Author: Emil Lazarian

Detroit Free Press, MI
June 30 2006
Archives: Kirk Kerkorian: Wizard investor’s shadow looms over GM
board
June 30, 2006
Originally published Thursday, May 05, 2005
By JOHN GALLAGHER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
Kirk Kerkorian has been hurling lightning bolts at Detroit for 15
years now.
Like an angry wizard in a hidden fortress, the reclusive Kerkorian
has roiled two of Motown’s major industries – auto manufacturing and
casino gaming – and changed the city’s landscape with the creation of
MGM Grand Detroit.
He may have cast his most thunderous bolt Wednesday, announcing that
he wants to up his stake in General Motors Corp. to nearly 9 percent.
Although the increased stake was described as for investment purposes
only, rather than a bid for active control of the world’s biggest
automaker, Detroiters singed by the wizard’s wrath take nothing for
granted.
After all, when he first bought a chunk of then-Chrysler Corp. in
1990, he also said he was only a passive investor, but later launched
a bitter takeover fight.
“He certainly strikes terror in the boardrooms of major
corporations,” said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson.
But many Detroiters applauded the announcement, saying Kerkorian has
magic in his eyes when it comes to spotting value in a company.
“You look at it twofold,” David Sowerby, portfolio manager at the
Bloomfield Hills office of Loomis Sayles & Co., said Wednesday. “To
the extent that he has a proven track record and is looking for
deeper value opportunities, then I think that’s a resounding positive
signal that he sees potential where many investors are skeptical on
General Motors.
“The second issue then becomes more of a home-turf, let’s call it
Fortress Michigan, perspective,” Sowerby added. “Does he come in and
potentially upset the apple cart? That second issue is too soon to
tell, with respect to retirees, health care, pension costs, labor
contracts.”
Lansing-based economist Patrick Anderson also viewed Kerkorian’s
interest in GM as mostly positive.
“I view that as a savvy investor saying that the world is not valuing
this crown jewel of American industrial might as it should,” Anderson
said. “I don’t think it’s any nostalgia for Detroit iron or a desire
to move to Woodward Avenue. He expects to make some money.”
That Kerkorian even resembles a Merlin-like character only adds to
his mystique. Now 87 years old, his power lies in his fantastic
wealth – $8.9 billion, according to Forbes magazine’s 2004 list of
the 400 wealthiest Americans.
No doubt the debate on Kerkorian’s impact on Detroit will continue
for years.
A wizard of a deal-maker
A decade ago, then-Chrysler Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Robert Eaton blistered Kerkorian as a corporate raider out to savage
a healthy company after Kerkorian launched a takeover bid. Yet others
noted that Chrysler’s stock price more than doubled between the time
he first started buying the shares in 1990 until the time he backed
off his takeover attempt five years later.
Moreover, although many Detroiters opposed the opening of casinos in
the city for many years, Kerkorian’s MGM Grand in Detroit has pumped
millions of dollars into municipal coffers. Now that a court ruling
has cleared the way for bigger permanent casinos in the city, MGM
Grand’s proposed site on the west side of downtown promises to
substantially change the city’s skyline.
About all that’s certain is this: For a man whom few, if any,
Detroiters have ever laid eyes on, Kerkorian has shaken up the Motor
City like few before him.
The son of Armenian immigrants who ran a produce business in Fresno,
Calif., Kerkorian quit school as a teenager to go to work. He spent a
year in the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps, served as a
military pilot during World War II, and after the war ran a small
air-charter service to ferry gamblers between Los Angeles and Las
Vegas.
Kerkorian paid $60,000 for the charter service in 1947, when he was
30. In 1968, he sold it to Trans-america Corp. for a little over $100
million. It was his first fortune, and a banker friend, Walter Sharp,
said much later the transaction transformed Kerkorian.
“Kirk realized then that everything was in the timing,” Sharp said in
1995. “He became fascinated with the idea of making deals.”
And deals there were. For a man so intensely private, he showed a
remarkable taste for splashy investments, mostly in Las Vegas. With
the proceeds of his airline sale, he acquired the Flamingo hotel
there in 1967. It was just the first of several casino-hotels
Kerkorian would buy, sell or build in the decades since.
Last June, he was behind a $7.9-billion takeover of Mandalay Bay
Resorts. That, in turn, forced the sale under Michigan gaming laws of
Mandalay Bay’s MotorCity Casino in Detroit. By accepting a bid from
pizza and sports entrepreneur Marian Ilitch, Kerkorian dramatically
shuffled the cast of players in Detroit’s casino industry.
Movies also have held a lure. Kerkorian bought the MGM film studio
three times between 1970 and 1996, once selling it to mogul Ted
Turner and buying it back again in a matter of months.
Although nowhere near as reclusive as the legendary Howard Hughes,
Kerkorian nonetheless runs a low-key operation. Angered by a
reporter’s questions years ago, Kerkorian rarely, if ever, gives
interviews. Shy and unpretentious, he has been known to stand in line
even for movies his own studio produced rather than ask for private
screenings.
His Las Vegas-based company, Tracinda Corp., is named for two
daughters, Tracy and Linda. His personal life has had a tabloid
flavor: Kerkorian has been married three times, including a 1999
union with tennis pro Lisa Bonder that lasted one month before
divorce papers were filed.
Peter Bart, a former MGM executive who wrote a book about Kerkorian
years ago, once told the Free Press that the billionaire’s interests
didn’t go toward day-to-day operational issues at the companies he
owned.
“If his performance were the same at Chrysler as it was at MGM,
expect him to take no interest in the car industry, to rarely show up
for anything and to never second-guess next year’s new models,” Bart,
author of “Fade Out: The Calamitous Final Days at MGM,” told the Free
Press in 1990.
“He’s about as far from Lee Iacocca as you can get,” Bart added at
that time. “He admits he’s never been a good judge of character, and
it inhibits his ability to build a good management team.”
Will lightning strike again?
Ironically, it was a meeting with Iacocca that sparked Kerkorian’s
interest in Detroit. Meeting the then-automotive executive at a
Florida racetrack, Kerkorian agreed in 1990 to invest in Chrysler,
whose finances were shaky again because of slumping sales.
Five years later, his stance as a passive investor gave way to a
takeover bid when the company didn’t perform as he’d hoped. Among
other moves, he got former Kmart executive Joseph Antonini to resign
from Chrysler’s board so his own candidate could take his place. At
the height of the controversy, Kerkorian was demanding three seats on
the board, a prohibition on issuing new stock that would dilute
shareholders’ voting rights and the right to buy more Chrysler stock
without penalty.
That bid ended when Kerkorian couldn’t stitch together a workable
deal. Later, he was an early and avid supporter of the deal that saw
Daimler-Benz AG merge with Chrysler in 1998.
But pleasure turned to anger once again when Kerkorian came to
believe that the merger was really an ill-disguised takeover that
devalued his shares. He sued DaimlerChrysler in a bitter and
protracted legal battle.
Although a judge in April rejected Kerkorian’s claims, the investor
at least had the satisfaction of forcing Daimler boss Juergen
Schrempp to testify in open court about embarrassing statements he
had made calling the deal a “merger” only to soothe American feelings
about a takeover.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KERKORIAN LOOMS OVER GM
Originally published Saturday, June 04, 2005
By MICHAEL ELLIS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
He won’t be there, but corporate raider Kirk Kerkorian and his offer
to more than double his stake in General Motors Corp. will hang over
the proceedings at the automaker’s annual shareholders meeting
Tuesday.
The stunning bid by the billionaire investor, who has rattled
corporate boardrooms in the past by forcing companies to restructure
or sell off assets, to raise his stake in GM to nearly 9% has raised
expectations that this year’s shareholder meeting will be more than
the usual fare of speeches, quick votes and free sandwiches.
The Las Vegas casino mogul’s offer in May to buy as many as 28
million GM shares at $31 each through his investment firm Tracinda
Corp. gives shareholders upset by the decade-low stock price a chance
to sell out. Kerkorian’s bid expires the same day as the shareholder
meeting, scheduled to be held in Wilmington, Del., where the Detroit
automaker is incorporated.
A lawyer for Kerkorian has said his client intends to be a passive
investor who will own GM shares solely for investment purposes and
not to force major changes at the automaker. But Kerkorian’s own
history, including his attempted takeover of the former Chrysler
Corp. in the 1990s, suggests otherwise.
Some corporations have measures that thwart takeover attempts such as
a so-called poison pill that is triggered automatically to make a
company’s stock less attractive when an unwanted buyer emerges. But
GM’s corporate bylaws lack many common corporate defensive measures
that would prevent Kerkorian from forcing his handpicked slate of
candidates onto the company’s board of directors, automotive analyst
Brian Johnson of investment firm Sanford Bernstein said in a recent
report.
“GM’s bylaws are surprisingly shareholder-friendly, without common
takeover defenses,” Johnson wrote. “Tracinda could nominate his own
slate of directors for election in June 2006 or earlier by filing
written consents of a simple majority of shareholders. Given the
concentration of GM ownership, only about two dozen institutions
would be needed to unseat GM’s board at any point in time.”
Tracinda said this week that it won’t increase its offer of $31 per
share, even as the stock trades above the proposed price. But a host
of other scenarios could play out.
For example, more than 28 million shares could be offered to
Kerkorian, who could opt to expand his offer and take more of GM. He
could also extend the offer for 20 more business days if not enough
shares are tendered.
GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner faces troubles besides Kerkorian.
Earlier this week, GM reported a 12.6% drop in May U.S. vehicle
sales, forcing the automaker to cut third-quarter vehicle production
in North America by 10%, or 100,000 cars and trucks, to deal with
high inventories.
GM officials said they expect a big turnout by the national media
eager at to cover the problems facing one of America’s largest
employers and biggest contributors to the national economy.
Among current shareholders who rode the more than 30% fall in GM
share price in the last year, some might be tempted to support
several shareholder proposals to be voted on at the meeting, said
John Lauve, a former GM manager.
Lauve, who retired to Holly after 30 years with GM, cosponsored a
proposal that would require only a majority of shareholders to vote
in favor of any item for it to be considered by the company. He also
sent his own slate of 12 alternatives for the GM board to investment
firms and mutual funds that own GM shares.
“Their record of failure is the most convincing reason for change,”
Lauve said of the current GM board.
Lauve, whose father was part of the creative team under famed
designer Harley Earl, estimates he has lost $40,000 to $50,000 from
GM’s falling share price since he retired in 1999.
“I’ve worked 30 years for this company. My father worked for it
before I did. I cannot stand by and see this great company destroyed
by incompetent leadership. What happened to Kmart?” he asked,
referring to the Troy discount retailer that went bankrupt in 2002
and later merged with Sears Holdings Corp.
The GM board has urged investors to reject Lauve’s and other
shareholder proposals. Lauve’s proposed change is “misleading and
unnecessary” because items subject to a stockholder vote already
require only a majority vote to be approved, GM said in proxy
statement sent to shareholders.
But the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Calpers), a
pension fund for public service workers and the holder of about
486,000 GM shares, has said it will vote for four of the five
shareholder proposals, including Lauve’s, over the wishes of the GM
board of directors. Calpers, which often voices support of corporate
reform, said on its Web site that Lauve’s proposal is in line with
its own backing of greater accountability for corporate board
directors.
Another shareholder proposal cited a report by the Corporate Library,
a pro-investor research firm that gave GM’s board of directors a “C”
grade for effectiveness.
The Corporate Library, based in Portland, Maine, concluded that too
many GM directors are busy working as chief executives of other
companies or serve on too many corporate boards to be effective in
leading the automaker. Philip Laskawy, a former partner at accounting
firm Ernst & Young, serves on six corporate boards, while former
Compaq Computer chief executive Eckhard Pfeiffer and Kent Kresa, the
former chief executive of defense firm Northrop Grumman Corp., both
serve on five boards, including GM, the Corporate Library said.
Even with Kerkorian’s intentions foremost in the minds of investors,
GM’s meeting could be “a little like most Super Bowls,” said David
Sowerby, a senior portfolio manager with the $70-billion investment
firm and mutual fund company Loomis Sayles & Co. in Bloomfield Hills.
“You have a lot of expectations heading in. I would be surprised to
see anything major for the critical issues facing the company,”
Sowerby said, listing GM’s rising health care and pension fund costs
as top concerns.
Even if Kerkorian and his advisers remain silent Tuesday, his looming
shadow over GM will make some investors consider buying GM’s stock at
the current low price, Sowerby said. “It certainly makes you look
harder,” he said.
“It’s on my screen, but I haven’t felt a strong urge to buy the
stock.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Regnum, Russia –
June 30 2006
Gross refuses to be co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan
PACE Monitoring Committee had a meeting on June 29, reports AzTV.
While speaking at the meeting Andreas Gross refused to be
co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan any longer because `he has worked in this
sphere for a long time and now wants to be co-rapporteur in some
other country.’
The committee has met his request and has relieved him of his duties.
The Swiss MP will be replaced by British MP Tony Lloyd.
The head of the Armenian delegation, the Armenian parliament speaker
Tigran Torossyan says that during his speech he tried to present
Gross’ refusal to continue his duties as co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan
as the result of that country’s pressure on him. However, the
Azerbaijani delegation said that Gross’ decision was voluntary, and
Azerbaijan exerted no pressure on him.
Still, we would like to note that Gross has been co-rapporteur on
Azerbaijan for ten years already and has actually had controversial
relations with that country’s authorities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
June 30 2006
Head of PACE Sub-commission on Nagorno-Karabakh to pay visit to
region in October

Source: Trend
Author: J.Shahverdiyev

30.06.2006

The members of the provisional commission of Sub-commission on
Nagorno-Karabakh created in PACE will arrive in region in October,
Ganira Pashayeva, the member of Azeri delegation in PACE, told Trend.

The agreement on this visit was reached on June 28 at the meeting
between the heads of Azeri and Armenian delegations Samad Seyidov and
Tirgan Torasyan within the summer session of PACE. The meeting was
also attended by the chairman of Sub-commission Lord Russell Johnson.

The members of the Sub-commission will visit Azerbaijan, Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh. `May be Johnson himself pay a visit to the region,’
Pashayeva added.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE)

June 30 2006

OSCE Yerevan Office presents its views on human rights to secondary
school teachers
YEREVAN, 30 June 2006 – An OSCE human rights expert shared her
knowledge today with 55 secondary school teachers who are taking a
year-long class on human rights.
Silvia Pogolsa, a Human Rights Officer at the OSCE Office in Yerevan,
delivered a lecture as part of the course, organized annually by the
non-governmental organization Armenian Constitutional
Right-Protective Centre.
That centre has organized a Human Rights School since 1996, and 405
participants, mainly secondary school teachers, have so far taken
part in the programme, which includes 11 months of distance learning
and one month of intensive education.
“OSCE considers human rights and democracy explicit elements of the
overall security framework, assigning them the same level of
importance as politico-military and economic security issues,”
Pogolsa said. “We believe education in and for human rights is one of
the effective means of creating peaceful and stable societies.”
The Office donated the latest OSCE publications on human rights and
good governance to the NGO’s Human Rights Library, which consists of
six libraries in different Armenian towns.
The lecture was part of the Office’s human rights education and
public awareness raising programme, which started in 2001. The Office
also has produced documentary movies on human rights issues and
organized public screenings of those movies. It is preparing a series
of Public Service Announcements on torture, tolerance and
non-discrimination and other human rights issues to be broadcast on
national TV-stations starting in September 2006.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
June 30 2006
Withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from conflict zone would relax
tension in region – US Amb at OSCE Minsk Group

Source: Trend
Author: R.Abdullayev

30.06.2006

The Co-chairs of OSCE Minsk Group have led the peaceful dialogue to a
certain stage after which the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia
should make a decision, Mathew Bryza, the USA state secretary advisor
on Europe and Eurasia, co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group, told in his
interview with Radio Liberty, Trend reports.
`My words may urge people to create a condition for healthy debates
in the region,’ told Brysa.
`I am surprised not at the debates, but at the issue that several
persons who are not familiar with the recent statement of co-chairs
of Minsk group in Vienna gave a rapid reaction to the meeting. In the
statement of co-chair, everything was stated obviously, but my
statement was shorter and common,’ Bryza added.
Bryza answered the question `May you peaceful plan statement be
considered part of the strategy on beginning of debates?’ that `May
be yes or may be no. I only gave information on happening events. The
document offered to the Permanent Council of OSCE is open for
society.’
`Co-chairs of Minsk Group used all their abilities and energy to
prepare a `framework agreement’ where the main principles of
settlement found their reflections. The president need time to make a
decision on the agreement,’ stressed Bryza. I’m very energetic and
familiar with the leaders enough. We will continue working with them
and don’t state that the process has been ceased forever. However, we
want to note that the dialogue was held till the definite level,
after which the heads of the conflict countries should themselves
take a resolution.
Touching on the contradictory statements on the conducting of
referendum on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, American co-chair noted
that the sides couldn’t come to an agreement on main principles of
the solution. Therefore, both presidents take responsibility that no
agreement was reached up to now. `I cannot say which president takes
greater responsibility. The presidents may declare that an agreement
was reached on the main principles or may announce that the agreement
was made changes and a packet plan will be prepared,’ told new
co-chair.
At the same time Bryza noted that he withdrawal of the Armenian armed
forces from the conflict zone, undoubtedly, increase the tension in
the region. `Therefore, the issue is important element of the major
principles of resolution. However, stating to Armenians that withdraw
the arms from the region and it will relax the tension in the region
and we will achieve the desired. The Armenians will go to it, if they
will receive anything in exchange. That is the major principle. The
experts are right -the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces will
relax the tension. But they should receive something in exchange.
Therefore, the heads of state ought to take a difficult resolution.
Bryza noted that the demilitarization of the region will be
accompanied with national voting or referendum on future status of
Nagorno-Karabakh.
The problem is linked with coordination of the time parameters for
withdrawal or re-dislocation of Armenian forces with the status of
Karabakh. That’s the major problem complicating the process.
In the end Bryza voiced his hope that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
will be included in the agenda of the meeting of G8 in St-Petersburg.
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the issue will
be under discussion. `We’d like the issue to be included in the
agenda of the meeting,’ the adviser to the US Secretary of State in
Europe and Eurasia, said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Arka News Agency, Armenia
June 30 2006
RECEPTION IN HONOR OF NKR DELEGATION HELD AT CAPITOL, USA
YEREVAN, June 30. /ARKA/. A reception in the honor of the
Nagorno-Karabakh delegation was held at the Capitol. The reception
was attended by US Congressmen, RA Ambassador to the USA Tatul
Margaryan, NKR Permanent Representative to the USA Vardan Barseghyan,
top officials of the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) and Armenian
National Committee of America, US Congress staff members, journalists
and representatives of the Armenian community.
The US Congress members Frank Pallone, Joe Nolenberg, Edward Royce,
Caroline Malone, Adam Shiff and Brad Sherman made speeches at the
reception. They warmly welcomed Speaker of the NKR National Assembly
Ashot Ghulyan and NKR Foreign Minister Georgy Petrosyan.
Condemning Azerbaijan’s aggressive policy, the US Congressmen
reaffirmed their readiness to contribute to the development of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR).
In their turn, the NKR officials conveyed the NKR’s people’s
gratitude the US Congress and to the American people for their
commitment to such eternal values as freedom and democracy as well as
for the humanitarian aid provided to the NKR.
Artsakh knowingly chose the way of freedom and democracy and no
obstacles will make it turn aside from this way, Ghulyan said.
Following the reception the NKR delegation held a meeting with the
Co-Chairmen of the US Congressional Armenia Caucus Frank Pallone and
Joe Nolenberg.
The sides discussed issues related to the current socio-economic
situation in the NKR, the country’s democratic development, US aid to
the NKR and Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. P.T. -0–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The New Anatolian, Turkey
June 30 2006
Incoming US ambassador to Yerevan doesn’t use word ‘genocide’
TNA with AP / Washington
U.S. senators failed to persuade the nominee for U.S. ambassador to
Yerevan to use word ‘genocide’ while describing events of 1915 at his
confirmation hearings Wednesday in the Senate.
“I have not received any kind of written instruction about this,”
Ambassador-designate Richard E. Hoagland said. “I simply have studied
the president’s policy. I’ve studied the background papers on the
policy. And my responsibility is to support the president.”
While declining to say the word “genocide,” Hoagland, who is
currently the ambassador to Tajikistan, said, “I fully agree that the
events that occurred in 1915 and following were of historic
proportions, as I said, well-documented, horrific, horrifying.”
He quoted Maryland democrat Senator Paul Sarbanes, who read a
statement about the situation, that “hundreds of valleys (were)
devastated, no family untouched. It was historic. It was a tragedy
and everyone fully agrees with that, sir.”
U.S. President George W. Bush, in a presidential message on the 91st
anniversary of April 24, called the events “a terrible chapter of
history” that “remains a source of pain for people in Armenia and for
all those who believe in freedom, tolerance and the dignity and value
of every human life.”
Bush is ordering home their current ambassador in Yerevan, John
Evans, two years into the normally three-year diplomatic term. In
announcing his recall last month, the White House gave no reason and
praised Evans for his service. Last Sunday was his second anniversary
in the Armenian capital. In February 2005 Evans told
Armenian-Americans, “The Armenian genocide was the first genocide of
the 20th century.”
Sixty members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice protesting that Evans was being
punished for his reference to “genocide.” In a separate letter,
Democratic Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts
demanded an explanation from Rice for Evans’ recall.
The events occurred during the expulsion of ethnic Armenians from
eastern Turkey into Syria in 1915 and 1916. Turkish officials have
traditionally maintained that 300,000 people died. Armenian
terrorists, mainly members of the Armenian Secret Army for the
Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), roamed through Europe and the U.S. in
the 1970s and 1980s and claimed more than 60 attacks against Turkish
targets. The army claimed the campaign killed 30 Turkish diplomats
and dependents.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Opinions
Patrimony of cultural artifacts
Recep Guvelioglu
[email protected]
26 June 2006
The matter of stolen artifacts and looted historical treasures has
been one of the most important and ongoing issues in Turkey. When I
visited the Ephesus Museum in Vienna and the Pergamum (Bergama) Museum
in Berlin, and saw many artifacts from Anatolia at the Louvre, the
British Museum and Dumbarton Oaks, my first reaction was to curse at
the looters and the international system that gives an opportunity to
looters and thieves. But when I learned that the Germans dug an
enormous shelter for the Pergamum Altar during World War II to protect
it from bombings and all the other museums took similar measures, my
view changed quickly. Even though Turkey lost those unique historical
treasures, at least humanity possessed them. Today many people from
all around the world can visit these museums. In addition, what
happened to some of the historical treasures in Turkey is well
known. The Greek columns of Side, for instance, were burned just to
get lime to build brick houses.
We have made many mistakes regarding historical artifacts, and there
are many reasons for our cultural loss. It would take at least five of
these weekly columns to discuss them all. The primary reason is our
legal system: Our laws and judicial practices. Turkey holds a treasure
trove of antiquities to protect, which is why many laws and codes were
adopted.
Yet time has proven that that system does not work.
The most famous law to preserve our cultural heritage is the “Kultur
ve Tabiat Varliklarini Koruma Yasasi” (Code of Protection of Cultural
and Natural Property, or the code of antiquities). Under this law any
ruin, artifact or cultural finding discovered falls under the state’s
patrimony and it needs to be reported to the authorities, such as
museum directors. Afterwards you have several options:
The director might be corrupt and want to have the artifacts for
himself. He might offer you one percent of its real value and threaten
to throw you in jail for illegal excavation if you don’t comply.
Let’s say the director is decent, yet he might still threaten to give
it to “the state,” in which case you will receive a paltry
compensation. In either case, you’re in trouble¦ If you decide not to
inform the authorities, you have to find a middle man to sell this
merchandise. The middle man would certainly deceive you, and if the
artifact is quite valuable you might even be murdered.
The last option is to try selling the artifact abroad, which leads to
the same problem.
The bottom line of the matter is the issue of the patrimony of
humanity’s past. Robbers destroy and loot temples and tombs. In the
eyes of ordinary people, they are cursed criminals. Some people
purchase mankind’s oldest and most exquisite creations and are proud
of their efforts; these private collectors, commercial dealers, and
museum curators view themselves as temporary caretakers of treasures.
However, collectors’ demands for these objects have created incentives
for looters to pillage archaeological sites.
“Cultural patrimony” is the question of who has the right to own and
exhibit humanity’s aesthetic and archaeological treasures.
It’s a three-sided debate. On one side, there are “internationalists”:
Academics, dealers and collectors who advocate the regulated market as
the best way to protect antiquities. The second group believes that
cultural patrimony is linked to a group of people’s identity. “Our
cultural heritage tells us who we are.” These “nationalists” generally
call for a trade that is limited, heavily regulated and open to public
scrutiny. The third party consists of archaeologists and scholars who
say that trading uproots cultural artifacts from their original place,
rendering them useless for scientific study.
The nationalists’ and archaeologists’ non-liberal amalgam of
nationalism and anti-capitalist mentality goes back to the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO)
1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit
Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. It is
the first major international agreement to protect cultural property
from thieves and smugglers.
Actually it’s hard to say who’s right in the debate. In Turkey’s case,
with the current judicial system, which doesn’t give Turkish citizens
any right to buy any artifacts, and with the problems of museums which
have became like unprotected storage houses, the nationalistic
approach seems to have lost the game.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Genocide tribunal brings Cambodia hope of elusive reconciliation
Published on June 30, 2006
Phnom Penh – Chum Mey turns cold when he thinks of testifying against
his one-time torturers at Cambodia’s upcoming Khmer Rouge tribunal.
As one of only seven survivors of the notorious Tuol Sleng torture
camp, he knows he is likely to be called as a witness to speak out
against the leaders of the 1975-1979 regime that killed up to two
million Cambodians.
But the 76-year-old said the tribunal, whose judges will be sworn in
on Monday, may offer the only chance for Cambodia to learn all the
facts about the genocidal regime and to help the still-shattered
country heal.
“It’s time, they must not hide anything. I need them to tell the
truth. Why did they kill innocent people?” said Chum Mey.
“Otherwise, their victims will never be able to let go of the pain
they suffered,” he said.
“After the trial, the pain will not go away immediately. But at least
it’s a starting point to get rid of the pain we bear and to
reconcile.”
But reconciliation is a difficult goal in a country where up to one
third of the population was killed, starved or worked to death in one
of the most hideously effective genocides of the 20th century.
Most of the 17 Cambodian and 13 international judges will be sworn in
on Monday, marking a symbolic start to the tribunal that has been
delayed by years of wrangling between Cambodia and the United Nations
over its format and funding.
Prosecutors are expected to begin their work just a week later, but
trials are not likely to start until next year.
Even if Chum Mey is called to the stand, he is not likely to face the
men who actually tortured him in Tuol Sleng, a one-time high school
where 17,000 people — men, women and children — were interrogated,
tortured and then killed in a field outside Phnom Penh.
The tribunal is expected only to bring the few surviving leaders of
the Khmer Rouge to the dock.
Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998. Only two of the roughly six
surviving leaders expected to stand trial are in custody, with the
rest living freely in Cambodia.
But most of the killing was done by ordinary Cambodians who followed
their leaders’ commands in pursuit of building an agrarian utopia —
guided by an ultra-Maoist ideology that, among other things, tried to
destroy the family unit and abolished education, religion and
currency.
Van Nath, another survivor of Tuol Sleng, said he too was prepared to
testify but he was unsure if reconciliation was possible when people
who actually performed the killings still walked the streets.
“For me, there is no reconciliation with people we once knew as
murderers,” Van Nath said.
“I believe the trial is needed. But as for reconciliation, I believe
none of us has the ability to reconcile because of the gravity of what
happened,” he said.
“What could ease our minds is if the people who committed these crimes
stand up to describe publicly about the reasons behind the killings,”
Van Nath said.
Van Nath survived the torture centre when his guards discovered his
talent for painting. He was then forced to do portraits of Pol Pot
until the Khmer Rouge were driven from power by Vietnamese invaders
who seized Phnom Penh in January 1979.
He is not convinced the tribunal can bring justice to a country that
was turned into a wasteland by a regime that emptied the cities and
forced the population onto vast collective farms.
“Right now, I dare not think that the tribunal can bring us justice
yet,” he said.
“If it does, justice will not be found in the court’s decision. It
will be justice if the people agree with its decisions,” he said.
Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia which
has been compiling evidence of Khmer Rouge atrocities, said
reconciliation is a personal matter.
“It has to start from individuals. If many individuals benefit from
the trial, then this will also have an effect at a national level,” he
said.
So far, few of the remaining Khmer Rouge leaders have shown any
concern about the trials, much less about national reconciliation.
Most of them lead quiet lives around the former Khmer Rouge stronghold
of Pailin in northwestern Cambodia, refusing to give interviews and
staying out of the spotlight.
“I never think of the court,” said Sor Socheat, the 55-year-old wife
of the Khmer Rouge’s former head of state Khieu Samphan.
“My husband never thinks of any work that he had done,” she told AFP
by telephone, saying Khieu Samphan refused to take the call.
“At that time, he had no rights or power. He was only chairman in name
but he knew nothing. He never made any decisions,” she said.
“It is up to others to form this tribunal,” she added.
As for national reconciliation, she refused to talk about it.
Agence France Presse
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress