Bloomberg
May 8 2006

Turkey Recalls Envoys to France, Canada Over Genocide Dispute

May 8 (Bloomberg) — Turkey recalled its envoys to France and Canada
because of disagreements with both countries over whether the
killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks last century constitute
genocide.

Turkey’s ambassador to Paris Osman Koruturk and ambassador to Ottawa
Aydemir Erman have returned to the capital Ankara for
“consultations” following “baseless claims of genocide of
Armenians,” Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Namik Tan said in an
e-mailed statement today.

“It is expected that our ambassadors will return to their duties
once the consultations are complete,” Tan said.

The EU has said Turkey’s bid to join the bloc may be hindered by the
claims of genocide against hundreds of thousands of Armenians during
the First World War. Turkey denies the charges, saying the deaths
were part of wider ethnic clashes as Armenians sided with Russia
during the war.

Turkey recalled its envoy to France prior to a debate by French
lawmakers on May 18 about a law that foresees a one-year jail term
and a 45,000-euro ($58,000) fine for persons who deny that genocide
took place. Turkey’s parliament is sending a delegation to France
tomorrow in order to convince their French counterparts not to pass
the bill, said Bulent Arinc, chief of the Turkish legislature,
according to the Hurriyet newspaper.

The French National Assembly in May 1998 formally recognized as
genocide the killing of Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire
between 1915 and 1917.

Turkey’s foreign ministry on April 25 accused Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper of exhibiting a “gravely prejudiced attitude” after
he said that his government continued to recognize motions adopted by
the Canadian senate and parliament acknowledging that the genocide
took place.

Turkey may bar French companies from bidding for a planned nuclear
power station and other projects if France approves the legislation,
Milliyet daily said on May 1, without saying where it got the
information.

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
May 8 2006

Swante Cornell: Armenia lost support from France and the US

Source: «Trend»
Author: R. Abdullayev

08.05.2006

Status of Nagorny-Karabakh will not be defined at current stage of
peace negotiations, reportedly said Swante Cornell, Research
Director, John Hopkins University.

Cornell said this issue may be discussed upon return of most part of
occupied Azeri grounds.

He added that in resolution of the conflict Armenia lost the support
earlier provided by the US and France.

«At the moment Azerbaijan is quite an important state for the US, and
France is neutral in this conflict»,- he outlined. Yerevan, he
continued, is left aside the processes going in the region, while
Baku is in the very center.

Cornell stated the necessity in America’s participation in resolution
of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Thus, it is likely that official
Washington is going to pay more attention to this issue.

Sky Control (press release), UK
May 8 2006

Armenian Plane Crashes in South Russia With 113 on Board

This news was published on Monday, May 8th, 2006 and is archived
under Airlines.

An Armenian passenger plane crashed in stormy weather early Wednesday
off Russia’s Black Sea coast as it was headed in for a landing,
killing all 113 people on board.

The Airbus A-320, which belonged to the Armenian airline Armavia,
disappeared from radar screens about four miles from shore and
crashed after making a turn toward the Adler airport near the
southern Russian city of Sochi, Emergency Situations Ministry
spokesman Viktor Beltsov said. Rescue officials in the ministry’s
southern regional branch said all 113 people aboard the plane,
including six children, were killed.

Armavia officials said they believed the crash was due to the
weather, but Sergei Kubinov, regional head of the Emergency
Situations Ministry, said the age of the aircraft and technical
problems could have been involved. Investigators did not believe
terrorism was a factor. Relatives of those aboard the plane were
gathering at Yerevan airport, Armenia, for a charter flight to Sochi
on Wednesday morning.

The plane broke up on impact with the water, and wreckage was thrown
in a wide arc, Kubinov said. Salvage workers said the fuselage was
recovered at a depth of nearly 1,500 feet. Search and rescue teams
had pulled 18 bodies from the water, Kubinov said. None were wearing
life jackets, indicating they did not have sufficient warning to
prepare for an emergency landing.

Rough seas, driving rain and low visibility were hampering the
search, Russian news agencies reported. A deep-sea robot was to be
used to try to recover the plane’s black box.

The plane disappeared from radar at about 2:15 a.m. local time during
a flight from Yerevan to Sochi, Beltsov said. He said the plane went
down while trying to make a repeat attempt at an emergency landing;
the Interfax news agency quoted the Russian air control agency as
saying that the plane’s crew had not reported an emergency.

Andrei Agadzhanov, Armavia’s deputy commercial director, said the
crew had communicated with Sochi ground controllers while the plane
was flying over the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. The ground controllers
reported stormy weather but told the crew the plane could still land,
he said.

Just before the landing, however, the ground controllers told the
plane’s pilots to circle again before approaching the airport. Then
the plane crashed. Agadzhanov said that the airline’s deputy general
director, Vyacheslav Yaralov, was aboard. He said the crew was
experienced and that the bad weather was `certainly’ the cause.

an-plane-crashes-in-south-russia-with-113-on-board /

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 8 2006

Russia sets up tech. HQ to find plane’s black boxes in Black Sea
16:02 | 08/ 05/ 2006

MOSCOW, May 8 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s transportation minister has
ordered that emergency headquarters be set up to organize technical
assistance in an international effort to retrieve the flight
recorders of an Armenian plane that crashed off Russia’s Black Sea
coast last week, the transportation ministry said Monday.

The ministry said that Igor Levitin had appointed Alexander
Davydenko, head of the Federal Sea and River Transportation Agency
(Rosmorrechflot) to oversee the headquarters, which will include
Russian rescuers, experts from the Interstate Aviation Committee, and
French specialists.

The Airbus A-320 airliner crashed into the sea on Wednesday, killing
all 113 people on board.

Three Russian ships are now working at site of the crash – the Zaliv,
the Kapitan Beklemishev, and the Cheliken. The Zaliv hosts a new
Kalmar deep-sea search vehicle designed to locate parts of the
wreckage and flight recorders, which are seen as the key to
explaining the cause of the tragedy.

French specialists with equipment needed to search for the flight
recorders are expected to arrive in Sochi on Tuesday.

New Anatolian, Turkey
May 8 2006

Canadian blunder on Armenian claims
Recep Guvelioglu

[email protected] May 2006

Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper lat last month delivered a
speech supporting the Armenian claims of genocide. The Turkish
Foreign Ministry denounced his remarks, saying, “Turkey rejects
attempts to create a history based on biased political maneuvers and
propaganda.”
The Canadian Parliament approved a decision on the same claims two
years ago.
Personally I’m not happy with the Turkish attitude toward the
Armenians’ so-called genocide claims. I’m one of the critics of our
political approach on what happened in 1915.
Also, everybody knows that I’m also totally against the Armenian
falsifications.
As a person who’s spent quite a lot of time on the issue, all I want
is to eliminate deceptions and deliberate deviations from the
historical facts.
The declaration of the Foreign Ministry was clear and as usual a very
polite one. I’m not supposed to be like that.
Harper’s declaration on the so-called genocide commemoration day
(April 24) was aimed at satisfying the Armenian diaspora in Canada.
Like some other leaders in Western countries, he degraded the case to
make it domestic political fodder to get Armenian votes and support.
Excuse my language, but it was a kind of bone to toss.
This behavior bothers me.
The Armenian claims, whether true or false, are about human lives.
That kind of issue must be taken seriously. And as a democratic
leader, Harper should have tried to learn the other side of the coin.
Frankly, I don’t think that he even took a deep look at the Armenian
claims either.
Then comes another point: Since he must be much wiser than me, why
did he do so?
Because one of the sides of the conflict is Turkey and the Turks.
It’s clear that he has no respect for us.
Have you ever heard of Harper criticizing the British government for
what they did in India in the 1940s (for example in Amritsar)? Have
you ever heard that he said something about Sakyet Youssuf (a place
in Algeria where French troops massacred many civilian Algerians)?
No . Because these kinds of remarks might have created a lot of
trouble for Canada or Canadian economic life.
If I were a pro-genocide Armenian, I would have rejected Canadian
support in this way. If it’s a humanistic matter — genocide is a
totally anti-humanistic crime — it shouldn’t be used as bait for
domestic votes.
It’s a shame, not just only for Harper, but also for us.
That reminds me of an article by Bedii Faik. Many years ago drunk
American soldiers tore up the Turkish flag in Izmir. Faik wrote an
unforgettable sentence about that: “American soldiers tore up our
flag, because we put our flags much lower.”

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 8 2006

French experts to bring search devices to Black Sea crash site
14:19 | 08/ 05/ 2006

SOCHI, May 8 (RIA Novosti) – French specialists will arrive in Sochi
on Tuesday bringing equipment needed to search for the flight
recorders of an Armenian Airbus A-320 airliner that crashed off
Russia’s Black Sea coast last week, a Russian official said Monday.

Vladimir Derkunov, the head of the local search headquarters, said
the specialists would arrive late in the evening bringing equipment
capable of distinguishing the black boxes from the plane’s fuselage,
and flexible devices for extracting and lifting them.

Experts earlier said parts of the plane, which crashed killing all
113 people on board, had been discovered at a depth of 400-450 meters
(about 1,470 feet).

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Hürriyet, Turkey
May 8 2006

Parliament delegation to travel to France over Armenian bill

Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc said on Sunday that a delegation of
four parliamentarians is planning to travel to France tomorrow.
Speaking to reporters, Arinc, currently paying an official visit to
Sweden, stated that France’s Parliament is set to debate a bill
concerning the so-called Armenian genocide on May 18, adding that the
Turkish parliamentarians will hold a series of talks with their
France counterparts to convince them not to pass the bill.

Regarding the issue, Arinc also sent a message to France Parliament
Speaker Jean-Louis Debre last month.

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 8 2006

Images of Black Sea plane wreck flight recorders expected
11:24 | 08/ 05/ 2006

SOCHI, May 8 (RIA Novosti) – Rescuers expect to receive Monday images
of objects believed to be the flight recorders of an Armenian Airbus
A-320 airliner that crashed off Russia’s Black Sea coast last week,
killing all 113 people on board.

A rescue worker said experts had obtained hydroacoustic data using a
new Kalmar deep-sea search vehicle working at the scene to locate
pieces of the wreckage and the flight recorders, which are key to
identifying the cause of the tragedy.

“Several objects have been found with the same coordinates as the
radio signals picked up by French experts, believed to be coming from
the flight recorders,” the rescuer said. “If these objects are the
black boxes, we will try to retrieve them.”

He said experts had established that the objects were at a depth of
around 400-450 meters (about 1,470 feet).

Experts earlier said the plane parts had been discovered at a depth
of 680 meters (2,230 feet) and were skeptical over the possibility of
retrieving them from thick sulfuric hydride sludge on the seabed.

Gulf Times, Qatar
May 8 2006

French expertise, equipment sought over Armenian crash
Published: Monday, 8 May, 2006, 10:01 AM Doha Time

MOSCOW: Russia will ask France for help in retrieving the black box
flight recorders of an Armenian aircraft that crashed in the Black
Sea earlier this month, a Russian minister said yesterday.
`The aeronautical safety committee of the (12-nation) Commonwealth of
Independent States will approach French specialists,’ said Russian
Transport Minister Igor Levitin.
All the passengers and crew aboard died when an Airbus A320 operated
by the Armenian airline Armavia plunged into the sea on Wednesday as
it tried to land at Sochi in bad weather on a flight from the
Armenian capital Yerevan.
`We have looked at the French experience at Sharm el-Sheikh,’ Levitin
told reporters after a meeting with Emergency Situations Minister
Sergei Shoigu.
In January 2004 after a Flash Airlines Boeing crashed off the
Egyptian resort, a Scorpio robot sent by France recovered the two
black boxes from a depth of more 1,000m.
`French colleagues have told us what equipment they used and French
companies have said they are ready to help us,’ Levitin said.
`We can suggest to France that it take part with us in the search
operation and the task of bringing to the surface aircraft parts and
bodies’ which have not been recovered, he said.
The plane probably either came down when heavy rain forced a loss of
speed, or was actually struck by lightning, according an aviation
specialist. Parts have been located at a depth of 680m.
The bodies of 32 of the dead passengers have been taken to Yerevan,
Armenian Civil Aviation confirmed.
Rescuers have so far only found 51 bodies and seven of these have not
yet been identified, Sergei Aristov, Russia’s deputy transport
minister, said. – AFP

Assyria Times, CA
May 8 2006

Assyrian Genocide Seyfo 1915: The Missing Chapter of Ottoman History
5/7/2006 23:29:32
For Immediate Release

Wednesday, May 10, 2006 at 6:00 PM

The Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre
SCHOOL Of ORIENTAL and AFRICAN STUDIES
Thornaugh St Russell Square London WC1H 0XG

The genocide of over 750,000 Assyrian Christians at the hands of the
Ottoman Empire in 1915 has largely been forgotten by the world. The
pain of this genocide is still a dark shadow over the Assyrian
people. This pain and suffering continues in the collective
conscience of the Assyrian Christians as Turkey continues to deny and
publicly denounce responsibility for this largely forgotten genocide
during the First World War.

The Department for the Study of Religions (SOAS), together with
Firodil and Gomidas Institutes, two prominent and leading Assyrian
and Armenian institutes dedicated to lobbying for the recognition of
the Assyrian and Armenian genocide through academic and scholarly
research, have organized a prestigious speaking event and the premier
of Cry Unheard, a documentary film by Nuri Kino at SOAS.

The leading speakers will include:

Dr. Erica Hunter: BA MA DPHIL PHD Dept for Study of religions SOAS.

Sabri Atman: Assyrian scholar specializing in the Assyrian Genocide,
author of I long for Mesopotamia and The Assyrian-Syriacs.

Nuri Kino: Award winning Swedish Journalist, and winner of 2006
Golden Palm Award at the Beverly Hills Film Festival.

Mr. Andrew Michael of Firodil Institute said: `We are organising this
event to present academic scholars and students alike with unbiased
and factual information regarding the genocide of the Assyrians. The
academia world and the intelligentsia have a pivotal role to play; it
is their moral obligation to take a stance and advocate Turkey’s
recognition of these atrocious crimes committed against the Assyrian
and Armenian Christians.’

For more Information Contact:
Nineb Lamassu
Tel: 07-96-922-4642
Email: info@ firodil.co.uk

Ninos Warda
Tel: 07-75-904-6837
Email: [email protected]

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