RUSSIA-BACKED NGO CONDUCTS POLL ON GEORGIANS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS SAAKASHVILI
Regnum, Moscow
7 Jun 06
An opinion poll conducted by the Caucasus Institute for Democracy
[Russian non-government foundation with branches in Tbilisi, Yerevan,
Abkhaz and South Ossetian capitals] has shown that 18.99 per cent of
Georgians wholly support the [November 2003] Rose Revolution, 37.83
per cent partially support it and 35.98 per cent do not support it.
The foundation’s Tbilisi office polled a demographically representative
sample of 528 people in May 2006. Regnum has learnt that 45.83 per
cent of respondents say that their lives have changed for the worse
since the Rose Revolution, while 24.24 per cent say their lives have
improved. Furthermore, 10.41 per cent approve of the job Mikheil
Saakashvili has done as president, 13.82 per cent assess it more
positively than negatively, 23.10 per cent neutrally, 28.78 per cent
more negatively than positively, and 23.86 per cent negatively.
A total of 21.21 per cent of the respondents say that the socioeconomic
situation in Georgia has improved since Saakashvili came to power,
whereas 51.13 say it has changed for the worse.

BLACK SEA BUSINESS DAY IN BAKU
The Messenger, Georgia
June 8 2006
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) will host Black Sea
Business Day, on 12 June 2006, in Baku.
The main goal of the conference, bank officials say, is to facilitate
contacts between economic decision-makers in BSTDB countries, as well
as to promote regional cooperation and investments in the Black Sea
region in general and in Azerbaijan in particular.
The Black Sea Business Day, which is an annual event, will address
the role of the financial sector in economic development, investment
opportunities in agribusiness and food processing, and infrastructure
development on a regional scale.
The Business Day is organized under the auspices of the Azeri
government and will be inaugurated by the President of Azerbaijan,
Ilham Aliyev.
High-ranking officials of BSTDB member-states, international
institutions, investors and businessmen are expected to be among the
participants, including Azerbaijani Minister of Economic Development,
Heydar Babayev; President of BSTDB, Hayrettin Kaplan; Minister of
Finance Samir Sharifov; Country Director for the Caucasus, Moldova
and Belarus of EBRD, Michael Davey; and Senior Regional Director of
German KfW Group, Oskar von Maltzan.
The Georgian delegation at the conference includes the President
of the National Bank of Georgia, Roman Gotsiridze, as well as the
Deputy Minister of Finance, Lasha Gotsiridze. The Executive Director
of Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Georgia, George Kakabadze,
will deliver a speech at the event.
Last year’s BSTDB Black Sea Business Day was held in Yerevan,
Armenia and the participants then discussed the role of international
institutions, the investment potential of the Caucasus, assistance
to SME sector development, and financial sector development.
BSTDB is an international financial institution established by
Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova,
Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. With an authorized capital of
approximately USD 1.3 billion, the bank supports economic development
and regional cooperation in the region by providing trade and project
financing, guarantees, and equity for development projects supporting
both public and private enterprises in its member countries.
The Messenger’s Christina Tashkevich will travel to Baku to cover the
event and her stories about the conference will be available in next
week’s Messenger issues.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CALLS, MAILER BRING ANGER
By Fred Ortega, The Leader
Burbank Leader,CA
June 6 2006
Community upset over campaign mailing bashing Assembly candidate,
calling it racist hate speech.
GLENDALE — A campaign mailing and phone calls linking Assembly
candidate Paul Krekorian and the Armenian National Committee to a
terrorism suspect convicted of weapons charges has many community
leaders outraged and some crying racism.
The calls and mailers, sent out by the Oakland-based California
Latino Leadership Fund, were delivered to thousands of Glendale and
Burbank area voters in the days leading up to Tuesday’s primary. The
mailers feature a mug shot of Mourad Topalian, a former Armenian
National Committee chairman who pleaded guilty for possession of
stolen explosives and two machine guns in Ohio in 2000, according
to FBI records. The postcard-sized campaign piece also states that
Krekorian accepted the Armenian National Committee’s endorsement in
his run for the State Assembly and helped get “[Armenian National
Committee] books and literature into libraries for schoolchildren.”
“It is very sad whenever any campaign is tainted with tactics that
appeal to hatred and bigotry,” Krekorian said. “I think people care
about what matters to all Californians, which is improving education,
providing healthcare to everyone and protecting the environment —
not personal attacks and character assassination.”
The Armenian National Committee “books and literature” cited in the
mailer were actually 1,000 books in Armenian and English about Armenian
culture and history that were donated to the Burbank Library system at
the request of library officials to expand their international section,
he said, adding that the Burbank City Council honored his wife Tamar
Krekorian and the committee for their efforts in securing the books.
The sinister undertone of the mailings contrast sharply with the
true spirit of the Armenian National Committee, said Zanku Armenian,
board member of the committee’s Western Region based in Glendale.
Topalian, who the FBI suspect was a leader of the Justice Commandos of
the Armenian Genocide, resigned his post after the charges surfaced,
Armenian said.
“We live in a country in which you are innocent until proven guilty,”
Armenian said, adding that Topalian was never convicted of terrorism
charges, only weapons possession. “At the time he was chairman and
started having these troubles, he resigned so he could deal with
his personal issues without dragging down the [Armenian National
Committee]. These matters have nothing to do with the organization,
which has a mission to represent and give voice to the Armenian
American community within the American political system.”
Armenian further suggested that Krekorian’s opponent for the democratic
nomination, City Councilman Frank Quintero, and outgoing 43rd Assembly
District Rep. Dario Frommer, who has endorsed Quintero, were somehow
connected to the mailers.
“We had been hearing rumblings coming from Sacramento that Quintero
and Frommer had a ‘killer issue’ that would swing the race and
we were hoping our information was wrong, but it is now our firm
belief that Quintero knew all about it,” he said. “We believe that
they were firmly behind the scenes and this sort of dirty campaign
tactics are the last gasp of breath of a failing candidate at the
end of his political career.”
Under state law it would be illegal for Quintero’s campaign to
coordinate with a separate entity on an independent expenditure such as
the mailers in question. The California Latino Leadership Fund spent
more than $18,000 in independent expenditures opposing Krekorian,
and more than $30,000 on similar expenditures to support Quintero,
according to campaign finance records from the Secretary of State’s
office.
Both Frommer and Quintero denied any knowledge or involvement with
the Latino Leadership Fund or its activities, and each sent letters
to fund officials expressing the disapproval of the mailer.
“I am disgusted that this organization, which by law has no affiliation
with my campaign, has sent out such a hurtful message,” Quintero said
in a statement. “The mailer does not reflect anything that I believe
in or stand for.”
California Latino Leadership Fund officials did not return calls
seeking comment.
The group has received funding from tribal gaming groups, Pacific Gas
and Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Inc., and Cendant Corp., among others.
The mailings and phone campaign have done much to damage the
relationship between Glendale’s Armenian and Latino communities,
Glendale Unified School District Board member Mary Boger said.
“The city and school district have worked closely together to create
harmony in our community,” said Boger, who received the controversial
phone calls at her home.
“Whomsoever is responsible for this hate mail and hate speech has
undermined years of work and has no right to seek a leadership
position.”
Glendale Community College Trustee Victor King, Glendale Democratic
Club President Laurie Collins and Glendale Historical Commission
Chairwoman Deborah Dentler also released a statement condemning the
phone calls and mailings.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, L.A. Councilman Eric Garcetti,
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff and Quintero all denounced the attacks.

CANDIDATES AWAIT COUNT
By Fred Ortega, The Leader
Tammy Abbott / News-Press
Burbank Leader,CA
June 6 2006
Early results had school board member Paul Krekorian in the lead.
Schiff also led his races.
Paul Krekorian and son Andrew greet supporters at Milano’s Italian
Kitchen in Glendale.
GLENDALE — Moods were eager and optimistic as the Frank Quintero and
Paul Krekorian camps waited Tuesday night for election results that
trickled in following a contentious election that drew recriminations
from both sides.
With 96.7% of the precincts counted, Krekorian, a Burbank Unified
School Board member, led the race for the Democratic nomination to
the 43rd Assembly District with 56.7%, to Quintero’s 43.3%.
“I feel terrific,” said Krekorian, who joined his supporters at
Milano’s Italian Kitchen in downtown Glendale to await the final
results. He added it was still too early to assess the final results.
“But I am incredibly proud of the positive campaign we ran in sharing
my vision for California with the voters,” he said. “Win or lose, I
am immensely proud of everyone who volunteered, surmounted challenging
obstacles and still kept their head up and fought right until the end.”
Krekorian and Quintero, a Glendale councilman, were vying for the
seat held by Assembly Majority Leader Dario Frommer, who is being
termed out. The heavily Democratic district includes the communities
of Burbank, Glendale, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, North Hollywood and
Toluca Lake.
It is generally accepted that whoever wins the Democratic nomination
to the district will waltz into Sacramento come November.
Scores of supporters joined Quintero at his campaign headquarters
on Broadway in Glendale, where volunteers checked results on the
registrar’s website every few minutes.
“I feel pretty good about our campaign; it was a wonderful experience,”
Quintero said, adding he expected Krekorian to have a lead in absentee
ballots because of what he described as an aggressive effort to sign
up voters.
“We’ll see how things go as more of the votes come in,” he added. “I
think I certainly took the issues to the voters and am confident with
my plan for a better California.”
The campaign for the nomination has been a rough one, with both sides
jumping on the missteps of the other. A Quintero statement on May 1 in
support of school vouchers drew fire from the Krekorian campaign —
as well as condemnation from local teachers’ unions. Quintero later
retracted the statement, blaming it on fatigue.
Quintero’s campaign was just as quick at exploiting a Los Angeles
County District Attorney’s Office investigation into allegedly
fraudulent signatures on absentee ballot applications submitted by
Krekorian staffers, an inquiry which is ongoing. Quintero’s operatives
organized a press conference on May 23 to announce the investigation
and to ask the county registrar’s office to segregate all absentee
ballots in the district; the county complied.
Most recently, a campaign mailer and phone operation that alleges that
Krekorian and the Armenian National Committee — whose endorsement
he held — are linked to a terrorism suspect and former committee
chairman convicted of weapons possession in 2000. Krekorian supporters
accused Quintero and Frommer of being behind the mailer — sent by
the independent California Latino Leadership Fund in the days leading
up to Tuesday’s election — though they denied any knowledge of or
involvement with the attack piece.
In the 29th Congressional District, incumbent Adam Schiff had a handy
lead over lone Democratic challenger Bob McCloskey, a retired union
representative from Monterey Park. With 99.2% of the precincts counted,
Schiff was leading with 82.5% of the vote.
“I am very pleased with the absentee results, although it is still
very early,” Schiff said from Washington, D.C., where he traveled
earlier Tuesday to cast votes on the House floor. “I have always
believed the best campaign is doing a good job and that is what I
have tried to do in Washington.”

HAJIYEVA: “PROPOSAL OF TOROSIAN ON ESTABLISHING 3-SIDED WORKING GROUP ON MISSING PEOPLE– IS INADMISSIBLE”
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 6 2006
“We accept the proposal of Torosian negatively on establishing
three-sided working group of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Garabagh
representatives related to missing people during the Nagorno Garabagh
conflict” this statement was made by Azerbaijani delegation member
to PACE, parliamentarian Gultekin Hajiyeva.
According to her, Tigran Torosian’s making this suggestion in reality
is not aimed at giving impulse, or create real format for the solution
of the problem. “This initiative is of political goal. This fact
proves that Armenians benefit from this great tragedy as political
dividends, and here the objective is to involve Nagorno Garabagh
to talks as a side. We do not accept it. Nagorno Garabagh is the
territory of Azerbaijan, people representing there can sit at talks
by Azerbaijani side.”

STEVE POUND MP TO DEBATE ARMENIAN AND ASSYRIAN GENOCIDES
Assyria Times, CA
June 7 2006
Steve is putting the Genocides of Armenians and Assyrians on the
agenda with an adjournment debate tomorrow (Wednesday, 7th June)
from 4pm in Westminster Hall.
Steve has long held an interest in this issue and it is a particularly
poignant point for many Ealing residents who are Assyrian or of
Armenian descent. Steve has raised these issues before in parliament
during debates about the Christian community in Iraq.
You can watch the debate live online via
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NATURALIZATION RITUAL WAS UNIQUELY AMERICAN
By Albert Jafarjian
Buffalo News, NY
June 8 2006
Albert Jafarjian, who lives in Williamsville, was moved as he watched
47 immigrants become U.S. citizens.
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of
America…” started the voice. Then others in the room joined in:
a judge, the choir and the family and friends of the guests of honor.
Those being honored were 47 immigrants who became naturalized U.S.
citizens on May 4. The courtroom on the sixth floor of the Federal
Court Building on Court Street in Buffalo was full.
The voice was not one that spoke English as a native language. The
woman who came up to the podium to lead us in the pledge was from
Mexico, accompanied by her husband and their infant child. Although
the English was not without accent, her pride showed through crystal
clear. And so went the ceremony I attended with my kindergarten
daughter.
I am a social studies teacher, and upon learning that one of my
students was to become an official U.S. citizen with her parents,
I asked to attend their ceremony.
When we arrived, there were benches lining each side of the hallway
outside of the courtroom, full of people. I have never seen so many
different kinds of people in such a small area in my life.
We later learned from the judge that the 47 people who became citizens
that day were from 23 different nations, from all around the world. A
gentleman who facilitated the process for the judge invited us in;
he was kind, lighthearted and made us laugh with corny jokes.
Immigration is a national issue these days. These people went through
the process most of our ancestors did, by legally becoming naturalized
citizens.
Whatever the politics are, this event showed me very clearly what
our nation stands for: a place in the world for anyone to come and
contribute, enjoy our rights and freedoms and have the chance at
success. This ceremony was moving, interesting and profound.
A day like this can only make an observer reflect on his own family’s
past. I found myself thinking about my paternal grandmother and
grandfather on a death march from Armenia as the Turks tried to
eradicate the Armenian population during World War I; they were happy
to come to America.
On my mother’s side, a more distant set of relatives escaped famine
in Ireland, boarding a ship to cross the Atlantic to emigrate to
this country. My wife’s ancestors left their beloved Poland for the
opportunity and freedom offered here.
The judge spoke of his ancestor, a slave in Alabama, and called it a
dark period in American history. Yet he said that he was proud that
he helped build this nation.
At different times during the ceremony, speakers from the International
Institute, the Daughters of the American Revolution and even the
judge himself struck these common themes: This is America, welcome
and congratulations! We are glad you are here! Enjoy our freedoms,
seize your opportunities and become an active citizen. You are in
the greatest nation in the world.
Faces from China, Canada, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Somalia and
other nations, places I have read about and heard about in the news
countless times, looked on, and I wondered what they came from to be
here, a place so many of us take for granted.
The officials presenting the certificates and leading the oath that
all naturalized citizens must take all wore American flag ties and
scarves. This was a purely American event, shared by the newest
of Americans.

TURKEY WANTS UNBLOCKING OF ITS BORDER WITH ARMENIA
Regnum, Russia
June 7 2006
Turkey wants its border with Armenia to be unblocked, Member of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation (PABSEC) committee on legal and political questions,
member of the Turkish Republican People’s Party, MP Mehmet Sevigen
has announced talking to the press. According to him, Turkey, from
its part, does its best, and Armenia, in its turn, should take all
necessary steps for it. “Armenia should observe the UN resolution
and free Azerbaijani territories occupied by it,” Sevigen declared.
Speaking on the issue of recognizing the Armenian Genocide in the
Ottoman Empire in 1915, Sevigen said “the events of 1915 were not
genocide, but a so-called genocide.” “Armenia should give up claiming
for recognizing the events as genocide. Historians should take this
issue. Turkey declassified its archives dating back to the Ottoman
Empire and invited all historians, for whom this was of interest.
When everything becomes clear, we shall see that things are not what
politicians say today,” Sevigen said.
It is worth mentioning, there are no diplomatic relations between
Turkey and Armenia, and the border between the two countries is
blocked on the initiative of the Turkish side.

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BUSINESS AND PARLIAMENT OPEN OFFICE IN ARMENIA
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
June 6 2006
YEREVAN, June 6. /ARKA/. An Armenian office of the International
Association of Business and Parliament is to be opened in Yerevan
on June 7, 2006. The ceremony will be attended by Vice-Speaker
of the European Parliament Edward McMilan Scot, foreign guests,
diplomats, Armenian parliamentarians, small and big businessmen and
representatives of international organizations.
The Association organized its Secretary General Hide Chamber’s official
visits to Armenia. Chambers paid two visits to Armenia during which
he held meetings with members of the RA Parliament and representatives
of international and public organizations.
The newly opened and legally registered Armenian office of the
Association enjoys guarantees and assistance of the Association’s
structure in Great Britain, which ensures transparency and prevent
corruption in its activities. It also serves as a resource for the
RA Parliament in exchanging international experience.

AZERBAIJAN DOESN’T SUPPORT ANY MILITARY OPERATION AGAINST NEIGHBORING IRAN
Author: E.Huseynov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
June 7 2006
“We don’t support realization of any military operation against
neighboring Iran,” told Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev in his
interview to the American television NBC, Trend reports.
“The position of Azerbaijan is clear. I consider that all
question should be resolved peacefully and diplomatically,” told
president. He noted that the international community recommended to
resolve Azerbaijani-Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh conflict peacefully and
Azerbaijan has been holding negotiations for more that ten years. “We
recommend not to consider the military force. We consider that still
there are opportunities to peacefully resolve the conflict and this
process should be continued until the final moment,” told Aliyev.
The Azerbaijani president considers that the opportunities to
peacefully resolve the conflict haven’t finished yet. “These
opportunities should be researched and a decision should be made. And
the made decision shouldn’t violate the stability in the region,”
stated Aliyev.
From: Baghdasarian