Author: Talalian Arpi

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

HIS HOLINESS ARAM I SENDS CONDOLENCE LETTERS TO
THE POLITICAL AND SPIRITUAL LEADERS OF CYPRUS AND GREECE

His Holiness Aram I sent letters of condolence to the presidents of
the Republics of Greece and Cyprus, Carolos Papouliasis and Tssos
Papadopoulous, as well as the spiritual leaders of the Greek Orthodox
Churches of the two countries, Khristodoulos and Khrisostomos, after
a Cypriot aircraft crashed in Greece in tragic circumstances.

His Holiness expressed condolences and support to the spiritual and
political leaders of the two countries, praying for the souls of the
victims and their families.

##

The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates
of the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the
history and the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer
to the web page of the Catholicosate, The
Cilician Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is
located in Antelias, Lebanon.

Armenian president decrees forming commissions under new electoral code

Mediamax news agency
17 Aug 05

Yerevan, 17 August: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has signed
a decree on forming territorial election commissions in accordance
with Article 36 of the Electoral Code of Armenia.

Under the decree by President Robert Kocharyan, 41 territorial election
commissions, each consisting of 9 members, have been formed, Mediamax
reports quoting the presidential press service.

Mediamax recalls that in early June, President Robert Kocharyan signed
a decree on making changes and amendments to the Electoral Code. If
earlier the president was allowed to appoint his three representatives
to each commission, now their number has been reduced to one.

Hastert, Helicopters, Textron, Turkey, Cash…

Sun Aug 14, 2005
Posted by: Christopher Deliso on Aug 14, 05 | 7:24 am |

First of all, my new interview with former FBI translator turned
whistleblower Sibel Edmonds- a very interesting read- will be out soon on
Antiwar.com. If you aren’t familiar with her case, read last year’s
interview, as well as this and this.

Corruption in high places was alleged in a recent Vanity Fair article that
surveyed government whistleblowers, including Edmonds, and unnamed
congressional sources. The most sensational one was that House Speaker
Dennis Hastert was paid up to $500,000 five years ago by the Turkish lobby
to derail a bill that would have recognized the Armenian genocide carried
out in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire.

While it cited FBI wiretapped phone conversations from 2000 mentioning
Hastert, the magazine conceded that there was no way of proving this
allegation.

For his part, Hastert had always claimed that his eleventh-hour decision to
quash the bill in October, 2000 owed directly to the intercesson of
then-President Clinton, who sent a letter to him personally requesting that
maintaining good relations with Turkey were more important than Armenian
heritage: “We have significant interests in this troubled region of the
world: containing the threat posed by East and Central Asia, stabilizing the
Balkans and developing new sources of energy.”

Indeed, the potential ill effects of irritating Turkey were vocally stated,
not least of all by the Turkish authorities themselves. And this pressure
probably meant the end regardless. But if Hastert was able to bluff the
Turkish lobby into giving him 500G unnecessarily, hey, more power to him.

But the tale is more complex. Consider this contemporary report on human
rights and military sales to Turkey:

“…Once House leaders decided to move the resolution, it easily passed in
committee and headed to the House floor. Outraged representatives of
Turkey’s government threatened to halt negotiations with Textron and instead
buy helicopters from a Russian-Israeli consortium, according to Bloomberg
News Service. Worried that the $4.5 billion deal might collapse, Textron
lobbied the congressmen who represent the area surrounding the company’s
Fort Worth plant to kill the resolution. ‘We felt it was important to
support Turkey,’ explains [Textron Spokesman Gene] Kozicharow.”

It’s also very interesting to look at the context, five years ago. From the
same article:

“…President Bill Clinton warned earlier this year that angering Turkey
could have ‘far-reaching negative consequences for the United States.’

Eager to bolster its stock price, which has lost more than half its value in
the last 18 months, Textron is using Clinton’s views to its advantage. ‘We
agree with the State Department,’ says Gene Kozicharow, Textron’s
Washington-based director of public affairs, referring to Clinton’s warning.
But when asked whether Textron agrees with the State Department’s damning
assessment of human-rights abuses in Turkey, Kozicharow responded, ‘I think
I’m going to cut this off, Steve [the journalist]. Talk to you later,’ and
hung up.”

Another contemporary report put the deal in context- and raised further
serious questions about whether it would result in short-term profit and
long-term loss:

“…In July 2000, the Turkish government chose Bell Helicopter Textron’s
AH-1Z KingCobra over the other four finalists: Boeing, Kamov Helicopter
(Russian-Israeli consortium), Agusta, (Italy), and the Europcopter
(Franco-German). But to maintain pressure to receive a U.S. export license
and the best possible contract terms, Turkey is keeping the Russian-Israeli
model in the competition until the deal is signed, sealed, and delivered. At
issue is the amount of local production and technology transfer that Turkey
will receive. Ankara has plans to become an independent producer of attack
helicopters, just as it used to manufacture and export F-16s under license
in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Anxious to seal this lucrative deal, Bell Textron
may be willing to give away the store, including not just a license to
produce the exterior of the aircraft, but access to the technology needed to
build, alter and improve upon the software operating the gunships’ high-tech
instruments. While the loss of jobs to overseas production is deemed an
unavoidable cost of doing weapons business today, the U.S. government has
refused in the past to allow the transfer of software “source codes” and
other sensitive technology for reasons of national security.

Turkey’s negotiations with Bell Textron are scheduled to conclude in March
2001, at which time the State Department will need to decide whether to
issue an export license. The new administration has signaled that it will
look favorable upon this sale, paying less attention to human rights
considerations than its predecessor. However, the sale might still be held
up in the administration over the question of technology transfers, which
has prompted concern by both Republicans and Democrats in similar past
cases. Certain members of Congress are also likely to raise questions about
the sale based on questions of regional stability, U.S. security, and the
protection of human rights. Because the deal involves a NATO member,
however, Congress will have only 15 days to officially review the sale.”

A massive corporation active in a variety of industries, Textron is also a
top-tier “Golden Horn” donor to the American-Turkish Council, the lobbying
giant that has repeatedly come up in the Sibel Edmonds case. The ATC figures
prominently in the Vanity Fair article which mentions Hastert and other
unnamed officials in the pay of the Turkish lobby.

So in other words, looks like Textron is looking forward to the
“international competition” that Turkey’s Undersecretariat for the Defense
Industry announced on August 9, preliminary to “…the purchase of 32
military helicopters and 20 fire fighters worth around $700 million.”

Textron’s subsidiary, Bell Helicopters, was at the time of the Armenian
resolution embroiled in controversy, as an US Customs undercover operation
had concluded two months earlier that the company had laundered hundreds of
thousands of dollars of drug money in order to sell a copter to a Colombian
emerald mogul, Victor Carranza, who according to PBS “…has links to the
drug trade and the right wing paramilitary groups in Colombia.” Whoops!

The PBS report provides a good example of the kind of cooperation between
business, politics and the more sordid spheres of free enterprise- and why
Textron had such headaches throughout Clinton’s second term.

However, with the ascension of Bush II, happy days were here again. And
indeed, there seem to be no existential problems these days for Textron. On
July 29, Bloomberg reported that

“…Textron Inc.’s Bell Helicopter unit beat Boeing Co. in a contest worth
as much as $3 billion to build a new class of armed reconnaissance
helicopters for the U.S. Army, according to people familiar with the award.

Bell will develop and build the first installment of what could be 368
helicopters from largely commercial parts so they can be fielded as early as
2008 to replace aircraft lost in Iraq.”

Senate washes its hands of “genocide” question

Swissinfo, Switzerland
Aug 6 2005

swissinfo August 6, 2005 6:54 PM

Turkey’s massacre of Armenians in 1915 will never be an issue for
the Swiss Senate, according to the president of the Senate foreign
affairs committee.

Peter Briner said other countries had no business pointing the finger
at Turkey 90 years after the disputed events.

Briner said the committee had decided that the death or deportation
of 800,000-1.8 million Armenians between 1915 and 1919 would not be
the subject of a plenary session.

He said the committee agreed with the government that it was not
parliament’s job to decide on the whether the killings constituted
genocide. They have been recognised as such by the parliaments
of several countries, including the United States, France, Russia
and Italy.

The Swiss House of Representatives recognised the genocide in 2003.

The Swiss government however does not officially speak of “genocide”
but of “mass deportation” and “massacre”.

Briner said the committee believed that it was more for the parties
involved, namely Turkey and Armenia, to reach an agreement.

Disagree to disagree

Briner said a mixed commission of historians had to “work through the
terrible events” – just as Switzerland had reappraised its history
during the Second World War.

Attempts by international scholars to determine once and for all what
really happened between 1915 and 1919 have never got much further
than agreeing which two countries were involved.

In May a group of Turkish historians had to cancel a conference
debating the genocide after the Turkish justice minister accused them
of “stabbing Turkey in the back”.

In June Alev Kilic, the Turkish ambassador in Bern, told swissinfo
that during Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey’s visit to Turkey
in March, the Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul talked about
establishing a commission of historians from both sides and opening
all files and archives.

“But of course the proposal has also been made to the Armenian
government and we can’t establish anything without their agreement.

We have still not received a positive reply,” Kilic said.

Sabre-rattling

A week is a long time in Swiss-Turkish politics, but diplomatic
relations need some serious resuscitation after a miserable ten days
for the two countries.

At the end of July the Swiss ambassador in Ankara had to deflect
a barrage of diplomatic flak concerning the Swiss investigation of
a Turkish politician who had proffered revisionist views about the
Armenian genocide in 1915.

Then on August 5 the Turkish authorities postponed indefinitely a
visit to Turkey in September by Swiss Economics Minister Joseph Deiss,
citing agenda problems of his Turkish counterpart.

Few in Switzerland believe an inability to use a diary was the reason
for the cancellation.

“That’s a typical diplomatic excuse if you can’t think of a better
one,” said Briner diplomatically.

“The important thing is that we now show some guts,” he said. “I get
the impression that the Turkish government wants to placate its people
with this sabre-rattling.”

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
08/04/2005
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP://

1) Turkey under Media Scrutiny for Attacks on US Genocide Resolution
2) Turkey, France Clash over Cyprus as EU Talks Loom
3) Secretary Rice Promises Increased US Effort in Karabagh Conflict
4) Two Reported Dead in Turkey Blast

1) Turkey under Media Scrutiny for Attacks on US Genocide Resolution

Major Story in Vanity Fair, Report by Public Citizen Allege Unethical Conduct
by the Turkish Government and its Allies

WASHINGTON, DC (ANCA)–A major news magazine and a leading citizens~R group
this week focused public attention on the unethical conduct of powerful
opponents of legislation recognizing the Armenian genocide.
In its September issue, Vanity Fair published a 10-page story on FBI
whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, who was fired after ~Sshe accused a colleague of
covering up illicit activity involving Turkish nationals.~T According to the
article by contributing editor David Rose, Edmonds claims FBI wiretaps reveal
that the Turkish government and its allies boasted of bribing–with as much as
$500,000–the Speaker of the House of Representatives as part of an alleged
deal to stop consideration of the Armenian Genocide Resolution.
The article cites accounts by Edmonds regarding FBI wiretaps of the Turkish
Embassy and Turkish groups such as the American Turkish Council (ATC) and the
Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA), including, ~Srepeated
references to Hastert~Rs flip-flop in the fall of 2000, over an issue which
remains of intense concern to the Turkish government, the continuing campaign
to have Congress designate the killings of Armenians in Turkey between 1915
and
1923 a genocide.~T
Rose is careful to point out that ~Sthere is no evidence that any payment was
ever made to Hastert or his campaign.~T According to the article, ~SHastert~Rs
spokesman says the Congressman withdrew the genocide resolution only
because of
the approach from [President] Clinton, ~Qand to insinuate anything else just
doesn~Rt make any sense.~R He adds that Hastert has no affiliation with the ATC
or other groups reportedly mentioned in the wiretaps.~R~T The full article
can be
read in the September issue of Vanity Fair.
In a separate development, CongressWatch, an arm of Public Citizen, recently
released a 49-page report raising ethical concerns about lobbying by former
Members of Congress. The report includes a 12-page case study of the
Livingston
Group~Rs lobbying efforts for the Turkish Government. The report details the
efforts by Livingston Group founder, former House Appropriations Chairman Bob
Livingston, to secure a ~S$1 billion supplemental appropriation for
Turkey~Edespite that country~Rs refusal to allow US troops to use its soil as a
staging area for the Iraq invasion. He also helped kill an amendment that
would
have formally recognized the Armenian genocide that occurred between 1915 and
1923. Turkey has always opposed this recognition.~T The Livingston Group has
received over $9 million in payments from Turkey. The entire report can be
read
at:
~SThese behind-the-scenes accounts reveal a pattern of patently unethical and
possibly even illegal conduct by the Turkish government and its allies in
their
efforts to oppose the Armenian Genocide Resolution,~T said Aram Hamparian, the
executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America. ~SFacing
growing bipartisan Congressional support for this legislation, these interests
are resorting to increasingly desperate means to avoid the international
isolation that Turkey will face following US recognition of the Armenian
Genocide.~T
In the months leading up the publication of these documents, the ANCA
provided
both Vanity Fair and Public Citizen with background materials, interviews, and
first-hand accounts regarding Congressional efforts to recognize the Armenian
genocide.

2) Turkey, France Clash over Cyprus as EU Talks Loom

ANKARA (Reuters/Bloomberg)–Turkey and France clashed on August 4 over whether
Ankara should recognize Cyprus, a European Union member, before it begins its
own EU entry talks on October 3.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey could not accept any new conditions
for opening the talks and that he was upset by comments from France that
Ankara
must first accept the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government.
“It is out of the question for us to discuss or consider any new conditions
with regards to October 3,” Erdogan told reporters in televised comments.
“We are saddened by the statements of the French prime minister and of
President (Jacques) Chirac,” he added.
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said on August 2 it was “inconceivable”
that Turkey start talks with the EU without recognizing one of its 25 member
states, though he did not say if Paris would deploy its veto.
Chirac has not publicly commented on Turkey’s EU talks this week, but the
French daily Le Figaro, quoting unnamed ministers, reported that the president
told a cabinet meeting he agreed with his prime minister.
Chirac’s office declined to comment on the report. Chirac has traditionally
backed Turkey’s EU bid but now faces growing opposition among French voters to
admitting the large, relatively poor, mainly Muslim country into the wealthy
bloc.

PRESSURE

Maintaining pressure on Ankara, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy
repeated Villepin’s criticism on August 4.
“Not wanting to recognize one country in the Union while wanting to join [is]
not acceptable,” Douste-Blazy told Le Monde newspaper in an interview.
“We would like there to be an extensive discussion on this question within
the
EU,” he added.
Ankara recognizes only a breakaway Turkish Cypriot enclave in northern
Cyprus.
The island has been split along ethnic lines since Turkish troops invaded in
1974 after a brief Greek Cypriot coup backed by the military junta then ruling
Greece.
France can block the start of talks–as can Cyprus–as the 25 EU states must
approve a negotiating mandate unanimously before they can begin. Villepin said
France would decide its position after talks among EU foreign ministers in
September.
Turkey cleared the last formal hurdle to the start of its entry talks last
Friday by signing a protocol extending its customs union to new EU members
including Cyprus.
However, Ankara also issued a declaration making clear the signing did not
mean a change in its stance over the island, whose Greek Cypriot government is
viewed in Brussels as the sole legitimate authority.
Turkey says recognition can come only after a comprehensive peace settlement
on the Mediterranean island.
Ankara believes it has done all it can reasonably be expected to do about
Cyprus by backing a UN-brokered peace deal last year which Turkish Cypriots
also endorsed in a referendum. The plan was not supported by the Greek
Cypriots.
Despite the latest French comments, Erdogan said he was confident Turkey
would
begin entry talks on schedule.
“We will start the negotiations on October 3. We think only of the
negotiations,” Erdogan said.
The talks are expected to last many years and Turkey is not expected to join
the EU before 2015 at the earliest.

NOT EUROPEAN ENOUGH

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the current EU term president, advocates
Turkish membership in the EU while politicians including Germany’s Christian
Democrats and Nicolas Sarkozy, leader of Chirac’s ruling party, say it is not
European enough to join in terms of geography, history and culture.
Turkey won a date to start the accession process with the EU after its
parliament passed laws strengthening the nation’s democracy. A latest draft
law
on foundations has loopholes that fail to guarantee religious freedoms for
non-Muslims in Turkey, European Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj told a
Brussels press conference.
While the legislation doesn’t pose a new barrier to the start of EU
membership
talks, the commission has “expressed some concerns about the implication of
this law on the non-Muslim community,” Altafaj said. Turkey has promised to
overhaul the law when parliament reconvenes in October, he added.

3) Secretary Rice Promises Increased US Effort in Karabagh Conflict

WASHINGTON, DC (Combined Sources)–During his meeting with US Secretary of
State Condoleeza Rice on Tuesday, Azerbaijan~Rs Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov discussed the Karabagh conflict, with Rice promising to boost US
effort to make the regulation process more effective.
Secretary Rice stressed that the US position on Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity is unchanged. Mammadyarov was reportedly satisfied with the talks.
The meeting also focused on bilateral and economic cooperation. Expressing
satisfaction with the progress of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and
Baku-Tbilisi-Erzrum projects, Rice commended Azerbaijan’s leadership in the
implementation of such global projects.
Mammadyarov also met with Minsk Group’s US co-chair Steven Mann. The
conversation focused on the Karabagh peace talks on the eve of an unofficial
CIS summit in the Russian town of Kazan, where the Armenian and Azeri
presidents are expected to meet.
Addressing representatives of the US-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce in the
Washington based Azerbaijan Trade and Cultural Center on Wednesday, the Azeri
foreign minister stressed the strategic importance of the
Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi-Baku railway for the South Caucasus. Mammadyarov noted
that not only would the railway promote economic development in the region,
but
would improve direct communication between Europe and Central Asia.
During his visit, Mammadyarov held meetings at the Pentagon and National
Security Council, and also met with representatives of the National Democratic
Institute, International Republican Institute, International Foundation for
Election Systems (IFES), and non-governmental organizations. According to
Azertag newspaper, Mammadyarov spoke of the pre-election situation in
Azerbaijan during the round table discussion.

4) Two Reported Dead in Turkey Blast

ISTANBUL (CNN)–A couple leaving a wedding party was killed and five people
were injured early Thursday when a trash bin exploded in the Pendik
district of
Istanbul, according to Turkey’s state-run news agency Anatolia.
The cause of the explosion, which occurred about 12:15 a.m., was not
immediately known. No claim of responsibility had been issued early Thursday.
The man and woman, Eda and Hatica Muslu, were getting into their car when the
explosion occurred, according to the DAWN news network.
Police, firefighters, and ambulance workers were at the scene, sifting
through
the wreckage of destroyed cars and helping the injured.
On August 2, two explosions in trash bins wounded six people in the southern
Turkish city of Antalya, a popular tourist resort, CNN Turk reported.
Police said the first blast went off in a trash bin, wounding two municipal
workers and a passerby. About five minutes later, another blast wounded two
tourists and a resident of Antalya.
Authorities have not explained the cause of the explosions, but bombs have
been placed in trash cans in the past.
Turkey has suffered a series of bomb blasts in recent months, mostly
blamed on
militant Kurdish separatists.
Islamic militants and far-left radicals have also been behind bomb attacks in
Turkey in the past, including in Istanbul.
Five people were killed last month when a bomb struck a minibus in the
popular
Aegean resort of Kusadasi, an attack claimed responsible by Kurdish militants.

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ST ASTVATSATSIN CHURCH RE-CONSECRATED

ArmenPress
Aug 3 2005

ETCHMIADZIN, AUGUST 3, ARMENPRESS: Archbishop Vazgen Mirzakhanian,
the leader of Georgian Diocese of Armenian Church traveled to the
village of Metz Samsar in the Akhalkalaki region of the southern
Georgia to re-consecrate St Astvatsatsin (Virgin) church on August 1.

Armenian Catholicosate said the church was reconstructed by the funds
provided by a Russia-based Samvel Barseghian, a grandson of priest
Barsegh who was the founder of the Samsar village. Georgian member
of parliament Hamlet Movsisian, Akhalkalaki mayor Nairi Iritsian and
others were present at the ceremony.

Metz Samsar village was founded by priest Barsegh in 1848. The St
Astvatsatsin church was built in 1850s and an earthquake in 1899
affected it heavily but in 1902 with the efforts of local population
it was restored. Besides the village has churches and khachkars
(cross-stones) dating back to 11-13th century.

Agence France Presse — English
July 29, 2005 Friday 1:27 PM GMT

Iranian climber dies on Mount Ararat, others face prosecution

ANKARA

A 67-year-old Iranian mountain climber has died on Mount Ararat in
eastern Turkey and his fellow climbers are facing prosecution for
entering a banned military zone, the Anatolia news agency reported
Friday.

“There will be legal action against the Iranian mountaineers for
climbing in a banned area of Agri (Ararat) Mountain,” Turhan Turunc,
the chief prosecutor in the nearby town of Dogubayazit told Anatolia.

Mount Ararat, or Agri in Turkish, is located in eastern Turkey where
the borders of Iran, Armenia and the Azerbaijani exclave of
Nakhchivan meet.

Most of it is a banned military zone and climbers need special
permission from Turkish authorities for expeditions on the mountain.

The body of the dead climber, named as Ashker Baravan, was brought
down to Dogubayazit late Thursday by a local search-and-rescue team,
which launched an operation on the mountain after his 24 fellow
climbers alerted the authorities about the incident.

The man died at a height of some 5,000 meters, close to the mountain
summit, due to a yet unknown reason, Turunc said.

THREE TURKS DETAINED IN LONDON

AZG Armenian Daily #141, 30/07/2005

Terrorism

The English police have detained three Turks in London. They are
suspected to have participated in the terrorist acts of July 7 and 21
in the British capital. The police haven’t announced the full names of
the arrested yet. They just know that Islam is from Samsun, Ibrahim
from Kahramanmash and Hidayet from Bingol. All the three arrested are
Turkish citizens.

Islam has been living in England for eight years, while the other two
arrived in Britain two months ago. Milliyet newspaper informed that
the arrested are being questioned according to the laws on the
struggle against terrorism.

By Hakob Chakrian

President.am
28.07.2005

President Robert Kocharian received Head of the International Atomic Energy
Agency Mohammad Al-Baradei

Today President Robert Kocharian received Head of the International Atomic
Energy Agency Mohammad Al-Baradei and his delegation.

President Kocharian expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation
between the Government of Armenia and IAEA and said that the Armenian side
is interested in deepening this cooperation, which would also include the
safety issues of the Metzamore nuclear plant.

The two sides discussed safety of the nuclear plant as well as issues
related to the increase of its productivity. Robert Kocharian noted that
Armenia attaches great importance to the upgrading of the safety of the
nuclear plant. The activities at the Metzamor plant are constantly monitored
by the Presidential Council on Atomic Energy safety, which comprises
renowned and highly-qualified Armenian experts.

The parties exchanged also views on the problems and future development of
the energy sector of Armenia and diversification of its energy sources.
President of Armenia said that the strategic program for the development of
the Armenian energy sector has already been implemented.

PanArmenian News Network
July 28 2005

KOCHARIAN: ARMENIA INTERESTED IN DEVELOPING COOPERATION WITH IAEA

28.07.2005 08:07

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian met with
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed
ElBaradei, reported the Press Service of the Armenian leader. Having
remarked he is satisfied with the Armenia-IAEA cooperation, the
President noted Armenia is interested in developing the cooperation
taking into account security issues for the Metsamor Nuclear Power
Plant (NPP). The interlocutors discussed issues of NPP secure
exploitation and efficient work. R. Kocharian noted special attention
is paid to enhancement of the NPP safety. The parties exchanged views
over tasks of the energy field of Armenia and its further
development, as well as using alternative energy sources. The
Armenian President said the strategic program of energy development
is already under way.