Armenian leader, entrepreneurs discuss business problems
Mediamax news agency
8 Jun 04
Yerevan, 8 June: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan received about
30 representatives of small and medium-sized businesses in Yerevan
today, the presidential press service has told Mediamax.
Robert Kocharyan said at the meeting that in 2003, the share of
products manufactured by small and medium-sized businesses in
Armenia accounted for 38 per cent. According to the president,
“this is quite a serious indicator which testifies that small and
medium-sized businesses are gradually getting off the ground”.
At the same time, the head of state said that “there are still a lot
of problems and unresolved tasks that I am ready to discuss with you”.
During the meeting, the Armenian president and the businessmen
discussed issues of improving tax and customs legislation and problems
of ensuring equal competition.

Yerevan Adamant In Delaying Metsamor Closure
By Atom Markarian 09/06/2004 01:46
Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep
June 8 2004
The Armenian government remains determined not to close the Metsamor
nuclear power plant in the near future and reaffirmed this position
during talks with senior officials from the European Union last week,
Industry Minister Karen Chshmaritian said on Tuesday.
Chshmaritian headed a delegation of government officials who
represented Yerevan at a regular meeting of an Armenia-EU “cooperation
committee” which took place in Brussels on Friday. The issue of
Metsamor’s future was high on its agenda. “The European side wants
Armenia to set a date [for Metsamor’s closure],” Chshmaritian told a
news conference. “However, Armenia can not set a date without having
financing resources [to replace the facility] and clarifying the
entire procedure for the closure.”
The EU has long been arguing that the plant is located in a seismically
active area and that its Soviet-built nuclear reactor does not meet
modern safety standards. The bloc’s executive European Commission has
offered to grant Armenia 100 million euros ($123 million) in return
for the decommissioning of the plant which generates about 40 percent
of the country’s electricity.
Chshmaritian reiterated Yerevan’s rejection of the offer, saying that
as much as $1 billion is needed for safely shutting down Metsamor
safely and putting in place an alternative source of inexpensive
energy. “The Energy Ministry presented its calculations [to the EU],
according to which the total cost of the work would be worth that
much,” he said. He added the Armenia-EU body decided to set up a
working group that will look into the issue in detail and present
its findings by the end of this year.
The government wants to keep Metsamor operational for at least another
decade despite its past promise to the EU to decommission the plant
in 2004. The European Commission now seems to be stepping up pressure
on Yerevan to do that as soon as possible in line with its policy of
phasing out all Soviet-designed reactors remaining in Eastern Europe.
Still, an EU spokeswoman in Brussels told RFE/RL last week that the
bloc will continue to finance further measures to improve Metsamor’s
operational safety “up to its closure.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Addicks miss out on UEFA Cup
ESPN
June 8 2004
Charlton’s European dream for next season finally came to an end
tonight when they missed out on a place in the UEFA Cup following
the Fair Play League draw in Germany.
Armenian side FC Mika, plus a team from Ukraine yet to be decided as
their league season runs until June 19, were the lucky names drawn
from the hat during half-time at the European Under-21 Championship
final in Bochum.
After a promising start to their Premiership campaign, the Addicks
faded before dropping out of contention for the Champions League or
UEFA Cup places which came with a top-five finish.
Charlton’s name will now not be in the hat for the UEFA Cup qualifying
round draw in Nyon on June 25.
Eleven teams were in the hat for the draw, with Esbjerg of Denmark,
SK Brann of Norway, German side Freiburg, Cork City from the Republic
of Ireland, FC Lahti of Finland, Spanish side Real Mallorca, KS
Teuta of Albania and Throttur Reykjavik of Iceland the other teams
who missed out.
Alan Curbishley’s men would have faced a two-legged tie on July 15
and 29, and the Charlton manager admitted the prospect of a European
fixture right in the middle of pre-season training would have meant
a hectic schedule ahead.
‘If we do get picked, it causes us a major headache,’ said Curbishley
on the club’s official website when looking ahead to the Fair Play
Draw.
‘The players will only have been back at the training ground 10
days before we would need to play the first qualifying game, and the
international players will only have been back about five or six days
before they’ve got to go and play a game.’
Charlton finished third in the discipline-based rankings for England,
behind winners Arsenal and Chelsea.
However, with both of those clubs having already secured a place
in the Champions League, Charlton were put forward as the Football
Association’s representatives.
Osters IF had claimed the automatic place in the qualifying round of
the UEFA Cup after Sweden finished top of the overall European Fair
Play League.
Last season Manchester City, and previously Ipswich, had come through
the the Fair Play League to gain entry into the UEFA Cup.

MIKA handed UEFA Cup chance
UEFA.com, Europe
June 8 2004
Armenia’s FC MIKA and a Ukrainian team will compete in next season’s
UEFA Cup after gaining a place during the fair-play draw made at
half-time in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Bochum,
Germany.
Lucky sides
Clubs from Denmark, Norway, England, Germany, Republic of Ireland,
Finland, Spain, Albania, and Iceland also entered the draw to join
Sweden’s Östers IF in the 2004/05 competition.
MIKA chance
Currently second in their domestic league, which follows the calendar
year, MIKA were third in Armenia’s fair play ranking for last season.
They entered the draw as FC Banants qualified for the UEFA Cup
and second-placed FC Kotayk did not receive a UEFA licence. MIKA
entered the UEFA Cup in 2000/01 and 2001/02 – both times losing in
the qualifying round to Romanian opposition, AFC Rapid Bucuresti and
FC Brasov.
Ukrainian wait
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian side joining MIKA and Östers in the UEFA Cup
first qualifying round will not be known until 19 June, when their
domestic season ends.
Fair play rankings
The Swedish Football Association (SvFF) finished at the top of the
2003/04 UEFA Fair Play rankings with an average coefficient of 8.314,
meaning a berth for Östers. Another eleven associations finished the
season with a Fair Play coefficient of 8.0 or over, and had played
enough matches to be taken into consideration.
The other clubs nominated for the draw were:
Denmark: Esbjerg fB, winners of Denmark’s domestic fair play
competition.
Norway: SK Brann, runners-up in Norway’s fair play competition to
UEFA Champions League qualifiers Rosenborg BK.
England: Charlton Athletic FC, third in England’s fair play ranking.
First and second-placed Arsenal FC and Chelsea FC have already
qualified for the Champions League.
Germany: SC Freiburg, fifth in Gemany’s fair play ranking. First,
second and third-placed VfB Stuttgart, VfL Bochum 1848, SV Werder
Bremen and Bayer 04 Leverkusen have already qualified for the Champions
League or UEFA Cup.
Republic of Ireland: Cork City FC, runners-up in the domestic fair
play competition to UEFA Cup qualifiers Bohemian FC.
Finland: FC Lahti, winners of Finland’s domestic fair play competition.
Spain: RDC Mallorca, fourth in Spain’s fair play ranking. First,
second and third-placed Valencia CF, RC Deportivo La Coruña and FC
Barcelona have already qualified for the Champions League.
Albania: KS Teuta, fourth in Albania’s fair play ranking. First,
second and third-placed KS Tirana, KS Dinamo Tirana and FK Partizani
have already qualified for the Champions League or UEFA Cup.
Iceland: Throttur Reykjavík, winners of Iceland’s domestic fair
play competition.

Art Newspaper, UK
June 8 2004
Unknotting a tangled tale of towels
Scientific tests have established that an icon, revered as an imprint
of Christ’s face, is 13th century
By Martin Bailey
Tests on a painting, called the Mandylion, revered as a miraculous
imprinted image of Christ, have revealed it to have been made in
the 13th century. There are several early versions of the image,
but the one in Genoa is the first to have been subjected to a
thorough scientific examination. The results are being presented at
an exhibition (until 18 July) in the city’s Museo Diocesano as part
of the European Capital of Culture celebrations. Appropriately, the
show is presented as a journey, both spiritual and scientific—since
the venerated icon has links with Syria, Turkey, Sinai and Armenia.
The Mandylion is traditionally believed to be a representation of the
face of Jesus miraculously transferred to a towel (from the Arabic
word mandil, “small cloth”), but is not to be confused with the cloth,
which also bears His likeness, with which Veronica wiped Christ’s
face as He went to Calvary.
The first mention of the existence of the Mandylion comes from the
sixth century. In 944 it was brought from Edessa to Constantinople by
emperor Constantine VII. The imperial city lost the Mandylion in the
crusader conquest of 1204, when it was sold to the French and taken
to the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. Other versions existed from early
on in Rome and Genoa.
The provenance of the Genoa Mandylion can be traced back to the
1370s, when Byzantine emperor John V presented it to Leonardo Montaldo,
Captain of the Genoese colony on the Bosphorus and later Doge of
Genoa. On Montaldo’s death in 1384, he bequeathed his Mandylion to the
Armenian monastery attached to the Church of San Bartolomeo in Genoa,
where it has remained for over 600 years.
The church recently agreed to a small sample of wood being removed
from the poplar panel, for carbon dating at the University of Lecce.
The results show that there is a 90% probability that the panel on
which the painted linen image is fixed dates from between 1240-90.
Other objects associated with the Genoa Mandylion were also examined.
Most important is the magnificent gilded silver frame, which was made
in Constantinople in the mid-14th century. Enclosing the original frame
are two later cases made in Italy, one in 1601 and the other in 1702.
The back of the Genoa Mandylion is covered by a fine piece of
10th-century Syrian silk. The fact that the original Mandylion arrived
in Constantinople in 944 has led exhibition co-curator Colette Dufour
to suggest that this silk could have once formed a covering for the
original icon.
The Sinai connection Also temporarily on show in Genoa are a
pair of diptych panels from the Greek Orthodox monastery of St
Catherine’s, which have left Sinai for the first time in over 1,000
years. Art-historical detective work has proved that these must
originally have been wings for another Mandylion.
The upper-right image on the diptych depicts King Abgar receiving
the imprinted towel of Christ. Abgar is given the facial features of
Constantine VII, who brought the Mandylion from Edessa in 944. The
other wing shows the Apostle Thaddeus, whom Christ had sent to
establish the church in Edessa. The wings are 28 centimetres high,
the same as the Genoa Mandylion, which is the clinching evidence that
they were created for a triptych with the face of Christ.
The Sinai wings have been dated on stylistic grounds to the second-half
of the 10th century and were probably painted at St Catherine’s. It is
therefore now being suggested that a copy of the Mandylion was given
by Constantine VII to the monastery very soon after the original
had reached him in 944, with the wings being created as protective
shutters for this precious gift. A photographic reconstruction of the
“Mandylion Triptych” has never been published, and appears in The
Art Newspaper for the first time.
The mystery is what happened to the lost Sinai central panel of the
Mandylion. As a small object, it was vulnerable to theft, but what is
curious is that the wings were separated from it and survive. This
has led exhibition co-curator Professor Gerhard Wolf to propose
that the Sinai Mandylion “may have been returned to the emperor in
Constantinople after the original was seized by Crusaders in 1204”.
Historical background
Legend has it that King Abgar of Edessa, who reigned during the
time of Jesus, was ill, and believed that an image of the Saviour
would cure him. He sent an emissary to Jerusalem to paint Christ’s
portrait. Instead Jesus took a towel and put it to his face, which was
brought back to Edessa, in ancient Syria (Sanliurfa in present-day
Turkey). The Sainte-Chapelle version was looted during the French
Revolution and probably destroyed.
Another Mandylion was taken to Rome and by 1587 it was in the Convent
of the Poor Clares at San Silvestro in Capite. In 1870, it passed
to the Vatican. It is currently in the “St Peter and the Vatican”
exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Art (until 6 September). The
US catalogue accepts the Vatican dating, ascribing it to the third
to fifth centuries, but the entry reveals considerable uncertainty.
However, Professor Wolf believes that the Vatican icon dates from
the same period as Genoa’s, and is also 13th century.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azerbaijani officer shot dead near separatist-controlled territory
Associated Press Worldstream
June 8, 2004 Tuesday 12:11 PM Eastern Time
BAKU, Azerbaijan — Azerbaijan on Tuesday said an army officer was
killed in shooting near territory occupied by ethnic Armenian forces.
The Defense Ministry said that a 28-year-old battalion commander
was killed and another soldier in shooting in the Fizulinsky region,
the ministry said.
Part of the region has been occupied since 1993 by ethnic Armenian
forces who also control the adjacent Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Azerbaijani forces were driven out of Nagorno-Karabakh in fighting
in the 1990s and the Armenian fighters also occupied other nearby
territory as the Azerbaijani forces retreated.
Before the fighting, Nagorno-Karabakh was predominantly ethnic
Armenian.
A cease-fire was signed in May 1994, but Nagorno-Karabakh’s final
status has not been resolved and firing sporadically breaks across the
“line of control” demilitarized zone that separates Azerbaijani and
Armenian forces.
Nagorno-Karabakh officials said that there had been a small exchange
of fire including a brief sniper duel between the forces dug down
south east of the enclave. They reported no injuries.

Realtors Focus on Affordable Housing
By Maria Levitov
The Moscow Times
Tuesday, June 8, 2004. Page 9.
Staff Writer The National Real Estate Congress opened in Moscow on
Monday, taking as its central theme how major real estate players can
help President Vladimir Putin achieve the goal of enabling a third
of Russians purchase their own modern homes by 2010.
Organized by the Russian Guild of Realtors for the seventh consecutive
year, the congress has grown from hosting 160 delegates in 1997
to welcoming over 1,000 delegates from Russia, the United States,
Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia,
Georgia and Azerbaijan for this year’s five-day event.
But despite the international attendance, the keynote speeches of
the opening day focused on the relationship between government and
private sector players in light of new legislation that will come in
front of the State Duma this week.
Aimed at making housing more affordable, the 28-point draft law is
one of the largest one-topic legislation proposals to appear in front
of the Duma in the history of post-communist Russia.
“Currently, only a tenth of the [Russian] population owns modern
housing,” said the president of the Institute of City Economics Fund
Nadezhda Kosareva, who also heads the working group for developing
the draft legislation. “Affordability of housing is the main obstacle
standing in the way of those people who want to improve their housing
situation.”
Kosareva said five major issues hinder affordability and stand in the
way of the 60 percent of the Russian population who want to improve
their housing quality.
The proposed legislation aims to battle these obstacles, which
include the absence of long-term credit, high mortgage interest rates,
insufficient housing supply, high real estate transaction costs and
lack of legal guarantees for consumers and other real estate market
players.
“Price stabilization will follow in 2007 to 2010 if the draft
legislation is ratified,” said Kosareva, who expects development of
the mortgage system to have a positive affect on housing affordability.
The chairman of the mortgage committee of the Association of Russian
Banks, Andrei Krysin, also expressed optimism about the prospects
of consumer mortgages. He said that “because of greater competition
among banks, mortgage interest rates have already decreased from 15
percent in ruble terms to 13 percent in currency terms.”
Even though 75 percent of all consumer mortgage applicants are unable
to prove their income because it is undeclared, the amount of real
estate deals financed with mortgages has grown from 0.7 percent in
2001 to 3 percent last year, according to Russian Guild of Realtor’s
statistics.
Nevertheless, some experts attending the congress expressed concern
that the wider availability of mortgages will increase the demand
for housing, pushing prices even higher, especially in places where
construction will be unable to keep pace with demand.
Despite the 4.7 million square meters of housing that was constructed
in Moscow last year and the 5 million square meters that will be
completed by the end of 2004, the unfulfilled demand for real estate
in Moscow remains acute.
“Some of the last land reserves in Moscow are located in manufacturing
zones, which are owned by the federal government,” said Galina
Hovanskaya, member of the State Duma committee on legislation. “This
complicates access to that land.”
Increasing transparency in the land acquisition process and removing
the monopolies from the market that currently allow developers and
construction companies to make “hyper profits” was also a recurring
theme at the conference.
Vitaly Votolevsky, general director of a large developer, Skanska,
defended the need for greater transparency, but added that “companies
need to be profitable to be stable, which is in the best interest
of consumers.”
At the conclusion of the opening ceremony, delegates broke into
smaller groups to discuss practical aspects of working in the real
estate industry.
“We hope to have a greater focus on practical business issues this
year and share experience,” said Yelena Dranchenko, who has recently
been elected president of the Russian Guild of Realtors.
Drachenko said that this year the introductory part of the congress
was shortened to allow more time for roundtable discussions and visits
to exemplary real estate businesses.

GEORGIAN ARMENIANS CONCERNED OVER IMMINENT LOSS OF THEIR IDENTITY
ArmenPress
June 8 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 8, ARMENPRESS: Some 1,500 residents of an
Armenian-populated village of Poga, in Georgia’s Ninotsminda region,
are collecting signatures under a petition, which they want to send
to the head of the Armenian Church, Catholicos Karekin II, to ask for
his assistance in maintaining, as they say “their national identity”
in the face of the expanding presence of the Orthodox Georgian Church.
The village is home to two semi-destroyed Armenian churches. One of
them acted before the establishment of the Soviet rule, the second
is being now repaired by the Georgian church.
The residents are going to ask Catholicos to help build a new church
for them. The village is one of the biggest Armenian-populated
settlements in the south of Georgia.

A EUROPEAN COURT TO HEAR A1+ CASE
ArmenPress
June 8 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 8, ARMENPRESS: Mesrop Movsesian, the president of A1+
television, forced off the air in 2002, told a news conference today
that the European Human Rights Court has decided to start hearing
of the case, filed by the television against the National Committee
on Radio and Television that granted the frequency used by A1+ to
another company after holding a tender.
A1+ first sent its suit against the Commission to the European
Court in 2002 October, protesting against, as it said “the illegal
decision that took away the 37 decimeter frequency and violating the
company’s rights.” The complete package of documents was sent in 2003
January. Tigran Yesayan, the president of the International Union of
Armenian lawyers, told the same press conference that the European
Court has already notified the Armenian government about its decision
and asked also it to provide its answers to four question as why the
Court should not hear the suit.
Yesayan said it is for the time being difficult to say whether the
government could prove that the rights of the television were not
breached. He said the deadline for the government to present its
arguments is 2004 September 28.
This will be followed by open hearings of the case, and a
representative of the television will also participate in them.
Yesayan assumed that the Court may propose a compromise ruling to
the sides, but added that if it is accepted by both parties, its
details will not be disclosed. “Even if the company wins the case,
it will not be given a frequency, as the television’s complaint des
not contain such a demand, the compensation will be of material and
moral character,’ he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
June 8 2004
SEMINAR ON “HISTORY OF THE AZERBAIJAN CULTURE” HELD
[June 08, 2004, 22:28:03]
A Republican culturology seminar on the topic ” History of the
Azerbaijan culture”, organized by the International Cultural Center of
Civil Society, the Azerbaijan Society of Culturologists and Association
of Culture of Azerbaijan “Simurg” was held in the “Irshad” Hotel.
President of Association of Culture of Azerbaijan “Simurg “,
academician of the International Academy of Scientific Problems of
Intellectual Development Fuad Mammadov, having welcomed the visitors,
has noted, that the seminar is devoted to one of actual problems –
to the history of the Azerbaijan culture.
The doctor of historical sciences, corresponding member of the National
Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (ANAS) Farida Mammadova spoke on the
topic “The Caucasian Albania: the history and the present”, in detail
told about the role and place of Albanian people in ethno-genesis of
Azerbaijan people, history of occurrence and falling of the Albanian
church, produced proofs of groundlessness of claims of the Armenians.
The report of the doctor of the art, collaborator of the Institute of
Architecture and Art of ANAS Jamil Hasanzade on the topic “The Tebriz
miniatures in world museums” has caused large interest and discussions.
Reproductions and slides which evidently illustrated the report, led
the visitors to the ÕØ-ÕVI centuries – the period of blossoming of
Tebriz school of miniatures and occurrence of the so-called pathetic
miniature which have made the whole stage in the history of the
Azerbaijan art.
Then, was held a “round table” during which the exchange of opinions
has taken place, discussed was the topic “Culture of Azerbaijan
yesterday, today, tomorrow”. Members of the World Association
of the non-governmental organizations, teachers, businessmen,
representatives of creative and trade unions, municipalities, the
religious organizations, mass media took part in the discussion.