state. However, while establishing this state The
Taşnaks were unwilling because they wanted a state (if it is not
an empire) which could reach Mediterranean to Black Sea and Caspian
(Hazar) Sea, ‘three sea sided’. As a matter of fact, their wishes
partially reflected to Sevr Treaty. A French newspaper defined those
wishes as ‘Armenian Empire’.1 (Sunny, p.129) Tasnaks and other
Armenian groups found the pre-established state little, at this stage
instead of establishing a micro state they planned to continue their
struggle and obtain a bigger one. Young generation was filled with
hatred against Turks, the leaders, primarily Europe and USA, were
trying to draw the non-regional extraterritorial forces to Caucasia
for their own purposes.

Whereas, the realities were hard and do not have relation with the
fantasies of ‘Greater Armenia’. In the state which was established by
the Tasnaks famine and epidemic diseases were patrolling. The famine
has reached a very serious phase that a newspaper draws its portrayal
as in the following:

“People were eating dead cats and dogs. Even there were incidents
that a person could eat a hungry mother’s dead child’s kidney or
lung…” (Sunny, ss. 127-128)2

According to an Armenian Historian, Richard Hovannissian, in this
period Armenia lost 1/5 of its population. More than 200.000
Armenians died because of famine and epidemic diseases.

Robert Grigor Suny describes the picture in first Independent
Armenian Republic under the Tashnak rule:

“Famine was widespread in Erevan (Yerevan), and the underfed
population was susceptible to disease. As Richard Hovannissian tells
us, ‘It was verily a land of death’. Approximately 200,000 people,
almost 20 percent of the republic’s population, had died by the
middle of 1919′. A newspaper account told the following story:

‘The populace is feeding upon the bodies of dead cats and dogs. There
have been cases when a starving mother has eaten the kidney or the
liver from the corpse of her own child.. The skeleton-like woman and
children rummage in the refuse heaps for moldered shoes and, after
cooking them for three days, eat them.” (Looking Toward Ararat, pp.
127-128).

Portrayal is really sad but one should ask that who is the
responsible for that result? Whether the Turks came to Armenia and
made ‘genocide’? Or they should look for the responsible ones who led
to genocide or else among the Armenians themselves? Whether the
Tasnaks are not guilty? Moreover, it should be asked that, the ones
who do not accept that thousands of Armenians could have died in
Anatolia because of famine, epidemic diseases or other natural
reasons and conditions of war, how can they explain that thousands of
Armenians died in heart of Yerevan.

The Armenians experienced a tragedy…Just like the Turks and other
ethnic groups who shared the same geography under the WWI. However,
Armenian ultra-nationalists do not want to take responsibility of
this tragedy. Whereon, because of this reason, they can not take
lessons from history. For this reason, the same situation occurred
when they established their own state for the second time in 1991:

The leaders of the newly established Armenia again showed their
citizens, who fight against famine, hunger, cold and earthquake, a
‘Greater Armenia’ map as ideal. For this time, Karabakh and its
surrounding, Turkey’s eastern provinces, Georgia and Nahcivan were
the target. More than that, ‘the claims about Turkey were heated and
serviced again’. The Armenian people, who were even in need of wheat
from Turkey, were filled with hatred towards the neighboring Turkish
people. Again Armenia was in need of external help and again many
Armenians died because of negative conditions and the war. This time
the number of dead people was not so much as in 1919. However, the
numbers of the ones who abandoned their homes and countries, who went
to Russia, France and even to Turkey in order to work was more than
one million. The ones who went were not coming back. It has been long
time since the population of the Diaspora exceeded the population of
the homeland. The greatest problem of Armenia, in the Tashnak
administration, was the political and economical isolation. Armenia
confided in Western states instead of its neighbors but it was
disappointed by them, nowadays Armenia gets more and more isolated
and disappointed with Russia’s and the West’s attitude. Armenia
became the only Russian military base in the region against the
neighboring countries. Almost all Caucasian countries perceive threat
from Armenia and Russia. Naturally, the current perceptions threaten
security of Armenia, and nourish Armenian mistrust towards the
international community.

Nevertheless, even if the Armenians and Turks would never be friends
according to the nationalist Armenians, at least Armenians should
take the Turks as an example, so by this way they could have solved
the important part of their problems:

While Mustafa Kemal and his friends were establishing the Republic of
Turkey they did not only lean on gun power. Even when the war was
continuing they did the preparations of the period of peace. Instead
of rigid ideologies they preferred a realistic and pragmatic attitude
towards the neighbors and the great powers. Externally and
internally, they did not establish their policies on hatred and
vengeance. Even they offer ‘olive branch’ to the Greeks who occupied
Western Anatolia for a period of time, the friendship of Ataturk –
Venizolos have opened a golden period in relationships between Turkey
and Greece. In the same way, establishing good relations with all of
the new neighbors was designated to be their basic target. Although
the citizens had great reactions towards Armenians, Bulgarians,
Russians, Greeks and Arabs, all these feelings were bridled and tried
to be soothed because Turkey was conscious of compulsoriness of
living with its neighbors. Moreover, they have never dreamed of a
‘Greater Turkey’, a greater Turkish world, regeneration of the
Ottoman Empire or a Muslim Empire, even though it came from a
tradition of great empires. They followed a defendable, constricted
but homogeneous policy of territory. Above all, instead of taking
revenge from the neighbors, first Turkish nationalists gave more
importance to the economical and social problems. A development
campaign was started and even this campaign has reached today.

When the Turkish and Armenian experience is compared, it should be
clearly understood that the Armenian citizens do not have an
‘Armenian Ataturk’. The Armenians have followed unrealistic and
unconscious leaders. However, in each time they always reach a
disaster and great disasters instead of a greater Armenia. The
saddest thing is that Armenian nationalists have always blamed the
others for the tragic events they have experienced: Now, Armenians
politicians accuse Israel, United States, European Union, Azerbaijan,
Georgia, Turkey and even Russia for the current situation in Armenia.

Now it is time for Armenians to look at the mirror… It is right,
reality hurts. However, it is better and beneficial to face realities
than to live in a world of dreams and accuse those who could help us
a lot.

———————————————-
Dr. Sedat LACINER: Chairman, International Strategic Research
ORganization (USAK – ISRO) and member of TEIMK (Turkish Armenian
Relations National Committee).

[email protected]

TURKISH GOVERNMENT CALLS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CONFERENCE PLANNERS
“TRAITORS”

WASHINGTON, MAY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian Assembly of America
expressed outrage over the Turkish government’s latest assault on free
speech, this time threatening its own citizens for organizing an
unprecedented conference on the Armenian Genocide and challenging the
state’s official policy of denial. Due to the intense government
pressure, event organizers indefinitely postponed the Conference which
was to begin in Istanbul on May 25. In a press statement, organizers
said that more than 720 people were to participate in the three-day
Conference at Bosphorus University entitled, “Ottoman Armenians during
the Decline of the Empire: Issues of Scientific Responsibility and
Democracy.” The postponement came after Istanbul’s chief public
prosecutor threatened to start criminal proceedings against conference
organizers and demanded copies of all academic papers that were to be
presented. Additionally, Minister of Justice Cemil Cicek’s diatribe in
the Turkish Parliament, coupled with his accusations of treason
against Conference participants for allegedly questioning Ankara’s
denial of the Genocide, also led to the eventual
cancellation. According to Agence France-Presse, Cicek said, “We must
put an end to this cycle of treason and insult, of spreading
propaganda against the [Turkish] nation by people who belong to it.”
Hrant Dink, editor-in-chief of Agos – an Armenian newspaper based in
Istanbul – told Assembly leaders that organizers were under direct
government pressure to call off the Conference. “The thoughts and
speeches of the Conference participants, historians, while important,
are not as important as what the Turkish government is doing,” said
Dink. “If the Turkish government will not even allow open dialogue and
discussion for members of its own society, how can it possibly expect
to enter into dialogue with others?” Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan last month called for further study of the Armenian
Genocide, while official policy still rejects that Turkey committed
genocide against its Armenian population 90 years ago. Moreover,
Article 305 of the Turkish penal code criminalizes public references
to the Armenian Genocide. “In the context of a law criminalizing
speech on the Armenian Genocide, the ongoing threats against any
nation that reaffirms the facts of history and now the outrageous
cancellation of an academic conference, Erdogan’s call for a
historical commission must be rejected as a disingenuous maneuver to
delay the inevitable. Its current assault on academic freedom must
likewise be condemned,” said AAA Board of Directors Chairman Anthony
Barsamian. “On subjects that the Turkish government considers
sensitive, there appear to be no constraints on what officials will do
to prevent free speech and debate,” said Congressional Caucus on
Armenian Issues Co-Chairs Congressmen Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Frank
Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ). “Internally the subject is criminalized, academic
conferences are cancelled and individuals are condemned as
traitors. Actions like this seriously undermine the credibility of
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s proposal to establish a historical
commission to study ‘the developments and events of 1915.’ “

Zaman, Turkey
May 28 2005

Baku-Ceyhan Breaking Point

ERHAN BASYURT
05.28.2005 Saturday – ISTANBUL 19:30

The first crude oil has been pumped through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
pipeline that will carry Caspian oil to the world. This giant project
is not only important for Azerbaijani-Turkish relations, but it is
also a turning point for the region’s future. This is the first time
a former Soviet republic, independently, has been able to complete an
energy pipeline that Russia abandoned without maintenance, and then
pump its oil to the world. The new pipeline will bring about gradual
but sustainable development to the Azerbaijani economy. Azerbaijan
expects a 20 percent growth rate every year, in the next few years.
This is a great success for Azerbaijan which gained its independence
in the wake of the destruction and ruins of the [Nagorno]-Karabakh
conflict.

The 1,744-km Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which is accepted as the
one of the longest in the world, will bring peace and cooperation to
the three countries it passes through. This partnership will even
become stronger when the gas pipeline, that is being constructed
parallel to the oil pipeline, is completed. The project’s biggest
partner, British Petroleum (BP), claims the revenue the three
countries will generate from oil transportation alone will be $150
billion.

The presidents of the three countries came together at the pipeline’s
oil-pumping ceremony and also signed a protocol to construct the
“Kars-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki-Baku” railway. This project also shows that
there is a stability pact in the Caucasus. The project that will
connect Turkey with Eurasia, was delayed for years due to the threat
from the Armenian minority in Georgia’s Akhalkalaki region. Russia
evacuating its military bases in Batumi and Akhalkalaki, under the
framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe’s (OSCE’s) disarmament initiative, paved the way for this
railway project.

Kazakhstan will be connected to this pipeline via Aktau. Thanks to
this project this country will also have an alternative pipeline to
that of Russia. Also, the oil tanker traffic, and the threats posed
by tankers to the enviroment and human life in the Bosphorous and
Dardanelles will be reduced. In addition, another Turkic republic,
Turkmenistan, will be also be connected to this gas pipeline project.
If this happens, it would mean that the Trans-Caspian Project
indirectly has materialized. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline has
great strategic importance for Turkey. Ceyhan, along with the Kerkuk
pipeline, have increased Turkey’s importance as an energy delivery
point outside the Gulf. The geostrategic importance of Incirlik for
the US and Cyprus for Turkey has increased. Turkey, which became an
energy route with Iranian and Azeri gas, and also Iraqi and Caspian
oil, now has more strategic value for the European Union (EU). The
project to carry natural gas to Europe via Greece, in particular, has
now become a possibility rather than a dream.

Besides Azerbaijan’s natural gas and oil reaching Turkey, the 6.5
percent share of the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) in this
project is of great importance. For the first time, Turkey will be
participating in an international partnership with big oil companies
in such a large area of oil and natural gas. These experiences
undoubtedly will contribute greatly and give the needed financial
backing to the roles TPAO will play in the future.

Consequently, the oil from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline comes
from the Caspian region, which has 8 percent of the proven oil
reserves in the world and the oil flowing from this pipeline will
exceed 1 percent of the world’s total supply. This means that the
world energy market will not change its route as a result of these
projects, but these amounts are enough to remake the countries in the
region, consolidate their independence and allow them establish
stable relations.

Pumping oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is a breaking
point from many perspectives and strengthens the search for
multidimensional cooperation.

The Daily Star, Lebanon
May 28 2005

Campaign U-turns continue to rattle polls

By Adnan El-Ghoul
Daily Star staff
Saturday, May 28, 2005

On the campaign trail

BEIRUT: With voting day mere hours away for the capital’s three
districts, excitement is starting to build in the rest of the country
as the expected landslide victory for a united opposition has
vanished and left a tightly contested battle, particularly among
Christian parties.

However, all is not guaranteed in Beirut, with figures such as Beirut
MPs Walid Eido and Ghinwa Jalloul facing serious competition from
independents Adnan Traboulsi and Adnan Araqji. But whichever
candidates win these two seats, Saad Hariri will still come out ahead
as all four contenders are seen to be supporters of the Hariri
family.

Despite having no hope of winning, the few other independent
candidates running in the capital are still in the race for the sole
reason of offering some form of opposition to the dominant coalitions
forged by Hariri and Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt.

Ironically, the family with the most chance of posing a threat to the
Hariri-Jumblatt list in Beirut, the Itanis (among others), decided
long ago to withdraw their candidates from the election to avoid
challenging Hariri’s leadership, despite commanding 12,000-plus votes
in the capital.

Meanwhile, former Beirut MP Najah Wakim continues his vigorous
campaign for the Orthodox seat in Beirut’s second district, well
aware of the futility of his efforts against such a figure as Beirut
MP Atef Majdalani; he would have had more luck facing off against
Gebran Tueni in the first district.

Observers expect a low voter turnout Sunday, unless the Future
Movement, Hizbullah and the Jumblatt’s PSP turn the polls into a
rally to boost the race in Mount Lebanon and the North.

But if such rallies are not held, the boredom and disappointment of
Beirut’s voters could spread throughout the country.

After all their negotiations to decide the elections themselves, it
will be up to the Hariri-led coalition to convince voters there is a
need for their participation. By all accounts, Sunday’s elections
will tell if Hariri can muster the same level of enthusiasm as his
father did in 2000.

Meanwhile, FPM leader Michel Aoun has finally departed from the
Qornet Shehwan Gathering, the main Christian opposition group, and in
so doing, completely altered the expected outcome of the polls.

In Baabda-Aley, the Chouf, Metn and the North, Aoun will now
challenge Jumblatt, Hariri and the scattered Christian parties. Even
if these developments do not cause a complete upset (as no one truly
expects they will), the unexpected shift has made the race too close
to call.

Aoun had allied his FPM with Talal Arslan’s Lebanese Democratic
Party, which will run alone against Jumblatt in the Chouf following
the voluntary withdrawal of General Issam Abu Jamra to advance the
chances of Arslan’s second-in-command, Marwan Abu Fadel, whereas Dory
Chamoun and the Syrian Social National Party were excluded from this
coalition.

Aoun’s attempts to form a strong political front in Baabda-Aley with
Dory Chamoun’s National Liberal Party, a Christian grouping that is
also strong in the area failed.

But reports said Friday these negotiations failed, and added there
was a possibility for an alliance between Chamoun and Jumblatt, who
criticized Aoun during the day, and accused him of weakening the
opposition.

In Aley-Baabda, the Aoun-Arslan coalition has formed a complete list
and left one of the area’s two Shiite seats vacant for Hizbullah’s
candidate.

Aoun also decided to stand for elections in Kesrouan-Jbeil, heading a
list of new faces against the Qornet Shehwan. In addition, Aoun left
vacant seats for Orthodox candidate Deputy Speaker Michel Murr and
Armenian Tashnag candidate Hagop Pakradounian. The two candidates
confirmed the new coalition in a news conference.

In the North, in yet another change of heart, former Premier Omar
Karami announced late Friday to participate after all in the
electoral process, saying he will encourage his supporters to vote
for Zghorta MP Suleiman Franjieh and Akkar MP Mikhael Daher, who may
in this 11th hour endorsement pose a real challenge to the
Hariri-Christian coalition.

Armenian power plant to be upgraded thanks to Japanese loan

Arminfo
26 May 05

YEREVAN

The Armenian National Assembly today approved an agreement on
allocating a credit to Armenia by the Japan Bank for International
Cooperation (JBIC) to the tune of 15.928 bn yen (150.2 m dollars) for
the modernization of the Yerevan thermal power plant.

Presenting the agreement, Armenian Deputy Energy Minister Ara Simonyan
reported that a new combined cycle power generating unit with a
capacity of 200-210 MW will be constructed at the Yerevan thermal
power plant for this money by 2008. It is planned that the thermal
power plant will operate annually for 7,000 hours and produce 1.4-1.5
bn kWh of power.

The credit agreement was signed in Yerevan on 29 March 2005. The
Yerevan thermal power plant itself, to which the Armenian MPs also
granted tax concessions, has been made responsible for the
implementation of the programme.

To recap, the programme is connected directly with the construction of
the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline, since payment for the Iranian gas will
be made by delivering Armenian power produced at the Yerevan thermal
power plant on the basis of three kWh [of electricity] for 1 cu.m. of
gas.

At the present time the Yerevan thermal power plant is using up to 50
MW of its capacity even though its technical life span has already
been exhausted.

The JBIC credit will be granted to the Yerevan thermal power plant for
a period of 40 years with an annual interest rate of 0.75 per cent but
at a reduced interest rate for the first 10 years

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
05/25/2005
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1) Turkey Postpones Armenian Conference, Calling it `Treason’
2) Key East-West Oil Pipeline Launched, Breaks Russia Grip on Caspian Energy
3) Chirac Says EU Constitution Would Put Back Turkey Accession
4) Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Georgia Sign Agreement for Construction of New
Railway
5) Charles Aznavour Arrives in Armenia

1) Turkey Postpones Armenian Conference, Calling it `Treason’

ISTANBUL (Reuters)–A Turkish university facing accusations of treason has
postponed a conference that offered a platform to academics questioning a
national policy that denies any World War I genocide of Armenians.
The conference, due to start on Wednesday at Istanbul’s Bosphorus University,
was organized as Muslim Turkey faces mounting pressure from the European Union
to accept that mass killings of Christian Armenians starting in 1915 was
genocide.
Turkey’s pro-European government has broken with past administrations and
said
it is willing to discuss historical differences with Armenians, but official
policy still vehemently rejects claims that 1.5 million Armenians were
slaughtered.
It accepts that hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed by Ottoman
Turks but says even more Turks died in a partisan conflict that erupted as the
Ottoman Empire collapsed.
Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said in parliament on Tuesday the conference by
Turkish historians who say genocide occurred was a “stab in the back of the
Turkish people.’
“We must end this treason, the spreading of propaganda against Turkey by the
people who belong to it,” he said.
Bosphorus University said it had decided to put off the conference because of
the prevailing climate.
“We are anxious that, as a state university, scientific freedom will be
compromised due to prejudices about a conference that has not yet
occurred,” it
said in a statement.
Edhem Eldem, a Bosphorus University historian, said organizers had not yet
decided whether they would hold a conference at a later date or cancel the
event completely.
“The side that will suffer the greatest loss is, unfortunately, Turkey,”
Eldem
said.
In a letter to her colleagues, Sociology Professor Fatma Muge Gocek from the
University of Michigan, `It is with a very heavy heart that I write this
e-mail
message to you from Istanbul.’ Gocek, who was one of the participants,
continued, `As to my personal assessment of the matter, I think that the fact
that such a conference was seriously organized to be executed, and that there
was such a groundswell of interest in it demonstrates there is significant
segment in Turkish civil society already mobilized to tackle this issue in a
way that counters the hegemonic state view on the matter.’

EU PRESSURE

The European Union has said it wants to see Turkey improve ties with
neighboring Armenia before it begins EU entry talks later this year. Some
European officials have gone further, saying Turkey must acknowledge
wrongdoing
before starting talks.
An EU diplomat called Cicek’s remarks “unbelievable.”
“It not only kills the government’s policy on the Armenian issue. It will
also
kill support for Turkey’s EU drive,” the diplomat said.
Hrant Dink, editor of the Armenian weekly Agos, echoed that view. “This
(decision) strengthens the hand of those outside Turkey who say, ‘Turkey has
not changed, it is not democratic enough to discuss the Armenian issue.”
“It shows there is a difference between what the government says and its
intentions.”
Several European nations, including Poland, France and Greece, have passed
resolutions that recognize the genocide.
French President Jacques Chirac, whose country is home to Europe’s largest
Armenian diaspora, urged Turkey this week to recognize the genocide and said
failure to do so could harm Ankara’s drive to join the EU.
Turkey has accused Europe of using the Armenian issue to mask efforts against
Turkey’s inclusion in the affluent bloc.

2) Key East-West Oil Pipeline Launched, Breaks Russia Grip on Caspian Energy

BAKU (AFP)–A major new US-backed pipeline to bring oil directly from the
Caspian Sea to Western markets and break Russia’s longtime grip on the
region’s
vast energy resources was formally launched Wednesday in a ceremony
attended by
presidents and dignitaries.
US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, who participated in the opening ceremony,
read delegates a letter from US President George W. Bush in which the American
leader hailed the four-billion-dollar project as a “monumental achievement.”
“This pipeline can help generate balanced economic growth, and provide a
foundation for a prosperous and just society that advances the cause of
freedom,” Bush said in the letter.
The presidents of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan were joined by
other VIPs including Bodman and the head of British energy giant BP, John
Browne, for the formal launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special representative for international
energy cooperation, Igor Yusufov, had been expected to attend the event. A
Kremlin spokesman told AFP in Moscow that he had been forced to cancel his
planned trip to Baku at the last minute due to illness.
The pipeline is expected to become a major competitor to traditional export
routes for Caspian oil that pass through Russia.
In a step likely to irritate Moscow, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan
Nazarbayev signed on to a declaration committing some of his country’s vast
Caspian oil reserves to transport through the pipeline just prior to the
ceremony.
The move will help extend the BTC’s life expectancy past 2010 when Azeri oil
production is forecasted to begin its decline if new fields are not developed
soon.
The former Soviet republic’s participation in the project has until now
remained under question as it navigated choppy diplomatic waters between
Washington and Moscow.
“The East-West energy corridor plays an important security role in the region
and it’s clear that economic growth and stability would not be possible
without
the export of oil,” Turkey’s President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said at the
opening.
He said the pipeline would take pressure off Turkey’s tanker-clogged
Bosphorus
Straits that link the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, another major maritime
transport route for oil.
Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili stressed the geopolitical changes
afoot in the region after the fall of the Soviet Union.
“After the fall of a big empire we want sources of hydrocarbons to be
protected and provide for stability of their transport,” he said.
The 1,770-kilometer-long (1,094-mile) pipeline will transform the Caucasus
and
Turkey into an energy bridge between the Caspian and the rest of the world and
has shifted geo-strategic alliances in the Caucasus region and Central Asia.
But the presence of senior officials from the United States and other
countries at Wednesday’s ceremonies was tainted by a controversy as Azeri
authorities continued to hold opposition members detained in connection with
the pipeline’s opening.
Police badly beat and arrested scores of people attending a peaceful rally
last Saturday as part of a wider opposition crackdown. Authorities justified
their actions on grounds that the rally was held too close to the pipeline
opening ceremonies, a claim questioned by Western officials.
Baku was the sight of some of the first industrially developed oil fields in
the world at the beginning of the 20th century.
The British oil giant BP holds a leading 30 percent stake in the consortium
running the pipeline. Other consortium members include Azerbaijan’s state oil
company SOCAR, Amerada Hess, ConocoPhillips, Eni, Inpex, Itochu, Statoil,
Total, TPAO and Unocal.
BP’s Browne said the “BTC will take new supplies of oil to the world market
and help to demonstrate that security is best achieved by having multiple
sources of supply and trade routes.”
SOCAR president Natik Aliyev called the pipeline the “realization” of a
national dream on Wednesday.
The Caspian region produces a light crude of high quality but has suffered
from its distance from the world’s major consumers–North America, Europe,
China, and Japan.
The pipeline is to ship one million barrels of Caspian oil, roughly one
percent of global oil production, to Turkey’s Mediterranean coast daily
once it
is fully up and running by the end of the year.

3) Chirac Says EU Constitution Would Put Back Turkey Accession

PARIS (AFX)–President Jacques Chirac said that the adoption of the EU
constitution would extend the timeframe for Turkey’s accession into the
union.
Chirac’s comments came in a letter to the France-based CCAF association of
Armenian organizations, and at a time when key proponents of the constitution
ramp up efforts to convince the electorate ahead of the referendum on Sunday.
Polls released over the past two weeks have indicated strongly that a vote
against the treaty is likely.
Chirac told the CCAF that Turkey ‘still has a long way to go’ in its bid for
EU membership, and that this will become even harder under a constitution
which
will ‘recognize fundamental rights and liberties…and guarantee them to all
European citizens.’
The Armenian community in France, some 400,000-strong, has been expected to
lean towards a ‘no’ vote as a means to stop Turkey’s accession. Community
leaders have insisted that France urge Turkey to acknowledge the Armenian
genocide as part of the accession talks.

4) Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Georgia Sign Agreement for Construction of New
Railway

BAKU (Combined Sources)–The presidents of Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Georgia
signed on Wednesday an agreement for construction of the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku
railway. Turkey’s president Ahmet Necet Sezer and Georgian president Mikhail
Saakashvili were in Baku to attend the inauguration of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil
pipeline.
The Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway comes as an alternative to Kars-Gyumri railway
that used to connect Turkey with the South Caucasus. It was operational before
the Turkish government imposed a transport blockade of Armenia.
The 98-kilometer railway will stretch between the city of Kars and
Akhalkalak.
The project, with a 68-kilometer stretch in Turkey and a 30-kilometer stretch
in Georgia, is estimated at $400-450 million.
Its implementation will allow transporting 3 million tons of cargo–mainly
oil–a year. Currently, oil is transported via Azerbaijan from Kazakhstan and
Turkmenistan to Georgia’s Black Sea ports.

5) Charles Aznavour Arrives in Armenia

Yerevan (Armenpress)–World famous French Armenian singer Charles Aznavour
will
arrive in Armenia this week to attend the presentation of the Armenian
language
edition of his book–`Past Days.’ Armenian officials say Aznavour also agreed
to join thousands of other Armenian for a circle dance around Mount Aragats on
May 28.
Aznavour is planning also to visit Georgia’s Javakhk region, where his
parents
lived before emigrating to France. Proceeds from the sale of the book will be
donated to the Aznavour Pour l’Armenie charity organization.

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Inauguration of Baku-Ceyhan pipeline to also start new economic prospects in
Caspian region

AP Worldstream
May 24, 2005

AIDA SULTANOVA

The 1,760-kilometer (1,100-mile) Baku-Ceyhan pipeline to be
inaugurated Wednesday will not only bring Caspian oil to the West but
could help bring stability to a troubled region, analysts say.

The US$3.2 billion (Aâ=82¬2.5 billion) U.S.-backed project is the
firstdirect pipeline link between the landlocked Caspian, which is
thought to contain the world’s third-largest oil and gas reserves, and
the Mediterranean _ providing a much-needed alternative to Mideast
energy sources and Russian transit routes.

“This global project will completely change the economic situation in
Azerbaijan, and in the political sense it will influence the rest of
the Caucasus and Central Asia,” said Vafa Guluzade, a former foreign
affairs adviser to the Azerbaijani government.

Built by a consortium led by BP PLC, the route travels from Azerbaijan
through Georgia to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

Until now, Caspian states sent almost all their oil through Russian
pipelines to reach world markets. The new route will neutralize any
Russian attempts to use economic levers to bring former Soviet
republics back under its wing, Guluzade said.

“(The pipeline) will carry a huge volume of oil, and Russia is nervous
that it is being deprived of big money and also the possibility to
dictate its terms to these states,” he said.

Azerbaijan will earn taxes and royalties on the oil that transits its
territory, while Georgia and Turkey are to profit from transit fees.

The presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey are to be
on hand _ along with U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and a coterie
of oil executives _ to watch Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev open
the taps Wednesday for the first symbolic drops of oil to enter the
pipeline at the Sangachal oil terminal, about 40 kilometers (25 miles)
south of the Azerbaijani capital, Baku.

Aliev and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev were to sign an
agreement on transporting Kazakh oil through the new pipeline on
Tuesday.

“We view this as a significant step forward in the energy security of
that region,” Bodman said Tuesday in Moscow.

The president of the pipeline consortium, Natik Aliev, said it would
take up to a month and a half to fill the Azerbaijani section of the
pipeline. The Georgian part will be ready after that, and then the
Turkish stretch, which Turkish authorities have said should be filled
by Aug. 15. It will take approximately 10 million barrels of crude to
fill the entire pipeline.

Bodman said that it would take three or four months to fill the
pipeline and that deliveries would begin in the fall.

“This is a contribution toward … an increase supply in oil in the
world,” he said. “It adds a new supplier of some consequence.”

But experts have said the new oil will provide only short-term relief
to a world that is consuming more crude every year. Oil prices, while
down off their recent highs, are still hovering around US$49 a barrel.

Four years ago, oil officials spoke of finds that could rival the
Middle East’s production. But experts now say the Caspian should in
coming years pump some 4 million to 5 million barrels per day, on par
with Iran.

Eshan Ul-Haq, chief analyst at PVM Oil Associates in Vienna, said the
pipeline will have an impact but only for Europe, because initial
volumes will be low.

He also said the pipeline’s oil could bring prices down for sour-grade
crude such as those produced by Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and it could
mean lower prices for Russian Ural oil. The oil most in demand is
light, sweet crude, which most refiners prefer it because it is low in
sulfur and easy to process.

Azerbaijan, meanwhile, is banking on the pipeline to raise its profile
in the world and swing international support behind Baku in its
dispute with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, which ethnic
Armenian separatists took control of more than a decade ago. The
conflict continues to simmer, undermining the region’s security.

“(The pipeline) will bring a certain element of stability in terms of
cooperation … with large states that are interested in pressuring
both … Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the Karabakh conflict as
quickly as possible,” said analyst Rasim Musabekov.

Pan Armenian News

URAL AUTHORITIES FEAR FOR LIVES OF ARMENIAN POPULATION

23.05.2005 03:41

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The murder of three Armenians is being investigated in the
town of Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Ural (Russia). The investigators do not rule out
that the crime was committed on account of national hostility. The Ural
policemen are working in the emergency regime. Presently the investigating
experiment is under way. Five teenagers show and tell how they beat to death
three Armenians with boards. They killed two at a café and then one in the
town center. After committing the murder the teenagers came back to the
café, took a loudspeaker and announced they had made a cleansing. Head of
the department of home affairs of the Verkhnyaya Pyshma Nikolay Buyanov
said, `They think they must clean the territory. They killed two people and
then took a taxi and went to town center. On they way they came across one
more Armenian and killed him too.’ The skinheads were arrested within three
days. At first they were suspected of a murder with a purpose of robbery as
they took the cell phones and purses. However presently other motives
including national hostility are being considered. To note, about 500
Armenian families live in Verkhnyaya Pyshma. After the murder of their
compatriots they met with the representatives of the police, who promised to
carry out a transparent and fair investigation. The Armenian Ambassador to
Russia also watches the developments.

CRIMEAN PARLIAMENT RECOGNIZES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

YEREVAN, MAY 20. ARMINFO. Thursday the Verkhovnaya Rada (Parliament)
of the Crimea, Ukraine, poclaimed Apr 24 as the day to commemorate
the victims of the Armenian Genocide, reports REGNUM.

The decision was passed on the initiative of MP Sergey Shuvaynikov
heading the Congress of the Russian Communities of the Crimea.

59 of 62 MPs voted for the decision. “Such memorable days should be
in history. I guess the Armenian community will be grateful to us,”
says Shuvaynikov.