Author: Jalatian Sonya

The Signal, CA
April 7 2006

Bringing Home a Bit of the Middle East

Only open less than a month, Hayk International Market already
expects growth.

4/7/2006
Adam Clark / Signal Staff Writer

For Zohrab Getikian, opening a Middle Eastern grocery store in
Valencia was more a matter of practicality than a desired career
choice. He simply became tired of driving to the San Fernando Valley
for groceries, he said. And he wasn’t about to stop eating the food
he was raised on.
`You can’t escape it,’ Getikian said with a smile. `I tried to
get other people to do it, but no one did, so I finally opened the
store myself.’
Thus, Hayk International Market was born. Whether it’s Armenian,
Assyrian, Greek or any other sort of Middle Eastern cuisine, the
store has something for everyone, Getikian said.
Stocking unique items such as Armenian wines, Middle Eastern
pastries and Russian chocolates are some of the things Getikian is
proud.
`You can’t get a lot of this stuff anywhere else in Santa
Clarita,’ he said. `We even have marinated shish kabobs that you
can’t find (around here).’
Having been open less than a month, the store is already starting
to experience growing pains, Getikian said.
`I don’t think there is necessarily enough people for a second
store,’ he said. `But expanding this one would be a possibility.’
The bakery, produce and meat sections will be the first to
expand, he said.
The market is also beginning to generate buzz among ethnic
communities.
`We have a lot of new people coming in,’ he said. `And not just
from advertising, but from word of mouth.’
`I’m not just trying to reach Armenians or Assyrians,’ he said.
`I’m also trying to concentrate on the American market.’
For Getikian, this means getting Americans interested in ethnic
foods, rather than stocking American items.
Mostly though, the store is about meeting a need.
`It was hard to get exact demographics, but looking at this
community I knew that there was a need for it,’ Getikian said. `Hayk
International Market offers one-stop shopping for all Mediterranean,
Armenian (and) Middle Eastern food lovers.’

Hayk International Market is located at 23310 Cinema Drive in
Valencia.

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ARMENIAN MINISTER RULES OUT MILITARY CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
April 6 2006

Baku, April 5, AssA-Irada
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian has ruled out the use
of military action to solve over a decade-long dispute over Upper
(Nagorno) Garabagh.

“There is no military settlement to the conflict. Azerbaijan had
started the war and lost. If hostilities are resumed, the same thing
will happen,” Oskanian alleged.

As for the continuation of the peace process, he said it will be
known after the Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov’s upcoming
visit to the United States whether the talks will be continued.

“The date of our next meeting will be known after his meetings at
the US State Department.”

Oskanian added that it is premature to speak of another meeting
between the two countries’ presidents.

The parties failed to agree upon the issues of principle during the
talks held by Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharian in France
in February, which was followed by mutual threats.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE DEDICATED TO PROBLEMS OF PENSION INSURANCE TO BE ORGANIZED IN EARLY JULY IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Apr 05 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The 15th anniversary of foundation
of RA Social Insurance State Fund will be marked this year. In this
connection the fund plans to hold a number of events. As Noyan Tapan
correspondent was informed by Vazgen Khachikian, fund Chairman, an
international conference dedicated to problems of pension insurance
will be held in early July in association with the International
Insurance Company. World Bank experts, representatives of the
International Labor Organization, International Association of
Insurance Unions, as well as heads of CIS and European countries’
funds will take part in the conference. V.Khachikian said that
exhibitions, concerts dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the fund
will be organized, those working in the system for many years will
be encouraged.

CUSTOMS UNION TO BE SET UP AFTER RUSSIA, KAZAKHSTAN JOIN WTO – RUSSIAN MINISTER

RIA Novosti
5 Apr 06

Moscow, 5 April: A customs union within the Eurasian Economic Community
(EurAsEC) will be created after Russia and Kazakhstan join the WTO,
Russian Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref told
journalists on Wednesday [5 April], during a break in the second
session of the financial and economic policy council of the EurAsEC.

“First Russia and Kazakhstan will join the WTO and then we will create
a customs union,” Gref said.

According to Gref, the session of representatives of counties members
of the EurAsEC on Wednesday “noted the need for parallel work to join
the WTO and create the customs union”. Documents needed to create
the customs union should be drafted within a short timescale and
initialled, but they will be signed when Russia and Kazakhstan will
already have joined the WTO, the minister specified. At the same time
he refused to name a specific timescale within which this can happen.

Gref reported that issues to do with the economic development of the
counties of the community were discussed during the session of the
financial and economic policy council of the EurAsEC. “We agreed on a
strategy and tactics of actions, including the coordination of actions
aimed at joining the WTO and creating the customs union,” Gref noted.

He expressed the hope that “following the decisions [taken],
coordination between counties in the creation of a unified economic
space and joining the WTO will considerably increase”.

The EurAsEC comprises Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine have observer
status in the EurAsEC.

AGREEMENTS SIGNED ON RUSSIAN MILITARY WITHDRAWAL FROM GEORGIA
By Vladimir Socor

Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
Interfax, Prime-News, March 31
April 4 2006

Timetable set for Russian troops to leave Georgia On Friday, March 31,
Georgia’s First Deputy Defense Minister, Mamuka Kudava, and Russia’s
Ground Forces Commander-in-Chief, Colonel-General Alexei Maslov,
signed a set of agreements on the withdrawal of Russian forces from the
Batumi and Akhalkalaki bases and other Russian military installations
in Georgia.

The agreements concern the implementation of the May 30, 2005, Joint
Statement, signed by Georgia’s then-Minister of Foreign Affairs
Salome Zourabichvili with her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov,
on the cessation of functioning of those bases and installations and
withdrawal of Russian forces from Georgia by 2008. The Russian side
carried out an initial stage of the withdrawal last August (see EDM,
June 3, August 1, 16, 2005).

The documents just signed in Sochi include an agreement on the
timeframe and modalities of functioning and withdrawal of Russian
forces from Georgia and an agreement on the transit of Russian military
cargoes and personnel through Georgia’s territory.

The Akhalkalaki base is to be emptied of most of its heavy equipment
during 2006 and to be completely closed by October 1, 2007, with
a possible extension until December 31, 2007, subject to weather
conditions. The Batumi base is to ship out most of its heavy equipment
during 2007 and to be completely closed before the end of 2008. The
two garrisons total approximately 3,000 Russian military personnel
at present. The Batumi base will be the last to close because it
serves as an evacuation point for heavy equipment by sea to Russia
from various points in Georgia.

During the withdrawal process, the Russian side shall retain:

a) the Gonio exercise range on the Black Sea shore outside Batumi,
to be used for logistical operations related to the evacuation,
not for exercises;

b) the Russian officers’ hostel in Mtskheta outside Tbilisi, a
way-station on the Russian forces’ evacuation route to North Ossetia;

c) the Soviet-era Kojori communications station also outside Tbilisi,
to be used jointly by Russia and Georgia under Georgian jurisdiction;
and

d) the Tbilisi building of the Headquarters of the Russian Group
of Forces in the Transcaucasus, in order for those headquarters to
manage the withdrawal process.

All of these installations are also to be handed over to Georgia in
2008. The bases shall function during this period “in a withdrawal
mode,” i.e., without conducting firing practice or other combat
exercises, essentially packing up. Russia shall allocate 2.166 billion
rubles from its state budget in 2006 through 2008 to finance the
withdrawal of its forces from Georgia. For its part, Georgia authorizes
the use of its air space, highways, railroads, and ports for the
transport of Russian military equipment and personnel out of Georgia.

It is informally understood that most of the Russian personnel and some
two-thirds of the hardware shall relocate to Russia’s North Caucasus
Military District, while one-third of the hardware is to be transferred
to Russia’s base at Gyumri in Armenia. The Russian side undertakes not
to transfer that equipment to another party, meaning Armenian forces.

Russia retains limited, strictly regulated transit rights to supply
its forces in Armenia through Georgian territory in the future. Any
Russian military equipment transported via Georgia to Armenia is not to
be handed over to other forces (i.e., Armenian) and not to be deployed
in any conflict zone (i.e., Karabakh and Armenian-occupied territories
inside Azerbaijan). The content of Russian military transit cargoes
shall be agreed by Russia and Georgia one year in advance. Cargoes
must not include mass-destruction weapons, their components, or any
dual-use nuclear, chemical, or biological substances. Georgia has the
right to refuse the transit of any Russian cargo that poses a threat
to national security or violates any of those conditions.

The March 31 agreement (like the May 30, 2005, Joint Statement) does
not cover Russia’s Gudauta base, which is located in Abkhaz-controlled
territory. Moscow has claimed since 2003 that it “closed” the base,
but has not allowed international verification at the site. In fact,
a Russian garrison has continued to be stationed at the base all along,
with weapons stockpiles and helicopters.

Moscow seeks OSCE approval for the base to be assigned to Russia’s
“peacekeeping” troops in Abkhazia. Georgia’s Defense Minister Irakli
Okruashvili noted, “They’ve been lying for years, telling us that the
base was closed … We will not allow them to kick sand in our face”
(Imedi TV, Rustavi-2 TV, March 31).

On March 28, unidentified Abkhaz gunmen stole arms from the Gudauta
base and some of them were wounded in an exchange of fire with the
Russian garrison during the getaway. The March 31 agreement does not
pertain to Russia’s “peacekeeping” contingents in Abkhazia and South
Ossetia. The Georgian parliament seeks a formula for replacing those
contingents with a genuine, international peacekeeping operation.

DON’T EXPLOIT THE ARMENIANS’ DESIRE TO LIVE IN PEACE
By Gayane Movsessian

Yerkir.am
April 01, 2006

To restore the trust between the Armenians and the Azeris, to
encourage the population of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh
to think about peace (and not war) and foster a willingness to accept
a consensus.

This was the goal declared by the members of the working group
of Dortmund Regional Conference on Conflicts Harold Sonders
(ex-deputy secretary of state, USA), Vitaly Naumkin (director of
strategic research center) and their deputies Philip Stuart and Irina
Zvyagelskaya at the roundtable discussion on Karabagh settlement held
in Yerevan on March 29.

The working group on Karabagh settlement has held 9 rounds of
discussions in the past 4.5 years in the framework of the Dortmund
conference. As a result of the eighth and ninth rounds of discussions
the text of the Framework Agreement was drafted. The draft has already
been published in the media and will be submitted to the co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group and the leaders of the three countries.

The working group members, all experts with extensive experience
in diplomatic work in conflict regions, are sure that the official
negotiations carried our in the framework of the Minsk Group are
not sufficient.

This is why they are trying to fill in this gap through negotiations
at the level of representatives of the three societies. “We are
not here to suggest final solutions. That is the prerogative of the
Minsk Group. We are here to suggest how to get to those solutions,”
one of the famous co-authors of the Camp David Accord on Arab-Israeli
conflict Harold Sonders noted.

“The Karabagh settlement process does not inspire optimism in
terms of a rapid and comprehensive settlement that would reflect the
interests of all parties engaged. This is why we propose to start with
something: let the troops withdraw, let a peace accord be signed and
then implemented. This process shows that problems can be settled
and that they cannot be settled without participation of Nagorno
Karabagh representatives.

And since the parties will sign the accords and be responsible for
their implementation they must have a certain status. We call it an
intermediate status. It is the acceptance of the fact that Nagorno
Karabagh is a party to the conflict. I think this is very important,”
Irina Zvyagelskaya said in her interview with Yerkir.

It is true that the working group members don’t know how to motivate
Azerbaijan to cooperate with Armenia and Karabagh. Zvyagelskaya
believes there are people in the three countries who are ready for
constructive cooperation and even risk for the sake of realization
of new ideas. However, such people do not have a say, especially in
the Azeri society.

Baku is constantly voicing calls for a new war and destruction of
Armenia and the Armenian nation. In this context mutual concessions
seem like attempts of unilateral concessions on the part of Armenians.

Head of the Sociology Chair at Yerevan State University Lyudmila
Harutyunian expressed her surprise that the international community is
trying to think of some concessions to make Azerbaijan see an obvious
fact – the fact that Nagorno Karabagh is a party of the conflict.

Harutyunian believes “negative peace and a tendency for positive peace”
already exist in Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh while in Azerbaijan there
are no signs of even negative peace. The international community is
favoring Azerbaijan more which means that it is demanding unilateral
concessions from Armenia.

“We forget that Camp David did not solve the Arab-Israeli
conflict. These are conflicts with historical roots that demand
alternative solutions. I think the Armenians’ desire to live in
peace should not be manipulated by the international community. The
international community should not tolerate Azerbaijan’s desire to
settle all problems in its favor,” Harutyunian stressed.

Harutyunian believes the peace building process has not started
yet. The Karabagh conflict still remains as a tool of settling various
issues for different actors engaged in the region. “If Armenians
agree to some intermediate solutions at this stage they will lose.

We don’t see any desire for peace. We speak about peace a lot
but when a peace building process starts a peace fund is usually
established. Why isn’t it established now to help settle the Karabagh
conflict? This means that we are still a long way from peace and
Armenians should not put down their arms being so far away from peace,”
Harutyunian stressed.

PRICE OF FOOD SOARED

Lragir.am
01 April 06

The news agency ARKA, relying on the facts of the National Statistics
Service of Armenia, informs that in March 2006 the prices of food in
Armenia grew by 5 per cent. The price of fish went up by 21.2 per
cent, the price of fresh whitefish increased by 25.2 per cent. It
is notable that in nine cities of Armenia the price of fish grew by
11.9-27.4 per cent, whereas in Vanadzor it went down by 3.2 per cent.

The price of sugar grew by 7.2 per cent, the price of meat and meat
products grew by 0.1-3.3 per cent. The “odyssey” of bird flu caused
the price of egg to go down by 13.6 per cent. The prices of fruit
and vegetables decreased by an average of 3.9 and 1.9 per cent
respectively. The prices of coffee, tea, alcohol and tobacco did
not change.

ARMENIA FACES LOSSES CAUSED BY CORRUPTION

Lragir.am
29 March 06

In 2005 the losses of Armenia caused by corruption totaled 3 billion
487 million drams, but only 236 million drams was recovered. Bagrat
Yesayan, the adviser to the president of Armenia on corruption,
says Armenia is facing serious corruption problems.

According to Bagrat Yesayan, more cases of corruption were revealed
in 2005 than in 2004, and 97 officials were punished. Yesayan does
not want to assess whether this is much or little; he merely mentions
the fact.

ARIF MAMMEDOV: “MISTAKE AT THE EU COMISSION WEBSITE FIXED”

Today, Azerbaijan
March 29 2006

Mistake at the EU Comission website, where Nagorno Karabakh was shown
as an Armenian territory, is fixed, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Benelux
and EU countries, Arif Mammedov told.

After the tough reaction from the Azerbaijani side, EU Comission
representatives have admitted the mistake committed by some of its
employees, he said. Admittedly, mistakes on the map were committed
not only towards the Azerbaijani territory but also the Balkan states
and the Palestinian autonomy.

“Literally 1, 5-2 hours from our demand these maps will be taken off
the website. They have apologized and promised to investigate the
issue. This employee will be probably punished or fired,” Mammedov
said, adding that all maps were taken for the revisal from the website.

An appeal was send to the EU General Directorate on international
relations considering the fact that EU Comission website’s on energy
Gas section showing the pipeline route depicted Nagorno Karabakh,
adjacent regions and Nakhcivan as an Armenian territory, Trend reports.

URL:

TREN D Information, Azerbaijan March 29 2006

Arif Mammedov: Mistake at the EU EuroComission website fixed

Source: Trend Author: E. Huseynov

29.03.2006

Mistake at the EU EuroComission website, where Nagorno-Karabakh was
showed as an Armenian territory, is fixed, Azerbaijani ambassador to
Benelux and EU countries, Arif Mammedov told Trend.

After the tough reaction from the Azerbaijani side, EU EuroComission
representatives have admitted the mistake committed by some of its
employees, he said. Admittedly, mistakes on the map were committed
not only towards the Azerbaijani territory but also the Balkan states
and the Palestinian autonomy.

“Literally 1, 5-2 hours from our demand these maps will be taken off
the website

. They have apologized and promised to investigate the issue. This
employee will be probably punished or fired,” Mammedov said, adding
that all maps were taken for the revisal from the website.

An appeal was send to the EU General Directorate on international
relations considering the fact that EU EuroComission website`
s on energy Gas section showing the pipeline route depicted
Nagorno-Karabakh, adjacent regions and Nakhcivan as an Armenian
territory.

EBRD HOPES ARMENIA TO GET SOVEREIGN RATING IN 2006

Arka News Agency, Armenia
March 29 2006

YEREVAN, March 29. /ARKA/. European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development hopes Armenia to get sovereign rating in 2006, EBRD
Regional Director Michael Davey said Wednesday at a press conference
in Yerevan. In his words, negotiations between Armenian Government
and certain financial organizations are under way now.

Tigran Sargsyan, Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia, speaking
Tuesday in Yerevan at an international banking conference focused on
foreign trade financing, said the Government’s negotiations with two
world rating companies are expected to result in receiving sovereign
investment rating by Armenia.

Sargsyan said all potential investments would recognize Armenia in
the world fiscal map and keep watch on changes in the republic’s
rating. He thinks it would be very important for the country.