Author: Emil Lazarian

The Washington Post

Brown campaigns to become top Calif. lawman

By Michael Fitzgerald
Reuters
Wednesday, June 7, 2006; 9:16 PM

SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) – Having spent two terms as
California governor, run for president three times and dated at least
one rock star, Jerry Brown has long served as an eclectic voice in
American politics.

After his Democratic primary win on Tuesday, Brown, who is ending his
second term as mayor of Oakland, campaigned on Wednesday across
California to conquer yet another political office, this time the job
of state attorney general.

In the day after a landslide win in the primary election, Brown, 68,
made campaign stops in Los Angeles, Fresno, San Diego, Sacramento and
Bakersfield.

Brown emphasized he had no aspirations to run for governor again, or
other elective office besides state attorney general. “At my age, I
prefer to focus on the task ahead, which is four years of hands-on
work as attorney general,” he told reporters in Sacramento.

Brown was again following in his father’s footsteps in seeking the job
of top state law enforcer, this time in reverse order. Pat Brown
served eight years as attorney general before his 1958 election to
governor.

The son, by contrast, served as governor of the nation’s most populous
state from 1975 to 1983 and only sought the attorney general job a
quarter of a century later.

“I will have to say, this job, I am truly prepared for,” he said. “You
could question some of the others.”

Brown’s low-key style as governor in the 1970s included living in a
modest apartment near the state Capitol building when he could have
lived in the governor’s mansion. He also made headlines by dating rock
singer Linda Ronstadt.

Brown was single until last year when he married Ann Gust, former
chief counsel for clothing chain operator Gap Inc. She is now serving
as his campaign manager.

“I am younger than he is but I feel older most days,” she said. “He
has a lot of energy and he wears me out.”

Brown is facing state Sen. Chuck Poochigian, a Republican from the
Central Valley city of Fresno. Polls suggest Brown has a big edge in
popularity and name recognition as few voters know Poochigian.

“That choice will be between my strongly held concern for the victims
of crime and the mayor’s emphasis on his political pedigree,”
Poochigian said on Tuesday.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Los Angeles Times
Steve Lopez:
Points West
It’s Open Season on Donkeys, Elephants
June 7, 2006

Whatever the results of Tuesday’s hold-your-nose primary for governor,
this much is true:

Democrats Steve Westly and Phil Angelides were both gutted and fileted
by this newspaper over the past several weeks. I mean that in a good
way.

Readers learned, primarily from reporters Dan Morain and Evan Halper,
that Westly and Angelides were anything but the upstanding,
straight-talking crusaders they claimed to be. It was this newspaper,
let’s remember, that pointed out the absurdity of an Angelides TV ad
blasting Westly for donations from “a corrupt Chicago businessman.” As
Morain and Halper discovered, Angelides himself had tried to tap the
same guy.

I almost hesitate to mention any of this, because there’s nothing
surprising or unusual about the way Westly and Angelides were knocked
around by The Times. That’s a newspaper’s job: Hold candidates up to
public inspection, study the viability of their promises and slap them
around as needed.

I’m just wondering why the paper hasn’t gotten huzzahs from the
professional gas bags who worked themselves into a frenzy three years
ago over our equally tough reporting on a candidate named Arnold
Schwarzenegger. As that doddering shill Hugh Hewitt put it back then,
The Times was “an organ of the Democratic Party” with no interest
other than “agenda journalism.”

Have John and Ken of radio fame weighed in on The Times’ coverage? If
you don’t know them, they’re the carnival barkers who jumped all over
the newspaper for its apparent bias and then showed up at
Schwarzenegger rallies to sing his praises, yapping like lap dogs.

“Wondering if anyone can tell me how much time the show has devoted to
The Times’ coverage of Westly and Angelides,” I wrote to them in an
e-mail that was not answered by my deadline.

Maybe they’ve talked of nothing else on-air. To be honest, I wouldn’t
know. I’d rather stick my head in a kettle drum and beat it with a
soup spoon than listen to these guys. But I sure hope they’ve given us
our props for reporting on the Westly-Angelides factor sleaze
especially given their cheerleading for Schwarzenegger.

I called Ken Khachigian, my favorite GOP consultant, even though he
worked with Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, to ask if he’d heard any
Republicans complimenting The Times’ tough coverage of Westly and
Angelides.

Khachigian gave The Times a pat on the back but said there’s a reason
conservatives aren’t ready to hand out any medals just yet. “Their
expectations are that once the primary’s over, the target turns to
Arnold,” he said. “They think that once the choice is a liberal, or
left-winger, and a Republican, then the gun sights go to the
Republican side.”

You can’t win with these guys.

Khachigian is predicting the paper will now empty both barrels on
Chuck Poochigian, the GOP candidate for attorney general against Jerry
Brown.

Wait a minute. If there’s a standing liberal agenda, why has The Times
broken the kneecaps of Westly and Angelides before one of them busts
out of the gates against Schwarzenegger?

That’s not to say the paper won’t tee off on Schwarzenegger between
now and November. Both he and his opponent will be vetted anew, and
based on what we already know about them, there’ll be plenty of
material to work with. Readers sometimes confuse this kind of
relentless snooping as the work of a political agenda rather than an
attempt to hold candidates accountable and keep readers informed, and
I’d like to try and set the record straight.

As a breed, good reporters are a mutant species, often completely
lacking in social graces, fashion sense and normal interests. They
don’t have many friends other than themselves, and even those
relationships involve unhealthy levels of suspicion.

Show a good reporter a bright, sunny day and he’ll wonder if the ozone
is burned to hell. This is not a matter of training, but of molecular
chemistry. They’re like hunting dogs, in love with the chase and
deliriously happy to go sniffing after any old bird, regardless of
hue.

A couple of weeks ago, to give you an example, Cruz Bustamante was in
town. True-blue Democrat, right?

By that measure, a left-leaning Democratic apologist like yours truly
should have given him a pass. As a columnist, I’ve got a license,
after all, to be biased. But I never let that get in the way of a good
public flogging. Bustamante was rolling in insurance industry dough
while running for state insurance commissioner, and he was hanging his
campaign on a plea to drop 50 pounds as an example for healthy living.

What choice did I have but to conceal a bathroom scale in my backpack
and pull it out after lunch at a Mexican cantina?

If holding people accountable means occasionally making them
uncomfortable, then I’m an equal opportunity agitator.

Speaking of which, one of Schwarzenegger’s aides recently suggested it
might be time for me and the governor to break bread. Finally. I’ve
been waiting three years for him to accept my invitation to get to
know my sweet side.

It’ll be painless, Arnold. Just a light workout.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SOLDIER WOUNDED IN ARMENIAN TRUCE VIOLATION – AZERI REPORT

Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
6 Jun 06

The Armenian armed forces have violated the cease-fire again. Azeri
Press news agency has reported that Azerbaijani positions came under
fire from the Armenian army positions in the occupied village of
Saricali in Agdam District last night. As a result, Azerbaijani soldier
Elmar Miriyev, who was drafted into the army from Davaci District
in April 2005, was wounded. The condition of the soldier, who was
immediately hospitalized, is serious at the moment. The Azerbaijani
Defence Ministry press service has also confirmed the report.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

STEPHEN MANN LEAVES POSITION OF OSCE MG CO-CHAIRMAN FOR KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

Yerevan, May 6. ArmInfo. Stephen Mann, the OSCE MG co-chairman for
the Karabakh conflict settlement form the USA, passes on to another
position in the USA State Department, Azerbaijan Mass Media informs.

According to Mann, it is a usual rotation. “Another co-chairman will
represent the USA in the OSCE MG”, Man said. At th same time, S. Mann
expressed his attitude concerning the June 5 meeting of the Presidents
of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Bucharest with participation of the OSCE
MG co-chairmen. He noted that the Presidents had held very interesting
discussions. “Within the next few days, the co-chairmen will discuss
the results of negotiations, will schedule the next steps and will
inform about it at the regular session of OSCE Constant Council”,
Mann said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN LEADER CALLS FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION DESPITE CONFLICTS

Mediamax news agency, Yerevan
7 Jun 06

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has called for promoting
regional cooperation without waiting for the settlement of the
existing conflicts in an address to the 27th plenary session of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC)
which opened in Yerevan on 7 June.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are in the state of war and therefore economic
cooperation between the two countries is impossible, the head of
the Azerbaijani delegation to the PABSEC, Asaf Haciyev, said at a
press conference which followed the session. The Azerbaijani MP also
stressed that constant mutual insults and accusations will not lead
to the settlement of the conflict and called on the Armenian side to
do its best to resolve the problem.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AN UNSEEN VICTORY
Hakob Badalyan

Lragir.am
07 June 06

The political sphere of Armenia is always in the focus of
dissatisfaction of the public. One of the often-mentioned reasons for
this dissatisfaction is that the players on the political sphere are
not replaced. Moreover, the tools, we may even say requisites that
these figures use also remain the same. And in this general stagnation
the introduction of a new political tool, namely a finger, worked
to the bone to achieve something good, somehow passed unnoticed in
Armenia. However, the society had not managed to pay due attention
to all this, and the new tool had not become adjusted to the new
environment, when chess became involved. It is difficult to tell
whether it got mingled with politics or is going to. However, even
if it does, it is welcome, because at last a new tool appeared in
politics, which brought joy to the public.

The achievement of the Armenian chess players in Torino is simply
invaluable for a tiny country and nation such as Armenia, a nation
so tiny that any victory appears big. In fact, a real victory cannot
be small or big. A victory is a victory, and we must congratulate
the winners. However, it is highly uncertain who the winners are,
who we should congratulate, and who worked their fingers to the bone
for this victory, who checked and who mated. Whereas it is utterly
important to know in person who brought the victory, for as Serge
Sargsyan, the minister of defense of Armenia, the president of the
Chess Federation, said, “there are going to be more victories.” And we
would feel somewhat uneasy not to know who we owe in case of another
victory. At least, one thing is certain that we owe our chess players
for the Olympic gold, who remained on top all through the 13 rounds,
and did something that has not been achieved over the past 13 and
more years. It is surprising, however, that it is not the winners of
this victory who announce about future victories.

On the whole, the World Chess Olympiad had other curious aspects for
us. Particularly, it was surprising that the Minister of Defense
decided to go on holiday in a crucial home political period for
Armenia, and take up the duties of a chess federation president and
commentator. It was surprising that having a chess commentator in
Torino, who is quite professional, we could hear comments by Serge
Sargsyan from time to time. It was also surprising that the tournament,
which began and continued so successfully for us, was not televised and
all we were able to see were photos and comments. Of course, in this
sense, the victory of our chess team appeared more mysterious but why
did we miss the chance to televise this historical tournament? Is the
Olympic gold less important than the eighth place on Eurovision? Or
maybe the most important events are going to take place in Yerevan,
and it is not worthwhile to go to a lot of expense and take the camera
to Torino, wasting both the money and mystery.

It’s a pity. Whereas, we would be happy to not only hear but also
see the victory. And this victory was, in fact, worth seeing and
cheering. Who knows when it will happen next time? We were promised
new victories but we were not told in which sphere and for who.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN MET LEONIDAS CHRISANTHOPOULOS

ArmRadio.am
06.06.2006 18:10

President Robert Kocharyan received today Secretary General of
the Standing International Secretariat of the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation Organization Leonidas Chrisanthopoulos.

The interlocutors exchanged ideas about the developments in the Black
Sea region, particularly issues related to economy, security and
stability. They attached importance to developing such approaches,
which will strengthen the common aspiration for partnership.

WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY : “IRANIAN AZERIS: A GIANT MINORITY”
By Ali M. Koknar

Today, Azerbaijan
June 6 2006

Recently in Iran, tens of thousands of Iranian Azeris took to the
streets for several days of demonstrations touched off by the May 12
publication of a racist cartoon in the state-run Iran newspaper.

Iranian security forces cracked down violently on the demonstrators,
killing at least four people (Azeri nationalists claim twenty
dead), injuring forty-three, and detaining hundreds of others. These
developments indicate brewing discontent among Iran’s Azeri population
and should be studied for their implications for U.S. and Western
policy toward Tehran.

The Iranian regime’s effort to put out this ethnic brushfire by closing
the Tehran-based Iran newspaper and arresting its editor as well as
the ethnic Azeri cartoonist quickly escalated to the usual strongarm
response as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ anti-riot units
and Basij militias attacked the Azeri protesters.

Iranian security forces cracked down on tens thousands of offended
Azeris, who took to the streets in Tehran and in the major northwestern
Iranian cities such as Tabriz, Urumieh, Ardebil, Maragheh, and
Zenjan. The intelligence service launched a massive detention campaign,
rounding up relatives of Azeri Turks previously jailed for Turkish
nationalism.

The Iranian deputy interior minister for security affairs, Ali Asghar
Ahmadi, admitted that the demonstrations in Tabriz were far more
than a mere protest against a newspaper insult. In fact, there is
much resentment in Iranian Azerbaijan about the region’s economic
and social difficulties. That resentment is fed by the attitudes of
ethnic Persians toward ethnic Azeris-an attitude well captured in the
phrase “Torki khar” (Turkish donkey), used by Persians in reference
to Azeris, whom they regard as the “muscle” of the Iranian economy
to be dominated by Persian “brains”.

Azeri Turks, concentrated mainly in the oil-poor northwest of Iran
(along the border with Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan), make up
an estimated one-fourth of Iran’s population of 70 million. Azeris
often claim a population share close to 40 percent, a number that
includes ethnic brethren such as the Turkmen, Qashgais, and other
Turkic-speaking groups. Unlike other ethnic groups in Iran such as
Sunni Kurds and Arabs, the Azeri Turks are Shiites like the Persians.

Divided from their kin in Azerbaijan by the 1828 Treaty of Turkmanchai,
which gave northern Azerbaijan to Russia (that part of Azerbaijan
gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991)
and southern Azerbaijan to Iran, the Azeris’ role in the Persian
government was significantly weakened when the Pahlavi dynasty came
into power in 1925. Contact between the Azeri areas of Iran and the
Soviet Union were limited until Soviet forces occupied northern Iran
during World War II. In 1945, at Soviet instigation, an Azerbaijan
Democratic Republic was proclaimed in Iranian Azerbaijan.

It lasted only until Soviet forces withdrew a year later; in the
aftermath, some thousands of Iranian Azeris were killed.

Much as did imperial Iran, the Islamic regime has downplayed the
ethnic differences between Persians and Azeris. Despite the fact that
influential figures in the establishment, such as Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are of Azeri descent, the mullahs did not
hesitate to crack down hard on Azeri Turkish nationalism, using heavy
weapons to put down a 1981 uprising in Tabriz and summarily executing
hundreds of Azeris.

Azeris have had mixed relationships with other Iranian minorities.

Kurds, who make up around 14 percent of Iran’s population, do not have
particularly good relations with ethnic Azeris; several cities in
western Iran, such as Urumieh and Mako, are inhabited by both Kurds
and by Azeri Turks. In the last decade, the ethnic majority of the
Azeri Turks in some areas close to the border with Turkey has been
diluted by immigration of Kurds. The attitudes of the Turkic-speaking
ethnic Turkmens, who live in the part of Iran near the independent
republic of Turkmenistan, are unclear.

The last fifteen years has seen a boom in nationalist publications
for Iranian Azeris and growing interest in both Turkey and the former
Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. A considerable number of Iranian Azeris
watch Turkish television broadcasts now available via satellite;
this has increased their knowledge of Turkey as well as the Anatolian
dialect of Turkish.

This revival led to the creation of a new organization, the South
Azerbaijan National Awakening Movement (Gamoh), by literature professor
Mahmudali Chohraganli. After winning election to the Iranian parliament
in 1995, Chohraganli, whose own father was once tortured by the Shah’s
secret police for Turkish nationalism, was not allowed to take his
seat. Gamoh opposes what it calls “Persian chauvinism,” demanding
more cultural rights for Azeris, and a future Iranian government with
a federal structure resembling the United States in which Azeris can
have their own flag and parliament.

Gamoh’s proclaimed support for self-determination, secular government
and a pro-Western orientation does not sit well with Tehran. Its
apparent popularity has put Gamoh squarely on Tehran’s radar screen.

Gamoh is run as a secret organization inside Iran. Its members,
including Chohraganli, who was jailed for two years and released
in 1999 after falling seriously ill, are often jailed or harassed
by Iranian security forces. Denied visas by both the Turkish and
Azerbaijani governments, Chohraganli was allowed to travel to the
United States in 2002. In April 2005, bodies of two Gamoh members
were found floating in the Aras River, the boundary between Iran and
Azerbaijan. In September 2005, the Iranian government blamed Gamoh
for the shooting of a government official in Urumieh; Gamoh denied
involvement. In March 2006, several Gamoh members attended the Second
World Azerbaijanis Congress in Baku. Following that congress, several
Gamoh members were arrested in Tabriz, and in April the Iranian Azeri
newspaper Navid Azerbaijan was banned.

The plight of Iranian Azeris is followed closely by their kin in
Azerbaijan and Turkey. But both the Azerbaijani and Turkish governments
take care not to damage their sensitive relations with the Iranian
government. Turkey recently stopped allowing a Chicago-based Azeri
television broadcaster, Gunaz, from using its satellite link. Gunaz
is known for its virulent opposition to Iran’s Islamic regime and its
separatist attitude since it went on the air in 2005. On the other
hand, Ankara has given Chohraganli permission to visit Turkey soon,
and Gamoh has an open presence there.

Azerbaijan is also walking a fine line between sympathy for the Iranian
Azeris and its economic and political interests with the Islamic
regime. Tehran recently consented to the opening of an Azerbaijani
consulate general in Tabriz, Iran’s largest Azeri-majority city. With
annual bilateral trade volume of $600 million, Iran is a major
trading partner of and an investor in Azerbaijan; Tehran also offers
humanitarian aid to the almost one million Azerbaijanis internally
displaced from Nagorno Karabakh after Armenia occupied that part of
Azerbaijan in 1993. Yet the Azerbaijani public is largely sympathetic
to the plight of Iranian Azeris. “Baku, Tabriz, Ankara. Where are
the Persians? Here we are!” chanted the Azeri Turks in Baku this
week as they protested the brutal treatment of their ethnic kin by
Iranian security forces. Many Azeri nationalists are interested in
uniting “North” Azerbaijan (the former Soviet republic) with “South”
Azerbaijan (the Iranian provinces).

Ethnic tensions in Iran have been on the rise with unpredictable
results, involving not just Azeris but also Kurds, Arabs, and
Baluchs. The government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has only
made these problems worse.

Ali M. Koknar is the owner of AMK Risk Management, a private security
consultancy with offices in Washington, DC, and Turkey specializing
in counterterrorism and international organized crime.

/

URL:

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VISIT PROGRAM OF AGO GROUP TO VISIT AZERBAIJAN ON JUNE 13 ANNOUNCED

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 5 2006

The Ago Group from the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe
will be visiting Baku from June 13 till 14.

The group composed of ambassadors of six countries (Germany, France,
Switzerland, Sweden, Austria and Romania) is headed by Germany’s
permanent representative at the Council of Europe, Ambassador Roland
Wegener. The Committee of Ministers secretariat told APA’s Europe
bureau that the visit aims at monitoring of Azerbaijan’s compliance
with commitments it undertook when joining the Council of Europe. The
discussions will also focus on the Nagorno Garabagh conflict. Ago
Group’s main intention is to get information about the results of the
recent meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents, Ilham Aliyev
and Robert Kocharian in Bucharest. They will also focus on the issues
concerning political prisoner and election practices.

During their stay in Azerbaijan, the Group will have talks with
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, head of President’s Executive
Office Ramiz Mehdiyev, Justice Minister Fikret Mammadov as well as
parliamentary delegation to PACE, NGO representatives and popular
opposition parties. The visitors are also expected to meet President
Ilham Aliyev. The European ambassadors will hold a press conference.

The Ago Group will fist visit Armenia on 8 June. It will draw up a
large report after ending the visit to the region. The report, which
will be made by stages will be published in a form of recommendations
before the June session of PACE.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

N. MAMMADOV: AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO MEET AGAIN THIS YEAR

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 6 2006

“Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharian
are expected to meet again this year,” said Novruz Mammadov head of
President’s Executive Office international relations department.

Commenting on the lack of detailed information about the recent meeting
of the Presidents in Bucharest, Mr.Mammadov said the talks are on
such a stage that it is unadvisable to give detailed information on it.

“After the first day of meeting, it was decided to continue the
negotiations next day. It means certain issues are being considered.

On the other hand, it is difficult to reach an agreement. Thus,
Armenia’s position is unacceptable. They want Nagorno Garabagh to be
given independence. President Ilham Aliyev making Robert Kocharian’s
position go to fall, stressed that the conflict should be solved only
in the frames of territorial integrity. There can be ten or fifteen
Armenian states if Armenians living in different parts of the world
establish a state,” Mammadov underlined.

The state official refused to say concretely what issue was agreed
upon in Bucharest meeting.

“The agreements on small details are consolidated, and a final
principle is determined. There is nothing new in the latest statement
by Kocharian. As a president, he needs to be careful while making
statements. His saying “Armenians should be given independence wherever
they are” sounds ridiculous,” he underlined.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress