Kerkorian’s GM Shares Profit on Renault Alliance Plan (Update3)
Bloomberg
July 12 2006
July 12 (Bloomberg) — Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian turned a money-losing
stake in General Motors Corp. into a profitable investment by proposing
the world’s largest automaker join an alliance with Renault SA and
Nissan Motor Co.
Since Kerkorian unveiled his plan June 30, GM’s stock has risen 7.9
percent. His 56 million shares have added $122 million in value since
June 29.
Directors of GM on July 7 authorized Chief Executive Officer Rick
Wagoner to study the proposal. Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp., which called
for a review by an independent board committee, is pushing to have
GM work with Carlos Ghosn, the CEO who has led Nissan to six straight
years of record profits. Kerkorian, listed by Forbes Magazine as the
19th richest American at $10 billion, made his fortune pressuring
companies to boost stock prices.
“Kerkorian is sending a public message to Rick Wagoner,” said Brian
Bruce, who helps manage $18 billion at PanAgora Asset Management in
Boston, including shares of Detroit-based GM. “He’s trying to force
Wagoner to move quickly and act more like Carlos Ghosn in order to
save his job.”
The 89-year-old financier has a net investment of about $1.52 billion
in GM shares since April 2005, according to U.S. regulatory filings
and data compiled by Bloomberg.
His transactions included selling 12 million shares in December for
$252 million to show a loss for tax purposes and then buying the same
number in January for $263 million. Assuming he sold his highest-priced
shares for the tax loss, his GM investment is profitable when the
stock is above about $27.14, according to Bloomberg data.
At today’s close of $29.62 at 4:19 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange
composite trading, his stake has gained $139 million to about $1.66
billion. GM shares rose 12 cents today.
Dow’s Biggest Gainer
The shares closed above $27.14 on June 30 and in each of the seven
trading days since. The price topped $27.14 only five other times
between October and June 30. GM shares have gained 53 percent this
year, the most in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, after losing 52
percent of their value in 2005 as GM posted a $10.6 billion loss.
Carrie Bloom, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles-based Tracinda, declined to
comment on the value of Kerkorian’s shares. He is GM’s fourth-largest
investor, with a 9.9 percent stake.
Kerkorian wants Wagoner to speed up his plan to revive GM, a person
familiar with Kerkorian’s strategy said last week. Wagoner, 53, is
cutting 30,000 union jobs and closing factories in North America to
reduce annual costs by $8 billion this year.
Kerkorian said in the June 30 letter that Nissan and Renault are
receptive to buying “a significant minority interest” in GM.
In an interview on CNBC yesterday, Wagoner said: “We’re looking
forward to sitting down. Our minds are completely open.”
`In It for Kirk’
The billionaire investor “is in it entirely for Kirk, to drag his
stock value up,” said New York-based Burnham Securities Inc. analyst
David Healy, who has covered the auto industry for more than 40
years. “This deal is like a mackerel that’s been out in the sun too
long. It’s shiny, but it smells when you get too close.”
Southeastern Asset Management Inc. President Staley Cates said in
a May speech to investors that he expects GM shares to gain value,
in part because of Kerkorian. Cates said Kerkorian “has one of the
best investment records in American history.”
The Memphis, Tennessee-based fund, along with Los Angeles- based
Capital Research & Management Co. and Brandes Investment Partners LP
in San Diego increased their GM stakes and now own more than a third
of the automaker’s shares.
Those funds’ GM holdings added $1.9 billion in value this year,
according to Bloomberg data. Brandes spokesman Dan Hilley, Southeastern
spokeswoman Lee Harper and Capital spokesman Chuck Freadhoff wouldn’t
comment on the proposed alliance.
Bonds Rise
GM’s 8.375 percent note due in July 2033 fell 0.6 cent today to 79.69
cents on the dollar. The note yielded 10.7 percent, according to Trace,
the NASD’s bond-price reporting service.
It’s getting cheaper to insure GM debt against default. The price
to protect $10 million of bonds for five years using so- called
credit-default swaps has fallen to $823,500 from $942,000 at the end
of June, according to prices on Bloomberg.
Kerkorian, as part of his unsuccessful bid to take over Chrysler
Corp. a decade ago, won representation on the Chrysler board and
later supported Daimler-Benz AG’s $36 billion purchase of the U.S.
automaker in 1998. He later unsuccessfully sued DaimlerChrysler over
the details of the combination.
DaimlerChrysler lawyers estimated in 2003 that Kerkorian made $2.7
billion on his Chrysler investment.
Military Aircraft
The billionaire is the son of an Armenian immigrant rancher in
California’s San Joaquin Valley. He began by brokering the sale
of surplus military aircraft after World War II. He later created
Trans International Airways, which he bought and sold several times,
eventually selling to Transamerica Corp. for $149 million.
In April 2005, Sony Corp. and other investors bought Kerkorian’s
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. film studio for $2.9 billion. It was the third
time Kerkorian sold MGM, which he last bought in 1996 for $1.3 billion.
“This is a bigger game than I’ve ever seen Kerkorian play,” said
Ken Londoner, 39, who followed his strategy as an investor in
Chrysler. “This is a three-dimensional game of poker that I really
can’t figure out. But you never bet against Kirk.”

Spain Detains 2 in Governor’s Killing
By Nabi Abdullaev
Staff Writer
The Moscow Times, Russia
July 13 2006
Spanish police have detained two men suspected of killing Magadan
Governor Valentin Tsvetkov in 2002. Alexander Zakharov, a native of
the Far Eastern Primorye region, and Martin Babakehyan, a native of
Armenia, were arrested at the seaside resort of Marbella on July 7,
Spanish police announced Wednesday.
Zakharov, 36, and Babakehyan, 35, are the prime suspects in the murder
of Tsvetkov, who was gunned down in broad daylight on Moscow’s busy
Novy Arbat in October 2002. They were placed on Interpol’s wanted
list in 2003 at the request of the Moscow police.
Russian authorities said Wednesday that they would send an extradition
request to Spanish authorities in the next few days.
Spanish police said the two suspects were carrying fake passports at
the time of their arrest, although their real passports were discovered
during a raid of their homes, The Associated Press reported.
Zakharov and Babakehyan will soon be transferred to Madrid, where
they will appear before a judge.
Tsvetkov, governor of the gold-rich Magadan region in the Far East,
was shot in the head with a pistol around 9 a.m. as he was walking
to his office in central Moscow. It was the first assassination of a
governor in post-Soviet Russia. President Vladimir Putin called the
murder a “crime against the state.”
The first suspect in Tsvetkov’s murder, Artur Anisimov, was arrested
in July 2003. Anisimov was convicted the following year on an unrelated
fraud charge and sentenced to three years in prison. The murder charge
against him has not been dropped, however.
Moscow police proceeded to issue international warrants for another
five suspects in 2003, a police spokesman said Wednesday.
The second suspect, Azeri native Masis Ahunts, was arrested in
Vladivostok in December 2004. He remains in detention awaiting trial.
With the arrest of Zakharov and Babakehyan, only two of the six
suspects now remain at large. A spokesman for the Prosecutor General’s
Office declined to name the two outstanding suspects pending the
outcome of an ongoing investigation. But the list released by Moscow
police contains the suspects’ names: Yury Rashkin and Konstantin
Korshunov.
In 2003, then-Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov, who oversaw the
investigation, said that the murder was related to Tsvetkov’s
distribution of fishing quotas among competing companies in the
region. Investigators have also suggested that the murder might have
resulted from Tsvetkov’s attempts to force gold-mining companies
in the region to repay a multimillion-dollar loan provided by the
federal government in 1995.
Although the names of the men who pulled the trigger in the Tsvetkov
case were released to the press a few months after the investigation
began and were subsequently confirmed on numerous occasions by law
enforcement officials, the identity of the person who ordered the
hit has never been made public.

Zaman, Turkey
July 12 2006
Rep. Perplexed by Fall in Turkish Support for EU
By Cihan News Agency
Published: Wednesday, July 12, 2006
zaman.com
Hans Jorg Kretschmer, head of the European Commission Delegatino to
Turkey, said on Wednesday that he was perplexed over the fall in
Turkish public support for joining the European Union.
The Eurobarometer poll, which was carried out in April and based on
1000 responses, found that only 43 percent of Turks had a positive
image of the EU. The recent figure showed that there had been a
plunge in Turkish support for the EU from 60 percent over a six-month
period.
Kretschmer, whose four-year tenure will end in October, said at a
press conference that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)
had initiated a historical transformation process in Turkey. “I
personally believe that this prime minister and this government could
succeed in the EU membership process. There is no other alternative.”
Representative Kretschmer said that Turkey should not get stuck on
the issue of ports and harbors, recommending that the country open
its ports to Greek Cypriot traffic. “The EU has kept its pledge, now
it is time for Turkey.”
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has blamed some European leaders for
the plunge in Turkish public support for the EU.
Most Turkish people are unhappy with the EU stance on Cyprus, PKK
terrorism, the so-called Armenian Genocide issue and the Greek
Orthodox Patriarchy. High numbers of Turks believe that the EU
intends to divide up Turkey.
The EU demands from the Turkish government and increasing pressure
over Cyprus are seen as the main reasons why Turkish people have
begun to turn their backs on the EU. Apparently, the more EU leaders
criticize Turkey, the more nationalist sentiment has gained ground in
Turkey.
Turkey commenced its de facto accession talks with the EU in
mid-June, following an eight-month screening process.
Turkey’s EU accession process is expected to be long, arduous and
susceptible to crises, especially on the Cyprus issue. Optimistic
analysts predict that Turkey, with its large population, could enter
the wealthy bloc by 2014 at the earliest.

Zaman, Turkey
July 12 2006
Dink’s Suspended Sentence Upholded
By Cihan News Agency
Published: Wednesday, July 12, 2006
zaman.com
The Penal Chamber of the Appeals Court has upheld the suspension of
a verdict against ethnic Armenian editor Hrant Dink.
Sisli Court had given Dink a 6-month suspended sentence on charges
of insulting the Turkish identity.
In his column for the Turkish Armenian daily Agos dated February 13,
2004, Dink had likened Turkish nationalism to carcinogenic tumors
and poisoned blood in its responsibility for genocide.
Today’s Appeals Court statement said that there was no doubt that
Dink’s statement ridiculed and insulted the Turkish identity.

Zaman, Turkey
July 12 2006
Christian Democrats Delay Progress Report on Turkey
By Anadolu News Agency (AA), Zaman, Brussels
Published: Wednesday, July 12, 2006
zaman.com
The European Parliament (EP) Foreign Affairs Commission has postponed
debates over a draft progress report on Turkey until September.
Dutch parliamentarian Camiel Eurlings, a member of the Christian
Democrat Party, said they did not have enough time to combine the
proposed amendments.
“The report should not be hastily debated. When the issue is Turkey,
it needs to be discussed in greater detail.”
The Commission will discuss the report during a session in the first
week of September in Strasbourg before it is sent to the general
assembly.
The Christian Democrats have purportedly postponed the report in
order to negatively affect the contents of the report, while others
believe the report was delayed in order to ensure inclusion of the
recent positive developments in Turkey.
Speaking at the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Commission,
representatives from political groups stressed that recently, positive
developments on the Cyprus issue should be included in the report.
There were also certain reforms regarding women and animal rights,
compulsory religious education and the mater of Alevis.
The same representatives recalled that the EU Commission’s Progress
Report on Turkey will also be debated in the fall, and highlighted
the importance of releasing both reports at the same time.
However, some EP sources suggested that the Christian Democrats
deliberately postponed the report in order to negatively influence
Report and to create a Cyprus crisis between Turkey and the EU.
The same sources reported that harsh exchanges have broken out between
political groups over the Armenian issue, which, is frequently raised
by the Christian Democrats, who remain hesitant about Turkey’s entry
into the EU.
The Christian Democrat group has been commissioning reports on Turkey
for years.
EU parliamentarians and political groups will not be able to make
motions for amendments to be included in the report.
However, developments will be included in Turkey’s report through
compromise motions upon Eurlings’ approval.
The draft report calls on Turkey to accelerate the implementation of
reforms in line with the reform process, focusing mainly on freedom of
speech, religious and minority rights, civilian-military relations,
women’s rights, trade unions, cultural rights and the autonomy of
the judiciary.
The report welcomes the 9th reform package prepared by the government
of the ruling Justice and Development Party, and asks Turkey to remove
any item from the Counterterrorism Act that restricts basic rights
and freedoms.
The report stated that government officials, military and security
personnel shouldn’t receive preferential treatment in the courts;
condemned the Kurdistan Workers’ Party terrorist network and conveyed
concerns over former Van Public Prosecutor Ferhat Sarikaya’s dismissal.
Furthermore, the report asked Turkey to lower the 10 percent electoral
threshold, recognize the Alevis as a religious minority and to open
Turkish ports to Greek Cypriot traffic.

BÝA, Turkey
July 12 2006
Rehn: “High Court Decison Disappointing”
EU Commissioner Olli Rehn criticizes Court of Cassation decision
against Armenian journalist Hýrant Dink, editor of weekly Agos, based
in Istanbul. High Court confirmed prison sentence for “insulting
Turkishness”.
BIA News Center
12/07/2006
BÝA (Ankara) – European Commission (EU) Commissioner for Enlargement
Olli Rehn in a public statement on Wednesday expresses
“disappointment” for the confirmation by the Turkish Court of
Cassation of the prison sentence given to Mr Hrant Dink.
“This judgement is the first final judgement by the highest
jurisdiction in Turkey about the interpretation of article 301. In
this sense, it establishes a binding case law that will set the trend
for lower jurisdiction to follow when applying article 301 in the
future,” Rehn observed
“It also shows that in the current situation, courts have not
succeeded in establishing a positive case law when interpreting the
provisions of the new Penal Code in line with the relevant EU
standards.” he told.
This is all the more serious since there are still a number of
similar court cases pending.
Rehn urged “Turkish authorities amend article 301 and other vaguely
formulated articles in order to guarantee freedom of expression in
Turkey.”
The Court of Cassation decided to confirm the prison sentence for Mr
Hrant Dink, editor in chief of Istanbul based bilingual,
Turkish-Armenian weekly, on the grounds that he insulted
“Turkishness” on the basis of article 301 of the new Penal Code.
Dink was sentenced to six months at the local court, and the court
later suspended the sentence justifying it with the convict’s
goodwill. The high court prosecutor however demanded Dink’s
acquittal, but the high court turned down the demand which relied on
the evaluation that Dink’s controversial expressions were
“allegorical” rather more than insulting “Turkishness”. (EK/YE)
–Boundary_(ID_Kyycu/YG0Vo1ntg6XYxhgQ)–
From: Baghdasarian

BÝA, Turkey
July 12 2006
Appeals Court Ratifies Dink Verdict
Court of Appeals General Council ratifies deferred 6 month prison
sentence for Armenian weekly “Agos” newspaper Editor-in-Chief Hrant
Dink voting to reject Appeals Prosecutor’s final opinion of
no-offence and request to quash decision..
BIA News Center
12/07/2006 Erol ONDEROGLU
BÝA (Ankara) – Turkey’s Court of Appeals General Council on Tuesday
ratified a deferred 6 month prison sentence passed for Armenian
weekly “Agos” newspaper Editor-in-Chief Hrant Dink by quashing an
Appeals Prosecutor’s final opinion that an offence calling for such
penalty had not been committed and the original verdict should be
striked down.
The conclusive decision rejecting the Prosecutor’s appeal and
approving Dink’s sentence was taken with 18 against 6 votes and
although the journalist’s 6 month imprisonment is deferred, it
approves a 2005 Court of First Instance verdict that established the
journalist’s “guilt”.
Dink was found guilty in a controversial trial where opinions
expressed in his 2004 article series “The Armenian Identity”
published in Agos were found to be “insulting and ridiculing
Turkishness”. “Subject to the verdict were Dink’s remarks “The
poisoned blood that will spill from Turks will be replaced by noble
blood of the Armenians who will create Armenia”.
Dink was sentenced by an Istanbul court to 6 months jail on October
7, 2005 but the author’s prison term was deferred on condition that
he should not commit a similar offence for a period of five years.
The newspaper’s Editor Karin Karakasli was acquitted of the same
charges.
This May, the 9th Department of the Appeals Court cited “procedural
deficiencies” in the Dink case and overruled the deferred sentence
for the journalist. It also disagreed with the Court of Appeals Chief
Prosecutor’s previous evaluation that the local court verdict against
Dink should itself be overruled on grounds that “the physical and
moral conditions of an offence” had not taken place.
The Appeals Prosecutor had argued that the verdict against Dink was
result of a “mistaken evaluation”. (EO/II/YE)
–Boundary_(ID_QCM9ESgeLt45SgIeSEjgwg) —

Heritage.org, DC
July 12 2006
Azerbaijan: Aspirations, Regional Issues, and Global Concerns
by His Excellency Elmar Mammadyarov
Heritage Lecture #949
July 12, 2006 | |
(Delivered April 7, 2006)
Today, I would like to discuss Azerbaijan~Rs aspira­tions, regional
issues, as well as some global concerns we have in our part of the
world.
Azerbaijan restored its independence in 1991. Since then, we have
been conducting an active foreign policy, engaging the international
community as a member of the major international organizations. Thus,
our rela­tions with Western nations, and in particular with the
United States, are one of the crucial components of our foreign
policy priorities. This is very important to stress. Having lived in
the United States for almost twelve years, I witnessed U.S. policy
with regard to Azerbaijan moving from what they refer to as a
~Scoun­try of interest~T to ~Sstrategic ally.~T It is indeed very
impor­tant that our cooperation programs, particularly in the energy
sector as well as the security areas, are deepen­ing every year. It
brings with it very positive elements: for example, our latest
cooperative efforts in the area of democracy-building and protection
of human rights.
Rule of law is also extremely important for us, espe­cially keeping
in mind our past. We were a member of the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics and had our own parliament and constitution. But the major
fac­tors of being independent are a foreign and defense policy; these
were delegated to Moscow. And because of the Soviet style of command
economy, we had little experience as to what a real democracy meant,
or for that matter, what the rule of law or even protection of human
rights actually meant.
This year we will celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of our
independence. I can say that we have spent a great deal of time and
energy on introducing the basic elements of what we call the process
of democracy-building in the country. Sometimes it~Rs not an easy
process. Honestly speaking, our efforts sometimes need to be doubled.
But this is what we call a generational issue; we need to work on the
human capital in the country so that people also recognize what
democracy truly means.
Developing Energy Wealth
We~Rre continuing to do a good job in the area of economic
development. Most people here know that Azerbaijan is a region of oil
and gas. The sign­ing of a major oil contract in 1994 with the big
oil companies~Wwe called it the contract of the centu­ry~Wcreated a
solid foundation for our economic development.
Investment into the economy over the last 10 years was about $20
billion, which is pretty good for a population of 8 million. In the
initial years, it came mostly to the energy sector, of course, and
was around $15 billion. And we are really proud to say that $5
billion came to the non-oil sector. The development of the non-oil
sector is one of the major tasks the government faces right now. And
we already defined the niches where major efforts should be made:
agriculture, agribusiness, infra­structure, and tourism. Indeed, I~Rm
going to talk about them a little bit later.
After signing the ~Scontract of the century,~T we immediately started
to think about how to deliver these huge volumes of oil to the world
markets. The point is that Azerbaijan is a landlocked coun­try. We
have a water roads connection with the Black Sea and through the
Black Sea to the major ports of the world. But the Russian port of
Astra­khan, on the Volga, is under the ice almost four month a year.
So we started thinking how to deliver oil to the warm ports of the
world.
Then the idea to build a new pipeline came along. Of course, we
already have two existing pipelines. The first was built during the
Soviet Union, and it runs from Baku to the Russian port of
Novorossiysk on the Black Sea, with the capacity of 70 million tons
per year. That~Rs around 490 million barrels a year. It~Rs not so big,
but it was sufficient for the exploration of our oil resources at
this time.
Then after signing the contract for the initial pro­duction of oil,
we built another pipeline which connects Baku offshore with the Black
Sea port of Supsa. The pipeline itself, because it~Rs an earlier oil
pipeline, holds 5 million tons. That~Rs about 35 mil­lion barrels a
year.
Then we started to recognize that there is too much oil, particularly
in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. So the decision was made
to build up a huge pipeline running from Azerbaijan through Georgia
to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. The capacity of the
pipeline is 50 mil­lion tons of crude oil, which is roughly 1 million
barrels per day.
It is also possible that the capacity can be increased, even up to
1.2 million or 1.4 million barrels per day, and with the addition of
chemicals, it could reach 1.7 million barrels per day.
So the pipeline is a very big project. The cost is small~W$3 billion.
Currently, we are pumping oil inside the pipeline, and we are
expecting in the coming months~Wmost probably this summer~W that it
will be finally inaugurated with the first tanker of oil which will
run from Ceyhan.
We have inaugurated our part. The Georgians have inaugurated their
part of the pipeline. And now we are looking at all of us~Wthat is,
Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey~Wto inaugurate the last por­tion (the
Turkish part) of the pipeline. The route is approximately 1,720
kilometers. So if I~Rm not mis­taken, after the Alaskan pipeline, it~Rs
the second longest pipeline in the world.
Besides oil, we also have gas. And so we decided to build a gas
pipeline. Again, being landlocked, we have to build a pipeline which
can deliver gas to the consumers. And the pipeline, which runs
parallel with the oil pipeline, will deliver the natu­ral gas
supplies from Baku to Georgia and then to the Turkish city of
Erzurum, where it will be con­nected the Turkish gas network. And
through the Turkish gas network we can deliver our gas all over
Europe.
We signed a purchase agreement with Georgia on buying gas. And the
Turks are also committed to buying Azerbaijani gas. Negotiations with
Greece are going on, and they could be extended further to the
Balkans, even to Central Europe, which also has a serious market for
gas.
Fueling Economic Growth
This, of course, definitely brings a lot of econom­ic development
into the country. I can tell you that over the last three years, our
GDP growth has been more than 20 percent. In 2004, it was 19.5
percent. In 2005, it was 25.5 percent. In 2006, this year, we are
expecting it to be around 27 percent.
>>From another point of view, it is also a serious challenge for the
government. For example, last year we faced high rates of inflation
in the double digits. After strong, conservative efforts to curb this
infla­tion, we succeeded in closing the year with a 9.6 per­cent
inflation rate. In the first months of this year, we curbed the
inflation rate to 6 percent, which is also pretty high, but
nonetheless visible progress.
The government is also focusing on developing the non-oil sector.
This is a very crucial element. Traditionally we were very strong in
agriculture and agribusiness. Land privatization successfully
continues. Indeed, we have a lot of success stories. We restored and
increased the production of cot­ton, which is very important as a
strategic material.
And now we are heavily investing in vineyards. Unfortunately, these
vineyards were ruined during the Soviet anti-alcohol campaign and are
located in an area where you have to invest heavily and then wait for
five years before the first yield.
In order to support farmers with agricultural equipment, the
government created special pro­grams and funds. The government signed
a con­tract with Japan to buy agricultural equipment and machinery.
The government put $100 million into the fund for agro-leasing.
Beyond this, we estab­lished a fund to support farmers purchasing
fertil­izers. The fund was established last year with an initial
investment of $50 million.
So in the agriculture sphere, we have a huge market and we~Rre
optimistic that it will prove to be an important revenue stream for
the budget.
The other area is, of course, infrastructure. We~Rre investing heavily
in our infrastructure. We began with our roads and now we~Rre
increasing the capacity of our railroads. Azerbaijan is a member of
the North~V South Consortium together with the Russians, Indi­ans, and
Iranians. Right now the Iranians are building a railroad that they
want to connect through Azer­baijan to Russia and the north of
Europe.
On the other hand, together with the Georgians and Turks, we finished
a feasibility study on a rail­road between Georgia and Turkey, which
goes through Kars to Akhalkalaki (Kars is the Turkish city and
Akhalkalaki is the Georgian city). The fea­sibility study shows that
the project could cost $320 million, which is not a large amount
consid­ering the figures in our region, and it can be done within two
years. We expect that each of the three governments~WAzerbaijan,
Georgia, and Turkey~W will approve this project connecting their
coun­tries, and then through to Europe.
This is very important from the point of view of delivering
commodities, including oil. For exam­ple, our railroad companies
recently signed a con­tract with Chevron to deliver the oil by
railroads~W almost 20 million tons from the Tengiz onshore field in
Kazakhstan that will come from Kazakhstan by barges and then go to
Azerbaijan and Georgia. Now we~Rre thinking that in Georgian ports
they will transfer the oil into tankers and then later to a
rail­road. But the railroad will be built; you can imagine that it
will come not only through Georgia~W because there also still an issue
of the Bosporus~Wit will come through the Turkish ports on the
Medi­terranean. And I think it~Rs very, very serious win­dow, too, for
the development of the economy.
Security Partner
When we talk about economic development, security issues arise. Let
me offer just a few words about security. Azerbaijan is a member of
the ~Scoa­lition of the willing,~T having sent a contingent to Iraq.
Thank God, they are working quite success­fully. We do not have any
casualties so far, and I hope that we will continue our duty there to
bring peace and stability into Iraq, which is very, very important
for the greater Middle East.
We also sent a contingent to Kosovo and to Afghanistan. This is very,
very important for our tran­sition to a regional leader in our part
of the world, and indeed we are behaving as regional leaders in our
part of the world. Our involvement in peacekeeping operations, and
supporting and maintaining interna­tional peace and security, is one
of the commitments and obligations which we took on our shoulders.
Our cooperation with NATO within the Individ­ual Partnership Action
Plan is developing quite successfully. It~Rs very important for us to
reform our army. It~Rs very important for us to increase the
capa­bility of our army. We are working hard at doing this. Just last
month we made a round assessment with regard to the Partnership
Action Plan pro­grams and found areas in which we need to contin­ue
and deepen our cooperation
Besides that, of course, we have bilateral security relations and
programs. With the United States we~Rre developing it quite
successfully, starting with­in the Foreign Military Finance Program,
and also the International Military Education and Training (IMET)
program for Azerbaijani officers in United States military
institutions. So I think it runs within the national interest of
Azerbaijan for the general reforming of the whole country.
Seeking a Solution with Armenia
Now I am giving you this good picture of the development, but there
is always a problem. I should talk about the problem. And the major
problem is the conflict with our neighbor, Armenia.
With the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the large numbers of the
refugees, it is, of course, a huge political, economic, and social
burden. From an economic perspective, we can handle the issue. From
the perspective of the social burden, we have already approved
programs that assist the internal­ly displaced people and the
refugees with a special allocation of money from the oil fund of
Azer­baijan. The only spending so far has been done to support the
refugees. Instead of the tent camps where they used to live, we are
building mobile vil­lages so that when we achieve the liberation of
the territories, they can return to their homes. Last year there was
a fact-finding mission, which visited the occupied territories. They
clearly indicated and filed a report that everything that can be
stolen has been stolen, everything that can be destroyed has been
destroyed, and everything that can be looted has been looted. So at
least they will take these mobile houses when they return to their
villages.
The peace talks are, unfortunately, not as suc­cessful as one would
like, and I think that we need to double our efforts, mostly our
educational efforts. We have to explain-and we speak about this at
every meeting on the level of foreign minis­ters-that one cannot live
back in the 20th century. Indeed, the world has changed. The idea
that you can decide the fate of the territory by forcibly changing
borders, by ethnic cleansing, or by expel­ling the people is gone.
Everyone knows that this is the phenomenon of Yalta 1945, when the
three leaders came together and started drawing the lines that ended
up dividing the world.
Now it’s gone. International relations have changed. The people have
changed. And the role of the borders is diminished.
So the major priority-what we need to do-is to create the possibility
for the normalization of the lives of those who used to live there
for centuries, both Armenians and Azerbaijanis. No one can just expel
them from the territory.
That’s why I’m saying that 2006 can definitely be a window of
opportunity. As soon as Azerbaijan is developing successfully from
the economic point of view, we’ll definitely develop the military as
well. And when frustration comes to the society and peo­ple ask why
should we keep our eyes closed on the occupation of our territories,
then it can be a very serious challenge to the peace and stability in
the region.
And that’s why we ought to begin to clear the table for finding a
real, durable solution. And a durable solution works only within a
legal context. We have definitely found out that any agreement, any
decision-making with regard to the conflict resolution should be
based on the law, particularly the international norms and principles
of this law.
Nagorno-Karabakh is a part of Azerbaijan, and no one can change the
territorial integrity by force. We will move slowly and find out the
way in which to normalize the life between the two communities,
because the hatred which has existed now is defi­nitely not
productive for the development of the region.
His Excellency Elmar Mammadyarov is Minister of Foreign Affairs of
the Republic of Azerbaijan.
iaandEurasia/hl949.cfm
–Boundary_(ID_Xxm7XoigmE2 F+VA2aC3v7A)–

EUROPEAN ARMENIAN FEDERATION WELCOMES EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBERS’
INITIATIVE ON ADDING ISSUE OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE FACT ADMISSION BY
TURKEY TO THE ISSUES UNDER EU-TURKEY NEGOTIATIONS
Arka News Agency, Armenia
July 12 2006
YEREVAN, July 12. /ARKA/. European Armenian Federation, EAF,
welcomes European Parliament members’ initiative on including the
issue of Armenian Genocide fact admission by Turkey in the agenda of
negotiations on the latter’s possible EU membership, EAF Chair Hilda
Tchoboian said.
She said the Federation urges European Parliament Foreign Affairs
Commission to keep heading this road and to put the issue on the
negotiations agenda.
Otherwise, she said, every step forward in the Turkey EU membership
negotiation process will mean digression from European values, because
Turkey remains stuck to its policy of denying the genocide fact.
The Commission will consider “Turkey’s progress on its way to the EU”
on Wednesday.
European MPs will hear the report by Dutch lawmaker Camiel Eurlings,
after which draft resolution on Turkey aspiration to join European
Union will be voted.
On Tuesday, the EU key political groups’ representatives welcomed
the genocide-related issue in the agenda.
Parliamentarians seek the genocide fact admission by Ankara. They
also want Turkey to comply with their demand to lift blockade of
Armenia without any preconditions.
European Parliament demands Turkey to recognize Cyprus, to solve Curd
problem and to ensure ethnic minorities’ right for freedom of speech.
M.V. -0–

ARMENIAN PM: NO POLITICAL PROBLEMS BETWEEN ARMENIA, LEBANON
Arka News Agency, Armenia
July 12 2006
YEREVAN, July 12. /ARKA/. There are no political problems between
Armenia and Lebanon, Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan said
Tuesday in Yerevan at his meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister
Fawzi Salloukh.
Margaryan proposed to consider prospects of Armenian-Lebanese
intergovernmental commission activity resumption, which stalled after
former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri death.
Prospects of cooperation in agriculture, tourism, finance and culture
areas were considered at the meeting.
The sides discussed the issues related to organization of
Armenian-Lebanese Days. M.V.-0–