Capitol Weekly
Ethnic tensions mark Democratic primaries
By Anthony York
published June 15th, 2006
Political mailers bankrolled by the Latino Caucus, which linked Democratic
Assembly candidate Paul Krekorian to a terrorist and played the race card
against Democratic contender Mike Eng, are being denounced by community
leaders and Caucus members who say they want to know who approved the
attacks.
Capitol sources said that the job of the vice chairman of the Latino Caucus,
Assemblyman Joe Coto, D-San Jose, may be on the line.
Several Caucus members met Tuesday across the street from the Capitol at
private offices in the 11th and L Building to discuss the mailers, which
were funded with independent-expenditure (IE) money. They are trying to
figure out how to limit political fallout from some of the nastiest hit
pieces in this year’s primary campaign.
“It’s an affront to us, especially because we for so long have been the
victims of this kind of crap,” said Assemblyman Hector De La Torre,
D-Southgate. He and Assemblyman Albert Torrico, D-Newark, have launched an
investigation into the flyers.
A mailer aimed at Paul Krekorian blasts his endorsement from the Armenian
National Committee (ANC), insinuating that the group is allied with
suspected terrorists. But critics say the ANC is a mainstream group, and the
mailer unfairly attacks Armenians. In Assembly District 49, white and Latino
voters received a mailer listing Mike Eng’s Asian endorsers, with the tag
line: “Mike Eng. He’s not like us.”
Both Krekorian and Eng faced competitive primaries against candidates backed
by the Latino Caucus. Krekorian defeated Glendale Councilman Frank Quintero.
Eng defeated Alhambra City Councilman Dan Arguello.
During the 2004 election cycle, it was the Latino Caucus blasting the
Republican Party and the Chamber of Commerce-backed JobsPAC for hit pieces
they said had racist overtones. Among them was a Republican Party-funded
mail piece used against Juan Arambula in the closing days of the 2004
campaign.
At the time, Speaker Fabian Núñez compared the GOP mailer to hate mail. “I
had thought California had moved beyond the time when candidates used racist
election propaganda to divide our community,” he said.
Latino Caucus chairwoman Martha Escutia, D-Whittier, also blasted those GOP
mailers. “All I can assume, as a lawyer, is it was temporary insanity,”
Escutia said in 2004. “But I can tell you, as a Latina, that these types of
attacks will not ever happen again on my watch.”
But now, those same charges are being levied against the very Latino Caucus
that Escutia chairs. Escutia did not return calls for this story.
“I don’t see any difference between what JobsPAC did against us and these
pieces,” said Torrico. “I’ll tell you, it’s an embarrassment. It’s an
embarrassment for me as a Latino Caucus member as an Asian American. It
should be an embarrassment to all of us.”
A number of Latino Caucus members say they had no idea the mail pieces were
being financed using Latino Caucus money. In the 43rd Assembly District, the
mail piece linking Krekorian, who is of Armenian descent, to a terrorist
suspect, was bankrolled by a group called the California Latino Leadership
Fund.
The anti-Krekorian mailer was produced by political consultant Sandi Polka,
who has close ties to Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata.
Torrico said some of the responsibility for the mailer lies with Coto, the
vice chairman of the Latino Caucus.
“It was part of the fund-raising effort of [San Jose Assemblyman] Joe Coto.
He’s been the principal fundraiser for the Latino Caucus. I have not been
involved with that,” said Torrico.
De La Torre said he and Torrico are “going to be doing the information
gathering and get back to the group. When Joe Coto comes back, we’ll be
sharing that information with him and see if he can enlighten us further.”
Coto was on vacation this week and did not attend Tuesday’s meeting. He was
not available for comment for this story.
Krekorian said he spoke with several members of the Caucus, including
Frommer, who expressed their outrage of the mailer. “The one exception was
Sen. Escutia,” he said. “She spoke with me and seemed to be offended that I
had suggested a linkage between the Latino Caucus and this fund.”
Krekorian added, “It’s pretty clear to me that this is not something the
whole caucus decided to do. I’ve gone to great lengths to tell people this
has nothing to do with Armenians vs. Latinos or Armenians vs. the Latino
Caucus at all. Certainly, whoever was responsible for this attack needs to
be held accountable. People who prepared the mailer, who authorized the
sending of the mailer and who provided the funding for the mailer should be
held accountable.”
While paperwork filed with the secretary of state’s office does not formally
link Coto to the Leadership Fund PAC, Coto led the fund-raising effort for
the Latino Caucus this cycle. His fund-raiser, Julie Sandino, received
$30,000 in payments from the Latino Leadership Fund PAC. In the first part
of this year, Coto paid Sandino more than $31,000 in consulting fees.
The Latino Leadership Fund received major funding last year from the San
Manuel Band of Mission Indians. While other business groups like Ameriquest
Mortgage and Johnson & Johnson each ponied up $25,000 to the PAC, the tribe
gave the group $295,000 late last year.
“San Manuel has had a long relationship with the Latino Caucus. I believe
this Latino leadership fund is a part of that in a loose way,” said tribal
spokesman Jacob Coin. “We try to keep a working relationship with the
caucus.”
While Coin pointed out the tribe had no say in how the money was spent, he
shrugged off the mail pieces as part of the rough and tumble of California
politics. “Unfortunately, some times these things do happen. We had no role
in however they chose to use the money. It’s a right to participate that we
value dearly and we support that right.”
But Torrico says campaign-finance laws encourage the use of IE committees,
which create plausible deniability for candidates and those involved in
deep-pocketed IE campaigns.
“People talk about clean money, they want publicly financed campaigns, and I
tell them I’m for all that. But until you amend the U.S. Constitution to ban
IEs, it’s a waste of time and effort. There are so many examples of so many
IEs costing candidates races and running extremely negative campaigns.”
In Krekorian’s race, the controversial mail piece was followed by a
pre-recorded call that went out to a number of Democratic voters in the
district.
“What does Paul Krekorian have in common with a convicted terrorist?” the
call asked. “Plenty. Convicted terrorist Mourad Topalian received an award
from the ANC then plead guilty to weapons and explosives charges. Now Paul
Krekorian has accepted the ANC’s endorsement. Krekorian is even working with
the ANC to get their books into public libraries. There’s no place in our
community for a group that hands out awards to terrorists. And there’s no
place in our state Assembly for Paul Krekorian.”
The call and mailer were blasted by ANC leaders. “Unfortunately, during this
campaign, ugly anti-Armenian racist acts were committed against Paul
Krekorian, the ANC, and our community,” said ANC board member Zanku
Armenian.
The consultant who produced the anti-Krekorian mailer defended the piece
Wednesday.
“The piece was about an organization and who they go around pinning medals
on and what candidates go around soliciting their support,” said Paul
Hefner, who worked with Polka’s consulting firm on the mail piece. “I think
what’s overblown is the reaction. It’s the oldest trick in the book. What no
one’s explained is why it’s OK for an organization to hand out awards to
somebody whose mug shot is on the FBI’s Web site.”
Hefner dismissed criticisms that Krekorian’s ethnicity had anything to do
with the mailer. “This has nothing to do with anybody’s ethnicity or
anything else,” he said. “It has to do with the way people conduct
themselves.”
Last year, the ANC honored Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, as their
woman of the year, an honor she touts on her campaign Web site.
The ANC also supported a bill by Sen. Charles Poochigian, R-Fresno,
remembering the Armenian Genocide. The bill passed 36-0 off the Senate floor
and 75-0 in the Assembly. The ANC also gave a $1,000 donation to the
Democratic State Central Committee earlier this year.
The Latino Leadership Fund employed a number of different consultants to run
IE campaigns in races featuring Latino candidates. Leo Briones, husband of
Escutia, was hired by the PAC to run an IE campaign for Orange County
Supervisor Lou Correa. Briones’s Centaur North Strategic Communications
received more than $89,000 from the leadership fund to pay for mail pieces
on Correa’s behalf.
The committee gave more than $42,000 to Glazer Communications to support
Renee Chavez in her losing campaign against Ed Hernandez. Chavez’s campaign
was run by Briones.
In Monterey Park, another IE-funded mail piece raised charges of racism. The
piece, funded by a group called the North-South-East Coalition to Reform
Local Government, blasted the husband-wife duo of Assemblywoman Judy Chu her
husband, Mike Eng, who won the primary in the race to succeed her. The mail
piece morphed Chu’s face into Eng’s and used the tag line, “Mike Eng: He’s
Not Like Us.”
But who paid for the anti-Eng piece is unclear. The North-South-East
Coalition has failed to file paperwork with the secretary of state’s office,
even though every IE committee is required to do so within 10 days of
forming. A spokeswoman from the secretary of state’s office said the
committee first formed in 2003, but never has filed any campaign reports.
Anthony York is Editor of Capitol Weekly.

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
June 30 2006
Azeri delegation to PACE comes home July 1
Trend 30/06/2006 23:21
Azeri delegation taking part in summer session of PACE is coming home
July 1, Trend reports quoting MP Ganira Pashayeva, member of the
delegation.
PACE summer session passed June 26 through 30 in Strasburg.
Performing at the session, Azeri representatives one more time
unveiled Armenia’s occupation policy. At the session, they published
and disseminated brochures entitled «Crimes against the mankind
committed by Armenia» and «Ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis».
At the sessions and in PACE committee for ecology and environment,
monitoring Committee, Subcommittee for Nagorno-Karabakh and other
committees our delegation performed with solid facts and thoroughly.
For example, member of delegation Elmira Ahundova performed in PACE
on illegal migrants rights.
On the fourth day of the session, our delegation led a press
conference for foreign journalists on the theme of Armenia’s
occupation policy.
Azerbaijan at PACE summer session was represented by head of
delegation Samed Seyidov, MPs Gultekin Hajiyeva, Ganira Pashayeva,
Rafael Huseynov, Sabir Hajiyev, Aydin Mirzazadeh, Elmira Ahundova,
Fazail Ibrahimli.

Jerusalem Post
June 30 2006
Jerusalem of Film
By HANNAH BROWN

Israeli film buffs, your prayers have been answered. The 23rd
Jerusalem Film Festival, which runs from July 6-15 at the Jerusalem
Cinematheque and other Jerusalem theaters, has a star-studded guest
list, led by Life Achievement Award winner Roman Polanski, director
of such classics as Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown, who will be here
to present his latest film, a new, grittier version of Oliver Twist.
In addition to Polanski, this year’s festival will host movie stars
and directors who will thrill serious cineastes and more casual movie
lovers alike and will feature nearly 200 movies from all over the
world.
“This year, we have some very gifted people coming,” says Lia van
Leer, Jerusalem Film Festival founder and director, as well as
founder of the Jerusalem Cinematheque, in an understatement. “And we
have some wonderful films.”
In the movie star category, there’s actress Debra Winger (An Officer
and a Gentleman, Terms of Endearment), who will be attending the
festival as a juror for the Wolgin Awards for Israeli Features and
the Drama Award in Memory of Anat Pirchi. She also narrates the
newest documentary by Lily Rivlin, Can You Hear Me? Israeli and
Palestinian Women Fight for Peace. Actress Kim Cattrall, best known
as Samantha on the television show Sex and the City, will also be
attending as part of a Canadian delegation (please see sidebar on
special programs). Other festival guests (at presstime) include
director Chen Kaige, here with his latest film, The Promise ; Istvan
Szabo, who will present Relatives ; actress Julie Depardieu (daughter
of Gerard), the star of Sauf Le Respect Que Je Vous Dois ; and
Baltasar Kormakur, director of A Little Trip to Heaven, best known
for Reykjaviik 101.
Achievement Award winners this year are Atom Egoyan, the Canada-based
director of Armenian descent, whose 2002 film, Ararat will be
screened; producer Robert Lantos, who has made such films as
eXistenZ, Felicia’s Journey and Being Julia and who first visited
Israel as a water polo player for the Canadian team in the 1969
Maccabiah Games; and director/actor Eli Cohen, who has made such
films as summer of Aviya and the documentary in the current festival,
Fence, Wall, Border . . .
It’s no surprise that an Israeli shares the honors with distinguished
foreign winners, because this festival is the coming-out party for
the Israeli film industry: It has officially come of age. Two years
ago, the success – both here and abroad – of such movies as Avi
Nesher’s Turn Left at the End of the World, Eytan Fox’s Walk on
Water, Joseph Cedar’s Campfire, Keren Yedaya’s Or, Gidi Dar’s
Ushpizin, Eran Riklis The Syrian Bride and many other Israeli films
came as a surprise. Now, with Israeli films picking up major awards
at festivals all over the world, the time has come to acknowledge
Israel’s place in international cinema and van Leer has chosen to
mark this passage by opening the festival with an Israeli film for
the first time ever.
On July 6 at the Sultan’s Pool amphitheater, before a crowd of
thousands, Oded Davidoff’s Someone to Run With, an adaptation of
David Grossman’s bestselling novel will play on a giant screen. It
tells the story of a teenage boy and girl in Jerusalem who meet while
tracking down a lost dog and the girl’s drug-addicted brother.
Following the screening, there will be an opening party right nearby
at The Lab.
Someone to Run With is just one of a large group of promising Israeli
films competing this year for the Wolgin Awards (see sidebar on
Israeli cinema). Fourteen films from all over the world will also
compete for the Wim van Leer in the Spirit of Freedom Awards, which
are given in memory of Lia van Leer’s husband and deal with the quest
for freedom.
The festival has a special section on French cinema, which now
includes films in French from Francophone countries around the world.
Abderrahmane Sissako’s Bamako is set in Mali and interweaves stories
about families in a courtyard with a mock-trial of World Bank
officials. Alain Tasma’s Nuit Noire, 17 Octobre 1961 is a feature
film about a massacre in France of Algerians who protested the French
occupation of that country. Well-known French directors such as
festival guest Chantal Ackerman are also in the lineup. Her latest
film, a documentary called La Bas, is a film diary about her 2005
stay in Tel Aviv and her feelings about her own Judaism.
The rich Panorama Section features movies from all over the world,
including American movies with big-name stars such as Jennifer
Aniston, who appears in Nicole Holofcener’s Friends with Money.
Sidney Lumet’s latest film, the crime thriller Find Me Guilty
starring Vin Diesel, will be shown. But some of the most intriguing
films come from Asia, including Hong Kong director Johnnie To’s
Election and Election II look at the succession in a Sopranos-style
crime family. Super-cool Japanese crime star “Beat” Takeshi is faced
with an imposter in Takeshis’. The life of a family living in the
Mongolian plains is the focus of The Cave of the Yellow Dog,
Byambasuren Davaa’s follow-up to his international hit, The Story of
the Weeping Camel.
Latin American films also have a strong presence, with such movies as
Claudia Llosa’s Madeinusa, about a young woman in a remote Peruvian
village who sees a way out when a geologist comes to town.
As you flip through the 300-page festival catalog, certain themes
emerge. “There are wars everywhere, but there is also daily violence.
There are the same problems all over the world,” van Leer comments.
As in past years, many of the films deal with refugees and others who
don’t feel at home in the countries they live. For example,
Lebanese-born, Sweden-based Josef Fares’ latest film, Zozo, looks at
a teenage boy moving from Beirut to Sweden. And a special program of
films from the Sarajevo Film Festival examines the fallout from that
country’s civil war, with films such as Jasmila Zbanic’s Grbavica,
the story of a Sarajevo girl searching for the truth about what her
father did during the war.
The trend of strong documentaries continues with such films as Micha
Peled’s China Blue, a look at Chinese migrants from rural areas to
the cities; A Lion in the House, a portrait of children coping with
cancer; festival guest director Alan Berliner’s latest, personal look
at the universal problem of insomnia, Wide Awake; The Pervert’s Guide
to the Cinema, a portrait of festival guest philosopher and
psychoanalyst Slavoj Zizek by Sophie Fiennes (sister of actors Ralph
and Joseph); Ashim Ahluwalia’s John & Jane shows what really goes on
in a Mumbay international call center; and Deborah Scranton’s The War
Tapes focuses on three American soldiers in Iraq who document their
experiences with video cameras.
Werner Herzog is represented at the festival by two documentaries,
The White Diamond, about zeppelins and The Wild Blue Yonder, a
quasi-documentary look at people who believe in aliens. He is also
the subject of a third documentary, Walking to Werner.
The Jewish Experience program also features some intriguing
documentaries, including Mimmo Calopresti’s Volevo Solo Vivere, a
look at Italian concentration camp survivors. Among the feature films
vying for the Jewish Experience Awards are Song of Songs, Josh
Appignanesi’s look at British ultra-Orthodox; Richard Dembo’s La
Maison de Nina, about a Jewish refugee from Greece who sets up an
orphanage after World War II; and Nina’s Journey, Lena Einhorn’s look
at her family’s fight to survive the Holocaust in Poland.
Festival consultant Vivian Ostrovsky spotlights the best of
avant-garde cinema in her “Carte Blanche” program, including a look
at multi-media artist Matthew Barney, Matthew Barney: No Restraint.

Allston-Brighton TAB, MA
June 30 2006
Brazil fever grips Allston-Brighton
By Meghann Ackerman/ Staff Writer
Friday, June 30, 2006 – Updated: 02:02 PM EST
Although America was knocked out of World Cup play, plenty of fans
are still packing bars and restaurants to catch broadcasts of the
games. In Allston, home to a large population of Brazilians, yellow
and green jerseys and flags have been decorating the street and
businesses since the tournament began on June 9.

The sentiment among fans, Brazilian or not, is that watching the
soccer matches has brought people together and provided a link for
recent immigrants to each other and established citizens.

By 11 a.m. on Tuesday, June 23, fans had already headed to Café
Brazil and Café Belo, two of Allston’s Brazilian restaurants and bars
that have been showing World Cup games. The mood was celebratory as
Brazil trounced Ghana, 3-0.

“I didn’t think people would come this morning,” said Otavio
Canargo, the manager of Café Belo. By game time, the restaurant was
packed.

“We’re so confident they’ll win we skipped work on Tuesday
morning,” said Pedro Dosreis, a rabid Brazil fan.

Rachel Franca came to Boston from Brazil about a month ago to
study at Boston University. Although she admitted that she doesn’t
follow soccer as much as she used to, she said coming to the games
makes her less homesick.

“This is where I come home to,” she said. “I come and get to be
here with all the Brazilians and hear people speaking Portuguese.”

Canargo, said that he’s noticed Brazilians and Americans coming
together while enjoying a drink or some food and watching the game.

“I’m here to support Brazil all the way,” said Harout Semerdjian,
an Armenian by way of Los Angeles who has many Brazilian friends.

Support of Brazil has stayed strong, despite some obstacles.
Several people, who requested not to be named, watching the game on
Tuesday said that at some games officials came in to check
identification. The fear, they said, was that the officials were from
immigration and looking to deport people here illegally.

Dosreis, however, said even immigration checks won’t deter
Brazil’s fans.

“They’re still going to party, even if immigration comes,” he
said.

Because Boston sports fans are notorious for destructive behavior
after big wins, District 14 Police Captain William Evans said he’s
had officers checking on crowds at the World Cup games.

“It seems like we haven’t been getting the crowds,” he said.
“We’re going to put extra people out to monitor Saturday’s game.
Misbehavior won’t be tolerated.”

Canargo said he has not had any problems with security at Café
Belo.

“People are pretty calm. They get excited about the game, but
they don’t cause any trouble,” he said.

Brazil will be playing their next game tomorrow, July 1, against
France. The game begins at 3 p.m., and the tournament is at the
single-elimination point, meaning the loser of this game will not
continue.

EurasiaNet, NY
June 30 2006
ARMENIA OPPOSES TURKISH-GEORGIAN-AZERI RAIL PROJECT
Emil Danielyan 6/30/06
Plans for the construction of a major railway linking Turkey to
Azerbaijan via Georgia are prompting mounting concern in Armenia.
Officials in Yerevan, fearing the completion of the railway would
further isolate Armenia, have pressured Georgia to pull out of the
multimillion-dollar project. The railway also is facing objections
from the United States and the European Union.
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey revealed their intention to pursue the
railway project in May 2005 during the ceremonial opening of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline. The presidents of the three
nations said the rail link, estimated to cost roughly $400 million,
would promote regional economic integration and create a new
transport corridor between Europe and Central Asia.
The project essentially boils down to laying an almost
100-kilometer-long rail track between the eastern Turkish city of
Kars and the southern Georgian town of Akhalkalaki. Armenian
officials insist that the project makes no economic sense, pointing
to the existing railroad running from Kars to the northern Armenian
city of Gyumri and on to the two other South Caucasus countries. The
Kars-Gyumri link has stood idle for over a decade due to the
continuing Turkish economic blockade of Armenia. [For background see
the Eurasia Insight archive].
The Armenian government argues that that Turkey, Georgia and
Azerbaijan should make use of this Gyumri hub instead of spending
hundreds of millions of dollars on building a new one. As an
incentive, Yerevan has indicated that it would make the Gyumri hub
available without insisting that Turkey lift its economic blockade.
“Armenia is ready to let Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan use the
existing railway line on Armenian territory without Armenia’s
participation,” Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian reiterated
during an official visit to Tbilisi on June 27.
The issue was high on the agenda of Oskanian’s talks with Georgia’s
President Mikheil Saakashvili and Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili.
A statement issued by the Armenian Foreign Ministry said Oskanian
“stressed the economic and political importance of the operation of
the Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi rail line.” Armenian officials took little
comfort in Bezhuashvili’s public assurances that the
Turkish-Georgian-Azeri project is “purely commercial.” They fear that
the new railway would deepen Armenia’s economic isolation. Aggressive
statements made recently by Azerbaijani officials, including
President Ilham Aliyev, have helped fuel worries in Armenia.
The landlocked country has already been left out of regional energy
projects such as the BTC pipeline, due to the unresolved Karabakh
conflict. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Influential Armenian lobbying groups in the United States have joined
Yerevan in trying to thwart the project. They were instrumental in
securing a US congressional committee’s June 15 vote to endorse an
amendment that would prohibit the US Export-Import Bank from funding
the railway’s construction. “With this amendment, we are sending a
message to the governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan that continually
excluding Armenia in regional projects fosters instability,” said US
Rep. Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat who is the measure’s main
sponsor.
The amendment is expected to be considered by the full House of
Representatives later this year. Similar legislation is pending in
the US Senate, and the Bush administration has not voiced objections
to either bill. The ambassador-designates to Armenia and Azerbaijan
assured pro-Armenian US legislators during recent congressional
hearings that Washington is against the construction of the
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railroad. Without ex-im bank backing, US
companies would likely be reluctant to invest in the project.
The European Union seems to take a similar view. “A railway project
that is not including Armenia will not get our financial support,”
the EU’s external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner,
said in Yerevan last February.
Turkey and Azerbaijan appear undaunted by US and EU expressions of
displeasure. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul’s discussed the
issue with Aliyev during a late June visit to Baku. The Turkish Daily
News newspaper quoted Gul as telling the Azeri leader on June 20 that
“Armenia can also join these projects if it wants.” However, the
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman, Namik Tan, clarified the next day
that this could happen only after a resolution of the Karabakh
dispute. The Karabakh peace process is currently stalemated. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Tan also downplayed the significance of likely US funding
restrictions. “I think the three countries have enough funds. We can
finance [the railway’s construction] in one way or another,” he said.
Baku had hoped to begin work on the railway later this year and have
it completed by 2008. But with Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan having
yet to agree on the sources of funding, this time frame seems
unrealistic. Furthermore, the Georgian government is having what Gul
reportedly described as “serious hesitations.” This might explain why
a planned meeting of the transport ministers of the three states,
which had been planned for late June, has been postponed until late
July.
The director general of Georgia’s state-run rail network, Irakli
Ezugbaya, publicly questioned earlier in June a feasibility study
that was conducted and released by a Turkish company recently. The
Caucasus Press news agency quoted him as saying that the study failed
to predict the anticipated volume of cargo traffic along the would-be
railway.
Editor’s Note: Emil Danielyan is a Yerevan-based journalist and
political analyst.

Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep.
June 30 2006
Nagarno-Karabakh: Mediators Take The Process Public
By Liz Fuller

PRAGUE, June 30, 2006 (RFE/RL) — Lifting the veil of confidentiality
that has marked the Karabakh peace process since it began in 1992,
the French, Russian and U.S. co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group
tasked with mediating a solution to the conflict have over the past
eight days gone public with a summary of the basic principles
currently under discussion.
While the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has confirmed that those
principles are largely acceptable, its Armenian counterpart has
highlighted several points that were either not clarified or not
discussed the interview U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
Matthew Bryza gave on June 22 to RFE/RL’s Armenian and Azerbaijani
services.

Meanwhile, the Karabakh Armenian leadership has rejected one point on
which Armenia and Azerbaijan have reportedly reached agreement,
namely holding a referendum on the future political status of the
unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR). The Karabakh Armenians
have further signaled their reluctance to cede all the Azerbaijani
districts they currently occupy before a firm agreement is reached on
the future status of the NKR.

Confidentiality Broken

Over the 14 years that the Minsk Group has been trying to mediate a
political solution to the Karabakh conflict, those involved have
generally abided by a “gentlemen’s agreement” that the negotiating
process should remain confidential.

The rationale for doing so is primarily to avoid derailing the peace
process by alerting the public in one or other country to unpalatable
concessions required that opposition parties might seize upon to
discredit national leaders prepared to accept those concessions.

But the co-chairs, who have on several previous occasions deplored
the failure of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents to prepare
public opinion for inevitable concessions, seem to have concluded
that going public may encourage the two presidents to demonstrate
what they term “the necessary political courage” and agree at least
to the basic principles of a settlement before the perceived window
of opportunity for doing so closes with the approach of parliamentary
elections in Armenia in May 2007.

The basic principles, as outlined in a statement by the co-chairs on
June 22 to the OSCE’s Permanent Council in Vienna and posted on June
28 on the website of the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan, point to a
“phased-package” approach to resolving the conflict, meaning that the
various elements of a settlement are agreed on simultaneously, even
though they are implemented successively, with one key aspect — the
final status of the NKR — to be decided by “a referendum or vote” at
some unspecified future date.

“These principles include the phased redeployment of Armenian troops
from Azerbaijani territories around Nagorno-Karabakh, with special
modalities for Kelbacar and Lachin districts [separating Karabakh
from Armenia proper],” said the co-chairs. “Demilitarization of those
territories would follow. A referendum or population vote would be
agreed, at an unspecified future date, to determine the final legal
status of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

“An international peacekeeping force would be deployed,” added the
statement. “A joint commission would be agreed to implement the
agreement. International financial assistance would be made available
for demining, reconstruction, resettlement of internally displaced
persons in the formerly occupied territories and the war-affected
regions of Nagorno-Karabakh. The sides would renounce the use or
threat of use of force, and international and bilateral security
guarantees and assurances would be put in place.”

Those provisions correspond very largely to the ones contained in the
draft peace settlement proposed by the Minsk Group in May-July 1997,
the key difference being that the 1997 document contained no specific
mention of Kelbacar.

Practice Makes Perfect

The mediators said the conflicting parties would also have to work
out practical modalities of the Karabakh referendum. “Suitable
preconditions for such a vote would have to be achieved so that the
vote would take place in a noncoercive environment in which
well-informed citizens have had ample opportunity to consider their
positions after a vigorous debate in the public arena.”

In a statement released on June 26, the Armenian Foreign Ministry
highlighted what it said were further key details and omissions. It
noted that the co-chairs’ statement did not note the need to grant
the NKR “intermediate status,” presumably meaning that it would be
under international control, until the holding of the referendum on
its final status. A further “gray area” not touched upon in the
Armenian Foreign Ministry statement is the future status of several
districts that prior to 1988 were part of the then Nagorno-Karabakh
Autonomous Oblast, but which Azerbaijan took control of in May-June
1991, expelling the Armenian population.

The Armenian statement stressed that the co-chairs, for the first
time, have affirmed their support for the idea, first floated in
December 2004 by NATO Parliamentary Assembly President Pierre
Lellouche and former Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio, of a
referendum on Karabakh’s status, and that the Armenian and
Azerbaijani presidents have agreed on doing so.

Kocharian (second from left) and Aliyev (right) with other leaders in
Bucharest on June 5 (epa)It further said that at the recent meeting
in Bucharest on June 4-5 between Armenian President Robert Kocharian
and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani side
rejected an unspecified suggestion by the co-chairs as to how that
remaining area of disagreement could be resolved. By contrast, the
co-chairs’ statement avoided allocating blame for the failure to
reach an agreement, saying only that “the two presidents failed to
agree.”

Speaking to journalists in Yerevan on June 29, Armenian Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian described the “principles” under discussion
as “all-encompassing,” in that they cover all the principles
affecting the removal of the military consequences of the conflict.
He added that “only after full agreement on all these basic
principles will the parties begin work on elaborating an agreement on
the settlement of the conflict. In other words, the agreement on
principles will be comprehensive. The final agreement may envision
implementation over time.”

Corridor Of Uncertainty

Asked to clarify the co-chairs’ reference to “special modalities” for
Lachin and Kelbacar, Oskanian explained that the negotiating text
specifies that “there will be a [Lachin] corridor linking
Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.” He added that Armenia will insist that
that corridor “has the same status” as Karabakh. Oskanian also
explained that due to security considerations, “Kelbacar can be
returned only after the referendum is conducted and the final status
of Nagorno-Karabakh is determined.”

He said this is the point of disagreement between the two sides to
which the co-chairs referred in their statement to the OSCE Permanent
Council last week. Oskanian said that the “principles” stipulate that
the vote on Karabakh’s status will take place among the population of
Nagorno-Karabakh. Some Armenian opposition politicians have expressed
concern that the entire population of Azerbaijan would participate in
the referendum and vote against Karabakh’s independence.

Asked the Armenian leadership’s overall assessment of the
“principles,” Oskanian said “this is not a perfect document. For
anyone. However, there are enough solid and balanced provisions, with
the right trade-offs on the main issues — status, territories, and
security — that we are prepared to continue to negotiate on the
basis of these principles,” Noyan Tapan reported.

But the Karabakh Armenians, who to their frustration are excluded
from the Armenian-Azerbaijani talks under the Minsk Group aegis, are
unhappy with at least two of the provisions of the “basic
principles.” Even before this week’s disclosures, the NKR posted a
statement on its website on June 12 citing the arguments against
determining the republic’s future status in a referendum. The article
reasoned that holding a further referendum would call into question
the legality of the referendum of December 10, 1991 in which the
overwhelming majority of the region’s Armenian voters opted for
independence from Azerbaijan. It noted that most Azerbaijani voters
declined to participate in that plebiscite.

Return To The Front

And on June 26, Vahram Atanesian, who is chairman of the NKR
parliament standing committee on foreign relations, was quoted as
rejecting the “principles” as outlined by the Minsk Group co-chairs
on the grounds that they entail the “unequivocal return” of the
occupied territories — the NKR’s sole bargaining chip — in return
for a decision at some unspecified future date on the republic’s
status. Atanesian said his perception is that the Minsk Group is
pressuring Armenia to accept proposals that “are fully consistent
with Azerbaijan’s interests.”

Insofar as Azerbaijan has not definitively rejected the current
“principles,” the present situation is reminiscent of that in the
summer of 1997, when Armenia accepted, albeit with reservations, the
modified Minsk Group package proposal, while Azerbaijan wavered, and
Stepanakert rejected it outright.

The biweekly independent Armenian paper “Iravunk” on June 27 drew the
comparison between the current principles and the 1997 plan, but went
on to make the point that unlike his predecessor Levon
Ter-Petrossian, President Robert Kocharian would never risk publicly
making a case for mutual compromise with Azerbaijan. Instead, the
paper suggested, Kocharian left it to the Minsk Group co-chairs to
do so.

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

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

Regnum, Russia
June 30 2006
MP: OSCE Minsk group appointed Armenia the only side to compromise
`Negotiation details disclosed by the new US Co-Chair of the OSCE
Minsk group for the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement Matthew
Bryza envisages one-sided compromise from the Armenian side,’
Armenian People’s Party Secretary, opposition Justice faction
spokesman Grigor Arutyunyan stated on June 29 at a news conference.
He is quoted by a REGNUM correspondent as saying that, according to
the Bryza’s suggestion, Armenia is supposed to hand over to
Azerbaijan five mapped territories, upon which, `in the undefined
future, voting on the future status of Nagorno Karabakh is supposed
to be held.’ `The proposal is both unfavorable and dangerous for us.
No mutual compromises are envisaged in the document. Only Armenia
compromises.’
Arutyunyan asserted that a recent authorities’ statement on the
proposal shows that Yerevan agrees with the document and that
negotiating process on Nagorno Karabakh moves on the wrong track.
Attempting to interpret statements of OSCE Minsk group Co-Chairs
which `do not see logic for additional proposals,’ he upheld that two
developments’ scenarios will be possible if the conflict is not
settled. `Either the negotiation format will be changed or
hostilities will recommence in the region,’ the MP stressed, adding
that Armenian President Robert Kocharyan should resign in the latter
case.

Capital FM, Kenya
June 30 2006
Inquiry told Arturs’ travelled with fake documents
By Bernard Momanyi
& Robn Njogu
It emerged today that the Artur `impostors’ have been travelling on
several occasions using a similar passport issued in United Socialist
Soviet Republic which does not bear their real names and photographs.
While testifying at the Kiruki-led commission Friday afternoon, the
Assistant Principal Immigration Officer based at JKIA shocked the
commission when he said that they never detected the anomaly until
June 9th when the Armenians were deported.
John Cheruiyot produced documents showing how the USSR passport
bearing the name of Arthur Gevorkyan was used at several occasions by
different individuals. He was led in his evidence by State Counsel
Dorcas Oduor.
CHERUIYOT: We didn’t have this information at the time of deportation
and someone brought the passport and said it belonged to Gevorkyan.
And the issue hand here was to deport this people because of the
threat they posed. After looking at these records, I realized that
some thing went wrong somewhere.
DORCAS: Something did what?
CHERUIYOT: It appears they played a trick on us.
DORCAS: They did what?
CHERUIYOT: I think two might have been using the same passport.
Cheruiyot further shocked the commission when he revealed that the
Immigration department does not have any documents showing that the
two Artur brothers were deported.
DORCAS: Is that deportation captured in your system.
CHERUIYOT: The deportation is not captured in our system.
DORCAS: So for these two, if I go through your system would I see
that they were deported on the 9th?
CHERUIYOT: Our systems do not capture that.
DORCAS: Did they fill any exit cards?
CHERUIYOT: On deportation they are not required to fill.
DORCAS: Where do you put the list of prohibited immigrants?
CHERUIYOT: We put it in the system as well.
DORCAS: So are they in that list:
CHERUIYOT? They are in that list.
More damning revelations emerged when Nairobi businessman Raju
Sanghani revealed that he is the man who brought the controversial
Armenian brothers to Kenya.
Sanghani who appeared as the third witness at the commission today
narrated how he invited the Artur brothers to Kenya after he was
introduced to them by a friend when he visited Mumbai May last year.
He was led in his evidence by his lawyer Jayant Rach.
RAJU: I was introduced your honour to this two people, by the name of
one Artur and one James.
RACH: How were introduced to them?
RAJU: That they are from a royal family back home in Armenia and that
these are the people who do a lot of business and investment in so
many other countries.
Raju says he later invited them to the country where they stayed
until June 9th when they were deported back to Dubai.
While in Kenya, Raju says he introduced them to several investment
opportunities and even sold them 3 Toyota Harries he had imported
from Dubai.