PUTIN JOKES AT EURASIAN FORUM

RIA Novosti, Russia
June 18 2004

ASTANA, June 18 (RIA Novosti) – President Vladimir Putin joked that it
was “inhuman” to have the leaders of the Eurasian Economic Community
meet so early because of a three hour time difference between Moscow
and Astana.

The Russian President is participating in the international forum,
“Eurasian Integration: Trends of Modern Development and Challenges of
Globalization,” in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, at Lev Gumilyov
Eurasian University.

“We have come here to discuss humanitarian issues but [Kazakhstan’s
president] Nursultan Abishevich [Nazarbayev] is not treating us
humanely – it is 6 a.m. in Moscow now, and I will hardly be able to
deliver as great of a speech as he has,” Mr. Putin said smiling.

Mr. Putin was to speak after Mr. Nazarbayev who spoke about many
aspects of cooperation between member states of the Eurasian Economic
Community (the member states are Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Russia, and Tajikistan) and CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization
(Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan). The
Russian president was apparently in high moods.

“Gumilyov’s ideas captivate people,” he said, “Some experts argue that
almost all people become relatives as 14 or 15 generations pass. I am
not sure about the entire planet, but within the Eurasian boundaries of
the former USSR we are all relatives, and closer than 14 generations,”
he emphasized.

Also smiling, he added that there was a funny thing on the agenda that
caught his eye. He said that while the first issue on the agenda was
speeches by heads of Eurasian Economic Community and CIS Collective
Security Treaty Organization member states, “the second line is
especially for [Armenian President Robert] Kocharyan’s speech,”
the Russian leader remarked.

Other heads of state followed in Vladimir Putin’s cheerful tone.
Giving the floor to the President of Armenia, Mr. Nazarbayev said that
he “would like to correct the mistake Vladimir Putin has noticed.” He
assured Mr. Kocharyan that he had nothing to do with what was written
on the agenda.

Mr. Kocharyan reciprocated by saying, as he took the floor, that “the
status of [the economic community] observer has some advantages. It
is great to be a separate issue on the agenda of the forum,” he said
and added he was “thinking whether one should lose this advantage by
getting membership.”

The hall applauded and Mr. Putin, jokingly irritated, exclaimed:
“What are you applauding at?”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Eurasian community leaders arriving in Kazakhstan for economic summit

Kazakh Television first channel, Astana
17 Jun 04

[Presenter] An agreement on cooperation in securities markets and
a treaty on coordinating the legislation relating to the EAEC [the
Eurasian Economic Community of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Russia and Tajikistan – the former Customs Union] member states
are expected to be signed at an interstate council of the EAEC [in
Kazakhstan] tomorrow.

The chairman of the EAEC Integration Committee and a deputy prime
minister of Kazakhstan, Sauat Mynbayev, said the interstate session
would also discuss a single-tariff policy on railway freight, ensuring
the free movement of capital, goods and services and the countries’
information awareness in the run-up to WTO membership.

The EAEC member states will also discuss procedures for cooperation
in using water-energy resources of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers.

The members of the committee said supranational structures should be
set up in order to effectively use the water resources.

[Grigoriy Rapota, the EAEC secretary-general] The cross-flow of
electric power from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Russia via Uzbekistan
and Kazakhstan has already been taking place for two years. This is
the first and important step towards creating a common energy market.

As we were studying these issues – the construction of a hydroelectric
power station – we came across important problems on which Central
Asian states have already been working. They concern the regulation
of water-energy resources. These two processes are interrelated.

Now we are discussing the creation of a permanent mechanism which
would implement this regulation.

[Presenter] The heads of the main states [of the EAEC] – Belarusian
President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan,
Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev and Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov –
have already arrived in Kazakhstan to participate in the interstate
council of the EAEC.

[Video shows the session, Rapota speaking to camera and Lukashenka
at airport]

The Halifax Daily News (Nova Scotia)
June 17, 2004 Thursday

Cheer for the Salseros;
Talented performers and food vie for attention at the Multicultural
Festival

by Gee, Skana

This show could be brought to you by the letter S … sassy, sexy
salsa stylings by the Halifax Salseros, at this week’s Nova Scotia
Multicultural Festival.

“It’s such a great festival and it’s going to be nice to add some
local salsa dancing to it,” says Cindy Davis. “We do something called
rueda. It’s like square dancing – there’s a caller, there are set
moves, but it’s to salsa music.”

A longtime dancer who caught the Latin groove a few years ago, Davis,
26, is also co-ordinator for the Halifax branch of Salsa Team Canada.

“It’s fun music – people like to move to it – and it’s a good partner
dance; it’s very social. And it’s different from the Latin dance
sport, which is very technical and strict. This is more forgiving,
it’s fun, it’s energetic.”

The Salseros join dozens of acts gracing Alderney Landing during the
festival, which kicked off last night and continues through Sunday,
June 20. There’s everything from tai chi demonstrations, Irish step
dancers and Sudanese thumb piano, to Polish folk dancing, Brazilian
percussion and South Asian pop. As well, the Myungji Traditional
Dance Company visits from Korea, along with Haik!, a children’s dance
troupe from Armenia.

To top it off, there are 50 exhibit booths, 28 food booths – forget
that diet, there’s no resisting! – a kids’ activity area, and a beer
tent.

The event, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, is a major
highlight for the more than 40 cultural groups that take part.

“This is the biggest event in their cultural life here – they try to
present their past,” says festival chairman Mukhtyar Tomar, who came
to Canada 36 years ago from India. “People want to learn about other
cultural communities. And the food is the biggest draw.”

This will be the third year Sue Woo of Baan Thai restaurant has
volunteered in the food tent with the Thai Association.

The preparation takes days – spring rolls and spicy noodles are on
the menu – but she says it’s worth it: “Everybody knows Chinese food,
but some people say ‘What is Thai food?'”

Woo loves it when fest-goers ask questions because “that means
they’re interested in Thai culture.”

The festival was born in 1984 when the Multicultural Association of
Nova Scotia celebrated its own 10th anniversary with an evening of
ethnic food and performances, recalls Tomar.

“People enjoyed it so thoroughly, we were looking for something to do
year after year,” he says.

The festival started small the following year at the Technical
University of Nova Scotia, moving to the Dartmouth waterfront in
1987. It’s been there since – except for an experiment at the
Garrison Grounds in 1993 – growing to the point where it draws more
than 40,000 people.

Along with expanding to five days, the fest has also started a Focus
on Youth Day, expected to attract hundreds of school kids tomorrow.
It’ll feature music, performances, a spoken-word workshop with HFX’s
Shauntay Grant, crafts, and, of course, food.

“We’re celebrating 20 years of diversity and friendship – I am so
thrilled,” says Tomar.

Admission is $6 for adults, $5 students/seniors, $1 for kids five to
12. Visit

Agency WPS
What the Papers Say. Part B (Russia)
June 17, 2004, Thursday

$1 BILLION FOR ISLAM KARIMOV

SOURCE: Vremya Novostei, June 17, 2004, p. 2

by Arkady Dubnov

President Vladimir Putin began his four-day Central Asian tour with a
working visit to Tashkent yesterday. Putin’s itinerary includes three
summits in a row. Today a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) will take place in the capital of Uzbekistan,
attended by the leaders of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Hamid Karzai, head of the interim
administration of Afghanistan, is invited to the summit as well.

The summit will adopt the Provision on Observer Status for the SCO,
and experts believe that Afghanistan will be given this status in the
near future. “We will discuss how we can help Afghanistan organize
elections, suppress anti-government actions, and restore its national
economy,” Putin said.

It is apparently too early yet to talk about what the SCO can do to
help the Afghanistan administration “suppress anti-government
actions.” Karzai is highly unlikely to appeal to members of the SCO
to send armed contingents. It is clear that this is the duty of the
US-led Western coalition. Karzai was in Washington the other day and
asked the coalition to boost its military presence in Afghanistan.

Astana will come after Tashkent. Summits of the Euro-Asian Economic
Community (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan)
and the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization will take place
in the capital of Kazakhstan on June 17 and 18. President Robert
Kocharjan of Armenia will join other national leaders on June 18.

June 16 was Russian-Uzbek day in Tashkent. Two documents were signed:
a strategic partnership treaty between Russia and Uzbekistan, and a
production sharing agreement between the Russian-Uzbek consortium
headed by LUKoil and the government of Uzbekistan (the
Kandym-Khauzak-Shady gas project in Uzbekistan).

Sources in the Russian delegation say that the “strategic” treaty was
President Islam Karimov’s initiative. In other words, official Moscow
insists that it did not force itself on Tashkent as a partner, that
it was Tashkent that aspired for partnership.

Putin was extremely tactful yesterday. “President Karimov himself
participated in work on the treaty,” he said. “I never thought it
would be ready in so short a time.” It appears that this is a
framework treaty stipulating “facilitation of equal strategic
partnership” in political, military technology, economic, and
humanitarian spheres carried out on the basis of “appropriate
accords.”

One article of the treaty is particularly interesting. It states that
“signatories enable each other to use military facilities on their
territories on the basis of special accords.” It is hard to imagine
Uzbekistan in need of military bases on the territory of Russia.
Which means that it was Tashkent that pledged to enable Moscow to
make use of military facilities on the territory of Uzbekistan. This
alone may justify strategic nature of the Russian-Uzbek partnership
proclaimed in Tashkent yesterday. The remaining articles of the
treaty merely give definitions of close cooperation between the two
countries.

The agreement LUKoil President Vagit Alekperov signed in Tashkent
appears much more interesting. It means that the Russian oil company
is coming to Uzbekistan to stay – and handle natural gas there.
LUKoil will operate Uzbek gas deposits for the next 35 years,
investing up to $1 billion in them. Known gas resources on the
territory in question amount to almost 3,000 billion cubic meters,
and top annual production should reach 8.8 billion cubic meters. Gas
production is to begin in 2007.

LUKoil will sell its part of the gas to Gazprom. To accomplish that,
the company intends to build a part of a pipeline connecting the area
with the Central Asia – Center pipe running across Uzbekistan. The
Russian oil company views the Uzbek project as strategic because “it
stands for transformation of LUKoil into an oil and gas company,” to
quote Alekperov.

Putin emphasized yesterday that “it is not Russia that is investing
in Uzbekistan, it is Russian companies.” Karimov immediately parried
by saying that he as president guaranteed security of the
investments. It is common knowledge in fact that foreign companies
have a chance in Uzbekistan only with the Uzbek leader’s personal
guarantees.

Europe Information Service
Euro-East
June 17, 2004

ARMENIAN DIPLOMATS ATTEND EURO-INTEGRATION INTERNSHIP IN LITHUANIA

Armenian diplomats attended an internship at the Lithuanian
Foreign Ministry from May 31 to June 11 to learn more about
European integration. According to the Ministry, they studied the
Lithuanian experience of preparations for EU membership, various
aspects of co-ordination of EU-related activities, and formation of
public opinion on Euro-integration, as well as attending a series
of meetings in the Lithuanian institutions and visiting the Vilnius
University’s International Relations and Political Science Institute.
The Ministry explained that representatives of the countries of
the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) would attend
various training activities on public administration in Lithuania in
2004-2005, in the framework of a programme to transfer Lithuania’s
Euro-integration experience to these countries. A similar internship
was held for Ukrainian officials in January.

Bacrot the hero
By Malcolm Pein

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
June 17, 2004, Thursday

THE Armenia v Rest of the World match went down to the wire as
Etienne Bacrot was forced to defend the tricky endgame of rook
against rook and bishop to secure victory for the Rest of the World
team. Bacrot completed his task using the well-known stalemate
defence and forced a draw on move 70 to give his team a win by the
narrowest of margins, 18.5-17.5.

The Armenian team moved to within one point of the Rest of the World
after Michael Adams was outplayed by Rafael Vaganian, but that proved
to be the only decisive game of the round. The Armenian, or
“Petrosian”, team won the final round 3.5-2.5.

World number one Garry Kasparov drew comfortably with black against
the world number two Vishy Anand by employing the sharp Sicilian
Sveshnikov. In a typical game from this opening Kasparov played as
actively as possible and was prepared to sacrifice a pawn or two if
necessary to open lines for his rooks and bishop pair.

Round six: Rest of the World 2.5-3.5 Armenia. Anand draw Kasparov
(Armenia), Sicilian Sveshnikov, 26; Van Wely draw Lputian (Armenia),
QGD Tartakower, 31; Vallejo Pons draw Leko (Armenia), Queen’s Indian
18; Gelfand (Armenia) draw Bacrot, Slav Defence 4 a6, 70; Akopian
(Armenia) draw Svidler, Sicilian Defence, 18; Vaganian (Armenia) 1-0
Adams, Colle System, 38.

Individual scores: Armenia/Petrosian: Kasparov 3.5/6, Leko 4/6,
Vaganian 3.5/6, Akopian 2.5/6, Lputian 2/6, Gelfand 2/6. Rest of the
World: Svidler 4/6, Adams 3/6, Bacrot 3.5/6, Anand 3.5/6, Vallejo
Pons 3/6, Van Wely 1.5/6.

Final score: Rest of the World 18.5-17.5 Armenia.

In the final position 26 Qxd4 27.Rxb5 Qxd1 28.Rxd1 (28.b3!?) Bxb2 is
level or 26…f4!? is unclear.

V Anand – G Kasparov

Armenia – ROW Moscow (6)

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 e5 6 Ndb5 d6 7 Bg5 a6 8
Na3 b5 9 Bxf6 gxf6 10 Nd5 Bg7 11 c3 f5 12 exf5 Bxf5 13 Nc2 0-0 14
Nce3 Be6 15 Bd3 f5 16 0-0 Ra7 17 a4 Ne7 18 Nxe7+ Rxe7 19 axb5 axb5 20
Ra6 d5 21 Nc2 Bc8 22 Ra8 Qd7 23 Nb4 e4 24 Be2 Bb7 25 Ra5 d4 26 cxd4
draw

Kasparov
p p 7 ) p p – p Y 7 k c p p p p

6 c p p c p l n c p p p p p p n p A n b n p p Z p * d

Anand

Final position after 26.cxd4

New laws to cut refugee stream

PAP News Wire
June 17, 2004 Thursday

Warsaw, June 17 — New refugee laws are expected to cut down the number
of asylum-seekers in Poland. Since May 1 [Poland’s EU accession –
PAP] rejected asylum applicants in Poland will not be able to apply
for refugee status in another country.

Asylum seekers in other EU countries whose applications were rejected
in Poland will be sent back to Poland as the original application
country.

Most asylum seekers in Poland are Chechens (82 pct), followed by
Afghans, Hindus, Pakistanis and Armenians.

Agency WPS
What the Papers Say. Part B (Russia)
June 17, 2004, Thursday

CIS SECURITY: TIME TO SET PRIORITIES

SOURCE: Krasnaya Zvezda, June 17, 2004, pp. 1, 3

by Roman Streshnev

Question: What can you say about the CIS Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) nowadays?

Nikolai Bordyuzha: The decision to establish the CSTO was made a year
ago. We’ve concentrated on three directions of work.

Foreign policy activities are the first direction. The main task here
boils down to coordinating the positions of members of the CSTO on
regional security problems. There is nothing new about this form of
interaction, which is quite effective. Numerous international
structures use it. Take the European Union, for example, where
opinions on some matter are first discussed and then the common point
of view is worked out and proclaimed. Approximately the same practice
is used in foreign policy activities of the CSTO. We discuss all
global and regional issues and do our best to work out a common
stance. Considerable importance is attached to contact with
international organizations specializing in security matters. We
actively cooperate with the CIS, the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization, the counter-terrorism committee of the UN Security
Council, UN drug enforcement and organized crime structures, other
organizations. As for the OSCE, we even have joint international
programs with it.

Dealing with challenges and threats is the second direction. First
and foremost, the matter concerns coordination of efforts within the
CSTO against religious extremism, terrorism, drug trafficking,
illegal immigration, organized crime. We promote cooperation between
special structures and law enforcement agencies.

The military component is the third direction. It is probably the
most complicated because of the abundance of sensitive issues
inherent in it. First and foremost, the matter concerns formation and
perfection of army groups – Russia-Belarus in the West,
Russia-Armenia in the Caucasus, and the Collective Rapid Response
Forces in Central Asia. Not long ago, we wrote an important document
titled “Priorities of coalition military development to 2010.” It
stipulates establishment of new regional groups and international
integrationist systems. It also specifies some steps that will change
the military component of the CSTO beyond recognition.

At the same time, there are some serious problems within the
framework of the CSTO. I’d divide them into two blocs. The first
includes political problems. Russia’s passivity with regard to its
neighbors was noticeable throughout the 1990s, and resulted in these
countries drifting towards the West and specifically the United
States. This situation complicates the process of reaching a
consensus on key issues.

The second bloc includes the problems that concern the CIS as such.
Political courses of many CIS countries parted company. We have to
decide now in what directions cooperation and interaction within the
CIS will proceed.

I’d like to emphasize nevertheless that the CSTO has retained what
really counts – good will on the part of national leaders who say
that they are prepared to follow in the wake of common interests and
interests of Russia. Now that processes of integration are under way
in the CSTO, it is in the focus of attention of the international
community and particularly NATO. In fact, these steps on our part
worry some world leaders. We even encounter certain resistance from
them. It means that the CSTO may have problems of course but the
progress it is making is undeniable.

Question: The CIS Collective Security Council will meet in Astana on
the level of national leaders on June 18. What matters will be
discussed? Will any agreements be adopted?

Nikolai Bordyuzha: We hope to have a great deal of issued discussed
at the meeting – including the main directions of coalition military
development to 2010.

The document is supposed to specify what we aspire for in the
military sphere – united armed forces or coalitionist forces, what
actions should be taken in armed conflicts (meaning, autonomous or
coordinated). We also hope that the national leaders will discuss an
agreement on the joint use of military infrastructures in special
periods, on mutual protection of the data appraised as state secrets,
etc.

It is time we defined the place and the role of the CSTO in the
international security framework. It is time a decision was made on
political cooperation with NATO (for example). We propose contacts
with the Alliance on the level of organizations as such. In fact,
NATO countries emphasise developing bilateral relations with
post-Soviet countries. We do not have any official contacts with
Brussels – cannot have any, in fact – without a political decision
made at the level of the CIS Collective Security Council.

The concept of the CSTO’s peacekeeping resources is to be discussed
at the meeting as well. We believe that these resources – if
organized, of course – may be used within the CSTO or, with the UN’s
approval, elsewhere in the CIS. Or even on the global scale, provided
the UN made the request and the CIS Collective Security Council
agreed.

In general, national leaders of the CSTO will discuss over a dozen
documents.

Question: United Headquarters of the CSTO of the CIS Collective
Security Treaty began its work on June 1, 2004. Is it an analog of
the CIS Military Cooperation Coordination Headquarters?

Nikolai Bordyuzha: If you ask me, the CIS Military Cooperation
Coordination Headquarters is not a coordinating structure nowadays.
I’d rather call it a structure advancing military-political
cooperation. Of course, it is necessary within the framework of the
CIS to cooperate on the level of defense ministries, but integration,
coordination, transition to common military standards – that’s a
different matter altogether. All of that is becoming more and more
difficult. We all know for example that Georgia is switching over to
NATO standards. Some other CIS countries follow suit – the countries
who are involved in the work of the CIS Military Cooperation
Coordination Headquarters only nominally. Analysis of documents
signed within the framework of the CIS and dealing with military
cooperation and interaction shows that the accords are honored mostly
by members of the CSTO. It is these countries that are ready for
continuation of the dialogue and military integration and
integration.

I believe that the work of the CIS Military Cooperation Coordination
Headquarters should be rearranged. In this light, we energized
military and military technology cooperation within the framework of
the CSTO. For example, its members are permitted to buy military
hardware from each other at the producer’s domestic price.

Question: What is Russia’s role on post-Soviet territory? And what
does the CSTO think about the presence of NATO bases on its
territory?

Nikolai Bordyuzha: As for post-Soviet territory and Russia’s role
there, I’d say that we felt somewhat euphoric in the early 1990s but
discovered soon enough that neither Europe nor the United States were
actually waiting for us with open arms. We are coming to our senses
again – it is dawning on us that we have our own neighbors quite
close by. Considerable impetus to the process has been provided by
the policy of President Vladimir Putin. Strangely enough, however, a
substantial part of the Russian political elite is still pro-Western
– dismissing Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and
other neighbors. That’s a mistake. We all used to live in a single
country. We have so much in common.

As for the presence of NATO bases on the territories of some
countries of the CSTO, Russia’s position (and positions of other
members of the CSTO) is well known. The bases were established with
the UN mandate and with the consent of national governments – for the
duration of the counter-terrorism operation in Afghanistan.

Yo-yo Ma, Silk Road make stop in Seoul
By Warren Lee

THE KOREA HERALD
June 17, 2004, Thursday

A program featuring Armenian folk songs, Romany melodies and a Korean
12-stringed zither or “gayageum” thrown in for good measure may appear
chaotic, but there is a common thread that unites these sounds. All
were heard along the Silk Road, the ancient trade route that connected
the people and traditions of Asia and Europe.

For the past six years acclaimed cellist Yo-yo Ma has led the Silk
Road Project on a nomadic concert series devoted to music from lands
along the historic route. Ma has helped unearth and introduce a
diverse range of isolated musical traditions that remain as exotic
to contemporary ears as they were to European travelers like Marco
Polo several hundred years ago.

The Silk Road Project will make its first appearance in Korea at the
Seoul Arts Center on June 24, with Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble
performing music stretching from Azerbaijan to Korea with stops
in between.

Ma originally created the Silk Road Project, which has gone on to
successfully capitalize on the exoticism shrouding the Silk Road’s
historical legacy, as an earnest study of how musical ideas travel
through various geographic and cultural terrains. It has become
more than a mere travelogue in sound and aims to underscore more
similarities than differences among traditions, while integrating
Western classical works with ties to those traditions.

The concert will begin with a pair of Korean artists. Kim Ji-hyun’s
performance of “gayageum byeongchang,” traditional Korean singing
with accompaniment on the gayageum, will contrast with a newly
commissioned work by composer Jacqueline Kim. “Tryst,” written for
the gayageum, oboe and cello, is a love song sung between the famed
scholar and poet Jung Chul and the beautiful courtesan Chin Ok. The
vocal cries are brought to life by the gayageum, with the cello and
oboe mirroring the traditional ensemble functions carried out by the
“piri,” a Korean wind instrument.

The second half of the program features the music of Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Roma arranged for string quartet, performed by Ma, violist
Nicholas Cords and violinists Jonathan Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen.

In “Mugham-Sajay for String Quartet,” composer Franghiz Ali-Zadeh
mimics the sounds of traditional Azerbaijani and Middle Eastern
instruments, transforming a Western string quartet into a small
Azerbaijani folk band. Her piece evokes the spirit of her native
mugham, a collection of suites that form the backbone of Azerbaijani
classical music. Ali-Zadeh, who received a doctorate in musicology
from Baku Conservatory, exemplifies the Western-trained composer who
straddles two musical worlds. Chinese virtuoso Wu Tong will perform a
traditional work on the sheng, a Chinese mouth organ made of bamboo or
bronze pipes. In “The Prospect of Colored Desert” written for Chinese
lute, violin, cello and sheng, Chinese composer Jia Daquan, a painter
who turned to music when his vision became impaired, imagines a black
ink brush painting a desert.

The Silk Road Project represents another step in Ma’s musical journey
that extends well beyond performance of the classic cello repertory.
Fascinated by how ideas evolve when they travel over geographic and
cultural distances, Ma founded the organization to study the flow of
ideas along the Silk Road. The Silk Road Project is now an umbrella
organization and common resource to a variety of artistic, cultural
and educational projects.

Yo-yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble will perform June 24 at 7:30 at
the Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall, located near Nambu Bus Terminal
Station, Subway Line No. 3, Exit 5. Tickets start at 30,000 won. For
more information, contact (02) 720-6633 or visit

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Palestinian shuns pageant after threats
by Tia Goldenberg

The Jerusalem Post
June 17, 2004, Thursday

After inviting Dina Emal to participate in Tuesday night’s “Miss Green
Line” beauty pageant in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood, coordinator
Asi Nagar told the Palestinian contestant from Beit Jala to stay home,
in response to her mother’s fears for her safety.

Nagar had invited Emal, who also goes by the last name Mahariz,
to participate in order to help build on the pageant’s theme of
coexistence.

“She really wanted to participate, but her family was afraid, so
I had to make a decision on their behalf,” Nagar said before the
pageant. “I’d rather have a friend living in Beit Jala than a beauty
queen living in fear.” He said Emal cried when he told her not to
come to the event.

A band comprising Jews and Palestinians welcomed the guests to the
pageant, playing both Israeli and Arabic songs. While the guests were
mostly Jewish, Nagar said some Arabs had come from the Palestinian
town of Beit Jala and Jerusalem’s Beit Safafa neighborhood. After
Emal’s withdrawal, only one non-Jewish participant, Arpi Krikorian,
an Armenian Christian from Jerusalem’s Old City, remained.

“Dina really wanted to participate, but the security situation
couldn’t allow for it,” said Krikorian, who came in fourth place.
“She was very disappointed and so am I.”

Ayelet Fishman, first runner-up in the competition, said the fact
that a Palestinian woman would participate in the pageant is what
pushed her to join.

“If the Arab girl wasn’t a part of this, I wouldn’t have done it,”
Fishman said, before being notified of Emal’s absence. “It was a
once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

Before the competition, Labor MK Colette Avital spoke to the
audience. “Dina has a place in all our hearts,” said Avital. “I hope
that next year the atmosphere will be such that we will be able to
live as neighbors.”

The participants, ranging in age from 14 to 21, strutted onstage in
dresses, bikinis, and wedding gowns.

Ortal Balilti, 17, from Gilo, took the crown.

GRAPHIC: Photo: ISRAELI YOUNG women don evening dresses to
participate in a beauty contest Tuesday night in Jerusalem’s Gilo
neighborhood. (Credit: Lefteris Pitarakis/Ap)