Anadolu Agency
July 20 2004
Erdogan: We Want A Date For Opening Of Accession Talks With E.U.
PARIS – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday,
”Turkey wants a date not for full membership, but for opening of
accession talks with the European Union (EU).”
Prime Minister Erdogan, who is currently paying a state visit to
France, met members of the French Parliamentary Foreign Affairs
Commission.
During the meeting, Erdogan informed members of the commission on
historical development of the bilateral relations between Turkey and
France.
Upon a question about Turkey’s EU membership process, Prime Minister
Erdogan said, ”Turkey wants a date not for full membership, but for
opening of accession talks with the EU.”
Referring to recent developments in Iraq, Prime Minister Erdogan
said, ”Turkey has always advocated that Iraq’s territorial integrity
should be protected, and none of ethnical groups in the country
should be allowed to be dominant over another.”
Upon a question about so-called Armenian genocide, Prime Minister
Erdogan said, ”it is an issue with which historians should deal. As
politicians, we are obliged to build the future instead of discussing
such issues. Armenian diaspora has been trying to keep the so-called
Armenian genocide high on agenda. In fact, it is not beneficial for
Armenia at all. The bilateral relations between Turkey and Armenia
cannot be improved as long as such campaigns continue. If they put an
end to their campaign of defamation against Turkey, border gates
between Turkey and Armenia may be opened.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Sierra Sun, CA
July 20 2004
Azad McIver leaves town a lasting legacy
Renée Shadforth
Azad McIver was a small, seemingly shy woman who lived in a tiny
Gateway cottage, but her longtime friends say she had a huge giving
spirit that had a large impact on the Truckee of today.
McIver died July 13 at the age of 95. She and her siblings – Roxie
Archie and Richard Joseph, who preceded her in death – emigrated from
Turkish Armenia in the early 1900s and left a strong legacy in the
Truckee community.
McIver, considered the most soft-spoken and easygoing of her
siblings, was one of the last in a generation that formed Truckee
into what it is today.
“Azad was this remarkable spirit. She always had a giggle or a
laugh,” said Embree “Breeze” Cross, a longtime Truckee resident and
former town council member. “She always found delight in things. She
was the most delightful girl.”
Namesakes of McIver’s generation are splattered all over Truckee.
There are McIver Arena and McIver Hill, named after Azad McIver’s
late husband, Jim. And then there is the Joseph Government Center,
named after the Joseph family.
In 1949, McIver’s brother donated the land for Tahoe Forest Hospital
and the money for many of its facilities. Decades later, after her
siblings died, McIver provided more land for the hospital’s current
expansion project.
“They wanted to build more, I said ‘OK,'” McIver told the Sierra Sun
in March 2003, her words colored with the remnants of her Old Country
accent. “My brother’s wish was to build a hospital. I’d rather take
care of our people here than give it to Uncle [Sam].”
McIver saw most of her friends die in the same hospital. Others moved
from Truckee to more temperate climates.
Azad McIver outlasted most of them.
“I’ve had a lot of good friends,” she told the Sierra Sun. “Most of
them just aren’t around anymore. I come from good stock.”
From Armenia to Truckee
The imprint the Joseph (formerly Hovsepian) family left on Truckee
came after many life struggles and a lot of old-fashioned hard work.
Until her death, McIver was able to tell the stories from her youth
in the Old Country and Truckee in astonishing detail.
McIver was born in Harpoot, in Turkish Armenia, on Oct. 12, 1908 – 18
years after her brother, Dick, and four years after her sister,
Roxie.
At age 6, McIver fled her homeland under her 10-year-old sister’s
wing during the Armenian massacre. They left Turkey on foot, walking
through the Syrian desert to Aleppo, Syria. The girls were placed in
an orphanage staffed by British and French missionaries who kept them
from starving to death.
After contacting their Uncle Mgurdich in Andover, Mass., the sisters
purchased third-class boat tickets and came to the United States on
July 4, 1920.
“I cried – what a beautiful place with beautiful people,” Azad
recalled about her experience coming to America. “It was strange. All
I knew before was Turks, and they wanted to kill us.”
At 16, Azad’s sister, Roxie, married and moved to Worchester, Mass.
Soon after, the newlyweds and Azad moved to Chicago.
In 1922, Dick Joseph – who moved to the States in 1906 and to Truckee
in 1917 – advertised for his sisters in an Armenian newspaper
published in Fresno, Calif. Someone in Chicago brought the ad to the
sisters’ attention, and McIver and Archie met their brother in
Truckee later that year.
A legacy of her own
Although McIver always maintained she donated money to fulfill the
wishes of her brother, who passed away in 1986, McIver created quite
a legacy of her own, said Bob Tilton, who started the Tahoe Forest
Hospital Foundation in 1987.
“Dick did a lot for the community, but Azad carried the banner after
his death,” Tilton said. “Every single expansion the hospital has
ever done, Azad either took part in fund-raising or donated money.”
Tilton, 58, grew up in the Truckee-North Tahoe area and knew the
Joseph family well. He went to Azad once a year to seek a donation
for the hospital, even when her older sister was the one handling the
family’s business.
“[McIver] definitely felt compelled to help the hospital. She always
told me the hospital was vital to building a strong community,”
Tilton said.
In addition to what she gave to Tahoe Forest Hospital, McIver became
a founding member of the Truckee Tahoe Community Foundation in 1999.
The Joseph family also donated to the University of Nevada, Reno
Foundation and Shriners Hospital, among other causes.
Modest living
A photographer and barber by trade, Dick Joseph made his money as a
businessman. He owned Manstyle Barbers, a cigar store and the Pastime
Club in downtown Truckee.
As a young adult, Azad worked at the Pastime, which was a popular
local hangout and speakeasy at the time. Azad met many interesting
people while working at the restaurant, including her late husband,
Jim McIver, a local blacksmith, dairyman and car salesman who
delivered mail to Tahoe City. Azad and Jim McIver were married in
Reno on Aug. 10, 1944.
In 1935, Richard Joseph purchased the land between Gateway and Donner
Lake from the Union Ice Company. The family built the Gateway Motel
in 1939, near the present site of Safeway,
McIver lived modestly in one of the former rental cottages in Gateway
for decades. The walls of her home were plastered with photos
depicting Truckee at a different time.
“They had a lot of money, but you’d never know it,” Tilton said of
the Joseph family. “They traveled a lot, but they didn’t dress fancy.
Dick would be dressed in his old coat. Azad would be dressed in her
old coat.”
Responsibility for community
When Truckee became a town in 1993, Archie and McIver asked
then-Mayor Kathleen Eagan and council member Breeze Cross to come to
their Gateway home. Cross had no idea why at the time.
“They called us over, and they’d heard the town didn’t have any
money, since it was new,” Cross recalls. “They said ‘It’s terrible
that the town doesn’t have any money, so here’s a check for $25,000.’
We were amazed. It was so touching.”
Archie and McIver were known to pop into a public meeting every now
and then when an important decision was going to be made. They wanted
to know about the decisions made in their community, Tilton said.
“That’s the way our community used to be – we helped each other. We
had to,” Tilton said. “Any decision you made affected someone you
know personally.”
In 1997, Archie – McIver’s sister and lifelong companion – passed
away in the Tahoe Forest Hospital long-term care center. Since Archie
handled most of the family’s business, there was some concern about
McIver, the shy sister, carrying the family torch.
But friends say she blossomed and continued to give in the Joseph
family spirit.
“Truckee was their family and they always made us part of their
family,” Tilton said of the Josephs. “The whole family just took it
on as their responsibility, and Azad carried that legacy.”

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
July 20, 2004 Tuesday 8:30 AM Eastern Time
Armyansky Pereulok magazine chief editor’s murder investigated
MOSCOW
The investigation of the murder of the editor-in-chief of the
Armyansky Pereulok magazine Pailak Peloyan has been undertaken by the
permanently acting investigative brigade of the Southwestern district
of the Russian capital, sources in the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office told
Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
Criminal proceedings have been instituted in connection with the
murder of the journalist.
The reporter’s body was found near an overpass at the 43rd kilometre
of the Moscow ring road last Saturday.
“Forensic experts concluded that the journalist died of a
craniocerebral injury and knife wound,” the sources said.
“The investigators are currently considering several versions of the
crime, including a robbery and the version related to the professional
activities of Armyansky Pereulok’s editor-in-chief,” the Prosecutor’s
Office official said.
However, the Armenian Embassy in Moscow told Itar-Tass the Armyansky
Pereulok magazine had been published before 2001.
Founded by poet and prose writer Levon Oganesyan, the magazine was
covering the life of the Armenian community in the Russian capital and
Armenian-Russian relations.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
July 20, 2004
Gazprom official says Iran-Armenia pipeline to cost $140 mln
YEREVAN, July 20 (Prime-Tass) — The construction of the natural gas
pipeline from Iran to Armenia will cost U.S. USD 140 million,
Gazprom’s Deputy Chairman Alexander Ryazanov told a briefing Tuesday,
after meeting Armenian President Robert Kocharyan.
Gazprom has completed its inspection of the existing part of the
pipeline that runs through Georgia, which may break even in nine
years, Ryazanov said.
“If the parties to this project can attract the funding, then there
should be no problem with the construction of this pipeline,”
Ryazanov added.
But he said that the funding may take the form of government loans or
Gazprom’s own funds.
“The pipeline that runs through Georgia is in a poor technical state
and is badly in need of major repairs”, Ryazanov said.
He ruled out natural gas transit across Armenia, saying that “Armenia
is not a transit country, but a gas consumer.”
Armenia and Iran signed a 20-year agreement on supplies of Iranian
natural gas to Armenia on May 13. Iran is expected to supply 36
billion cubic meters of natural gas to Armenia in exchange for
electric power in the period. It is not clear when the construction
of the pipeline will begin. End

Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
July 20, 2004
ArmRosgazprom to increase gas supplies to Armenia 16.6% in 2004
YEREVAN, July 20 (Prime-Tass) — Russian-Armenian joint venture
ArmRosgazprom plans to supply 1.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas
to Armenia in 2004, up from 1.2 billion cubic meters in 2003, but
down from the initially planned 1.6 billion cubic meters, the
company’s press service reported Tuesday.
This change is due to relatively low natural gas consumption in the
Armenian energy sector.
In January-April Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom supplied 513.9
million cubic meters of natural gas to Armenia.
In 2004 ArmRosgazprom expects to invest 8.273 billion Armenian drams,
including 6.126 billion drams to expand the gas distribution network.
In 2004-2007 ArmRosgazprom plans to invest about 50 billion Armenian
drams.
ArmRosgazprom, the sole natural gas supplier to Armenia, was set up
in 1997 by Gazprom with a 45% stake, Russia-based international gas
trader Itera with 10% and Armenia’s Energy Ministry with 45%. (522.37
Armenian drams – U.S. USD 1) End

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
July 20, 2004, Tuesday
Short raises hopes of return to form
By Malcolm Pein
NIGEL Short grabbed an early lead in the Sanjin Hotel Cup at Taiyuan
in China after taking full advantage of two games with the white
pieces in the first two rounds.
Last year and early this year Short had a tremendous run of form
which took his rating over 2700, but poor performances in the French
and Bosnian leagues and at the Sarajevo Super Tournament were
followed by a disastrous exit from the Fide World Championship
Knock-Out at Tripoli, when he put a rook en prise after outplaying
the Polish Grandmaster Michal Krasenkow.
The tournament in China may well herald a change in fortunes for the
England number two, although he was certainly lucky to win his first
game against Xu Jun. However, round two saw a typically heavyweight
positional victory over Smbat Lputian of Armenia (see below).
With one round to play of the 111th Scottish Championship at New
Douglas Park in Hamilton, defending champion and Scottish number one
GM Jonathan Rowson joined the guest player IM Jacob Aagaard in the
lead.
Rowson reached 6.5/8 with victory over Douglas Bryson while Aagaard
had a solid draw with Steve Mannion and looks to be coasting towards
the GM norm of 7/9.
White’s strategy in the Winawer is always to open lines for the
bishop pair and Short gradually manages to achieve this.
The line 7.h4 9.h5 and 10.h6 seems to transgress most opening
principles, but Black’s main weakness is on the dark squares and
White does have control of the kingside with his bishops and so pawn
to h6 undermines Black further on the dark squares. Sometimes the Rh1
comes to h4 and then swings across. Black’s fatal error was to allow
24.a6!
Short lost a very drastic game on the black side of the Winawer as a
junior to John Littlewood when he allowed the same thrust with his
king castled on the queenside.
Lputian’s 11Ng8!? was an attempt to improve on the main line of
110-0-0 12.Bd3 which was Short-Psakhis, Isle of Man 1999. 14Nxe5
15.Bc3!; 22a6 was unclear. 30Qc6 31.Bf4+ Nxf4 32.Qxf4+ Qc7 33.Qxc7+
Rxc7 34.Rxh4 is strong and if 32f5 33.Ra3.
Near the end 34a5 35.Ra6 wins. Of course not 37.Bxe1 Qxb1; but the
queen sacrifice cleans up. In the final position 40Nxd4 41.Ra6
N. Short – S. Lputian
Sanjin Hotel Cup Taiyuan (2)
French Defence
Winawer Variation
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 c5 5 a3 Bxc3+ 6 bxc3 Ne7 7 h4 Qa5 8
Bd2 Nbc6 9 h5 Bd7 10 h6 gxh6 11 Nf3 Ng8!? 12 c4! Qc7 13 cxd5 exd5 14
dxc5 0-0-0 15 Be2 Bg4 16 Kf1 h5 17 Rb1 f6 18 e6 Nge7 19 Ne1! Ne5 20
Nd3 N7g6 21 a4 Rhe8 22 a5 Rxe6? 23 f3 Bf5 24 a6! Nxd3 25 axb7+ Kb8 26
Bxd3 Bxd3+ 27 cxd3 h4 28 d4 Rde8 29 Rb2 R8e7 30 Qc1 a6 31 Rh3 Re8 32
f4 Ne7 33 Qb1 Nc6 34 f5 Re4 35 Rb6 Qd7 36 Rxa6 Qxf5+ 37 Rf3 Re1+ 38
Qxe1 Rxe1+ 39 Bxe1 Qd7 40 Rxf6 1-0
Lputian
e p p p p b p Y p p c * p a p 6 p p n c p p p n p o p p p p p p p b p
p p 8 X p
Short
Final position after 40.Rxf6

Agence France Presse — English
July 20, 2004 Tuesday 4:09 PM Eastern Time
Chirac backs Turkey’s EU entry in talks with Erdogan
by HUGH SCHOFIELD
PARIS
French President Jacques Chirac on Tuesday reaffirmed his support for
Turkey’s eventual membership of the European Union during talks with
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
That was a political victory for Erdogan, but the prime minister was
irked at a news conference by questions whether Turkey intended to
apologize for the alleged genocide of Armenians under the Ottoman
empire in 1915.
Erdogan said membership of the EU “does not imply the recognition of
an Armenian genocide” and suggested this was a matter best left to
historians.
However, the French Socialist party says such recognition is
necessary, even if it supports Turkey’s entry into the EU. Turkey was
particularly irritated in 2001 when the French National Assembly
formally recognized that genocide had taken place.
According to a Chirac aide, the president said that “Turkey’s
integration into the EU is welcome as soon as it becomes possible…
Turkey has made considerable progress. It must continue and intensify
the implementation of democratic and economic reforms.”
Erdogan on Wednesday wraps up three-day visit to France to lobby for
support ahead of a crucial decision by EU heads of government in
December whether to grant Turkey the right to accession talks.
Chirac has previously said he believes the path to Turkish membership
is “irreversible,” but he is at odds with many in his own Union for a
Popular Movement (UMP) party and the public who believe the
predominantly Muslim and Asian country has no place in the club of
25.
Speaking to reporters after his lunch with Chirac, Erdogan appeared
keen to reassure a dubious French population, saying that any
decision “would not be on Turkish membership of the EU, but on the
beginning of negotiations on membership.”
He later thanked the president for his “constructive approach” and
positive attititude concerning the prospective Turkish EU membership.
Earlier French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier warned that even if
the talks are given the go-ahead Turkey’s accession would not be
automatic.
“We have to tell the truth. It is not tomorrow that Turkey will be
entering the EU. The road ahead is still long. It has been on this
road for some time preparing itself and making progress,” he told
Europe 1 radio.
The governing majority was not united on the issue. Francois Bayrou,
the leader of Chirac’s coalition partner, the Union for French
Democracy, reiterated his opposition to Turkey’s EU bid, saying that
allowing the bloc to take in “countries that belong to other
continents and other cultures” would create “a weak Europe that will
be incapable of taking action.”
Erdogan met early Tuesday with French business leaders and urged them
to use their weight to argue Turkey’s case for entry. France’s
business elite sides with Ankara, seeing the country as a major
economic opportunity.
“I am convinced that French economic circles can make a contribution
to the diplomatic process, and we await it,” he said.
The debate over Turkey’s right to join the EU has been particularly
robust in France, where there is strong opposition both from those
who fear its implications for immigration and Europe’s cultural
heritage, and those who say it will mean the end of their vision for
a politically integrated continent.
The nationalist leader Philippe de Villiers on Tuesday condemned
Erdogan’s visit and what he described as Chirac’s “determination” to
see Turkey join the EU. He said he would ensure Turkey’s membership
is at the “heart of the debate” ahead of next year’s planned
referendum on the EU constitution.
Meanwhile Chirac’s office confirmed that negotiations to sell mid-
and long-range Airbus passenger aircraft to Turkish Airlines were in
their final stages.

The Frontrunner
July 20, 2004 Tuesday
Republicans Vow To Kill Amendment Recognizing Armenian Genocide
The Hill (7/20, Kaplan) reports House GOP leaders “are vowing to kill
a controversial amendment that chastises a key US ally following a
successful Democratic maneuver to pass the bill late last week.” The
Hill adds, “Rep.
Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) amendment would deny Turkey the use of US
foreign aid money to lobby against the Armenian genocide resolution
sponsored by GOP Rep. George Radanovich (Calif.). If enacted,
Radanovich’s resolution would be the first time Congress formally
marked the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923.”
Radanovich told The Hill: “I think [the amendment] was a good way to
keep Armenian genocide in front of people,” adding that his bill will
never be passed because “of the force of the Turkish lobby.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Federal Information and News Dispatch, Inc.
State Department
July 20, 2004
Millennium Challenge Corporation Board of Directors Meeting Open
Session
TEXT: Secretary Colin L. Powell
Harry S Truman Building Room 1107
July 20, 2004
(10:00 a.m. EDT)
SECRETARY POWELL:Good morning, everyone. It’s my great pleasure to
call the meeting to order and to welcome all of you to this regular
meeting of the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge
Corporation. I see that we have a quorum of directors present so we
can begin our business.
Let me begin by welcoming our two newest members, and the first two
outside members of the Millennium Challenge Corporation Board,
Christine Todd Whitman and Kenneth Hackett. Both of them were
nominated by the President in June and confirmed by the Senate just
last week and sworn in by me seven and a half minutes ago.
(Laughter.) So we are very pleased to have them both here. And as
most of you know, Christie Whitman previously served as Administrator
of the Environmental Protection Agency and as Governor of the State
of New Jersey. Ken Hackett currently serves as President of Catholic
Relief Services, where he oversees important relief and development
operations around the world. And we are very fortunate to have two
such respected and gifted individuals on the board and we certainly
look forward to their contributions.
And so, on behalf of President Bush and all of the members of the
Millennium Challenge Corporation team, I’d like to welcome them both
to the Board of Directors.
Before we get started on Board business, I wanted to note that due to
the limited time available for a public session today and to give
interested members of the public an opportunity to ask some questions
of the Millennium Challenge Corporation management, MCC will be
holding a public outreach session at GSA on Tuesday, July 27th, next
week, at 10:30 a.m.
At that session members of the MCC management team would like to
update you on their trips to the 16 MCA-eligible countries and other
recent developments and then take your questions. I understand, by
the way, that the country trips were very positive and productive.
The reports that I have received back from Paul and our embassies
certainly give me reason for optimism, so I would encourage you to
attend the outreach session next week.
Let’s now move along to the first item of business, the approval of
the minutes of the Open Session of the May 6th Board Meeting. All of
us have had a chance to review the minutes of the Open Session of the
May 6th Board Meeting, which are included in your Board books. At Tab
1 is a resolution to approve these minutes and certify that they
accurately reflect the proceedings at that portion of the meeting.
If there are no questions or comments, do I have a motion to adopt
the resolution at Tab 1?
A PARTICIPANT: So moved.
SECRETARY POWELL: A second, please?
A PARTICIPANT: Second.
SECRETARY POWELL: All in favor?
(Chorus of ayes.)
SECRETARY POWELL: The resolution is adopted. We will now move on to
the next item of business, a report on MCC operations by Chief
Executive Officer Paul Applegarth. Paul.
MR. APPLEGARTH: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon. I’m pleased
to provide the Board an update on the work of the Corporation since
our last Board meeting. Because of limited time today, my report will
be a summary, with the idea that we will report in greater detail and
answer questions at next week’s public Board meeting.
For those of you who didn’t write down all the details of where the
meeting will be, they will be available on the MCC website shortly.
Also I want to, despite the best of planning efforts over a couple
months to keep calendars free, both Secretary Snow and Administrator
Natsios had to be out of town today unavoidably. Accordingly, I want
to recognize, in addition to our two new board members, Deputy
Secretary of the Treasury Bodman and Deputy Administrator of AID Fred
Schieck, who are here today.
At its basic Board meeting, the Board did two significant things. One
was to select the first 16 countries as eligible for MCC assistance
and to improve the establishment of a threshold program. Implementing
programs and policies related to those decisions has been the focus
of much of MCC’s operational activities for the last two and a half
months.
Immediately after the Board meeting, eligible countries were informed
of their status by each U.S. Ambassador to each — in their country
and we had a meeting for the ambassadors of the selected countries.
In addition, President Bush held a ceremony in the East Room of the
White House to recognize and congratulate the representatives of the
MCC-eligible countries. This event was attended by members of the
Board, Congress, senior White House officials and a number of NGOs
and members of the public who have been instrumental in helping to
create the MCA.
Following an intense period of preparation, MCC then sent five teams
to visit all the 16 countries at the end of May and early June,
departing within ten days of the last Board meeting. There were five
purposes for these trips: first was to congratulate the countries for
being selected; two, to invite the submission of a proposal; three,
review the three core tests that MCC will use in evaluating
proposals, i.e., will the countries’ proposed program lead to poverty
reduction, to sustained economic growth, were the countries’
priorities determined through a consultative process, and what
additional policy commitments will the selected countries make to
continue the policy reform process; the fourth purpose of the trips
was to communicate MCC’s message broadly in the country through
meetings with government officials, members of parliament, political
leaders, NGOs, the private sector, other donors and civil society
leaders; and finally, to conduct an aggressive grassroots
communication and public diplomacy strategy, including press
conferences and radio and TV interviews to alert the people in
selected countries of the country’s selection as an MCC country,
highlight the United States involvement and encourage them to
participate in the consultative process to develop their country’s
priorities.
Before going, we also spent a lot of time with our U.S. key partners
at USAID, State and Treasury, and I want to thank the Board members
for the administration for making their staffs available to assist
with our trips. They did provide an enormous amount of assistance
that was critical to our preparation, as did staff at the World Bank,
the IMF and elsewhere in the U.S. Government.
You will hear more next week, but I will say there are a number of
common experiences among the teams that visited countries. First, we
were received at the highest levels in every country, the president
and prime minister in virtually every case. Secondly, the countries
were uniformly proud of being recognized for their achievements.
Third, they were very enthusiastic about the concept of country
ownership, particularly after they understood the flexibility being
offered to them to set the strategic directions of their proposal.
I’ll give you a couple of examples of the impact that we had. A
senior official in Armenia stated that Armenia’s inclusion in the
program had made the country much more focused on matters of
governing, governance, democracy, the rule of law and human rights.
Another official said that because of the consultative process
officials better understood the urgency of problems in rural areas
and that their proposals had been affected by these consultations.
That’s exactly what we’re aiming for through the consultative
process. The State Secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
Mongolia said Mongolia’s selection as an MCC-eligible country had
paved the way for a new form of relations between Mongolia and the
United States. And the Prime Minister of Cape Verde stated that the
selection of Cape Verde for the MCA was the third most significant
achievement for the country, behind its independence from Portugal in
1975 and the democratic transition in 1991. That’s fairly — in terms
of priority, what can I say? He said it all.
We are clearly now moving into a new phase of MCC operations. The
timing of initial proposal submission for each country will be
different because the specifics of proposal development are unique to
each country. To predict a timeline going forward is difficult at
this time in terms of when we’ll complete the first compacts. It is
clear as we’ve encouraged countries to take time to get their
proposals right — actually, there’s no question that our visits
probably slowed down the submission process, but for good reasons.
First, I think these countries recognize their flexibility under the
program. They wanted to stop, take stock and rethink about how they
could really use this new resource. And secondly, the consultative
process.
Other activities we’ve been quite involved in have been the compact
evaluation process, preparing it and getting ready for receipt of the
first compact proposals; secondly, detailed planning for the
implementation of the threshold program, working together with AID;
and then preparing for really the agenda of this Board meeting, which
is the candidate — beginning the candidate country selection process
for 2005.
We’ve also spent a lot of time on outreach. In terms of outreach,
we’ve spent a considerable amount of time on Capitol Hill meeting
with the members and their staff in an effort to keep interested
members up to date on MCC activities. I have testified before the
HIRC and House Appropriations Foreign Operations Subcommittee in
preparation for their deliberations. As you know, the House did pass
an appropriation bill that included $1.25 billion for ’05. We are
working to get it back — the amount up to the President’s original
request of $2.5 billion, but we do appreciate the leadership and
support of Chairman Kolbe and the bipartisan support that MCC enjoys.
We continue actively to participate in a number of outreach efforts
with NGOs and business groups and to seek opportunities for these
discussions. Developing awareness of MCC with international donors
has also been a priority. We should mention Andrew Natsios invited me
to participate in a meeting of development ministers that he was
hosting following the G-8. This meeting provided an excellent
opportunity for us to meet with the leadership of the donor community
and to introduce them to MCC and what MCC is trying to do. And I do
appreciate Andrew’s efforts to include MCC in this important meeting.
And as I mentioned previously, we are holding another public outreach
meeting next week.
In the midst of all this, it’s sometimes difficult to forget we’re
still a startup. If we can find the time, we will celebrate our
six-month birthday at the end of this week. And from an
administrative perspective, we continue to build the infrastructure
to support the implementation of MCC, including things like phones,
security systems, temporary office construction and ultimately
finding a permanent headquarters.
In terms of staffing, we’ve gone from a team of roughly eight people
at the end of January to a little over 40 today, and we continue to
build out the team. We have also continued to put in place financial
and administrative procedures. The administrative staff visited
Denver to further develop financial management and budgeting systems
with our vendor, the National Business Center at the Department of
the Interior. And, actually, we were joined on this trip by a
representative of the Inspector Generals Office.
As I mention the Inspector General, I should say in terms of
oversight, we have had extensive discussions with Hill staff, the GAO
and the Inspector General staff. We recognize the need for this
transparency and see as important strategically in terms of building
confidence of what we are about. As a startup particularly and
without demonstrable results in terms of results of our compacts for
a couple years, it’s very important that everyone have full
confidence in what we are doing and how we are doing it.
In short, I would like to say it’s been a quite busy two and a half
months since our last meeting. We’ve made considerable progress and
still have a lot to do. We look forward to receiving the proposals
from MCC countries, working to the selection of the ’05 countries and
ultimately moving closer to our goal of reducing poverty through
growth in some of the poorest countries of the world.
Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much, Paul, and my congratulations
to you and the members of the MCC staff for the great work that you
have been doing in recent months. I always have to remind audiences
that I speak to about the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the
Account, that this has gone from a line in the President’s State of
the Union Address in January of last year in less than 18 months —
quite a few weeks less than 18 months — to a complete program, the
chartering of a corporation, the development of a board, the creation
of a staff, pushing the appropriation through the Congress, all that
is required to set up a new and rather unique organization that is
out of government but also connected to the government and enjoying
one of the President’s highest priorities. And by governmental
standards, this is a pretty rapid rate of progress and reflects a lot
of hard work on the part of Paul, Al Larson before Paul, and so many
others, and I appreciate that work.
I might just add one other word about the Millennium Challenge
Corporation. The 16 nations that were selected have all been very,
very pleased with their selection and I received all kinds of nice
letters and phone calls and visitors. And they come in and they give
me all their promises of what they’re going to do, and I said that’s
fine because we’re entering into a compact, a contract, and if you
want this funding and if you want it to continue, and you want it to
be multiyear, if you want us to stick with you, you’ve got to get
better every year with respect to these basic tests of democracy and
openness and economic freedom and end of corruption and the rule of
law. You’ve got to get better.
Of greater interest, however, are the delegations and letters and
phone calls I received from the countries that were not selected but
who are potential candidates. And those calls are of a slightly
different nature, or when they sit in my office and they look across
at me and they say, “What did we do wrong or what is it we have to do
right to get into this game?” And it’s very simple and we lay it out
for them. And they say if you do these things, then you will enhance
your prospects of being selected. And we’re going to get more money
in ’05 and we’re going to get even more money in ’06. So this is the
most significant development program since the Marshall Plan, and you
can be a recipient, you can work out a compact with us, but you’ve
got to do the right things.
The other point I would make is that this is all being done not at
the expense of our normal development assistance programs; in fact,
if you look at the record of the Administration over the last three
and a half years, there has been growth in AID spending and other
kinds of development assistance spending, and on top of that you have
this unique Millennium Challenge approach to development assistance.
And not development assistance for the purpose of keeping people on
the dole forever, but for the purpose of creating conditions in those
countries so they will start to attract investment and trade —
non-aid. It’s not for the purpose of giving them aid forever. This is
the purpose of putting them on a solid footing so that they will
attract investment and trade and get off aid, and we can use the
Millennium Challenge Account money in future years for other
countries that have met the test.
We will be talking about threshold funding. There are a number of
countries that were getting closer and they may need a little walking
around — no, I won’t call it that. (Laughter.) They need a little
help. And that’s what the threshold program is for, to give them a
little help and bring them along, make sure they understand what’s
going to be required of them, make sure they understand the demanding
nature of the tests that they will be asked to take and pass.
So I must say that, at least from my personal perspective as Chairman
of this Corporation, as well as Secretary of State, I can say that
I’m very pleased and I know the President is very pleased at the
progress that we have seen so far, but it is nothing compared to the
progress that we hope to see in the future.
With that, I would now like to move to close the open portion of the
meeting, not to cut off dialogue and debate because you’ll have that
opportunity with Paul and the staff next week, but we have to discuss
a few matters such as the ’05 country selection process, which has to
be closed because of the confidential nature of discussions and use
of classified information, and we also have to discuss some internal
personnel matters.
Members of the Board, in your Board books at Tab 2 is a resolution to
approve the closing of the meeting at this time. If there are no
questions or comments about the resolution, do I have a motion to
adopt the resolution at Tab 2?
A PARTICIPANT: So moved.
SECRETARY POWELL: Second, please?
A PARTICIPANT: Second.
SECRETARY POWELL: All in favor?
(Chorus of ayes.)
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much. The resolution is adopted and
the open session of the meeting is adjourned. Please join me all
upstairs, members

Associated Press Worldstream
July 20, 2004 Tuesday 1:56 PM Eastern Time
Turkish Prime Minister to meet Chirac on lobbying visit for EU entry
talks
by PAMELA SAMPSON; Associated Press Writer
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pressed ahead Tuesday
with an official visit to France aimed at prying open the European
Union’s doors to his overwhelmingly Muslim country.
But his quest was a hard sell in France, where leaders have failed to
enthusiastically embrace Turkey’s bid and polls show most French want
Turkey to stay out of the 25-member union.
Erdogan, after meeting with French President Jacques Chirac, said he
tried to convey the message that Turkey is making the changes
required to meet the so-called Copenhagen criteria for membership and
is counting on France not to withdraw its support.
But he said Turkey should not be held to a higher standard than the
other EU members or the two nations hoping to join in 2007, Romania
and Bulgaria.
“Turkey doesn’t ask to join at any price,” Erdogan said at a press
conference. “Joining the EU is not a must for Turkey.”
But France has its doubters. One of the most prominent voices to
oppose Turkey membership has been former French President Valery
Giscard d’Estaing, who bluntly said that Turkey isn’t European and
its entry would mean “the end” of the EU.
The ruling Union for the Popular Majority party, which has an
overwhelming majority in the French parliament, also is hostile to
Turkey’s membership. Erdogan met with former party head Alain Juppe
and others later Tuesday to try to win over hearts and minds.
The French public also needs to be convinced. In a poll of 1,511
people last month, 61 percent of French who responded said they
opposed Turkey membership in the EU, and only 31 percent said they
approved. Eight percent did not have an opinion.
Turkey is hoping for a positive report on its candidacy from the
European Commission this fall. Turkey hopes to get a start date for
entry negotiations at the EU summit in December, but some European
countries have seemed reluctant to include Turkey – a country of some
70 million, mostly Muslim inhabitants.
Membership of Turkey, located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia,
would stretch the EU’s borders to Syria and Iraq – a fact that
opponents say moves Europe too close to the unstable Middle East.
Chirac has said that he believes Ankara was not likely to be able to
meet the bloc’s conditions for another 10-15 years.
Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said in a radio interview Tuesday
that “Turkey should not expect to enter the European Union tomorrow
morning” even if it improves its human rights record and reforms its
justice system, two key requirements.
“Turkey still has a ways to go toward becoming a social and
democratic model along the lines of the European model,” Barnier told
Europe-1 radio.
Turkey also has passed sweeping democratic reforms to meet the EU’s
membership criteria, abolishing the death penalty and granting
greater cultural rights to long-oppressed Kurds.
French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said Monday after talks
with Erdogan that France was awaiting the European Commission report.
“We will study the Commission’s report this fall with the greatest
attention,” Raffarin said.
Whatever the outcome of Turkey’s application, it likely will maintain
its strong commercial contacts with France. Turkey’s Anatolia news
agency said that Erdogan and Chirac on Tuesday agreed in principle on
the purchases of 36 Airbus planes by Turkish Airlines at a cost of
around US$1.5 billion.
In Paris, members of the Revolutionary Armenian Federation held a
demonstration against Erdogan’s visit and said Turkey should not be
allowed into the EU until it recognizes the Armenian genocide.
Armenians accuse Turks of a genocide of up to 1.5 million Armenians
between 1915 and 1923. Turks claim the number of deaths is inflated
and say the victims were killed in civil unrest.
“We are here to convince the French government, specifically Chirac,
to say absolutely ‘No’ to Turkey’s entry into the European Union,”
said Marie Ghazarossian, a housewife of Armenian descent who has
lived in France for 15 years. “Turkey is not a part of Europe, not
the Europe that we know.”