Author: Tatoyan Vazgen

54.9% OF ARMENIAN CITIZENS HATE AZERBAIJAN

YEREVAN, June 1. /ARKA/. According to the results of an interview
conducted in Armenia as part of the project “Armenia and Azerbaijan at
`neither peace nor war’ crossroads: overcoming stereotypes”, 54.9%
of Armenia’s residents hate Azerbaijan, 51.6% hold it in contempt,
48.8% are indignant at it, 33.6% are indifferent to that country,
and 14% feel sorry for it. Only 7.5% of the respondents said that
Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis cause them to feel fear.

Most of the characteristic features of Azerbaijanis are, according
to the respondents, distinctly negative. According to the interview
results, Azerbaijanis are cunning hypocrites, aggressive, impudent
and lazy, as well as bellicose nationalists. According to 40.8%
of the respondents no forces in Armenia have a positive attitude
to Azerbaijan.

The interview was conducted last October-December, and involved 1,000
citizens of Armenia (500 Yerevan residents and 100 residents from
each of the regions of Ararat, Lori, Tavush, Chambarak, Meghri).

RFE/RL Caucasus: Is The BTC Oil Pipeline Saving Europe
>>From Russia Or From OPEC?

Tuesday, 31 May 2005

According to a 9 April 2002 report by the U.S. Congressional Research
Service (CRS), the Caspian region holds oil reserves of 18-34 billion
barrels, or roughly 1.8-3.3 percent of the world’s proven reserves.

These figures are based in part on estimates provided by the
U.S. Energy International Administration, which breaks down the
reserves on the following country-by-country basis:

Azerbaijan — 4-13 billion barrels (bbl)

Iran — 0.1

Kazakhstan — 10-18 bbl

Russia — 2.7 bbl

Turkmenistan — 0.6 bbl

Uzbekistan — 0.6 bbl

Some industry estimates, however, are lower. The CRS report also
cites figures from British Petroleum/Amoco indicating smaller proven
reserves in Azerbaijan (7 bbl) and Kazakhstan (8 bbl) and projecting
a regional total of about 16 bbl. (BP/Amoco’s figures do not include
estimates for Russia and Iran.)

These figures are roughly comparable to U.S. oil reserves of 22
billion barrels. But while the Caspian is an important source of oil
for Europe, it may not be a long-term strategy for energy independence
from Russia or OPEC — the original goal behind the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
(BTC) pipeline.

The 1,770-kilometer (1,010 mile) BTC pipeline — built at a cost
of $3.6 billion and capable of pumping 1 million barrels a day —
went into operation on 25 May. Regional leaders put on a brave face,
hoping to convince the rest of the world that from here on out, Europe
would no longer be dependent on Russia and its export routes. BTC,
it was hoped, could save the continent from the potential threat of
a Moscow energy monopoly.

Vafa Guluzade, a former foreign affairs adviser to the Azerbaijani
government, told “The Wall Street Journal” on 25 May that BTC will
neutralize any Russian attempts to use economic levers to bring former
Soviet republics back under its wing.

THE CPC

Russia’s stance on Caspian export routes became clear in 1995, with
the forming of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) — of which the
U.S. Chevron Texaco corporation was one of the largest shareholders.
Russia itself owned a 24-percent stake in the CPC and lobbied actively
for the construction of a pipeline from Kazakhstan’s Tengiz oil field
to Russia’s Black Sea terminal at the port of Novorossiisk.

A majority of the route crosses through Russian territory, but Chevron
Texaco did not appear to share concerns in Washington that Moscow
would move to control the flow of oil across Russia.

Chevron Texaco established itself as a player in the Kazakh oil
industry in April 1993, when it signed an agreement to set up the
company TengizChevrOil on an equal partnership basis with the Kazakh
government.

Since the completion of the CPC in 2001, Kazakhstan has steadily
increased the volume of crude it ships via this route. According to
a 13 January 2005 article in “The Moscow Times,” some 350,000 barrels
of Kazakh oil passed through the CPC daily in 2004.

At present, almost all of Kazakhstan’s oil exports cross Russia and
are then shipped by tanker through the Bosporus. But it is uncertain
how long this will continue. Turkey, citing ecological risks, is
set to limit tanker traffic through the straits. It is reasonable to
assume that as Kazakh oil production increases, some of its exports
may be routed through the newly opened BTC line, in order to avoid
political problems with Ankara.

THE BTC OPENS

At the BTC’s 25 May opening ceremonies, Russian President Vladimir
Putin’s special envoy for energy cooperation, Igor Yusufov, failed to
make a scheduled appearance. The Interfax news agency reported that
Yusufov had fallen ill and had sent his regrets. No other high-ranking
Russian official was apparently available to act in his stead.

Russia’s “Kommersant Daily” on 25 May suggested that the BTC, rather
than being a purely economic venture, was more of a “political” project
meant to isolate Iran and Russia. The paper went on to speculate the
United States would also use the BTC for added advantage, by bringing
in troops for pipeline security and thus bolstering its presence and
influence in the region.

Pipeline security was also in the thoughts of Mikhail Margelov, the
chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s International Affairs
Committee. Interfax on 25 May cited Margelov as saying, “First and
foremost, it is a question of [Russia’s] national security and the
expediency of a foreign military presence in the region, which would
look especially strange against the background of the pullout of
Russian bases from Georgia,” he said.

“Russia has had enormous experience with maintaining a [military]
presence in the region. We all are partners in the antiterrorist
coalition, and it makes attempts to use the new pipeline as a pretext
for enhancing a foreign military presence in the region doubly
outrageous,” he said.

The British press, by contrast, suggests the BTC is not about
bolstering Washington’s regional profile. The “Independent” daily
wrote on 25 May the BTC was built in order to “ease the reliance of
the West on OPEC and bring cheaper fuel to our filling stations.”

The “Times” daily added that the BTC “is crucial in lessening Western
dependence on oil from the Middle East.” Left unexplained was how the
Caspian, with its 34-billion-barrel potential, could prove a formidable
rival to OPEC, with its proven reserves of over 800 billion barrels.

Britain’s anti-OPEC tendencies can perhaps be explained by the fact
that British Petroleum (BP) is the main partner in the international
consortium that built the BTC. BP is optimistic the pipeline will
meet all expectations. Tony Hayward, BP’s head of exploration and
production told “The Wall Street Journal” on 25 May the pipeline
“is opening up a new hydrocarbon province.”

BP, however, is also a partner of the Russian oil company TNK, and as
such is working to supply Europe with Russian oil as well. It seems
fair to say that BP is playing both sides of the coin: ensuring that
Russia has a large market for its oil in England and elsewhere in
Europe — and thus increasing the risk of monopoly — while at the same
time leading the forces opposed to a Russian energy blackmail scheme.

It was BP-TNK which, with the support of the Putin government, insisted
in 2004 that the Odesa-Brody pipeline built in Ukraine to transport
Caspian oil to Europe be used in the reverse direction, to transport
BP-TNK oil to a terminal outside Odesa for tanker transport through
the Bosporus — thereby going against Western desires to limit tanker
traffic through the straits.

Writing in “The Wall Street Journal” European edition on 10 October
2003, Robert McFarlane, who served as national security adviser to
U.S. President Ronald Reagan, noted: “When Ukrainian Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovych was in Washington this week, certainly one issue
for discussion was last week’s decision by Ukraine’s state pipeline
company to move forward toward reversing the use of the Odesa-Brody
oil pipeline in Russia’s favor…. Russian oligarchic interests,
however — with Britain’s BP unfortunately in tow — wish to use that
pipeline themselves, in the opposite direction…. This would cancel
all the hopes that had been vested in the Ukrainian pipeline.”

The new Ukrainian government is attempting to once again reverse the
flow of the Odesa-Brody pipeline to its original south-north direction,
but is finding few suppliers from the Caspian to fill the pipeline.

The fate of the BTC pipeline will be determined to some degree by
Kazakhstan’s willingness, or need, to allocate more oil for delivery
into the pipeline. And while Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev
publicly agreed to provide some oil for BTC, he specified neither
how much nor when. Astana is also seeking to supply China and will
largely maintain its current deliveries to Novorossiisk. Whether it
will need to send a significant quantity of additional oil through
the BTC is uncertain. But the success of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
pipeline depends in large part on that question.

NO ORDERS PLACED FOR GOLD MEDAL FROM ARTSAKH THIS YEAR

YEREVAN, MAY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. After checking the documents of
candidates for gold medal from secondary schools of Armenia thier
number reduced from 258 to 196. As Nurijan Mahukian, the acting Chief
of the Comprehensive Education Department of the RA Education and
Science Ministry informed the Noyan Tapan correspondent, the most part
of candidates are from Yerevan (45 claims), and Syunik (40 claims). It
was also mentioned that this year no orders for gold medal were placed
from Artsakh.

Agency WPS
What the Papers Say. Part B (Russia)
May 27, 2005, Friday

ANDREI ISHCHUK: RUSSIA MUST PROTECT ITS INTERESTS IN THE POST-SOVIET
ZONE

SOURCE: Vremya Novostei, May 27, 2005, p. 5

by Sergei Sokolov

The first sector of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline went into
operation on May 25. The capacity of the pipeline is 50 million tons
of oil. The new facility greatly changes the geopolitical arrangement
of forces in the vast region spanning Central Asia, the Caucasus, and
the Caspian Sea. Russia could easily transport all this oil. Why
haven’t things worked out that way? What problems in relations with
our neighbors have our leaders failed to solve so far? Here is an
interview with Andrei Ishchuk, deputy chairman of the Federation
Council CIS affairs committee.

Andrei Ishchuk: America has skillfully promoted its own interests
again. Russia does not need the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. It
isn’t hard to guess that redistribution of oil flows will weaken
Russian influence.

It may be added that the territory where Moscow’s influence is
weakening is extremely unstable. Relations between Azerbaijan and
Armenia leave much to be desired. Georgia is constantly trying to
play a more active role in regional affairs. In fact, Kazakhstan
alone stands to benefit from all this. Its leaders expertly promote a
resolute but non-confrontational policy with regard to
neighbor-states.

The decision to build the pipeline was made in 1994, and Russian
leaders had ample time to channel the developments in the direction
they needed. They failed. As a result, we end with total American
control along a substantial part of Russia’s state borders. This
control will inevitably evolve into interference in the internal
affairs of oil exporters and transit countries, including Georgia.

No wonder the problem of Russian bases in Georgia is the talk of the
day now. America intends to deploy its own military contingents where
the Russian military is stationed nowadays. The US Administration is
prepared to spend $100 million on defense of the Caspian zone.

Question: Would you say that Russian-Georgian relations have entered
a impasse?

Andrei Ishchuk: We’ve been neighbors and friends for too long. The
things we have in common outweigh our differences. It would be the
height of folly to sever long-established commercial, transport, and
cultural relations. That would primarily hurt Georgia itself.

Question: How and when the problem of withdrawal of the bases will be
solved?

Andrei Ishchuk: Official Moscow made it plain more than once that the
withdrawal was not going to follow the Georgian or American scenario.
Everything is to be settled at talks. A lot of details have to be
sorted out – financial, organizational, political. I don’t think that
the Georgian people does not have problems more pressing than
withdrawal of Russian bases. It has, and the problems are pressing
indeed. Unemployment, for example. I doubt that Tbilisi’s partners
across the ocean are eager to create jobs for Georgians.

Question: Is Russia eager to do so?

Andrei Ishchuk: Georgia has enough means of attracting Russian
investors, including corporations. Georgia lacks raw materials. It
lacks electricity generating capacities. Its transport capacities are
extremely limited and technically obsolete. I don’t doubt that
Russian energy companies, railroads, and industrialists in general
have much to offer Tbilisi.

Question: How do you think our relations with the Baltic states will
develop?

Andrei Ishchuk: I’m convinced that no matter how hard some Baltic
politicians strive to sever all contacts with Russia, they are doomed
to fail. The territorial claims which the Baltic states produce every
now and then are absolutely groundless. Escalating these issues could
destabilize the situation. We have not forgotten about ancestral
Russian lands and territories, but we respect international law. That
is something I cannot say about the leaders of Latvia. They demand
recognition of “occupation” as applied to a substantial part of their
history; they are prepared to write off the past of a whole
generation. The next instant, however, they come up with territorial
claims. That’s a policy of double standards, pure and simple. Russia
should respond to it appropriately. Fortunately, we have ample means
and resources for that.

Question: But the West has ample resources as well.

Andrei Ishchuk: It is time we recognized that Russia’s geostrategic
interests differ from the West’s. That’s normal. No matter what
politicians from across the Atlantic might be saying, splitting
Russia from Europe is their number one objective and priority. They
seek to take over raw materials, resources, pipelines, and transport
systems. Over there, they do not want a united Europe, let alone a
Europe in partnership with Russia. All this has to be remembered and
taken into consideration. Russia must protect its interests in the
post-Soviet zone and do everything possible to promote them. Among
other things, it needs a more expansive and energetic policy in the
matter of oil markets. Oil production is great, but marketing,
technologies, logistics should not be ignored either. Thinking in
terms of progress is what is needed. Unfortunately, we’ve only been
responding to the situation instead of trying to shape it to our
satisfaction.

Question: Do you think we should expect more color revolutions?

Andrei Ishchuk: The chances of color revolutions being exported are
indeed high. The policy of the West in Eastern Europe is restricted
to containment or even isolation of Russia. We should face that, and
take it in our stride, while always remembering that this policy is
unacceptable to us. Isolation of Russia would be an effective means
of making the Russian authorities predictable, of taking over. We
need a firm but consistent policy to respond to this strategy, not a
policy of confrontation.

We are not entirely without leverages, you know. I’m talking about
joint parliamentary commissions, establishment of Russian education
centers in post-Soviet countries, propaganda of the Russian language.
If we want a stable and predictable world, we should do something to
help it come into being. Whoever possesses strategic thinking always
gets the upper hand, nowadays. I repeat again, we need a policy of
expansion into world oil markets. Let us be active instead of sitting
tight and calculating losses.

In the meantime, we should always remember that the countries
surrounding Russia are sovereign states. Their peoples themselves
choose their own way of life. It is an entirely different matter if
what is actually chosen is indeed the people’s own choice.
Thoughtless attempt to rock the boat, particularly in Central Asia,
may lead to escalation of international conflicts, and that is
something nobody – even the United States and Europe – needs.

Question: And yet, what happened in Ukraine and Georgia sets an
example for others. Nearby Belarus, for example.

Andrei Ishchuk: I believe that the people of Belarus are wise enough
to tell cause from effect. America’s interest in Belarus is entirely
understandable. This is the last territory between Russia and Western
Europe which the US Administration does not control yet. It would be
quite naive to think that Western investment will follow color
revolutions to Belarus. Investment will come sooner – it’s already
coming in, actually – from Russia. That goes for oil and gas transit
as well.

As for Ukraine, I dare say that the revolutionary euphoria there is
about to fade away. Life goes on. The government of Ukraine has to
start thinking about how to make life in the country acceptable and
not about how to lure the people into the streets. So far, it has not
been very successful. Prices soar, inflation is getting out of hand.
Official Kiev doesn’t even have a clear foreign policy – other than
being willing and eager to make friends with the United States. Well,
the Ukrainians can be friends with whomever they want, but it won’t
do to forget that Ukraine shares a border with Russia. Along the
Black Sea, too. Russia will not permit the Black Sea to be used in
the interests of the West alone.

Translated by A. Ignatkin

Today, Azerbaijan
May 27 2005

Azeri ambassador in the USA Hafiz Pashayev: “We work intensively to
annul Section 907”

27 May 2005 [13:50] – Today.Az

“President Ilham Aliyev is due to visit the United States of America
this year. I can not say anything on the exact date of the visit.
Head of state will pay a visit to Washington this year”.

APA was told by Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of
Azerbaijan in the USA Hafiz Pashayev.

The ambassador explained the reason why the USA renders less aid to
Azerbaijan than other South Caucasus countries. “One of the reasons
of less aided of the USA administration to Azerbaijan is that our
country is developing economically. The USA government takes into
consideration the needs of the state while it aids this state. As the
economy of Azerbaijan has developed such aids are not needed so much.
I consider that, Azerbaijan should develop by the account of its own
internal recourses, internal potential”.

Hafiz Pashayev stated that aid will be rendered to Azerbaijan by the
order of the USA State Department. “The exact number isn’t known for
the time being. The volume of the aid may be ether increased or
decreased. As far as I know, 53 million dollars will be allocated to
Azerbaijan this year”.

Azerbaijani diplomat said that intensive measure is implemented in
the direction of annulling Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act.
“We are working seriously on this matter. We have a lot of allies in
the USA government; the majority of the government members support
our position. However, the congressmen have influence on adopting the
decisions individually. There are a lot of congressmen who support
Armenia so far. However, the environment in the Congress has changed
a lot and we are working in these processes with definite strategy.
The opportunities for annulling the Section 907 will increase in case
the internal situation in Azerbaijan changes a little bit”.

Hafiz Pashayev disagreed with the opinions that the number of
Azerbaijani citizens with immigrant status increases in the USA. “I
don’t know any Azerbaijani immigrant in the USA. There are
Azerbaijani refugees but not political immigrant there. The majority
of the refugees are Azerbaijani citizens who married Armenians during
the former Soviet period. They are living in the USA for some
reasons, but are still Azerbaijani citizens. Besides, there are many
Jews from Azerbaijan in the USA”.

The ambassador said that there is no obstacle for the extradition of
ex-speaker Rasul Guliyev to Azerbaijan. “We have not legal juridical
status for demanding his extradition to Azerbaijan on the other hand.
That is because interstates contract on mutual juridical aid and
extradition of criminals doesn’t exist between Azerbaijan and the
USA. Therefore this matter remains open”.

URL:

TENFOLD HARVEST OF APRICOT EXPECTED IN ARMENIA THIS YEAR

YEREVAN, MAY 26. ARMINFO. The apricot harvest is expected to be 50,000
tons this year against 5,000 tons last year, Head of Department of
Agriculture of Armenia’s Ministry of Agriculture Garnik Petrosian
informed ARMINFO.

According to him, the hail in separate districts of Armavir and
Aragatsotn regions caused only an insignificant damage to the
apricot-trees. This year promises high harvest of apricot, peach,
cherry and other fruits, the number of which will entirely cover the
demand of both retail and processing industry. Garnik Petrosian also
informed that the harvest of apple of this year may total 120,000 tons
and of potato – 470,000 tons.

GERMANY CDU CHAIRMAN: ACCESSION OF TURKEY TO EU IS UNDESIRABLE FOR EU
ITSELF

YEREVAN, MAY 26. ARMINFO. Chairman of Christian and Democratic Union
(CDU) of Germany Angela Merkel again opposed Turkey’s accession to the
European Union.

DPA German information agency informs that such a membership is
undesirable for the EU itself. In her words, before starting Oct 3
negotiations on the accession to the EU Turkey must have big
preconditions – recognition of independence of Cyprus and
establishment of diplomatic relations with Armenia.

Ukraine signs WTO protocol with El Salvador

Interfax-Ukraine news agency
25 May 05

KIEV

Ukraine and El Salvador have signed a bilateral protocol on access to
the markets of commodities and services in the framework of the
negotiations on Ukrainian entry to the World Trade Organization.

The protocol was signed in Geneva on 24 May by Ukrainian Deputy
Economics and European Integration Minister Andriy Bereznyy and El
Salvador’s permanent representative at the WTO, the Ukrainian Foreign
Ministry’s press service said. This completed the bilateral talks on
Ukraine’s entry to the WTO.

The Foreign Ministry said that El Salvador was the 31st WTO member
country from the working group looking into Ukraine’s application to
join the WTO, with which Ukraine signed a protocol completing
bilateral talks on access to the markets of commodities and services.

Currently the Ukrainian delegation actively continues bilateral talks
with 17 WTO member countries, the Foreign Ministry said. These are the
USA, Australia, Japan, China, Armenia, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia,
Colombia, Croatia, Peru, Panama, Norway, El Salvador, Egypt, Island
and Taiwan. Ukraine’s bilateral talks on WTO entry with the
delegations of China, Japan, Norway, Peru, Colombia and Island are at
the final stages.

As is known, it is planned to complete the talks on Ukrainian
accession to the WTO by the end of this year, according to the
government’s action plan.

Pan Armenian News

JAVAKHETIA RESIDENTS SHOULD NOT TAKE WITHDRAWAL OF RUSSIAN MILITARY BASE AS
TRAGEDY

24.05.2005 07:58

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In the course of its today’s sitting the Council of
Armenian NGOs of Samtskhe-Javakhetia touched upon the issue of withdrawal of
the Russian military bases from Akhalkalaki, reported A-Info news agency.
The Council arrived at a conclusion that `the Javakhetia population has to
take the fact that has taken place with understanding, as the decision over
the issue depends on the positions of the Russian and Georgian authorities.
Though the military base in Akhalkalaki facilitated the solution of some
economic problems and was a guarantee of physical security in the
psychological respect, Javakhetia residents should not take the withdrawal
of the bases as a tragedy. Even if the Georgian state cannot secure the
Javakhetia population, one can rely on the international community and
international laws in this issue.’ It should be reminded that talks over the
specification of the time of withdrawal of Russian military bases are close
to completion in Tbilisi. Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia Merab Antadze
represents the Georgian party at the talks, while the Russian one is
presented by Igor Savolsky, an Ambassador for Special Commissions. The
Russian party plans to withdraw the bases within 2008, while the Georgian
party – before January 1, 2008.

Azeri, Turkish leaders discuss ties, regional situation

Turan news agency
24 May 05

Baku, 24 May: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev today met his Turkish
counterpart Ahmet Necdet Sezer who has come to Baku to attend the
opening ceremony of the Azerbaijani section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
(BTC) oil pipeline on 25 May.

During their meeting, the sides discussed bilateral relations and the
situation in the region.

Sezer reaffirmed Ankara’s support for Azerbaijan in the issue of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.