Author: Nalchajian Markos

VLADIMIR KAZIMIROV: THERE IS SOLE PRINCIPLE IN KARABAKH SETTLEMENT – NO TERRITORY WITHOUT GUARANTEES

07.04.2005 05:17

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs are tired of
persuading the parties of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, former
OSCE Minsk Group Russian Co-Chair Vladimir Kazimirov stated at
discussions over the Nagorno Karabakh issues in Yerevan. In his words,
already in 1993 the parties of the conflict discussed the issue of
return of the Kelbajar region to Azerbaijan, however the question
appeared at the time: “in exchange for what?” Russia insisted on the
immediate ceasing of the hostilities, the US … on persistent talks.
Everything failed at the time only because Azerbaijan representative
left the talks held in Geneva at the time, the Russian diplomat
explained. The Azeri party only states it is necessary for Armenia
to return all territories, refusing at that from the 6+2 formula
and all others. Thus, the Co-Chairs have decided to pass “the apple
of discord” to the Presidents of the two countries – the parties to
the conflict. As noted by V. Kazimirov, it led to the 20 meetings
held between them. “However, – V. Kazimirov noted, – whatever it
is the principle should always be only one -no territories without
guarantees. Unfortunately, the Azeri society does not understand this
principle,” the Russian diplomat emphasized.

KARABAKH PROBLEM TO BE DISCUSSED IN AZERI PARLIAMENT MAY 6

06.04.2005 04:03

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Nagorno Karabakh issue will be discussed in
Azerbaijani Milli Mejlis (MM) on May 6, MM chairman Murtuz Aleskerov
stated, Trend news agency reports. In his words, the parliamentarians
will consider the report prepared by the OSCE Fact-Finding Mission,
the policy of “settling the Nagorno Karabakh by Armenians, growing
of drug matters on the seized territories, etc.” Upon completion of
the discussions a statement will be adopted and sent to the UN and
other international organizations.

Yuri Merzlyakov: “The package of the regulation of Karabakh conflict is already ready”

06 April 2005 [16:24] – Today.Az

“Current stage of talk processes within the regulation of Nagorno
Karabakh problem may be appreciated positively, the sides are close
to the regulation of the conflict”.

This was stated by Russian co-chairman of OSCE Yuri Merzlyakov in
his report to “Azadlig” radio.

>>From this view point, he stressed the importance of the meeting
of Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharyan, presidents of Azerbaijan and
Armenia: “It’s time for the presidents of both countries to give
orders to the ministers and mediators”. Y.Merzlyakov stated that,
OSCE Minsk group has already prepared the package of solution, the
document might be presented to Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharyan:
“After this moment, everything will depend on the decisions of the
presidents of two countries”.

The Russian stated that, Azerbaijan and Armenia governments must go to
some compromises. But the societies of both countries are not ready
for compromises and lots of works should be done in this direction:
“Today it is already evident that, Karabakh problem should be solved
only in peaceful way”.

RAO UES OF RUSSIA AND GAZPROM TO COMPLETE HRAZDAN HEAT STATION

06.04.2005 03:16

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ RAO UES of Russia and Gazprom are going to carry out
one more joint project. They have filed the application for finishing
the building of the Hrazdan heat station. To note, earlier each
company informed of own interest to the project, Vedomosti Russian
newspaper reports.

NEW TARIFFS OF INTERNET PHONE COMMUNICATION APPROVED

YEREVAN, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Government approved the Internet
phone (IP) tariffs submitted by ArmenTel. NT was informed from the RA
Ministry of Transport and Communication that in accordance with the
changed version of Licence No. 60, the list of the approved tariffs
of this service – ArmenTel’s monopoly includes in particular the
rate of phone communication with the US and the RF per minute, which
will make an amount in drams equivalent to $0.20 (without VAT that
makes up 20%). Thus the tariff for the above mentioned countries will
amount to 110 drams. The new tariff for most European countries will
make $0.3. For many countries, the tariff of connection to mobile
phone numbers will be higher than fixed phone communication. The
tariffs will be calculated in drams based on the dollar’s exchange
rate of the last day of the preceding month to be approved by the
RA Central Bank. The Ministry of Transport and Communication as the
monopoly service regulating body demanded from ArmenTel that the
increase in IP communication tariffs should not be considerable for
the countries with the big Armenian Diaspora. To recap, until now
the tariffs of IP communication service of the companies – providers
of this service made about 70 drams, with the tariffs for the US and
Russia making about 50 drams. According to the information provided
by the ministry, the ArmenTel tariff for IP communication service
includes the per-minute rate for local connection, which has not been
included up to now. Besides, ArmenTel motivates the tariff increase by
the fact that it includes the net development and extension costs. It
is noteworthy, however, that according to the head of the Ministry’s
Communication Department Gevorg Gevorgian, ArmenTel has not yet
presented the business program of its economic development. ArmenTel’s
IP services will be available by advance payment cards with prices
making 2,500 drams, 5,000 drams and 10,000 drams (about 22 USD). As
for other companies operating in the market, their regulations with
ArmwnTel will be regulated on the basis of bilateral agreements.

VAHAN HOVHANNISIAN: PERFECT VARIANT OF SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT
IS STAGE-BY-STAGE, WITH THE PROBLEM OF STATUS SOLVED FIRST

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, NOYAN TAPAN. The fault of the Armenian party is
that it fails to figuratively represent in international instances the
real reasons of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and doesn’t use as a
“weapon” the consequences of the conflict. Vahan Hovhannisian, the RA
NA Deputy Chairman, a member of ARF Bureau expressed this opinion at
the March 30 parliamnetary hearings dedicated to the Karabakh
issue. According to him, there are three ways led to the targeted
solution of the conflict: war; establishment of any relations only
after the conflict settlement; establishment of relations without
pre-conditions, which may allow to find a solution to the conflict
later. According to the speaker, the first two options are
“Azerbaijan’s” ways. Azerbaijan demands to restore its territorial
integrity with the means of negotiations, otherwise threatening with
the war. The third way is the “Armenian” one. According to Vahan
Hovhannisian, for many times the Armenian party offered to establish
relations of different levels with the prospect to find a solution
later, as a result of discussions of the conflict settlement, mutual
concessions, satisfying both parties. This way is refused by the
Azerbaijan party. According to the NA Deputy Chairman, on April 25,
the Ministers’ Council of the European Union will finally adopt the
program of activities concerning the participation of the three South
Caucasian states in “New Neighbourhood” program. Those will be
“prescriptions”, by which the countries, without becoming a member of
the EU, will become a part of the European united economical
space. The approch of the EU, namely, establishment of guaranteed
peace, is advantageous for Armenia. But this worries Azerbaijan,
“that’s why, from fear, it makes more and more agressive statements.”
According to V.Hovhannisian, it is necessary for Armenia, to implement
serious reforms in all spheres without imitation, to be fully included
in this program. According to the speaker, the perfect variant of the
conflict settlement is the stage-by-stage one, with the the issue of
the status being the foremost to be solved. The package variant is the
greatest concession by Armenia as it agrees to discuss the problem of
the status together with secondary questions. Vahan Hovahannisian
suggests to implement guaranteed solution of the issue of the
status. As the international community refuses to take the role of the
guarantor, Armenia must guarantee the security of the Nagorno Karabakh
and determination of its status independently, as the only decisive
subject is the Nagorno Karabakh people.

VLADIMIR KAZIMIROV: IN KARABAKH SETTLEMENT FORMULATION “TERRITORIES
FOR STATUS” SHOULD BE REPLACED BY FORMULATION “TERRITORIES FOR
SECURITY”

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, NOYAN TAPAN. The attention of the world community
should be drawn to the fact that it’s about two years that Azerbaijan
has been conducting the official systematic campaign of threats of
application of force.

Vladimir Kazimirov, former Russian Co-chairman of OSCE Minsk Group,
declared this on March 29 in Yerevan, speaking at the parliamentary
hearings on Karabakh settlement. According to Kazimirov, the campaign
of official Baku aimed at “returning to the battlefield without coming
up to the negotiations table” should have the official response of
OSCE. He mentioned that such conduct is contrary to the efforts of
this organization, under the aegis of which the negotiations process
was held for 13 years, and to the direct obligations of all OSCE
member states. The reporter said that Azeri President Ilham Aliyev,
for whom the Karabakh settlement is much more dangerous than for
father Aliyev, toughened the conditions in order to avoid agreement.

Mentioning that the audience won’t like many statements in
his speech, Kazimirov declared that the hearings once more confirm
that when speaking about the settlement of such a complicated conflict
as Karabakh one “complacency is harmful even for those imagining
themselves winners.” He mentioned that both during the hearings and in
Armenian press the territories beyond Nagorno Karabakh bounds are
called released. In the period of war we might speak about deliverance
from weapon emplacements from where the Karabakh populated areas were
fired, while such a vocabulary is inadmissible in conditions of search
for peace. The reporter also declared that Armenia will manage to hide
under the mask of the guarantor of Nagorno Karabakh security. “It’s a
very convenient position – to consider as if this is an Azeri-Karabakh
conflict and Armenia keeps aside and only morally sympathizes,” he
mentioned and called on to be engaged in real politics.

In the reporter’s opinion, this “propaganda fundamentalism” won’t help
Armenia in international organizations. Vladimir Kazimirov was
surprised at the claims of the Armenian party to David Atkinson’s
report. In his opinion, “this is an attempt to characterize the state
of affairs for the present moment, and what is extremely important,
without going either into the essence of the conflict or its course.”
Kazimirov called the attempt to choose between the principle of
territorial integrity and right to self-determination a deadlock
way. In his opinion, “the pragmatic unprincipled transactions are much
more productive when even if something may be exchanged for another
thing.”

Speaking about the sides’ discussions on package or stage-by-stage
solution, Kazimirov said that the package solution would be ideal but
it can’t be realized in the foreseeable time. “You also won’t agree to
the package, in which Nagorno Karabakh will be hidden within
Azerbaijan’s staff,” the reporter said. He also added that signing of
such a package by Azeri President will be equal to “hara-kiri” for
him. Kazimirov advised to be guided by the stage-by-stage solution
though not by the one suggested by Azerbaijan. In his opinion, the
formulation “territories for status” has one more flaw – it is of
forcible origin though it’s obvious that the forcible solution is
primordial and was thrusted by the opposite side.

Kazimirov considers the principle “territories for security” more
vital and real and considers it necessary to receive real guarantees
of security from Azerbaijan while applying the last principle.

Armenian Assembly of America
122 C Street, NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:

April 1, 2005
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
Email: [email protected]

RE: Assembly Memo to Armenian-American Organizations

The Armenian Assembly would like to bring to your attention the
following memorandum from Board of Directors Chairman Anthony
Barsamian to Armenian-American organization leaders regarding the
irresponsible charges leveled against Assembly and fellow Armenians,
during this the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Also
attached is a correspondence from Executive Director Ross Vartian to
the editors of Asbarez Daily in answer to a recently published
commentary.

TO: Armenian-American Organizations
FROM: Anthony Barsamian; Chairman, Board of Directors
RE: 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
DATE: 3/30/05
_______________________________________________________________________

The Armenian Assembly deeply regrets that on the eve of April events
throughout the United States to commemorate the 90th Anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide, a series of false attacks have been made
against fellow Armenians. While the Assembly is compelled to respond
to each communication, know that this is precious time that should be
invested instead in our common efforts in support of 90th events
across the country. We trust and hope that this partisan
disinformation campaign will cease because we have much to do together
as a pan-Armenian community throughout the year on genocide
commemorations, on a congressional resolution and on genocide
education.

In messages to various audiences this past week, irresponsible charges
have been made, including:

1. In a letter to Armenian-American Organizations, the phrases
“acknowledgment without consequences”, “genocide without justice” and
“recognition without consequences” were attributed explicitly to a
“handful of Armenians”. No Armenian organization and no Armenian
individual would support Turkish admission of the Armenian Genocide
without just resolution. All Armenians assert that Turkey must bear
responsibility as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire. The
Republic of Turkey will one day acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.
Turkish admission will be followed by direct dialogue between the
governments of Armenia and Turkey to determine the consequences.

2. A communication sent out to Congressional offices in concert with
an editorial in Asbarez falsely asserts that a study commissioned by
the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) absolves the
Republic of Turkey for the crimes of the Ottoman Empire. This is not
the case, as the following quote from the Study indicates. “We
emphasize further that this memorandum addresses solely the
applicability of the Genocide Convention to the Events. It does not
purport to address the applicability to the Events of, or the rights
and responsibilities of concerned individuals or entities under, any
other rubric of international law or the laws of any nation.”

3. In an Asbarez commentary of March 24, the Armenian Assembly was
accused of “helping the Turks get away with the murder of 1.5 million
Armenians”. This concluding charge against the Assembly is outrageous
and malicious. As the entire community is well aware, the Assembly
has been in the forefront of every serious effort to pass a
congressional genocide resolution. The Assembly is also working side
by side with the all national Armenian-American organizations in
support of April 24 commemorations throughout the United States. And
finally, the Assembly is working collaboratively on the proposed
content and strategy for the next congressional resolution to affirm
the US record on the Armenian Genocide.

Once again, we genuinely regret this campaign. Together with all
Armenian-American organizations, the Assembly is ready to focus
instead on our vital work without further distractions.

###

March 30, 2005

Letter to the Editor
Asbarez Daily
Salpy Mardirossian Armenian Center
419 West Colorado Street
Glendale, California 91204

To the Editor:

RE: “The Big Why On the Eve of the 90th Anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide”

Your March 25th commentary on the above subject constitutes a new low
on misrepresentation of the facts and on the position of the Armenian
Assembly. Just in case some of your readers missed your irresponsible
core charge against our organization, you opined that the Assembly is
“helping Turkey deny justice to the Armenian people”. How is the
Assembly doing this? By urging Members of Congress to invoke a study
published by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
that affirmed the fact of the Armenian Genocide. The ICTJ study
declared that “the Events, viewed collectively, can thus be said to
include all of the elements of the crime of genocide as defined in the
Convention, and legal scholars as well as historians, politicians,
journalists and other people would be justified in continuing to so
describe them.”

As the Assembly has done over the decades of our support for
congressional reaffirmation of the truth, our organization references
third party judgments on the fact of the Armenian Genocide. In this
particular communication to Congress, we relied on four factors:
President Reagan’s 1981 Proclamation that affirmed the Armenian
Genocide, President Bush’s April 24 statements that employ the
textbook definition of genocide without using the word, the statement
of 126 Holocaust and Genocide scholars declaring that the Armenian
Genocide is an “incontestable fact” and the ICTJ statement quoted
above.

Neither the separate nor the combined effect of these citations in the
Assembly’s request to Congress to properly characterize this crime
against humanity as genocide can be fairly portrayed as “denying
justice to the Armenian people”. There can be no question that the
Assembly will continue to seek official, full and irrevocable
U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide – and the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation knows this as our organizations work side by
side on the 90th commemorative planning committees across the United
States and as the Assembly works collaboratively with the ANCA on the
Armenian-American community’s next effort in support of a
congressional resolution.

As to the Asbarez charge that the ICTJ findings “let Turkey completely
off the hook for Genocide,” the commentary fails to use the following
quotation regarding redress that contradicts the charge. According to
the ICTJ study, “It does not purport to address the applicability of
the Genocide Convention to the Events of, or the rights or
responsibilities of concerned individuals or entities under, any other
rubric of international law or the laws of any other nation.” The
Turkish government is not “off the hook” – not for its global denial
campaign, not for its intimidation of other governments and its own
citizens, not for its recent passage of a law criminalizing public
discussion of the Armenian Genocide and certainly not for dealing with
the consequences of its inevitable acknowledgment of the Armenian
Genocide.

Sincerely,

Ross Vartian
Executive Director
Armenian Assembly of America

The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness
of Armenian issues. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership
organization.

NR#2005-038

Armenian president to arrive in Georgia

Imedi TV, Tbilisi
1 Apr 05

[Presenter] President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan will arrive in
Georgian on a working visit in about an hour’s time. He will meet
Mikheil Saakashvili.

Members of the cabinet do not deny that frequent protests by ethnic
Armenians in Akhalkalaki District may be one of the main discussion
points.

[Gela Bezhuashvili, secretary of the National Security Council] This
is not an official visit. The president will meet [Robert Kocharyan].
We will discuss regional issues as well as bilateral relations.

[Question] Will you also discuss the events in Akhalkalaki?

[Bezhuashvili] We will discuss everything, the conflict [as heard].

COSSACK LEAFLETS IN NOVOROSSIYSK SOW DISCORD BETWEEN NATIONS

A1+
31-03-2005

The atmosphere in Novorossiysk is growing more and more tensed,
Yerkraman newspaper writes. As reported by the Novorossiysk Committee
of Human Rights, leaflets on behalf of the Cossacks of
Novorossiysk. The leaflet, written with numerous mistakes is entitled
`Criminal outburst of Armenian Diaspora reached critical point’.

The leaflet authors state the fight taken place March 21 night as an
assault on Cossacks and state that the attackers has knives and rubber
sticks. They also accuse the policemen of inactivity.

The leaflet says, in part, `We are able to defend our families,
ourland and honor. Our duty is to put an end to the Armenian-Caucasian
disorders.â=80=9D

According to the same source, representatives of the Armenian
community will demand on initiating a criminal case on tensing
international hostilities. But unfortunately the law enforcers and
courts of the Kransnodar region are likely to let such cases drop.