Author: Janoyan Ana

Associated Press
April 2 2004

Some Facts and Figures on Kurds

PEOPLE – An estimated 20 million to 25 million Kurds live mostly in
four countries – Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. The largest community,
with about 12 million people, is in Turkey.

—__

HISTORY – Kurds trace their history to ancient Mesopotamia. They were
a significant power in the early Middle Ages and after World War I
were promised an independent homeland. Recent decades have seen
Kurdish rebellions in Iran, Iraq and Turkey.

—__

LANGUAGE – Kurdish is an Indo-European language like English and is
closely related to Iran’s Farsi. The various Kurdish dialects are to
a large extent mutually incomprehensible. The dialects include:
Kurmanji, or northern Kurdish, the largest spoken dialect, which is
spoken in southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, Syria as well as parts
of Armenia and Georgia; Sorani, or central Kurdish, which is spoken
mainly in parts of northern Iraq and western Iran; and Zaza, which is
spoken in eastern Turkey.

Kurdish dialects have borrowed heavily from other languages,
including Persian, Arabic and Turkish, but they are grammatically
distinct.

Submitted by Janoyan Ana

Reuters AlertNet, UK
April 2 2004

Three die in Armenia cable car crash

YEREVAN, April 2 (Reuters) – A cablecar in the capital of Armenia
fell 10 metres (30 feet) to the ground on Friday, killing three
passengers and injuring eight, the state emergencies service said.

It said in a statement that two people died on the spot when a
12-seat cabin fell into a courtyard. Nine passengers were rushed to
hospital, where one died later.

There have been no official statements as to what had caused the
accident on the cablecar operating from the city centre to a hillside
residential district. A manager of the company running the link
suggested in a television interview that unusually strong winds might
have been the reason.

Submitted by Janoyan Ana

Chattanooga Times Free Press (Tennessee)
March 24, 2004 Wednesday

Question & answer

Q: What is the oldest business in the United States?

A: The prize goes to Zildjian, the world’s No. 1 maker of cymbals. In
1623, in Constantinople, Turkey, an Armenian alchemist named Avedis
created an alloy for making cymbals of extraordinary clarity and
power. A sultan gave him the name “Zildjian,” meaning cymbalsmith. In
1929, the company he founded moved to America, where they set up a
new foundry in Quincy, Mass. Zildjian celebrated its 380th
Anniversary last year. Craigie Zildjian is the company’s current —
and first female — CEO.

Submitted by Janoyan Ana

Baku Sun, Azerbaijan
March 26 2004

Aliyev says Turkey will withstand pressures

Zulfugar Agayev (Staff Writer)

President Ilham Aliyev
stated that the opening
of Turkish/Armenian borders
would impede finding
a peaceful solution
of the Karabakh conflict.
(Photo Courtesy of Azertac)

BAKU – President Ilham Aliyev called on the European Union (EU) and
`influential nations’ late Wednesday not to press upon Turkey to open
its borders with Armenia, warning that it would be impossible to find
a peaceful solution to the Nagorno (Daghlig)-Karabakh conflict if the
borders were opened.

`If Turkey were to open its doors to Armenia, Azerbaijan would lose
an important lever in finding a solution to the conflict,’ the
president told reporters at Heydar Aliyev International Airport after
returning from Uzbekistan. `It also would make it impossible to
continue the peace talks and would even bring the talks to an end.’
However, President Aliyev said he had received assurances from both
the Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul that the Turkish-Armenian borders could be opened only
after Armenia withdraws from Azerbaijan’s occupied territories.

`Turkey is a great and powerful nation and I am sure that Turkey will
withstand the pressures,’ Aliyev stressed. `The Turkish-Azerbaijani
brotherhood is above everything.’

Turkey has no diplomatic relationship with Yerevan and has been
keeping its borders closed with Armenia since the latter gained
independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

In return for establishing diplomatic relations and opening the
borders, Turkey demands Armenia give up propagating the alleged
genocide of Armenians under the Ottoman Turkey in early 20th century,
stop territorial claims against Ankara and withdraw from Azerbaijan’s
occupied territories.

But some Azerbaijanis felt disappointment when the Turkish Prime
Minister Erdogan stated, while on an official visit to the United
States late January, that his government might decide to open borders
`if the friendly initiatives of Turkey were reciprocated.’

Erdogan said that the Turkish citizens living in neighboring regions
with Armenia want to see the borders opened so that they could easily
trade with the former Soviet republic.

In response, several members of the Azerbaijani Diaspora in the U.S.
sent a protest letter to Erdogan early February, expressing concern
over his statement.

The letter, which was printed in Baku’s Azerbaijani-language daily
525th newspaper on 13 February, alleged that Erdogan was forced by
the U.S. government and also by the strong Armenian Diaspora to make
a concession on the border issue.

The letter said Turkey’s opening of the borders with Armenia while
the latter continues to occupy Azerbaijan’s territories would affect
the friendly relationship between Baku and Ankara.

However, Ahmed Unal Cevikoz, Turkish ambassador to Baku, told the
Baku Sun that Erdogan’s statement was probably `misunderstood’ by the
Azerbaijanis.

Chevikoz said that his country is still sticking to all of its three
stipulations, including the one that demands the Armenian army
withdraw from Azerbaijan’s territories that were occupied in the
1991-94 war.

The Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vilayet Guliyev also
said that `the fraternal country’s’ position on the opening of the
borders has remained unchanged.

But Altay Goyushov, a Baku-based expert on Turkish studies, believes
that Erdogan government’s retreat from Turkey’s traditional regional
policy positions is obvious.

`This retreat policy is obvious in the stands that Ankara is now
holding on the issues of Cyprus, the Iraqi Turkmans and also on
Karabakh,’ Goyushov said.

He explained that by going to concessions, Erdogan hopes to avoid
obstacles preventing his country from joining the EU.

`But this meaningless retreat stems from the inexperienced nature of
Erdogan’s government,’ Goyushov contended.

Erdogan replied to similar accusations against his Justice and
Development Party (AKP) government while still in Washington.
According to Turkish news reports, the prime minister stated that
accusations regarding the AKP government trying to `give away Cyprus
and get over with it’ are dishonorable.

But at the same time, Erdogan admitted to Turkish journalists that
the words `Kerkuk’ or `Turkmens’ were not mentioned during his White
House meeting with President Bush.

Ugur Akinci, a Turkish analyst, also believes that Erdogan’s
government has a positive approach to opening the borders with
Armenia even though this may create friction in the future with
Azerbaijan, one of Turkey`s closest allies.

According to Akinci, who accompanied Erdogan in his visit to the
United States, the dominant view in AKP is to open the borders to
encourage trade between Turkey and Armenia.

`I think there are many in AKP who believe that increased commerce
makes better neighbors, and thus eases the way for better relations,’
Akinci wrote in one of his opinion pieces published in the Turkish
Daily News.

Azerbaijan’s Goyushov contends that Armenia’s occupation of
Azerbaijani territories is not the main reason preventing Turkey from
opening its borders with Armenia.

The main reason why every Turkish government remains adamant not to
forge diplomatic relations with Yerevan and to open the borders lies
with the Armenians’ persistence in propagating the so called Armenian
genocide, the analyst believes.

Goyushov noted that the opening of the Turkish-Armenian borders is
not the main goal Armenians are striving for. He believes that
Armenians will continue raising the genocide issue in foreign
parliaments even if Turkey opens the borders.

With regard to the perspectives of the Azerbaijani-Turkish
relationship of these borders possibly being opened, the expert said,
`doubtlessly, the [Azerbaijani] public would not be happy with this.’
But Goyushov thinks that Azerbaijanis should try to avoid emotions in
their relationship with Turkey.

`We should consider that Azerbaijan and Turkey are two separate
countries and although the two are bound by ethnicity and religion,
their interests can sometimes be different,’ he added.

Submitted by Janoyan Ana

CENN – MARCH 25, 2004 DAILY DIGEST
Table of Contents:
1. The Number of Oncological Diseases Increased in Ecologically Polluted
Tbilisi
2. NGO Leaders’ Retreat in Bakuriani. Summary of Proceedings
3. Iran-Armenia Gas Pipeline May Reach European Union
4. The Seventh International Training Program
5. The 2004 Intermountain GIS Conference
6. CENN Vacancy Announcement – Public Relations (PR) Specialist Position

1. THE NUMBER OF ONCOLOGICAL DISEASES INCREASED IN ECOLOGICALLY POLLUTED
TBILISI

Economical policies and reforms committee of the Tbilisi Municipality
together with the experts and the representatives of the NGO sector
signed agreement on collaboration.

David Ioseliani, the head of the committee stated on the meeting
dedicated to this issue, that in the capital of Georgia is quite serious
ecological situation caused by the low quality of oil products.

The 200 thousand automobiles per day circulating in the city cause the
serious ecological situation. The result of this is that the number of
oncological diseases, respirator and other kind of diseases has been
increased.

The providers of oil products attended the meeting they expressed their
willingessa nd readiness to import high quality oil products thought
mentioned that for this is needed development of relevant standards and
legislation basis.

Mr. Ioseliani declared that in the nearest future the municipality of
Tbilisi would develop drafts that would regulate import of oil products.
This project will be submitted to the new parliament.
Media News, March 23, 2004

2. NGO LEADERS’ RETREAT IN BAKURIANI. SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS

On February 21-22, 2004 in Bakuriani the NGO Leaders’ Retreat. This
event was initiated by United States Agency for International
Development and organized by the Steering Committee of the Citizens
Advocate! Program with financial and organizational assistance of the
World Learning.

The goal of the Retreat was to develop strategic goals and objectives of
activities and further development of advocacy-oriented NGOs (NGOs) in
the new environment. The twenty-two participants of the Retreat
represented advocacy-oriented and think-tank NGOs, including four from
the regions (Gori, Kutaisi, Zugdidi, Batumi). The Retreat did not aim to
reach consensus among the participants, but allowed participants to
articulate and validate different visions and points of view. This paper
summarizes the issues reviewed and opinions shared, and presents as much
as possible the range of ideas expressed; the editors have restricted
themselves to eliminating repetition and editing the style of the
discussions. Therefore, some opinions and ideas presented in the
document are contrary to each other and may not represent the opinions
of all participants. A detailed report of the Retreat will be published
in a form of a booklet at a later date.
Please see:

3. IRAN-ARMENIA GAS PIPELINE MAY REACH EUROPEAN UNION

The Iran-Armenia gas pipeline, the contract on construction of which
will be signed very soon, may be extended through Georgia to Ukraine and
further to European Union countries, reports Armenian Energy Minister
Armen Movsisyan. It is possible that the pipeline may be build from Iran
through Armenia and Georgia and further on the floor of the Black Sea to
Ukraine. The minister states, “After completion of the Blue Stream
project construction of long offshore gas pipelines is already not a
fantasy. Iran, Turkmenistan, and what is the most important, European
Union, want this. Europe plans to extend the gas pipeline with Iranian
and Turkmen gas crossing Armenia to its territory. But this is a matter
of serious and long negotiations that also influences other countries
that currently receive Russian gas.”

In 2002, the Kiev-based research institute VNIPItransgaz prepared a
business plan of the project of gas pipeline construction via the route
Iran-Armenia-Georgia-Ukraine-Europe with construction of 550 kilometers
of pipes on the floor of the Black Sea from the Georgian pot of Supsa to
Feodosia in the Crimea. The project was estimated at $5 billion. The gas
supplies were estimated at up to 60 billion cubic meters a year
including 10 billion cubic meters or Ukraine.
Source: Vremya Novostey

4. THE SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAM

Medcoast Institute 2004 – Integrated Coastal Management in the
Mediterranean and the Black Sea – The Seventh International Training
Program 31 August – 14 September 2004 – Dalyan – the Aegean coast –
Turkey Medcoast Institute is a unique, well-established, and high
quality, international training program on integrated coastal management
(ICM). The curriculum is specially designed to address issues and
problems, which are particular to or significant for the Mediterranean
and the Black Sea countries. The program is carried out with a high
level of interaction between the participants and the faculty members.
The last date for submitting an application is 31 May 2004.

More details:
E-mail: [email protected]

5. THE 2004 INTERMOUNTAIN GIS CONFERENCE
April 19-23, 2004

The 2004 Intermountain GIS Conference, sponsored by the Montana GIS
Users Group and the Northern Rockies Chapter of URISA , will bring
participants together for an exciting week-long program centered in the
theme, “GIS — Tools of Discovery” linking the Bicentennial of the Lewis
and Clark Expedition to modern day geospatial technologies. Billings,
Montana is the host city for this year’s conference which will be held
April 19-23, 2004 at the Sheraton Hotel in the heart of downtown.

The gathering will feature a variety of presentations, pre and post
conference workshops and a keynote address on the mapping methods and
instruments used by Lewis and Clark from Ralph Ehrenberg, past director
of the Library of Congress Map Division. Former Wyoming Governor, Jim
Geringer, nationally acclaimed advocate of GIS technology and its
critical role in formulating and implementing sound public policy, will
also be a featured speaker. We look forward to seeing you at what
promises to be an exciting and informative conference.

More detailed information regarding this event is available on the
following address:

6. CENN VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT – Public Relations (PR) SPECIALIST POSITION

Employer: CENN – Caucasus Environmental NGO Network
Post Title: PR Specialist
Deadline for Applications: April 8, 2004
Note: Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Duty station: Tbilisi

JOB DESCRIPTION:

CENN – Caucasus Environmental NGO Network, a non-governmental,
non-profit organization, is looking for a PR Specialist under the
framework of the project `Development of Local Capacities and Public
Awareness for Better Energy Governance’ developed by an NGO Coalition
(Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN), Green Alternative and
Eco-Vision) with the USAID financial support.

The project aims to increase the transparency and efficiency of
performance and consumption in the energy sector, through community
mobilization, confidence building, increase of public awareness and
citizens’ responsibilities over the resources’ use, creation of ESCAs
(Energy Services Consumers’ Association) at the grassroots level,
increase of public participation in the decision-making processes at all
levels and launching a nation-wide constructive dialog between all
stakeholders in the energy sector governance.

Public Relations Specialist will be responsible for:

§ Preparation of strategy for community mobilization;
§ Provision of training and permanent consultancy to mobilizers;
§ Assistance to the Project working group in preparation of the
materials for distribution among the public;
§ Drafting press releases and maintenance of the regular contact with
Mass Media;

Requirements:

§ Education: the candidates with university degree in social or
psychological science or any related fields will be preferred;
§ Similar working experience – previous experience of working in
community mobilization and understanding of NGO culture;
§ Good oral and writing skills and fluency in English and Georgian
languages;
§ Abilities and Skills: Demonstrable organizational, analytical,
communication, interpersonal and intercultural skills. Solid skills in
research (information collection), reporting and interpretation.
Computer literacy and organizational skills. Ability to develop
partnership with a wide range of organizations and the government;
§ Personal characteristics – patience, diplomacy, ability to listen to
others` opinions and respect toward colleagues, management skills,
open-minded, friendly, flexible, sense of responsibility and ability to
work independently.

Interested and qualified candidates please send resume (CV) and a cover
letter describing how you meet each of the above qualifications to Mr.
Levan Tavartkiladze, Project Manager of Development of Local Capacities
and Public Awareness for Better Energy Governance, via e-mail:
[email protected] till April 8, 2004.

No phone calls please.

—
*******************************************
CENN INFO
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)

Tel: ++995 32 92 39 46
Fax: ++995 32 92 39 47
E-mail: [email protected]
URL:

Submitted by Janoyan Ana

Pan Armenian Network, Armenia
March 25 2004

ARMENIAN LOBBYISTS TO WORK HARD

In the draft report of the European Parliament on Turkey’s membership
in the EU the genocide and blockade of Armenia are mentioned
indirectly.

Representative of Christian-Democratic party of the Netherlands Ari
Osterlander has elaborated a report, ”Progress of Turkey in EU is a
very important document for Ankara. The Armenian lobbyist
organizations of Europe do their membership” which has been put on
the agenda of the upcoming session of the European Parliament. This
best in order to have clauses connected with the Genocide and
Armenia’s blockade included in the final text of the report.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The report was discussed recently in the commission
of the European Parliament on foreign affairs, human rights, defense
and security. The draft of the report was significantly modified,
also as a result of the activity of Armenian lobbyists. A day before
the voting of the report clauses concerning the blockade and genocide
were included in the report.

However, the word Genocide is not mentioned. ”The tragic experience
of the past mentioned in the resolutions of the European Parliament
adopted earlier”. This long and strange phrase has come to replace
the word ”Genocide”. The authors of the report see the overcoming
of the problems caused by the ”tragic experience of the past” in
”establishment of a dialogue between the Turkish and Armenian
academic circles, NGOs and public organizations”. It is evident that
the Foreign Ministry of Armenia and the Armenian lobbyist
organizations have to carry out a certain amount of work so that the
final text of the report to be approved at the plenary session of the
European Parliament the Ankara’s policy towards Armenia is formulated
more precisely.

The same with Turkey’s blockade of Armenia. The word ”blockade” was
not included in the report. It only urges Turkey ”to open the
borders with Armenia, establish good-neighbor relations … and to
give up any action impeding the conciliation of the two countries”.

At the same time, the draft report reads that Turkey has lot of
things to do before starting the negotiations about the terms of
entering the EU. The document urges the European commission to make
pressure over Ankara in order to oblige it to solve its problems with
human rights, legality and settlement of the Cyprus conflict. The
report notes that the military officers have a great influence over
the decision-making process in the country; it speaks about the
tortures, violation of rights of religious minorities, etc. We should
note that if all these negative facts are not eliminated, the
European Parliament will have the right to postpone the negotiations.
According to an agreement concluded earlier, it is planned to start
the negotiations in the end of this year.

Submitted by Janoyan Ana

Azeris sceptical about Armenian claims to Naxcivan – paper

Ekho, Baku
17 Mar 04

Text of R. Orucov’s report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho on 17 March
headlined “Armenia again encroaches on Naxcivan”

The Union of Armenian Writers [UAW] intends to raise in the parliament
of that country the issue of declaring void the 1921 Russian-Turkish
treaty, which secured the cession of “Kars and some other Armenian
territories to Turkey, and of Naxcivan to Azerbaijan”. According to
the Armenian newspaper Azg, these statements were made at a meeting of
representatives of the Armenian intelligentsia, which was organized by
the UAW at the Armenian government session chamber.

According to UAW Chairman Levon Ananyan, one of the main objectives of
the meeting was to “prevent the aforementioned treaty from sinking
into oblivion”. He noted that the Russian-Turkish treaty “On
friendship and fraternity” dated 1921 was conducive to “extirpation of
Armenians in this region”. Ananyan said that the UAW was making
preparations for filing an appeal with the National Assembly of
Armenia that it should request the Russian State Duma to render the
treaty void. The head of the UAW underscored that “we have to put the
issues of Karabakh and Naxcivan at the same level”. In addition,
Ananyan claims that resolving this issue is “as important as it was 83
years ago”.

In Azerbaijan attitudes towards the UAW plans are sceptical. “The
Armenians always say what they want and what is advantageous to them,”
doctor of international law Rustam Mammadov said in a conversation
with Ekho. “First, they should not forget that two treaties were
sealed on 16 March 1921 simultaneously, the Russian-Turkish and
Armenian-Azerbaijani-Georgian ones. The second treaty reiterated the
same provisions as in the Russian-Turkish one. And separate clauses
were dedicated to the issue of Naxcivan in both treaties. It was
established that Naxcivan was a constituent part of Azerbaijan. In
fact, it was precisely because of this provision that the Turks agreed
to sign the peace treaty.” Second, Mammadov said, in this treaty
Soviet Russia guaranteed Naxcivan’s security and its being part of
Azerbaijan. It is effectively impossible to denounce this treaty now,
the expert said. “Because this document was not signed by the
modern-day Russian Federation. Even the Soviet Union did not exist at
the moment of its signing. The modern-day Russia, in turn, was created
as a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union.” The most
important thing is that the Armenian side has no grounds to declare
separation of Naxcivan from Azerbaijan “because in 1921 Armenia signed
the trilateral agreement recognizing Naxcivan as part of
Azerbaijan. There is also an addendum to the treaty specifically
devoted to the status of Naxcivan. And it is too signed by Armenia,”
Rustam Mammadov emphasized.

As to the possibility of the Armenian National Assembly requesting the
Russian State Duma to annul the Russian-Turkish treaty of 1921, this
option is not considered as serious by the Russian diplomats either.
Commenting on this issue for Ekho, press attache of the embassy of the
Russian Federation in Baku Gennadiy Yevsyukov said that “there have
not yet been such precedents in the post-Soviet area. Therefore we, as
serious diplomats, find it hard to analyse hypothetical steps of
non-government organizations with respect to the regulatory and legal
framework of the early 20th century. Personally, I would not undertake
to get into discussions on revision of the regulatory and legal
framework of our historical past,” the diplomat said.

In turn, deputy executive secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party
Bahar Muradova told Ekho that the voiced claims had to be viewed as
the continuation of the notorious Armenian expansionist policies. “It
also implies that even if Armenia, through international structures,
officially renounces its claims to our occupied territories tomorrow,
this does not mean that it will have given up the idea of
appropriating Azerbaijani or Turkish lands. I think that both the
government of our country and the international community should pay
close attention to this matter.” Muradova does not think that the
request to the State Duma of the Russian Federation will lead to the
results that the Armenians desire. She is confident that the Russian
State Duma will not take steps that could jeopardize Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity.

Submitted by Janoyan Ana

EU to help Armenia with democratic reforms

Arminfo
15 Mar 04

YEREVAN

The sixth session of the Armenia-European Union commission for
interparliamentary cooperation started in Yerevan today.

The speaker of the Armenian National Assembly, Artur Bagdasaryan,
stated at the opening of the session that Armenia’s membership of the
European Union (EU) is one of the priorities of the republic’s foreign
policy. He said that the main step of the republic’s integration in
the EU is its participation in the “Expanded Europe: new neighbours”
programme.

Artur Bagdasaryan noted that Armenia has already completed the process
of honouring its commitments to the Council of Europe. He stressed
that constitutional changes and reforms in the legal system should
also be carried out in the republic.

The head of the Armenia-European Union commission for
interparliamentary cooperation, Torben Holtze, stated that the last
few years have seen progress in Armenia’s fulfilment of its
commitments to the CE. He said that the republic has ratified all
international conventions and adopted almost all the laws required by
the CE. At the same time, he stressed that it is necessary to reform
the state’s electoral system in order to rule out violations during
elections in the future, as it was the case in the 2003 presidential
and parliamentary elections.

[Passage omitted: The EU is to allocate 20m euros to Armenia for
democratic reforms and for the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict]

Submitted by Janoyan Ana

Armenia and Latvia set to boost ties

Arminfo
15 Mar 04

YEREVAN

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Ruben Shugaryan held a meeting today
with his Latvian counterpart Andris Teikmanis. The meeting was held
within the framework of bilateral consultations.

The press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told Arminfo news
agency that they discussed ways of stepping up bilateral relations and
the possibility of Latvia helping Armenia in the process of its
integration into European structures. The sides stressed the need for
closer cooperation between Armenia and Latvia in international
organizations.

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Ruben Shugaryan expressed the hope
that through its membership of the European Union (EU), Latvia will be
able to help Armenia’s active participation in this structure. In
particular, they expressed the hope that Latvia will do its best for
the South Caucasus to be included in the EU initiative – “New
neighbours”. The Armenian deputy foreign minister talked about the
situation in the region at the guest’s request, and also prospects for
cooperation with the South Caucasus.

The Latvian delegation also held meetings with Armenian Deputy Speaker
Tigran Torosyan and representatives of the presidential administration
and the Armenian Defence Ministry.

Submitted by Janoyan Ana

uefa.com, Switzerland
March 8 2004

Ronaldo knock helps Hakobyan hang on

A weekend of injuries, cup action and wayward finishing ensured that
Ara Hakobyan is still the unlikely leader of the ESM Golden Shoe
standings as the majority of European leagues enter the final
straight of the season.

Something of a miracle
It would require something of a mircale for Hakobyan to top the
standings at the end of the season. Indeed, the FC Banants
sharpshooter, who hit 45 goals in the 2003 Armenian League season
which finished back in November, has looked like being overhauled for
several weeks now.

Ronaldo injury
Last week Real Madrid CF striker Ronaldo moved to within just one
point of Hakobyan and the Armenian’s tenure at the top looked set to
end, but the Brazilian failed to score at the weekend and even limped
off in the closing minutes of his side’s match against Real Racing
Club Santander with a hamstring injury that will keep him on the
sidelines for at least one league game.

No headway
Thierry Henry, who leads the rest of the chasing pack, was in top
form, but his two strikes for Arsenal FC in the FA Cup against
Portsmouth FC do not count in the Golden Shoe standings.

Makaay makes a move
SV Werder Bremen’s Ailton and AC Milan’s Andriy Shevchenko were among
the contenders who were in league action but both drew blanks and
were substituted during their clubs’ wins. One man who did score was
last year’s winner, Roy Makaay, whose two goals for FC Bayern München
against Bayer 04 Leverkusen lifted him six places to 14th.

Pos Name Club (Country) Gls Val Pts
1 Ara Hakobyan FC Banants (ARM) 45 1 45
2 Ronaldo Real Madrid CF (ESP) 22 2 44
3 Thierry Henry Arsenal FC (ENG) 20 2 40
3 Ailton SV Werder Bremen(GER) 20 2 40
5 Tor Henning Hamre FC Flora (EST) 39 1 39
6 Ruud van Nistelrooij Manchester U.FC(ENG) 18 2 36
6 Djibril Cissé AJ Auxerre (FRA) 18 2 36
6 Viktors Dobrecovs FHK Liepajas Metalurgs (LAT) 36 1 36
9 Alan Shearer Newcastle United FC (ENG) 17 2 34
9 Andriy Shevchenko AC Milan (ITA) 17 2 34
9 Louis Saha Fulham FC/Manchester United FC(ENG) 17 2 34
12 Roland Kollmann Grazer AK (AUT) 22 1.5 33
13 Henrik Larsson Celtic FC (SCO) 21 1.5 31.5
14 Salva Málaga CF (ESP) 15 2 30
14 Pierre-Alain Frau FC Sochaux-Montbéliard (FRA) 15 2 30
14 Roy Makaay FC Bayern München (GER) 15 2 30
17 Mista Valencia CF (ESP) 14 2 28
17 Francesco Totti AS Roma (ITA) 14 2 28
17 Martin Max FC Hansa Rostock (GER) 14 2 28
17 Didier Drogba Olympique de Marseille (FRA) 14 2 28

Last updated: 22 February 2003

Only the leading five countries (Spain, Italy, Germany, France and
England) on the UEFA Ranking have two as their multiplier. This is to
emphasise the difference in (international) performance level between
the clubs from those countries and those from the other countries.

A player cannot first play in a summer league (eg. Norway) and then
in a winter league (eg. Spain) and combine the points total for each
season.

Figures from Voetbal International

Submitted by Janoyan Ana