Author: Tatoyan Vazgen

GEORGIA MAINTAINS STANCE ON ABKHAZ RAIL LINK

Georgian State Television Channel 1, Tbilisi
26 Jul 04

(Presenter) The Armenian government is asking Georgia to reopen the
rail link with Russia via Abkhazia. Aside from the railway, Armenia is
also interested in electricity. A meeting took place today in Tbilisi
of the intergovernmental Georgian-Armenian economic cooperation
commission. The Armenian prime minister held meetings today in the
State Chancellery.

(Correspondent) (Passage omitted) The opening of the railway via
Abkhazia was one of the main themes of the Georgian-Armenian
talks. Tbilisi still maintains that the question can only be
considered after the return of refugees to Abkhazia. (Passage omitted)

(Zurab Zhvania, Georgian prime minister, in Russian) The railway is
linked to the question of the return of refugees, to progress being
made in restoring territorial integrity and the first steps being
taken.

(Davit Onoprishvili, chairman of Georgian Railways) The reopening of
the Abkhaz railway depends on a lot of nuances and questions. This is
primarily to be decided by politicians. However, it is, above all,
Georgia that is interested in the reopening of the railway.

(Passage omitted)

Le Télégramme
24 juillet 2004

Jazz à Vannes. Quart de siècle et swing total

Petit à petit, le jazz a fait son nid sous le tilleul du jardin de
Limur à Vannes.

Arrivé en 1980 aux services de la ville de Vannes, Jean-Philippe
Breton, directeur de l’animation culturelle, est aussitôt chargé par
le maire de l’époque d’organiser de nouvelles manifestations
estivales. L’oreille initiée au jazz, il connaît un jardin, intimiste
et chaleureux, idéal pour un moment de swing : Limur.

Pour sa première édition, sur deux jours, « Jazz à Vannes » s’offre
Eddy Louiss en tête d’affiche. Le Jazz group de Bretagne fait presque
tout le reste : des premières parties aux animations de rue…

De grands noms

Un quart de siècle plus tard, le Jazz Group de Bretagne est toujours
là, fidèle parmi les fidèles. Et Eddy Louiss est de retour, avec
trois autres musiciens et amis de Claude Nougaro : Maurice Vander,
Luigi Trussardi et Bernard Lubat. Sous le tilleul qui avait abrité le
poète toulousain en 1987, ils joueront pour la première fois
l’hommage qu’ils veulent lui rendre.

Bien d’autres grands noms de renommée internationale ont fait escale
sur les rives du Golfe : Stéphane Grapelli, Didier Lockwood, Dee Dee
Bridgewater, Gilberto Gil, Michel Petruciani, Lucky Peterson… et
bien d’autres.

« Mais nous ne voulons pas programmer uniquement des têtes d’affiche.
A travers des soirées à thème, nous cherchons un équilibre entre
références et découvertes », explique Jean-Philippe Breton. Cette
année, Vannes mise ainsi sur Tigran Hamasyan, jeune pianiste
arménien, et sur Sonian Cat-Berro, nouvelle voix du jazz hexagonal.

Populaire

« Notre ambition est de faire découvrir une musique vivante »,
poursuit le directeur du festival. Alors pour amener le grand public
au jazz, le festival s’est toujours investi dans la rue.

Cette année, six fanfares feront swinguer le port et le coeur
historique de la ville. La cour de l’hôtel de Limur accueillera aussi
pendant trois après-midi les tremplins jazz et blues des Jeunesses
musicales de France. Un spectacle lui aussi gratuit qui a trouvé son
public depuis 15 ans.

En un quart de siècle, inventant régulièrement de nouveaux
rendez-vous, Vannes démontre que le jazz est une musique populaire.

Lundi, près de 3.000 personnes sont d’ailleurs attendues devant
l’hôtel de ville pour une ouverture gratuite et cuivrée. Un cadeau
inauguré pour les 20 ans auquel les festivaliers ont pris goût. Le
swing, c’est tenace et contagieux.

GRAPHIQUE: Photo, Legende: Le festival Jazz à Vannes est ouvert aux
nouvelles expériences musicales. Il accueille ainsi « Erik Truffaz
group » en tête d’affiche jeudi soir. (Ph. DR)

Tehran Times
July 24 2004

MagMart Amu Darya

License Holder: Center for Study of Central Asia and Caucasus

The new issue of the English Iranian journal of Central Asian studies
`Amu Darya’ recently hit the Iranian newsstands.

In this issue, you may find articles on security arrangements in
southern Caucasus, the Karabakh conflict: legacy of ethnic challenges
in the Soviet era, the GUUAM Alliance: formation, challenges, future
prospect and an article which surveys the importance of Caspian Sea
for the countries have interest in the region.

This edition also releases a full report on the 10th International
Conference on Central Asia and the Caucasus Developments, which was
held January 20 until January 21, 2003 at the Iranian Institute for
Political and International Studies in Tehran. Foreign Policy License
Holder: Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran

The contents of the new edition of the Iranian journal are as
follows: Identity of Government and Foreign Policy, Comparative Study
of Political Development in Iran and Turkey, Persian Gulf and Middle
East as the Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zones, UN Intervention
in the Post-Cold War Era: Threat to the Sovereignty of States, the
Interaction of International Environment and Development Mechanism
with National Priorities, and the Ambiguities of Security Council
Resolution 1422 (2002).

The journal also has reports and analyses on international law and
Muslim world, appraisal of the U.S. foreign policy in global
strategy, achievements and teachings of contemporary China, and
Libya’s disarmament and the role of UN Security Council. The journal
brings reviews on the books of Stephanie Cronin’s `The Making of
Modern Iran: State and Society under Reza Shah,’ Valery Fedorov’s
`Putin’s Era’ John Eric Lynne’s `Politics and Society in Western
Europe,’ and Ian Branley’s `International Law in Final Years of the
20th Century.’

2,528.19 HECTARES OF LAND ALIENATED IN ARMENIA IN FIRST HALF OF 2004

YEREVAN, JULY 23. ARMINFO. A total of 2,528.19 hectares of lands were
alienated in Armenia in the first half of 2004, 2,073.51 hectares of
them being cultivated lands, the RA State Registry of Immovable
Property reported.

Purchase-and-sale deals with a total of 2,490.91 hectares of land were
effected, 2,047.53 hectares of them being cultivated lands. During the
period under review, a total of 32.28 hectares of alienated lands were
donated, 24 hectares of them being cultivated lands. The largest
amount of land alienated through purchase and sale was recorded in the
Ararat region, 705.51 hectares, 617.61 hectares of them being
cultivated lands.

alllAfrica.com

MCA-Eligible Countries ‘Proud’ of Recognition, Aid Official Says

United States Department of State (Washington, DC)

July 20, 2004
Posted to the web July 21, 2004

Washington, DC

Enthusiastic about country ownership concept, Applegarth adds

The 16 developing countries selected as the first eligible to submit
proposals for supplemental aid from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA)
are “uniformly proud” of being recognized for their accomplishments in
implementing political and economic reforms, says John Applegarth, head of
the agency that administers the fund.

Speaking July 20 at the start of the quarterly meeting of the Millennium
Challenge Corporation (MCC) in Washington, Applegarth added that the 16 also
are enthusiastic about the concept of “country ownership” of development
priorities that is at the core of the MCA program.

Applegarth said MCC teams recently visited all 16 nations to review with
government officials how their proposals for MCA funding will be evaluated.
The teams also communicated to members of civil society, the private sector
and the general public in each country how they can participate in the
proposal-development process.

The MCA is the administration’s supplemental aid program for developing
countries that meet certain political and economic standards. The House of
Representatives July 15 approved funding the account at $1.25 billion in the
fiscal year beginning October 1 (FY05), an amount that is 25 percent more
than the current, first-year spending.

Applegarth gave examples of how selected countries are altering their views
of receiving aid from the United States. A senior official in Armenia, he
said, stated that his country’s inclusion in the program helped it focused
more strongly on governing, governance and democracy.

Cape Verde is treating its selection as MCA-eligible as the country’s
third-most-significant achievement after gaining independence from Portugal
and making the transition to democracy, he said.

Applegarth said there are no specific timelines for countries to submit
funding proposals. The countries want to “stop, take stock and rethink about
how they could really use this new resource,” he said.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, who conducted the meeting as chair of the
MCC, said countries that were not selected have asked: “What did we do wrong
or what is it we have to do right to get into this game?”

“We lay it out for them,” he said. “You can be a recipient, you can work out
a compact [agreement] with us, but you have got to do the right things” to
create conditions for attracting investment and trade, he said.

The MCA is “the most significant development program since the [post-World
War II] Marshall Plan,” he said.

Powell added that the MCA is in addition to and not at the expense of other
aid programs administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID).

The 16 selected countries are Armenia, Benin, Bolivia, Cape Verde, Georgia,
Ghana, Honduras, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua,
Senegal, Sri Lanka and Vanuatu.

The Moscow Times
Tuesday, July 20, 2004. Page 11.

Georgia’s Traffic Cops Start to Straighten Up

By Chloe Arnold

TBILISI, Georgia — Ask most residents of the former Soviet Union about
traffic police, and they’ll come out with a long list of expletives.

Everyone has their own story about the notorious gaishniki, usually
involving heated exchanges, extortion and downright rudeness. My favorite is
the man who was ordered to stop on his way out to the airport in Moscow.

“What could I possibly have done wrong?” he asked the fat policemen who
ambled round to the driver’s side window and spat twice on the ground. “I’m
wearing a seatbelt, I’m driving well below the speed limit, and I wasn’t
passing anyone.”

“I didn’t like the way you just pulled over,” the policeman said. “You’re
fined.”

The South Caucasus is no different. In Azerbaijan, if the gaishniki can’t
think of a valid reason to take money from you, they simply say: “Tomorrow
is a national holiday. I need to take my family to a restaurant.”

In Armenia, they are not as blatant, but I have been fined for speeding
after being passed by a tractor.

The Georgians used to be the worst of all. In one 50-kilometer stretch I was
stopped 12 times for offenses ranging from the convoluted (“You’re not
carrying a fire extinguisher or reflective ‘Stop’ triangle in the trunk of
your car”) to the just plain daft (“You can’t stop here”).

But all that has changed. Georgia has turned over a new leaf, and there is
no place for crooked traffic cops any more. Ever since Mikheil Saakashvili,
the young and dynamic new president, came to power, he has vowed to clamp
down on corruption.

His plan seems to have worked. These days, public sector workers receive
decent wages, so they do not have to turn to bribe-taking to make ends meet.
At the border you now have to fill in all your forms in triplicate and they
give you proper receipts — something unheard of in the past.

As for the road police, you hardly see them any more. There used to be a
patrol car stationed at almost every bend on the main roads. Now, they have
all but disappeared. And if you are caught doing something you shouldn’t,
the policeman fills out a proper form, fines you the correct amount and
sends you on your way with a friendly wave.

All the same, the new regime does not seem to have penetrated the further
outposts of the country. On our way through Kutaisi, an industrial city in
western Georgia, the other day, we were flagged down.

“What’s the problem?” my husband asked.

“Decide for yourself,” he said. “But unless you pay me $20, I’ll have your
car impounded.” It seems those anti-corruption measures still have some way
to go.

Chloe Arnold is a freelance journalist based in Baku, Azerbaijan.

ArmenPress
July 19 2004

TWO EXPEDITIONS TO SEEK NOAH’S ARK

MOSCOW, JULY 19, ARMENPRESS: A Russian expedition left last
Saturday for the upper reaches of Mount Ararat where organizers hope
to prove an object nestled amid the snow and ice is Noah’s Ark.
Before setting out the expedition got the blessing of Russian
Patriarch, Alexis II. The Russians have taken with them the icon of
George the Triumphant, who is thought to be the protector of
Caucasian Mountains to present it to Turkish authorities. This will
be the second ascension of the head of the expedition, Andrey
Polyakov, to Mount Ararat.
Also another, joint U.S.-Turkish team of 10 explorers plans to
make the arduous trek up the mountain this summer to enter what they
believe to be a mammoth structure some 45 feet high, 75 feet wide and
up to 450 feet long that was exposed in part by last summer’s heat
wave in Europe. Explorers have long searched for an ark on the high
slopes of Mount Ararat, where the biblical account of the Great Flood
places it.
In 1957, Turkish air force pilots spotted a boat-shaped formation
in Agri province. The government did not pursue the sighting,
however. The entire area, including Mount Ararat, was off limits to
foreigners because of Soviet complaints that explorers were U.S.
spies.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
July 13 2004

H.E. JACQUES CHIRAK PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE
[July 13, 2004, 18:28:55]

Dear Mr. President,

My dear friend, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to You and the
people of France on the occasion of the national holiday of France –
Day of Capture of Bastilia.

We attach great importance to development of the friendly and
cooperation relations between Azerbaijan and France. I am convinced
that we shall continue our mutual efforts to expand bilateral
relations in all fields.

I am hopeful towards the role of France as OSCE Minsk Group co-chair
in settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh conflict –
the most painful problem of our people. I hope, You, Mr. President,
will further make every possible effort in the peacemaking process to
reach real conclusion.

On this landmark day, I once again extend You my best, wish robust
health, success in Your work, the friendly people of France –
tranquility and welfare. With deep friendly feelings,

Ilham Aliyev,

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Baku, 5 July 2004

Azeri paper comments on possible Karabakh presence at Bulgarian session

Ekho, Baku
8 Jul 04

MPs and experts from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia recently took
part in a session of the South Caucasus Parliamentary Initiative in
Bulgaria. There were reports afterwards that Nagornyy Karabakh had
been represented at the session by David Babayan, unbeknown to members
of the delegation from Azerbaijan. An Azerbaijani newspaper article
said that such participation “is effectively a challenge to Baku”. The
paper spoke to two people who had attended the forum. One said that
it could not be ruled out that Babayan had been there but they had not
been introduced .He urged clarification. The other said that if true
then a protest would be filed. The following is the text of
R. Orucov’s report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho on 8 July headlined
“Armenian separatist was sitting at same table with Azeri deputies”
and subheaded “Parliamentarians say that they were unaware of this and
promise to hold the organizer of session of South Caucasus
Parliamentary Initiative accountable”

As Ekho has already reported, the second plenary session of the South
Caucasus Parliamentary Initiative SCPI , which was founded a few years
ago through the efforts of the British nongovernmental organization
LINKS, was held on 1-4 July in Sofia. MPs and experts from Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Armenia took part in the session.

Yesterday’s 7 July report by the Armenian news agency ARKA that the
separatist regime of Nagornyy Karabakh had been represented at the
session in the Bulgarian capital by a staffer of the “apparatus of the
president of the Republic of Nagornyy Karabakh” David Babayan (“Trend”
as published ) has become a sensation. He said that it was mainly the
issues of expansion in Europe, relations in this context among the
states of the South Caucasus and the settlement of the conflicts in
the region that were discussed. He also said that “as always, the
Azeri delegation declared the principle of resolving the issue of the
status of Nagornyy Karabakh only after the liberation of all
territories and return of the refugees.

It has to be noted that participation in such a representative forum
by a functionary from the separatist regime of Nagornyy Karabakh is
effectively a challenge to Baku. The point is that the Azeri
participants in the forum – deputies of the Milli Maclis – said in
their comments to the press that only representatives of the
legislative bodies of the three South Caucasus countries convened in
Sofia.

It emerged that the members of the Azeri delegation to the SCPI did
not even have a clue that the “staffer of the apparatus of the
president of the Republic of Nagornyy Karabakh” was sitting at the
same “round table” with them.

For example, Sahlar Asqarov, a Milli Maclis deputy from the New
Azerbaijan Party and a member of the delegation, told Ekho that “it
was not mentioned in any speech during the session that a
representative of the Republic of Nagornyy Karabakh is present here.”
“LINKS Executive Director Dennis Sammut said nothing about this
either,” Sahlar Asqarov said. The deputy noted that the published
report has to be studied, and if it is confirmed, all appropriate
measures should be taken. “I will inform the head of our delegation to
the SCPI, Siayvus Novruzov. We should clarify all this. The
possibility cannot be ruled out that this Babayan was there indeed but
he was not introduced to us. Perhaps the head of LINKS knew about it
but did not tell us.”

Another member of the Azeri delegation, deputy from the People’s Front
of Azerbaijan Party Alimammad Nuriyev, was also not informed. “We were
told that delegates and experts from Armenia are taking part in the
session,” the parliamentarian noted. This deputy also thinks that this
issue has to be studied thoroughly. “And first and foremost we should
demand an answer from LINKS because they organized this “round
table”. If everything is confirmed, we will of course file a protest
and most probably we will refuse to take part in subsequent sessions
of the SCPI. This discredits the very idea of the SCPI, which is
inadmissible,” the deputy emphasized.

According to him, it was agreed when the SCPI was created that it
would consist of parliamentarians and experts only from the three
Caucasus states, Nuriyev noted. “If we found out that a representative
of Gukasyan was present at the session, then we would expel him or
leave the session ourselves,” Nuriyev said. In his opinion, if the
participation of Babayan in the session is confirmed, “LINKS will have
to account for this.”

Nuriyev recalled that, at the previous session of the SCPI in December
2003 in Edinburgh, the Georgian delegation voiced the initiative that
it would be good to invite all sides who deem themselves parties to
the conflicts in the Caucasus. “Back then we strongly objected to
this,” the parliamentarian said.

ArmenPress
July 8 2004

ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER, FOREIGN MINISTER RECEIVE EGYPTIAN DIPLOMAT

YEREVAN, JULY 8, ARMENPRESS: Armenian prime minister Andranik
Margarian and the visiting deputy foreign affairs minister of Egypt
Muhammad Shahaban praised on July 7 the high level of political
relations between the two countries, including also relations within
international organizations, emphasizing the need of continuing
bilateral political consultations. Stating the similarity of both
countries’ views concerning the region, the two men agreed that
stability and peace are the key conditions for fostering economic
ties between Egypt and Armenia.
Margarian and Shahaban were quoted by the government’s press
office as saying that trade and economic contacts are lagging behind
the political ones and that the available potential is not used
fully. They expressed hope that reciprocal visits by both countries’
businessmen, organization of exhibitions and business forums will
help to open new cooperation possibilities.
Margarian expressed his satisfaction over the opening of the first
joint enterprise that is manufacturing medicines. He also thanked the
government of Egypt for inviting Armenian specialists for training
courses in Egypt, organized by the Egyptian Foundation for Technical
Cooperation with CIS countries. About 215 Armenian specialists were
trained as part of that program in 2003.
The 4-th session of the Egyptian-Armenian intergovernmental
commission for cooperation, slated to take place in Cairo next autumn
was underscored in terms of giving a new push to developing trade and
economic elations.
Also ides on cooperation between Egyptian and Armenian
universities were exchanged. On the same day deputy foreign minister
Muhammad Shahaban was received by Armenian foreign minister Vartan
Oskanian.