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  • ASBAREZ Online [03-17-2004]

    ASBAREZ ONLINE
    TOP STORIES
    03/17/2004
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    1) EU-Armenia Parliamentary Commission Reaffirms Necessity of Nuclear Plant
    Closure
    2) Regulation without Karabagh Impossible Says Ghukasian
    3) Spain's New Prime Minister Thanks ARF Bureau
    4) Oskanian to Meet with Guliyev in Prague
    5) Soprano Arpine Pehlivanian Passes Away
    6) Georgian President To Meet Rebel Region Leader

    1) EU-Armenia Parliamentary Commission Reaffirms Necessity of Nuclear Plant
    Closure

    YEREVAN (Armenpress)--The 6th session of the European Union-Armenia
    Parliamentary Cooperation Commission held in Yerevan, March 15-16, discussed
    the shutting down of Armenia's nuclear power plant.
    The sides agreed that in its current state, the plant poses serious dangers.
    On the other hand, its closure would require that an reliable alternative
    energy source exist to guarantee engery security for Armenia.
    The commission reafirmmed that the nuclear power plant be shut down, but that
    an alternative reliable, secure energy source replace it.
    "There are many ways to do this, but the future will show which way is the
    most optimal for Armenia," stated commission chair Armen Rustamian.


    2) Regulation without Karabagh Impossible Says Ghukasian

    YEREVAN (Armenpress)--Mountainous Karabagh Republic (MKR) President Arkady
    Ghukasian called on OSCE's visiting chairman-in-office, Bulgarian Foreign
    Minister Solomon Passy to create an opportunity for direct dialogue between
    MKR
    and Azerbaijan, stressing the necessity of MKR's involvement in the
    negotiating
    process and willingness to enter negotiations without preconditions.
    The meeting took place in Yerevan on Wednesday, where MKR Foreign Minister
    Ashot Ghulian and MKR permanent representative in Armenia Arman Melikian were
    also part of the discussion.
    Passy said that the quick and uniterrupted restoration of dialogue between
    the
    sides is crucial and that he will exert all efforts toward that goal.
    Ghukasian said that dicussions included not only the political process to a
    resolution, but also a potential legal one. "I am confident that a legal
    package would promote political regulation. I believe the OSCE acting chairman
    agreed, but it is clear the OSCE is complicated mechanism: all 55 member
    countries have the right to exercise a veto. . . In any case, we must work and
    we are ready to work and are confident that our position is very
    constructive."
    Asked by reporters about MKR's role in the regulation process, Ghukasian said
    Karabagh is a full-fledged participant in the conflict, as confirmed by the
    1994 Budapest Summit. "The president of Azerbaijan also participated in
    Budapest sessions and agreed with this. This is no longer a topic for
    discussion. . . I assure that Mountainous Karabagh will be involved in the
    process of talks as a full-fledged participant," stressed Ghukasian "Without
    Karabagh, the issue will not be regulated."


    3) Spain's New Prime Minister Thanks ARF Bureau

    YEREVAN (YERKIR)-- Spain's newly elected prime minister José Luis Rodríguez
    Zapatero, in a letter thanked Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau
    representative Hrant Margarian, both for the party's condolences and
    congratulations, reported the ARF press service.
    In a March 12 letter, the ARF Bureau conveyed condolences and offered support
    after the Madrid bombings, and on March 15, congratulated Zapatero for his
    party's victory in the parliamentary election.
    Zapatero said that his wish is that his party's victory will serve to benefit
    the international community. "Now more than ever, we need to restore dialogue
    and multilateral cooperation in order to change cultural and economic
    inequality, which gave rise to terrorist attacks," Zapatero's letter
    concludes.
    Zapatero is the Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party,
    which has established close ties with the ARF, since the latter became a
    member
    of the Socialist International recently.
    Zapatero, who became the youngest member of Spanish parliament in 1986, is
    considered moderate, adhering to a more social democratic ideology than
    socialist. His right-hand-man is the Galician member of parliament, Jose
    Blanco.


    4) Oskanian to Meet with Guliyev in Prague

    YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian announced on Wednesday that
    he will meet with his Azeri counterpart later this month for talks, which
    should finally clarify whether Baku is ready to revive agreements on Karabagh
    reached three years ago.
    Oskanian said the meeting will take place in Prague on March 29 in the
    presence of the American, French, and Russian mediators leading the Minsk
    Group
    of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He said he hopes
    Azeri Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliyev will officially state "from which point
    Azerbaijan is ready to continue negotiations."
    Guliyev said last month that Baku reserves the right to restart the peace
    process "from scratch," again denying any major understandings reached by the
    Armenian and Azeri presidents in Paris and the Florida island of Key West in
    2001. The statement came after Azeri President Ilham Aliyev's remarked that he
    is not in a hurry to embrace a compromise deal because he believes the
    Armenians are more interested in a quick solution to the Karabagh dispute than
    his oil-rich nation.
    Oskanian again warned that Aliyev will have to negotiate only with the
    Karabagh Armenians if he finally decides to walk away from the agreements
    reached by his late father and predecessor Heydar and Armenia's president
    Robert Kocharian.
    The announcement of the Prague meeting came at a news conference that
    followed
    Oskanian's talks with the OSCE's visiting chairman-in-office, Bulgarian
    Foreign
    Minister Solomon Passy. Passy also met with Kocharian and Prime Minister
    Andranik Margarian as, well as the president of Mountainous Karabagh Republic
    Arkady Ghukasian. The Karabagh conflict was a major topic of the discussions
    during which the sides reportedly agreed that "there is no alternative but a
    peaceful settlement"
    Speaking in Baku on Tuesday, Passy said that the OSCE will continue the
    active
    mediation but added that the responsibility is on Armenia and Azerbaijan to
    end
    the dispute "with mutual compromises."
    "The OSCE is not capable of miracles and can't impose a ready solution," he
    said. "History teaches us that with conflicts time always works against us.
    The
    later a solution is found, the more painful it may be for the people of the
    region."


    5) Soprano Arpine Pehlivanian Passes Away

    On March 16, Diasporan soprano Arpine Pehlivanian, passed away after
    struggling
    a long term illness. Her dedication to the world of music and her contribution
    to the preservation of Armenian musical heritage are part of the legacy she
    leaves behind.
    She performed in over 800 concerts in Europe, the United States, Canada, the
    Middle East, the former Soviet Union, and Africa. Her Carnegie Hall debut was
    in 1974. She has performed in most of the internationally known concert halls,
    including the Parisian Salle Pleyel, the Salle Gaveau and the Spendiarian
    Opera
    House in Yerevan, Armenia. Her recordings include The Artistry of Arpine
    Pehlivanian, (1982 Arzach Productions) Armenian Sacred Music, (1986 BLM
    Studios) Armenian Romance Songs, (1997 Hamazkayin) and Armenian Art Songs and
    Live Concert.
    The lyrico-coloratura soprano earned the highest honors in her field
    including
    advanced diplomas in voice and (Summa Cum Laude) from the Lebanese National
    Conservatory of Piano. She studied piano under the tutelage of Michel
    Cheskinoff, St. Petersburg, American composer Anis Fuleihan, and voice with
    Alvarez Boulos, London. Four years of additional study with La Scala soprano
    Antonia Perazzi prepared her for the Chigiana Academy in Siena, Italy, where
    she earned Diplomas di Merito in Opera Interpretation under Gino Bechi, Vocal
    Chamber music under Giorgio Favaretto and Opera Direction under Bruno Rigacci.
    The National Symphony of Lebanon appointed Pehlivanian official soloist, a
    position she held for 18 years along with academic duties at the Lebanese
    Conservatory of Music where she was both a Professor of Voice and Piano and
    the
    Director of Opera Interpretation Studies. During that period she was awarded
    the Cilician Great Cross with the rank of Knight, the Lebanese National
    Said-Akl Cultural Award, and the Syrian Educational Ministry's Gold Medal.
    Pehlivanian, who consistently championed professionalism and artistic
    interpretation in the rendition of the Armenian Art Song, was the first singer
    from the Diaspora to be invited to perform leading roles with the Spendiarov
    Opera House in Yerevan, receiving rave reviews. Called the Ambassadress of
    Armenian Song, she premiered the works of many Middle Eastern and Armenian
    composers including the American, British, and Middle Eastern premieres of
    Khatchaturian's Agh Tamar.
    As concert artist and teacher, she was awarded the Bronze Halo Award (1983)
    from the Southern California Motion Picture Council for her contribution to
    the
    arts, and the Music Teacher's Association of California Service Award (1987),
    for her contributions to the American Community. She was also a member of the
    National Association of Teachers of Singing.
    In 1999, the Armenian community in Los Angeles joined together to pay tribute
    to the Nightingale of the Armenian Diaspora for her forty years of service in
    both the artistic and the academic domains. At her Fortieth Jubilee the late
    Karekin I, Catholicos of all Armenians, bestowed on her the most coveted Sts.
    Sahag and Mesrob Medal of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, Armenia. Catholicos
    Aram
    I of the House of Cilicia honored the singer with the first ever Dame of
    Cilicia Medal, to be given to women of distinction.
    Funeral services will take place on Saturday, March 20, 10:30 am, at the Holy
    Cross Church of Montebello.


    6) Georgian President To Meet Rebel Region Leader

    BATUMI (Reuters)--The leaders of Georgia and its rebellious Ajaria region
    agreed on Wednesday to meet to defuse a crisis, which has strained ties with
    Georgia's giant neighbor Russia.
    Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who swept to power in a popular
    revolution last year, has been locked in conflict with the leader of
    autonomous
    Ajaria Aslan Abashidze, accusing him of hindering free parliamentary elections
    due in 11 days.
    Saakashvili and Abashidze are due to meet on Thursday in the regional capital
    Batumi, a Black Sea port near Turkey, the Ajarian leader told reporters, after
    seven hours of talks with Georgian parliamentary speaker Nino Burdzhanadze.
    Georgia's location on Russia's southern border and work on a key Western oil
    pipeline running through it has focused the attention of both Moscow and
    Washington on the country.
    Forces loyal to Abashidze prevented Saakashvili from entering Ajaria over the
    weekend. The president responded by slapping economic sanctions on the region,
    cutting rail and road access to Ajaria, closing its airspace, and blocking its
    port.
    For his meeting on Thursday, Saakashvili will cross the same road checkpoint
    where Abashidze's troops fired a warning shot at his convoy on Sunday, a
    presidential spokesman said.
    "I am a supporter of the idea that all issues should be solved not by using
    force but in a human fashion," Abashidze told reporters in Batumi, where
    soldiers and masked armed loyalists patrolled the streets and waterfront.

    BLOCKADE SOON OVER?

    "We have to do everything to make sure tomorrow's meeting is meaningful,"
    said
    Burdzhanadze, a Saakashvili ally, adding that the blockade might "no longer be
    an issue" after the talks.
    The blockade has stopped oil shipments from a 200,000 barrel per day terminal
    at Batumi.
    Burdzhanadze previously played a key role in persuading pro-Russian Abashidze
    to allow presidential elections in Ajaria in January that resulted in a
    landslide victory for Saakashvili, a 36-year-old nationalist backed by the
    United States.
    Ex-Soviet Georgia has had uneasy relations with its old colonial master,
    Russia, for most of the 12 years since the Soviet Union collapsed--often
    arising from Georgian suspicions that Moscow was trying to profit from
    autonomous movements.
    In an unannounced exercise, a Russian military base near Batumi fired rounds
    of tank shells into the sea on Tuesday where the Georgian coastguard was
    patrolling.
    Russia has urged Saakashvili to find a peaceful way out of the current crisis.
    But its tacit sympathy for Ajaria became clear when Moscow's flamboyant mayor
    Yuri Luzhkov--a powerful politician at home--flew in on Tuesday to show
    solidarity with Abashidze, causing consternation among Georgian officials.
    Luzhkov, who has business interests in the construction industry, is a close
    associate of Abashidze and Moscow building firms have picked up many lucrative
    contracts in Ajaria.
    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov showed some unease over Luzhkov,
    dodging a direct question on his exact mission.
    He said Luzhkov was there in an "inter-regional" context, adding: "Given
    this,
    Luzhkov's efforts have the support of the Russian leadership." He said
    indications that Saakashvili would meet Luzhkov offered hope for a solution.
    The parliamentary elections on March 28 are a rerun of a poll last November
    when veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze was still in power. That vote was
    widely seen as rigged.
    Allies of Saakashvili are expected to do well and to support his efforts to
    cut corruption, unite the divided Caucasus nation of around 4.5 million
    people,
    and press for Russia to withdraw from two military bases.
    Georgia has two openly separatist regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where
    Tbilisi no longer exerts any control.


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