Azeri, Armenian leaders decide to continue talks on Karabakh

ANS TV, Baku
28 Apr 04

[Presenter Qanira Atasova] The second meeting between Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has
ended. The presidents said that the meeting was constructive.

It must be noted that after the meeting, Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev was scheduled to meet the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen. But
since the co-chairmen participated in the presidents’ meeting, no
further talks will be held. We are going live to Warsaw now. ANS’s
special correspondent Qanira Pasayeva is on the line. Hello,
Qanira. Could the presidents achieve concrete results at the meeting?

[Qanira Pasayeva, over the phone] Hello, Qanira. The talks between the
presidents, Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharyan, on the Nagornyy
Karabakh settlement, which lasted for an hour and a half, have ended.

[Passage omitted: Reported details]

After the tete-a-tete meeting, they did not answer questions. They
said that it had been decided to issue statements only. Here are their
statements.

First, President Ilham Aliyev said that the talks had been held in a
constructive mode. He said that their first meeting was held in
December. Some time passed, the co-chairmen paid visits and dozens of
meetings were held. Some time ago, the foreign ministers of the two
countries held a meeting. Today’s meeting was a continuation of the
talks. Ilham Aliyev said that the talks were continuing and that there
was a mutual interest in continuing the talks in a constructive
mode. The president expressed his hope that the constructive talks
would be continued in the future as well. He said that the Azerbaijani
side was interested in resolving the problem and that one could feel
the Armenian side’s interest as well. So he hopes that some progress
could be achieved through the talks to find a solution to the
problem. That was the end of the president’s statement.

Robert Kocharyan’s statement was shorter. He said that it had been
decided that the foreign ministers of the two countries should
continue the talks. A meeting was set for May. He said that they were
interested in holding more intensive talks. He said that we would
ourselves – he meant the presidents – take the opportunity [to meet]
at multilateral meetings, as he put it in Russian, at political
gatherings. He said they would use every opportunity to meet. His
final statement was that he was pleased with the nature and atmosphere
of the talks. He said – I cannot laud the results, we cannot be proud
of the results, but the nature and atmosphere of the talks were
satisfactory.

These were the statements. Kocharyan declined to answer ANS’s question
as to whether the step-by-step settlement was discussed during the
talks. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen did not answer whether new
proposals or ideas were discussed during the talks. Steven Mann, the
US co-chairman, said it has been decided that if there are statements
to be made, these will be joint statements by the co-chairmen. They
did not make any statements.

A luncheon was also held here. South Caucasus leaders – Robert
Kocharyan, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and the Azerbaijani
president – finished their discussions on Caucasus issues, which
lasted for an hour and a half. But no statement has been made so far.

At the moment, the Azerbaijani president and Georgian President
Mikheil Saakashvili are holding a meeting.

[Presenter] Thank you, Qanira, for the report.

Web site reports conflict between Armenians, Greeks in Georgian district

Yerkir web site, Yerevan
28 Apr 04

At the initiative of several ethnic Greeks of the village of Holeank
in Georgia’s Tsalka District predominantly populated by ethnic
Armenians several dozens of Ajars and Svans have been brought to the
village for permanent residence, which has outraged ethnic Armenian
residents of the neighbouring villages of Odzni and Gushchi.

All the Ajars and Svans to be resettled are criminals, so the
Armenians, who did not manage to settle the issue peacefully, beat up
one of the plan’s organizers, a Greek resident of Holeank. Following
the incident, the would-be settlers left the village.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A1 Plus | 23:23:31 | 28-04-2004 | Politics | PACE SPRING SESSION |

COMMISSIONS OF THE ARMENIAN DELEGATION WILL BE DISCUSSED IN PACE IN
SEPTEMBER

PACE decided to postpone the issue of the commissions on the Armenian
delegation to September, 2004.

It was suggested in the preliminary report to cease the commissions of the
Armenian delegation in Assembly in June in case of not fulfilling PACE
demands.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Charleston Gazette
AP-ES-04-28-04 0820EDT

Political and business leader gather in Poland to discuss economic
challenges facing Europe

By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press Writer

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Police sealed off parts of the Polish capital as
business and political leaders opened a forum Wednesday on the challenges
facing the European Union after eight former Soviet bloc countries join this
week.

The European Economic Summit brought together hundreds of dignitaries,
including 20 presidents and prime ministers and representatives from leading
corporations, for talks on EU expansion.

The three-day event — organized by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum,
which is best known for its annual summit in Davos, Switzerland — concludes
Friday, hours before midnight celebrations in several cities usher in the
historic expansion.

The 650 delegates will focus on Europe’s economic competitiveness as well as
social and environmental issues, said World Economic Forum head Jose Maria
Figueres.

“All of those are vital components of a better — of a more sophisticated —
Europe as we move forward with enlargement,” Figueres said.

Anti-globalization groups have mobilized against the meeting, viewing the
forum funded by many leading corporations as an exclusive club for the rich.
About 5,000 protesters are expected to march Thursday, organizers say.

Downtown Warsaw shops — from elegant boutiques to fast-food chains —
protected their windows with slabs of wood, corrugated tin and cardboard.
Police helicopters whirred above the city center as officers in riot gear
guarded a barricaded perimeter of several blocks around the conference
venue, a hotel.

But government leaders also can expect criticism from other quarters.

Daniel Gros, director of the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels,
said economic dialogue in Europe has been reduced to “a charade” as
countries pay lip service to limiting their budget deficits and economic
reform, but then do little to measure up.

“In economic terms they don’t have to talk to each other a lot — they just
have to go home and do their homework,” Gros said.

Alongside workshops on the benefits of adopting the euro currency and the
competitiveness of the EU countries, one-on-one talks between political
leaders also were planned.

These include a planned meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia,
which have been locked in a dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic
Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan.

Ethnic Armenian forces drove out Azerbaijan’s army from the region in the
1990s and ethnic Azeris fled. Though a cease-fire was established in 1994,
the two sides periodically exchange fire.

Presidents Johannes Rau of Germany, Ion Iliescu of Romania and Mikhail
Saakashvili of Georgia also are expected to address the meeting.

On the eve of the summit, Poland President Aleksander Kwasniewski stressed
the importance of bringing together generally richer Western countries with
the new EU members and countries further east that face difficult obstacles
in their search for prosperity.

“I am convinced that the conference hosted by Poland will show that no new
curtain will appear in our continent — not even a velvet one,” Kwasniewski
said.

AP-ES-04-28-04 0820EDT

Sports Illustrated

Wednesday’s friendly schedule
Posted: Wednesday April 28, 2004 1:36AM; Updated: Wednesday April 28, 2004
3:32AM

All times GMT

Algeria v China Clermont-Ferrand, France
Armenia v Turkmenistan Yerevan
Austria v Luxembourg (1830) Innsbruck
Belarus v Lithuania (1530) Minsk
Belgium v Turkey (1815) Brussels
Bosnia v Finland (1800) Zenica
Bulgaria v Cameroon (1500) Sofia
Czech Republic v Japan (1430) Prague
Denmark v Scotland (1800) Copenhagen
Egypt v DR Congo Cairo
Estonia v Albania (1600) Tallinn
Honduras v Ecuador Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Hungary v Brazil (1830) Budapest
Italy v Spain (1900) Genoa
Jamaica v Venezuela Kingston
Kazakhstan v Azerbaijan (1230) Almaty
Latvia v Iceland (1800) Riga
Macedonia v Croatia (1815) Skopje
Morocco v Argentina (2100) Casablanca
Netherlands v Greece (1830) Eindhoven
Northern Ireland v Serbia & Montenegro (1845) Belfast
Norway v Russia (1800) Oslo
Poland v Ireland (1600) Bydgoszez
Portugal v Sweden (2015) Coimbra
Romania v Germany (1700) Bucharest
San Marino v Liechtenstein (1830) Serravalle
South Korea v Paraguay Incheon
Switzerland v Slovenia (1815) Geneva
Tunisia v Mali Sfax
Ukraine v Slovakia (1615) Kiev
United States v Mexico (0030, Thursday) Dallas

Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited.

RUSSIAN MILITARY SHOULD STAY IN CIS STATES, SENIOR MP SAYS

Interfax-AVN military news agency web site
28 Apr 04

MOSCOW

National security interests require the preservation of Russian
military units in various CIS regions, primarily in Georgia and
Moldova, Viktor Zavarzin, the chairman of the State Duma defence
committee, said on Wednesday (28 April).

“The situation is the most complicated in Dniester region and
Georgia. The obligations regarding Georgia and Moldova, which Russia
assumed at the Istanbul summit in 1999, provide for withdrawing
Russian bases from these countries. However, objective interests
require the preservation of our military presence, primarily in order
to maintain a stable political situation in the region,” Zavarzin told
Interfax-Military News Agency.

“The latest development such as addition of the Baltic states to NATO
and the passing of legal documents allowing quick access of the
alliance’s armed forces to Ukrainian territory only prove this
necessity,” the lawmaker said.

Any legal initiatives in this field “must be discussed with the
Russian ministries of foreign affairs and defence”, he said. “This
workstream is the most important one under current circumstances,” he
noted.

Zavarzin recalled that Russian military units are currently stationed
in Georgia, Moldova (Dniester region), Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan.

“Various forces are against our military presence in nearly all these
countries to a certain degree. I am speaking about both global centres
such as the USA and NATO, and regional political groups dependent on
them,” he said.

Meanwhile, “Russia has a lot of diplomatic, economic, military and
legislative factors that help exercise pressure on these centres and
groups”, he added.
From: Baghdasarian

MOSCOW ACCUSED OF SACRIFICING RUSSIANS FOR OIL AND GAS IN TURKMEN UN VOTE

Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Moscow
23 Apr 04

Moscow abstained in a recent UN vote condemning human rights abuses in
Turkmenistan, even though the Russophone community is among those
being persecuted. It has thus placed oil and gas deals with President
Nyyazow’s resource-rich country above the interests of its own people,
a national newspaper commented. The following is an excerpt from a
report by the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta on 23 April:

The UN Human Rights Commission recently passed a toughly-worded
resolution in Geneva, condemning the violation of human rights in
Turkmenistan, with 25 countries voting for, 11 against, and 17
abstaining. The document cites unacceptable “discrimination in
education and employment of ethnic Russians, Uzbeks, and other
national minorities”, “arbitrary arrests, incarceration, and curtailed
freedom to obtain information and self-expression”.

The abstaining countries included Russia, whose citizens living in
Turkmenistan are considered people of second quality and know
first-hand what discrimination is. It seems that a hypothetical
opportunity to take part in the development of Turkmenistan’s energy
resources looks much more attractive to Moscow than the protection of
its own citizens.

The official position of Moscow was voiced by Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Yuriy Fedotov, who declared: “Basically, we proceed from the
fact that so-called ‘country-specific resolutions,’ particularly those
made by the UN Human Rights Commission, can hardly improve the real
situation.”

It is unclear how much attention Moscow paid to the fact that in
appreciation of the support he received from Russia, Turkmenbasy
(President Nyyazow) ordered yet another fountain in place of the
recently demolished Russian Theatre of Drama in Asgabat. It seems that
the Russian-speaking people have become accustomed to absolute
indifference displayed by their historical homeland to their problems
and do not count on help from bureaucrats from the Russian foreign
ministry or the Kremlin.

Russia’s indifference unties Nyyazow’s hands, and as a result the
discrimination of ethnic minorities in Turkmenistan is worsening. In
particular, specialists who graduated from higher education
institutions after 1993 outside Turkmenistan are to be dismissed by 22
May of this year. Members of national minorities are not allowed to
hold positions in financial and military authorities, the judicial
system, or the police and other security services. Teachers and
doctors have been dismissed as well. In an overwhelming majority of
cases, those are Russians, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Armenians, and people of
mixed parentage. Even if one of the parents is Turkmen, more lenient
treatment should not be expected.

Naturally, Nyyazow has not reacted in any way to yet more criticism
from the international community. (Passage omitted)

Notably, Ukraine proved one of the 11 countries sympathizing with
Turkmenbasy. Similar to Moscow, Kiev hopes to sign a gas contract for
25 years. It is unclear, however, whether Turkmenistan has enough gas
for everyone who wants it. (Passage omitted)

Interfax
April 28 2004

Azerbaijan hopes to include Kazakhstan in BTC in 2004

Astana. (Interfax) – Azerbaijan hopes that Kazakhstan will become a
participant in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project in 2004, Azerbaijani
Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov said at the forum Caspian:
Politics, Economics, Business in Astana on Wednesday.

“At the moment 34 companies from 16 countries are participating in
transport projects in the Caspian region. Azerbaijan considers the
Baku- Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline projects to be
the main ones,” he said.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum projects are
“necessary conditions” for the economic development of the Caspian
region and will strengthen its energy security,” he said.

He said that Azerbaijan shares the position of Kazakhstan regarding
the laying of pipelines along the Caspian seabed.

Kazakh First Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Abuseitov said at the
forum that Kazakhstan is against having to agree laying underwater
communications and pipeline in the Caspian with all of the littoral
states. These issues should be agreed with the Caspian states through
whose sectors they pass, and not with all states in the region, he
said.

Khalafov also said that the implementation of oil and gas transport
projects in the region might be hindered by the unresolved
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and the unstable political situation in
Georgia.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project will cost $3.6 billion. The future
pipeline will stretch 1,767 kilometers (443 km through Azerbaijan,
248 km through Georgia and 1,076 km through Turkey) and will have a
capacity of 50 million tonnes of oil per annum

Participants in the BTC project are: British Petroleum (30.1%), SOCAR
(25%), Unocal (8.9%), Statoil (8.71%), TPAO (6.53%), ENI (5%), Itochu
(3.4%), ConocoPhillips (2.5%), Inpex (2.5%), TotalFinaElf (5%), and
Amerada Hess (2.36%).

Kazakhstan hopes to transport 10 million – 20 million tonnes of oil
per year through the pipeline. The republic produced over 51.3
million tonnes of oil and condensate in 2003.

Construction of the 690-km Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline should begin
in the third quarter 2004. The pipeline will transport gas from the
Shah Deniz field, which has reserves of 625 billion cubic meters of
gas and 101 million tonnes of condensate.

BBC News
Last Updated: Tuesday, 13 April, 2004, 10:05 GMT 11:05 UK

Timeline: Armenia

A chronology of key events:
1915 – 1917 – Between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians are massacred or
deported from their homeland in Anatolia to present-day Syria. The Ottoman
government had suspected them of harbouring pro-Russian sympathies.

1916 – Armenia is conquered by tsarist Russia. Joins alliance with Georgia
and Azerbaijan. YEREVAN

Capital’s history stretches back more than 2,500 years
1920: Became capital of Armenian republic
Population: 1.2 million

1918 – Armenia becomes an independent republic.

1920 – Armenia is invaded by Turkey and Bolshevik Russia. An agreement with
the Bolsheviks leads to Armenia proclaiming itself a socialist republic.

1922 – Armenia is incorporated into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,
USSR.

1930s – Armenians suffer under Stalin’s purges, but the country also
experiences industrial development.

The modern period

1988 – Encouraged by the new policy of openness (“glasnost”), Armenians
begin to campaign for Nagorno-Karabakh, a region with a predominantly
Armenian population in the neighbouring Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, to be
united with Armenia.

1988 December – Earthquake in northern Armenia kills 25,000 and leaves
hundreds of thousands homeless. The relief effort is slow and chaotic.
Armenians say 1.5 million died in last years of Ottoman Empire

2001: Bitter history of Armenian genocide row
Correspondent: Armenians say US failed them

1989 – Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh begins. It lasts intermittently for
five years. Many Azeri citizens are forced to flee their homes.

1990 – Armenian nationalists win parliamentary elections. Independence is
declared, but ignored by Moscow.

1991 September – A referendum sees 94% vote for secession from the Soviet
Union.

1991 October – Levon Ter-Petrossian elected president.

1991 December – Armenia joins the Commonwealth of Independent States, the
successor to the Soviet Union. Armenia recognised as independent by the US.

Internal unrest

1992 – Armenia joins the United Nations. A trade and energy embargo is
imposed by Azerbaijan. The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh continues.

1994 – Demonstrations in Yerevan over shortages of food and energy. A
Russian-brokered ceasefire ends the Nagorno-Karabakh fighting. The region is
left a self-proclaimed republic, with ethnic Armenian forces in control of
Azerbaijani territory surrounding Karabakh. NAGORNO-KARABAKH

Feuding over enclave has claimed thousands of lives

2001: Age-old enmity in the Caucasus
2000: Tug-of-war for Nagorno-Karabakh

1995 – The government launches privatisation and price liberalisation
programme. Parliamentary elections return the ruling party. The powers of
the president are widened.

1996 – Ter-Petrossian is re-elected president. Tanks are deployed on the
streets of Yerevan to quell protests over alleged electoral fraud.

1998 – Ter-Petrossian resigns over opposition to his efforts to find a
compromise with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. Nationalist Robert
Kocharyan is elected president.

1999 – Gunmen, led by a local journalist Nairi Hunanyan, open fire in the
Armenian parliament. The prime minister, parliamentary speaker and six other
officials are killed. The gunmen accuse the government of leading Armenia
into political and economic ruin. They say the desperate plight of the
people is the reason for the killings.

2000 – Prime Minister Andranik Markarian admits that – 12 years on – those
affected by the 1988 earthquake are still living in a disaster zone.

PARLIAMENT STORMED

Prime minister and speaker were amongst those killed by gunmen
1999: In pictures – Armenia’s grief
2003: Armenia parliament killers jailed

BBC’s Tigran Hizmalyan describes storming
2001 January – Becomes full member of Council of Europe.

France ignores Turkish objections and introduces a law stating that Ottoman
Turks committed genocide against Armenians in 1915.

Armenia celebrates the 1,700th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity.

2001 September – Vladimir Putin becomes first Russian president to visit
Armenia since independence.

Pope John Paul II pays his first visit; most Armenians pledge allegiance to
Armenian Apostolic Church which broke away from Vatican in sixth century.

Kocharyan re-elected

2003 March – President Robert Kocharyan wins further term in second round of
presidential elections. Election monitors complain of ballot-stuffing.

2003 May – European observers find parliamentary elections in which
pro-presidential candidates win majority of seats fall short of
international standards.

Referendum rejects constitutional amendments concerning role of parliament.

2003 August – Death penalty abolished; President Kocharyan commutes
sentences of 42 death row prisoners to life.

2003 December – Six sentenced to life imprisonment for their roles in 1999
parliament shootings in which prime minister, speaker and other officials
were killed.

2004 April – Thousands of opposition supporters march against president.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
April 28 2004

European economic summit discusses effects of EU enlargement

WARSAW, April 28 (Itar-Tass) – The European economic summit 2004,
organized in Davos by the World Economic Forum as its regional
gathering, has opened in Warsaw.

The summit with the motto `Europe – Enlargement and Beyond’ is
devoted to the current challenges that the European Union faces:
economic, political, constitutional and cultural that will result
from the enlargement of the Union on May 1, when ten Central and East
European countries are to become its members.

Around 700 participants, representing the economic and political
elites of 45 nations, including the presidents, premiers and
ministers from 31 countries, are to hold 40 roundtable discussions,
plenary sessions and workshops that will center around the impact of
an expanded union on the European business and its competitiveness,
enlargement of Europe’s single currency zone, new demands of European
consumers, the development of financial markets and transatlantic
relations.

The Wednesday plenary session is dealing with `Europe: Hopes and
Concerns’. As regards the roundtable discussions, they will focus on
relations between Europe and Russia, the developments in the
Caucasus, South-East Europe and Turkey.

Russia has delegated to the summit President Vladimir Putin’s special
spokesman on the development of relations with the European Union
Sergey Yastrzhembsky and a group of politicians and business leaders.

President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Premier Leszek Miller, Foreign
Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz and Minister of the economy, labor
and social policy Jerzy Hausner represent Poland.

Some other high-rank participants are Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev, Malta’s Prime Minister Tonio Berg, Lithuanian Prime Minister
Algirdas Brazauskas, Romanian President Ion Iliescu, Armenian
President Robert Kocharian, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma,
President Svetozar Marovic of Serbia and Montenegro, German President
Johannes Rau, Georgian President Mikhai Saakashvili, Slovak President
Rudolf Schuster, and Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin.

An alternative economic forum is planned at the time of the European
Economic Summit to discuss the negative impact of transnational
corporations on the world community, global environment and national
cultures. Polish anarchists, green movement activists and radical
youth organizations are expected to take part in the alternative
events along with Polish alterglobalists who will criticize current
economic trends and propose radical alternatives to them.

The protesters are acting beyond the boundaries of the security zone
around the building in which the European Economic Summit is working.
Their main demonstration calling for an end to globalization of
exploitation, poverty and war is scheduled for Thursday, April 29,
and although its organizers declare that the action will be peaceful,
police prepares tough security measures. Armored vehicle-mounted
water canons have already been placed at the Sofitel Victoria Hotel.

No excesses have been registered so far, a Warsaw police source said.
But the center of Warsaw is unusually quiet and empty. The shutters
are down in the windows of shops and cafes, as well as of ground
floor and first-floor apartments, in central Warsaw.