Published since 02/04/2000
Published on April 30, 2007
KOSOVO WILL BE INDEPENDENT, DANIEL FRIED SAYS
- Kosovo will be independent with or without a United Nations resolution, and Russia should back an agreement to protect the Kosovo Serb minority, the United States said on Saturday. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said it was possible the latest Russian criticism of UN mediator Marti Ahtisaari’s plan for the final status of the breakaway Serbian province meant Moscow intended to block a resolution. "We hope that Russia understands that Kosovo is going to be independent one way or another," Fried told Reuters in an interview at a Brussels Forum on transatlantic relations. "It will either be done in a controlled, supervised way that provides for the well-being of the Serbian people, or it will take place in an uncontrolled way and the Kosovo Serbs will suffer the most, which would be terrible." Moscow has repeatedly said it will not accept a solution which is unacceptable to Serbia, which is adamantly opposed to any form of independence for Kosovo. A UN Security Council fact-finding mission, which visited Kosovo at Russia’s suggestion, wrapped up its visit on Saturday saying they would deliberate on the proposal for its independence without setting deadlines. "Deciding on important issues should never be hostage to predetermined deadlines," Belgian ambassador and mission head Johan Verbeke told a news conference in Pristina. Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president, proposes supervised independence with a strong role for an international presence to protect minority rights. Fried acknowledged the European Union could be split over whether or not to recognize Kosovo if there was no UN resolution and Kosovo’s overwhelming Albanian majority declared independence unilaterally. "I see absolutely no advantage to doing this any other way than through a Security Council resolution. I see merely disadvantages," Fried said. "The alternatives are all worse.” "A divided Europe is a bad thing in general and a terrible thing in this particular case." A resolution would provide legal authority to protect the Kosovo Serbs and help the Europeans to unite, he said. Kosovo has been an international protectorate since NATO waged an air war in 1999 to drive out Serbian forces and end ethnic cleansing. Some 90 percent of the province's 2 million population are Albanians. "Kosovo is in the list of problems that do not improve with age and neglect. The situation there is not inherently stable," said Fried. Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke told the Brussels Forum the next few weeks would be a fundamental test of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s view of his role in the world. "If he vetoes the Ahtisaari plan in the Security Council, there will be a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo. The United States will recognize them, I hope the same day ... Some of the EU will, some won’t," Holbrooke said. "There will probably be violence on the ground and it will be Russia's fault." Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told the Forum he expected a period of "diplomatic trench warfare" over Kosovo at the United Nations and suggested the EU should take the lead in seeking a compromise solution, which would take time. Asked about Holbrooke’s scenario of unilateral independence, he said: "That is playing with fire," FOCUS News Agency reports.
Headlines for April 30, 2007
VARTAN OSKANIAN: WE WILL URGE TURKEY TO OPEN LAST CLOSED BORDER IN EUROPE
Armenia is aspired to further integration into the European structures, RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said during the “Baltic to the Wider Black Sea: The New Euroatlantic Challenge?” hearing held ...ANKARA "CRITICIZES" CANADA’S RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Ankara "strongly criticized" Canada on Thursday for referring to the killings of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire as genocide, saying that it was “unacceptable, unfair and incompatible with ...OSKANIAN AND FRIED DISCUSSED KARABAKH CONFLICT
Presidents of Estonia and Lithuania, Prime Minister of Belgium, Foreign Ministers of Georgia, Germany, Sweden, Belgium and Canada, NATO Secretary General, CoE President and PACE Commissioners as well ...TIME HAS COME TO OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE, SEN. JACK REED SAID
Senators and Representatives joined Armenians around the world this week in commemorating the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in statements on the floors of their respective chambers of Congress, ...TURKS RALLY AGAINST RADICAL ISLAM
Amid a sea of red Turkish flags, nearly 750,000 people poured into the streets of Istanbul on Sunday to demand that Parliament choose a president with no Islamist ties. The candidate, Abdullah Gul, earlier ...FACT OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE UNANIMOUSLY ACKNOWLEDGED BY HISTORIANS
Armenian communities of the Greater Metropolitan New York area gathered at the Surrogate’s Court House in New York City, just north of City Hall, on April 20th for the 92nd commemoration of the Armenian ...NKR PRESIDENT AND RA DEFENSE MINISTER DISCUSSED MILITARY COOPERATION
Nagorno Karabakh President Arkady Ghukasian congratulated Mikael Harutyunyan on the appointment Armenian Defense Minister and wished him every success in the office. NKR Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan ...EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT DISAPPOINTED AT RUSSIA’S ANNOUNCEMENT TO SUSPEND CFE PARTICIPATION
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso expressed disappointment Friday at Russia’s announcement that it was suspending its participation in an arms treaty limiting the number of military forces ...MILITARY SHOULD STAY IN THEIR BARRACKS AND KEEP OUT OF POLITICS, TERRY DAVIS SAYS
“I am very concerned about the recent public statement by the Turkish military. This statement looks like a deliberate attempt by the armed forces to influence the election of a new President in Turkey. ...RUSSIA GOING TO FINANCE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW NPP IN ARMENIA?
Russia is ready to fully finance construction of a new Nuclear Power Plant in Armenia, IA Regnum reports with a reference to a source in the Armenian government. Some agreements were achieved during ...SAAKASHVILI: WE ARE NOT SUICIDES TO WISH DETERIORATION OF RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA
“Georgia wishes to have good relations with Russia,” Georgian President Mikhael Saakashvili said in an interview with BBC. When asked whether Georgia wishes to reconcile with Russia, Saakashvili said, ...EX-RULING ARMENIAN PARTY QUITS PARLIAMENTARY RACE
The Armenian National Movement (ANM), the ruling party in Armenia in 1990-1998, dropped out of the race for May 12 parliamentary elections. The party’s statement says ‘the decision proceeded from the ...KOSOVO WILL BE INDEPENDENT, DANIEL FRIED SAYS
Kosovo will be independent with or without a United Nations resolution, and Russia should back an agreement to protect the Kosovo Serb minority, the United States said on Saturday. Assistant Secretary ...
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Today in Armenian history- 1901 Death of Srapion Tolian (Sipili Yessayi), playwright, critic, and teacher of P. Doorian.
- 1915 Death of Sargees Barseghian (Vana Sargees), of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Party. He was born in 1875.
- 1927 Opening of Yerevan's carbide factory.
- 1941 Death of Panos Terlemezyan (artist) in Yerevan. He was born in 1865.
- 1947 The International Armenian Congress takes place in the USA.
- 1981 The United States Holocaust Memorial Council, an independent Federal agency, unanimously resolved that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum would include the Armenian Genocide in the Museum and has since done so.
- 1991 Soviet and Azeri Turkish forces start "Operation Circle" in Getashen and Martakert.
- 1993 The UN Security Council, at its 3205th meeting, adopts resolution 822.
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