Author: Taslakhchian Andranik

The Vancouver Sun (British Columbia)
April 3, 2004 Saturday Final Edition

Home-grown terrorism: A reporter suggests lax laws and haphazard
security make Canada a haven for terrorists

by Jeff Lee

COLD TERROR: How Canada Nurtures and Exports Terrorism Around The
World

By Stewart Bell

John Wiley & Sons, 288 pages (36.99)

Stewart Bell is unapologetic, if nothing else, in his contempt for
what he sees as a Canadian bureaucracy that condoned and fostered the
establishment of terrorist organizations.

But Bell, the author of an unvarnished look at how Canada became a
haven for terror groups, raises valid questions about why the country
failed to act, time and again, in identifying and expelling the bad
guys.

In his book Cold Terror: How Canada Nurtures and Exports Terrorism
Around The World, Bell argues that Canada has contributed, albeit
indirectly, to the deaths of innocent people, and that it is
incapable at this point of mounting an effective counter-terrorism
campaign.

Everyone now recognizes Al Qaeda as the preeminent terrorist
organization around the world. But Bell points out that Al Qaeda’s
forerunners and cousins had been established in Canada long before
the Sept. 11 attacks levelled New York’s World Trade Center towers.

Bell, a former Vancouver Sun reporter who now writes for the National
Post, recounts how more than 25 years ago terrorists looked above the
49th parallel and found a place from which to raise funds for their
causes. He takes us back to what he believes was the first true act
of Canadian terrorism, an assassination attempt in 1982 by Armenians
wanting to avenge the 1915 Armenian genocide at the hands of Turks.

This was not something Canada was used to. Factional disputes between
ethnic neighbourhoods were one thing; attempts at political
assassination were another. Then the bloody 1985 attack on an Air
India passenger jet raised Canadian culpability in terrorism to a new
level.

And yet, Bell suggests, Canada did little to prevent the incursion
and development of terrorist organizations on its soil. The result,
he says, was a conscious understanding by groups such as the Tamil
Tigers of Sri Lanka, Sikh separatists, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda that
the could operate from here with impunity.

“The list of specific government failures is extensive, from an
immigration system seemingly incapable of deporting even known
terrorists, to laws that have proven ineffective at shutting down
charities and ethnic associations fronting for terror,” he writes.
“But it all stems from a political leadership unwilling to take a
stand and secure Canadians and their allies from the violent whims of
the world’s assorted radicals, fundamentalists and extremists.”

Bell uses a network of security sources, both named and unnamed, to
spin stories demonstrating his thesis that Canada has long lacked the
chutzpah to stop terrorists. He also points out that Canadian
citizens have partaken in terrorist attacks abroad, from the 1993
World Trade Center truck bombing to the bombing of a Bali nightclub
in 2002 and the bombing of Western housing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a
year later.

“Canadian terrorists spill blood around the world,” he writes
harshly, as if somehow we should have expected otherwise.

In the end, Cold Terror is little more than an argument for tougher
laws and a tougher strategy for combating terrrorism.

Here, in suggesting Al Qaeda is governed by “irrational religious
zealots,” is Bell’s entire premise:

“What is needed to combat such fanaticism is a forceful security and
intelligence response that seeks to dismantle the terror networks
within Canada, coupled with an overseas military strategy that
attacks the dens of terror. That cannot happen as long as the
government is in denial and fails to recognize that terrorists have
declared war on our values, our way of life and our society.”

GRAPHIC: Photo: Istsuo Inouye, Associated Press Files; The Bali bomb
blast in October 2002 is an example of Canadian involvement in
terror.; Photo: COLD TERROR: How Canada Nurtures and Exports
Terrorism Around The World By Stewart Bell, John Wiley & Sons, 288
pages (36.99)

The Times (London)
April 1, 2004, Thursday

Chechen leader threatens to kill Russians abroad

by Jeremy Page in Moscow

Shamil Basayev, the Chechen rebel leader, has threatened to attack
Russians overseas and to use chemical weapons to avenge the killing
of a former Chechen president in Qatar.

In a message of defiance Mr Basayev, one of Russia’s most-wanted
terrorists, said: “We have the ability to kill Russians in virtually
every country, but we have not moved our operations outside Russia’s
borders yet. Today it is the event in Qatar that will determine for
us our future actions. What Russians can do, we can, too.”

Mr Basayev has claimed responsibility for a string of attacks,
including the Dubrovka theatre siege in 2002, which left 129 hostages
dead, and the suicide bombing on the Moscow Metro in February that
killed 40 people.

His threat, published on the Chechen rebel website kavkazcenter.com,
will alarm hundreds of thousands of Russians living overseas and
raise fears that Chechen rebels possess, or are seeking, chemical
weapons.

It also raises questions about the effectiveness of President Putin’s
hardline stance on Chechnya, which has helped him to win two
elections but which critics say is fuelling attacks on Russian
civilians.

“The Russian leadership constantly reiterates that it is not fighting
Chechen separatists but international terrorists, and this has
finally become a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Andrei Piontkovsky, the
independent political analyst, wrote in an editorial. “Thanks to the
methods with which we have waged this war, we have turned practically
the whole population of Chechnya into enemies.”

Mr Basayev’s statement echoed a pledge from Khaled Mashaal, the new
Hamas leader, that Israel would suffer an “earthquake” of revenge for
assassinating his predecessor Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

Mr Basayev said: “We will, bomb, blow up, poison, stage gas
explosions and fires whenever possible on everything else on the
territory of Russia.”

His martyrs’ brigade would not use biological or nuclear materials
and would not target mosques, synagogues, nursery schools, orphanages
or psychiatric institutions, he said. But he added: “Combat chemical
agents, toxins and different poisons are being used against us.
Therefore we reserve the right to use chemical and toxic substances
and the same poisons against Russia.”

He offered to suspend attacks against civilians if Russian forces in
Chechnya stopped abusing local people. Human rights groups accuse
Russian and pro Moscow Chechen forces of illegally detaining,
torturing and killing hundreds of people there.

There was no official reaction from the Kremlin, but a Kremlin
official told The Times that the threat was not new. “We’ve heard
this many times,” he said. “They may take some action. They need an
escalation because the conflict is dying down.

But there would be a strong reaction against the Chechen diaspora in
the country where it took place.”

Mr Putin has repeatedly ruled out negotiating with rebel leaders and
vowed to exterminate them. He is keen to show that a peace plan
launched last year has brought peace and stability to the region
after a decade of conflict. However, Russian forces and the new
pro-Moscow Chechen administration have failed to find Mr Basayev and
fighting continues.

Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, the former Chechen President, was killed in
February when an explosion blew apart his vehicle as he was being
driven away from a mosque in Doha, the Qatari capital.

Mr Basayev has blamed the killing on Russian security services.
Russian viewed Yandarbiyev as a fundraiser and recruiter for Chechen
rebels and had been seeking his extradition from Qatar.

Qatar has detained two Russian agents and evicted a Russian diplomat
whom it suspects of involvement in the assassination.

Sources have told The Times that the two agents have confessed to
killing Yandarbiyev for Russian Intelligence and of bringing
explosives to Qatar in the diplomatic bag. Moscow insists that they
are innocent and should be freed.

CONFLICT IN THE CAUCASUS

* War in Chechnya began in the early 19th century, when Russian
armies entered the Caucasus, an area previously under Ottoman rule.
Unlike the predominantly Christian populations of Georgia and
Armenia, who saw Russian rule as a protection from Turkish
persecution, the Chechens viewed Orthodox Russia as a threat. The
Chechens never accepted the Russians, leading to a 40-year guerrilla
war

* The leader of the Chechen resistance was Imam Shamil, who was
captured in 1859. Half a million Russian troops were eventually
deployed to the conflict

* The Chechen Autonomous Region was created in 1922, becoming part of
the Chechen-Ingush republic in 1936

* Stalin accused the Chechens of collaboration and ordered their mass
deportation in 1944

* As the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, the Chechen-dominated
parliament declared the region’s independence. Russian troops entered
Chechnya in the winter of 1994 to crush the independence movement and
up to 100,000 people died in the next 20 months

* Russian troops withdrew in 1996, leaving the republic in effect
independent but lawless. Troops returned three years later -on the
orders of President Putin – after a series of attacks by Chechen
rebels in Russia

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
03/31/2004
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1) Justice Minister Assures Punishment for Gyumri Disturbances
2) ANCA Issues Report Card on Bush Administration
3) US General Discusses Armenian Involvement in Iraq, Military Assistance
4) Talabani: Kirkuk Sacred for Kurds

1) Justice Minister Assures Punishment for Gyumri Disturbances

YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Armenia’s Justice Minister David Haroutounian announced
in parliament on Tuesday that those responsible for the disturbances at last
weekend’s opposition rally in Gyumri, would be strictly punished,
regardless of
party belonging or their rank, and added that even authorities implicated in
the incident will have to be responsible for their actions.
According to RFE/RL, the Gyumri gathering was disrupted when some
participants
scuffled with several women who raised banners denouncing President Robert
Kocharian’s opponents. Shortly afterwards, several men charged towards the
podium amid eggs thrown in the direction of the opposition leaders. The
confrontation turned into a fistfight that ended with four opposition
activists
taken away by plain-clothes police officers.
Prime Minister Andranik Margarian, also addressing parliament, announced that
the authorities operate only under the rule of law, and responded to claims by
opposition parliament member Hrant Khachatrian that “certain bodies have begun
to hire paid combatants.”
Margarian, speaking of forces that safeguard internal security and stability,
and the army that defends the country from external threats, stressed that, in
spite of opposition claims, the government has no other troops and has not
hired combatants.
Emphasizing the government’s support of any opposition activities within the
framework of the law, Margarian said, “We have no right to limit political
rights or rights of citizens; the consideration, however, is the method the
opposition chooses to realize its goals. If those are outside legal
limitations, then the government has a direct responsibility to protect
internal security and the interests of the country.”

2) ANCA Issues Report Card on Bush Administration

WASHINGTON, DC–The 2004 Armenian American Presidential Report Card, issued on
Tuesday by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), gave the George
W. Bush Administration low marks for its record of broken promises, neglect,
and opposition to more than a dozen issues concerning Armenian American
voters.
The ANCA Report Card covers fifteen broad policy areas, beginning with the
President’s broken campaign pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide, and
extending through more than three years of policy toward Armenia, the
Caucasus,
and the surrounding region. While highlighting certain positive steps by the
Bush Administration, the Report Card, nevertheless, reveals an Administration
that has fallen far short of the Armenian American community’s expectations.
“Armenian Americans were profoundly disappointed by President Bush’s
decision–only three months after taking office–to abandon his campaign
pledge
to properly recognize the Armenian Genocide,” said ANCA Chairman Ken
Hachikian.
“Since then, sadly, the record shows that the President has broken other
commitments to our community–most notably to maintain parity in US military
aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan–and has actively opposed key issues of concern
to Armenian Americans.”

ANCA PRESIDENTIAL REPORT CARD:

BROKEN CAMPAIGN PLEDGE TO RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Almost immediately after taking office, President Bush abandoned his campaign
pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Made in February of 2000 as Texas
Governor, the promise was widely distributed among Armenian Americans prior to
the hotly contested Michigan primary. It read, in part:
“The twentieth century was marred by wars of unimaginable brutality, mass
murder and genocide. History records that the Armenians were the first people
of the last century to have endured these cruelties. The Armenians were
subjected to a genocidal campaign that defies comprehension and commands all
decent people to remember and acknowledge the facts and lessons of an awful
crime in a century of bloody crimes against humanity. If elected President, I
would ensure that our nation properly recognizes the tragic suffering of the
Armenian people.”
Rather than honor this promise, the President, in his annual April 24th
statements, has consistently used evasive and euphemistic terminology to avoid
describing Ottoman Turkey’s systematic and deliberate destruction of the
Armenian people by its proper name–the Armenian Genocide.

OPPOSITION TO THE CONGRESSIONAL GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

The Bush Administration is actively blocking the adoption of the Genocide
Resolution in both the House and Senate. This legislation (S.Res.164 and
H.Res.193) specifically cites the Armenian Genocide and formally commemorates
the 15th anniversary of United States implementation of the UN Genocide
Convention. The Genocide Resolution is supported by a broad based coalition of
over one hundred organizations, including American Values, the NAACP, National
Council of Churches, Sons of Italy, International Campaign for Tibet, National
Council of La Raza, and the Union of Orthodox Rabbis.

FAILURE TO CONDEMN TURKEY’S DENIAL OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

The Bush Administration has failed to condemn Turkey’s recent escalation of
its campaign to deny the Armenian Genocide. Notably, the Administration has
remained silent in the face of the decree issued in April of 2003 by Turkey’s
Education Minister, Huseyin Celik, requiring that all students in Turkey’s
schools be instructed in the denial of the Armenian Genocide.
The State Department’s 2003 human rights report on Turkey uses the
historically inaccurate and highly offensive phrase “alleged genocide” to
mischaracterize the Armenian Genocide. In addition, despite repeated protests,
the Bush Administration’s State Department continues to host a website on
Armenian history that fails to make even a single mention of the Genocide.
()

THE WAIVER OF SECTION 907 OF THE FREEDOM SUPPORT ACT

The Bush Administration, in 2001, aggressively pressured Congress into
granting the President the authority to waive Section 907, a provision of law
that bars aid to the government of Azerbaijan until it lifts its blockades of
Armenia and Karabagh. President Bush has subsequently used this authority to
provide direct aid, including military assistance, to the government of
Azerbaijan, despite their continued violation of the provisions of this law.

REDUCTION IN AID TO ARMENIA

In the face of the devastating, multi-billion dollar impact of the Turkish
and
Azerbaijani blockades on the Armenian economy, President Bush has, in each of
the past three years, proposed to Congress that humanitarian and developmental
aid to Armenia be reduced.

ABANDONMENT OF THE MILITARY AID PARITY AGREEMENT

The Bush Administration abandoned its November 2001 agreement with Congress
and the Armenian American community to maintain even levels of military aid to
Armenia and Azerbaijan. Instead, the Administration, in its fiscal year 2005
foreign aid bill, proposes sending four times more Foreign Military Financing
to Azerbaijan ($8 million) than to Armenia ($2 million). This action tilts the
military balance in favor of Azerbaijan, rewards Azerbaijan’s increasingly
violent threats of renewed aggression, and undermines the role of the US as an
impartial mediator of the Karabagh talks.

MISTAKEN LISTING OF ARMENIA AS A TERRORIST COUNTRY

The Bush Administration, through Attorney General John Ashcroft, sought,
unsuccessfully, in December of 2002 to place Armenia on an Immigration and
Naturalization Service watch list for terrorist countries. This obvious error
was reversed only after a nation-wide protest campaign. Neither the White
House
nor the Department of Justice has apologized for the offense caused by this
mistake.

NEGLECT OF US-ARMENIA RELATIONS

While the Bush Administration has maintained a formal dialogue with
Armenia on
economic issues through the bi-annual meetings of the US-Armenia Task
Force, it
has, as a matter of substance, failed to take any meaningful action to
materially promote US-Armenia economic ties. Specifically, the Administration
has not provided leadership on legislation, spearheaded by Congressional
Republicans and currently before Congress, to grant Armenia permanent normal
trade relations (PNTR) status. Nor has the Administration initiated any steps
toward the negotiation of a Tax Treaty, Social Security Agreement, Trade and
Investment Framework Agreement, or other bilateral agreements to foster
increased US-Armenia commercial relations.
The President neither visited Armenia nor did he invite the President of
Armenia to visit the United States.

FAILURE TO MAINTAIN A BALANCED POLICY ON MOUNTAINOUS KARABAGH

The Bush Administration, to its credit, took an early initiative to help
resolve the Mountainous Karabagh issue in the form of the Key West summit
meeting in 2001 between Secretary of State Powell and the presidents of
Armenia
and Azerbaijan. After Azerbaijan’s failure to honor its Key West commitments,
however, the Administration failed to hold Azerbaijan accountable for
unilaterally stalling the Karabagh peace process.

INCREASED GRANTS, LOANS AND MILITARY TRANSFERS TO TURKEY

The Bush Administration has effectively abandoned America’s responsibility to
link aid, loans, and arms transfers to Turkey’s adherence to basic standards
for human rights and international conduct. The most notable example was
the $8
billion loan package provided to Turkey in 2003 despite Turkey’s refusal to
allow US forces to open a northern front during the war in Iraq.

TAXPAYER FINANCING OF THE BAKU-CEYHAN BYPASS OF ARMENIA

The Bush Administration is supporting American taxpayer subsidies for the
politically motivated Baku-Ceyhan pipeline route that, at the insistence of
Turkey and Azerbaijan, bypasses Armenia.

REFUSAL TO PRESSURE TURKEY AND AZERBAIJAN TO END THEIR BLOCKADES

The Bush Administration has not forcefully condemned the Turkish and
Azerbaijani blockades as clear violations of international law, nor,
outside of
occasional public statements, has it taken any meaningful steps to pressure
the
Turkish or Azerbaijani governments to end their illegal border closures.

LOBBYING FOR TURKISH MEMBERSHIP IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

The Bush Administration has aggressively pressured European governments to
accept Turkey into the European Union, despite Turkey’s consistent failure to
meet European conditions for membership, on issues ranging from the
blockade of
Armenia and the Armenian Genocide to the occupation of Cyprus and human
rights.

DOWN-GRADING RELATIONS WITH THE ARMENIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY

Breaking with the tradition of the last several Administrations, the Bush
White House failed to reach out in any meaningful way to our nation’s one
and a
half million citizens of Armenian heritage. While the State Department,
Pentagon and National Security Council maintained their long-standing
policy-level dialogue with the Armenian American community leadership, the
White House itself essentially neglected Armenian Americans as a political
constituency. Perhaps the most telling example of this is that, during the
course of the past three years, despite repeated requests, the President did
not hold any community-wide meetings with the leadership of the Armenian
American community, nor did his Secretary of State or National Security
Advisor.

ARMENIAN AMERICAN APPOINTMENTS

The President appointed Joe Bogosian to an important Deputy Assistant
Secretary position at the Commerce Department, John Jamian to a key maritime
position in the Department of Transportation, and Samuel Der-Yeghiayan as a
Federal Judge in the Northern District of Illinois.

3) US General Discusses Armenian Involvement in Iraq, Military Assistance

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–A top US general in charge of troops in Europe, ended a
two-day visit to Armenia on Wednesday, addressing expansion of US-Armenian
military cooperation, and Armenian involvement in Iraq’s reconstruction.
“The United States is proud to have Armenia as a friend in the war on
terrorism and, in the future, in the recovery and reconstruction of Iraq,”
Major-General Jeffery Kohler, director of plans and policy at the US European
Command, said after talks with Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian and the chief
of the Armenian army staff, Colonel-General Mikael Harutiunian.
“Armenia has offered to provide a truck company and medical personnel [to
Iraq]. Details of that deployment are being worked out right now,” Kohler told
reporters before leaving Armenia, but gave no possible dates for the dispatch
of the small Armenian contingent promised by the Armenian government last
summer. The two sides have since been discussing practical modalities of the
deployment which will be largely financed by the US government.
Armenia did not endorse the US invasion of Iraq last year, and hopes military
involvement now will make Armenian companies eligible for US-funded
reconstruction contracts in the war-ravaged nation. Asked to comment on this,
Kohler said: “I know that the US government has offered any nation that is
supporting the effort in Iraq ability to come in and assist in the
reconstruction.”
Armenia initially announced readiness to commit a team of medical doctors and
a platoon of de-mining experts for the for the US-led occupation force in
Iraq.
Deputy Defense Minister Artur Aghabekian said last month that Armenian
military
drivers are also trained to participate in the operation.
Kohler said another purpose of his trip was to discuss further US assistance
to a special peace-keeping battalion of the Armenian armed force. “The United
States has already provided some equipment and training to the battalion
and we
are looking at ways to advance that and enable that to grow in the future,” he
said.
The US general, who is based in the German city of Stuttgart, praised a
battalion from the platoon that joined the NATO-led peacekeeping force in
Kosovo last month on Armenia’s first-ever military mission abroad. “The
Armenian people should be very proud of how they perform,” he said.
The US military assistance to Armenia was made possible by the suspension of
the decade-long restrictions on US government aid to Azerbaijan following the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The US Congress has allocated about $8
million in military funding to Armenia. Most of the money will be used for
upgrading communication facilities of Armenia’s Armed Forces.
Although a similar sum has been budgeted for Azerbaijan, the parity will be
broken based on the Bush Administration’s 2005 proposed budget that calls for
$8 million in military aid to Azerbaijan and only $2.3 million to Armenia.
US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage argued in Yerevan last week
that
Baku is entitled to a bigger share of the pie because it is already
involved in
US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Responding to Armenian protests against the aid disparity, the US assured
that
it will not change the shaky balance of forces in the conflict over
Mountainous
Karabagh.
Kohler also stressed that the US will almost certainly freeze its military
cooperation with both nations should the Karabagh war resume. “Although it is
not up to the US European Command, I can almost guarantee that if there is
conflict from either side, our Congress will impose those sanctions again,” he
said.
Kohler added that he will soon pay another visit to Armenian at the
request of
Sarkisian. “The minister of defense has ordered me in many ways to come back
and visit very soon,” he said without elaborating.

4) Talabani: Kirkuk Sacred for Kurds

CAIRO (UPI/PUK.org)–Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani said the oil-rich
center of Kirkuk is as important for Kurds as East Jerusalem is for Arabs and
Muslims.
In an interview with the Cairo daily al-Ahram on Wednesday, Talabani said,
“Kirkuk is a sacred city for Kurds as much as Jerusalem is for Muslim and we
have been struggling for it for more than 40 years.”
Talabani, whose Patriotic Union of Kurdistan has been sharing control of
Iraq’s Kurdistan with Massud Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party since 1991,
said past Iraqi governments were ready to recognize the autonomy of Kurdistan,
excluding Kirkuk. “Historically and demographically speaking, Kirkuk was never
part of Iraq but part of Kurdistan.”
Talabani stressed that Kurds do not seek to secede from Iraq but want the
right of autonomy under a federal system to be recognized.
While there is a consensus among most Iraqi political groups about the
establishment of a federal form of government in the post-Saddam Iraq,
there is
disagreement about the nature of such federalism. Without exception, the
non-Kurdish Iraqi majority favors the federalism of the provinces. Iraq is
divided into 18 provinces and, according to this view, each province should
have some degree of autonomy within a federal framework that leaves much of
the
power at the center in Baghdad. Since most provinces, including those in the
north, have a mixture of ethnic groups including Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen,
Assyrians, and Christians, this scheme will loosely limit the Kurdish control
over at most three provinces–Sulaymaniyya, Erbil and Dhouk–that have enjoyed
political autonomy since 1991.
By contrast, the Kurds have insisted on regional federalism that would bring
into one region, and one political framework, all the provinces with
substantial Kurdish populations, including the city of Kirkuk. The additional
Kurdish insistence to keep Kirkuk as part of the regional federation scheme
stems from the argument that the city has undergone a process of “Arabization”
under the Saddam regime. The idea of the federation of provinces is rejected,
according to Talabani, because “throughout its history, the Kurdish people
have
struggled to prevent the separation of the Kurdish provinces from each other
and to protect the integrity of the historical Kurdish borders.”
According to Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the Governing Council, the
annexation of Kirkuk into a Kurdish region is not meant to “Kurdicize” the
city
but to remove the relics of its Arabization. According to Othman, the 1959
census has shown a majority of Kurds in Kirkuk and that majority should be the
sole criterion in determining its future.

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Zaman, Turkey
March 28 2004

Armitage Fails to Convince Aliyev to Open Armenia Border

The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, said
yesterday that the Washington administration favors the opening of
the border between Turkey and Armenia; however, Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev is opposed to reopening the border while certain issues
remain unresolved.

After his meetings in Baku, Armitage said that Aliyev did not seem
very receptive to Washington’s suggestion. Armitage speculated that
part of the reason for Aliyev’s demeanor might have been related to
the fact that Aliyev thinks it would be very difficult to resolve the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict if Azerbaijan were to reopen their border
with Armenia at the present time.

Armitage added that the U.S. does not have any plan to establish a
military base in Azerbaijan and that the topic was not even on the
agenda of their talks. He also conveyed the U.S.’s concerns about
resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. “Incidents in Kosovo roused
concerns that fierce fighting might resume in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Armitage emphasized that basic recommendations for a solution have to
be prepared by Yerevan and Baku.

Armenia set to annex Karabakh officially – Azeri MP

ANS TV, Baku
26 Mar 04

Presenter The Armenian parliament is preparing to adopt a decision to
annex Karabakh and other occupied territories to Armenia. It is
expected that the decision will be adopted in June, MP Anar
Mammadxanli made this sensational statement.

Mammadxanli The Armenian and so-called Nagornyy Karabakh parliaments
are preparing to legitimize the occupation. That is to say, the
Armenian parliament and the Karabakh parliament want to announce their
merger and to adopt a decision annexing the occupied territory – the
former Karabakh autonomous region – to Armenia. In doing so, they are
trying to involve Azerbaijan in a war since this will already be a
dead end.

US deputy state secretary says no accords reached in Key West

Mediamax news agency,
26 Mar 04

YEREVAN

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in Yerevan today
that the “sides made considerable progress in the Key West talks three
years ago”.

Asked by a Mediamax correspondent in Yerevan today, Armitage said he
was involved in the negotiations and knows that “when former
Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev returned from Key West to
Azerbaijan and submitted the conflict settlement alternative to his
country, he faced serious difficulties”.

“Therefore, we can talk about some progress made in Key West, but not
about agreements,” Armitage said.

The deputy secretary of state stressed that “a solution to the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict cannot be imposed from outside” and
expressed the hope that Armenia and Azerbaijan would resume the talks
in the near future.

Richard Armitage stated that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen were
ready to help the sides find a peaceful solution.

Azerbaijan to join international events in Armenia after liberation of lands

ANS TV, Baku
24 Mar 04

In response to Armenian reports that no Azerbaijani delegation has
attended a session of the Committee on Cultural, Educational and
Social Affairs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation in Yerevan today because of a busy work schedule,
Azerbaijan has stated that it will join international events held in
Armenia only after its occupied lands are liberated, Azerbaijan’s
commercial TV channel ANS has reported.

Turkish MP in favour of opening border with Armenia

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
24 Mar 04

[Presenter] Better times in Armenian-Turkish relations will come very
soon, a Turkish MP and member of the ruling Justice and Development
Party, Salih Kapusuz, said. He is taking part in the 22nd session of
the Committee on Cultural, Educational and Social Affairs of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC),
which opened in the Armenian capital on 24 March. No Azerbaijani
delegation is taking part in the session.

[Correspondent over video of the session] No Azerbaijani delegation is
taking part in the meeting of the PABSEC Committee on Cultural,
Educational and Social Affairs. The vice-chair of the committee said
that the members of the Azerbaijani delegation were too busy in their
own country.

[Dumitru Buzatu, vice-chair of the committee, speaking in French with
Armenian voice-over] The members of the Azerbaijani delegation
notified us a couple of days ago and apologized saying that they
cannot take part in the session because they are too busy in their own
country.

[Correspondent] A Turkish delegation is taking part in the session.

[Salih Kapusuz, head of the Turkish delegation, speaking in Turkish
with Armenian voice-over] Armenia and Turkey are close neighbours and
members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation. Turkey wishes to develop relations with Armenia and we
look to the future with hope. I think that our leadership must not
concentrate on the past and should seek ways of developing future
relations. Our party and leader have set themselves a goal to expand
ties with all the neighbouring countries and you can be sure that
better times will come very soon.

As for the opening of the borders, I believe that positive steps will
be take n and our relations will develop.

Nune Aleksanyan, Aylur.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
March 24, 2004, Wednesday

A COMMAND-STAFF EXERCISE TO BE CONDUCTED IN ARMENIA ON MARCH 23-27

A command-staff exercise will be conducted in Armenia on March 23-27.
Technical, logistic and medical units will be involved in the
maneuvers. Colonel Seiran Shakhsuvaryan, press secretary of the
Armenian Defense Ministry, stated that the Armenian Army will call up
reservists during the first phase of the exercise.

Source: Regnum information agency, March 22, 2004

Translated by Alexander Dubovoi

The Russian Oil and Gas Report (Russia)
March 24, 2004, Wednesday

IRAN-ARMENIA GAS PIPELINE MAY REACH EUROPEAN UNION

The Iran-Armenia gas pipeline, the contract on construction of which
will be signed very soon, may be extended through Georgia to Ukraine
and further to European Union countries, reports Armenian Energy
Minister Armen Movsisyan. It is possible that the pipeline may be
build from Iran through Armenia and Georgia and further on the floor
of the Black Sea to Ukraine. The minister states, “After completion
of the Blue Stream project construction of long offshore gas
pipelines is already not a fantasy. Iran, Turkmenistan, and what is
the most important, European Union, want this. Europe plans to extend
the gas pipeline with Iranian and Turkmen gas crossing Armenia to its
territory. But this is a matter of serious and long negotiations that
also influences other countries that currently receive Russian gas.”

In 2002, the Kiev-based research institute VNIPItransgaz prepared a
business plan of the project of gas pipeline construction via the
route Iran-Armenia-Georgia-Ukraine-Europe with construction of 550
kilometers of pipes on the floor of the Black Sea from the Georgian
pot of Supsa to Feodosia in the Crimea. The project was estimated at
$5 billion. The gas supplies were estimated at up to 60 billion cubic
meters a year including 10 billion cubic meters or Ukraine.

Source: Vremya Novostey, March 23, 2004