Mediamax, Armenia
March 20 2012
Kerkorian and Armenia: Thinking Big
Vartan Oskanian
Former Armenian Foreign Minister
It was June 9, 1998. I was in New York attending one of the UN’s
Special Sessions when I received an important telephone call from Los
Angeles. It was the Lincy Foundation’s, Jim Aljian, who was Kirk
Kerkorian’s right hand man and confidant.
`Mr. Oskanian, Mr. Kerkorian’s available to meet with you,’ he said.
I had been expecting this call. Two months earlier, as a newly
appointed minister of foreign affairs, I had several objectives. One
was forming more effective diaspora partnerships, the other was
keeping international economic relations on the foreign ministry’s
agenda. Kirk Kerkorian was crucially important to both those agendas.
I had specifically wanted to meet with Kirk and invite him to
strategically engage in Armenia’s development.
I’d never met Kirk. He was a legend whom we admired from afar. But in
1996, in addition to his other support for Armenian institutions in
the Diaspora, he had very generously agreed to support Armenian
International Magazine. I had established that publication, with some
friends, in 1990, and Salpi Ghazarian was the editor. Salpi had
established contact with Kirk.
In May, she took to him a letter, in which I had put forward a very
specific proposal. Given Armenia’s geographic limitations and
problematic neighborhood, I said I wanted to seek his support for a
north-south highway stretching from the Armenian-Iranian border to
Georgia’s ports, through Armenia. This modern artery would not only
turn Armenia into a north-south corridor, but would also solve
Armenia’s own transport problems and offer us unique access to the
sea.
Now, that May letter was going to be followed up by a June meeting.
I was there in two days. I left New York, headed to Washington the
next day to speak at the Heritage Foundation and at the Carnegie
Endowment, and to hold several meetings, both with those in and out of
government. The following evening, June 11, I arrived in Los Angeles.
Photo from Vartan Oskanian’s personal archive.
Jim Aljian had said to meet them for breakfast at the Beverly Hills
Hotel, so that’s where I stayed.
The next morning, early, Jivan Tabibian and Salpi came to see me,
prior to my meeting. We had already begun to plan for Jivan to move to
Vienna as Armenia’s ambassador to the OSCE, where he served from 1998
to 2008. Salpi would later join me at the Foreign Ministry as my
advisor. At that time, however, they were both still in Los Angeles.
I left them to go meet Kirk Kerkorian. I knew this would be a historic
meeting, but it was also a meeting that meant a lot to me, personally.
A high school dropout, he’d achieved great things, both in the
business world and in philanthropy. The 1988 earthquake had been his
first opportunity to engage directly with Armenia. The immensity of
the need following the earthquake moved him to create and bankroll the
United Armenian Fund, which he supported on the condition that the
Diaspora institutions work collectively. Harut Sassounian has carried
out that mandate as head of the UAF from the first day, and it
continues to offer essential support to philanthropists and others
doing good work in Armenia.
The UAF is not to be confused with the Armenia Fund, which President
Levon Ter Petrossian established in 1992 as a visionary way to
strategically connect the Diaspora to Armenia. In 1993, the Armenia
Fund met its first major challenge. In the worst days of the war-time
blockade, Armenia’s energy shortage was acute. The Armenia Fund,
together with the United Armenian Fund, undertook a major
international fundraising campaign to purchase sufficient heat to get
Armenians through that winter. Kirk promised to triple the amount
collected. The million collected became million. That was Kirk’s
second significant engagement with Armenia.
Now, in 1998, the Armenian leadership would be approaching this very
wealthy, very patriotic, very sincere man, for a new kind of
engagement.
Jim Aljian was with Kirk in that Beverly Hills Hotel meeting room that
morning. Jim, an accountant by profession and someone with whom I
would deal once a week, every week for years to come, was more than
the representative of the Lincy Foundation. He was a trusted friend,
younger brother, Kirk’s most trusted intimate.
We began with small talk. They asked the question Armenians always
ask. Where was I from? Syria? No, that wasn’t enough. How did my
family get there? I told them my grandparents were deported from
Marash.
Kirk said his parents were from Kharpert, and recounted some of his
memories of his parents’ memories. Jim, too, interceded and referred
to his own parents’ roots, with one side from Kharpert, as well. That
generation of Armenian-Americans clung to those roots. They had
brought with them little else.
Their questions were based on what they knew about Armenia and
Armenian history and their own eagerness to hear about the newly
independent Armenia. Each was patriotic in his own way, and I was
feeling more confident in my mission.
Kirk was 81 years old in 1998 – healthy, fit, alert, sharp and quick.
It was immediately obvious that here was a big-picture guy — to the
point, with no patience for long stories. Each time I wanted to say
something that would take longer than a minute to explain, he’d
interrupt, ask one question, and take the response to move the
conversation to the next level.
Kirk had clearly read and fully assimilated the contents of my letter.
I could also tell he liked it. He kept referring to his father, who
would frequently say Armenia was a tough place, with no access to the
sea. It was as if by becoming engaged in doing something about it, he
would be addressing his father’s worry and honoring his memory.
The discussion got into a lot of detail. Not just being landlocked,
but also the country’s difficult terrain, winters leaving much of
Syunik unpassable, the implications for economic developing and
security – we covered it all. Each aspect of transit, access and
security was discussed in the context of our neighborhood, especially
Iran, with whom the US was already in the midst of a difficult
relationship.
Near the end of a nearly one hour meeting, Kirk left the room for a
brief time. Jim and I continued to talk. Over the next several years
of working together, I learned that despite years of working with a
visionary, he remained an accountant at heart. He was extremely
careful and conservative when it came to finances. With Kirk out of
the room, Jim turned to me with a question. What numbers are you
talking about, he asked. I responded saying $ 100 million, at least.
Jim visibly stirred in his chair. `Look, he said, `Let me tell you
something. This is your first meeting with Kirk, don’t start with such
huge numbers.’
Just then, Kirk walked back in and it was as if he was continuing the
same line of thought. Before sitting down even, he asked, `Vartan, how
much money are we talking about?’ I didn’t hesitate and repeated $
100 million. His immediate reply was, `You got it.’
As confident as I had been that this was the right idea with the right
man at the right time, I was still speechless. The scale and
significance of the project and the capacity and generosity of the man
– it was all overwhelming.
That’s how our first meeting ended. We walked to the lobby together
and talked about his visiting Armenia. He promised it wouldn’t be too
long before it happened.
It wasn’t. Later that month, I received a call from one of his
assistants. Mr. Kerkorian would like to talk to you, he said. Kirk
came on the line and said, `I’m in France. Would it be convenient if I
come to Armenia tomorrow?’
He arrived mid-day. We had spent the 24 hours between his call and his
arrival figuring out how to greet him, and how to schedule his visit.
President Kocharian and I greeted him at the airport. Kirk immediately
became emotional as he got off his private plane. He remained
emotional throughout the visit.
His meetings with the president were frequent, short and contentful.
Over the couple of days, the immediacy and urgency of the land and the
people, coupled with what had grown into confidence in our ability and
our sincerity, the $ 100 million discussion was transformed to a $ 200
million discussion.
More than the numbers changed. In addition to the North-South highway,
major housing construction and renovations in the earthquake zone,
rehabilitating Yerevan’s center and major cultural institutions were
added to the program. In later discussions about the north-south
highway, we ran into problems because of the US government’s position
on charitable funds being spent on projects benefitting Iran. So, the
North-South highway project was transformed to construction of roads
and bridges throughout Armenia, including a modern more accessible
road within Syunik.
In addition to working meetings, Kirk visited various sites. At
Tsitsernakaberd, at the entrance of the museum, the director was
explaining and he was listening. I was standing a few feet away when I
heard him call my name. He was standing before the big carved map of
Western Armenia, marked by the immensity of the loss. He turned to me
and very sincerely, asked, `What would it take to buy this place?’ I
responded, wishfully, `It will take more than money, Kirk.’
The program actually began a year later, while legal and
organizational preparations were being made. In September of that
year, the UAF celebrated its 10th anniversary. The president flew to
Los Angeles after speaking at the UN General Assembly. Prior to the
beginning of the UAF Banquet at the Century Plaza Hotel in Beverly
Hills, the President, Kirk and I met. The fourth person in the meeting
was Alex Yemenidjian, an associate of Kirk’s who later headed MGM and
who enjoyed what seemed to be a genuine son-father relationship with
Kirk. It was at that meeting that we set up the mechanism to implement
the many projects. Alex and I were the two responsible for
coordinating the work going forward. As the project’s practical phases
began, Artashes Tumanyan and Armen Gevorgyan took over for the
Armenian side, and Harut Sassounian for the Lincy side.
So began Kirk Kerkorian’s participation in Armenia’s development.
Vartan Oskanian was the Armenian Foreign Minister in 1998-2008.
These views are his own.
http://www.mediamax.am/en/column/12227/