Author: Ekmekjian Janet

U.S., NATO aim to calm Caucasus turbulence
BY Brian Whitmore, Boston Globe
Star Tribune
Last update: May 20, 2004 at 4:55 PM
May 21, 2004CAUCASUS0521
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, GERMANY — U.S. Army Col. Michael Anderson has
Georgia on his mind. He spends a lot of time thinking about Armenia
and Azerbaijan, as well.
Plagued by ethnic conflicts, political instability, organized crime,
and porous borders, the volatile South Caucasus region has long been
viewed by Western officials as a hotbed of chaos and of instability
in Europe’s backyard.
The U.S. military and key NATO allies are now laying the groundwork for
an unprecedented engagement in the region that will include coordinated
military and humanitarian assistance, education, and training aimed
at eventually bringing these troubled nations and their armed forces
into Europe’s mainstream.
“We want these nations to ultimately be able to stand on their own and
to be secure and stable states,” said Anderson, the U.S. military’s
European Command point man for policy in the Caucasus.
The emerging initiative in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan is part of a
focus on what military commanders call “an arc of instability” ranging
from the Caucasus through the Middle East to the Gulf of Guinea in
West Africa. Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. armed forces
worldwide have been taking steps to redirect their resources to fight
the war on terrorism more effectively.
Officials at the U.S. European Command say that because they do not
anticipate a major war in their area of responsibility in the near
future, they are focusing on preventing conflicts on and beyond the
continent’s hinterlands before they become full-blown security crises.
In the South Caucasus, and in North Africa, U.S. military officials
say they are seeking to use “the prudent application of soft power”
— gaining access and influence in these regions by exposing nations
there to Western thinking and values — to advance the interests of
the United States and its allies.
“We are applying a regional, cooperative approach … helping nations
help themselves,” Air Force Gen. Charles Wald, deputy commander of
U.S. forces in Europe, said in a statement.
At a two-day conference this month at the George C. Marshall European
Center for Security Studies in this southern German Alpine town,
U.S. defense officials met with their counterparts from key NATO
allies to coordinate their efforts to assist a defense overhaul in the
region. Officials from Georgia and Armenia also attended. Officials
from Azerbaijan were invited but did not attend amid the continuing
animosity with Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabach.
By helping stabilize the South Caucasus and assisting in improvements
in the region’s armed forces, officials say, the initiative contributes
to the war against terrorism.
“Terrorists are looking for areas of instability where they can play
the East-West cultural card, and the Caucasus is a region that is ripe
for that,” a senior British defense official said on the condition
of anonymity. “If we don’t turn our attention to it, they will.”
The new emphasis on the Caucasus seeks to build on recent
U.S. initiatives in the region. From May 2002 until last month,
U.S. soldiers trained four Georgian light-infantry battalions and a
tank company under a $64 million program called the Georgia Train and
Equip Program. The program aimed to professionalize Georgia’s armed
forces and to equip them to root out suspected terrorists linked
to Al-Qaida in the country, most notably the Pankisi Gorge region
near Chechnya.
U.S. military officials have since identified illicit weapons,
narcotics, and human-trafficking across the region’s porous frontiers
as other key security concerns. Easy access to smuggling routes
empowers organized crime groups, compromises the authority of central
governments and destabilizes the region, the officials say.
Protecting the flow of oil out of the region is also a top security
concern for the United States and its allies. A major pipeline running
from Baku, Azerbaijan, through Tblisi, Georgia, to Ceyhan, Turkey,
is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. Analysts say
the pipeline will reduce the West’s energy dependence on the Middle
East and the Persian Gulf but could also become a potential target
for terrorists.
Longtime NATO allies like Britain, Germany, and Turkey — as well as
new alliance members Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — are contributing
with assistance programs in the region.
The former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which
have reformed their militaries sufficiently to join NATO this year, say
they are now prepared to help Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan do the
same. The Baltic nations are also offering to help train border guards.
Nikoloz Laliashvili, head of defense policy and NATO integration for
Georgia’s Defense Ministry, said it is his country’s “aspiration”
to follow in the footsteps of the three Baltic countries.
U.S. and other Western officials concede privately that Georgia,
Armenia, and Azerbaijan have made uneven progress. Georgia, which
tossed out its Soviet-era leaders in favor of the pro-Western
government of Mikhail Saakashvili in a peaceful revolution in
November, has shown the most serious commitment to an overhaul,
the officials say.
Earlier this month, Georgia peacefully seized control of the rebel
province of Ajaria, in the country’s southwest corner, although
Saakashvili is still struggling to bring other breakaway regions like
Abkhazia and South Ossetia under Tblisi’s control.

Gulfood 2005 set to capitalise on burgeoning market
zawya
15 May 2004
Gulfood 2005, the largest, most comprehensive and representative
show for the food, hotel & hospitality industry in the Middle East
and North Africa region, has set its sights firmly on accelerated
growth by building on its acknowledged track record as the premier
regional platform for the industry. The show, which takes place from
February 20 to 23, 2005, capitalises on the advantage of being at the
hub of a high-spending and rapidly growing target market, announced
organisers Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC).
The tenth edition of the biennial event, which will be held at the DWTC
Complex, will offer an opportunity to food and hospitality industries
to display the latest developments and technologies as well as network
with fellow professionals located in a region which has recorded
a spectacular growth in tourism and hospitality infrastructure and
which as a result has become one of the key growth areas for both
these sectors. Some 1,304 particiapants from 44 countries including
25 country pavilions took part in the show last year.
The Middle East’s high disposable income, appetite and vision makes it
an increasingly important food and drinks consumer. The region is
also heavily dependant on large scale imports of food and food-related
products, with more than 90% of its needs being met from overseas. This
makes food and food related products in the Gulf a massively important
sector for any international manufacturer, importer or trader.
Gulfood facilitates the development of trade, tastes and trends by
attracting key industry buyers from over 75 countries and its position
is consolidated by Dubai’s key role as the region’s business and
re-exporting hub, being located on the crossroads of three continents
and the centre of a potential market of more than 2 billion people.
Going by early responses, all indications point to a considerably
larger show in 2005. Projected figures indicate a 30 per cent surge
in participation over 2003, which reinforces the fact that Gulfood is
the only exhibition of its kind that provides access to fast-growing
markets in the Middle East, North and East Africa, the GCC, the former
CIS and the booming Indian subcontinent.
The event will welcome new country pavilions from Argentina, Armenia,
Belgium’s Walloon region, India, Iran, Malaysia and South Africa who
have already signed up, with several others also planning to enter
the market for the first time.
Gulfood will once again be supported by Emirates Culinary Guild,
who will host the Emirates International Salon Culinaire 2005,
a four-day extravaganza of seminars, competitions and demonstrations.
Another significant development is the move of the Third Middle East
Food Marketing Forum from its usual January slot to run alongside
Gulfood 2005, which will offer senior managers a specially developed
programme to provide guidance, advice and debate on the latest issues
shaping food product development.
The exhibitor profile for Gulfood 2005 has been developed to include
the food processing, packaging and ingredients segments as well as the
firmly established food, drinks, bakery, foodservice and hospitality
equipment areas. The food processing and packing business in the
Middle East is significant and growing, with much of the technology
being imported. It is a natural and obvious progression, which will
bring synergy to Gulfood.
Gulfood 2003 received 12,000 high quality trade visitors from
71 countries. Exhibitor and visitor information can be found at

Turkmenistan hosts NATO-sponsored Internet meeting
ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow
14 May 04
Asgabat, 14 May: A meeting of the consultants of NATO’s Virtual Silk
Road project was opened in the Turkmen capital today.
Participants, researchers and experts from five Central Asian countries
– Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan,
and also from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, together with NATO
representatives – are discussing swift access to the world-wide
Internet network.
According to the Turkmen Communications Ministry, within the framework
of the Virtual Silk Road project, three of Turkmenistan’s largest
higher educational establishments, Magtymguly State University, the
Polytechnic Institute and the Transport and Communication Institute,
have been connected simultaneously to the Internet this year. Thus
they have obtained access to the news on discoveries and inventions
as well as on trends in world scientific developments.
Last year, Turkmentelekom state company installed a satellite dish and
also assembled a ground station. This receives information from the
Internet and transfers it to the country’s research and educational
centres via local network systems.

A1 Plus | 17:31:16 | 12-05-2004 | Politics |
EUROPEAN UNION LAYING CLAIMS TO “POLITBURO”
European Parliament member, Swede Pier Garthon has today referred
to the recent statement of President Robert Kocharyan that Council
of Europe is not a “Politburo”, so it is not obligatory to fulfill
its demands.
“Of course, CE is not a “Politburo”. But European Union is closer to
be the Political Bureau. The organization has the right to command
to its member-states over various issues”, Garthon said.
Garthon had decided that Armenia must learn this to finally clarify
– whether it wishes to join EU or not. In response to it Armenian
Parliament Vice-Speaker Tigran Torosyan stated European integration
for Armenia is beyond alternative.
Armenia is the CE member for 3 years whereas projects are made and
versions are discussed on how Armenia can join EU, too.
“Wider Europe” program gives Armenia that chance. An attempt will be
made to enroll South Caucasus, too.
During presentation of “Wider Europe” program Pier Garthon made an
interesting statement. It turns European Union “doors” will be open for
3 South Caucasus states – Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan only in case
that Turkey joins EU, too. “Turkey’s participation is a precondition or
else South Caucasus participation in the program won’t be discussed”.
Pier Garthon states Turkey doesn’t yet meet all the EU requests but
it “improves”. Turkey is demanded to recognize the Armenian Genocide
and to cease blockade against Armenia to become an EU member.
“European Union won’t accept a state with local or regional conflicts.
Cyprus was a bad precedent and we won’t make the same mistake again”,
Garthon says.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
May 11 2004
MEETING OF SHEIKH UL-ISLAM WITH US AMBASSADOR TO AZERBAIJAN
[May 11, 2004, 22:52:35]
On May 11, Chairman of the Clerical Office of Caucasus Moslem, Sheikh
ul-Islam Haji Allahshukur Pashazadeh has met in his residence the
plenipotentiary ambassador of the USA to Azerbaijan Reno Harnish on
his request.
During the meeting passed in friendly conditions, discussed were
questions of political situation in the world, in particular, the
attitude towards Islam in the USA after the events on 11 September.
Mr. Reno Harnish has emphasized that between terrorism and the
Islam there is no connection. In Iraq, the USA conducts war against
political opponents, but not against the Islam. The ambassador has
reminded that in 1993 the United States rescued Moslems in Kosovo.
The diplomat has presented to the Sheikh ul-Islam A. Pashazadeh the
brochures issued in the USA in the Azerbaijan and Russian languages
where it is stated that 5 million Moslems in the USA take part in all
spheres of political life of the country. They are equal in rights
members of our society, R. Harnish underlined.
Sheikh Haji Allahshukur Pashazadeh has noted that after the 11
September events, Azerbaijan has declared one of the first that
is against terrorism and has offered assistance in combat against
this evil.
The head of Caucasus Moslems has informed the visitor on work which is
carried out by this structure, about his trip to Teheran where there
passed conference in which representatives of various faiths from
90 countries of the world took part. Religious figures spoke about
necessity in common to solve sharp conflicts, but not by sword, and
peacefully. It was pleasant to note, that the example of tolerance
and wide experience of peaceful co-existence among various faiths
had been named Azerbaijan. It is the true course of our national
leader Heydar Aliyev, successfully continued by his successor –
the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.
Speaking about the conflicts existing in the world, the parties
have expressed confidence for quick peace settlement of the Nagorny
Karabakh conflict.
Then, the US ambassador Reno Harnish and the head of Caucasus Moslems
Clerical Office Sheikh ul-Islam Haji Allahshukur Pashazadeh have
continued conversation in private.
In conclusion, of R. Harnish and A. Pashazadeh have answered questions
of journalists.

EURASIA INSIGHT May 11, 2004
ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT, OPPOSITION DECLARE SHAKY TRUCE
Emil Danielyan: 5/10/04
Armenia’s leadership and its political opponents have begun talks to resolve
their bitter confrontation over the rule of President Robert Kocharian. The
move has brought a temporary lull to the month-long political crisis sparked
by the opposition’s attempt to remove Kocharian from office.
The negotiations are taking place amidst a 10-day moratorium imposed by the
country’s two main opposition groups on the anti-government rallies which
have been held in the capital, Yerevan, since the beginning of April. [For
background see the EurasiaNet Insight archive]. The alliance and the
National Unity Party (AMK) state that the protests were suspended to give
the government time to stop its crackdown on protest participants and
opposition supporters. The moratorium will expire on May 14.
Talks between leaders of Justice and the AMK and the three pro-Kocharian
parties making up Armenia’s coalition government began on May 6 and will
continue this week. The participants have issued a brief statement saying
that they agree on “the need to create a new situation in the country” and
have approved a long list of issues to be discussed during the dialogue.
But so far, few local analysts expect the dialogue to yield an agreement to
compromise. The opposition and government remain far apart on the key issue
driving their dispute — the legitimacy of Robert Kocharian’s presidency.
The opposition maintains that Kocharian rigged last year’s presidential
election to win a second term in office and is therefore “illegitimate.” His
loyalists deny the charges, saying that widespread fraud reported by
international observers was not serious enough to affect the election
outcome.
The long-standing opposition demand for a “referendum of confidence” in
Kocharian — one of the main issues to be discussed in the talks —
illustrates this divide.
This idea was first floated by Armenia’s Constitutional Court in the wake of
the February-March 2003 presidential ballot and has since been heavily
exploited by the opposition. Kocharian and his loyalists have categorically
rejected it as unconstitutional. In parliament earlier this year, they
refused all discussion of the issue. Kocharian’s supporters now say they are
ready to discuss the measure’s “legality,” while indicating they will not
agree to hold the proposed referendum. “If the opposition continues to
insist on the referendum, no dialogue will be possible,” a leader of the
governing Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Armen Rustamian, said this past
weekend.
The opposition, on the other hand, says a regime change “without upheavals”
must be the basis of the crisis talks. “Our view remains the same: Robert
Kocharian must either resign or be dismissed or we will hold a kind of
referendum of confidence together with you,” Justice’s Albert Bazeyan told
thousands of supporters as they rallied in Yerevan on May 4.
Both sides are keen to show that they are following the recommendations made
by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). In a
resolution on the political situation in Armenia adopted on April 28, the
PACE urged the government and opposition to embark on a “dialogue without
preconditions.” As the Yerevan daily “Haykakan Zhamanak” commented, neither
Armenian authorities nor their foes want to appear the recalcitrant party in
the eyes of the Strasbourg-based, pan-European organization.
Each of the parties has interpreted the PACE resolution as vindicating its
own position in the standoff. The presidential camp argues that the document
did not endorse the referendum of confidence and made clear that the 2003
election irregularities “did not decisively change the outcome of the
elections nor invalidate their final results.”
The opposition, for its part, points to the PACE’s threat to impose
sanctions on Armenia if it fails to lift “unjustified restrictions” on
peaceful demonstrations, release individuals detained for their
participation in the anti-Kocharian rallies and investigate the “human
rights abuses alleged against the Kocharian government. The resolution
mandates that Armenian authorities report back to the European parliament by
June about the status of their investigations and prosecutions of those
found responsible for violation of citizens’ rights.
Since the campaign of street protests began on April 7, hundreds of
opposition activists and their supporters nationwide have reportedly been
harassed, detained and jailed. The crackdown was strongly condemned by Human
Rights Watch last week. “The Armenian government is repeating the same sorts
of abuses that called into question the legitimacy of last year’s election
and sparked the protests in the first place,” Rachel Denber, acting
executive director of HRW’s New Europe and Central Asia division, said in a
May 4 statement. “The cycle of repression must end.”
In a separate 21-page report, the New York-based watchdog group provided a
detailed account of the “mass arrest and police violence against opposition
supporters.” It singled out the brutal break-up of an opposition rally on
Yerevan’s Marshal Baghramian Avenue leading to Kocharian’s residence on the
night from April 12-13. Riot police used water cannons, stun grenades and,
according to some witnesses, electric-shock equipment to disperse the crowd
of between 2,000 and 3,000 protesters. The police arrested and seriously
injured at least 115 people and ransacked the offices of the three main
opposition parties, the report states.
Despite the PACE and HRW criticisms, the authorities last week continued to
arrest dozens of participants in unsanctioned protests and to sentence some
of them to up to 15 days in prison under Armenia’s Soviet-era Code of
Administrative Offenses. They also restricted provincial residents’ access
to Yerevan ahead of a May 4 opposition rally, effectively ignoring the PACE
demand to “guarantee freedom of movement inside Armenia.”
The Justice and AMK leaders have given Kocharian until May 14 to end the
crackdown and release all “political prisoners.” What they will do if those
demands are not met, though, is not yet clear. Another march towards the
presidential palace remains a possibility, even though opposition members
have twice delayed it. The postponement of the march has prompted some
commentators to conclude that their bid to emulate the Georgian experience
has already failed.
“We never intended to repeat the Georgian scenario here,” opposition leader
and former Prime Minister Aram Sarkisian, told EurasiaNet on May 4 while he
and his allies led about 10,000 people in a march towards the Armenian
police headquarters. “First of all, because Robert Kocharian is very far
from being a [deposed Georgian President Eduard] Shevardnadze in terms of
his commitment to democracy and popularity; secondly, today’s rally showed
that we are gaining momentum, not losing it.”
Even if no “decisive action” results from this week’s talks, Sarkisan said,
the opposition will press on with its protests. “What else can the people do
apart from gathering, expressing their views and holding marches?”
Editor’s Note: Emil Danielyan is a Yerevan-based journalist and political
analyst.
—

U.S. Newswire Press Releases / Yahoo News
May 7 2004
U.S. Church Leaders Press President Bush on Problems Facing Holy Land
Christians
To: National Desk and Religion Reporter
Contact: Jim Wetekam of the Churches for Middle East Peace,
202-543-4150 or [email protected]
WASHINGTON, May 7 /U.S. Newswire/ — Fifty leaders of evangelical and
mainline Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox churches and
church-related organizations in the U.S. today delivered a letter to
President Bush (news – web sites) asking for a full understanding of
“the crisis in the Holy Land confronting Christian Palestinians,
Christian institutions, and those who wish to visit the birthplace of
Christianity.”
Stating that the “churches have directed their concerns to the
Israeli government but to little avail,” the church leaders appealed
for the President’s intervention to help restore the normal
functioning of Christian institutions in Israel and the Occupied
Territories and claimed that “it is generally acknowledged that
relations of the churches and these institutions with the Israeli
government may be the worst they have ever been.”
The letter addressed the church leaders’ concerns specifically
regarding the effects of the separation barrier being constructed by
Israel, taxation issues that may force some church institutions to
close due to the removal of their longstanding tax-exempt status, and
“the denial and delay of visas, by Israel, for clergy and church
personnel result(ing) in understaffed seminaries, churches,
hospitals, education and other institutions.”
Speaking as one of the diverse group of signers, the Most Rev. Frank
T. Griswold, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, USA, said,
“Our churches, hospitals, schools, and other institutions are
important visible expressions of our faith’s concern for humanity.
While they serve Christians and non-Christians alike, they are also
expressions of our Christian heritage and its many contributions to
the region.”
Another signer, Brother Robert Schieler, Provincial for the De La
Salle Christian Brothers who administer Bethlehem University,
emphasized the destructive effects of the separation barrier on
Christian and Palestinian populations: “Even if the barrier is
intended for security, it has had the very real effects of separating
students and faculty from their classrooms, families from one
another, farmers from their fields, and Christian worshippers from
their churches.”
In the letter to President Bush, the church leaders observe, “We find
it difficult to be assured by your description on April 14 of the
barrier as ‘temporary’ in light of Israel’s plans to extend the
barrier far beyond the 1967 Green Line, encompassing on the Israeli
side those large West Bank settlements that you implied would remain
part of Israel.”
Speaking of Bethlehem particularly, Bro. Schieler noted, “The barrier
and checkpoints are now cutting off Christians in Bethlehem from
Jerusalem just a few miles away. I wonder if U.S. Christians who
visit Bethlehem as tourists know that many of their Christian
brothers and sisters who live and work and worship where Jesus was
born are not able to travel just a few miles to Jerusalem to where
Jesus died and was risen. Unfortunately, most American Christians
remain woefully uninformed about what is happening in the very land
where Jesus walked.”
Letter signers included the heads of many Catholic orders and
organizations in the United States; the General Secretary of the
National Council of Churches; the Presiding Bishops and leaders of
many denominations, such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America, Presbyterian Church (USA), Reformed Church in America; and
Armenian Church of America; evangelical leaders including Leighton
Ford, Robert Seiple, and Ron Sider; the heads of relief and
development agencies such as World Vision, Catholic Relief Services,
Church World Service, and the Mennonite Central Committee; and many
others. The complete text of the letter and list of signers is
available at
The signers, while specifically raising the concerns of church
institutions and Palestinian Christians, stated clearly that they “do
not mean to minimize the suffering of Muslims and Jews.” The letter
ended by imploring the President to assist all Muslims, Jews, and
Christians in the Holy Land, stating, “your help is needed as a force
for peacemaking that builds bridges to a new and hopeful future.”
Bishop Griswold summarized, “We believe that our institutions provide
services that are essential to bringing hope to people in need and
thus to our shared goal of two states, with secure borders, and able
to live in peace, one with the other.”

Hometown Dispute: Family faces displacement over residency status
May 7, 2004
By Julia Hakobyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Levon Galstyan’s family are not refugees of war, but of natural
disaster. They are Armenians who escaped Gyumri on December 9, 1988,
two days after earthquake ruined their home. The “Corncob”.
They came to Yerevan, where they moved into a landmark of the capital, the
“Corncob” building, officially known as Yerevan Youth Palace.
As aggressions intensified between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Karabakh,
hundreds of Armenians from Azerbaijan also moved into the hostel.
These 15 years later, the building, home for all the time to the Galystans
as well as the refugees, has been privatized. Twenty-nine refugee families
were paid between $5,000 and $10,000 to move out.
The Galstyans have gotten nothing. The three-member family says it faces
being homeless, unless an arbitration court finds them qualified to be paid
a displacement allotment relevant to real estate prices in Yerevan.
Authorities say the Galstyans must move back to Gyumri and apply for housing
there.
“We lived in Yerevan for 15 years and we have jobs here,” Levon Galstyan
says. “We will have no job and no home in Gyumri. All that we want is
compensation. It is not human to compensate all residents except us. If we
don’t have the refugee status it does not mean that we have to end up in the
street.”
The director of insolvency issues for the Youth Palace, Levon Hovanisyan,
says the Galstyans needn’t worry about being homeless, but should move back
to Gyumri, where they would be eligible for housing under earthquake relief
assistance programs.
“No one is going to move them out to the street. It is not that they have no
place to go. The problem is that they do not want to leave Yerevan,”
Hovanisyan says. “Other families from Gyumri agreed to take certificates and
leave. There is no law saying that if a person has lived in some city for
several years and has a job in that city he has the rights to have residency
pretensions.”
Levon, 43, his sister Susanna, 50, and their 83-year old mother lived in No.
310 of the Youth Palace. On weekends Levon, a musician by education, sells
the paintings of his brother who lives in Gyumri. Susanna works in a
library.
“My job in Yerevan feeds my family and the family of my brother,” Levon
says. “How am I am supposed to maintain them if I lose this work?”
The Galstyans are again facing the problem of moving out.
Levon and his mother have residency permits form Gyumri. Susanna, however,
has a stamp in her passport showing that her residence is the 20-square
meter flat in the Youth Palace. Hovanisyan questions how she got the stamp
for the property, which had belonged to the Ministry of Youth and Culture.
The Galstyans argue that their registration in Gyumri would provide only
$3,000 for housing.
“We can not buy a house for $3000 neither in Yerevan nor in Gyumri,” Levon
says. (In Yerevan one room apartments sell for an average of $7,000).
“Besides I have already checked that there are more than 2,000 families in
Gyumri, having acquired a housing certificate, cannot find an appropriate
house, . My brother, too, got the certificate after the earthquake but he
could not find a house and lives now in domik (temporary housing) in
Gyumri.”
The Galstyans’ appeal is currently being heard in court. Levon says the
family is not optimistic of a settlement in its favor.
“The family was suggested to take an apartment for four months free of
charge until they find the house by their certificate, but they refuse” says
Karine Petrosyan, the arbitration judge.
The family’s property is stored in the corridor of the hotel while they try
to maintain living in their unit.
The building, which includes a 500-bed hotel, a 1,200-seat concert hall,
gymnasiums and recording studios, was sold in January for about $740,000 to
Avantgarde Motor Company, distributors for Daimler Chrysler. The company
says it intends to spend $5 million on renovation, but will maintain the
building’s unique design.

A1 Plus | 17:28:18 | 05-05-2004 | Politics |
PENDING JUSTICE
On Wednesday, Court of Appeal continued considering the first instance court
‘s decision, under which general-lieutenant Vagharshak Harutyunyan, who has
been charged with three counts of attempting a coup, making seditious calls
and making insulting remarks toward the authorities, will remain kept in
preliminary detention facilities while awaiting trial.
The Appeal Court upheld the first instance court decision.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
April 28 2004
ECONOMIC IMPACT OF EU ENLARGEMENT TO BE DISCUSSED IN WARSAW SUMMIT
[April 28, 2004, 11:11:06]
As was informed by AzerTAj correspondent, representatives from 45
countries – and thousands of anti-globalization demonstrators – are
expected in the Polish capital from Wednesday, for a 3-day summit
devoted to the economic impact of the European Union’s May 1
enlargement.
Organized by the Davos, Switzerland based World Economic Forum; the
European Economic Summit is expected to gather 20 presidents and
prime ministers, along with 600 other ministers, central bankers,
representatives from the EU and other international organizations,
and 50 companies including Boeing, Hewlett Packard and IBM.
“The meeting will give the opportunity for the representatives of
hundreds of millions of Europeans to meet with leaders from business
and from civil society to try and map out the direction of this
amazing voyage that Europe has embarked on,” World Economic Forum
Chief Executive Officer Jose Maria Figueres said in a statement.
The European Economic Summit has been held every year in Salzburg,
Austria, since 1996.
It traditionally acts as a magnet for eastern European countries
seeking to join the wealthy West, after the collapse of the communist
bloc at the end of the 1980s set them on the difficult path to
economic transformation.
This year, as an exception, the meeting is being held in Poland, the
biggest of the 10 mainly former communist bloc countries set to join
the EU on May 1, along with Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia.
While most of the leaders of the incoming countries will be in
attendance, they will be outnumbered by leaders from countries which
are not joining the EU for now, with for some, like Albania, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Serbia and Montenegro,
membership being a distant prospect.
Polish police are also braced for thousands of anti-globalization
protestors, who are expected to demonstrate and hold parallel
meetings on the sidelines of the summit meeting.
Warsaw police chief Ryszard Siewierski told a recent news conference
between 3,000 and 15,000 demonstrators were expected, and that 13,500
police officers, 550 firemen, nine hospitals, 15 medical teams, 40
ambulances, a medical helicopter, as well as prosecutors,
interpreters, negotiators and psychologists would be on hand.
The Summit has posed a particular challenge for Warsaw, as it has
never been the venue of a large anti-globalization demonstration.
The summit will involve working sessions ranging from the euro and
competitiveness to the financial services market, transatlantic
relations, relations with Russia and the Caucasus and one
cutely-named “jog, eat and be happy” session.
“The program will be built on issues that affect business and policy
making, such as the immediate impact of enlargement on current EU
states and new member countries as well as the impact the new EU will
have on world affairs,” the World Economic Forum said in a statement.
“Over the past 10 years accession countries to the EU have made
ambitious economic reforms. Their biggest challenge will be to
sustain this reform effort and narrow the income gap with respect to
current members,” it said.