Author: Tigranian Ani

RA DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER AND OSCE REPRESENTATIVE ON FREEDOM OF MEDIA DISCUSS ISSUES RELATING TO REFORMS OF THIS SPHERE IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Jun 20 2006

YEREVAN, JUNE 20, NOYAN TAPAN. Issues relating to freedom of media in
the territory of OSCE, legislative reforms of this sphere in Armenia,
as well as proposals to implement joint programs were discussed at
the June 20 meeting of RA Deputy Foreign Minister Armen Bayburdian
with OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklos Haraszti.

As Noyan Tapan was informed from RA Foreign Ministry Press and
Information Department, the sides expressed satisfaction with the
current level of Armenia-OSCE relations in the sphere of freedom of
media and expressed willingness to continue to cooperate in the future.

ARMAVIA’S AIRBUS 320 TO CRASH IN SIMULATOR

Kommersant, Russia
June 20 2006

The deciphering of both black boxes of Armavia’s Airbus A320 was
announced yesterday. On May 3, A320 crashed into the Black Sea near
the resort city of Sochi en route from the Armenian capital Yerevan.

According to the black boxes, all systems of the aircraft were running
normally but it couldn’t be said about the actions of pilots.

The next move of the experts will be to independently attempt to pull
A320 out of the dive. But they will do it on land, not in the air.

The experts have managed to collect and match all data on the last
flight of A320 during a month and a half, news service of Interstate
Aviation Committee announced Monday.

Even though no final conclusion has been reached so far, the experts
disproved some assumptions already. It is clear now that A320 had
fuel enough for around an hour and a half, it was not breaking during
the flight and its engines were functioning properly up to the water
collision.

But the actions of pilots didn’t appear very adequate. In an effort
to justify or deny the suspicion, the experts will model the last
flight of the airbus in the aircraft simulator at Gromov Flight
Test Institute.

The black boxes of A320 showed Captain Grigory Grigoryan and another
pilot were very nervous and the denial of air traffic controller to
accept A320 broke them completely.

The flight wasn’t easy even without that denial. Before reaching
Adler, the pilots were told about bad weather conditions and even
turned back. Then, they headed for Adler again.

So, the pilots were rattled when nearing the Black Sea’s coast. The
landing clearance calmed them down a bit but another command followed
once they descended to 280m: "The weather sharply got bad.

Meteo-minimum doesn’t correspond to announced earlier. Stop
descending. Go by the right turn to the second round, take the 600m
altitude."

Grigoryan lost the nerve, the experts suppose. He was to make a
standard maneuver of four turns, 90 degrees each and four short direct
space intervals between them. He started by using the autopilot,
but, for some reason, shifted to the hand control when completing
the second turn. And failed to handle the aircraft in this mode.

"HOW DO YOU DO, ARMENIA" FESTIVITY HELD IN MINSK

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Jun 19 2006

MINSK, JUNE 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On June 18, the
Belarusian State Museum of Folk Architecture and Life jointly with
the Hayastan cultural-educational association of Minsk presented a
festive program "How Do You Do, Armenia." According to the Yerkramas
(Territory) newspaper of Armenians of Russia, the festive event
was held for the purpose of popularizing the culture and life of
the Armenian people among the Belarusian population, as well as
for preserving the customs and traditions of Armenians living in
the republic.

The "Erebuni" folk dance ensemble conducted by Ruzanna Avanesian
performed in the festive program. The artists presented such items as
"Rebirth," "Palm Sunday" and "Wedding Dance." The Armenian Diaspora
had prepared a subject photoexhibition under the title "Dreams
about Armenia" telling about the history and culture of the ancient
country. The guests of the festivity also helped themselves to the
dishes of Armenian traditional cuisine.

PRECISE DATE OF CAUCASIAN FOUR PARLIAMENT HEADS MEETING NOT DETERMINED YET

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.06.2006 17:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The precise date of the meeting of the heads of
parliament of the Caucasian Four has not been fixed yet," Georgian
Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze said. "I hope that the Speaker of
the Russian Federation Council as well as his counterparts from Armenia
and Azerbaijan will arrive to Tbilisi, however the precise date of the
meeting has not been determined yet," she said. When touching upon
the Georgian-Russian parliamentary contacts, Burjanadze said "there
is wish to cooperate." "We are glad to invite other members of the
federation Council and leadership of the RF State Duma to Tbilisi,"
she said, reported RIA Novosti.

BAKU AWAITING SERIOUS RESULTS FROM ACTIVITIES OF NEWLY APPOINTED OSCE MG CO-CHAIR FROM US
Author: R.Abdullayev

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
June 19 2006

Baku is awaiting serious results from the activities of the newly
appointed OSCE Minsk Group co-chair, the US Ambassador Matthew Bryza,
Trend quoted Araz Azimov, the Azerbaijan Deputy Foreign Minister,
also a special envoy for Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution, as
stating to local television channel ATV.

Azimov said that the new Ambassador is well familiar with the
region, which is sure to accelerate negotiations process on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution.

"Excellent familiarity and preparedness of former US Ambassador
Steven Mann from the conceptual, political, and practical aspects
pays considerable role in the talks. As to Bryza, he is an experienced
diplomat well-familiar with the Azerbaijani realities. We expect too
much from his activities," said Azimov noting his frequent tours of
the region.

The newly appointed OSCE Minsk Group co-chair from the United States
will be officially introduced in Vienna on 22 June.

Bryza paid a visit to Azerbaijan as the assistant Secretary of State
of the United States on 5-6 June. In his exclusive interview for
Trend Bryza said that The United States remains committed to helping
secure a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict "We
continue to believe that 2006 represents a window of opportunity if
the Presidents can make difficult and courageous decisions to move
forward with a settlement," he underlined.

VAHAN HOVANISIAN: OUR PEOPLE HAVE SUFFERED THE MOST FROM STALIN REPRESSION

Yerkir.am
June 16, 2006

National Assembly has recently named June 14th the Day of Commemoration
of the Repressed. The initiative came from the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation.

Dozens gathered on Wednesday at a memorial erected in Yerevan to
mark the day for the first time. The event was organized by an NGO
called Hushamatian and was attended by National Assembly’s ARF faction
members, National Self-determination Union leader Paruyr Hairkian,
people who were victimized by the Stalin regime.

Addressing the gathering, ARF Bureau member and National Assembly
Vice-speaker Vahan Hovanisian said that our entire people have suffered
the most from the repression.

He recalled that the Stalin repressions – followed by those applied
by Lenin – were carried out in waves: first it was the ARF members
who were sent to jails and executed, then those who were called
Trotskyites, then others. And this had been going on until the collapse
of the Soviet Union.

"Unfortunately, the dreadful practice didn’t stop after the Soviet rule
was over, Hovannisian went on saying. "Under the Armenian National
Movement too there were political prisoners. There is none now,
and I am sure there will be none in the future."

June 14th was chosen to mark that day because it was on June 14,
1949 that mass arrests were made in Armenia without any political
motivation taken into account.

"The goal of the project was to deport Armenians to Altay," Hovannisian
said. "And this when thousands of Armenians returned to their homeland
hoping the Soviet Union would become a normal country after the
WWII. Most of them were deported to Altay."

"The only guarantee that such things would not repeat in the future
is a strong and independent Armenia," Hovannisian concluded.

MINSK GROUP US CO-CHAIR ARRIVED IN GEORGIA

A1+
[12:28 pm] 19 June, 2006

Today Matthew Bryza, the new US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk group
will visit Georgia in order to meet President of Abkhazia Sergey
Bagapsha and Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba. Nevertheless, this visit
has nothing to do with the new appointment of Matthew Bryza as the
ceremony will take place on June 22.

The visit to Georgia is made as deputy assistant of the US State
Secretary. By the way, Bryza visited our region at the beginning of
June. As soon as he takes his new post, he intends to visit Yerevan
and Baku alone.

OLEG HAYRAPETOV: BARBARITY CAN BE COUNTERED ONLY BY CULTURE

ArmRadio.am
14.06.2006 17:14

“The relations between Armenia and Russia are in a stage of
development, when we need to demonstrate moderateness and
comprehension. Barbarity and violence can be countered only by
culture and knowledge,” said Oleg Hayrapetov, Adviser of the Agency
on Interregional Cultural Ties of the Office to the President of the
Russian Federation.

“As a Russian official and as an individual I am concerned with
the recent xenophobia in the large cities of Russia,” said Oleg
Hayrapetov. He is confident that the attitude of Russian intellectuals
toward Armenians has not change and the recent murders are not an
expression of hatred toward Armenians.

“No one asks to close the eyes on what is happening; it is, however,
unserious to speak about hatred towards Armenians,”the speaker
said. In his words, a generation that was brought up in 1990s without
comprehension and moral intelligence burst out to the streets of
Russian cities. “I understand the concern of Armenians. Their reaction
to the recent events is quite natural. However it’s not serious to
speak of Armenophobia in Russia,” Oleg Hayrapetov said.

IT WAS DECIDED TO CONTINUE IN THE SAME WAY

A1+
[09:15 pm] 13 June, 2006

The meeting of the Armenian and Azeri foreign Ministers Vartan Oskanian
and Elmar Mammadyarov was held in Paris on June 13 as it was arranged
after the meeting of the two Ministers in Bucharest on June 5.

The OSCE Minsk group Russian Co-Chair Juri Merzlyakov and French
Co-Chair Bernard Fassier as well as the Personal Representative of
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andzej Kasprzyk were also present at
the negotiations.

The key issues of the meeting were the principles and approaches of
the conflict settlement which aroused discord among the two sides.

It was decided to continue negotiations on the positions of the
two sides.

SWISS FM CALMY-REY COMMEMORATES “VICTIMS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE”

Today, Azerbaijan
June 12 2006

She also laid a wreath at a memorial for the “victims of the genocide”
by troops of the former Ottoman Empire 90 years ago.

According to Swissinfo/Swiss Radio International (SRI), Swiss Foreign
Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey held talks with her Armenian counterpart,
Vardan Oskanyan, in the capital Yerevan on Monday. The discussions
focused on bilateral relations and the conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh.

Switzerland has offered to act as a mediator in the long-running
conflict in a bid to broker a peace agreement. Earlier this year
Calmy-Rey also visited neighbouring Azerbaijan.

However, Calmy-Rey said neither of the two countries in the southern
Caucasus region had requested further steps by Switzerland.

Calmy-Rey said she also discussed the killing of up to 1.5 million
ethnic Armenians by troops of the former Ottoman Empire between 1915
and 1919.

She laid a wreath at the monument for the “victims of massacre”.

“I wanted to express my sympathy with the people,” she said. She
also played down a possible worsening of relations with Turkey over
the issue.

The Swiss government does not recognise the killings and deportations
as genocide, but one chamber of the Swiss parliament voted in 2003
to follow the United Nations and the European parliament in doing so.

Calmy-Rey also signed an agreement on double taxation in Yerevan in
an effort to spur closer economic relations between Switzerland and
Armenia. Switzerland has been providing development to Yerevan since
a powerful earthquake hit northern Armenia in 1988.