Author: Badalian Vardan

Putin tells leaders of ex-Soviet bloc to preserve unity
HENRY MEYER
AP Worldstream
May 08, 2005
Russian President Vladimir Putin told leaders of the troubled
Commonwealth of Independent States on Sunday that their grouping of
ex-Soviet republics remained relevant today and urged them to defend
its existence.
At a summit held the day before commemorations of the 60th anniversary
of the defeat of Nazi Germany, Putin said the body that groups 12
out of the 15 former Soviet republics had a key role in combatting
the spread of terrorism, extremism and xenophobia and fostering peace.
“For all of us it is obvious that Nazism, extremism and terrorism are
threats feeding on a single ideological source, a terrible threat,
against which we are obliged to defend our unique and peaceful
commonwealth,” Putin said.
“The new generation of our citizens should know the truth about the
events of those days. To know that truth means having an internal
immunity to the propaganda of extremism and xenophobia, national and
religious incitement. In the final analysis, it means to protect
the world from a repeat of conflicts and wars based on genocide,
national and racial superiority.
“I’m convinced that the CIS is capable of becoming an effective
instrument of such … work,” he said.
The meeting convened amid growing questions about the viability of
the CIS, which brings reformist leaders cheek to cheek with entrenched
Soviet-era autocrats following the popular uprisings against regimes
in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.
Putin himself in March questioned the body’s usefulness, saying it
had been created for a “civilized divorce” unlike the European Union,
which worked to pull its members closer together.
But on Sunday he said that six decades after the end of what Russia
terms the Great Patriotic War, the fraternity the peoples of the
Soviet Union felt as they fought in World War II was still palpable
today. Maintaining “historical unity” was a good basis for stable
development of the countries, he said.
In a reflection of the disputes between the member-countries, two of
the leaders, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliev, were not attending.
Saakashvili was staying away from Sunday’s meeting, as well as Monday’s
Victory in Europe Day celebration in Moscow, because Georgia failed
to win agreement last week on the withdrawal of Russian bases it
regards as a legacy of Moscow’s imperial domination.
Aliev was boycotting because of the attendance of Armenian President
Robert Kocharian, and because Sunday is a day of mourning, marking
a key battle during the six-year war between Armenia and Azerbaijan
over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The CIS was born in the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, and its
advocates hoped it would foster closer integration between the newly
independent countries. However, many of its initiatives have foundered
_ including the plans to remove trade barriers that have dominated
the CIS agenda since its creation _ and it has long been criticized
for being little more than a talking shop.
The group’s attempts to prove otherwise have often only fostered more
discord. Its peacekeepers have been accused of destabilizing conflict
zones in the former Soviet Union, and its election monitors _ deployed
to provide a counterbalance to Western-dominated observer missions
from such groups as the Council of Europe and the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe _ have consistently given high
marks to blatantly fraudulent ballots.
Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, where the Communist government is also
looking West, are aiming for membership in the EU and NATO,and they
have forged close ties within a rival organization, GUUAM, as they
seek to throw off Moscow’s influence.
Uzbekistan’s authoritarian President Islam Karimov quit the five-nation
body this week in protest at its pro-Western tilt.

Turkish premier, Dutch ministers discuss reforms, Cyprus, Armenian issues
Anatolia news agency, Ankara
5 May 05
Istanbul, 5 May: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday
[5 May] that the tendency of inwardness in Europe was very detrimental,
adding that this could harm the long-term EU perspective.
Erdogan met with Czech President Vaclav Klaus, Dutch Deputy Foreign
Minister and Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm and IMF first managing
director Anne Krueger in Istanbul the same day. [Passage omitted]
In Erdogan’s meeting with Zalm, the two leaders exchanged views
about Turkey’s economic situation, Cyprus and Armenia. Erdogan said
in the meeting that the Netherlands was an important trade partner
of Turkey, and Turkey expected support from the Netherlands about
foreign investments.
Zalm said in his part that he envied the reforms undertaken by Turkey.
Regarding Cyprus, Erdogan said that “Turkey did the necessary things
about Cyprus issue, and there is nothing left for Turkey to do about
extension of Ankara Agreement’s additional protocol. Now we expect
a letter from EU Commission.”
In Erdogan-Krueger meeting, Erdogan said that the economic reforms
were successfully implemented in Turkey.

VETERAN’S WISH TO ARMENIAN SOLDERS
AZG Armenian Daily #083, 07/05/2005
60th Anniversary
“It was the fall of 1939 when I was recruited to the army”, 85 years
old WW II veteran Haykaz Verdian tells, “I was a student at Baku Oil
Technical School at the time. The war broke out when I was getting
ready to return home after two years of study.”
The young man had to put aside all his dreams and hopes. In 10 November
1941, Verdian participated in the battles at Volkhovsky front. He
served at the 136th anti-tank artillery division that had a primary aim
to join defenders of Leningrad. It was very difficult to break through.
“We were transferred to Kursko-Orlovsky front in May. There our
division was gradually advancing breaking enemy’s resistance. But
we appeared in encirclement in spring of 1944. We stood firm for 27
days fighting in enemy’s rear. On the 28th day Germans attacked us
with 11 tanks. Artillery waited for order”.
Already senior lieutenant by then, Verdian moved forward. His
battery alone managed to demolish 5 tanks of the enemy breaking the
circle. That combat brought him Medal of Battle Red Flag and Medals
of Great Patriotic War of 1st and 2d degree.
“I was wounded 4 times. First time it was in town of Zenkov, then
during the encirclement of Scevchenko and while forcing a crossing
over river Visla. In 3 cases I recovered on the battle field but the
4th wound was a serious one and I was sent to hospital spending there
60 days”.
Haykaz Verdian participated in Kiev liberation and seizure of
Berlin. He returned home as a captain.
“I was glad to be finally at home and to be beside my relatives
victorious and in captain’s rank”.
“On these days of great victory in WW II and liberation of Shushi
I wish that the Armenian soldiers always come out victorious from
every fight.”
By Anna Gzirian and Anushik Grigorian

MHP’s Bahceli warns government on Ocalan retrial
Thursday, May 5, 2005
DOMESTIC
The possibility of PKK leader Ocalan’s retrial will cause upheaval
in Turkey, says the leader of the MHP
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bah§eli said
on Wednesday that if the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK/Kongra-Gel), Abdullah Ocalan, is to be retired, it would cause
a public outcry, adding that the domestic supporters of terrorism
would try to incite ethnic provocation.
Speaking at MHP headquarters, Bahceli accused the government of
creating false crises in order to hide the truth.
He said it appeared the European Court of Human Rights would call for
Ocalan’s retrial, adding: “The retrial of this murderer will explode
like a bomb. The government needs to announce that itwon’t permit
this murderer to initiate a provocativecampaign under the guise of a
retrial. If not, Turkey will enter a serious period of tension. The
heavy cost of this burden will fall on the Justice and Development
Party (AKP) government.”
“The traitors who are trying to set up traps will fail to provoke
Turkish nationalists. No force will be able to cause nationalists
to flood the streets. We will not permit the children of the country
to arm themselves. Our fight against those who are trying to envelop
Turkey in flames will be carried out on democratic platforms.”
EU siege caused Armenian issue:
Bahceli said the recent Armenian problems were caused by the pressure
applied toTurkey by the European Union, adding that they were worried
about Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s public dialogue with the
Armenian president.
He said the trap Turkey was being pushed into would start causing more
trouble in the future and that separatists, who were becoming bolder,
would cause serious tension.
–Boundary_(ID_X8avEk4h//wgjSV7ZERwLg)–

ARTICLE 19 Survey of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia
International Freedom of Expression Exchange, Canada
May 4 2005
This briefing summarises the main findings of an ARTICLE 19 report on
the extent of the implementation of freedom of information legislation
in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and its impact on the media of
these three countries.
It also gives an overview of the evolving media landscape in each
of the three countries. The report examines media?s difficulties in
obtaining information from public bodies and how this affects their
ability to disseminate information in the interest of the general
public and fulfil their vital role as a “watchdog” in a democracy.
It includes a survey of 135 media professionals and 105 public
officials in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, carried out with the
assistance of ARTICLE 19 partner organisations.
The report focuses on situations where access to information procedures
should have facilitated the media’s performance. Instead, as the
key findings and recommendations of the report reveal, the media has
faced a large number of problems in seeking to access information,
and positive stories on access to official information appear to be
rare in the South Caucasus region.
To download the report
;Key.pdf
To download the Russian version
amp;KeyRussian.pdf
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Billionaire Kerkorian makes surprise play for GM shares
Agence France Presse
May 4 2005
NEW YORK (AFP) – Corporate takeover specialist Kirk Kerkorian stunned
financial markets, announcing plans to boost his stake in General
Motors, sending the ailing automaker’s shares skyward and leaving
analysts puzzled.
The offer from Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp., known for its buyout
efforts, is for 28 million shares at 31 dollars a share, or about
868 million dollars.
The 87-year-old Kerkorian, who has bought and sold MGM studios and
was once Chrysler Corp.’s largest shareholder, could end up with
nearly nine percent of GM as a result.
The offer price is 13 percent above GM’s closing price of 27.77 dollars
on Tuesday, without regard to General Motors’ regular quarterly
dividend of 50 cents per share expected to be paid in June 2005,
Tracinda said.
GM shares surged some 18 percent to close at 32.80 on the news.
Tracinda currently owns 22 million shares of General Motors common
stock, which represents approximately 3.89 percent of the outstanding
shares, according to the holding company.
A statement from Tracinda said the move is “solely for investment
purposes,” but that it made the announcement public “to remove any
uncertainty in the marketplace as to its investment intent.”
Analysts said the move appeared to be a vote of confidence in the
world’s biggest automaker, which has been in a turmoil over eroding
market share in the US and growing financial uncertainties.
But it may also signal some effort to influence GM’s board or
management.
Joseph Amaturo, analyst at Calyon Securities, said the buy could
ultimately prove to be more than a passive investment.
He told clients in a note that the stake “will give Kerkorian a
‘license’ to put pressure on management and/or the UAW at some point
down the road … Tracinda could be the catalyst needed to drum up
major structural changes at GM as well as in the entire automotive
industry.”
The move “is an indication that auto shares are at their lows,
statistically very cheap,” said David Healy at Burnham Securities.
“Obviously he wants to make money but possibly he could intend as
well to mess with the management, that’s his history.”
Analyst Rebecca Lindland at the research firm Global Insight, called
the move “an interesting strategy” but that Kerkorian’s intentions
were not clear.
Lindland said it is possible that Kerkorian may be able to help GM
wring concessions out of the United Auto Workers union to help
the automaker’s financial picture.
“I don’t know what his long-term strategy is here,” Lindland said.
“This could have a beneficial influence on the union. If GM were able
to get the union under control while simultaneously getting exciting
products out, they could be on the road to recovery.”
Kerkorian, who with estimated assets of 8.9 billion dollars is listed
as the 41st richest person by Forbes magazine, has a long history in
takeover efforts. He bought and sold MGM studios three times and has
been a major investor in Las Vegas casinos.
The son of Armenian immigrants, he bought about 80 acres (32 hectares)
of land in the Nevada desert, for less than one million dollars in
1962 and helped to make Las Vegas a worldwide name. He remains an
active investor in the casino industry.
The news comes just weeks after Kerkorian suffered a legal defeat in
his billion dollar lawsuit over Daimler-Benz’s takeover of Chrysler,
which alleged the German firm misled investors.

Kerkorian roars back into autoland
By Jim Jelter
Investor’s Business Daily
May 4 2005
Last Updated: 5/4/2005 3:59:02 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) – Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian,
by going after a bigger stake in sputtering General Motors Corp.,
has put his billions back in gear after his big DaimlerChrysler
lawsuit backfired.
Kerkorian held 22 million shares, or 3.9%, in General Motors (GM)
before announcing Wednesday he plans to more than double the stake to
50 million shares and is willing to pay up to $31 a share to get there.
The news triggered a 17% rally in GM’s share price, adding a cool
$95 million to Kerkorian’s holdings before he bought a single share.
This whopping one-day gain goes a long way toward soothing some of
the sting from his failed legal tussle with DaimlerChrysler AG (DCX).
Kerkorian, through his Beverly Hills-based Tracinda Corp., took
DaimlerChrysler to court in 2000, seeking $3 billion in damages.
The lawsuit claimed Daimler-Benz management defrauded Chrysler
shareholders by tricking them into thinking the 1998 deal was a merger
of equals to avoid paying a premium for Chrysler shares.
This was especially galling to Kerkorian, who owned 13.75% of
Chrysler. The steady decline of DaimlerChrysler shares, from over
$108 in early 1999 to just under $30 in late 2001, didn’t make the
deal any easier to swallow.
Kerkorian argued the $36 billion merger was, in fact, a takeover that
put control of the company in German hands, reducing Chrysler to a
division of Stuttgart-based Mercedes Benz.
Last month, he lost the case. See full story.
Kerkorian, already a big wheel in Las Vegas through Tracinda’s
controlling stake in casino and hotel operator MGM Mirage (MGM), has
a history of betting big money on the auto industry, having attempted
a takeover of Chrysler back in 1995.
Prior to his fascination with the auto industry, the 87-year-old,
Fresno-born son of Armenian immigrants, made his fortune developing
some of the most famous properties on the Las Vegas strip, which he
parlayed at one point into ownership of Hollywood’s Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer
studios.
While Kerkorian has a reputation for using his holdings to badger the
management of poor-performing companies, he insists his heightened
interest in GM is that of an investor, not a corporate raider.
But analysts aren’t convinced the old lion is willing to buy and hold
GM stock and wait for a turnaround.
Rather, most see him as a catalyst that can help revive the lumbering
carmaker and tackle some of its tougher problems, like spiraling
health-care costs, a deeply entrenched union, and lackluster product
line.
“He’ll put pressure on management to do the right thing for
shareholders,” said David Giroux, an analyst at Baltimore-based T.
Rowe Price Group Inc., which owns GM shares in various mutual funds.
Judging from the rally in GM’s share price, the market clearly expects
Kerkorian’s latest junket to bring better times to Detroit.

Le Nouvel Observateur
Semaine du Jeudi 21 avril 2005
Un regard turc sur le génocide
Taner Akçam : dans la peau du bourreau…
par Ursula Gauthier
Peut-être est-ce sa naissance à Kars, au c~ur de cette Arménie
historique devenue turque moyennant la liquidation de ses habitants.
Ou bien l’année qu’il a passée dans les geôles, torturé pour avoir
osé parler des Kurdes. Ou encore le refuge trouvé dans une Allemagne
perpétuellement tendue dans l’effort pour comprendre son histoire…
C’est à Hambourg que le sociologue Taner Akçam se met à regarder en
face le passé de son pays – la violence, la torture, le nationalisme.
Il y découvre sa mission d’historien: comprendre de l’intérieur, dans
la peau du bourreau, l’autre visage du génocide des Arméniens. Dans
«De l’Empire à la République: nationalisme turc et génocide arménien»
(à paraître aux Editions l’Aventurine), il montre que le génocide est
la pierre angulaire sur laquelle s’est bâtie la Turquie moderne. Que
l’assentiment au crime prend sa source dans un sentiment
d’infériorité, de victimisation, de peur panique à l’idée de perdre
l’Empire, associé à une mentalité d’assiégé et à l’exaltation stérile
du passé. C’est cet état d’esprit qui a poussé les Turcs à voir les
Arméniens non comme des concitoyens, mais comme l’ennemi de
l’intérieur. C’est lui, aujourd’hui, qui conditionne l’amnésie
collective.
Aussitôt le forfait commis, la Turquie a prétendu repartir de zéro
grâce à la révolution kémaliste. Elle a refoulé le carnage qui lui a
permis d’encaisser le bénéfice (l’Anatolie ethniquement nettoyée)
sans en payer le prix. Elle révère des héros fondateurs qui ont les
mains pleiPublicité
nes de sang. Aujourd’hui comme hier, elle veut être reconnue comme
puissance tout en craignant pour sa survie. Pour Akçam, fervent
partisan de la reconnaissance du génocide et de l’entrée dans
l’Europe, seule la marche vers une vraie démocratie permettrait à la
Turquie de repenser le pacte national condamné à être pulvérisé par
l’aveu du crime. Installé désormais aux Etats-Unis, il participe
depuis 2000 à une réunion annuelle d’intellectuels turcs et arméniens
qui donne corps au dialogue. «Nous acceptons tout chercheur qui admet
l’existence de tueries massives et qui les condamne moralement, dit
Akçam. Nous n’invitons donc pas de négationniste. Imagine-t-on un
débat entre juifs et nazis?»
–Boundary_(ID_qSckEIwNjNC6GWAe3gKlPQ)–

DISMANTLED HISTORICAL MONUMENTS TO BE GATHERED IN ONE PLACE
AZG Armenian Daily #079, 03/05/2005
Home
According to chief architect of Yerevan, it was decided to dismantle
the historical monuments in the capital’s center and remove them to
a separate area.
By means of this “arrangement” that part of the city will bear the
image of Old Yerevan, including the museums and exhibition halls. Some
of the historical monuments will remain in their old places, undergoing
some changes.
Recently, the issue of Kond (a historic district), as well as the
Firdousi Street and the neighboring area of St. Gregory the Illuminator
Church were discussed at Yerevan Municipality. It was decided to build
various two-five storied buildings in Kond. While Firdousi Street
will become a multi-functional center of underground and elevated
entertainment places. It is also envisaged to built dwelling houses
in this area.
By Karine Danielian

IT’S UNTIMELY TO SPEAK OF CONFIRMING ARMENIA’S APPLICATION TO MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES
AZG Armenian Daily #079, 03/05/2005
Cooperation
Corporation Representative Noted
The 10th intergovernmental session of Armenian-American work group
of economic cooperation discussed Armenia’s application first time
made to the Millennium Challenges, Vartan Khachatrian, RA minister
of finances and co-chair of the Armenian side, informed yesterday.
Head of the US delegation and Europe and Eurasia coordinator, Tom
Adams hailed the discussions successful and productive. He informed
that they discussed Armenia’s macroeconomic condition, ways of
attracting overseas investments and obstacles as well as issues
related to anti-terror struggle.
US ambassador to Armenia, John Evans, underscored that America’s
support is directed either at Armenia’s economic development or
democratic advances. He noted that the US encourages reforms in
constitution and in elective legislation.
Alex Russin, representative of the Millennium Challenges, noted the
application of the Armenian government has been only just submitted
and it’s untimely to speak of confirming it. He only repeated what was
previously known that Armenian government’s suggestions are directed
at decreasing poverty in rural areas.
By Ara Martirosian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress