Author: Toneyan Mark

DRAM’S EXCHANGE RATE AGAINST DOLLAR FALLS 17.2% IN MARCH COMPARED
WITH SAME MONTH OF LAST YEAR

YEREVAN, APRIL 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The average settlement echange rate
of the Armenian dram against the US dollar fell 17.2% in March, 2005,
compared with the same month of 2004 and made 466.01 drams. According
to the RA National Statistical Service, a 1.6% fall in the settlement
exchange rate of the Armenian dram against the dollar in March compared
with February, 2005, was accompanied by a 0.9% fall in consumer prices.

Three unrecognized republics discuss military alliance at talks in Moscow

Interfax-AVN military news agency web site
4 Apr 05

Moscow, 4 April: Representatives of the Georgian separatist regions of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia and the Moldovan breakaway Dniester region
announced at a meeting in Moscow on Monday [4 April] that they were
considering forming a military alliance of the three regions.

The three regions, which unilaterally declared themselves independent
states in the early 1990s, “will use all available resources to
help each other”, Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba told a news
conference at the Interfax main office.

He was referring to talks in Moscow in which, he said, he had met
South Ossetian envoy to Russia Dmitriy Medoyev and Dniester region
foreign minister Valeriy Litskay.

Shamba said that, among other things, the three officials had
considered “measures that could be used in connection with the South
Ossetia issue”.

Medoyev said commitments for mutual military assistance “will be
reflected in a package of documents that is being drafted for a
meeting between the leaders of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and the
Dniester region”.

Litskay said the president of a fourth unrecognized state, the
Armenian-speaking enclave of Nagornyy Karabakh in Azerbaijan, might
take part in the summit.

“There is a conference of ministers of Abkhazia, the Dniester region,
South Ossetia and Nagornyy Karabakh that has existed for five years
already. Now it has become necessary to raise the level of such
meetings to the level of heads of state. At the same time, none of the
sides have any strict commitments to participate in such meetings,”
Litskay said.

Litskay, Shamba and Medoyev spoke highly of Russia’s participation
in efforts to settle the conflicts between their regions and the
countries they have broken away from.

“In effectively every case, Moscow is a guarantor, mediator and
peacekeeper. Russia alone has shown not only interest but also an
ability to act and stop war,” Litskay said.

Armenian president delays visit to France

YEREVAN. April 4 (Interfax) – Armenian President Robert Kocharian
has delayed his visit to France scheduled for April 4 because of a
leg injury, a source in the governmental press service told Interfax
on Monday.

Diplomats are coordinating a new date for the visit, the source said.

The president planned to discuss the Karabakh settlement process
with the French president, which co-chairs the OSCE Minsk Group for
Nagorno-Karabakh together with Russia and the United States.

Azeri foreign minister says breakaway Karabakh can join talks

ANS TV, Baku
2 Apr 05

[Presenter] The OSCE chairman-in-office, Dimitrij Rupel, visited
Azerbaijan today. Relations between the OSCE and Baku, the situation
in the region and the OSCE’s role in the Karabakh settlement topped
the agenda of Rupel’s meetings with Azerbaijani officials.

[Passage omitted: reported details]

[Correspondent] Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov did not rule out
Nagornyy Karabakh’s involvement in the peace process, adding that
official Baku should first conduct talks with Armenia and wait for the
outcome of the talks.

[Mammadyarov, speaking to reporters] Sooner or later, the Armenian
community of Nagornyy Karabakh should join the talks because we cannot
take any step without them. However, we think that we should continue
the talks with Yerevan first and achieve some results. Then all
experts, including those from the OSCE and Karabakh, should come
together and discuss the issues.

[Correspondent] The OSCE chairman-in-office has also met the head of
Nagornyy Karabakh’s Azerbaijani community, Nizami Bahmanov, at the
Foreign Ministry. Mr Bahmanov said that the interested sides of
Nagornyy Karabakh, that is to say, both communities of Karabakh cannot
join the peace process now. The talks could have yielded positive
results within this format as well, if Armenia would have given up its
unconstructive position.

[Bahmanov, speaking to reporters] The current position of Armenia, its
refusal to make compromises and hold a constructive dialogue will
inevitably lead to war.

[Passage omitted: Rupel also met Parliament Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov]

DIMITRIY RUPEL: “AGRESSIVE LANGUAGE AMONG PARTIES TO BE EXCLUDED”

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, NOYAN TAPAN. The OSCE continues to believe that
political way is the only one for solving the Karabakh
conflict. Stating about it at the March 30 press conference in
Yerevan, Dimitriy Rupel, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the Foreign
Minister of Slovenia, called to cease attempts to resume the
fire. “Agressive language among the parties should be excluded, we
should aim to bring the parties closer through dialogue,” D.Rupel
said. According to him, he envisages to discuss the issue of attempts
to break the regime of cease-fire, which have recently become more
frequent, during his coming visit to Baku.

Concerning statements of Azerbaijan high ranked officials about the
necessity of solving the Kharabakh problem in the military way,
D.Rupel stated: “The OSCE does not believe in such means. We shall
make attempts to assure Azerbaijan that no means other than peaceful
negotiations are acceptable.” As for the involvement of Nagorno
Karabakh in the process of the negotiations, the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office mentioned: “I can imagine the situation when the
opinion of the interested parties will be asked. But the main players
in this game are Armenia and Azerbaijan.” According to him, the
Karabakh conflict is a “special case”, which cannot be compared with
other conflicts on the post-Soviet territory.

Both D.Rupel and Vardan Osakanian, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of
Armenia, expressed satisfaction with the results of D.Rupel’s visit to
Yerevan and called the meetings taken place of full value and
effective. According to them, at the meetings of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office with the Chairman the RA NA and the RA Foreign
Minister, the first and foremost issue was the peacesful settlement of
the Karabakh conflict.

Vardan Oskanian highly estimated the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group
in the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

According to him, the Minsk Group has not exhausted itself, it is able
to play a great role in the process of settlement. He also expressed
confidence, that a meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
will take place in May: it may happen on May 9 in Moscow or on May 16
in Warsaw.

“ARMENIAN GENOCIDE” DOCUMENTARY FILM TO BE BROADCAST OVER ARTE
EUROPEAN TV-CHANNEL APRIL 13

YEREVAN, MARCH 31. ARMINFO. A premiere of “Armenian Genocide” French
documentary film took place the day before at “Star” movie theatre in
Paris. Armenian Ambassador to France Edvard Nalbandyan participated
there.

As ARMINFO was informed in the press-service of Armenian Foreign
Ministry, the film will be broadcast over one of leading European
TV-channel ARTE April 13, some days before the 90th anniversary of
Armenian Genocide. Film author Lorans Zhurdan in
documentary-and-historical genre introduced undeniable facts of
inhuman massacre of Armenian people in Ottoman empire in
1915. Evidences of eye-witnesses about this bloody slaughter are
introduced widely, too.

Construction of Armenian section of Iran-Armenia gas pipeline launched –
agency

Arminfo
29 Mar 05

YEREVAN

The ArmRosGazprom [Armenian-Russian gas industry] company has started
the construction of the Armenian section of the Iran-Armenia gas
pipeline from Megri to Kadzharan, Armenian Energy Minister Armen
Movsisyan told journalists today.

He said that the completion of the pipeline in Kadzharan will allow
Armenia to join Iran’s gas system. When the volume of imported gas
increases, Armenia will have to build a pipeline from Kadzharan to
Yerevan, the minister said. [Russia’s] Gazprom recently submitted to
the Armenian Energy Ministry a proposal on building a gas pipeline
from Kadzharan to Yerevan, he said.

This proposal was put forward by the deputy chairman of the Gazprom
board, Aleksandr Ryazanov, during his visit to Armenia. At the moment,
this proposal is being considered by the Armenian side and the
minister declined to comment on it.

[Passage omitted: known details]

AZERBAIJAN WANTS PEACEFUL RELATIONS WITH NEIGHBOR COUNTRIES< ALIYEV
ASSURES

31.03.2005 04:48

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `The Armenian solution of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict is a dream,’ President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev stated at a
meeting with students of Warsaw University in Poland. As PanARMENIAN.Net
got to know from own sources, Aliyev stated that `the only true option
of solving the problem in compliance with the international law is
that proposed by Azerbaijan.’ `Armenians let Azeri refugees return to
Karabakh, Azerbaijan provides wide autonomy to Karabakh within the
borders of Azerbaijan, as well as security guarantees, which will
allow Karabakh to enhance the level of economy, and Armenia should
refuse the occupied territories,’ Aliyev noted. `Armenia istrying to
build its own state at the expense of the others. What if Armenians
had tried to get the states, where they live – and there are many,’ he
emphasized. As noted by Al iyev, `Nagorno Karabakh is a historical
Azeri land and has never been Armenian.’ `Armenians were moved there
from Turkey and Iran in the 19-th century,’ he added. To confirm his
words Aliyev cited the fact that the word `Karabakh’ means nothing in
Armenian, while in Azerbaijani it `large garden.’ As noted by the
Azeri President, when the issue of borders was decided after the
collapse of the Soviet Union, it was decided from the point of view of
history, and at that time 75% of Karabakh population were Armenians,
while 25% were Azerbaijanis. `After the collapse of the Soviet Union a
separatist movement appeared in Karabakh, which resulted in 1 million
refugees in Azerbaijan today and occupation of 20% of the territory by
Armenia,’ he stated. At that Aliyev said he hoped for the Nagorno
Karabakh problem to be solved within the Council of Europe framework.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 30, 2005, Wednesday

Investigation ordered into banning of Turkish author’s books

Ankara

The Interior Ministry has launched an investigation into the banning
from sale of one of Turkey’s best known authors in the southwest of
the country, the Anadolu news agency reported Wednesday.

Turkish newspapers on Wednesday were full of fury at the decision to
ban works of Orhan Pamuk from shops and libraries in the Isparta
district of Sutculer.

A sub-governor ordered the ban on February 15 after Pamuk had
reportedly told a Swedish magazine that 30,000 Kurds had been killed
in fighting between security forces and the Kurdish Workers’ Party in
the 1980s and 90s and that one million Armenians had been killed by
Turks during the World War I, both extremely sensitive topics in
Turkey.

It was Pamuk’s comments to the magazine and not the content of his
books that were the reason behind the ban, Radikal newspaper on
Wednesday said.

“Barbarism in Isparta”, read the main headline in Radikal, which said
the governor of Isparta had the ban overturned on Tuesday.

Pamuk’s books include “My Name is Red” and “Snow”, which the New York
Times named one of the top 10 books for 2004. dpa cw ms

ArmenPress
March 28 2005

VIC DARCHINYAN RETAINS FLYWEIGHT TITLE

YEREVAN, MARCH 28, ARMENPRESS: Australia’s Vic Darchinyan wore his
opponent down Sunday and eventually broke his heart as he retained
his International Boxing Federation flyweight title with an
eighth-round stoppage of South African Mzukisi Fikali at the Sydney
Olympic Park Sport Center, ABC reported.
Armenian-born Darchinyan, who was making his first defense of the
title he won last December, was leading by one point on two of the
judges’ cards and by three on the third at the time of the stoppage.
Fikali retired himself just over half a minute out from the end of
the eighth round after soaking up some vicious blows in the preceding
couple of minutes. It was unbeaten Darchinyan’s 23rd straight win.