Category: News

Eurasianet Organization
June 28 2004
NEW ARMENIAN ECONOMIC PLAN TARGETS POVERTY
Haroutiun Khachatrian: 6/28/04
As Armenia’s economy continues to post record growth, the government
has announced an ambitious campaign to tackle the poverty that has
marred living conditions in the country since the collapse of the
Soviet Union. The government’s change in tactics comes as the
opposition continues to campaign for the removal of President Robert
Kocharian from office.
For the past few years, Armenia has had one of the best performing
economies in the former Soviet Union. Annual economic growth has
averaged over 10 percent. Price liberalization and privatization
programs and the accession of Armenia to the World Trade Organization
in 2003 have all contributed to the surge. Foreign direct investment
has increased by 74.5 percent since 2003, according to the National
Statistics Service, with much of that coming from the far-flung
Armenian Diaspora. Last year, the European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development cited Armenia as the most likely candidate among the
former Soviet Union for accession to the European Union.
But while Armenia’s economic reform program has won raves from
international finance institutions, the benefits have not been
equally shared. Nearly half of Armenia’s population of roughly 3.2
million people lives beneath the poverty line. A slight increase in
unemployment in 2003 gave Armenia a 10.1 percent jobless rate,
according to government data, and annual per capita income is less
than $600. Only half of Yerevan’s residents have running water 24
hours per day, and electricity and phone service are sporadic at
best. Outside the Armenian capital, infrastructure has crumbled still
further since Soviet times with barely functional roads, derelict
schools and a battered health care system.
“The government has a good national perspective. But they seem to
have problems persuading outsiders that the same kind of reforms are
needed outside Yerevan,” said the International Monetary Fund’s
Armenia representative, James McHugh.
With the announcement that the World Bank, Armenia’s largest
creditor, will focus its future assistance to the country on poverty
reduction efforts, that scenario could be set to change. The Bank is
expected to extend $250 million for work on rural schools, roads and
irrigation by November 2004, Finance and Economy Minister Vartan
Khachatrian told journalists earlier this month. The funds come on
top of an additional $35 million in Bank funds for support of
Armenia’s public utilities, agricultural sector and civil service.
Announcing the program, Kahchatrian declared that the structural
reforms necessitated by Armenia’s transition to a free market economy
were “almost complete,” prompting the government to focus instead on
a 12-year plan for slashing poverty levels. Since 1993, Armenia has
received more than $1 billion in loans from international financial
institutions and foreign governments for currency stabilization,
privatization, earthquake reconstruction projects and support for
such high-priority economic sectors as energy, agriculture and
transportation.
The government also hopes to secure additional funds from the US
Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) program for rural revitalization
schemes similar to those targeted by the World Bank. Prime Minister
Andranik Markarian told reporters on June 16 that Armenia would
present a series of proposed projects ranging from school
construction to repair of irrigation networks and roads to the MCA
for approval by the end of July. Under the MCA financing rules,
participant countries must do their own evaluations of funding needs
and detail how they would spend any received aid. Armenian government
estimates for funds to be requested have ranged from $500 million to
$700 million, with some $100 million expected for 2004. Approval for
the funds is subject to MCA countries’ progress on democratic reform
and defense of human rights.
Securing these funds could prove increasingly important for President
Robert Kocharian’s government if Armenia’s political opposition gains
broader popular support. A harsh government crackdown in mid-April on
street protests in Yerevan that called for Kocharian’s resignation
has slashed attendance at the rallies, but the opposition shows
little sign of giving up its struggle. On June 21, Viktor Dallakian,
a leader of the opposition alliance Artarutiun, told RFE/RL that the
group was considering a national petition drive for Kocharian’s
removal from office.
While the government in Yerevan has displayed little consternation at
such threats, it is quick to point out the economic successes of its
reform programs to international organizations as a counter-balance
to criticism of its human rights record.
Government forecasts put expected annual GDP growth for 2005 – 2007
at 6-7 percent. That is a significant slow-down from 2003, when
Armenia’s economy grew by 13.9 percent, but still higher than
Armenia’s neighbor – and growing competitor for international
assistance – Georgia, which registered only 5 percent economic growth
in 2003. Reflecting the slower growth rate, inflation is expected to
hold steady at around 3 percent, according to government figures.
But some representatives of international finance organizations
caution that economic reforms in Armenia are far from complete. Among
the tasks targeted by the International Monetary Fund is an overhaul
of the tax system, including the elimination of so-called presumptive
taxes, which target mostly cash-based businesses, such as consumer
services, and do not reflect the actual income of the taxpayer. “Of
course, we do not expect that due to this program Armenia will become
a really European economy with a modern tax system,” said the IMF’s
Armenia representative James McHugh, “but we are confident that it
will take a major step in the direction of eliminating ad hoc taxes.”
For now, political discussions on Armenia’s economic reform strategy
are largely limited to the government’s policy statements. The
opposition has focused on removing Robert Kocharian from office
rather than arguing for an alternative economic reform plan. Hrant
Bagratian, the former prime minister largely credited with
jumpstarting Armenia’s economic reform process in the 1990s, is among
the few people criticizing the government’s poverty reduction vision.
In a June 16 interview with the daily/weekly Noyan Tapan, Bagratian
termed premature Khachatrian’s statement that structural economic
reforms are now complete. Instead, Bagratian targeted the national
pension system, judicial system and the management of state-run
companies as among the areas still left untouched by reform.
Meanwhile, despite glowing marks for Armenia’s economic reform
programs, the country’s search for international assistance is facing
increased competition from neighbor Georgia, where an ambitious
anti-corruption campaign recently brought in $1 billion from
international donors, including the European Union. In a June 15
article, EU officials told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that,
despite Armenia’s inclusion in a program designed to bolster regional
trade ties, the country’s attractiveness for additional aid programs
has been marred by its ongoing dispute with Azerbaijan over the
disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Editor’s Note: Haroutiun Khachatrian is a Yerevan-based writer
specializing in economic and political affairs.

Armenia Fund Raises more than $79,000 during a reception in LA
-Five projects adopted in different regions of Armenia and Artsakh-

FOR IMMEDATE RELEASE
June 28, 2004
CONTACT: Sarkis Kotanjian
Phone: 818 243-6222
Fax: 818 243-7222
E-mail: [email protected]
Glendale, CA – Armenia Fund, Inc. (AFI) is proud to announce that
$79,000 was raised during an event that took place in Los Angeles on
June 17, 2004. The event announced the launching of a new Armenia
Fund initiative called “Adopt a Project in Armenia” The event was also
organized to honor about 120 generous supporters and friends of
Armenia Fund at the residence of the Fund’s Chairperson, Maria
Mehranian. In her opening remarks, Mehranian welcomed the guests and
thanked them for their unrelenting support of Armenia Fund’s projects
in Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. “These are projects that are going
to make a difference in the lives of residents of Armenia and Karabagh
for many years to come. In her address to the guests she added “You
come together every time to give whatever you got, and to do whatever
it takes. I thank you for your continuous support of Armenia and
Artsakh.” The Executive Director of All-Armenian “Hayastan” Fund,
Naira Melkoumian was present at the reception and briefed the donors
on the results of the meeting of the Board of Trustees that took place
in Yerevan in May of this year, reported on the progress of the
construction of the North-South Highway in Nagorno Karabakh and
presented the upcoming programs of the Fund. “Armenia is not only our
homeland but also our common heritage that we have received from our
forefathers. It belongs to all of us – the people who live in Armenia
and the people who live in the Diaspora. It is our common duty to
make it strong and prosperous. Hayastan Fund is the organization that
unites our resources to fulfill that duty,” she added.
The executive office of Armenia Fund then unveiled the new
“Adopt-A-Project” campaign in visual presentation showcasing nine
chosen projects in different regions of Armenia and Artsakh that are
available for sponsorship. Four out of nine projects were adopted on
the spot – water distribution systems in Artsakh’s Nor Gharachinar and
Armenia’s Medovka villages, as well as schools reconstruction projects
in Armenia’s Hagvu, Gandzakar and Karbi villages with a total cost of
$79,000. Also two projects with a total cost of $331,000 are in the
process of being adopted.
Armenia Fund, Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt non-profit corporation
and is the U.S. West Coast affiliate of Hayastan All-Armenia Fund –
the largest Yerevan-based benevolent organization in Armenia. With is
affiliates in sixteen countries around the world, Hayastan
All-Armenian Fund has raised more than $100 million resulting in the
construction of 210 residential buildings, 138 miles of roads, 81
miles of waterways, 36 schools, 14 health care centers and three
electric transmission networks.

###

Background Briefing by a Senior Administration Official On President
Bush’s Trip to Turkey
Conrad Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
WASHINGTON, June 27 /PRNewswire/ —
7:10 P.M. (Local)
MR. McCLELLAN: We’ve got a background briefing here with a senior
administration official, who will walk you through some of the
meetings earlier today, as well as give you a look ahead to the NATO
summit. And with that, I will turn it over to our senior
administration official.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Good evening, everyone. I’ll walk
through the meetings in Ankara today, and a couple in Istanbul this
afternoon. And then I’ll give you a preview of the events tomorrow. I
may be joined by another colleague a little bit later who can give
more detail about the NATO meetings.
The President today saw Prime Minister Erdogan and President Sezer of
Turkey. These were two separate meetings, followed by a lunch in
which President Sezer and Prime Minister Erdogan were both present.
He then — we then arrived in Istanbul, where the President met with a
group of Turkish religious leaders, both the Turkish government head
of the — basically, the minister for religious affairs, an Istanbul
Islamic cleric, the senior rabbi of Istanbul, the head of the Syriac,
head of the Armenian churches, and of course, most — of great
importance, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who is first among
equals among Eastern Orthodox churches in the world.
That was followed by a meeting between the President and NATO
Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer, which is the first of the
President’s NATO events.
I’d like to characterize a little bit the discussions with the Turks
today. These were very good meetings. They were held against the
background of the very intense period we went through with Turkey,
starting in late 1992, and of course, you all remember the issue of
Iraq which came up. There was a Turkish vote not to allow U.S. troops
to pass through Turkey. Later there was a vote in the Parliament, in
the Turkish Parliament, to offer Turkish troops for Iraq, but by that
time the Iraqi Governing Council was not interested in having Turkish
troops there. So there were, in the end, no Turkish troops. There
was a lot of back-and-forth between the United States and Turkey in
the past.
These meetings today made clear that whatever the differences U.S.
and Turkish governments had over Iraq, from this point forward — and
both the Turkish President and the Turkish Prime Minister in their
meetings made this clear — from this moment forward, Turkey sees its
interests and the American interests in Iraq as parallel and
consistent. That is, the Turks made clear that they want a stable,
successful Iraq, at peace with itself, at peace with its neighbors, an
Iraq that is democratizing, an Iraq that respects minorities. Turks
made this clear.
The Turks — of course, the Turks and the Turkish leaders and the
President discussed issues such as the territorial integrity of Iraq.
And the President made clear that this is something of critical
importance to the United States.
They discussed Kurdish issues. The Turks made clear their concern
about PKK activities — PKK is, as you know, a terrorist organization
which has operated against Turks for a number of years. There are PKK
— PKK does operate out of Iraq, and we made it clear that we consider
the PKK a terrorist organization, and want to work with Turkey to
eliminate the threat of terrorism and the danger to Turkey that it
represents.
The leaders also talked about Cyprus, and the President expressed his
thanks to Turkey for its extraordinarily constructive and creative
attitude, which almost — which brought us closer to a Cyprus
settlement than we have been in the 40 — in the 30 years since the
division of the island in 1974. This was a very near thing. The
U.N. came up with a very good plan that Kofi Annan managed. Turkey
and the Turkish Cypriot community supported it. The Greek Cypriot
community did not. But Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots did a lot to
advance this process. The President expressed both his determination
to work with all the parties to try to achieve a settlement on the
basis of the Annan plan, but also expressed his real gratitude to
Turkey for what it had done and made clear that, in accordance with
the U.N. recommendations, that Turkish Cypriots no longer be subject
to isolation, that they have really done what the world asked — what
the international community, what the world asked of them, and this
needs to be recognized.
The leaders also talked about the broader Middle East, and of course
Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan had gone to Sea Island, to weigh in in
support of this initiative. Turkey is a secular democracy with a
majority Muslim population, and a history of tolerance. It is a
successful democracy. It is rapidly reforming itself to meet the
standards for EU accession. And in this way, although it is not,
strictly speaking, a model for countries of the broader Middle East,
it is certainly an example of what secular democracy — how secular
democracy can flourish. And it is an example of the compatibility of
Islam and democracy, which was the title of a conference a few months
ago in this city. So they discussed their common vision of the need
to support reform and reformers in the broader Middle East.
I’ll say a word about the President’s meeting with religious leaders,
but I must start with a confession. Due to motorcade issues, some of
us were enjoying a wonderful tour of historic Istanbul rather than
actually making it to the meeting. So I can tell you about the
thinking leading up to the meeting, but other than a brief
characterization that it went, “very well,” I can’t say much more
about it.
The purpose of the meeting was to point out that in a society — in a
secular but majority Muslim society like Turkey’s, it’s important to
recognize the contribution of minority groups and minority religions,
and to recognize that these people are a constituent part of — very
much of this city for centuries, and a couple of millennia, in some
cases, and that this is a part of the tolerant future which we all
seek.
It was a very — I asked how the meeting went; I was told very well. I
don’t want to describe a meeting that I was not — that I neither
attended, nor have great details about. The President’s meeting with
Yaap de Hoop Scheffer was a terrific meeting, and I should say,
characterizing events of tomorrow, that we are closing rapidly on a
number of real strong deliverables and achievements for NATO, both
long-range and short-range. And I think that colored the atmosphere of
the meeting.
One more point about Turkey. I should mention that the President, of
course, expressed his sympathies over the fate of the three Turkish
workers that have been kidnapped and threatened with death. The
President made clear that this episode demonstrates the kind of an
enemy we are fighting, a totalitarian enemy which terrorizes and seeks
to export chaos to the world, as well as chaos in Iraq. This is a
terrible situation. There have been others like it. And the
President said that it is important that the international community
unite and defeat these groups and these people.
Q Is that a direct quote from him?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, that is not a direct quote. That
is my miserable paraphrase.
Q That was in the meeting with —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: That is the meeting — this came up in
the meeting with Sezer, and I believe — I recall with Erdogan, as
well.
Now, tomorrow, again —
Q — do you have any kind of quote for that — terrible situation
wasn’t a direct —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, that was — I’m not giving you a
direct quote.
Now, tomorrow. You may have the good fortune — we may have the good
fortune to be joined by another senior administration official who is
even more well-versed than I in the details of what will happen
tomorrow, but in his absence, let me go through a few of the items
that you may want to look for.
We are very likely to have an agreement on a training mission in Iraq.
I suspect that there will be three parts to the decision on Iraq, and
three things for you to look for. One is a NATO statement on Iraq, a
separate NATO statement. That statement, if it is agreed — and
again, in NATO, it isn’t done until it’s done, believe me — if that
statement is agreed, it will contain a positive answer to the request
from Prime Minister Allawi for training, and it is possible that it
will contain a second mandate for NATO to study possible further steps
in support of Iraqi security. But again, look for the statement
tomorrow and look for the wording on both of those things.
NATO is also likely to agree about ISAF expansion. It is very likely
we will have the commitments necessary for the first stage of ISAF
expansion beyond Kabul. Look also for an Istanbul declaration which
in lieu of a communique. There will be a communique, but probably
none of you will read it, and in terms of style, at least, I cannot
say that that is a mistake. It’s got lots of content, but it is, like
all communiques, a difficult read. The Istanbul Declaration, however,
is much shorter, and I do commend it to you on grounds of both style
and substance. If it is agreed, it will be a very good summary of how
NATO is changing to meet the challenge of the 21st century, which is a
transformation which ought to be of considerable interest to you,
because it rather definitively answers the question, well, what is
NATO going to do now.
This is a question which has been asked for — many times since the
end of the Cold War, and it is very clear from this Istanbul
Declaration that NATO, in fact, has come to a solid policy consensus
about what its roles and missions are.
Now, I should say that all policy consensus is — develops over time
as it is realized, and so I don’t want to suggest that from now on
there will never be debates at NATO. Of course not. But it is
important to see how far NATO has come in recognizing that its
classing mission of collective defense needs to be realized in new
ways to meet new challenges, that is, the challenges of the
post-September 11th world. There was a tremendous debate after
September 11th as to whether NATO was an appropriate instrument to
take on these challenges. There were some said — some said it was;
some said it wasn’t. NATO has now decided that that, indeed, is going
to be its mission.
That is a tremendous achievement, and an achievement, by the way,
which should be seen in light of the very difficult debates over Iraq
of last year. Many journalists, reflecting a widely held, if not
fully accurate belief, wrote about the end of NATO or fatal divisions
in the transatlantic alliance. So when you read the Istanbul
Declaration, keep this in mind.
Another achievement to look for is NATO’s contribution to the broader
Middle East initiative. You may recall that this initiative has
generated a lot of ink, and I will indulge a pet peeve of mine — most
of that ink has been devoted to explaining why it has been watered
down, cut back, vitiated or shrunk. And in fact, it was launched at
Sea Island a few weeks ago in very much its original shape. The EU
signed on to this initiative with a statement about reform in the
broader Middle East a couple of days ago, and now NATO is going to
contribute its part to this overall initiative through an outreach
program to offer cooperation to the countries of the region, very much
inspired in its practical aspects by the Partnership for Peace, very
successfully launched 10 years ago.
Finally, NATO will mark its decision to successfully end its mission
in Bosnia, which has gone on for nine years. It will be handing over
that mission to the EU in what is not the first, but is the first
significant test of the European — the ESDP, the European Security
and Defense Policy. This handover should take place at the end of the
year. NATO will retain a small mission in Bosnia with some
specialized functions, but the bulk of the work will go to the EU.
Finally, day after tomorrow, there will be a NATO-Ukraine summit. The
emphasis there is twofold. One, we think — we, NATO — think Ukraine
is important and a valuable partner, and, two, democracy in Ukraine is
important and Ukraine-NATO relations will depend on the state of
democracy in that country, in particular how the elections unfold.
There will not be a NATO- Russia summit; however there will be a
NATO-Russia ministerial. Foreign Minister Lavrov will be here;
Secretary Powell will represent the United States. There will be a
Euro Atlantic Partnership Council meeting at the summit level, in
which President Bush will, of course, take part, and the Euro Atlantic
Partnership Council brings together NATO’s partners.
Now, I will leave it there, that general overview. And again, if we
are lucky enough to be joined by my more knowledgeable colleague, I’m
sure you’ll get more, and you’ll have a great time comparing the
differences, if any.
Questions, please.
Q What do you mean when you say that they may reach agreement on
possible discussing further steps for security, opening the door for
NATO possibly sending peacekeeping forces in the future?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, I don’t want to speculate about
that. If we get there, the language will speak for itself, and
there are a lot of things that NATO may want to do. We have to see
how this develops. NATO — it is — it was regarded as heresy that
NATO would ever do anything as exotic as a mission thousands of
miles away from its — what was regarded as its classic theater of
operations in Central Europe. The fact that NATO is in Afghanistan
and is taking on a major task, which is the training of a national
army of some size, is pretty big stuff.
What you’re referring to is a possible decision for NATO to study even
more things it might do for Iraq as the training mission unfolds. I
don’t want to speculate as to what that may be. But this is pretty
big stuff, especially in light of the debates.
Q What was the time line given, and what’s the understanding among
NATO members about how long the commitment will be to train and equip
Iraq’s security forces?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: First, we just received the request
from the Iraqi government — today is Sunday — it came to NATO, I
believe, on Monday or Tuesday. So it’s less than a week. We have a
lot of work to do to find out what the Iraqi needs are, specifically
what they have in mind, what NATO can offer. This is a big deal. But
I believe that NATO will agree that this is an urgent mission and it’s
got to be carried out fast. What “fast” means I wouldn’t want to say,
because if I said that it meant I knew what precisely would happen and
when, and I don’t because NATO has to work with the Iraqis. A lot of
thinking is being done, but I don’t want to get into the details.
Q Dr. Rice said this morning that NATO has not specific training
mechanism itself, and so the training would actually be done by
individual countries. Can you spell out what is NATO actually doing?
Is it facilitating this? Is it a headquarters for this?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, NATO — Dr. Rice was pointing
out that NATO is an alliance of nations, and that NATO, itself, as an
alliance has very few multinational forces that are truly
multinational. But there is a tremendous difference between NATO
individual nations doing — running individual national programs, and
NATO as an alliance developing a training program as an alliance.
Q What is that difference?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The difference is that would be a
coherent program run by NATO, even though individual countries would
be doing pieces of that. The difference is important, whether it’s 26
programs all running around, or one program that’s being carried out.
And we have to work through the details, but this is a NATO decision
that we’re looking at.
Of course, Dr. Rice was accurate, but I’m giving you the sense of
where we are.
Q — something that needs to be done fast, if we’re talking about NATO
starting from scratch and developing a program, what’s the time line
we’re looking at on that?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, as I said, I country discuss the
time line because I don’t know what it is. But it is certainly not
true the national programs are necessarily faster. In fact, if your
objective is to train the Iraqi army to help provide security for
Iraqi citizens, you do want a coherent training program rather than
lots of training programs. I mean, just logically. So that’s what we
have in mind.
Q How do you plan to deal with the PKK terror, and when, especially
after the June 30th deadline?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I’m sorry, I missed that. Could you
repeat the question?
Q PKK terror — how do you plan to deal with the PKK terror, and when?
And what’s going to happen after the June 30th deadline?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, there are some — the United
States has made clear that the PKK is a terrorist organization and
that KONGRA-GEL, its latest name, is simply part of the same old
terrorist organization. We’re working with the Iraqi government and
we are working with Turkey on a variety of means to end this threat,
this terrorist threat. We take it very seriously. I have to say that
the Turkish leaders were quite firm and quite clear, and the President
appreciated both their candor and their determination to work with us.
But for various reasons, some of them obvious, I don’t want to say
exactly what we will do, and when.
Q On that, is the U.S. passing the ball to Iraqi interim government,
or the Iraqi-Kurdish forces, or does the U.S. remain to be primarily
responsible for the removal of PKK from Iraq?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I would not put it that way. Clearly,
the sovereign Iraqi government that takes power after June 30th is an
important player in all of this. They are the government. They need
to be a part of the solution, working very closely with Turkey,
working very closely with the multinational force inside Iraq. And
that is all to the good. If our common objective is the end of a
terrorist threat against Turkey, and a terrorist threat, therefore,
against — more generally, the Iraqi government is to be a good
partner.
The Iraqi defense and foreign ministers are here, and I suspect that
this will come up in the discussions between Foreign Minister Zebari
and Foreign Minister Gul. That’s speculation, but I suspect that will
be discussed.
Q Dr. Rice was on TV this morning saying that Prime Minister Allawi
wants to bring back some former members of Saddam’s regime to — for
part of the security forces. Does the United States support this
idea?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I will not go into that because I
don’t do Iraq. And especially since my boss has commented, I think it
would be foolish, as well as — foolish on several grounds to explore
that further.
Q Back on the training, is that happening inside Iraq, as well as
outside in neighboring countries?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Fair question. This was one of the
issues discussed at NATO. The Iraqi request was for training inside
Iraq. Since you’ve seen Prime Minister Allawi’s letter, I assume you
know that that was explicitly asked for. And the question — the
thing to look for is whether NATO responds directly to that request.
I’m familiar with the discussions, yes, it takes place inside Iraq.
That was the request, and I believe that NATO will decide to answer
that request.
Q In spite of what the Germans have said, Chancellor Schroeder has
said that he doesn’t believe the German troops should be — German
troops should be inside Iraq training.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, that’s quite true, and the
German position has been clear from the outset. I don’t believe that
the German position is going to change. We have never insisted the
Germans have to go back to Iraq. We respect the German —
Q — as part of this training mission?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: There is now — training can take
place inside. The question was, does training take place inside? And
I said, yes. But I did not say the training would take place outside.
All right? Now, wait — I mean, there is some kind of training that
logically does take place outside: training of officer — long-term
officer training takes place outside. The Germans are already doing
police training; that takes place outside. A comprehensive training
program, if one designed it without regard to any national position
and without regard to the last 18 months of debate, would, naturally,
have elements inside, outside, it would have short-term, near-term,
troop training, embedding officers, schooling, all kinds of things.
And there is nothing — if NATO has a coherent training operation,
it’s certainly true that individual countries can contribute as long
as it’s consistent and part of an overall plan. So this is not an
attempt to jam the Germans. We respect their position.
Q Just to be very clear, then. You’re saying that some amount of
training would happen inside Iraq, and some of that would happen
outside?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Oh, sure. That’s right.
Q How would what Petraeus is doing inside Iraq, what you have the
Jordanians doing in Jordan, how would those two operations be part of
a coherent NATO training program? Would you bring those under the
NATO umbrella?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: That is actually an excellent
question, and it’s — oh, it is because that’s exactly the kind of
question that NATO is going to have to work out. So, what are the
command and control elements, how do you put these things together,
how do you link it up with the Iraqi chain of command with NATO, with
Petraeus, those are all good questions. I can’t give you a precise
answer, except I will give you a sense that we are well aware of the
need to make sure that this is linked up in some fashion.
I don’t want to suggest how that might happen in great detail. But
that’s a fair question, and I think the result will be integration of
some kind. I don’t want to say how. But we’re all aware of that, and
you’ve hit on one of the things that NATO is going to be working with.
Q As far as you’re concerned, you’re ready to do that, let Petraeus
maybe answer to a larger command?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I don’t want to get into the precise
details except to suggest that we’re all aware of the need to have
this work. I don’t want to get ahead of myself and give you precise
answers before there are precise answers. I’ll give you a sense that
that’s a good question, we’re all aware of it.
Q Can you characterize the response from Erdogan and Sezer on the
Turkish — the kidnapped Turkish workers, to the President’s
sympathies?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I generally don’t like to characterize
the positions of other governments, but the sense I had was
determination on their part, as well as genuine human concern for the
fate of the workers. I think that’s a fair characterization. I don’t
want to go too much further.
Q One more. The Armenian Orthodox Patriarch said he gave the
President a letter. I know that you weren’t in the meeting, you got a
very brief description, but he got — he said he was giving the
President a letter, he said he was denouncing violence in general.
Has the President have a chance to read the letter? Has he received
the letter? What can you tell us about it?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I can’t say. I really can’t say. I
do know that the head of the Armenian church here has had a good
history in the issue of reconciliation. He’s regarded as a very
positive, serious person. That’s a very general statement. So for
what’s that worth, I offer it.
Q — the religious leaders. Why did you miss it? You say there were
motorcade issues? Was it security problems, protestors, anything —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Oh, no. There were no — certainly no
protestors that I saw. It was motorcade — the motorcade was slow,
and by the time I got to the meeting, the question was, do I barge in
in the middle of the meeting, or since the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey
was there, do I let him take the notes and give me a readout, and I
decided not to barge in. That’s all there was.
Q The motorcade wasn’t slowed down by security —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, certainly — certainly not. It
ran rather smoothly, but it’s — we were going through an old part of
town. You don’t race through it at 90 miles an hour.
Q Could you please talk about what Prime Minister Allawi means by
technical assistance, and will that be part of the agreement,
something that will be announced in the next couple of days? And
secondly, could you please elaborate what the President meant when he
said that he wants to make sure that NATO is configured militarily to
meet the threats of the 21st century?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The last one I can answer fairly
easily. NATO no longer has to worry about the Soviet army rolling
through the central plains of Europe. Yet NATO national armies are
only in the beginning process of transformation. Some of the NATO new
members have radically transformed their armies, but they haven’t had
the financial resources to do as much as they like. Some of the
pre-1989 NATO members have very good plans, they know what needs to be
done, but they’re not there, either. NATO has to develop forces like
the rapid reaction force, which was agreed to at the Prague summit,
and get these forces ready to do what needs to be done for the
future. That’s what it means.
With respect to technical assistance, look, take a look at the text in
the NATO agreement when it comes out. The Iraqi Foreign Minister and
Defense Minister are here, so you might ask them. Allawi is, clearly,
in my limited experience with him, is clearly capable of saying what
he wants and what he doesn’t want, and I think technical assistance
means a support and support in the context of training. But he also
wants — I think he wants NATO to look at other ways in which it can
be helpful, and that’s what NATO will be doing if we reach agreement.
Q But excuse me, sir, are we talking about helicopters, or —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I can’t get into that because I have
to see. We don’t have — there’s no annex to the letter, a list of
the things that he wants. I think we’re going to be developing it
with the Iraqis, but I can’t — I don’t want to speculate about how
NATO will go about fulfilling its mandate if, indeed, it reaches
agreement tomorrow or the next day.
MR. McCLELLAN: — just a couple more.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Okay, right. Yes, sir.
Q You had mentioned that the interim Iraqi defense and foreign
ministers are here. Who did they meet with, and how were — how did
those meetings go?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The foreign minister — they were
invited by the Turkish Foreign Minister, I believe. And there was an
informal meeting of the NATO foreign ministers with the Iraqi interim
foreign minister this evening. I don’t have a readout of that
meeting. I also believe that the Iraqi defense minister was going to
meet in an informal setting with the NATO defense ministers, also,
this evening. I don’t have a readout of that, either.
Q Those meetings have not taken place?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: They are taking place now. I don’t
have any readout. If my more knowledgeable senior administration
official colleague does make it here, he may have more information for
you. I’m giving you what I’ve got.
MR. McCLELLAN: It does not look like he’s going to make it here.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, alas, it doesn’t. You’ve had to
make due with me. I am sorry.
Q Afghanistan?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes?
Q So NATO is going to make a commitment on Afghanistan. They made a
commitment previously which they did not deliver 100 percent on.
What’s different about this one?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: NATO does have about 5,800 troops
right now in Kabul as part of ISAF and it is now moving outside of
ISAF. You should ask for details from people who know them more —
better than I do. But by my understanding, ISAF is going out of Kabul
in stages, and I believe that NATO will be in a position — believe —
that NATO will be in a position to announce it has sufficient forces
to launch stage one, which is an expansion to the North, through PRGs,
these provincial reconstruction teams, and that it will start to work
on assembling the forces for stage two expansion.
So how you play — how you interpret this depends on which angle you
look at it from. Would I like there to be more NATO forces and make
this easy? Sure. On the other hand, the fact that NATO is able to do
this at all, given the fact that a few years ago, only obscure
academics even considered the possibility of NATO out of area this
far, means that NATO has come a long way.
You can — you have both. It’s not — the truth isn’t in between, the
truth is both, that NATO needs to do more to have the capabilities to
set these things up more easily, but also, NATO has come a tremendous
way in terms of taking on new responsibilities and carrying out
missions that it didn’t know it would be dealing with a few years ago.
So I consider this — I consider this a major summit. And I will end
with a final thought, that this is the first NATO summit that is
dealing almost exclusively with NATO’s future role dealing with future
21st century challenges. What NATO is discussing, and what most of
our discussion this evening has been about, is about things like
Afghanistan and Iraq and NATO’s transformation.
Now, that means that NATO has already gotten its mind adjusted to its
new challenges. That makes this summit historic because now the
debate about what NATO is for is answered, and the question now is how
NATO is going to do that. That is a tremendous achievement for NATO,
and an achievement, moreover, in light of a very difficult debate it
had last year. And yet, NATO has moved forward. That’s a great
achievement. And, for once, on the eve of a NATO summit, I really am
looking forward to tomorrow. That is not always the case.
Thank you.
END 7:45 P.M. (Local)
SOURCE White House Press Office
CO: White House Press Office
ST: District of Columbia, Turkey
SU: EXE FOR
Web site:
06/27/2004 15:16 EDT
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
06/28/2004
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1- Armenian Patriarch Meets US President 2- Oskanian, Gul Meet in Istanbul 3- Congress Best Bet for US Recognition of Genocide 4- Chirac Slams Bush for Interfering in Turkey's EU Bid 5- Armenia Marks Tenth Anniversary of Military Academy 1- Armenian Patriarch Meets US President ISTANBUL (Haybad/Zaman)--While the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit may be headlining US President George W. Bush's trip to Istanbul, Turkey, he took time out on Sunday to meet with various religious leaders. Bush met with President of Religious Affairs Ali Bardakoglu, Istanbul Mufti Mustafa Cagrici, Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomeos, Armenian Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan, Chief Rabbi Ishak Haleva and Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Yusuf Cetin. In his opening remarks, Bush welcomed the religious leaders, and referred to Turkey "with its mosaic of faiths and cultures," as a good model of secular democracy--in spite of its predominantly Muslim population. When a journalist asked at the end of the meeting if the participants had any particular message, Bush said that he came together with important personalities from different religions and faiths and had "an excellent meeting." Bush added that the religious leaders represented the best side of Turkey. Patriarch Mutafyan had an opportunity to speak to Bush about the situation of Turkey's non-Muslim population, and stressed that for minorities to exist in Turkey--or for any ethnic or national minority to exist anywhere--three institutions must be guaranteed: First, places of worship to preserve religious heritage and to nourish the spiritual life of the community; second, schools to teach language and culture; and third, foundations to fund religious and educational activities and the necessary personnel to keep them active. The minorities in Turkey, he stressed, are attempting to maintain those institutions for the future and well-being of their communities. The Patriarch also stressed that though religious leaders attempt to stick to spiritual edification, and stay out of politics, certain instances call for, if not political involvement, at least a moral response. Mutafyan told the press that the religious leaders conveyed their concerns to Bush about the violent incidents they witness every time the turn on the television. Bush reportedly responded, "Believe me, these do not reflect our real face. Justice will deal with some of the incidents you see on television, particularly those in the prison in Baghdad." Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomeos indicated that they discussed the role of religion and Turkey's religious mosaic. "President Bush said that the religious mosaic was very important for Turkey and that it is an asset to the country. In order to maintain this, all the religions need to raise their own religious leaders. Otherwise, the mosaic will disappear," recalled Bartholomeos. White House National Security Adviser Condolezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell and the US Ankara Ambassador Eric Edelman also attended Bush's meeting with religious leaders. Before leaving, Patriarch Mutafyan presented the following letter to President Bush: "Dear Mr. President, It is with great pleasure that we welcome your visit to our country on the occasion of the NATO summit here in Istanbul. The Armenians of Turkey, constituting by far the largest Christian community in this country, have long cherished, with affection and amity, the United States of America, which, besides having a historic friendship and alliance with Turkey, also has welcomed to its shores many of our kinsmen since the second half of the 19th century. It is because of these warm sentiments, that I feel able to express the uneasiness we feel at the escalating level of violence which has been spreading across the globe and which is especially pressing in the Middle East region, where we also live. I personally believe that you, Mr. Bush, as the president of a great country that leads the world, have the authority to affect the course of events, and this is why I would like to voice my anxiety. War, terror, torture, embargo, marginalization, defamation or condescension...Whatever form violence takes, it always leads to consequences which are not in accord with human dignity. Instead it leaves indelible scars in memories and generates lasting enmities between peoples. Throughout history, there has never been an act of violence or retaliation which has not harmed the innocent. Sadly, the consequence is usually that violence begets more violence. This is why, even when seeking to serve legitimate, higher ideals such as establishing peace, upholding democracy or preventing terror, the resort to violence, merely culminates in more pain and suffering to the innocent, especially children. Throughout history, when governments have resorted to force when challenged by violence or even civil unrest, it often effectively became collective punishments of whole nations or peoples. What has happened recently in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Sudan are clear examples. This cannot be a portrayal of sublime sentiments and indeed, to many it is viewed as revenge, a sentiment which cannot coexist with civilization. I believe that the United States of America and her President, have the ability to preserve the values they struggle for without resorting to violence in all its terrible diversity. It is sufficient to maintain their trust in God, in their sense of vocation and ultimate potential for good. Whenever we embrace violence we are already diminished and the high moral and religious ideals to which we aspire are betrayed. Mr. President, I can imagine to a certain extent the pressures that you must be undergoing at present and therefore please be assured of my prayerful support. May God be in all visions for world peace and may He protect us all from losing our faith. With my sincere good wishes, MESROB II Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul and All Turkey 2- Oskanian, Gul Meet in Istanbul ISTANBUL (AFP/Armenpress/RFE/RL)--Under pressure by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU), Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey pledged on Monday to seek to resolve their tangled disputes through trilateral meetings. The foreign ministers of the three troubled neighbors, Vartan Oskanian of Armenia, Elmar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, and Abdullah Gul of Turkey met on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Istanbul. "The dialogue was quite good," Oskanian told reporters after the meeting. "I have nothing concrete to state at this point, but the meeting was quite positive. . . This was a meeting between the three equal sides which have interests and benefits in the region" Referring to the enlargement of the EU and NATO, Oskanian said, "We need to shape a new strategic vision for the Caucasus so that we can keep pace with the developments around us." Emphasizing that both NATO and the EU were anxious to stabilize the conflict-torn Caucasian region, Gul told reporters after the meeting that they had discussed "ways and means of cooperating to achieve stability through constructive means." He said he and his counterparts had agreed to hold further trilateral meetings later in the year. Mamedyarov added: "We will try to do our best to bring peace and stability to the region." Armenia and Azerbaijan are divided by a long-standing dispute Mountainous Karabagh. A close ally of Azerbaijan, Turkey has declined to establish diplomatic ties with Armenia and remains bitter at Yerevan's efforts to secure international recognition of the Armenian genocide by Ottoman Turkey. Ankara is under pressure by the EU (which it seeks to join) to re-open its border with Armenia, which it closed in 1993 in a show of solidarity with Baku. Oskanian told reporters he had discussed the issue with Gul in a bilateral meeting earlier in the day, but it would be premature to expect an immediate re-opening of the border. Oskanian used his participation in the NATO summit, marred by violent clashes between Turkish police and left-wing protesters, to meet with Patriarch Mesrob Mutafian, the spiritual leader of Turkey's small Armenian community. He also delivered a speech to a group of Istanbul Armenians. 3- Congress Best Bet for US Recognition of Genocide YEREVAN (YERKIR)As Turkey remains a key ally of the United States and is a member of NATO, the US administration's position on the Genocide issue is not likely to change, Armenia's ambassador to the US Arman Kirakossian, told Armenpress, responding to whether the US would change its policy [on Armenian genocide recognition] if Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry were to win the November election. Ambassador Kirakossian noted that both former president Bill Clinton and the incumbent George W. Bush promised to recognize the Armenian genocide but did not stick to their promises. "A shift in this policy can be expected only by working with US Congress," Kirakossian noted. 4- Chirac Slams Bush for Interfering in Turkey's EU Bid (AFP)--French President Jacques Chirac bluntly criticized George W. Bush on Monday for supporting Turkey's bid to join the European Union, saying the US President had "gone too far". On Sunday, Bush publicly endorsed Turkey's bid, telling Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara: "I will remind the people of this good country that you ought to be given a date by the EU for your eventual acceptance into the EU." Chirac told a news conference on the sidelines on the NATO summit here: "Not only did he go too far, he ventured into territory which is not his concern." The French president, who is among the EU leaders most firmly opposed to Turkish membership of the EU, added: "It would be like me telling the United States how to run its affairs with Mexico." 5- Armenia Marks Tenth Anniversary of Military Academy YEREVAN (NoyanTapan)--During a June 27 ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of Armenia's Vazgen Sargisian Military Institute, 270 graduates received their diplomas and military shoulder-straps in the presence of President Robert Kocharian, Prime Minister Antranig Margarian, Defense Minister Serge Sargisian, parliamentarians, government officials and high-ranking military personnel. The prime minister said that the institute, established during arduous times for the newly independent Armenia, has succeeded in preparing experienced and skilled military personnel. "If Azerbaijan had the slightest doubt about the Armenian Army's military power, they would have surely restarted the war by now," said the Defense Ministry's Chief of Staff and Defense Minister Colonel General Mikhael Harutyunian. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2004 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets.

CENN – June 28, 2004 Daily Digest
Table of Contents:
Major BTC story: BP, its pipeline, and an environmental timebomb
Campaigners urge halt to BP “environmental timebomb” -Whistleblowers expose
Turkey pipeline
BTC Co. Representatives Visit Borjomi Portion of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
Pipeline
The government seizes yet another green area
Areni First National Wine Festival
Armenian premier, German foreign minister discuss economic ties
Extracting value
Oxfam International’s Response to World Bank’s Management Recommendations on
the Extractive Industries Review
First Ever Fair of Non-Timber Forest Products to Take Place in Moscow Later
This Year
A Special Capacity-Building Seminar on Management of NGO’s
1. Major BTC story: BP, its pipeline, and an environmental
timebomb
Please find below two related articles about the BTC pipeline from
Saturday’s edition of the UK’s “Independent” newspaper.
Exposed: BP, its pipeline, and an environmental timebomb
Independent
By Philip Thornton, Economics Correspondent
26 June 2004
The safety of a controversial oil pipeline being built by one of Britain’s
largest companies has been jeopardized by cost cutting, incompetence and
shoddy workmanship by contractors, whistleblowers have reported.
Former senior workers have revealed a catalogue of failures they say could
lead to a major oil leak that would devastate one of the world’s most
environmentally sensitive areas. A dossier including their evidence, seen by
The Independent, indicates BP’s contractors and sub-contractors are cutting
corners to get the job completed on time.
The whistleblowers, qualified professionals, say BP made a major mistake in
handing control of the section of the 1,000-mile pipeline through Turkey to
a government-owned company, Botas, on a fixed-price contract. The full line
runs from the Caspian Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
The project ran into opposition from civil rights and environmental groups
when BTC, the 11-member consortium led by BP, sought funding from public
bodies such as the World Bank and the UK’s Export Credit Guarantee
Department (ECGD). Opponents said the pipeline, which would be driven
through some of the world’s most earthquake-prone and conflict-ridden areas,
would wreak environmental, social and economic havoc. A spokesman for the
ECGD said the department believed it had made a full assessment of the
project before it decided to support it.
The whistleblowers’ statements, which will be given to the MPs next month,
say that:
a. builders cut off villages’ water supplies, flooded farmland and
allowed oil leaks;
b. there were insufficient checks for the risk of the pipe buckling
in earthquake zones;
c. crucial welding work often failed inspections;
d. those who complained were sacked or made to leave;
e. workers handled toxic coating materials without proper health and
safety equipment.
Dennis Adams, a senior engineer who quit after six weeks after not being
paid, said the contractors’ work was disorganized and mismanaged. Pipes were
left exposed for longer than specifications allowed and trenches were filled
with materials that might allow uncontrolled movement of the pipes. “Safety
violations were occurring at all times, including workers in deep
unprotected and unstable areas,” he said.
“I don’t have much hope for the future integrity or proper maintenance and
operation of a pipeline of this size and importance being primarily
sponsored by one of the largest petroleum companies in the world. It is
quite obvious that [BP] are not in control of the Turkish section of this
pipeline.”
Another manager, who asked not to be named, said he was removed from his job
after he raised concerns over the way the project was being managed. “I have
over 20 years’ pipeline experience and this project is unique. It’s a
complete mess-up. No one wants this on their CV. It’s an embarrassment.”
Documents were not properly kept and problems with inspections and the
quality of the work being done were covered up. “Everything is done badly,”
he said. “I believe at this stage that quality issues – health, safety,
environment – will be substantially affected.”
Colynn Burrell, an American with 35 years’ experience, said he was dismissed
after 10 weeks working at the Ceyhan terminal for highlighting major design
problems. He complained about a problem with the drainage system that meant
toxins flowed straight into the ground. “I insisted on getting the
subcontractor to seal the perforations at the bottom of the pipe to create a
channel. The manager said it was expensive.” Mr Burrell said he was told at
one point that all pipe welding was being failed by inspectors; the normal
failure rate was 6 per cent.
Mike Morley, a Briton who was sacked as a weld-coatings inspector, said
“numerous” welds had to be redone; many others had been laid before
inspection. Even when inspections did take place, the results were not
filed. The House of Commons Trade and Industry Committee has started an
inquiry into the decision by the department to use taxpayers’ money to
underwrite loans of $150m (£83m). Martin O’Neill, Committee chairman, said
he would look at all allegations “without prejudice”. The ECGD has
commissioned a new report into the pipeline, which is expected next month.
A spokesman for BP said last night: “We, along with Botas, will continue
look at any serious allegations and if they are valid make sure they are put
right.” He said Botas had pledged to maintain the highest health, safety,
environment, labour and human rights standards and good international
practices. “Botas has an obligation and BTC [the consortium] expects that
Botas’s construction techniques and testing regimes will ensure the pipeline
will be laid safely and that it will operate safely in accordance with those
standards,” he said.
“Inevitably with construction projects of this size there are challenges,
but BTC will continue to work with our partner to resolve them.”
Hidden costs of pipeline meant to safeguard West’s oil supply
Independent
By Philip Thornton, Economics Correspondent
26 June 2004
Where there’s oil, there’s trouble – and never has that been truer than
today amid fears of a price surge that could pitch the world’s economy back
into recession.
More than a decade ago the West, and particularly the United States,
realized that it needed to guarantee oil supplies well into the next century
in an increasingly war-torn world.
And that was before Osama bin Laden threatened to take control of Saudi
Arabia, the world’s largest producer, and oil-rich Russia’s government
embarked on a plan to take control of its vast reserves.
The answer was to cut out those two tinderbox regions by building a pipeline
that would bring crude from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean coast and
the safe hands of fellow Nato member Turkey.
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, two former Soviet states that border the Caspian,
between them have oil reserves three times the size of America’s. The
challenge was to find a secure way of getting the oil into the petrol tanks
of gas-guzzling SUVs before oil shortages and soaring prices pushed the
price of gas on America’s forecourts to sky-high levels.
By 2010 the Caspian region could produce 3.7 million barrels per day. This
could fill a large hole in world supplies as world oil demand is expected to
grow from 76 million a day in 2000 to 118.9 million by 2020. By this time
the Middle Eastern members of Opec would be looking to supply half of that
need.
The answer was to drive a 1,090-mile, 42-inch wide pipe – the world’s
longest export pipeline – along a 500-metre-wide corridor from the Caspian
Sea port of Baku in Azerbaijan to Ceyhan in Turkey via some of the world’s
most unstable and conflict-ridden nations. When it is complete next year,
the pipeline will pump 4.2 million barrels a year, easing the US’s reliance
on the unstable Gulf States for oil.
The project will cost up to $4bn (£2.4bn) and is being built by BTC, a
consortium of 11 companies led by BP. Almost three quarters of the funding
will come in the form of bank loans, including $600m from public bodies such
as the World Bank.
In the face of opposition from British pressure groups such as Friends of
the Earth and civil rights groups such as the Kurdish Human Rights Project,
BP set up an independent group, the Caspian Development Advisory Panel
(CDAP). The panel, which included people such as Jan Leschly, a former head
of SmithKline Beecham, and the former US Treasury under-secretary Stuart
Eisenstat, raised concerns about the project at the end of last year. In
their report they said they were worried whether Botas, the company awarded
the contract to build the Turkish section, would meet its social,
environmental and health and safety commitments given its “weak but evolving
environmental and social compliance culture.
“The panel heard concerns that Botas and its contractors might feel pressure
to cut corners on environmental, social and technical standards to remain on
schedule.”
It added: “The panel encourages BP… to use all its leverage, including
stoppage of work, if necessary, to ensure Botas fulfils its commitments.”
But CDAP’s concerns went wider, offering detailed advice on how to better
protect human rights given that Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey have all
recently seen “internal or external conflict”.
“The poor human rights record of host governments’ security and military
forces create a significant reputational risk for BP and BTC,” it said.
Objectors say the impact goes even wider. They say the threat is twofold –
what happens if the pipeline goes wrong, and the destruction it would wreak
even if it goes right. They say that the project will worsen the already
polluted Caspian Sea, where sturgeon numbers are reckoned to be collapsing.
In Georgia, the project will clear areas in two dense primary forests, cross
the buffer zone of a protected natural park, and could badly affect several
rare and endangered species.
In Turkey there are more than 500 endemic plant species within the corridor,
while a third of the country’s globally threatened vertebrates are found
within 250 metres of the corridor.
The route crosses two sites protected under national legislation, including
a wildlife protection area for the Caucasian grouse, a threatened species.
There are two critically endangered plant species and 15 bird species with
nesting pairs numbering 500 or less within the corridor.
Campaigners say legal agreements make BP the effective governing power over
the corridor, over-riding all environmental, social, human rights or other
laws, present and future, for the next 40 years. Amnesty International says
the consortium concluded an unprecedented agreement with the Turkish
government which, it claims, would in effect strip local people and workers
of their civil rights. And that’s if the project goes to plan.
If the project were to go wrong, for instance if an earthquake broke the
pipe or the project fell into the hands of terrorists, the consequences
would be far more serious. Turkey lies in an earthquake zone, with 17 major
shocks in the past 80 years. Since the Baku line will be in place for some
40 years, there is a high chance of a major earthquake during its operation.
The World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
Britain’s Export Credit Guarantee Department and the World Bank’s
International Finance Company all carried out extensive assessments of the
project before they decided to lend or underwrite money.
The four whistleblowers that contacted The Independent all said the way the
pipeline was being built failed all international standards. This included
incorrect materials being supplied, work being started before the land had
been surveyed, and the pipe installed before it had been inspected.
Greg Muttitt, of the campaign group Platform, said: “Environment groups have
raised concerns about the design of this pipeline for the past two years.
What we are seeing now though is that the problems are far worse than we had
imagined. This is a deeply flawed project. Now the banks, which ignored the
warnings and financed the project regardless, have some serious questions to
answer.”
2. Campaigners urge halt to BP “environmental
timebomb” -Whistleblowers expose Turkey pipeline
PRESS RELEASE from:
Friends of the Earth
Kurdish Human Rights Project
PLATFORM
The Corner House
The Baku Ceyhan Campaign
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday 26th June 2004
Environment and human rights groups have called for suspension of
construction on major BP oil pipeline, following new evidence published in
today’s Independent of major technical failures on the project.
Four senior pipeline experts who worked on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC)
pipeline in Turkey have revealed a catalogue of incompetence, cost-cutting
and shoddy workmanship, which raises major questions about the safety of the
pipeline.
All four have successful careers of over 20 years in pipeline construction,
and have said this is the worst project they have ever worked on. Their
revelations include:
o not hiring proper specialists to advise on engineering, including
on crossing seismic faults in the earthquake-prone region;
o using inappropriate materials and construction methods, which will
not perform the function they are needed for;
o not following construction design specifications and procedures;
o failing to carry out checks or keep records on construction
quality;
o using staff without proper training or qualifications;
o ignoring environmental or health and safety requirements;
o causing bankruptcy of local business suppliers along the route.
Two of the experts were sacked for raising concerns about the problems.
The Baku Ceyhan Campaign has talked to all four whistleblowers, and is now
calling for an urgent halt to construction activities until the problems are
resolved. The findings run counter to repeat BP promises that this would be
an environmentally and socially beneficial project.
Hannah Griffiths, Friends of the Earth, commented, “BP and financial
institutions have ignored the warnings on this pipeline. Now the extent of
company failings and consequent environmental risk have come to light, work
on the project must be stopped until these issues are sorted out.”
Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, added,
“Villagers we have interviewed have consistently told us they were not
properly consulted, nor informed of the risks of this pipeline. These new
findings show the risks are even greater than we had feared”.
Greg Muttitt, of PLATFORM, said, “BP has tried to create a reputation as
being better than other oil companies. But, thanks to the professional
integrity of these four and other experts, we now hear about the shocking
reality. It is to their credit that they have taken personal risk to inform
the public of these serious issues.”
Anders Lustgarten, of the Baku Ceyhan Campaign, added, “We have already
heard of faulty weld coatings being used in the Azerbaijan and Georgia
sections of this pipeline, which BP has tried to claim were one-offs which
are now rectified. This new dossier shows that in fact the whole pipeline is
rotten.”
Nicholas Hildyard, of the Corner House, commented, “We know the banks are
already concerned about the risk their reputations from this project. BP has
told them all is in order. It isn’t, and the banks should now undertake
their own investigation.”
For more information
Hannah Griffiths, Friends of the Earth: 07855 841 994
Greg Muttitt, PLATFORM: 07970 589 611
Dear Colleagues
As you know, companies investing in developing countries often do not have
to meet any meaningful environmental or social standards, as national law is
weak and no binding international standards apply to investment.
Increasingly, however, because of civil society pressure public and private
financial institutions are requiring some minimum environmental and social
standards for projects they support. As a result, although we may not have
the global standards for international investment we want, environmental and
social standards set by the World Bank Group are increasingly the ‘de-facto’
global standard for international finance.
The International Finance Corporate (IFC), the private sector lending arm of
the World Bank Group, has become the leading environmental and social
standard-setter for international project finance. Not only is the IFC an
important global financier in its own right, but IFC standards are
increasingly being accepted by both public and private financial
institutions. For example, twenty-five commercial banks that are involved
in over 80% of all internationally financed projects have agreed to follow
IFC environmental and social standards. Many export credit agencies also
benchmark their environmental guidelines to IFC standards.
Starting in July, IFC will begin a process to update and revise these
environmental and social policies, as well as over 70 technical pollution
standards. The policies will address a range of issues from human rights
and labor, to community involvement and benefits policies, to biodiversity
and climate change. They will determine if any areas in the world should
not be touched by investment or are too environmentally vulnerable that they
should be avoided altogether, as well as determine if affected communities
and indigenous peoples have the right to say no to development in their
area. The pollution standards will also set international benchmarks for
emissions of toxic pollutants such as lead, mercury and others in a variety
of industrial sectors.
The IFC process provides a critical opportunity for civil society groups to
push for *more rights, rules and responsibilities* in the international
investment system.
Below/attached is a global sign on letter to the IFC as they begin this
process, to put on record some key issues that civil society groups expect
them to address.
The deadline for endorsement is Friday, July 2, 2004. To endorse the
letter, send an email to: [email protected]
with your name, organization and country.
Thanks,
Andrea Durbin and David Hunter
GLOBAL SIGN ON LETTER TO IFC
July 2, 2004
Mr. Peter Woicke
Executive Vice President
International Finance Corporation
2121 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20433
Dear Mr. Woicke,
We welcome the upcoming review process and opportunity to strengthen the IFC
‘s safeguard and disclosure policies as well as the Pollution Prevention and
Abatement Standards. We hope that the process will be participatory, and
that the concerns and priorities of civil society around the world will be
fully considered.
You have said this process will not lead to the weakening or erosion of any
of these policies and standards. We appreciate your commitment. It is
important that these policies are not only strengthened, but that the IFC
uses this process to position itself at the forefront of defining what is
_expected and required_ from its project sponsors in terms of socially and
environmentally responsible corporate practice.
As you know, the global business climate has changed significantly in the
last ten years. Companies are increasingly obliged to address social and
environmental protection issues, ensure community benefits, and respect
labor and human rights. In this changing business environment, companies
seek clarity and consistency in the rules they are expected to meet. The
appropriate role for IFC in this changed business environment is to help in
clarifying the rules for those companies operating in borrowing countries.
As a leading development institution, however, the IFC has additional
responsibilities to deliver upon its development and poverty alleviation
mandate. Therefore, we urge you to use this process to clearly identify IFC
‘s responsibilities in the development process as well as identifying the
responsibility of the company borrowers. In this way, IFC can lead by
example, establishing enhanced standards for itself and its clients and
encouraging private companies to do the same.
Although we are heartened by IFC’s stated commitment to taking a
principles-based approach to sustainability issues, we are concerned that
this may signal a move away from clearly defined rules, rights and
responsibilities. Both a principles-based approach and clear rules are
necessary to ensure that IFC-supported projects are conducted in a
participatory, transparent and socially and environmentally sustainable
manner.
There are many issues of importance to civil society in borrowing countries
that we would like to highlight here. We hope that these issues are
addressed fully in the upcoming review process.
1. The review process should result in a new rights-based approach
to development-an approach that recognizes and protects human rights, labor
rights, the rights of indigenous peoples and women’s rights as well as
community-based rights to be fully informed and offer consent to development
projects and to benefit directly from, and be an equal partner in, the
monitoring and oversight of projects. These rights should set the framework
for all of the IFC’s safeguard policies and requirements of its clients.
2. The review process should address global environmental and
sustainability issues, including IFC’s role in protecting biodiversity-rich
areas and ecologically important and threatened areas. It should also
address IFC’s role to avert the threats of global climate change by helping
to reduce global carbon emissions. Further, the process should address and
protect areas important to indigenous peoples and sacred lands from unwanted
development.
3. The review process should develop and apply a set of criteria or
indicators of good corporate behavior for all potential project sponsors.
As noted by the CAO’s own review of the safeguard policies, proven prior
commitment to social and environmental standards is the most crucial factor
in implementation of safeguard policies and achieving positive development
outcomes. The IFC should partner with companies that are committed to
social and environmental protections; applying a set of criteria in advance
will help identify the most appropriate partners.
4. The review process should result in a requirement that all
projects clearly and publicly articulate the development objectives in
advance of final approvals, and evaluate each project based on those same
criteria.
5. The review process should result in an integrated assessment
process required for all projects with significant impact on any of these
issues. An integrated assessment would address environment and social
issues, including labor, gender, and human rights issues, health impacts and
poverty reduction issues.
6. The review process should address the application of these
standards and policies to Financial Intermediaries (FIs), some of the
fastest growing lending of IFC. Not only should all IFC standards and
policies be equally applied to all FI loans, this process should also
address how IFC oversees and ensures compliance.
7. The review process should result in a clear process through which
the presumption in favor of disclosure can be effectively implemented.
We not only expect IFC to identify how it will release information upon
public request but also to clearly specify the documents and types of
information that the IFC will routinely disclose or require to be disclosed.
Again, whereas sound principles are vital to securing the best transparency
standards for IFC and its clients, specific rules are also needed. Full
transparency and disclosure is paramount.
We look forward to IFC’s upcoming proposals for addressing these issues and
to participating in this process.
Sincerely,
Natalia Ablova, Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law in Kyrgyzstan
Bruce Jenkins, Bank Information Center, U.S
Manana Kochdazde, CEE Bankwatch Network, Georgia
Cristian Opaso, Grupo por el BioBio (GABB) – Chile
Graham Saul, Friends of the Earth-Canada
Heffa Schucking, Urgewald, Germany
Jon Sohn, Friends of the Earth US
Mustafa Talpur, Action Aid – Pakistan
3. BTC CO. REPRESENTATIVES VISIT BORJOMI PORTION OF
BAKU-TBILISI-CEYHAN PIPELINE
Source: Sarke, June 25, 2004
On June 24, 2004 representatives of Board of Directors of BTC Co.,
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Company, visited the Borjomi gorge. The
construction of the oil pipeline will shortly be launched on this
ecologically complicated region.
4. The government seizes yet another green area
Source: , June 22, 2004
Yerevan, Armenia — “I stood here for two days from sunrise to sunset to
prevent them from destroying my land. They promised that they wouldn’t, but
they destroyed it at night when I went home. I came the next morning and saw
that my green garden had been bulldozed. I almost had a heart attack,” says
Anik Ohanyan, who lives at # 14 David Anhaght Street.
“Overnight, they crushed twelve years of hard work with a bulldozer. They
didn’t give us any warning, they never even told us, ‘Those are your trees;
take them away from here,” complains another resident of the building,
Knarik Ohanyan.
The green area between D. Anhaght and K. Ulnetsi Streets is to be used to
build a “Canadian district” and a military academy. It used to be woods,
planted in the 1940s. Yerevantsis used to call this area Mko’s Woods, for
the forest watchman who had vigilantly protected the trees. In 1992 and 1993
during the energy crisis in Armenia, people from the nearby buildings
chopped down part of the forest. In subsequent years, about a hundred
families from the neighborhood took the initiative to divide the territory
into 800-1000-square-meter plots, and began to cultivate them. For most of
these families, this was all they had to live on.
“They’ve driven these families to the garbage dumps, and now they have to
dig in the garbage. They are pensioners; what else can they do? During those
years when there was no light, when people were cutting the trees down, this
place was turning into a garbage dump. But we divided it into plots and made
it green again. Was it a bad thing to plant trees? And now we learn that
this territory has been given to somebody else, and our gardens are being
destroyed,” says sixty-year-old Vazgen Arakelyan.
The land was given away through several decisions by the mayor and the
government. When they learned of this, neighborhood residents appealed to
the mayor’s office to privatize their plots, but they were turned down,
since the Canadian district is expected to bring in major investments.
“The mayor is responsible for land allocations in Yerevan. Our district not
only didn’t participate in the allocation of these lands, but also didn’t
learn about it until eight months after the fact, from unofficial sources.
But we are required to implement government decisions,” Ghazar Ghazaryan,
the head of the architecture department of the Kanaker-Zeytoun district
mayor’s office, says.
The area residents these plots belong to have applied to the district mayor,
the Yerevan mayor, the real estate cadastre, the police, the prosecutor’s
office, and the president’s supervision service, emphasizing that not only
is ten years of their work being ruthlessly destroyed, but an “ecological
disaster” is also taking place in this area.
“We have applied to all possible addressees, but the replies we have
received are one more ignorant and uninformed than the other. It is
pointless to go anywhere else. The court would be a waste of time, too,
because it’s obvious that the laws don’t work in this country,” says Rafayel
Ohanyan, who lives at # 30 Ulnetsi Street.
“The total area is about twenty-five hectares. The Canadian district will
occupy nine hectares, the military academy two hectares. But I’ve heard that
the rest of the land has been sold off as well,” Ghazar Ghazaryan says.
In a 2002 government decision, 4.5 hectares of land were given for 50 years,
without any tender, to HRAAA Ltd., to build a Canadian district at the
company’s own expense.
Article 76, Paragraph 5 of the Land Code of Armenia gives the government the
right to make such an allocation: “The cases of land allocation for lease
without a tender shall be defined by the government.” But the Land Code
doesn’t define which cases these are.
The mayor of Yerevan and the foreign minister of Armenia interceded with the
government to make the decision it did. We haven’t yet been able to find out
who the real owners of HRAAA Ltd. are. The founder of the company is Arthur
Ketikyan. Clearly, there must be some reason why the government allocated
the land the way it did, with no tender.
In a 2000 decision by then-Mayor Robert Nazaryan, 4.3 hectares of this land
was sold “at auction”, for apartment houses and hotels. But local residents
were never informed of the auction, and none of them had the chance to bid
on their own land.
“We don’t want to privatize this land to build houses, we want the green
area that used to be woods to be preserved, and the trees to grow,” they
say.
5. Areni First National Wine Festival
PRESS RELEASE
Tufenkian Hospitality
21/1 Tumanian St.,
Yerevan Armenia 375001
Contact: Lilit Hakobyan
Tel: 374 1 520 911
Fax: 374 1 520 913
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
THE FIRST NATIONAL WINE FESTIVAL
Second Saturday of October (2004 10 09)
Vayots Dzor region, Areni Village,
Armenia
USDA and Tufenkian Hospitality are glad to announce the first national wine
festival in Armenia, with the aim to introduce an ancient Armenian tradition
of winemaking to the World.
More than just a showcase for great wine, the festival is a major event for
traditional food making and tasting, traditional crafts-making, and
folkloric performances.
The event program includes traditional dancing, singing, tight-rope
performances, a Marionette Theatre, food-making and tasting, wine-making and
tasting, traditional games, contests, art work, carpet weaving, and craft
items: their creation and presentation (materials used include stone, wood,
and local ceramics).
Villagers will sell home-made products, in their houses – yogurt (matsun)
and cream, honey, nuts and walnuts, vegetables, fruits, dried fruits, baked
goods, lavash, home-made jams and jellies, sweet sujukh, herbal teas
(including hip-rose & thyme), and all the other products that a typical
Armenian household usually prepares for its members.
Armenian companies will present such products as wine, cheese, dried fruits,
meat and fish products, and soft drinks.
Craftsmen will present their work, and visitors may try their hand at
replicating this art.
Armenian restaurants and cafes will organize an area for a one-day operation
of their businesses.
Children can draw in a nearby meadow.
At the Information Desk, visitors can learn about the history and historical
monuments of the region, including Gladzor Museum, the Selim Pass and
Caravanserai, and Noravanq Monastery. Find out more about the local climate,
the flora and fauna of the region, and the village itself. The Djermuk Spa
will also be present.
A qualified trilingual guide will take visitors to the local church for a
tour. This will be done according to a set schedule throughout the day.
For more information please contact us at
374 1 520 911, 105 ext., or
e-mail: [email protected]
6. Armenian premier, German foreign minister discuss economic
ties
Source: Arminfo, June 24, 2004
The fact that the South Caucasus countries have been included in the Wider
Europe: New Neighborhood programme is very important for Europe, German
Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said today at a meeting with Armenian Prime
Minister Andranik Markaryan who is currently paying a working visit to
Germany.
The press service of the Armenian government has told Arminfo news agency
that the German minister noted the possibility of developing and
implementing projects within the framework of the participation of the South
Caucasus countries in the programme.
Commenting on the situation in the South Caucasus at the German minister’s
request, Markaryan said that certain preconditions set forth by Turkey and
Azerbaijan hinder the establishment of effective regional cooperation.
Noting expanding Armenian-German economic cooperation and experience gained
in this sphere, Markaryan stressed that it was necessary to further boost
joint economic programmes and direct German investment in the Armenian
economy.
7. Extracting value
Source: Financial Times, June 22, 2004
The World Bank’s governing board will shortly have to decide whether oil,
gas and mining industries in poor countries do more harm than good. The
bank’s independent Extractive Industries Review says it should pull out of
oil and mining. The bank’s management, predictably, disagrees. But it needs
to do more to make its case that such industries can be made to work
effectively and durably for the poor.
The conduct of the review itself was unimpressive. The idea of placing
ultimate power in the hands of an “eminent person” – in this case Emil
Salim, former Indonesian environment minister under the dictatorial
President Suharto – is flawed. It encourages damaging battles for that
person’s ear rather than constructive consensus among different views. Mr.
Salim’s habit of making sweeping criticisms of the bank well beyond his
brief hurt the credibility of his conclusions.
But those conclusions, that the bank pull out of oil and mining altogether,
deserve to be taken seriously. As a broad spread of non-governmental
organisations – not just the usual anti-bank suspects – argued, quite aside
from the environmental considerations, it is hard to show that extractives
have systematically helped relieve poverty in countries that do not already
have somewhat successful economies and the rule of law.
It is difficult to find an example, perhaps with the exception of
diamond-rich Botswana, of a country that has levered itself out of dire
poverty principally using oil, gas or mining. More often, extractive
industries distort the political as well as the economic life of poor
nations, encouraging the growth of a predatory elite fighting over revenues
rather than the healthy competition of a diversified market economy. It is
hard to look at corruption-racked countries such as Nigeria without
concluding they might be better off never having discovered oil.
The World Bank needs to be cautious in getting involved. While projects in
relatively well-run economies that would go ahead anyway are improved by its
environmental and governance rules, it should be very careful about
corruption-riddled countries where its involvement is the tipping factor
making the project viable.
The bank argues that it can make projects in such countries worthwhile by
imposing environmental safeguards and constructing transparent mechanisms
for sharing revenues broadly in the country. But its capacity to do this is
still being tested in high-profile projects such as the Chad-Cameroon oil
pipeline, about which respectable critics such as the anti-corruption
campaign Transparency International continue to harbor reservations.
On balance, for the bank to pull out of oil entirely at this stage looks
like an overreaction. Blanket sector-wide bans are in any case clumsy
instruments. But it must do better to show that its involvement can make a
real difference if it is to justify a continued role in this most
controversial area.
8. OXFAM INTERNATIONAL’S RESPONSE TO WORLD BANK’S MANAGEMENT
RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES REVIEW
Source: EIR-NOW!, June 24, 2004
“Overall the World Bank’s response to the Extractive Industries review is
very disappointing and raises serious questions as to whether the Bank can
ever change”, said Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam International’s Executive Director.
“Oxfam strongly urges the Board of the World Bank to accept the
recommendation to only support projects that have the broad acceptance of
affected communities.
However we want to see more explicit detail about how this would be carried
out in practice.”
The Bank’s resistance to pulling out of investing in extractive projects in
conflict zones is not acceptable and we urge them to reconsider.
Its failure to follow the recommendation to phase out of coal and oil
projects was widely expected and completely inadequate.”
9. First Ever Fair of Non-Timber Forest Products to Take
Place in Moscow Later This Year
Source: IUCN June 25, 2004
IUCN Office for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, in
collaboration with an array of local and international partners, is
organizing the first ever fair of non-timber forest products (NTFP) in
Moscow’s most prestigious exhibition centre in October this year. Non-timber
forest products – such as berries, mushrooms, and herbal medicines – are
among the most important forest resources for local communities around the
world, even though the actual ‘products’ may vary from place to place.
Interest in these products has grown enormously in recent years, and NTFPs
are increasingly viewed as a key part of local sustainable livelihood
strategies. However, better information on marketing opportunities,
equipment and technologies and sustainable harvesting practices is needed to
ensure the sector’s sustainability. IUCN has been working with local
communities in Far-Eastern Russia on developing sustainable NTFP-related
businesses since 1998, and the NTPF fair is expected to boost similar
initiatives across the country and beyond.
10. A Special Capacity-Building Seminar on Management of NGO’s
UNESCO
(ISRAEL NATIONAL COMMISSION)
JOINTLY WITH
GALILLEE COLLEGE, ISRAEL
A Special Capacity-Building Seminar on Management of NGO’s
FOR DIRECTORS AND SENIOR
OFFICIALS IN NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
July 15 – 26, 2004
ISRAEL
Introduction
In recent years the number and scope of non-governmental organizations,
responsible for health, education, the economy and the environment, has
greatly increased. They are highly influential in communities, at the
grass-roots level, in the planning and implementation of social and economic
policy. Increasingly, NGOs mediate the relationship between the private and
public sectors and facilitate private sector investment in community
development and the environment. Therefore, effective leadership and
creative management of NGO’s are crucial to gain advantage in the
competition for the limited resources available to the public sector.
Program Description
The program addresses the current role of NGOs in community development and
challenges NGO leaders in their efforts to build their organizations. It
provides participants with a learning environment that promotes and
encourages the exchange of ideas and experiences and builds international
links among NGO leaders.
Program Participants
The program is designed for NGO directors, supervisors, senior managers and
decision-makers.
Objectives
The main objectives of the program are as follows:
To present the role of NGOs in community development
To increase the effectiveness of NGO leadership and management including
financial management
To improve the managerial functioning of NGOs as well as Fund Raising
To enhance the relationship between NGOs and communities, governments and
the private sector
To provide opportunity for international dialogue and exchange of ideas
among NGO professionals
Curriculum
Part A – Management of NGO’s – Principles
The Development and Importance of the Third Sector
Project Management: Concept and Development
Project Evaluation
Financial Analysis of NGO’s and Its Implications
Methods and Tools for Social Assessment
Essence and Uniqueness of NGO Leadership
Human Resource Development and Management
Fund Raising Strategies
Part B — Advanced Management and Leadership
Communication Skills
Advanced Management Workshop
Project Management: Timing and Budgeting
Motivation in Non Profit Organizations
Implementing Change
Challenges of Democratic Leadership
Empowering Future Leadership
NGOs in Israel
Course Methodology
The program is based on experiential and participatory activities. Lectures
will be supplemented by study tours, case study analyses, small group
discussions, and games and simulations facilitated by the College faculty
and guest lecturers.
International Training Program – Galillee College, Israel
MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF NGO’S
GENERAL INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS:
Minimum requirements:
– First degree from university – B.A, B.Sc (Or to have vast Working
experience in the field of NGO’s)
– Must be proficient in English.
– Hold citizenship from the country of residence.
– Work in subject relating to the course
Program of Study: The duration of the course is 13 days and is comprised of
100 study hours. The daily schedule consists of approximately 8 hours a day
(10 academic study hours), five days a week, including appropriate study
tours. Upon successful completion of course, participants will be issued a
certificate. Each participant will be assigned a project, which is to be
completed and submitted within six months after the course. Once the
projects have been reviewed and approved by our Academic Committee, the
participant will receive a Diploma for the program.
Tuition: EUR1900. Candidates who meet the application requirements will
qualify for a full Tuition Scholarship that covers all tuition expenses.
Local Expense Fee: EUR2,450. Candidates (or sponsor/organization) are to
cover the Local Expense Fee. The fee includes: accommodation (two people per
room), full board, airport transfers, study tours, study materials, medical
insurance, weekend excursions (visits to historical, archeological and
religious sites in Israel).
* Please note: airfare and pocket money are NOT covered by this fee.
To apply, please send the following by fax or email:
CV
Registration form
Visa application
Sponsorship Endorsement form
It is possible to register via our website: or
contact our office by email or fax to request for forms and register.
Mr. Mark Street
Coordinator
International Department email: [email protected]
International Department
Galillee College, P.O.B. 1070 Tivon
ISRAEL 36000
Tel. 972-4-9837444
Fax. 972-4-9830227
CENN INFO
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)
Tel: ++995 32 92 39 46
Fax: ++995 32 92 39 47
E-mail: [email protected]
URL:

ENN
Environmental News Network
Every Crop Needs Its Wild Relatives
>From UN Environment Programme
Monday, June 28, 2004
COLOMBO/NAIROBI/ROME, 28 June 2004 — A project aimed at boosting the
conservation and use of the wild living relatives of some of the world’s key
crops is being launched today.
The project, bringing together the biologically rich countries of Armenia,
Bolivia, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan, aims to improve key features
of traditional crops, ranging from their economic and nutritional value to
their ability to naturally fight disease.
The importance of conserving wild crop relatives as future sources of novel
traits is highlighted by recent developments with the tomato. An increase of
0.1 per cent in the solid content of this fruit is worth around $10 million
a year to processors in California.
One wild living tomato has allowed plant breeders to boost, by 2.4 per cent
or $250 million annually, the level of solids in commercial varieties.
Meanwhile, three different wild peanuts have been used to breed commercial
varieties resistant to root knot nematodes. It is helping to save peanut
growers around the world an estimated $100 million a year.
Researchers believe the new project, which is co-funded by the Global
Environment Facility (GEF), will play its part in fighting hunger and
improving the livelihoods of farmers across the globe.
The project, called “In Situ Conservation of Crop Wild Relatives through
Enhanced Management and Field Application”, is being launched today in
Colombo, Sir Lanka, by the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute
(IPGRI) in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) and national and international partners. (See notes to editors.)
It comes at a time of increasing concern over the loss of these precious
genetic resources. For example, more than one in 20 of the species of
Poaceae, the botanical family that includes cereal crops such as wheat,
maize, barley and millet, are threatened with extinction from deforestation,
habitat loss and intensive agriculture.
Forests are rich in wild plants that may be new sources of novel genetic
traits for improved crops including coffee, mango and rubber. During the
1990s, 94 million hectares, or 2.4 per cent of total forest cover, was lost.
The new scheme will pool existing information from a wide variety of sources
on crop wild relatives in each of the five countries. An information
exchange network will be set up allowing scientists and breeders to pinpoint
promising traits for improving crop production. The project will pinpoint
ways on how to best conserve the rich genetic resources of the countries
concerned.
The project will enhance conservation measures already undertaken and make
available resources in order to build upon these. For example, Sri Lanka has
carried out several actions to conserve crop wild relatives and raise
awareness of their importance, but has no national strategy.
Armenia and Uzbekistan have surveyed their crop wild relatives and created
limited protected areas at least partly to conserve these plants. For
example, Armenia’s Erebuni Reserve is one of the few in the world
deliberately established to conserve the wild living relatives of a key
crop, in this case wild wheats.
Bolivia and Madagascar need to extend surveys of where wild living crop
relatives may be found and establish areas to protect them.
Notes to Editors
Some examples of the value of crop wild relatives Crop wild relatives make a
huge contribution to plant breeding. It is estimated that between 1976 and
1980, wild relatives contributed approximately $340 million per year in
yield and disease resistance to the farm economy of the United States alone.
In addition, improvements in molecular technology have made it easier and
quicker to identify useful traits in wild relatives and to develop new and
improved varieties.
Wild relatives have increased the productivity of globally important crops
such as barley, maize, oats, potatoes, rice and wheat.
Breeders have also used them to boost the nutritional value of foods. For
example, the high anti-cancer properties found in some varieties of broccoli
originated in a Sicilian wild relative.
Wild relatives have provided traits such as disease resistance, tolerance to
extreme temperatures, tolerance to salinity (from a wild relative growing in
the Galapagos Islands) and resistance to drought. They have also helped
increase the nutritional value of the cultivated tomato by providing more
Vitamin C and beta-carotene. One wild relative has made it possible to
increase the solids content of the tomato by 2.4% worth $250 million a year
in the state of California alone.
Nutritional value By crossing cultivated broccoli with a wild Sicilian
relative, scientists are breeding a variety that contain higher levels of
the cancer fighting chemical, sulforaphane, an anti-oxidant that destroys
compounds that can damage DNA. The new variety of broccoli contains 100
times more sulforaphane.
Wheat is the staple food for approximately one in three of the world’s
population. But diets based solely on cereals lack important nutrients such
as iron, zinc and vitamin A.
A wild relative of wheat, Triticum turgidum var dicoccoides, from the
Eastern Mediterranean, was used to increase the protein content of bread and
durum wheat. The International Centre for the Improvement of Wheat and Maize
(CIMMYT) has shown that other wild relatives of wheat have up to 1.8 times
more zinc and 1.5 times more iron in their grains than ordinary wheat and
could be used to improve levels of these minerals in wheat varieties.
Disease resistance In the 1970s an outbreak of grassy stunt virus devastated
the rice fields of millions of farmers in South and South-East Asia. The
virus, transmitted by the brown plant hopper, prevents the rice plant from
producing flowers and grain.
Scientists from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) screened
more than 17,000 cultivated and wild rice samples for resistance to the
disease.
A wild relative of rice, Oryza nivara, growing in the wild in Uttar Pradesh
was found to have one single gene for resistance to the grassy stunt virus.
This gene is now routinely incorporated in all new varieties of rice grown
across more than 100,000 km2 of Asian rice fields.
Apart from UNEP, GEF and the IPGRI, the other agencies involved are the
Botanic Gardens Conservation International, the United Nations Food and
Agricultural Organization, IUCN-the World Conservation Union, UNEP’s World
Conservation Monitoring Centre and ZADI, the German Centre for Documentation
and Information in Agriculture.
For more information, please contact:
For UNEP: Eric Falt, Spokesperson/Director of UNEP’s Division of
Communications and Public Information, in Nairobi, on tel: +254-20-623292,
mobile: +254-733-682656, e-mail: [email protected] or Nick Nuttall, UNEP
Head of Media, on tel: +254-20-623084, mobile: +254-733- 632755, e-mail:
[email protected]
For IPGRI: Jeremy Cherfas, Public Awareness Officer, in Rome, on tel:
+39-066118-234, e-mail: [email protected]

California Courier Online, July 1, 2004
1 – Commentary
Pres. Kocharian Talks Tough
At Council of Europe Meeting
By Harut Sassounian
California Courier Publisher
**************************************************************************
2 – Paris’ Dr. Herve Georgelin Appointed
Kazan Visiting Professor at Fresno State
3 – Vartan Gregorian Awarded
Presidential Medal of Freedom
4 – 372 Students Graduate at Mashdots
College’s 12th Commencement
5 – Moscow Armenian
Claims to be Cher’s
Long Lost Cousin
6 – Governor Appoints
Kalustian Chief Deputy
Director of L.A. Office
7 – UAF’s 129th Airlift Delivers
$1 Million of Aid to Armenia
************************************************************************
1 – Commentary
Pres. Kocharian Talks Tough
At Council of Europe Meeting
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
Pres. Kocharian delivered a tough speech at the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe (PACE) meeting in Strasbourg on June 23. He defended
his government’s actions against both domestic and foreign detractors, and
going on the offensive, blasted his internal critics and Armenia’s external
enemies.
In a speech delivered in Russian, Pres. Kocharian covered three main
topics: 1) the recent demonstrations by the opposition seeking his
resignation; 2) the Karabagh conflict; and 3) Armenian-Turkish relations.
While the leaders of the opposition in Armenia disputed the President’s
characterization of their activities, they grudgingly praised, for the
first time, his bold position on the Karabagh conflict.
Domestic Issues
Pres. Kocharian openly admitted that Armenia has not yet “achieved the
desirable level of democratic freedoms.” He said, “Democracy has a long way
to go in a country with high poverty indicators.” Yet, the President added,
“despite the blockade implemented by two fellow members of this very
organization” [Turkey and Azerbaijan], the “annual GDP growth has averaged
12% for the last three consecutive years.”
Kocharian rhetorically asked: “what fostered the activity of the opposition
to replace parliamentary work with revolutionary rallies? …Double-digit
economic growth figures and budgetary surpluses are not fertile ground for
revolution.” He said that the opposition was trying to emulate Georgia’s
“Rose Revolution,” ignoring “the fact that Armenia’s economy, as opposed to
Georgia’s, is undergoing a dynamic advance. Our government is efficient and
our democratic achievements are safeguarded by institutional structures,
including a law enforcement system capable of protecting public order.
History has often demonstrated that inspiration from foreign revolutions
never results in positive outcomes.”
Karabagh Never a Part of Azerbaijan
Pres. Kocharian took the position that Karabagh’s independence does not
undermine Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity because Karabagh historically
was never a part of Azerbaijan. When the Soviet Union was collapsing, the
Karabagh autonomous region, under the then existing Soviet laws, declared
its independence from the USSR, just as Azerbaijan had done. Therefore two
separate states emerged.
Declaring that the “independence of Karabagh today has a 16 year history,”
the President emphatically said: “an entire generation grew up there that
can think of no other status for the country. The Nagorno-Karabagh Republic
today is an established state, in essence meeting all the Council of
Europe’s membership criteria.”
Genocide and Turkish-Armenian Relations
Pres. Kocharian then said: “I would like to comment on Armenian-Turkish
relations, or rather, on their absence. Those relations are shaded by the
memories of the past: the Genocide, its consequences, and the lack of
repentance. Nowadays, the situation is worsened by the blockade of Armenia
by Turkey. I would like to outline two principles which in my view are
crucial to finding the way out of this impasse: First, the development of
practical ties and deliberations over the inherited problems must take
place
in different dimensions, and one must not influence the other. Secondly,
Armenian-Turkish relations must not be conditioned by our relations with a
third country. No prizes for guessing that I am referring to Azerbaijan.”
Pres. Kocharian then answered questions from various Parliamentarians. When
asked by a French representative about the closed Turkish-Armenian border
in view of Turkey’s desire to join the European Union (EU), he responded:
“Turkey’s desire to enter the EU must assume the fulfillment of norms that
are required of all member states and from all states that desire EU
membership. Having open borders and resolving conflicts with neighboring
states should be a pre-condition for Turkey’s accession to the EU. That
would provide an incentive for this problem to be resolved.”
In response to a question from an Azeri Parliamentarian on whether
“returning” to Azerbaijan the 7 territories surrounding Karabagh could be
viewed as a confidence-building measure, Kocharian said that Armenia is
wary of a piecemeal approach. It prefers a package deal. “If Azerbaijan had
signed the document prepared in Key West, Florida, the fate of most of
these territories would have been resolved.” Kocharian bluntly told the
Azeri representative, “Karabagh was never yours.”
In response to a question on the Armenian Genocide from a Turkish
representative, Kocharian said: “the past should be studied, particularly
since the consequences of the past have not been eradicated. …It is not
understandable to Armenians why Turkey is maintaining the blockade? Why is
Turkey isolating Armenia in various international institutions? Didn’t 1915
happen, in the last century? There is a problem. Instead of taking certain
steps, establishing normal relations, overcoming that psychological
obstacle, you are exacerbating the already complex relations by blockading
Armenia. What has Turkey done to remove that obstacle? After [Armenia’s]
independence, the Armenian-Turkish border is blockaded and diplomatic
relations are rejected. If you think that we can’t survive without you, you
are mistaken. We can survive; we are developing in a normal manner. But as
neighbors, I do not consider such relations normal.”
The most explosive exchange took place when an Azeri representative asked
Pres. Kocharian about his personal involvement in the Karabagh war.
Kocharian said: “regarding my participation in military activities, yes, I
am from Karabagh by birth. I must tell you that since 1988 my kids have not
had a childhood. I have three children. The oldest was 7 years old at the
time. From 1991 to 1994 they were living in cellars due to attacks by Azeri
jets. Yes, I am proud of the results we have today.”
It is noteworthy that Pres. Kocharian’s tough statements come on the heels
of two other recent bold moves: The President’s refusal to go to Istanbul
to participate in the NATO Summit meeting, and Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian’s announcement on June 14 that Armenia intends to veto Turkey’s
upcoming OSCE chairmanship.
Armenians worldwide should support these moves for two reasons: 1) to
strengthen the Armenian government’s ability to withstand the
counter-pressures by Armenia’s opponents; and 2) to help Armenian
policymakers correctly assess their country’s capabilities in vigorously
pursuing foreign policy objectives without taking undue risks.

**************************************************************************
2 – Paris’ Dr. Hervé Georgelin Appointed
Kazan Visiting Professor at Fresno State
FRESNO – Dr. Hervé Georgelin, of Paris, France, has been appointed as the
5th Henry S. Khanzadian Kazan visiting Professor of Armenian Studies for
the Fall 2004 semester.
Dr. Georgelin will be teaching a three unit course, Armenian Studies
120T-“Armenians’ Odyssey: Out of Empires Towards Diaspora,” on Tuesdays and
Thursday, from 3:30-4:45 PM.
The course will cover the last two centuries of Armenian history, with
particular emphasis on the following main points: “The existence of the
Armenian people without an Armenian nation for centuries,” “The genocidal
watershed in Armenian history: expulsion from Anatolia,” and “The dynamics
between the independent Republic of Armenia and the Diaspora, home for the
majority of the world’s Armenian population.”
As part of his visiting professorship, Dr. Georgelin will give three public
lectures in the fall, under the general topic of “Western Armenian
Journalists in the Political Arena: Watchful People in Critical Times.”
He received his PhD from the Department of History and Civilisations,
EHESS, Paris. His dissertation is on the plural urban society of
Smyrna/Izmir at the end of the Ottoman Empire, until its destruction in
September 1922, following the entry of the Turkish nationalist army into
the city.
Dr. Georgelin has published numerous articles on the history of the late
Ottoman Empire and on Smyrna in particular. He is fluent in French,
English, German, modern Greek, Armenian, Turkish, Italian and Russian.
For more information on how to register for the course contact the Armenian
Studies Program at 559-278-2669.
**************************************************************************
3 – Vartan Gregorian Awarded
Presidential Medal of Freedom
WASHINGTON, DC (AP) Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation
of New York, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United
State’s highest civil award, by President George W. Bush at the White House
on June 23.
The award was established by President Truman in 1945 to recognize
civilians for their service during World War II, and it was reinstated by
President Kennedy in 1963 to honor distinguished service.
“We are greatly pleased to see Vartan Gregorian’s years of public service
and tremendous contributions to the field of education recognized by
President Bush with the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” said ANCA Executive
Director Aram Hamparian. “Armenian Americans join today with Armenians
around the world in honoring Dr. Gregorian’s scholarship and many
achievements in world of learning, his truly tireless leadership in the
civic life of the United States, and, of course, his abiding devotion to
his Armenian heritage.”
Born in Tabriz, Iran, Gregorian received his elementary education in Iran
and his secondary education in at the Armenian Nshan Palandjian Jemaran in
Lebanon. In 1956 he entered Stanford University, where he majored in
history and the humanities, graduating with honors in 1958. He was awarded
a PhD in history and humanities from Stanford in 1964. A former university
professor who has taught European and Middle Eastern history at San
Francisco State College, UCLA, and the University of Texas at Austin,
Gregorian joined the University of Pennsylvania faculty in 1972 and was
appointed Tarzian Professor of History and professor of South Asian
history. He was founding dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the
University of Pennsylvania in 1974 and four years later became its provost
until 1981. That year, Gregorian assumed his position as president of the
New York Public Library, an institution with a network of four research
libraries and 83 circulating libraries. Prior to his current position with
the Carnegie Corporation, which he assumed in June 1997, Gregorian served
for nine years as the 16th president of Brown University following his
appointment to the position in 1989.
The recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees, Gregorian was
awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 1986 and the American Academy of
the Institute of Arts and Letters’ Gold Medal for Service to the Arts in
1989. In 1998, President Bill Clinton awarded him the National Humanities
Medal.
Gregorian joins Pope John Paul II, American entertainment icon Doris Day,
entrepreneur Estee Lauder, famed golf champion Arnold Palmer and eight
other distinguished men and women in receiving the prestigious award.
**************************************************************************
4 – 372 Students Graduate at Mashdots
College’s 12th Commencement
GLENDALE – Mashdots College successfully completed its 12th academic year
with commencement ceremonies held June 19 at the Calvary Presbyterian
Church in Glendale.
A host of civic and community leaders, educators, parents and friends
attended the ceremonies.
Master of Ceremonies Dr. Garbis Der Yeghiayan, who is also the College
President, emphasized the importance of the College’s mission, and its
unwavering commitment to serve the Armenian community not only to preserve
but also to enhance and strengthen a very unique heritage.
On behalf of the Class of 2004, Diana Shahumyan thanked the college Board
of Trustees, administration and faculty for their dedicated efforts in
providing unique educational opportunities to Armenian youth and adults.
She expressed her heartfelt appreciation to Dr. Der Yeghiayan for his
dynamic leadership by presenting him a “Leader for Educators and Educator
for Leaders” plaque to him.
Glendale City Councilman Dave Weaver expressed his gratitude to the College
for its role in educating the leaders of tomorrow. “Mashdots College is the
pride of our city and I commend its visionary leadership for making dreams
come true.”
The keynote speaker, Armenian Consul General to Los Angeles Gagik
Kirakosian gave an inspiring speech commending the students for their
achievements and encouraged them to continue striving to do their best. At
the conclusion of his remarks, President Der Yeghiayan honored the Consul
General by presenting the College’s “St. Mesrob Mashdots” medal in
appreciation of his service.
Talented vocalists Araksi Garabedian, Larissa Nigoghossian and Gagik
Badalian of the Class of 2004 presented medley of Armenian songs.
Department chairs Dr. Nora Sahkian, Hripsig Nalbandian, Onnik Bayramian,
Vartan Aprahamian and attorney Roupen Avsharian joined Consul General
Kirakosian and Dr. Der Yeghiayan in awarding diplomas to 372 graduates.
Los Angeles Times/Glendale News Press reporter Gary Moskowitz was
recognized by the College for his journalistic professionalism, versatility
and integrity, and received a special plaque of appreciation.
After Dr. Der Yeghiayan closing remarks, Rev. Ashot Kambourian gave the
benediction.
**************************************************************************
5 – Moscow Armenian
Claims to be Cher’s
Long Lost Cousin
MOSCOW – During a visit to Moscow to perform in her Farewell Tour,
Armenian-American entertainer and Oscar winner, Cher was approached by an
Armenian man at the Moscow airport, claiming to be her cousin.
Yerevan resident, Marvel Sarkisian showed her a picture of his father, and
claimed that he was Cher’s father’s brother, making him her cousin.
Sarkisian said his father Vardan was killed in World War II, and his
brother, Karapet, who was allegedly Cher’s father, went to the United
States via Bulgaria and changed his name to John.
Cher was born Cherilyn Sarkisian.
According to the Moscow newspaper Komsomolskaya, Marvel said he was ready
to have an DNA analysis to prove his relationship with Cher, but, according
to the newspaper, the Armenian-American actress did not talk to him and
left shortly after the Armenian man spoke to her.
Cher’s concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg coincided with the Moscow
International Film Festival which was held in the Russian capital last
week. Hollywood actress and Oscar-winner Meryl Streep also came to Moscow
to attend Cher’s concert. Streep and Cher performed together in the motion
picture, “Silkwood” which was directed by Mike Nichols.
**************************************************************************
6 – Governor Appoints
Kalustian Chief Deputy
Director of L.A. Office
LOS ANGELES – Lisa Kalustian, 40, of North Hills, Calif., has been
appointed chief deputy director of Governor Arnold Swarzenegger’s Los
Angeles Office, the Governor’s office announced last week.
She most recently served as vice president of public affairs for the
western region of Health Net, Inc.
Kalustian is also currently a member of the board of directors of the
Armenian Assembly of America and Coro Southern California.
The position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is
$105,000.
Kalustian is a Republican.
**************************************************************************
7 – UAF’s 129th Airlift Delivers
$1 Million of Aid to Armenia
GLENDALE – The United Armenian Fund’s 129th airlift arrived in Yerevan on
June 26, delivering $1 million of humanitarian assistance.
The UAF itself collected $262,000 of medicines and medical supplies for
this flight, most of which were donated by AmeriCares ($138,000) and the
Catholic Medical Mission Board ($123,000).
Other organizations which contributed goods for this airlift were:
Armenian Eyecare Project ($351,000); Armenian Missionary Association of
America ($78,000); Dr. Mary Alani/Focus Armenia ($62,000); Medical Outreach
for Armenians ($53,000); Foundation Semra ($30,000); Armenian American
Medical Association of California and Knights of Vartan – Sevan Tahlij
($24,000); Armenian Canadian Medical Association ($22,000); and Nork Marash
Medical Center ($14,000).
Also contributing to this airlift were: Dr. Robert Garabedian of
California ($12,000); Arabkir United Children’s Charity Foundation
($11,000); Harut Chantikian of New Jersey ($11,000); E. Cherian/George
Washington University ($11,000); and Dr. Elizabeth Weller of Pennsylvania
($10,000).
Since its inception in 1989, the UAF has sent $385 million of humanitarian
assistance to Armenia on board 129 airlifts and 1,064 sea containers.
The UAF is the collective effort of the Armenian Assembly of America, the
Armenian General Benevolent Union, the Armenian Missionary Association of
America, the Armenian Relief Society, the Diocese of the Armenian Church of
America, the Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America and the
Lincy Foundation.
For more information, contact the UAF office at 1101 North Pacific Avenue,
Suite 301, Glendale, CA 91202 or call (818) 241-8900.
***************************************************************************
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The Daily Star, Lebanon
June 28 2004
American University of Beirut awards honorary degrees
By May Habib
Special to The Daily Star

When Vartan Gregorian arrived in Beirut from Tehran 54 years ago, he
had $50 in his pocket, couldn’t speak Arabic or English and did not
know a single person in the country.
On Saturday, Gregorian, the head of the Carnegie Corporation in the
US and an acclaimed philanthropist and educator, returned to receive
an honorary doctorate from the American University of Beirut.
Gregorian’s first English teacher in Beirut, Antoine Kehyaian, was
present at the ceremony to see his former pupil.
“As a student I used to tell Antoine, ‘Don’t worry, one day I will
get a degree from AUB,'” said Gregorian, who has received honorary
degrees from 15 universities. “I had to spend 50 years in the
wilderness in order to earn this.”
Along with Gregorian, the mathematician Sir Michael Atiyah, famed
cellist Yo-Yo Ma and journalist Peter Jennings also received honorary
degrees.
AUB President John Waterbury said this year’s recipients
“demonstrate, almost to perfection, the coupling of specialization
and achievement to lifelong involvement in other fields.”
Upon leaving Beirut, Gregorian – who also delivered the commencement
address Saturday – went to Stanford University in California, where
he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1958 and his doctorate in history
in 1964. After teaching at various universities in the US, he became
founding dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University
of Pennsylvania and eventually became the provost.
After leaving the University
of Pennsylvania, Gregorian headed the New York Public Library,
raising an unprecedented $400 million for its revival.
Never content to remain too long in any position, he left the New
York Public Library in 1989 to become president of Brown University.
He then left Brown for the philanthropic Carnegie Corporation in
1997.
Gregorian advised students at the ceremony to “get really rich” so
they can donate money to AUB in the future.
“There are not many AUBs in the world, especially this part of the
world,” he said. “You owe it to AUB and the Lebanese to keep this
beacon of learning and light shining.”
Sir Michael Atiyah, whose work in string theory has been awarded
numerous medals, also commended AUB for creating cultural links that
“straddle space and time.” Atiyah, the son of a Lebanese father and a
Scottish mother, grew up in Sudan and attended Victoria College in
Cairo. He was knighted in 1983 and was awarded the rank of commander
in the Order of the Cedars by the Lebanese government in 1993.
Atiyah helped AUB develop its Center for Advanced Mathematical
Studies and is the chairman of the center’s International Advisory
Committee.
Jennings, who came to Lebanon in 1972 as the ABC News bureau chief in
Beirut, said that AUB – founded by US missionaries – is “one of the
greatest things the US has done in the Middle East.” He said that at
a time when the US government is challenged by winning the hearts and
minds of the region’s people, “at AUB the great ideas of the US come
together.”
Waterbury joked that he would try to keep secret that the hugely
successful Jennings did not finish high school and does not have a
university degree.
“We forgive you Peter for your early dismissal of our product,”
Waterbury said.
Yo-Yo Ma, a concert cellist since the age of 9 and a 14-time Grammy
winner, closed the ceremony with a piece from Bach. “I know I was not
invited here for my speaking skills,” he joked, holding up his cello.

The Daily Star, Lebanon
June 28 2004
AUB celebrates 135th commencement
More than 1,400 students receive their degrees
By Rana Wehbe
Special to The Daily Star

BEIRUT: The American University of Beirut held its 135th annual
graduation commencement Saturday evening at its Beirut campus, as
1,456 students were given their degrees.
For the second year in a row, the commencement exercises were split
into a main ceremony, in which AUB President JohnWaterbury awarded
the degrees, followed by individual ceremonies for each faculty where
the diplomas were distributed by the respective deans.
The main ceremony began at 6.30pm with the candidates’ procession to
the AUB green field. Waterbury then addressed the audience, which
included representatives of President Emile Lahoud, Speaker Nabih
Berri and Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and in addition to several
ministers and MPs, university trustee council members, and parents
and friends of the graduates.
In his speech, read first in Arabic and then in English, Waterbury
expressed sorrow that this year’s ceremony took place in “a
background of violence and destruction,” and that, this year, as in
past years, the university “releases its graduates into a regional
and international minefield.”
He said he hoped the graduates would “succeed in what the previous
generations have failed to do; that is, changing the game in which we
have all become the losers.”
At the end of his speech, Waterbury introduced AUB honorary doctorate
holder and ceremony speaker Vartan Gregorian as a man who had
succeeded in building a tremendous life from the land of Lebanon.
For his part, Gregorian addressed the audience by sketching out his
own life.
Lebanon, as he described it, is not only a land of opportunities, but
also “a land of diversity, tolerance, and freedom of speech and
thought.”
The last word was reserved for the vice-president of the University
Student-Faculty Council, Hassan Mohanna, who spoke on behalf of the
graduates.
He described studying at AUB as “the greatest chance that Lebanese
youths could get to coexist and communicate with youth from the
region and all over the world.”

MGM studio talks drag on
By Peter Thal Larsen in New York
Financial Times
Jun 28, 2004
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is tomorrow expected to tell investors it is still
exploring multiple options for its future as talks about a possible
sale of Hollywood’s last independent studio drag through the summer.
MGM is set to give shareholders the update at its annual meeting
tomorrow amid continuing talks with Sony, the Japanese electronics
giant, which has made a preliminary $5bn offer for the company.
Last month, MGM delayed the date of its annual meeting by six weeks so
its board could consider what it described as “strategic
alternatives”. At the time, people close to the negotiations said MGM
was hopeful it could agree a deal before the end of June. But those
people now believe a deal – if one can be reached – is unlikely to be
announced for several weeks.
Sony, which is bidding as part of a consortium that includes
Providence Equity Partners and Texas Pacific Group, the private equity
firms, is still considered the most likely buyer for MGM.
However, the delay could give rivals such as Time Warner more time to
decide whether to submit an offer.
Time Warner is familiar with MGM’s operations as it has studied making
an offer for the studio in the past, and executives of Time Warner and
MGM have held talks in recent weeks, people close to the discussions
say.
Dick Parsons, Time Warner’s chairman and chief executive, is keen to
preserve some of the company’s financial firepower as he prepares an
offer for Adelphia, the bankrupt cable group currently up for sale.
Time Warner is thought to be restricted from issuing shares to
investors until the US Securities and Exchange Commission has
completed its investigation into accounting practices at the company’s
America Online.
But some investors believe Time Warner could circumvent those
restrictions by issuing stock directly to Kirk Kerkorian, the
billionaire investor who is MGM’s controlling shareholder.
Sony’s consortium is designed to limit the Japanese group’s financial
commitment to a deal. Under the terms, Sony and its partners would
commit about $1.5bn in equity, and finance the rest of the
consideration with debt secured on the cash flow from MGM’s film
library.
But this structure has raised questions about how the private equity
firms will be able to cash in their investment. NBC Universal, the
entertainment arm of General Electric, had been seen as another
potential bidder. But it is thought to be concentrating on integrating
its merger with Vivendi Universal’s US entertainment assets.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress