Author: Tashjian Arbi

ARMAVIA’S A-320 PASSENGER PLANE CRASHES NEAR SOCHI

AZG Armenian Daily
03/05/2006

ARMENIAN DEFENCE MINISTER GOES TO SOCHI TO INVESTIGATE INTO CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE A-320 CRASH

Yerevan, May 3. ArmInfo. Armenian President Robert Kocharyan held
an extraordinary meeting in connection with the crash of Armavia’s
A-320 plane in Sochi.

—————————————— ————————————–

Attending the meeting were Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan, Defence
Minister Serzh Sargsyan, Territorial Administration Minister Hovik
Abrahamyan, Prosecutor General Agvan Hovsepyan, Chief of Police Hayk
Haroutyunyan, Chief of National Security Service Gorik Hakopyan,
Head of Chief Department of Civil Aviation Artem Movsissyan.

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The presidential press service says that Movsissyan reported to
the president on the crash. Kocharyan instructed Defence Minister,
Co-Chair of Armenian-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission Serzh
Sargsyan to go to Sochi to inquire into the circumstances of the
tragedy. A special commission led by Territorial Administration
Minister Hovik Abrahamyan will bring the bodies of the victims to
Armenia and will organize their funerals.

————————————— —————————————–

Prosecu tor General Agvan Hovsepyan said that his office has instituted
a criminal action. Earlier the prosecutor’s office of Krasnodar region
(Russia) instituted criminal proceedings according to article 263
of Russia’s Criminal Code (violation of the rules of security during
aircraft operation causing the death of two and more people).

—————————————- —————————————-

To remind, Armavia’s A-320 plane flying from Yerevan to Sochi crashed
near Sochi 02:15 AM. 113 people (6 children) were onboard. 26 of
them were Russian citizens, 1 woman was from Ukraine, the rest were
Armenian citizens.

————————————— —————————————–

Armavia has opened a hot-line in Yerevan: (+37410) 28-63-56.

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To remind, June 2005 100% of Armavia’s shares were bought by President
of Mika Armenia Trading Mikhail Bagdassarov. In 2005 Armavia’s
passenger turnover was 507,000 people against 380,000 in 2004. In 2004
the crashed A-320 was leased from Vermille International Services B.V.

——————————————– ————————————

77 ARMENIAN AND 28 RUSSIAN CITIZENS WERE ONBOARD THE CRASHED ARMAVIA
PLANE

Yerevan, May 3. ArmInfo. 77 Armenian citizens and 28 Russian citizens,
mostly of Armenian origin, were onboard Armavia’s A-320 plane which
crashed 5 km of Sochi this night, says the head of the chief department
of civil aviation of Armenia Artem Movsissyan.

A total of 113 people were onboard, with the bodies of only 18 ones
found to date.

Movsissyan says that the plane took off from Yerevan 01:47 AM. Because
of bad weather over Georgia the captain decided to go back to Yerevan,
but the controller said that the weather was improving and the plane
could land in Sochi. 03:15 AM the plane disappeared.

According to the preliminary information, the plane crashed because
of bad weather, but the final answer will be given only after the
investigation. Movsissyan says that before the flight the plane was
in normal technical condition and its 10 tons of fuel were enough for
coming back to Yerevan – from Yerevan to Sochi a plane consumes only
3.5 tons of fuel.

Movsissyan says that A-320 was produced in 1995 and was insured.

Today the Armenian President called a meeting and gave instructions to
relevant services. One more Armavia plane with relatives and experts
onboard flew to Sochi today morning.

—————————————- —————————————-

ARMAVIA’ S A-320 PASSENGER PLANE CRASHES NEAR SOCHI

Yerevan, May 3. ArmInfo. A-320 plane of the Armavia company (Armenia)
crashed near Sochi (Russia) today 03:38 AM.

The press secretary of the chief department of civil aviation of
Armenia Gayane Davtyan says that the plane with 105 people onboard
was flying from Yerevan to Sochi. When approaching Sochi, because of
bad weather, the crew was told to make one more turn and suddently
disappeared. Some time later its debris were found in the sea.

According to the preliminary information, all passengers and crew –
65 men, 36 women, 6 children and 8 pilots died.

Davtyan says that 9 experts have gone to Sochi to inquire into the
circumstances of the crash.

—————————————— ————————————–

18 BODIES OF PASSENGERS OF ARMAVIA’S CRASHED PLANE FOUND IN BLACK SEA

Yerevan, May 3. ArmInfo. 18 bodies of passengers of the crashed A-320
plane of the Armavia company (Armenia) have been found in the Black
Sea, report Russian sources. Also found are debris, fragments of
bodies, baggage. The plane fell 300 meters deep into the sea.

It was produced by Airbus Industry, the biggest European concern,
in 1987 for short and medium distance flight. It flew for the first
time Feb 22 1987.

The search is underway. The plane was making a crash landing. It
flew from Yerevan to Sochi and got lost from radars 02:15 AM. The
prosecutor’s office of Sochi has instituted criminal proceedings in
the case “violation of the rules of aircraft exploitation.”

———————————- ———————————————-

AR MENIAN PRESIDENT EXTENDS HIS CONDOLENCES TO RELATIVES AND FRIENDS
OF THOSE KILLED IN TODAY’S AIR CRASH

Yerevan, May 3. ArmInfo. Armenian President Robert Kocharyan extended
his deep condolences to the relatives and friends of the passengers
and the pilots of the Armavia’s plane that crashed today night while
flying from Yerevan to Sochi.

“I was deeply grieved to learn about the night crash.

I extend my deepest condolences to the relatives and friends of the
passengers and the pilots. I assure that all the aggrieved families
will be provided with support and our authorities will do their best
to find out the reasons of the crash,” says Kocharyan.

REQUIEM ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS SERVED AT DER ZOR DESERT

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.05.2006 19:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ At the end of April a traditional pilgrimage
was held to Syrian desert of Der Zor, where hundreds of thousand
Armenians were slaughtered during the Genocide in Ottoman Turkey in
1915. Diaspora representatives, descendants of the killed Armenians
took part in the pilgrimage. A requiem was served at the Der Zor
chapel and the message of Berio Armenian Apostolic Church head,
bishop Shahan Sargsyan was read.

A delegation from Armenian lead by Deputy FM, Ambassador to Syria
Levon Sargsyan and Consul General to Aleppo Armen Melkonyan took part
in the pilgrimage, reports the Press Service of the Armenian MFA.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Azerbaijan’s Activities Jeopardize Regional Stability in South Caucasus

29.04.2006 00:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On the eve of President Bush’s meeting with
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Members of the Congressional
Caucus on Armenian Issues are calling on the U.S. leader to firmly
denounce Azerbaijan’s ongoing war mongering, and other actions,
against the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.

Caucus Co-Chairs Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ),
along with Caucus Members George Radanovich (R-CA) and Adam Schiff
(D-CA), sent a letter to President George Bush that states in part:
`Azerbaijani government officials have consistently threatened war and
fostered anti-Armenian intolerance.

Ignoring international criticism, President Aliyev has repeatedly
declared that Azerbaijan could launch a new military offensive against
Karabakh, and that he is waging a `cold war’ against Armenia where the
ongoing negotiations are only a way to achieve unilateral Armenian
concessions,’ reported the Armenian Assembly of America.

A1+

CAUCASUS WAS RICH WITH EVENTS IN 2005

[04:19 pm] 28 April, 2006

The annual international conference which started today in hotel
`Armenia-Marriott’ was devoted to the tendencies of political, social
and economic development and events in the countries of Northern and
Southern Caucasus.

Scientists, journalists and public figures from Armenia, Georgia,
Russia, Israel and other countries were present at the
conference. Only Azerbaijan was not represented. According to chief
scientific worker of the Russian Academy of Science Alexander Krilov,
the reason was the problem with security guarantees. He himself spoke
about the place of Azerbaijan in the world and the tendencies of its
development.

According to Alexander Krilov, Azerbaijan has the lowest economic
index among all the CIS countries, although the Azeri government has a
different opinion. According to the Russian analyst, the reason of
the low economic index is the increase of the expenses of the budget
after the intensive export of oil, and the shadow economy which forms
about 20-25%. Nevertheless according to the Azeri government, this is
a normal index.

The Azeri opposition claims that the information about opening many
workplaces in Azerbaijan does not correspond to the reality. As for
democracy, all the problems in the country are solved with the special
methods of the authoritarian regime.

Lasha Bakradze, professor of the Management European School, made a
report about Georgia titled «Georgia – 2005: road to future». He
represented the situation in his country after the «rose
revolution» partly with humor, and partly with criticism. He
represented the information about the five fold raise of the budget of
the country and the twofold raise of the old-age pension which
according to him was ridiculous.

«Health examinations are not carried out in the hospitals», he
mentioned adding that the citizens of Georgia must solve their
problems on their own initiative. He said that the index of the
exposure of crimes is still very low, and the conditions in prisons
have not been improved.

Alexander Iskandaryan, the head of the Mass Media Caucasian Institute
made a report about Armenia in 2005 titled «Spiral development of
Armenia». He said hat it is difficult to speak about Armenia in
Armenia and voiced hope that he will not be criticized hard. He
mentioned that alongside with usual inner political problems in this
case the Karabakh conflict is added too. According to him, there is no
progress in this sphere, «The sides meet only in order to arrange
the following meetings».

As for the Armenian opposition, he mentioned that if we used to speak
about weak authorities and weak opposition, now we speak about weak
authorities and absence of opposition. According to Alexander
Iskandaryan, the foreign policy in 2005 lasted 14 months: it started
with the problem of Upper Lars and ended with the raise of the costs
of gas.

Moscow News (Russia)
April 28, 2006

LATEST STABBING DEATH A MYSTERY

By Julia Duchovny The Moscow News

The brutal knifing death of an ethnic Armenian student in a crowded
subway station Saturday afternoon sent shockwaves through a society
already weary with allegations of xenophobia and the debates that
rage around it.

The media has been quick to report attacks against non-Russians,
making them appear more frequent in the last months, while rights
groups warn of growing nationalist tensions across the country. The
act of violence itself is often buried beneath speculations of
various political motivations, and the incident involving Vigen
Abramyants was further complicated by conflicting reports among
police, witnesses, and family.

Racial Hatred or Teenage Spat?

According to initial reports, Vigen (also reported as Vagan)
Abramyants, 17, waiting with friends in the middle of the platform at
central Moscow’s crowded Pushkinskaya Station, when a gang of about
20 young men in black with shaved heads attacked the group, targeting
Abramyants and stabbing him in the heart. The attackers then
dispersed, while Abramyants died in the arms of a friend before help
arrived.

The story changed Monday, however, as police announced that they had
captured a suspect who confessed to the killing. Denis Kulagin, 17,
was said to have been among the group of friends Abramyants had been
waiting with. According to police reports, Kulagin came to the
station with his girlfriend, Zhanna Nefedova, and was waiting for a
group of football fans. Abramyants was in that group and said
something insulting to Zhanna, after which Kulagin allegedly stabbed
him with a knife. “We can definitely say that the killing occurred as
a result of a disagreement,” a police source was quoted by the
state-owned RIA Novosti news agency as saying, “and there was no
racial motivations in this case.”

Some Russian media immediately denounced the official version as
incorrect. The Gazeta daily reported that investigators had a tape of
video surveillance in the station depicting a group of young people
standing on the platform, with one of the individuals suddenly
falling to the ground. The daily quoted the Abramyants family’s
attorney, Simon Tsaturyan, as saying that prosecutors refused to show
him the tape, claiming it did not exist. Izvestia cited the same
tape, but said that the recording showed no signs of skinheads.

But another problem was that there was no knife. The Izvestia daily
reported visiting Zhanna’s family and learning that police had raided
their apartment searching for the weapon. More troubling still was an
interview given by Kulagin’s mother, Olga, to the Komsomolskaya
Pravda tabloid, alleging police pressure. “We were given a choice,”
she reportedly said, “either Denis goes to jail for fifteen years for
a racially-motivated murder, or he gets less if it was over a common
dispute. They promised a suspended sentence…

I insisted that Denis sign the confession that the conflict arose
because of the girl. Then when I got home I realized I had broken his
life.”

The account given by Zhanna’s mother, Olga Nefedova, in an interview
published by Izvestia strangely coincided with Olga Kulagina’s.
Nefedova reportedly did not allow journalists to talk to her
daughter, but recalled how Zhanna spoke of a group of skinheads
looking for a victim. Nefedova denied that Kulagin really killed the
student, and said he told Zhanna to run when the attackers approached
them. Zhanna never actually saw Abramyants getting stabbed, but told
her mother she saw a knife in one of the attacker’s hands.

By Wednesday, police told news agencies they were investigating two
versions of the incident, and could not rule out either Kulagin’s
involvement, nor a racially-motivated attack by skinheads. Kulagin,
who, despite being a minor, was interrogated without an attorney or
his mother present, withdrew his confession.

Subway Fury or Provocative Rumor?

Moscow police were already on heightened alert the weekend of the
killing. Hitler’s birthday is April 20, while two football matches
were being hosted in the city, which tend to draw crowds of rowdy
fans onto public transportation. By Monday, Russian newspapers and
blogs were awash with reports of football hooligans beating up
non-Russians on the Moscow subway. Official reports confirmed another
killing, meanwhile: a Tajik was stabbed to death.

But in another incident Saturday, a few Muscovites reported over the
Internet of being in the middle of a hooligan attack as a group of
young people stormed into a subway car and began beating up
passengers. According to one witness, one of the most seriously
injured victims was a man of non-Russian ethnicity. But there were
several aspects that made the entire story suspect. After the
Gazeta.ru online newspaper ran it, the two witnesses who had first
written about the story in Livejournal deleted their posts.
Meanwhile, the subway police told Gazeta.ru they had heard nothing
whatsoever of the incident. Despite a long thread in Gazeta.ru’s
forum describing similar incidents all over the city, some
journalists became wary that some of these reports were part of a
disinformation campaign – echoing long-time conspiracy theories among
nationalist bloggers that attacks against non-Russians were nothing
but a propaganda campaign to discredit Russia itself.MN

Armen Rustamyan :Armenian Parliament is drafting a ‘roadmap’ plan on
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement

28.04.2006 13:33

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Standing Commission on Foreign Relations of
Armenian National Assembly (NA) is working on a new plan of settlement
of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The plan was initiated by members of the
Commission.

According to the Committee Chair Armen Rustamyan, the plan was due
long time ago. It will give an impetus for parliamentaries of
different political affiliations to develop a joint clear stand on the
NK conflict resolution. To achieve this goal, commission members have
already applied to the 14 political parties represented in the
Armenian Parliament to submit their proposals on statements made in
the report on parliament hearings on Nagorno-Karabakh issue held on
May 29-30, 2005.

CONTINUOUS PRECIPITATIONS AND TEMPERATURE CLOSE TO ZERO NOT HARMFUL TO CULTURED PLANTS

Noyan Tapan
Apr 27 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The recent precipitations and a
temperature close to 0 degrees are not harmful to cultured plants
and will not have a negative impact on the harvest. Head of the Plant
Cultivation and Protection Department of the RA Ministry of Agriculture
Garnik Petrosian stated this on April 27. According to him, on the
night of December 27 the temperature fell to zero degrees in Ararat
valley, but it will not cause damage to the cultured plants. He noted
that the low temperature currently registered in the mountainous
zones of Armenia is harmless as well, because the period of active
vegetation of plants has not yet begun there. No damage was caused to
the areas sown with autumn wheat, and the areas under potato crops. The
department head underlined the snow did not damage the cultured
plants in the foothills at 1,300-1,500 m above sea level. G. Petrosian
said that with the current temperature ranging from 0 to 10 degrees,
heavy precipitations may not cause cultured plants to rot.

RA PRESIDENT EXPECTS NA SPEAKER’S EXPLANATIONS OVER THE LATTER’S STATEMENTS ABOUT ISSUES OF FOREIGN POLICY

Noyan Tapan
Apr 27 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 27, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the “Haykakan Zhamanak”
newspaper, the sitting of the coalition council that recently takes
place at President Robert Kocharian’s office will also touch upon
the issue of Armenian National Assembly Speaker Artur Baghdasarian
soon. According to the daily, Kocharian got indignant with NA Speaker’s
statement in his interview to the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”
German newspaper, that Armenia is going towards NATO and RF should
not stand in this way. And RPA has been angry with Artur Baghdasarian
since the previous four-day session because of the stir made by him
around the 2001-2003 privatization report. And all together will
demand an explanation from Artur Baghdasarian over his expression
that if the coming elections are falsified like the previous ones,
serious changes are awaited in Armenia. In his interview to the
“Golos Armenii” newspaper Robert Kocharian commenting upon Artur
Baghdasarian’s statement about joining NATO said: “Armenia is not going
to join NATO. Membership to the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO) and the current high level of military-technical cooperation
with Russia solve the issue of providing the country’s security to
the suifficient extent”. According to the President, today Armenia
prepares for closer cooperation with the European Union within the
framework of the New Neighborhood policy but “we do not set the issue
of joining EU, either. Armenia’s Euroatlantic ambitions are balanced
and realistic, they are positively perceived by the European structures
and do not give rise to problems in relations with Russia. We voice
our position in Moscow, in Brussels and in Washington,” the President
said. Kocharian also mentioned that NA Speaker is received by him every
week and “it was strange to learn about such viewpoints expressed by
him from the German newspaper”. Besides, according to the President,
the legal-contractual bases of Armenian-Russian relations in the
military-technical sphere, as well as the agreement on membership
to CSTO were ratified by the Armenian parliament, which expresses
Armenia’s position in the sphere of defence. “All officials are obliged
to respect this position,” the President said and emphasized: “By the
way, the country’s foreign policy, according to the Constitution,
is determined by the Armenian President. The Speaker’s statement,
possibly, expresses his changed viewpoint. I think we need to wait for
his explanations over this issue,” the Armenian President emphasized.

KPMG HOSTS WELCOME EVENING FOR NEW PARTNER

AZG Armenian Daily
27/04/2006

A cocktail reception was held at the Golden Tulip Hotel Yerevan on
Tuesday 18th April to welcome Andrew Coxshall and his wife Fiona to
KPMG’s Yerevan Office.

Andrew will be the Partner in Charge of Audit for Armenia and Georgia.

Attending the event were leading members of the business community,
diplomats and government ministers. Special guests included the
Chairman of the Central Bank, Chairmen of several leading Banks,
representative from the British, US and French Embassies, Roger
Robinson, Head of the World Bank in Armenia and Roger Munnings,
CEO for KPMG Russia/ CIS.

Andrew Coxshall, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants
in England and Wales set out that he expects to utilize his extensive
international audit experience to build KPMG’s Audit Practice in the
region. Speaking about Armenia he stated that he is excited about
its future – the current higher than average growth, the investment
potential and the growing opportunities for its people. Impressed by
the high quality of KPMG Armenia’s staff and the excellent educational
standards he anticipates that he will lead KPMG Armenia’s growth in
size and stature, not only in terms of revenue, but also in terms of
its people and the quality of services rendered to clients. Andrew also
commented on the investments that KPMG will be making in the future
including hiring graduates and experienced staff; a scholarship fund
and the extensive staff training program.

Roger Robinson, Country Manager for the World Bank in Armenia commended
KPMG on taking such an important step and welcomed KPMG’s assistance
in developing Corporate Governance structures in Armenia. Roger went
on to emphasize the importance of building capacity in the audit
sector and improving transparency in the wider business community to
underpin confidence of investors as the economy grows.

Roger Munnings expressed his confidence in the continued success of
the Armenian economy and commented that KPMG was proud of the team
of professionals in the Yerevan office. Increasingly they spend time
in KPMG offices around the world, bringing back their experience and
skills to assist in economic development in Armenia. He concluded the
formal addresses by stressing that KPMG’s commitment to Armenia and
that Andrew Coxshall’s appointment in Yerevan was a demonstration of
that commitment.

KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax
and Advisory services. It is the only one of the ‘Big 4’ Worldwide
Accounting and Consultancy companies operating in Armenia and currently
has over 70 staff to provide audit and assurance services on tax and
financial issues to major Armenian, Georgian and global companies
as well as to a wide range of non-governmental organizations and
financial institutions. KPMG takes pride in its ability to listen to
the opinions of its clients and analyze the challenges they face,
helping it to offer a wide range of high quality services meeting
the specific needs of each and every client.

CALL GENOCIDE BY NAME
By Armen Zenjiryan

Ventura County Star , CA
April 25 2006

Ninety-one years ago April 24, the Ottoman Turkish government commenced
a three-year campaign to decimate its empire’s ethnic Armenians. Before
it was over, 1.5 million people – men, women and children alike –
were dragged from their homes and slaughtered.

For those Armenians whose ancestors witnessed the genocide, the wound
is reopened each year on April 24, Armenian Genocide Remembrance
Day, because of the failure of the Turkish government to admit
culpability. For Armenian-Americans, the insult is worse. The United
States, Turkey’s NATO ally, characterizes this unambiguous instance
of ethnic cleansing as a mere byproduct of war, no more morally
significant than the usual carnage of battle.

But the evidence for the deliberate extermination of an ethnic minority
is clear, as is Turkey’s calculating attempts to smother it.

Dozens of eyewitness accounts describe the horrors on the Anatolian
plateau during the period when Turkey denies it committed genocide.

Protocols and telegrams exchanged between diplomats and ambassadors
describing mass deportations of Armenians and murder still exist
in Turkish and German archives. The Turkish government officially
denies photographs of Armenian women avoiding rape only by burying
themselves in the sand.

It dismisses as mirages the countless number of Armenians dragged
into the Syrian Desert without food or water.

This amnesia is not universal. Several governments, including France,
Argentina, Greece, Russia and Vatican City, formally recognize the
genocide. To their credit, hundreds of members of the U.S. Congress
call upon the president each year on the anniversary of the genocide
to change his noun of choice from “massacre” to “genocide.”

In doing so, the president would acknowledge that the actions of
the Turkish government were no mere battle against a hostile enemy,
but an atrocious, systematic and deliberate extermination of a people.

Does it matter that President Bush use the proper language to describe
what happened to 1.5 million Armenians? For this president, it should.

We are fighting a war on terrorism, and recently fought a war against
a regime that, like the Ottoman Turkish Empire before it, sought
to wipe out entire ethnic segments of a population. Part of Bush’s
justification for the current war was that tolerating genocide is
unacceptable to any enlightened democracy.

While this is true, continuing to mollify our ally Turkey by remaining
complicit in a conspiracy to mask the truth, Bush undermines his
own principle.

Principles, as the president has often reminded us, matter in war.

The practical effect of the United States’ reluctance to call the
Armenian genocide a genocide is its confinement to the footnotes of
history. This is a strange fate for a crime that international law
expert Raphael Lemkin, who himself escaped the Holocaust, uses as
the archetype for all genocides. To call the Armenian genocide an
act of war between hostile enemies not only distorts its meaning,
but also limits its usefulness when we try to identify the political
and social precursors of genocide.

Denial of genocide is a message of hate and prejudice. Some even
note that denial of genocide is the atrocity’s final act. We share a
universal responsibility to combat each instance of genocide denial; in
fact, to do less is a disservice not only to the victims of yesterday,
but also to the victims of the present and future.

After all, what better proof is there of history’s potential to
repeat itself than when Adolf Hitler himself, nearly 70 years ago,
justified the planned genocide of the Jews by asking, “Who nowadays
speaks of the extermination of the Armenians?”

– Armen Zenjiryan is a first-year law student at Pepperdine Law School
in Malibu. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in political science from
the University of Southern California in 2004 and served as executive
director of the Armenian-American Political Action Committee prior
to entering law school.