Author: Tamazian Koryun

“KARABAKH PEOPLE MEET HERE”

Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
22-03-2004

Recently attracting posters appeared on the walls in Stepanakert with
the web address We were interested in finding out
more and found the designer of the web site, who is our compatriot
living in Moscow Tigran Atajanian, now in Stepanakert temporarily. – I
decided to design this web site because our republic does not have
Internet resources where people would be able to search for necessary
information or just have fun. Do you have commercial intentions? – No,
when creating the site I did not have mercantile aims because I knew I
would not get significant profit but I would have something to occupy
myself with. Besides, the favourite entertainment of the town youth is
“chatting”, so I thought why should they chat in Russian or Yerevan
sites. The web site offers the following services as well: labour
registry office, sale and purchase, advertisement. And as the symbol
of Artsakh is the statue “We and Our ! Mountains”, we named the site
so.

GERDA HAKOBIAN.
22-03-2004

Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
March 19 2004

DAMAGE REPAIR

Recently `Azat Artsakh’ informed about the damage caused by strong
winds in several regions of the republic in the months February and
March, anticipating state assistance to people who suffered from the
disaster. During the March 16 government meeting NKR prime minister
Anoushavan Danielian set forth this question too. `The size of damage
is rather big,’ said the head of the government, `we already have the
references from the administrations of the regions sustained
significant damage from the winds which will be summed up and
compensation will be made in the shortest possible term. Priority
will be given to the state enterprises on which the families of
killed or disabled azatamartiks and insecure families depend.’
According to the prime minister, they have to find the most effective
variant: to provide assistance either in the form of cash money, or
building materials. Immediately after the settlement of the technical
aspect of the issue compensation will be provided in the shortest
possible term.

NIKOLAY BAGHDASSARIAN

Armenian foreign minister accuses Azeri leader of obstructing talks

Mediamax news agency
17 Mar 04

YEREVAN

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said today that the
“contents of the negotiations between the Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents, Robert Kocharyan and Heydar Aliyev, had justified the fact
that representatives of Nagornyy Karabakh were not involved in the
negotiations”.

Mediamax reports that speaking at a joint briefing with the OSCE
chairman-in-office [Solomon Passi] in Yerevan today, Vardan Oskanyan
explained that this was the reason for a recent statement by the
Armenian Foreign Ministry which said that “if Baku wants to start the
talks from scratch, it has to talk exclusively to Stepanakert
[Xankandi]”.

The Armenian foreign minister sharply criticized Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev for “trying to cross out what had been achieved by his
father [Heydar Aliyev] and Robert Kocharyan over years”.

Oskanyan said Armenia was trying to take advantage of visits by the
leaders of international organizations in order to bring Azerbaijan
back into the path of previous agreements.

The minister added that consultations between the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairmen and the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers would
be held in Prague on 29 March. He expressed the hope that the meeting
would “help us understand how exactly Azerbaijan wants to continue the
negotiations”.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

A CANADIAN CHURCH DELEGATION IN ANTELIAS

ANTELIAS, LEBANON – 13 March, 2004 – A Canadian high ranking church
delegation was received by His Holiness Aram I at the Center of the Armenian
Catholicosate of Cilicia, in Antelias, Lebanon. The delegation was
representing the Kairos a Canadian Ecumenical Organization, and the purpose
of its visit to the Middle East was to get a better understanding of the
situation in the region, and to know more about the actual problems and
challenges facing the churches, and express their ecumenical partnership.

The Kairos has been ecumenically involved in the region in the last years,
particularly in the areas of justice, peace, advocacy and accompaniment.

His Holiness Aram I by welcoming the delegation appreciated this important
ecumenical initiative considering it “a concrete sign of growing ecumenical
partnership” between the Churches in the Middle East and the Churches in
Canada. He said: “our mission is one wherever we are; we must together take
the gospel to the world. Our witness to Jesus Christ becomes more credible,
reliable and relevant when we stand together against all forms of injustice
and violence. Christian faith is not a sheer of reflection or meditation. It
is spirituality expressed through action. It is prayer translated into
concrete work. It is mission manifested through committed engagement. The
church cannot be passive in view of the kind of situations and developments
and realities that endanger God’s image in human being and destroy the human
dignity and moral and spiritual values”.

His Holiness than identified those areas of concern in the life of the
churches in the Middle East which require serious attention.

At the end of the meeting reference was made to the Armenian community in
Canada and particularly its growing participation in the life of the
Canadian society in general and in inter-church and inter-religious
participation in general.

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View printable picture here:

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The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities 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 DEPUTY SPEAKER UNHAPPY ABOUT “CRISIS OF TOLERANCE”

Yerkir, Yerevan
5 Mar 04

March “Parliament deputy speaker urges government, opposition to start
dialogue”

Yerevan, 5 March: Speaking at the National Press Club on Friday (5
March), National Assembly Deputy Speaker Tigran Torosyan said there
was a “crisis of tolerance” in Armenia.

“There is no serious polemic in Armenia today,” Torosyan said, hinting
at the pro-government and the opposition parties. “Both sides are
avoiding polemic.” The deputy speaker called on both sides to sit at
the negotiating table to correct the situation. “Both sides should
realize that this is the only way,” he said.

Torosyan also pointed to the need for fair elections. The speaker
described the opposition’s boycotting of the National Assembly as
“parliamentary bargaining” and “pressure on parliament”.

Azadliq, Baku in Azeri
11 Mar 04, p 1

Armenian raid causes reshuffle of Azeri top brass – paper

Text of an unattributed report by Azerbaijani newspaper Azadliq on 11
March headlined “The generals failed to defend” and subheaded “Was it
possible to prevent the Armenian raid on the village of Alxanli? Two
generals of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces have been sacked”

There have been no official reports as to why two high-ranking
officials of the Defence Ministry have been dismissed, but Azadliq
newspaper has managed to obtain some information on that.

It was reported yesterday [10 March] that [Azerbaijani President]
Ilham Aliyev relieved of their posts National Hero Lt-Gen Talib
Mammadov, the chief of a key department at the Azerbaijani Defence
Ministry, and Maj-Gen Qabil Mammadov, the commander of a unit of the
armed forces. We found out that Talib Mammadov was the head of the
counterintelligence unit, and Qabil Mammadov was in charge of the
army corps.

We learnt from reliable sources that these people were accused of
being irresponsible and dismissed in the wake of the Armenian raid on
Fuzuli District [part of which is controlled by the Armenian forces].
Azadliq was the only paper to carry a report about that raid quoting
reliable sources. The report said that the Azerbaijani armed forces
sustained losses during the raid and the Defence Ministry dispatched
additional forces to the place. We learnt yesterday that the
Armenians raided Alxanli village in Fuzuli District. We contacted
villagers who confirmed the report.

The source said that Talib Mammadov was dismissed over his failure to
report the attack in time, and Qabil Mammadov for taking inadequate
measures to defend the place.

Kavkasia-Press news agency, Tbilisi, in Georgian
11 Mar 04

Georgian president to visit Armenia

TBILISI

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili will start a two-day official
visit to Yerevan on Friday [12 March]. Saakashvili was invited by
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan.

The Armenian president’s press service has reported that the foreign
affairs, fuel and energy, and infrastructure and development ministers,
as well as the president’s representative in the Samtskhe-Javakheti
region [where ethnic Armenians live] and parliament members will be
among the Georgian delegation.

A confidential meeting between the presidents of the two countries
will be held on Friday. Later, Georgian-Armenian talks will be held
in a wider format. During the course of the meeting, the president
will meet Chairman of the National Assembly Artur Bagdasaryan and
Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan.

[Passage omitted]