Armenia’s Armavia to lease 2 Airbus to replace destroyed jets

AFX Europe (Focus); May 07, 2006

YEREVAN, Armenia (AFX) – Armenian airline Armavia is to lease two
new Airbus jets to replace the two destroyed this week, the group’s
deputy commercial director Andrei Agadjanov said yesterday.

One of Armavia’s Airbus jets crashed into the Black Sea and another
burned in a hangar in Brussels.

Message de condoleances du pape a la suite de l’accident d’un avion armenien

Agence France Presse
3 mai 2006 mercredi 1:41 PM GMT

CITE DU VATICAN 3 mai 2006

Le pape Benoît XVI a envoye mercredi un message de condoleances a la
suite de la catastrophe aerienne qui s’est produite dans le sud de la
Russie lorsqu’un appareil armenien s’est abîme en mer Noire, causant
la mort des 113 personnes a bord.

“Informe de la recente catastrophe aerienne au bord de la Mer Noire,
le Saint-Père s’incline devant les nombreuses victimes et il invoque
pour elles la misericorde du seigneur, lui demandant de les
accueillir dans son royaume de paix”, indique un telegramme envoye au
nom du pape par le secretaire d’Etat du Vatican, le cardinal Angelo
Sodano, au nonce apostolique en Armenie.

“Le pape me charge d’exprimer sa vive sympathie et l’assurance de ses
prières aux familles des disparus, a toutes les personnes eprouvees
par ce drame, ainsi qu’aux autorites et a tout le peuple armenien”,
conclut le telegramme.

Un Airbus A320 de la compagnie armenienne Armavia s’est abîme dans la
nuit de mardi a mercredi en mer Noire, près de Sotchi, dans le sud de
la Russie, en raison, selon des premiers elements, d’une mauvaise
meteo. Selon des donnees provisoires, tous les passagers et membres
de l’equipage sont morts.

–Boundary_(ID_89dQpasLqFqEDjQC2WGrVA)–

Iranian expert warns poll ‘could lead to Garabagh’s cessation’

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 4 2006

Baku, May 3, AssA-Irada — An Iranian expert has said Azerbaijan
“could lose its territories” currently under Armenian occupation if
it agrees to the conduct of a referendum in Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh
to determine its status in the future.

“The Garabagh Armenians will undoubtedly vote for the cessation of
the region from Azerbaijan,” Jalal Muhammadli warned.

“Nowhere in the world an issue like territorial integrity could be
solved through a referendum. It could be solved only by power and
strength,” the analyst said in an interview with AssA-Irada.

Muhammadli advised the West, which has been advocating for a vote
to determine the Upper Garabagh status, to use this option instead
to determine the status of Basques who have been active in Spain for
many years.

“It was such a referendum that led to the separation of the present-day
Bahrain from Iran in 1967,” the embassy representative added.*

The Gazette (Montreal)
May 7, 2006 Sunday
Final Edition

Cast Your Vote

Do you think Stephen Harper was right to acknowledge the 1915
Armenian genocide?

You can cast your vote in our daily poll all day long by logging onto
canada.com/montreal. Your answers will appear in tomorrow’s Gazette
and on Global TV’s evening newscast.

Yesterday’s question was: Are you in favour of the agreement giving
Quebec its own representative to UNESCO? Yes: 48% of votes No: 52%

The Calgary Herald (Alberta)
May 6, 2006 Saturday
Final Edition

Turks plot response to Harper statement

Allan Woods, CanWest News Service

Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Canada as the country considers
an official response to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recent
acknowledgement of the 1915 Armenian genocide — one of the most
disputed and politically fraught events of the 20th century.

Harper’s three-paragraph statement April 19 to mark the “sombre
anniversary” — the first time that Canada has made such a statement
— barely caught the attention of most Canadians, but it ignited a
furor in Ankara that appears set to boil over.

An official at the Turkish Embassy in Ottawa told CanWest News
Service that Aydemir Erman has not been formally withdrawn from
Canada over the prime minister’s comments, but he has been “called
back” to Turkey to discuss with government officials what steps will
be taken to express displeasure with the remarks.

Those options include the formal withdrawal of Turkey’s top diplomat
in Canada, a threat Turkey has made with Canada and other countries
in the past.

“The ambassador is now travelling to Turkey because our authorities
have asked him to join them for consultations and, indeed, it is
related . . . to the prime minister’s declaration,” said Yoney Tezel,
a counsellor with the embassy.

Ottawa’s official position that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in
a “genocide” adds Canada to a group of about 25 other countries,
including France, Russia, Poland and Argentina.

“For us, this is a serious matter,” Tezel said. “The Armenian claims
are a direct attack on our identity, on Turkey’s history. We feel
it’s unfair. That’s why when these claims find some recognition we
always consider that something negative.”

Harper’s statement, delivered on the 91st anniversary of the
bloodbath, noted that both the Senate and the House of Commons have
adopted motions acknowledging that a genocide took place.

“Such statements . . . are not only counter-productive to the
atmosphere of dialogue we wish to build with Armenia, but also
adversely affect the relations between Turkey and Canada,” the
Turkish government said.

National Post (f/k/a The Financial Post) (Canada)
May 6, 2006 Saturday
Toronto Edition

Columnist lauds Canada’s stance on Armenian genocide

OTTAWA

OTTAWA – A leading Turkish columnist gave a nod to Prime Minister
Stephen Harper and Foreign Minister Peter MacKay for recognizing the
Armenian genocide. In an article for the Istanbul daily “Radical”
journalist Muart Yetkin wrote that if economic boycott threats and
the freezing of relations with Canada are serious, why doesn’t the
Turkish Army sever its partnership with French carmaker Renault.

Furthermore, Turkey should break its relations with the United States
since 36 states recognize the Armenian Genocide. The columnist added:
“Boycott threats will not bring any significant results.” He also
wondered how far would Turkey pursue its current policy. “Will we
boycott Russia … on whom we depend for our gas supplies?” he asked.
Mr. Yetkin’s comments came in response to the Turkey’s foreign
minister’s threats against Canada and France. The French Parliament
is in the process of voting on a bill banning the denial of the
Armenian Genocide. The Turkish government’s paranoia about the
Armenian Genocide, and its denialist policy are damaging its
diplomatic relations with the international community, said Aris
Babikian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of
Canada (ANCC). “Once again Turkey resorts to hollow threats and doom
and gloom scenarios to blackmail and scare the international
community from recognizing the Armenian Genocide,” Mr. Babikian said.
“The Turkish government should come to terms with its dark history
and reconcile with the Armenians and admit the reality of the
Armenian Genocide to the international community.”

Azeri, Armenian presidents invited to NATO PA session

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 5 2006

Baku, May 4, AssA-Irada — The NATO Parliamentary Assembly President
Pierre Lelouche has invited Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders to a
plenary session of the Assembly due in Paris late in May. President
Ilham Aliyev has accepted the invitation and will visit the French
capital for the purpose, the Radio Liberty reported.

Lelouche said NATO backs peace in the South Caucasus. The alliance
believes it is therefore essential to hold meetings on the level
of presidents to discuss settlement of the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh
conflict.

“In Paris, we will look for ways of resolving the conflict, which
is very destructive. We need stability in the Caucasus. I have been
in trenches in Garabagh and know how hard it is for both peoples. I
am aware of the problems faced by refugees in Azerbaijan and regret
their plight.”

Touching upon NATO-Azerbaijan relations, Lelouche said the issue
should be considered if Azerbaijan is willing to be admitted to NATO.

The country is an associate member of the Assembly and bilateral
cooperation is on a high level, the PA president added.*

PanARMENIAN.Net

Sand and Sea Water to Be Buried Instead of
Undiscovered Corpses

06.05.2006 15:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Symbolic funerals of victims, whose corpses are
not found yet, can be held in Armenia, stated Armenian Ambassador to
Russia Armen Smbatyan. “Yesterday we talked with relatives and they
wished to take sand and sea-water in small jugs. These peculiar urns
will be buried in Armenia,” he said. Armen Smbatyan also reported
that some 180 relatives and friends of the victims remain in Sochi
at present, 108 of these live in the town hotels.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanARMENIAN.Net

Each Day Reduces Chances to Find and Identify Victims

06.05.2006 15:37 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Operative Headquarters of the
Ministry of Extraordinary Situations (MES) does not
rule out that the Airbus merely crumbled away into
small pieces. This is evidenced by the fact that
within a long period of time MES representatives find
only small fragments, including passenger seats, in
the water. «The seats were in the fuselage and if it
was safe, they would not be scattered,» a MES expert
said. The Headquarters representative supposed that at
the depth of 680 meters, near the flight recorders
there are small parts as well. According to the MES,
some 10% of fragments of the airbus are lifted from
the Black Sea bottom.

Though French and Russian experts promised to look for
corpses of the victims until possible, experts hold
that at a great depth and under the pressure they very
quickly decompose and each day reduces the chances.

~SIt is not ruled out that the flight recorders will
stay on the bottom forever. The depth, where the A-320
fragments are found is a record one, thus I am not
ready to forecast the chances to lift the flight
recorders. We do not have experience of lifting planes
from that depth,~T the Russian Minister of Transport
Igor Levitin said, reports Gazeta.ru.

Several planes collapsed at approximately the same
place in 1972, 1976 and 2001. Their flight recorders
were never found.

–Boundary_(ID_SKbrbYZOskeLRO7ZUFmn9A)–

AZG Armenian Daily #084, 07/05/2006

Crash

A MONUMENT IN SOCHI TO A320 VICTIMS

As the friends and relatives of 113 victims of
Armenian jet crash 3 mourn, they want to see a
monument symbolizing this horrible tragedy in Sochi.
“At request of the relatives of the perished, it was
decided to erect a monument to the crash victims,”
Igor Levitin, Russia~Rs transport minister, was quoted
as saying by the Russian mass media.