Category: News

Armenia sees no need for EU mediation in Karabakh settlement
Interfax
May 27 2004
Yerevan. (Interfax) – Armenia does not think it is necessary for
the European Union to act as mediator in the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian
told reporters on Wednesday.
He said talks on Nagorno-Karabakh are being held in the framework of
the OSCE Minsk group which fully suits the Armenian side.
“The European Union has always promoted the efforts of the Minsk
Group and I hope it will continue to do so. But there is currently
no need to involve the EU in the negotiations as a mediator,” he said.
Oskanian also denied reports of new proposals on Karabakh from
Minsk group co-chairmen. “New ideas should not be confused with new
proposals,” he said.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
May 27 2004
FINLAND KEEN IN DEVELOPMENT OF RELATIONS WITH AZERBAIJAN
[May 27, 2004, 11:03:35]
On May 26, Minister of foreign affairs of Azerbaijan Republic Elmar
Mammadyarov has met the ambassador of Finland accredited in Helsinki
in Azerbaijan Timo Lahelma.
As informed to AzerTAj from the press center of the Ministry of
foreign affairs, ambassador Timo Lahelma, having informed that for
the first time has visited Baku in 1995, has with satisfaction noted,
that for last years in Azerbaijan radical reforms have been lead
conducted. Having emphasized interest of his country in development
of relations with Azerbaijan in various areas, the ambassador has
expressed hope, that madam Terhi Hakala who since September 2004 will
substitute him on this post, also will continue this line. Having noted
importance of realization by our countries of visits at high level
for steady development of links, the ambassador has expressed sincere
gratitude for the support rendered by our country of Finland within
the framework of the international organizations within these years.
Having stopped then on prospects of connections, ambassador Timo
Lahelma informed the Minister about intention of Finland to open
honorable consulate in our country, sign Memorandum on mutual
understanding of equipment of branches of reanimation in hospitals of
Azerbaijan with new technique and expand connections in the field of
culture. Having touched the further activity, the ambassador informed,
that would continue mission to Lithuania.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov, highly having estimated
interest of Finland in further steady development of relations,
has noted importance of continuation of joint efforts in the said
area. The head of foreign policy department Elmar Mammadyarov has
noted, that counts realization of activity of constant embassy of
Finland in Azerbaijan necessary for adjustment in the future of links
between our countries on stronger basis. Having touched the connections
between our countries in sphere of culture, the Minister has noted,
that the question of development of links and in the field of science
and education, and also participation of diplomats in the advance
courses of experience has great value.
Having informed the ambassador about integration of our country into
the European institutes, the Minister, showing as an example working
visit of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to the Kingdom of
Belgium, has noted, that the said visit has brought in the positive
contribution to development of relations of our Republic with the
European Union within the framework of new policy of neighborhood.
Having informed then the ambassador about the work done in the field
of settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh conflict,
Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov has especially emphasized activity of the
European Union connected to resolution to the conflict.
At the meeting, also discussed were other issues of mutual interest.
From: Baghdasarian

Full Frame Jihad
By Cinnamon Stillwell
FrontPageMagazine.com | May 27, 2004
Frontpagemag.com
May 27 2004
It is no secret that people with left-leaning political perspectives
dominate film festivals, and thus they tend to promote films that
reflect their worldview, while shunning those that contradict it.
This is certainly the case when it comes to films about Islam, one of
the Left’s pet subjects in the post-9/11 world. If a film does not
portray Muslims in a positive light (or as victims), it will
inevitably be labeled “propaganda” instead of “art.” Yet strangely
enough, actual propaganda is often lauded as “art.”
Mohammed Bakri’s Jenin Jenin, for instance, advances the myth that
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) “massacred” Palestinians during
Operation Defensive Shield in 2002. [1] Despite being widely
discredited, this so-called documentary played at the Big Sky
Documentary Film Festival in Montana this year, [2] as well as
various “Palestinian Film Festivals” on college campuses across the
country, and it won Best Film at the Carthage International Film
Festival. [3] In contrast, Pierre Rehov’s Road to Jenin, an expose
about how the Palestinians perpetrated a media fraud in Jenin, has
played at very few film festivals. [4]
This year the Islam documentary making the rounds is Noble Sacrifice
(Thabh-ul-Azim) by Vatche Boulghourjian, an ethnic Armenian born in
Kuwait and educated in the United States and Britain. Shot in
southern Lebanon, this controversial film, which draws a connection
between the Shiite ritual of Ashura (self-flagellation) and the
popular mythology of “martyrdom” throughout the Islamic world,
recently screened (April 2, 2004) at the Full Frame Documentary Film
Festival in North Carolina. [5] The film description at the Full
Frame website demonstrates a typical moral ambiguity towards Islamic
terrorism, saying:
“Noble Sacrifice examines the historical and philosophical
implications of Ashura on current socio-political conditions and
military theaters. More importantly, it challenges audiences to
contemplate the rationality underlying the act and discourse of what
has become one of the most controversial topics in contemporary
history – suicide bombing – recognized locally as martyrdom
operations. [6]”
Unsurprisingly, the documentary’s bloody imagery and glorification of
suicide bombings were the subject of a heated debate after the
screening. What film festival promoters had billed as a “provocative
discussion,” turned out to be a revealing experience. Boulghourjian
vowed never to show the film “in the United States again,” after a
Muslim woman in the audience called it “irresponsible for connecting
violence to Islam” and someone else labeled it “propaganda”. [7]
Tellingly, no one commented on the film’s celebration of terrorism,
only its politically incorrect depiction of Islam.
The Noble Sacrifice panel discussion also shed light on the
intersection of film festivals and universities. Panelists included
two Duke University professors, Negar Mottahedeh and Miriam Cooke.
Both Mottahedeh, a professor of Literature and Film, and Cooke, a
professor of Modern Arabic Literature and Culture, have a long
history of promoting leftist politics through their work at Duke
University. Professor Cooke has also been very active in Duke
University’s Islamic Studies Department. She is co-director of the
university’s Center for the Study of Muslim Networks (CSMN), [8] as
well as being involved in the 2003-2004 Carolina Seminar on
Comparative Islamic Studies. [9] And it turns out that Cooke had
crossed paths with Boulghourjian’s film once before.
Noble Sacrifice had been set to screen at Full Frame in 2003 (during
the liberation of Iraq) but was canceled at the last minute due to
“wartime sensitivities.” [10] Nancy Buirski, the festival’s founder
and executive director, was uncomfortable with the film’s negative
portrayal of Muslims and pulled it in what she called, “the spirit of
reconciliation and tolerance.” In making her decision, Buirski
deferred to Professor Cooke, who was to introduce the documentary.
But after viewing it at home the night before, Cooke refused,
describing it as “a sensationalistic film that was treating people
not as devotees but as fanatics.” She labeled the filmmaker “biased”
and called his linking of Ashura and suicide bombings
“reprehensible.” Cooke maintained that the rituals portrayed in the
film represented only a “local, cultish version” of Ashura, and
worried that they might “inflame anti-Arab sentiments.” [11] In other
words, Islam’s reputation as a “religion of peace” was at stake and
Cooke was not about to aid in its destruction.
In an interview in April of 2003, filmmaker Vatche Boulghourjian,
[12] disputed Cooke’s assertions, pointing out that self-flagellation
occurs in South Lebanon, “whether Miriam Cooke and other scholars of
Islamic or Asian studies like it or not.” And he stood by his
decision to associate Ashura with suicide bombings. Boulghourjian
cited Sayyid Hasan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of the Lebanese
terrorist group Hezbollah, for making “the connection between Ashura,
politics, resistance and self-sacrifice very clear.”
The documentary relies on archival footage obtained from Hezbollah
officials and includes scenes of suicide bombings, as well as a
videotaped “pre-martyrdom message” from Salah Ghandour, the Lebanese
suicide bomber who blew himself up near an Israeli base in southern
Lebanon in 1993.
Considering all this, Cooke’s assertions of bias seem a tad bit
misdirected.
The Full Frame Festival was by no means professor Cooke’s first brush
with notoriety. She gained attention in 2003 for co-organizing Duke
University’s “Axis of Evil” film festival, along with professor
Mottahedeh. [13] The series was dubbed “Reel Evil” and featured films
from Iran, Iraq and North Korea, as well as rogue states Syria,
Libya, and Cuba. The timing of the festival coincided with the advent
of the war in Iraq, which made it essentially a platform for anti-war
sentiment. Considering Cooke and several of her students attended an
anti-war rally in Washington D.C. the same year, this was hardly
surprising. [14]
Of course, the real target of the festival was President Bush and his
famous “axis of evil” phrase in the 2002 State of the Union address.
As Cooke said at the time, the festival was an “opportunity to see
the kind of work, cultural work, that people are doing in the
countries that our government has labeled evil.” [15] The fact that
the film from North Korea, Pulgasari, was produced by Dictator Kim
Jung Il and featured an actress and director who had been kidnapped
from South Korea and forced to work on the project, didn’t seem to
factor into Cooke’s reasoning.
Why professor Cooke, Buirski, and the Full Frame Documentary Film
Festival brought Noble Sacrifice back a year later remains something
of a mystery. Buirski had promised the film would resurface and with
the war in Iraq no longer a new development, she may have considered
the timing better. [16] Or it could be that organizers decided to
take the film festival’s motto to heart: “How much reality can you
handle?” How much indeed.
Notes:
[1] Lee Kaplan, “PLO Propaganda Film ‘Jenin, Jenin,'” February 20,
2004. FrontPageMagazine.com:
[2] Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, 2004 Official Selections,
HighPlainsFilms.org: ilms.org/festival/selections.htm
[3] Eric J. Greenberg, “Mapping a Controversy,” The Jewish Week,
January 31,
2003:
;print=yes
[4] Greg Myre, “Battle for Jenin camp flares anew on TV,” New York
Times,
April 3, 2004. SunSentinal.com:
,0,610 3335.
story?coll=sfla-features-headlines
[5] Full Frame Documentary Film Festival:
[6] Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Panels:
[7] Holly Hickman, “Full Frame airs ‘Noble Sacrifice,’ pulled from
2003
festival,” Associated Press, April 2, 2004. NewsObserver.com:
[8] Holly Hickman, “Full Frame airs ‘Noble Sacrifice,’ pulled from
2003
festival,” Associated Press, April 2, 2004. NewsObserver.com:
[9] Center for the Study of Muslim Networks, Duke University:
n_about.html
[9] Carolina Seminar on Comparative Islamic Studies, Upcoming Events
on the
Middle East and Muslim Civilizations, 2003-2004:
[10] David Fellerath, “Confronting Reality From Home and Abroad; the
2003
Full Frame Doc Fest,” Independent Weekly, On the Scene:
[11] David Fellerath, “Nausea on a sea of blood: Why did the Full
Frame
Festival yank Noble Sacrifice?” Independent Weekly, April 23, 2003.
IndyWeek.com:
[12] David Fellerath, “Confronting Reality From Home and Abroad; the
2003
Full Frame Doc Fest,”Independent Weekly, On the Scene, April. 2003:
[13] David M. Lewkowict, “Staff, Students ‘Duke’ It Out Over Film
Festival,”
FoxNews.com, March 12, 2003:
,2933,80849,00.html
[14] Arts & Sciences and Trinity College News, Miriam Cooke:
[15] David M. Lewkowict, “Staff, Students ‘Duke’ It Out Over Film
Festival,”
FoxNews.com, March 12, 2003:
,2933,80849,00.html
[16] David Fellerath, “Noble Sacrifice,” The Independent Weekly,
March 31,
2004. IndyWeek.com:
.asp?ID=13546

Melkonian teachers to go on strike in increasingly bitter battle for school
By Jean Christou
Cyprus Mail, Cyprus
May 27 2004
STAFF at the Melkonian Educational Institute (MEI) in Nicosia will
strike today and announced they would also refuse to give year-end
grades in protest over the school’s governing body’s insinuations
that education standards are not up to scratch.
“We are left with no other option than to bring the above grievances
to public attention,” a statement from the teachers said yesterday.
The loss making MEI, which is sitting on £40 million worth of real
estate in the capital’s commercial district, has been slated to close
in June 2005 by the foundation that governs it, the New York based
Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), which oversees 22 Armenian
schools worldwide.
The teachers claimed that during the past few days, members of the
administrative staff, had on instructions from the AGBU quietly
been ringing students’ parents to discourage them from sending their
children to the MEI next year.
“This is in total contradiction to the fact that last April the AGBU
published an advertisement in the press for new enrolments for the
academic year 2004-2005,” a staff statement said.
Among the reasons cited by the AGBU for the closure of the 78-year
old boarding school were claims that teaching standards were not up
to scratch. In their statement, MEI staff said they would refuse to
give year-end grades or engage in writing any end-of-year reports
“until the AGBU retracted its unfounded and damaging assertions about
the quality of teaching and learning that goes on in our school.”
“If the AGBU considers us, the teaching staff of MEI, as incompetent
teachers it cannot expect us to function as competent assessors. The
AGBU cannot have it both ways,” the statement added.
Last November, the AGBU said the school was not for sale, but then
changed tack and announced the closure. The schools alumni are
convinced the foundation’s only aim is to “take the money and run”.
“Since the announcement of the AGBU’s declared intention to close
the Melkonian… in the year 2005, we the teaching staff have shown
tremendous restraint and patience towards the AGBU’s insulting and
unfounded assertions,” the staff statement went on.
Since then, it said, staff had been told by Gordon Anderson, the
AGBU’s representative on site, that the AGBU did not intend to close
the school – only the dormitories which host over 75 per cent of
the students.
“This is an insult to our intelligence,” said the staff statement.
“How can anybody expect a school to be run when its student population
is reduced from 210 students to just over 50.” It added that last
year the school’s population was reduced from 260 to 210 after the
AGBU unilaterally decided to reduce scholarships to underprivileged
children from the Armenian Diaspora. “Closing the dormitories amounts
to closing the school,” it said.
“In the meantime, our polite request for the AGBU to retract the
ridiculous assertions mentioned above to this day remains unanswered.”
Staff say there is no doubt that the AGBU is trying to use the teaching
staff as a scapegoat for their decision to close the school in order
to sell the land on which it stands and claim they are using devious
methods to reduce the student population of the school in order to
turn it into a non-viable school and ultimately close it down.
“The AGBU is implementing a preconceived plan. These actions by
the AGBU are coming at a time when the school has been attracting
an increasing number of students from the Greek Cypriot and other
communities in Cyprus,” the statement said “We are the ones that
genuinely care for the young people in our charge and, unfortunately,
must come to the conclusion that open, honest and reasonable behaviour
is simply taken advantage of, while others deal contemptuously with
students’ and teachers’ lives and careers.”
The staff are calling on the parents of existing students not to fall
victim to the AGBU’s attempts to discourage them from sending their
children to the MEI next year and to join their campaign to keep the
school open for future generations.
Last month the government slapped a preservation order on the
Melkonian, giving the school, slated to close next year, a temporary
reprieve, but so far there are no assurances about the school’s
continuation beyond June 2005.

Defense Minister Ivanov denies Russian, US plan to use radar station
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
May 27 2004
On Friday at a news conference in Yerevan, Russian Defense Minister
Sergey Ivanov refuted the reports that Russia and the United States are
planning to use the Gabala radar station. An agreement on the status,
principles and terms of use of the Gabala station was concluded by
Russia and Azerbaijan
in Moscow on January 25, 2002. In compliance with the agreement,
the station is owned by Azerbaijan, and Russia leases the property
for 10 years. The agreement also stipulates that the station will
be used by Russia only for information and analytical purposes. The
use of the Gabala station “will not be used directly or indirectly
against the sovereignty and security of the Azerbaijan Republic”,
the document reads.
Commenting on the recent Azerbaijani media reports on Russian military
personnel of Armenian descent serving at the Gabala station, Ivanov
said Russia is a multi-national country and that the Russian army
includes officers of various nationalities, including Azerbaijanis.
Parliament to reconsider Russian use of Gabala radar station Opposition
MP Mais Safarli recently brought up the issue of Armenian officers
being involved at the Gabala radar station and stressed the importance
of taking measures in this respect. Safarli said the issue will be
reconsidered at the next Milli Majlis (parliament) session and the
parliament administration demanded that a decisive stand be taken on
the matter. “I raised the issue in a recent Milli Majlis session. As
far as I know, there are currently over 30 Armenian military personnel
at the station, which jeopardizes Azerbaijan’s national interests”,
he said. Safarli stated that Baku should demand the withdrawal
of Armenian military personnel from the Gabala station. He said
that Azerbaijan reserves the right to reconsider the terms of the
inter-governmental agreement envisioning the use of the facility by
Russia. Political scholar Zardusht Alizada stated that according to
the existing agreement between Russia and Azerbaijan, both Russian
soldiers and civilians work at the station. “Under the inter-state
protocol, Azerbaijan must guarantee their safety. The agreement
does not exclude service by Armenian military personnel at the
station, as this would contradict international legal norms”, Alizada
said. From this standpoint, Azerbaijan should not oppose the service
of Armenian officers at the Gabala station, he concluded. The Gabala
radar station was built in 1984 to monitor launch of inter-continental
ballistic missiles and flights on almost all types of aviation in the
Southern hemisphere. The station was actively used for radio-technical
intelligence during the Iran-Iraq war in 1980s, the Persian Gulf
War, and during anti-terrorism operations in Afghanistan. The Gabala
station is an important part of Russia’s missile defense system.

US trade with Upper Garabagh creates storm
Azer News, Azerbaijan
May 27 2004
The reports on the signing of a deal between two US companies with
“Garabagh Telecom”, an entity operating in the Azerbaijani lands
occupied by Armenian and Russian military units, have caused serious
concerns in some news media and the Milli Majlis (parliament).
Some opposition and independent newspapers as well as individuals
even blame Reno Harnish, the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, for
justifying his country’s attempts to establish economic relations
with the separatist leadership of Upper Garabagh. The reason is due
to the opinions expressed by Harnish during his talk with journalists
following the 8th meeting of the US-Azerbaijani working group on
economic cooperation held in Baku last week.
The fact that the US Ambassador called Upper Garabagh ‘a country’ in
passing, as well as his saying that the US doesn’t impose commercial
restrictions against any country was called sensational by most
newspapers. In particular, the opposition-minded “Yeni Musavat”
newspaper, a publication of the Musavat Party, issued a critical
article about Harnish, urging him to give an explanation on the
matter. The newspaper even compared him with the former US Ambassador
Stanley Escudero, who Yeni Musavat says didn’t have such a good image
in Azerbaijan. The public seems to have found a reason for expressing
displeasure with the US government with regard to the Garabagh
conflict. And what is the reason for the public dissatisfaction and
negative attitude towards the US government? Why do people who
considered the United States the most reliable and powerful ally of
Azerbaijan in the 1990s, today doubt it? The main reason is that the
United States shows double standards towards Armenia and Azerbaijan,
it has failed to observe ‘a principle of justice’ in the settlement
of the Garabagh conflict and that it doesn’t differentiate between an
aggressor and a sufferer. People think that the United States is
taking advantage of the slogans of human rights, democracy,
territorial inviolability of states as well as combating terrorism
and the drug business, only for its political goals. The United
States indirectly supports Armenian separatists, who are involved in
drug business and terror attacks in the occupied territory of
Garabagh, but has imposed sanctions on Azerbaijan for about ten
years. Don’t the US intelligence agencies know that Armenian and
Arabian terrorists have been cooperating since the beginning of the
20th century? Azerbaijani MPs didn’t remain indifferent to the issue
either.
MPs’ protest
At a Tuesday session of the Milli Majlis (parliament), MPs protested
strongly against some US companies’ attempts to make investments in
the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, particularly in Upper Garabagh.
According to MPs, the business relations between the companies of the
US, which is a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, and separatist
forces in Upper Garabagh contradict the national interests of
Azerbaijan. MPs proposed that the issue be discussed at the
parliament and the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan be informed about it.
They also decided to address the US government in connection with the
issue. Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov said that the US companies’ activity
doesn’t express the standpoint of the US government. He noted that
however, the issue should be considered seriously. Alasgarov
underlined that he would appeal to the Foreign Ministry in order to
clear up the matter and ask it to bring the issue to the notice of
the US Ambassador.
Ambassador denies trade ties
US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Reno Harnish, told a news conference
after a meeting held at Baku State University (BSU) on Wednesday that
the US has not made any investments in ‘Upper Garabagh’ and that
Washington does not support trade relations with the self-proclaimed
republic. He pointed out that negotiations are the only fair
alternative in settling the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper
Garabagh. The latest statement of the US Ambassador eased the heated
debates but did not put an end to them. While pursuing its policy in
the region, the United States should take into account the national
interests of its partners as well. For this, it should be a fair
judge and put an end to its double standards.

Greece gets second chance at Euro 2004
BY KYRIACOS CONDOULIS
FOX Sports
May 27 2004
Associated Press
May. 27, 2004 11:59 a.m.
ATHENS, Greece (AP)— Greece is playing in a European Championship for
the first time in 24 years with hopes of erasing past embarrassments.
A good performance at Euro 2004 in Portugal would also give the
country a sporting boost ahead of the Aug. 13-29 Olympics.
Greece’s German coach Otto Rehhagel is aiming high. After completing
a lap of honor with his players last year to celebrate qualification
for the June 12-July 4 finals, “King Otto” spelled out his team’s
intentions.
“We want to make an impact in Portugal. We don’t just want to put in
an appearance.”
Greece topped Group 6, forcing favorites Spain to the playoffs,
in a qualification stunner.
Having lost just one match in 16 encounters, Greece is feeling
optimistic despite a daunting fixture list – hosts Portugal in the
tournament’s opening match on June 12, followed by a revenge-hungry
Spain and unpredictable Russia.
On top of this, Greece’s record at the highest level is dismal. The
country has never won a game in the finals of any major competition.
Humiliation last came in 1994 in the United States, when Greece’s first
World Cup appearance ended in disaster with three heavy defeats. In
their first game against Argentina, Greece conceded a goal just 83
seconds into the match and went on to lose 4-0.
An early exit in Portugal would kill the sense of pride revived since
Rehhagel’s arrival in 2001.
The German triggered a change in the team’s fortunes after another
failed campaign in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers and a walkout by
Demis Nikolaidis and other star players disgusted at the state of
Greek soccer.
Rehhagel set out methodically to reinvent the team, luring back
Nikolaidis to join Angelos Haristeas and Zissis Vryzas in attack and
form a trio that fired Greece through the Euro 2004 qualification
campaign.
Early signs of recovery were evident in the 2-2 draw with England in
a 2002 World Cup qualifier at Old Trafford. Nikolaidis put the Greeks
ahead early in the second half and England only scraped through thanks
to David Beckham’s historic last-minute free kick.
The road to Portugal started badly for the Greeks who suffered 2-0
defeats at home to Spain in September 2002 and away to Ukraine a
month later.
But Rehhagel’s confidence in his men was rewarded and Greece bounced
back four days later to beat Armenia 2-0 at home with Nikolaidis
scoring both goals. Haristeas received the honors in April 2003 when
Greece beat Northern Ireland in Belfast with two goals from the Werder
Bremen striker.
Greece’s finest hour came last June when a stunning 1-0 away victory
against Spain, with the damage dome by Bolton Wanderers midfielder
Stelios Giannakopoulos.
Qualification was suddenly with reach, and victory against Ukraine
four days afterward with a late Haristeas goal put the Greeks squarely
back in contention.
Rehhagel’s men leapfrogged Spain to go top after the favorites were
held by Northern Ireland.
There was no looking back.
Greece traveled to Armenia to deliver a 1-0 defeat, in a match marred
by bribery allegations that were eventually dropped by Armenian
officials. And a final 1-0 victory over Northern Ireland sealed the
winning run.
Key to Greece’s revival was the squad’s newfound unity and attacking
mentality, with German rigor imposed on a traditionally undisciplined
side.
Rehhagel’s innovations including a strong defense line with Nikos
Dabitzas and Traianos Dellas joining Yiannis Goumas or Michalis
Kapsis. The fast footed Yiourkas Seitaridis played right and Stelios
Venetidis or Panagiotis Fyssas played down the left.
Superb goalkeeping from Antonis Nikopolidis kept the Greek unbeaten,
despite being sidelined by his own Athens club in a salary dispute.
Angelos Basinas, Vassilis Tsiartas – who grabbed the winning goal
against Northern Ireland – and captain Theodore Zagorakis are likely
to feature prominently in the Greek midfield. Inter Milan agile
midfielder Giorgos Karagounis adds an extra dose of creativity.
Greece conceded four goals in eight qualification matches, in the
face of attacking might of players like Real Madrid’s Raul Gonzalez
and AC Milan’s Andriy Shevchenko, both firing blanks.
Rehhagel, a former Werder Bremen coach, is not expected to make any
substantial changes to the spine of the team.
A reality check for Greece came on April 28 when the unbeaten streak
was finally ended by a 4-0 friendly defeat at the hands of fellow
qualifiers the Netherlands.
It was an uncomfortable reminder of their crushing 5-0 defeat to
England at Wembley prior to the 1994 World Cup. Greece went on to
concede 10 goals – scoring none – in the finals.
Greece didn’t heed the warning then. An entire nation is hoping they
will now.

Armenians, Tajiks Suffer From Hunger Most, Report Says
Baku Today
May 27 2004
Among countries of the former Soviet Union, Armenia and Tajikistan
are those suffering from hunger most, said a report by a UN Food
and Agriculture Organization expert, David Sedik, ANS reported on
Wednesday.
According to the expert, 40 percent of Armenians and Tajiks are living
on the edge of starvation.
In Azerbaijan Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kirgizistan, 35
percent of population does not have enough to eat, the report said.
The figure is 20 percent in Belarus, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and
Moldovia. In total, 38 million people suffer from malnutrition in
former Soviet republics, according to the report.
However, the problem is not so serious in ex-Communist countries that
now are members of the European Union. Among the mentioned nations, the
worst situation with inefficient nutrition is in Latvia and Slovakia.
The figure doesn’t surpass 2 percent in Czech republic and Hungary and
it is only 1 percent in Poland, the report says, explaining that the
problem with starvation arises mainly from low salaries and pensions.

Germany to lend Armenia 3.5 mln euros for deposit guarantees
Interfax
May 27 2004
Yerevan. (Interfax) – Germany will lend Armenia 3.5 million euros to
bolster its credit guarantee fund, Karapet Gevorkian, a representative
of Germany’s KfW, which will disburse the money, told Interfax.
KfW will release the money after it has approved a feasibility study,
due to be completed at the end of June, Gevorkian said. In addition,
the bank is still waiting for Armenia’s parliament to pass a law on
guaranteeing personal bank deposits, he said.
Armenia started its deposit guarantee fund on July 1, 2003, but this
will not be in a position to start payments until July 1, 2005.
It is thought the guarantee fund will receive the credit, which will
be repayable in 40 years, at 0.75% annually. The credit will enable
banks to lower mandatory deductions to the fund from 0.5% to 0.2%
of the deposits they receive.
Germany has issued 110 million euros in credits and grants to Armenia
to date.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Pepsi plant opens in Georgia
Interfax
May 27 2004
Tbilisi. (Interfax) – A Pepsi plant costing $7 million opened this
week in Tbilisi and it will be the exclusive distributor of PepsiCo
products in Georgia and Armenia.
The plant is owned by Georgia’s Iberia Group, the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and two individuals, the plant’s
General Director David Lomjari told Interfax.
The Bank of Georgia extended a $2 million loan and the EBRD loaned
1 million euros to finance the project. The plant has a capacity of
12,000 liters of soft drinks a day, which will completely satisfy
market demand, Lomjari said. The plant will produce soft drinks,
including Pepsi, Pepsi Light and Miranda.