Ukraine Does Not Supply Arms To Azerbaijan

UKRAINE DOES NOT SUPPLY ARMS TO AZERBAIJAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.05.2006 20:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Ukraine is a friendly country towards Armenia, Chief
of the General Staff of Ukraine, Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief,
colonel general Sergey Kirichenko stated at a news conference in
Yerevan. In his words, Ukraine works to have normal relations with all
countries of the region, specifically Georgia and Azerbaijan. Sergey
Kirichenko underscored that reports on arms supplies to Azerbaijan
are not true. “Ukraine does not interfere with conflicts between
countries and does not supply arms to any of the parties. This refers
to light armament, as well as tanks and planes,” the General Staff
Chief emphasized.

One Of The Black Boxes Of The Crashed A-320 Extracted From The Botto

ONE OF THE BLACK BOXES OF THE CRASHED A-320 EXTRACTED FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

ArmRadio.am
23.05.2006 12:24

The search for the second black box of the crashed A-320 has been
temporarily suspended because of bad weather conditions.

“Because of the strong wind in the evening the decision was taken
to stop the deepwater works, and up until now the robot has not been
lowered into the bottom of the sea,” the operative staff of technical
assistance informed.

Yesterday the specialists managed to lift one of the black boxes from
the depth of 496 meters. The commission investigating the crash of
the A-320 hopes to hear the voices of the pilots soon.

The exact location of the second recorder box is known. The second
box recorded the parameters of the flight: the height, the speed and
the angle degree for certain periods of time. It is no less important
than the other recorder lifted.

Specialists say the decoding of the black box will take 10-14 days.

Orinats Yerkir Went “To Build Its Desired Armenia”

ORINATS YERKIR WENT “TO BUILD ITS DESIRED ARMENIA”

Panorama.am
13:12 22/05/06

The regular session of the National Assembly started with the planned
event – NA Vice Chairman Tigran TOROSYAN announced the resignation of
NA Chairman Arthur Baghdasaryan. Following the announcement, Arthur
Baghdasaryan thanked his coalition friends and “all 131 deputies”
for three years of joint activity.

He recalled the past and said that “… those three years were time
of progress. We tried to raise the image of the parliament during
that time.”

Recalling all the good things, Arthur Baghdasaryan also said that
there were disagreements between the authorities and Orinats Yerkir
which deepened over time. “We have tried to protest every law against
the interests of people and such cases were many,” he said. He also
stressed that OY aims to promote relations with European Union and
judging from his words also with NATO. “Increased cooperation with
NATO is a right approach for our future,” he said.

Baghdasaryan expressed readiness to criticize every bad action “be
that from the president or someone else.”

Mher SHAHGELDYAN, NA Defense, Security Issues permanent committee
head and Gagk MKHEYAN, NA Social, Health and Nature Protection
Issues permanent committee head also resigned together with Arthur
Baghdasaryan.

At the moment, NA has proceeded to its regular works under the
chairmanship of Tigran Torosyan.

Memorandum On Cooperation Between Syunik Marz And One Of ChineseProv

MEMORANDUM ON COOPERATION BETWEEN SYUNIK MARZ AND ONE OF CHINESE PROVINCES LIKELY TO BE SIGNED

Noyan Tapan
May 17 2006

KAPAN, MAY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. China’s Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary to Armenia Tszo Suelian paid a one-day working
visit to Syunik marz on May 16. He visited the Zangezur Copper and
Molybdenum Complex, met with the regional governor of Syunik marz Surik
Khachatrian. During the meeting, a preliminary agreement on cooperation
in the sphere of agriculture was reached. The Chinese ambassador did
not rule out the possibility of signing a memorandum on cooperation
and friendship between Syunik marz and one of the Chinese provinces.

Moscow Pressing For CFE Treaty Ratification Despite Its OwnNon-Compl

MOSCOW PRESSING FOR CFE TREATY RATIFICATION DESPITE ITS OWN NON-COMPLIANCE
By Vladimir Socor

Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
May 17 2006

Amid a deep secrecy that belies its democratic professions, the OSCE is
preparing to hold a Conference to Review the Operation of the Treaty
on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) in Vienna at the end of this
month. Some West European chancelleries are seeking ways to give in to
Moscow’s main goal at this conference: ratification of the 1999 treaty
at the expense of a few small countries in Europe’s East. Thus far,
Moscow has only managed to persuade Belarus, Ukraine (during Leonid
Kuchma’s presidency), and Kazakhstan to ratify that treaty.

Originally signed in 1990, the CFE Treaty underwent adaptation at the
1999 OSCE Istanbul summit, in one package with the Final Act that
includes what came to be known as Russia’s “Istanbul Commitments”;
namely, to withdraw its forces from Georgia and Moldova. While the
original 1990 treaty remains in force, the 1999-adapted treaty
never entered into force because Russia has not fulfilled those
commitments. Moreover, Armenian forces deploy Russian-supplied heavy
weaponry exceeding CFE treaty limits in areas seized from Azerbaijan,
out of bounds to international inspection.

Meanwhile, Russia seeks to extend the CFE Treaty’s area of
applicability so as to include the three Baltic states, which were
not parties to the 1990 treaty (they were still occupied by Moscow
at that time). Since the Baltic states joined NATO, Russia seeks
to bring them under the purview of the 1999-adapted CFE treaty and
start negotiations with them about limiting allied forces that might
hypothetically be deployed to the Baltic states’ territories, for
example in crisis contingencies. Legally, however, the Baltic states
cannot join an unratified treaty.

Thus, Russia is now pressing for the treaty’s speedy ratification
by all state-parties, so as to make possible the Baltic states’
accession to the ratified treaty, while still keeping Russian troops
on Georgia’s and Moldova’s territories in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and
Transnistria. Moscow calculates that Western consent to ratification
of the 1999 treaty in such circumstances would legitimize, prolong,
and even legalize the stationing of Russian troops in Georgia and
Moldova as “peacekeepers.”

To pave the way for such an outcome, Moscow has agreed with Georgia
to close Russian bases and military installations situated deep
inside the country by 2008 (nine years after its pledge to do so);
but it insists on maintaining its “peacekeeping” forces in Abkhazia
and South Ossetia while heavily arming its proxy forces there. Russia
had liquidated most of its treaty-limited weaponry in Transnistria
already in 2001; but retains a part of it to this day, has transferred
another part as well as personnel to Transnistria-flagged forces,
and openly repudiates the obligation to withdraw Russia’s own troops,
styled as “peacekeepers.”

The United States as well as NATO collectively take the position
that ratification of the adapted CFE Treaty is inseparably linked
to fulfillment of Russia’s commitments to withdraw its forces from
Georgia and Moldova; and that the Baltic states would accede to the
treaty, once it enters into force.

Russia has drafted its version of a decision for the CFE Treaty Review
conference and wants negotiations on its basis in the OSCE’s Joint
Consultative Group (JCG), the Vienna forum of the 30 state-parties to
the treaty. Moscow’s draft claims, “Most commitments and arrangements
mentioned in the [1999] Final Act are either already fulfilled or
are in the process of fulfillment, [while] the implementation of
the remaining ones has no direct relevance to the CFE Treaty and
depends on the progress of conflict settlement on the territories
of some State Parties.” It proposes that all state parties should
deem the 1999 treaty as valid from October 2006, start the national
ratification procedures, bring the treaty into force in 2007, and
“discuss the possibility of accession of new participants.”

The translation: Although Russia has far from completely honored
its force-withdrawal commitments, the state-parties (mostly NATO and
European Union member countries) should agree that is has. Thus, they
should: proceed with the Moscow-desired ratification of the treaty;
de-link ratification from the fulfillment of Russia’s withdrawal
commitments, using the conflicts for an excuse; lean on Georgia,
Moldova, and Azerbaijan to accept the situation and ratify the
treaty; and start the procedure of the Baltic states’ accession to
the force-limiting treaty.

Some German, French, Belgian, and other diplomats are now exploring
a solution that could allow Russia to claim that it has fulfilled
its troop-withdrawal commitments. Such a solution would:

1) exempt Russia’s “peacekeeping” troops from the obligation
to withdraw, recognizing their hitherto unrecognized role as
“peacekeepers” and allowing them to stay on;

2) silently tolerate the arsenals of CFE treaty-limited weaponry that
Russia has transferred to proxy forces in Transnistria, Abkhazia,
and South Ossetia, as well as the deployments inside Azerbaijan; and

3) elicit consent from Tbilisi, Chisinau, and Baku with such a
solution.

It would seem that the secrecy surrounding the JCG debates in Vienna
and the ironing out of common positions at the EU in Brussels is a
propitious atmosphere for a compromise with Moscow at the expense
of small countries. Lack of transparency in Vienna also tends to
facilitate undercutting or diluting the U.S. and collective NATO
position on these issues through initiatives from a few important
European capitals.

(JCG documents, May 2006)

It Is 16 Years Pupils Have Lessons In Half-Dark Wagons In Village Of

IT IS 16 YEARS PUPILS HAVE LESSONS IN HALF-DARK WAGONS IN VILLAGE OF DITAVAN, TAVUSH REGION

Noyan Tapan
May 16 2006

NOYEMBERIAN, MAY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The 8-form school of the village of
Ditavan, Tavush region, has 50 pupils, but the one-storeyed school
building is too small and since 1990, 3 wagon-houses also have been
serving as classrooms.

One wagon-house is used as a canteen. As form master of primary school
Nunik Ghazarian said in her talk with Noyan Tapan correspondent,
these wagon-houses are dark and the pupils of the primary school
complain that they do not see the letters well. It is very hot in the
wagon-houses in winter and they have to air the classroom 10 times
during a lesson. Due to lack of a gymnasium the lessons of physical
culture are held in the school corridor in winter.

According to school headmaster Armen Hakhverdian, they have repeatedly
promised to build a new building for the school in the past years,
even a territory near the school was allotted for this purpose but
the construction has not started.

Opposition Leader Calls Armenian Leader “Bad Manager”

OPPOSITION LEADER CALLS ARMENIAN LEADER “BAD MANAGER”

Mediamax news agency
16 May 06

Yerevan, 16 May: The leader of the National Democratic Union [NDU],
Vazgen Manukyan, today described Armenian President Robert Kocharyan as
“a bad manager” and compared him with “a tank driver, sweeping away
everything in his path”.

Speaking at a news conference in Yerevan today, the leader of the
NDU said that the Orintas Yerkir [Law-Governed Country] Party which
had pulled out of the ruling coalition has become “another victim”
of the state management system which has disastrous shortcomings”.

Vazgen Manukyan said that the Orinats Yerkir Party “was removed from
power under pressure from the president and nobody can be insured
against such a blow”.

The leader of the NDU called on opposition forces to unite and to
establish a new public and political field, “which will not only aim
to change the management system but also to establish dual power in
the country”.

The Darfur Tragedy : The Islamic World Needs To Speak Out Loudly

THE DARFUR TRAGEDY : THE ISLAMIC WORLD NEEDS TO SPEAK OUT LOUDLY
Pakistan Link, Abubakr G. Shaikh

New California Media, CA
May 15 2006

The blood-thirsty and the much feared Sudanese militia, known as
Janjawed, has been trained by the Sudanese army with the explicit
purpose of ridding Darfur villages of black Muslims. They race their
camels and machinegun- mounted trucks through the villages, shooting
indiscriminately at the helpless and unarmed villagers. These barbarous
butchers are aided helicopter gunships to maximize the terror and
mayhem so that none could dare to return. Men, women and children
are virtually mowed down without mercy. When the mayhem is complete,
the victims’ bodies are dismembered, sprayed with oil and burnt
alongside their huts. The livestock and young women are spared to
be taken away as the war booty. The women are routinely kidnapped,
raped and enslaved as serfs and domestic servants. They tend the
farms and cattle of the brown skinned Arabs and satisfy their lust
and give birth to the Arab progeny to replace the black population.

Slavery is an ugly blot on the Islamic faith. Despite the immense
compassion shown by the holy Prophet, peace be upon him, for the
oppressed, poor and children, it is an irony that slavery is still part
of the Sharia. The glorious Qur’an says: “O mankind We have created you
from a single male and a female and made you into nations and tribes
that you may know one another. Verily the most honorable in you in the
sight of Allah is that who has At-Taqwa (pious and righteous person)
who fear Allah much and love Allah much.”(49.13).

Color, creed or caste, does not distinguish a person from the other
in Islam and given that all people are born equal how could slavery
be justified?

The Darfurians have a valid claim on their sacred lands from where
they are being consistently and systematically uprooted. They are the
original natives, not the Arabs whose forefathers came to the region
with a noble cause: delivering the message of peace and not to rule or
drive the Darfurians away from their homelands .They were received
well by their hosts and they in turn served them well. However,
their descendents have followed a path of savagery, prejudice and
hate, breaking every rule of civility, all principles of humanity,
and the basic tenets of Islam.

The merciless genocide has gone on unchecked for the past two years
and while the actual death toll is difficult to estimate, close to
200,000 innocent people have been butchered in this worst scenario
of ethnic cleansing according to some sources – the biggest carnage
after Rwanda and Bosnia. More than two millions have been rendered
homeless. Milovesic must have been wondering in his grave what did
he do to deserve the Hague trial! The United Nations’ duplicity and
double standards are also evident from the fact that it actively got
involved in East Timur and Sudan’s other conflict based on religion
with its southern region whereas in this conflict based on color
prejudice there are no signs of urgency on the part of the world
body. The world remains cool and impassive because of global oil
interests tainted with the blood of the innocent Darfurians.

In their quest to complete the annihilation of black Muslins,
Sudan’s army supported by its notorious militia, continues to chase
and attack refugee camps inside the neighboring country Chad. Sudan
is also accused by the president of Chad to be actively involved
in its nefarious activities to destabilize his regime by providing
aid to rebels to instigate a revolt in Chad. The aim is to install
a proxy government, which in collaboration with Sudan, will wipe out
the entire black Muslim population of Darfur. The only crime of these
unfortunate and helpless people is the color of their skin and their
Islamic faith, Islam, whose basic tenets call for eradication of all
kind of prejudices.

How much longer can they endure and keep their faith in Islam?

Perhaps they must already be thinking of other options for their
survival while the Islamic world remains unmoved. Its silence and
indifference is staggering. The catastrophe is of a colossal nature,
but it has not moved the hearts of 1.2 billion Muslims of the world
who only recently reacted violently to the much less critical issue
of the cartoon controversy. The entire Muslim community from one
end of the globe to the other, erupted in furor, over-reacting to
the controversy in a manner that seemed to suggest that Islam was in
eminent danger. The irrational behavior led to many deaths of innocent
citizens, loss of property and revenue, and contra-productive results
in the form of severe criticism on the conduct of Muslims by the
international press. However, not a single protest march took place
on the massacre and carnage of 200,000 Muslims at the hand of fellow
Muslims in Darfur.

One wonders about the priorities of the Ummah. The Qur’an is very
specific on resolving disputes and making reconciliation between two
Islamic factions. Allah has ordained: “And if two parties or groups
among the believers fall into fighting ,then make peace between them
both and if one of them rebels against the other then fight you against
the one that which rebels till it complies with the command of Allah
then if it complies then make reconciliation between them justly and
be equitable”(49: 9,10) Every big fire starts with a small spark, each
movement is the brainchild of an individual and eventually transforms
into a revolution, every hurricane develops from the buildup of winds
and waves.

Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist and champion of the
oppressed people around the world, has tirelessly raised awareness
on the Darfur genocide in the past two years. The spark now seems
to have developed into a sizeable flame. Here in the United States,
with the steady involvement of the common people, religious leaders,
organizations, human rights activists, college and universities
students – the flame is getting larger every day. In contrast tothe
Muslim world’s apathy, the Jewish, Evangelical, Armenian and human
rights organizations are in the forefront of building alliances,
pressure and lobbying groups to get the administration involved in
ending the genocide in Darfur. I had counted more than 60 nationwide
Jewish organizations’ names which sponsored a full-page protest in the
Columbus Dispatch, the leading newspaper of Ohio on the insensitivity
of the Bush administration to the Darfur genocide. I am sure similar
protest ads must have appeared in all major newspapers nationwide. The
Jews’ sensitivity reflects their having suffered the worst genocide
in human history. This movement is gathering momentum and now has
reached colleges and universities, churches and synagogues. These
groups also arranged a million march to Capital Hill. No name of
any Muslim organization appeared in the protest march nor any public
statements appeared on the subject in any newspaper.

Some hopes have started to build as there are indications that
president Bush might take an initiative to involve UN troops in
Darfur yet nothing concrete has emerged so far. Meanwhile, Sudan
has successfully persuaded South Africa to stay for six more months
in Darfur and delay in handing over charge to the UN. What sinister
motive is behind this move is not clear yet.

One regrets the snail-pace response of the UN and the confounding
apathy of the Muslim world to the unfolding tragedy.

Train With Military Hardware To Cross Azerbaijan Without Stops

TRAIN WITH MILITARY HARDWARE TO CROSS AZERBAIJAN WITHOUT STOPS
by Viktor Shulman

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 15, 2006 Monday 10:38 AM EST

Azerbaijan will give the green light to the first train with military
hardware and munitions from the Russian military base in Akhalkalaki,
southern Georgia, heading for Russia, Azerbaijani First Deputy
Transport Minister Musa Panakhov told Itar-Tass on Monday.

The train is expected to reach the Georgian-Azerbaijani border at
19:00 Moscow time and after the customs clearance procedures will
continue towards its destination.

“The train will run across Azerbaijan without stops. It will be
accompanied by special services to the Russian border,” he said.

“It will reach the Azerbaijani-Russian border at 16:30 Moscow time
on May 16, as expected.”

“The Russian Defence Ministry’s military are accompanying the
train en route,” a source at the Russian Embassy in Azerbaijan told
Itar-Tass. “The trainload will be checked in compliance with the
protocol signed earlier. All containers are sealed.”

A group of Georgian military will escort the train to the Azerbaijani
border.

The train left Tsalka, 50 kilometers away from Akhalkalaki, southern
Georgia, earlier in the day. The Georgian Railways-owned 19-carriage
train will bring to Russia seven T-72 tanks, eight reconnaissance
vehicles, four infantry combat vehicles, four communication vans and
340 boxes with rockets for GRAD launchers.

Under the agreements reached between Russia and Georgia, the withdrawal
of Russian bases from Akhalkalaki should be completed in 2007.

This year, 19 trainloads are expected to bring back to Russia all
hardware. The departures of other trains are scheduled for May 23,
25 and 30.

Part of the hardware and munitions will be redeployed to the Russian
base of Gyumri, in Armenia. The first truck convoy will leave for
Gyumri on May 18.

When all personnel, munitions and material supplies have been pulled
out of Akhalkalaki by late 2007, the base will be closed.

Operation To Recover A-320 Black Boxes To Start May 16

OPERATION TO RECOVER A-320 BLACK BOXES TO START MAY 16
by Galina Solodovnikova

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 13, 2006 Saturday

An operation to recover flight recorders from the Armenian Airbus-320
passenger plane that crashed in the Black Sea off Sochi on May 3 will
begin on Tuesday, May 16, Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin
said on Saturday.

He said equipment for the operation was being loaded in the port of
Novorossiisk. The equipment will be ready for use by Monday. “We plan
to start the operation on Tuesday,” the minister said.

According to experts, the operation may take two to three days.

Beyond that everything will depend on the weather, Levitin said.

In his words, it will take about a month or two to “read” the data
from the flight recorders. “We hope that the operation to lift [the
flight recorders] will go well,” he added.

The flight recorders are lying on the seabed 496 metres from the
surface and about five metres apart. “The visibility is sufficient
for the work to be done,” the minister said.

Of 113 people who were abroad the plane, 51 bodies have been found
so far.

The Airbus A-320 of the Armenian airline Armavia plunged into the
Black Sea as it was making a landing manoeuvre in the early hours of
May 3. The accident claimed the lives of 113 people.