Author: Nalbandian Albert

ITAR-TASS, Russia
April 28 2004

European economic summit discusses effects of EU enlargement

WARSAW, April 28 (Itar-Tass) – The European economic summit 2004,
organized in Davos by the World Economic Forum as its regional
gathering, has opened in Warsaw.

The summit with the motto `Europe – Enlargement and Beyond’ is
devoted to the current challenges that the European Union faces:
economic, political, constitutional and cultural that will result
from the enlargement of the Union on May 1, when ten Central and East
European countries are to become its members.

Around 700 participants, representing the economic and political
elites of 45 nations, including the presidents, premiers and
ministers from 31 countries, are to hold 40 roundtable discussions,
plenary sessions and workshops that will center around the impact of
an expanded union on the European business and its competitiveness,
enlargement of Europe’s single currency zone, new demands of European
consumers, the development of financial markets and transatlantic
relations.

The Wednesday plenary session is dealing with `Europe: Hopes and
Concerns’. As regards the roundtable discussions, they will focus on
relations between Europe and Russia, the developments in the
Caucasus, South-East Europe and Turkey.

Russia has delegated to the summit President Vladimir Putin’s special
spokesman on the development of relations with the European Union
Sergey Yastrzhembsky and a group of politicians and business leaders.

President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Premier Leszek Miller, Foreign
Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz and Minister of the economy, labor
and social policy Jerzy Hausner represent Poland.

Some other high-rank participants are Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev, Malta’s Prime Minister Tonio Berg, Lithuanian Prime Minister
Algirdas Brazauskas, Romanian President Ion Iliescu, Armenian
President Robert Kocharian, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma,
President Svetozar Marovic of Serbia and Montenegro, German President
Johannes Rau, Georgian President Mikhai Saakashvili, Slovak President
Rudolf Schuster, and Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin.

An alternative economic forum is planned at the time of the European
Economic Summit to discuss the negative impact of transnational
corporations on the world community, global environment and national
cultures. Polish anarchists, green movement activists and radical
youth organizations are expected to take part in the alternative
events along with Polish alterglobalists who will criticize current
economic trends and propose radical alternatives to them.

The protesters are acting beyond the boundaries of the security zone
around the building in which the European Economic Summit is working.
Their main demonstration calling for an end to globalization of
exploitation, poverty and war is scheduled for Thursday, April 29,
and although its organizers declare that the action will be peaceful,
police prepares tough security measures. Armored vehicle-mounted
water canons have already been placed at the Sofitel Victoria Hotel.

No excesses have been registered so far, a Warsaw police source said.
But the center of Warsaw is unusually quiet and empty. The shutters
are down in the windows of shops and cafes, as well as of ground
floor and first-floor apartments, in central Warsaw.

Los Angeles Daily News, CA
April 30 2004

Reopening of state trade office in Israel proposed
By Harrison Sheppard
Sacramento Bureau

As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visits Israel this weekend, back on the
home front Assemblyman Keith Richman, R-Granada Hills, is pushing for
California to reopen its trade office in that country.

The office was closed, along with 10 in other countries, during last
year’s budget crunch. Richman argued the Israel office cost very
little compared with the trade it generated.

“The Israeli trade office has been in place for more than a decade
now and in fact it has provided a large amount of trade opportunities
for companies in the state of California and has generated a lot of
jobs,” said Richman.

Opened in 1993, the office cost about $64,000 a year to maintain on a
contract basis with a private firm and also got involved with trade
to other Middle Eastern countries. The state closed its foreign trade
offices last fall in six Asian countries, Mexico, Europe and South
Africa.

California imported more than $1.1 billion of goods from Israel last
year and exported $320 million in goods, with the bulk of that trade
coming through the Los Angeles area, according to the Los Angeles
Economic Development Corp.

Still, that is a relatively small amount compared with the trade
California did with the larger Asian nations, noted LAEDC economist
Jack Kyser.

“It sounds good to open the office in Israel, but if you’re going to
start opening the offices, wouldn’t you want to go to countries where
we have bigger potential?” Kyser asked. “You’d have to say, OK, the
largest source of exports out of the L.A. district is Japan. No. 2 is
China. No. 3 is South Korea. (Israel) is quite a ways down.”

Schwarzenegger is visiting Israel this weekend to attend the
groundbreaking for a new Simon Wiesenthal Center museum — a
commitment he made long before he ran for governor — and to look for
new business opportunities for California companies. He is expected
to meet with leaders in the Israeli government, including Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon.

On his way back, he will also stop at the Ramstein Air Base, a U.S.
military facility in Germany, to visit California troops.

A Schwarzenegger spokesman said the governor has not taken a position
on Richman’s bill but will be looking to expand trade opportunities
for California while he is in Israel.

The administration is also working on a separate bill, SB1665 by Sen.
Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Temecula, that would encourage the
establishment of trade and investment offices in other countries. The
bill does not name the countries, other than Armenia.

A spokesman for the Israeli government welcomed the effort to bolster
ties between Israel and California.

“If we put our two heads together, I think we can achieve great
things, and this is a step in that direction,” spokesman Daniel
Seaman said, adding that it could “benefit both the people of the
state of California and the people of the state of Israel.” Daily
News correspondent Erik N. Nelson in Tel Aviv contributed to this
report.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
April 29, 2004 Thursday

Transcaucasus presidents discuss regional problems

WARSAW

The leaders of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are determined to go
ahead with reforms in their countries to bring their economies in
line with the standards of the European Union. This theme was central
to statements by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, Armenian
President Robert Kocharian, and Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev
at a seminar devoted to the problems of the Caucasus region at the
on-going European economic forum.

The leaders of the three former Soviet republics discussed current
reforms in their countries and previewed plans for the future.

Saakashvili told the participants he hoped for Georgia’s admission to
the European Union in the near future.

“I visited Brussels just recently and I hope that Georgia’s admission
may take place sooner than many expect,” he said.

Aliyev recalled Azerbaijan’s “strategic decision” made back in 1993
to integrate in international structures and the world economy.

As for the Armenian president, Kocharian said he did not expect the
European Union might consider the possibility of making Armenia its
member in the near future. He remarked, though, that if Armenia
matches E.U. standards, the goal of European membership will be
closer.

The theme of Nagorno-Karabakh was brought up at the seminar. As he
dwelt on the likely ways of settling the conflict, Aliyev said a
settlement must be carried out on the basis of international law.

He said Azerbaijan respected the territorial integrity everywhere and
hoped that it would be entitled to a similar treatment.

Armenian President Kocharian said that in the Soviet Union
administrative borders in many cases were drawn in such a way so as
to ferment regional tensions and thereby enhance the role of the
central authorities.

“I do understand Azerbaijan’s position,” Kocharian said, adding that
the surest way towards a settlement was “peaceful divorce.”

Saakashvili briefed the participants in the meeting arranged by the
Davos World Economic Forum on cooperation with Russia on the mutual
border in the struggle against Chechen militants.

“We have none today, and we do not want them to return,” Saakashvili
said.

A1 Plus | 22:08:28 | 03-05-2004 | Social |

WARNING: POISONOUS COFFEE

After careful examination of coffee abundant in Armenian market, PR
Association reported the most popular kinds of ground coffee, especially
those containing prizes in packs to attract consumers, such as Fero,
Cardinal, Premier, Maxwell and Super Argo, have poisonous elements – cadmium
and copper – in their composition.

Professor Ojugaryan said at today’s news conference cadmium amount exceeded
the allowed norm 10-15 %. In his words, cadmium is reckoned among the
first-degree-risk metals and lead to cancer, infertility toxic disorders
etc.

Experts found also great amount of starch, pea and other legumes in coffee.

The Globe and Mail, Canada
April 27 2004

Unhealed wounds undercut an experiment in democracy

By JEFFREY SIMPSON

Prime Minister Paul Martin was not amused, and said so to his cabinet
last Thursday morning.

The day before, he and Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham had urged
the Liberal caucus not to support a Bloc Québécois MP’s motion
“acknowledging the Armenian genocide of 1915” – a tragedy that was
further described as a “crime against humanity.”

Mr. Martin had made the vote a “two-line whip,” which under the new
government procedures meant that ministers had to vote together but
backbenchers were free to vote as they saw fit. This “two-line whip”
was part of the Prime Minister’s new attempt to reform the
“democratic deficit” in Parliament.

The new strategy boomeranged. It was embarrassing enough that 78
Liberal MPs supported the opposition motion against the Prime
Minister’s wishes. At least that’s the new game. But for cabinet
ministers to fail to vote as one mocked the whole point of the
“two-line whip” system.

Ministers such as Stephen Owen and Rey Pagtakhan sat in their seats.
Other stayed away. (That the Prime Minister himself skipped the vote
irritated some cabinet ministers.

Thursday morning, Mr. Martin laid down the law. Being a minister is a
privilege, he told ministers. You play by the rules. When there’s a
“two-line whip,” you vote as government ministers, not solo flyers.

Across the aisle, the Conservatives voted as a bloc for the motion,
as did the other opposition parties. That’s the kind of behaviour
that will sink this parliamentary reform.

If the government allows its backbenchers to vote freely, but sees
the opposition voting as a bloc, these kind of votes won’t last long.
The opposition parties, in other words, are as responsible as the
government for seeing that this parliamentary reform works. So far,
they are flunking the test in their eagerness to show up the
government.

The Conservatives, blinded by their own short-sightedness and led by
their foreign affairs spokesperson, Stockwell Day, will now find
themselves caught if they ever form the government. Having voted for
this motion in opposition, the Conservatives will be badgered in
government by the Armenian lobby to make this resolution government
policy, thereby aligning Canada with only France and Switzerland.

The operative principle in a highly multicultural country should be
to remain wary of allowing strongly held ethnic grievances to
influence foreign policy, whether it’s the Armenian-Turkish dispute
over the violence of 1915 or any number of other disputes.

That principle has wide applicability in a country such as Canada.
Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, Jews and Palestinians
(and other Arabs), Armenians and Azerbaijanis, Greeks and Turks,
Pakistanis and Indians, Serbs and Croats, Tamils and Sinhalese are
among the rivalries, rife with bitter historical memories, that can
be played out on Canadian soil. The principle has nothing to do with
business contracts at peril.

Canada has never been completely immune from these imported pressures
ever since the Fenian raids just before Confederation. When a country
has been settled, and continues to be settled, by those from many
lands, it is understandable that at least some ancient disputes will
be brought to Canadian shores.

People have their own historical memories of what happened to their
ancestors, and perhaps even to themselves. They will want sometimes
to carry on those feuds in their adopted country, or at least to have
their particular and deeply-felt interpretation of past and current
events legitimized by the Canadian government. The question is what
their adopted country will and should do about these efforts.

By and large, Canadian governments have tried not to allow these
memories, and the ethnic lobby groups that form around them, to
influence unduly contemporary policy.

Canada has tried to develop a reputation as an honest broker, so that
Canadians troops can be used in divisive situations (Cyprus, the
Middle East) or that individual Canadians can play healing roles
(Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, Rwanda) without their country being
tainted by preferring one version of historical memory over another
and succumbing to domestic lobbying by one particular group.

Does that mean Canada should be insensitive to contemporary disputes
that lead to gross violations of human rights? Of course not: Proof
is Canada’s strong support for the International Criminal Court, now
headed by a Canadian.

A multicultural country like Canada has to be careful about allowing
ancient grievances to be played out such that they push foreign
policy in a particular direction. Once that starts to happen in a
country like this, it won’t end.

Los Angeles Daily News
April 27 2004

Suspect returns to face charge
Glendale man accused in slaying of nephew

By Alex Dobuzinskis
Staff Writer

GLENDALE — A 33-year-old fugitive returned voluntarily to the United
States from his native Armenia and will be charged today in the
shooting death of his 18-year-old nephew, police said Monday.

Gaik Shakhmuradyan, who had lived in Glendale for seven years, fled
to Armenia after Edvin Isagulyan was fatally shot last October,
officials said. He was returned Thursday to Los Angeles International
Airport accompanied by two Glendale police detectives, who had gone
to Armenia to find him.

“We were prepared to walk away from him and then bring all the
information back to the United States” and give it to prosecutors,
Glendale police Lt. Jon Perkins said. “He chose to come back with
us.”

Armenian authorities helped Glendale police find Shakhmuradyan, who
is the brother of Isagulyan’s mother. Shakhmuradyan could have faced
extradition proceedings if he had stayed in Armenia.

“He had a little taste of the U.S., and it was quite different in
Armenia,” Perkins said.

Isagulyan was shot in the head Oct. 20 in the parking lot of an auto
repair shop in the 500 block of South Glendale Avenue. He died the
next day.

The motive for the shooting is unclear, Perkins said. The shop was
not owned or operated by either the victim’s family or his uncle.

Shakhmuradyan was being held in Glendale jail in lieu of $2.1
million, with his arraignment scheduled today on one count of murder.

The victim’s family did not cooperate with police in the
investigation, Perkins said.

Deutsche Welle, Germany
April 22 2004

German Foreign Minister Pushes for Reform in Armenia, Georgia

Armenian President Robert Kocharian is under pressure to resign.

Joschka Fischer will wrap up his trip to the Caucasus region on
Thursday with stops in Armenia and Georgia. His visit in Armenia
comes during considerable political instability in the country.

Following visits to Afghanistan and Azerbaijan, Germany’s Fischer
continued his week-long trip abroad by arriving in the Armenian
capital Yerevan on Thursday morning. As he did in Azerbaijan, he is
expected to encourage both southern Caucasus nations to continue to
improve their democratic and human rights credentials by holding out
the prospect of closer ties to the European Union.

Fischer will need plenty of diplomatic tact in Yerevan, since
Armenian President Robert Kocharian is under increasing pressure to
step down. On Wednesday, opposition groups held a protest rally that
attracted an estimated 10,000 people, according to the Associated
Press. Opposition groups allege Kocharian won reelection last year
only through widespread election fraud, a charge which the president
denies.

Tensions in the country rose on April 13, when police used force to
break up a protest rally. Around 100 people were reportedly detained
and several protestors were injured. “Any administration relying on
violence is doomed. Kocharian must go,” said Stepan Demirchyan,
leader of the opposition Justice Party and runner-up in last year’s
presidential election, according to the Reuters news agency.

Kocharian’s opponents hope to oust him though continued popular
unrest, similar to how neighboring Georgia toppled the government of
former President Eduard Shevardnadze late last year. But some experts
are skeptical Kocharian will be removed from power.

“The Armenian authorities are better consolidated and will defend
their position more strongly. Moreover, there’s no clear leader of
the opposition like there was in Georgia,” Andranik Migranyan told
DW-Radio.

Conflict with Azerbaijan

While in Yerevan, Fischer will also address the dispute over the
Nagorno-Karabakh region, which though part of Azerbaijan has been
separated from the country since the mid-1990s after a war with
ethnic Armenians. A cease-fire in the conflict was signed in 1994,
but the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh has not been resolved. In
the Azerbaijani capital Baku on Wednesday, Fischer already said
Germany and the EU were prepared to help find a solution to the
conflict.

Fischer’s visit to Armenia will also include a memorial for Armenians
killed by Turks in 1915. The Armenians claim Ottoman Turkish forces
committed genocide at the time, slaughtering some 1.5 million people
between 1915 and 1923. Turkey rejects the charges, saying the
Armenians were killed in a partisan war as the Ottoman Empire
collapsed.

Heading to Tbilisi later in the day, Fischer will meet with Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili to show support for his western
oriented reform course. Saakashvili came to power in a bloodless coup
that ousted Shevardnadze in November, but he has run into trouble
recently, as military commanders in the rebellious Black Sea province
of Adzhara refuse to follow the orders of the central government.

PRESS RELEASE
Office of Sarkis Assadourian M.P.
120 Confederation
House of Commons, Ottawa, Canada
Contact: Daniel Kennedy
Tel: 613 995 4843

Ottawa April 22, 2004
Historic Day on Parliament Hill

M.P. Sarkis Assadourian, Hosts Reception Honouring Sara Corning
M-380 Sees Recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Parliament

April 21, 2004 will go done in history as a remarkable day for the
Canadian Armenian Community. Following a memorable reception held in
honour of the late Sara Corning a native of Nova Scotia responsible
for the rescue of thousands of, Armenian children, from the port of
Smyrna in the summer of 1922 hosted by Sarkis Assadourian (Brampton
Centre, Lib.): Chairman of the Canada-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship
Group members of the Canadian Armenian Community were thrilled to be
present in the galleries of the House of Commons as M-380 received the
resounding approval of the Members of Parliament.

Motion-380 seconded by Assadourian called on the House of Commons to
acknowledge the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and condemn this act as a
crime against humanity. Assadourian has introduced similar motions and
Private Members Bills over his 10 years as M.P. and was overjoyed to
finally see the House of Commons grant recognition of the
Genocide. Assadourian hosted a victory reception in his Parliament
Hill office following the historic vote attended by supporters
including His Excellency Ara Papian Armenian Ambassador to Canada.

Assadourian thanks the supporters of the Canada Armenia Parliamentary
Friendship Group notably AGBU, Armenian Democratic Liberal Party,
Armenian Social Democratic Party, CABC Ontario Armenian Apostolic
Church Diocese, Armenian World Alliance as well as the support and
co-operation of the Armenian Assembly of America and documentation
provided by the Zorian Institute in the pursuit of this historic
milestone.

“Armenians everywhere will celebrate this great day that saw the
relatives of Sarah Corning receive an enunciate from His Holiness
Karikian ll, Catholocos of All Armenia, honouring the efforts of their
ancestor on behalf of the Armenian orphans and later that same day the
historic recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the House of
Commons. I dedicate this victory to the late Kirk Margarian (George
Town Boy) and through him all victims and survivors of genocide.

-30-
For further information contact: Daniel Kennedy 613-995-4843

Agence France Presse
April 21, 2004 Wednesday 8:06 AM Eastern Time

German FM backs stability in strife-torn Caucasus region

BAKU, April 21

Germany Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said on a visit to the
former republic of Azerbaijan on Wednesday that the European Union
was committed to helping the volatile Caucasus region achieve
stability.

Fischer, who had arrived in Azerbaijan from a trip to Afghanistan,
was speaking at the start of a tour of the region which will also
take in the neighbouring states of Georgia and Armenia.

“I told my colleague that we are interested in stability in the
region and the European Union is ready to do everything in this
regard,” the German foreign minister, speaking through an
interpreter, told reporters after talks with his Azeri counterpart
Elmar Mamedyarov.

He said Germany was keen to see an end to the long-running conflict
between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh.

The row is seen as a major source of instability in the region, which
is becoming a strategic crossroads for oil exports from the Caspian
Sea to Western markets.

“We discussed the conflict and reached the conclusion that the two
sides should make steps toward one another, with the support of the
international community,” Fischer said. “We want the conflict to be
resolved as quickly as possible.”

Commenting on Azerbaijan’s human rights record, which has drawn
criticism from the international community, Fischer said he welcomed
the recent release from jail of a number of alleged political
prisoners. “I think it should be extended to all other political
prisoners,” he added.

Fischer was due to meet Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev later
Wednesday. On Thursday morning he is scheduled to travel to Armenia.
The following day he is due in Georgia, from where he will return to
Germany.

Armenian head vows not to sack government under opposition pressure

Mediamax news agency
20 Apr 04

YEREVAN

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said in Yerevan today that he will
not dismiss the prime minister or dissolve parliament.

Speaking at a briefing in Yerevan today, Kocharyan said that “such
rumours are being spread on purpose in order to create the atmosphere
of distrust towards the president, prime minister and within the ranks
of the ruling coalition”, Mediamax news agency reports.

“I can unequivocally say that I do not intend to dismiss the
government. It would be absurd to take this step against the
government which works efficiently and ensures the 100 per cent
implementation of the budget and economic growth,” Kocharyan said.

“In spite of attempts by certain circles to create obstacles, the
Armenian authorities are working in a normal fashion,” he said.

“There is not a single country in the world where the opposition would
not aspire to change the government,” Kocharyan said. Yet, “there is
not a single country where the authorities do not take measures to
ensure stability”.