Author: Mamian George

KESKIN: “THE CAMPAIGN IS MANIPULATED”
Ayse Durukan

BÝA, Turkey
June 8 2006

Istanbul – Human Rights Association (HD) Istanbul branch former chair
Eren Keskin held a press conference this week in relation to the
“violet condemnation” of her by 20 women organisations through public
advertisements in the Hurriyet and Cumhuriyet newspapers.

During the conference and a subsequent exclusive interview with Bianet,
Keskin said she did not believe the text of the advert was from the
women organisations themselves adding that the attack against her
person appeared to stem from a single source. She also recalled that
after similar kinds of public criticism, former chairman of the IHD
Akin Birdal was shot in an assassination attempt.

IHD chairman Yusuf Alatas, IHD Istanbul Branch chair Hurriyet Sener
and Derya Demirtas and Feray Salman of the Network of Solidarity with
Eren Keskin accompanied Keskin at her conference.

Keskin: I invite them to act with responsibility

“It is an extremely painful situation for a woman or women
organisations to issue an advertisement inviting violence” Keskin said.

“It is sad for a women to do this to a woman. Those who identify
themselves as feminists should first stand up against militarism. If
they are not doing this, they should then ask themselves how much of
women rights defenders they are”.

Keskin invited those who issued the adverts against her to act with
responsibility and asked “after this advertisement, if some people
come up and take their own initiative, are they then going to feel
responsible to this?”

Interview with Keskin

Following her press conference, Keskin was interviewed by Bianet
asked and replied to various questions pertaining to the situation.

You are a woman, so are they. Why are they attacking you?

“I do not believe this attack directed at me is has been writer by
the women organisations. I believe it stems from the same place. I
have been receiving threats for years. I am one of the persons who
the Chief of General Staff has filed a [criminal] complaint against.

I believe this text is not very independent.

“Because in relation to this incident, to the speech, while Necla
Arat filed a criminal complaint they did it together with the Chief
of General Staff. Arat testified against me at court”.

What does being a persona non grata mean?

“For instance, I would immediately rush to an injustice inflicted
on a Kemalist woman. I would not think she is a Kemalist. If I
did, I would not be a women’s rights advocate. They, on the other
hand, do not approach it in this way. In my view what determines
them primarily is their Kemalist identity. Their other identities
come after that. This is where the problem is. To me this is really
painful. They have declared me a persona non grata, they are condemning
me ‘violently’. As it is, declaring someone as persona non grata
means getting rid of them.

“Because, in the year 98, such articles, advertisements came out
against Akin Birdal and a short while later Akin Birdal was shot.

Because of this I invite them to rethink this. Will they be able to
get out from under such a responsibility? There are people in this
society who could read this advertisement and act in rage”.

Are you being protected?

“No I am not protected.”

Have you applied for protection?

“No. But in the year 1999, at the time [outlawed Kurdistan Workers
Party leader] Abdullah Ocalan was brought [to Turkey], I was one of
his lawyers. At that time Osman Baydemir and I were receiving a lot
of threats. The state proposed to give us protection. At that time we
rejected this. They have to protect us anyway. This is their duty. I
did not see it necessary to constantly go around with policemen. ”

One of the accusations against you is that you are with the PKK. Are
you a member of the PKK?

“Of course I am not. I am an advocate of human rights. Other than this,
in every speech I made I have voiced that violence is not a solution
to the Kurdish problem, that the time of armed struggle in the world
had passed by, that violence strengthened militarism. I have never
been a member of any organisation but I am a lawyer of PKK cases. I
have acted as attorney to them and to various Kurdish and socialist
circles. I have also acted as attorney to Abdullah Ocalan.

These are separate things.

“This is my profession. I am a lawyer who attends political trials. I
also defend a democratic solution to the Kurdish problem and even the
right of the Kurdish people to determine their own fate. I voice this
everywhere. In any case it is the easiest thing to declare you as a PKK
member when you say anything against the red points of militarism. A
very easy method.”

You said that women should review their policies on issues such as
the Cyprus question and other issues. Do you think it is easy for
women to conduct politics?

“Women live through all forms of oppression with double the impact.

Their fronts are closed. They cannot go out on the street. Not every
woman is like us. If she does not have economic freedom, how will she
conduct politics? I believe that an antimilitarist policy is necessary
and that this can only be achieved by antimilitarist feminists and
homosexuals. Because in my view these are sections that are totally
void of any prejudice. I do not even believe socialists are void
of prejudice.”

Does prejudice increase pressure?

“Prejudice and those prejudiced against are being distanced. I
think those who face prejudice are the ones who most understand what
militarism is pressing upon them. In my view militarism is not on
the agenda of many organisations in Turkey who see their place in
the opposition front.”

Currently there are debates on new human rights, women rights,
children rights. What do you think about these?

“Of course international law has made some gains. We cannot deny
this. But I believe that the international law system is extremely
dominated by men and is militarist.

“If one needs to cite an example, thousands of women following World
War I and World War II were raped as it happens during all wars. But
the Tokyo and Nurenburg trials did not accept that rape was a war
crime. Whereas after the clashes Bosnia and Ruanda, as result of the
struggle of the women there, it was regarded as a war crime.

“Still the Convention on Immigrant Rights does not accept violence
against women as a single reason for asylum.

“Or conscientious objection. It is still not given as a duty for
state by international law. It is only in the Copenhagen criteria
and with an open end. In other words, these show that international
law is dominated by men and is militarist throughout the world. These
examples show this openly.

What lies behind the attack on you by woman organisations that identify
themselves as feminist?

“First of all, in feminism, feminists must definitely be
antimilitarist… Feminists also stand up against racism, chauvinism,
capitalism, the effects of these on women and to all other forms of
influences and pressures. This is what I see as feminism.

“But unfortunately in Turkey the official ideology is always that of
a Turkish style feminism. A Turkish style environmentalism. A Turkish
style socialism. In other words it always gets caught somewhere at
one point. Not just for women. Because of this I believe those who
identify themselves as feminist and those who say the are advocates of
women rights should oppose all of those red points that are created
by militarism. For instance the Cyprus issue, the Armenian genocide,
the Kurdish issue. In other words, I believe they need to re-evaluate
themselves on all issues.

–Boundary_(ID_tLhOcvM+4B6ZdPfNd9VHSQ)–

BTC AS “SECURITY GUARANTEE” FOR NAGORNO KARABAKH: INTERVIEW WITH IVAN DANILIN

Regnum, Russia
June 7 2006

Ivan Danilin – senior researcher of the Institute of World Economy
and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences

REGNUM: Mr. Danilin, during their last summit in Kiev the GUAM
member-states proposed giving up the idea to operate the Odessa-Brody
oil pipeline on a reversion basis and returning to the initial idea
to supply Caspian oil via Ukraine to Europe. How realistic is this
prospect given Azerbaijan’s position? What is the export potential
of Azerbaijan?

Azerbaijan will hardly be able to join Odessa-Brody in the mid-term
future because this project is technically and financially difficult.

To get geo-politically and economically expedient, this pipeline
should be prolonged to Plock, a Polish city having an oil refinery.

Besides, it is still unclear who will pay for the more expensive
Azeri oil: it will be more costly than the Russian oil because of
transshipments in Supsa and Odessa. It is also unclear if Azerbaijan
will find enough oil for Odessa-Brody (-Plock) – in fact, it can’t
supply enough even for BTC and will hardly be able to till 2007,
at earliest.

Today Azerbaijan is a significant but not very big fuel supplier in the
world. According to various forecasts, after 2008 Azerbaijan will be
able to supply some 35-40 mln tons a year via BTC. True, Azeri experts
say that they have found some new capacities at Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli
but they will be able to specify them only after prospecting. Speaking
of the importance of the Azeri oil, we can just say that, even at
its full capacity, BTC will ensure only 1.5% of the world oil supplies.

REGNUM: What does the launch of BTC mean for the world and the
region? What are the chances of Kazakhstan’s joining the project?

Internationally, the BTC launch has rather small consequences. The
key result of BTC is that the post-Soviet states have taken
a psychologically important step outside the Russian oil transit
monopoly in the post-Soviet area.

This is a good stimulus for the development of an alternative export
system, and Kazakhstan will certainly try to join it. For Astana, BTC
(especially when it is extended) will become not so much the “main
window” into the world (something they in Russia were afraid of)
as an additional though significant channel it can use to diversify
its oil transit routes.

One can’t say that the launch of BTC will drastically change the
situation in the South Caucasus or Central Asia.

For the region, BTC is of dual significance. On the one hand, it will
strengthen the positions of Azerbaijan and, partly, of Georgia. Baku
will get less dependent on Moscow. On the other hand, the situation
is not as clear as it seems. First, if formerly Baku was heavily
dependent on US support in the BTC project, now that the Azeri oil
has got access to the world markets, this dependence will go into the
past. It is also clear that BTC will not be able – as one might expect
before – to make, say, Georgia independent from Russia in finance and,
consequently, in energy and economy.

Meanwhile, BTC will obviously enhance stability in the region. One
can’t but agree with some Armenian representatives who have been
saying for two years already that BTC is “a security guarantee”
for Armenia and – let’s add – Nagorno Karabakh. Its closeness to the
Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian borders reduces the possibility of a
large-scale armed conflict in the region.

REGNUM: Since recently GUAM is called energy NATO. Do you agree with
this term, if yes what can Russia counterpoise to this bloc in energy?

“Energy NATO” is not very correct term for the Organization for
Democratic Development-GAUM (ODD-GUAM). Energy NATO is generally
applied to the informal Poland-led union in Eastern and South-Eastern
Europe (initiated during the January Summit in Davos).

In fact, given the mostly political demand for the Caspian
oil in Ukraine, Moldova, Poland – GUAM may try to carry out the
Odessa-Brody-Plock project or simply supply Azeri oil to Ukraine (with
an oil refinery to be set up in Odessa). All this depends on whether
the US and the EU will lend money for the completion and operation of
the Odessa-Brody-Plock oil pipeline and on whether Ukraine, Moldova
and Poland will be able to afford the expensive Caspian oil.

This scenario is hardly possible but may well be if the world oil
prices continue to grow and if Russia continues toughening its energy
policy. Much more realistic is the project of moderate supplies of
Azeri oil to the Odessa oil refinery – but still not in the near
future.

REGNUM: How topical is the Burgas-Alexandroupolis project and why is
it being delayed?

The key problem of this project is, like in the case of Odessa-Brody,
multiple (in the case of Burgas-Alexandroupolis – triple) oil
transshipment. This makes the project more expensive and the Russian
oil less competitive as compared with the Azeri oil from BTC.

Under new conditions Russia is staking on the northern route (the
Baltic pipeline system), but is also considering alternatives – Italy
is already drafting a Samsun-Ceyhan project for Russian oil. There
are other scenarios too.

On the whole, the prospect of this project is still very vague and
like in the case of Blue Flow, Russia may prefer (at least partly)
to use the “Turkish transit” – as, in any case, Burgas-Alexandroupolis
will not be able to “cover” the whole southern transit of the Russian
oil. Meanwhile, the “Turkish scenario” is not desirable geo-politically
as it will change nothing in the price scheme. As you may understand,
the Russian authorities are wavering, but delay may cost them dear,
especially as Turkey is obviously planning to further toughen its
Bosporus and Dardanelles transit regime.

ARMENIA, UKRAINE WIN CHESS MEET

Viet Nam News, Vietnam
June 7 2006

HA NOI – Armenian men won the gold medal after a draw with their
Hungarian rivals at the last round of the Chess Olympiad at Turin.

The Armenian men’s team, seeded No 3, grabbed two points from two
draws and one win in the last three round, earning them 36 points to
triumph at the tournament.

The second and third place belong to China and USA, respectively.

The Russian team, who was expected to take the title, lost in the
last round against Israel and ranked sixth with 32 points.

Meanwhile the women’s title went to the Ukrainian team with 29.5
points, followed by Russia and China.

Vietnamese men’s team who was number 37 seed at the tournament dropped
to 39th place with 29 points due to their poor performance in rounds
11 and 12 after their 2.5-1.5 victory over Slovakia in the last round
on Sunday.

Grand Master (GM) Tu Hoang Thong (Elo rated 2457) and International
Master (IM) Le Quang Liem (2473) won two matches against two stronger
contenders GM Gennadij Timoscenko (2482) and IM Tomas Petrik (2515),
respectively. Their wins were enough for Viet Nam to pocket victory
in the last round of the tournament after GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son,
2555, drew with GM Igor Stohl, 2538, in an earlier match.

Only GM Nguyen Anh Dung (2542) played under his capacity, losing to
GM Lubomir Ftacnik (2597) in the final match on Sunday.

However, the win was not enough for them to rank higher in the table,
mainly due to their failures two rounds earlier.

Viet Nam lost 1-3 to Azerbaijan who were ninth-seeded last Saturday
and drew 2-2 with Belarus, seed No 19, one day before.

IM Liem was promoted to International Grand Master after excellent
results at the championship, scoring 9.5 points himself with seven
wins, five draws and one loss.

The 15-year-old Liem has clinched many titles in the past years
including a silver medal in the U-10 category in Spain in 2000, a
silver medal in the U-16 of the Asia Chess Championship and a silver
medal in the U-12 Chess Championship in Halkidiki, Greece.

He also won the U-14 title in the World Junior Chess Championship in
Belford, France, two years ago.

In the women’s tournament, Viet Nam team played successfully moving
to the 15th position finally after one win, one draw and one loss in
the last three rounds. They pocketed 23 points.

On Sunday, the Woman Grand Master (WGM) Nguyen Thi Thanh An (2317)
tied by Cuban WGM Sulennis Pina Vega in the first game. Her teammate
WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram, rating 2349, lost to the Woman FIDE Master
(WFM) Jennifer Perez Rodriguez, 2263.

In the last match, WFM Nguyen Thanh Tu, 2239, took the only win for
Viet Nam, beating Maritza Aribas Robaina (2235).

NO HEADWAY ON KARABAKH SETTLEMENT AT BUCHAREST MEETING

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Military Newswire
June 6, 2006 Tuesday 11:52 AM MSK

A recent meeting of Armenian President Robert Kocharian and his
Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Bucharest did not make
any progress toward a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian told journalists.

“In spite of a good atmosphere, no progress was made,” Oskanian, who
accompanied the Armenian president during his visit to Bucharest, said.

“At their recent meeting in Bucharest, the presidents could not resolve
the issue, the same issue they failed to resolve during their meeting
in Rambouillet, France, in February, although the Russian, French
and U.S. co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group presented proposals
discussed in Rambouillet, but in a slightly different format,” he said.

“The fact that the two countries’ presidents ordered their foreign
ministers to continue taking steps to bridge the gap between their
positions on the issue is already an achievement,” the minister said.

During their February meeting in France, Kocharian and Aliyev failed
to reach an agreement on the main principles of the settlement.

BLACK SEA SUMMIT OPEN IN ROMANIAN CAPITAL; SMUGGLING ROUTES, ENERGY, POLLUTION ON AGENDA
Alison Mutler

AP Worldstream
Jun 05, 2006

Leaders of Black Sea countries met on Monday for a summit aimed at
combatting the region’s drug- and people-smuggling networks, finding
ways of tackling pollution and discussing alternative energy routes.

The Black Sea region faces “new threats caused by criminality and
terrorism, and insecurity caused by the security of energy (supplies),
and we are called to manage this and improve it,” Romanian President
Traian Basescu said. “We know our problems …

they are problems inherited from a difficult past, but there is the
real potential for development.”

The main topics on the summit’s agenda would be environment protection,
regional cooperation, joint energy projects, combatting cross-border
crime and improving infrastructure.

“Putting the Black Sea on the map is a challenge in itself,” Romanian
Foreign Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu said in opening the summit.

Among those attending were Presidents Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine,
Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia, Robert Kocharian of Armenia, Vladimir
Voronin of Moldova and Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan, as well as officials
from Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece and Lithuania.

Top officials from NATO, the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe, the United Nations and the Council of Europe were also
attending the summit.

Russia declined to send a high-level official to the summit, but
requested observer status. In his speech, Basescu called on Russia
to take part in the region’s future development.

“Romania considers that a regional cooperation process cannot take
place without Russia,” he said, pointing to the “rich social, political
and economic resources,” that Russia has. Russia was represented at
the summit by its ambassador to Romania, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
Corina Vintan said.

J.D. Crouch II, the U.S. deputy national security adviser, praised
the Black Sea initiative, and said that Washington would contribute
to a public-private partnership called the Black Sea Trust, which
will fund programs to strengthen cross-border cooperation, democratic
governance and the rule of law.

“The American people understand that secure borders in the Black Sea
region enhance their own security, because they impede the global
trade in weapons, dangerous technologies and human beings.”

Kocharian and Aliev were expected to discuss the status of
Nagorno-Karabakh on the sidelines of the summit. Talks between the two
leaders in France in February ended in failure, despite international
mediators’ efforts to push the leaders to resolve the enclave’s status.

Aliev’s spokesman, Novruz Mammadov, told Azerbaijani state television
OTV Sunday that a settlement for Nagorno-Karabakh could only occur
“within the framework of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and
according to the norms of international law,” something he said
Armenia did not agree with. He added that talks were difficult, but
“there are hopes that certain steps forward will be taken.”

Nagorno-Karabakh is inside Azerbaijan but populated mostly by ethnic
Armenians, who have run it since an uneasy 1994 cease-fire ended six
years of full-scale war. Sporadic border clashes have grown more
frequent since the breakdown of talks. The lack of resolution has
hindered development throughout the strategic region.

On Sunday, Basescu met separately with Kocharian and Aliev to discuss
ways to reach a settlement for Nagorno-Karabakh, Basescu’s office
said in a statement.

Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia directly border
the Black Sea, which is one of the world’s most polluted seas.

Its only outlet is via Turkey’s Bosphorus Straits.

MAJORITY OF WELSH MEMBERS OF THE UK PARLIAMENT RECOGNISE THE ARMENIAN AND ASSYRIAN GENOCIDE

ArmRadio.am
05.06.2006 18:11

Following intensive lobbying,over half the eligible Welsh
Representatives of the UK Parliament have signed a motion recognising
the Armenian and Assyrian Genocide of 1915. The Motion is called
“Early Day Motion number 1454” and the Welsh Members of the London
parliament, in doing this, follow the example of the majority of
National Assembly of Wales Members who did the same on 30th October
2002 and also Gwynedd County Council, North West Wales who did so in
March 2004 and Cardiff City Council which did so in September 2004.

“This is a historic day for Wales” said a Spokesman for Wales-Armenia
Solidarity. “There can no longer be any doubt that Wales has recognised
the Armenian and Assyrian Genocides. For seven hundred years during
the period of English rule, our voice was silenced on international
issues. We have now a consensus on a serious international issue that
differs signifigantly from UK government policy…Our priority will
be to put the issue of restitution and reparations for the genocide on
the political agenda.The reunification of Armenia must no longer be a
taboo suibject during Turkey’s accesion talks. We in Wales can raise
our voice to insist that Turkey should yeild back land to the Armenian
nation if it is to acceed to the European Union,” the Spokesman said.

AZG Armenian Daily #100, 01/06/2006

Cinema

`NAMUS’ TO OPEN GOLDEN APRICOT FILM FESTIVAL

The first Armenian fiction movie “Namus” (honor) will open the 3d
Yerevan Golden Apricot International Film Festival due to be held July
10-15. The movie that celebrates its 80th anniversary this year was
only recently reconstructed. Armen Mazmanian, director of the
Festival, told yesterday’s press conference that the opening and
closing ceremonies of this year will vary from those of the last
year. This year’s celebration will be staged in Yerevan’s streets and
the official ceremony is going to be restrained and less flamboyant.

The list of fiction films is almost complete. In a week the lists of
documentaries and participants of the “Armenian Panorama” contest will
also be completed.

Program director of the festival, Mikael Stambultsian, is unsatisfied
with how the previous festivals were covered by the media and hopes
that this time journalists will more frequently touch on the movies’
content and quality. Part of the works of filmmakers from 58 countries
took part in other festivals as well. Asked if the Golden Apricot aims
at premieres only, Mikael Stambultsian said: “There are more film
festivals in the world than good movies.”

By Tamar Minasian

Paper paints gloomy picture for Armenian leader over Karabakh in Bucharest

Aykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
30 May 06

Text of Anna Akopyan report by Armenian newspaper Aykakan Zhamanak on
30 May entitled “Do not suppress those who are suppressed”

We have already reported that Armenian officials, who are engaged in
the Karabakh settlement, feel rather tense ahead of the Bucharest
meeting between Robert Kocharyan and Ilham Aliyev. This situation
promises nothing good and gives ground to suppose that a document put
on the negotiating table is not so much advantageous to Armenia.

Although Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan on 28 May told journalists
that currently the negotiations were far from being close to the
situation when it would be possible to sign a document in Bucharest.
Oskanyan said that he was aware of a one-page document that might be
put on the table for the presidents in which not all the fixed
principles were agreed on. Thus, despite the minister’s refusal, there
is information that a document just on those principles will be put
for the signing by Kocharyan and Aliyev in Bucharest.

That is to say, this will be an intermediate or a frame document on
Karabakh settlement. But the most important are the principles
existing in the document which have not been agreed on. As known,
first, they mean the number of the Azerbaijani occupied territories
which should be returned in the first stage. Anyway, clash happened
in Rambouillet [Karabakh talks in Paris in February] around this
problem. According to trustworthy sources, at that time, the
Azerbaijani president demanded that Kalbacar should also be returned
and following this Kocharyan refused to continue the talks. After
that several developments took place over this period of time which
created an impression that the problem was settled. This impression
was further strengthened when Armenian president avoided meetings with
Aliyev in Vilnius and Paris and then he finally agreed to meet him in
Bucharest.

But Oskanyan’s statement from 28 May gives ground to suppose that the
Kalbcar problem is not out of the agenda and may be discussed again in
Bucharest.

Thus, if there is such a danger, it would be highly logical if
Kocharyan avoids this meeting, too. Certainly, this is possible but in
order for this happen, it is necessary to get at lest supported by the
OSCE Minsk Group co-chair [of Russia], Yuriy Merzlyakov. But
Kocharyan seems to be deprived of this now. That is to say, it is not
ruled out that Kocharyan tried to avoid the Bucharest meeting as well
but failed. In turn, this may cause a tension and anxiety for the
Armenian side. And if we add to this the expectations of the world
community, the OSCE Minsk Group mediators and the US president that
the sides to the conflict will come to an agreement in Bucharest and
sign a frame document, then the anxiety of the officials involved in
the Karabakh talks is obvious.

The situation is becoming tenser against the backdrop of developing
warm relations between US President George Bush and Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev. Incidentally, the US president did not lose an
opportunity to emphasize not only warmth of those relations but also
their importance once again. In particular, US President George Bush
congratulated Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the Day of
Republic and called their meeting in the White House as a historical
opportunity to develop common interests in the sphere of security,
energy and democracy. But this is not all. According to [Baku-based]
Zerkalo, Bush also mentioned that he is impatiently waiting for
consistent actions from the Azerbaijani president towards a peaceful
settlement to the Karabakh conflict.

Agree that the US president’s “impatience” especially in the message
to the Azerbaijani president is not the best option for the
development of events for Armenia. But Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanyan says that it is not a US style to bargain in such a
situation. In that case, why did George Bush not congratulate
Kocharyan on the Day of First Republic and did not share his
impatience with Kocharyan, too?

Is this not a moral pressure put on Kocharyan before the two
presidents’ meeting in Bucharest? Incidentally, about pressures.
Yesterday Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists that
it was not correct to put pressure on the sides to the Karabakh
settlement. “The sides initiated talks for the settlement of the
conflict and putting pressure on them will backfire,” he said.

EXPERTS NEED ABOUT 2 MONTHS TO ANALYSE DATA FROM CRASHED PLANE

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 31, 2006 Wednesday

It will take a month and a half to two months to analyse data in the
flight data recorders from the Armenian Airbus-320 passenger plane
that crashed in the Black Sea off Sochi on May 3, Transport Minister
Igor Levitin said.

He said about 300 parameters would need to be analysed.

Levitin said Armenian specialists would help with the work because
conversations among the pilots and between the plane and ground
control were in Armenian.

Two flight data recorders from the plane were brought to Paris last
Saturday. Specialists will examine and open the so-called “black
boxes” to retrieve memory microchips that record different flight
data parameters and conversations in the cockpit.

After that the recordings will be analysed in Moscow by experts from
Russia, Armenia, and France.

The head of the CIS Interstate Aviation Committee, Tatyana Anodina,
said about 2,000 planes of the Airbus-320 type are operating around
the world, and everybody wants to get full and objective data about
the accident as soon as possible.

According to Anodina, two black boxes from the crashed plane record
conversations in the cockpit and plane system data. “Unfortunately
the voice recorder was seriously damaged but the data recorder,
according to preliminary information, is in excellent condition.

Recordings will be analysed in Russia, using equipment from France
where the Airbus-320 airliner was designed,” she said.

There were three flight data recorders aboard the plane but no signals
from the third one have ever been registered, which suggests that
its radio beacon was knocked off during the crash.

Flight data recorders used on aircraft of the Airbus-320 type withstand
the depth of up to 6,000 meters for 30 days, experts from the French
air crash investigation bureau said.

Each flight recorder weighs 10 kilograms, including a seven-kilogram
armoured casing for the gadget. The casing can withstand water pressure
at a depth of 6,000 meters, the temperature of 1,100 degrees Celsius,
and the compression of 2.2 tonnes.

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.

AFTER APPEARANCE OF I ALIYEV IN PA NATO, NEW OPINION FORMED ABOUT AZERBAIJAN – NOVRUZOV
Author: J.Shahverdiyev

TREND, Azerbaijan
June 1 2006

The spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO completed
its work, Trend reports with reference to deputy Siyavush Novruzov,
the member of the Azeri delegation in PA NATO and also the deputy
executive secretary of the “Yeni Azerbaijan” (New Azerbaijan) party.

The head of the “Links” Organization (Great Britain) Denis Samut
delivered a report on the topic “The role of NATO in Southern
Caucasus region”. During his appearance, Samut expressed his
opinion about Southern Caucasus including the development process
in Azerbaijan. Another report on this topic was prepared by the
British deputy Stanford. “However, this report was prepared without
visit to the region. The reporter himself said this in his report,”
said Novruzov. The Azeri delegation expressed its opinion related to
the report.

Novruzov told that one of the important aspects of the session of PA
NATO became the appearance of the Azeri president Ilham Aliyev who
participated at the session at the invitation of the president of
the assembly Pyer Lellush. “In his appearance, Aliyev spoke about
the energy security, economic development of Southern Caucasus,
aggression of Armenia and the issue that our occupied territories
still remain uncontrolled. After the appearance, Aliyev answered the
questions of the deputies” said Novruzov.

The Georgian and Azerbaijan presidents personally participated at the
session. The Armenian president gave consent to participate first,
but then, he refused.

After the appearance of Aliyev and the replies to the questions of
deputies, a quite new opinion formed in PA NATO about Azerbaijan. The
Azerbaijani delegation held meeting in respective committees of
the assembly.

The Azeri delegation participated at the spring session of PA NATO
under the leadership of the first deputy chairman of Milli Mejlis
Ziyafet Askerov, the head of our delegation in the organization.

During the session, there was held exchange of opinion related to
the topics such as cooperation in the Black Sea region, the role
of NATO in Southern Caucasus, energy security, security in Asia,
nuclear policy of Iran and other issues.