Daily Telegraph, Australia
May 7 2006

Envoy recalled over genocide remark
>>From correspondents in Montreal

May 07, 2006

TURKEY has recalled its ambassador to Canada following Prime Minister
Stephen Harper’s recent remarks calling the killing of Armenians in
1915 genocide, a Montreal daily reported overnight.

Ambassador Aydemir Erman has not been officially withdrawn but was
called back to Ankara to help formulate Turkey’s response to an April
19 statement by Harper marking the 91st anniversary of the killings,
The Gazette, an English-language newspaper, said.
“For us, this is a serious matter,” Yoney Tezel, an official with the
Turkish embassy, was quoted as saying. “The Armenian claims are a
direct attack on our identity, on Turkey’s history. We feel it’s
unfair.”

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen were slaughtered in
an orchestrated genocide in the final years of the Ottoman Empire,
mainly from 1915 to 1917.

Turkey categorically rejects claims of genocide, arguing that 300,000
Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when
Armenians began fighting for independence in eastern Anatolia and
sided with Russian troops invading the crumbling Ottoman Empire.

Mr Harper’s statement noted that both houses of Canada’s parliament
have passed resolutions acknowledging the slaughter as the first
genocide of the 20th century.

Armenian Prime Minister: cannot speak of A-320 crash objectively
until investigation is over

Regnum, Russia
May 7 2006

Speaking of the situation that lead to the crash of the A-320 plane,
a unified objective assessment will be made, instead of several
subjective ones, Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan asserted
at a news briefing..

The Armenian Prime Minister suggested not to jump to conclusions and
wait for official results, a REGNUM correspondent reports. “We take
an active part in the investigation. Armenian defense minister is now
in Sochi, and we are thoroughly informed on the issue. Let us wait for
the official conclusions. Since it could happen that what seems obvious
is not actually true. This is a very serious issue, and I do not want
to make preliminary conclusions,” Andranik Margaryan confessed.

He thanked both the Russian and Georgian sides for the quick response
to the disaster. “France is also paying special attention to the
situation. They have sent their specialists to the plane’s crash
site. We needed data received by Georgian air traffic controllers.

Georgian authorities said they were ready to deliver the information,
and they did deliver it, for which we are grateful. As for the
participation of Georgian specialists in the investigation, that is
to be decided by the two countries,” Margaryan added.

Armenian Minister of Finance and Economy Vardan Khachatryan informed
reporters that a number of transfers have already been made to a
designated account: “There is a transfer from the Union of Armenian
Businessmen. The money will be donated to the victims’ relatives.”

Relatives cast flowers into sea for air crash victims

People’s Daily, China
May 6 2006

Armenia and Russia marked an official day of mourning on Friday,
grieving relatives cast flowers into the Black Sea at the spot where
an Armenian jet plunged into the waters, killing all 113 on board.

To the sound of mournful music and the boom of a fog horn, they
scattered carnations and roses over the waters six kilometres offshore
from the Russian resort of Sochi, where the Armenian Airbus A320
crashed on Wednesday.

A woman holding a photograph of two young newly-weds who died in the
crash fainted on the deck of the boat that took them to the site.

Several others also passed out.

Transport Minister Igor Levitin, who was in Sochi, said it was urgent
to find the corpses of the many victims still lost in the sea more than
half of the people on the plane. Only 50 bodies have been recovered
so far, according to the emergency situations ministry.

“It’s very important for us to raise the bodies. That’s our priority
now,” Levitin said.

A first plane carrying 26 bodies arrived at the airport in the Armenian
capital, Yerevan, on Friday after an initial delay, apparently due
to a lack of coffins.

“The victims’ bodies are unrecognisable, horribly disfigured. A mother
wouldn’t know her own son,” said one young man who had returned from
Sochi after failing to find his brother-in-law, his eyes red from
crying and fatigue.

Flags flew at half mast across Armenia, radio and television channels
played sad music and memorial services were held at churches across
the country.

Russian officials and members of the public also laid flowers at the
Armenian embassy in Moscow for the victims of the accident. The crash
has shocked the two countries, which have long had close ties.

Work continues

Meanwhile work continued to recover from the sea the victims’ corpses
and the black box flight recorders that might help establish why the
plane crashed. Bad weather is thought to be the cause of the crash,
according to investigators.

The latter said they had picked up signals from what seemed to be
the flight recorders at a location 680 metres below the surface,
where a large section of the plane’s wrecked fuselage lay.

Russia, whose investigators are being helped by experts from France,
is seeking assistance from other foreign countries to raise the black
boxes since its Black Sea fleet is not fully equiped for the task,
Levitin said.

A bathyscaphe submersible vehicle will be sent down to the site to
ascertain whether the signals that have been picked up are really
coming from a section of the plane, he added.

Relatives face the grim task of identifying their dead loved ones
from photographs pinned on a hotel wall in Sochi, many of the bodies
battered and bloated from submersion in the water.

On board the plane were 85 Armenian citizens, 26 Russians, one
Georgian and one Ukrainian, according to a list published at Yerevan
airport. Six children were thought to be among the dead.

Ilham Aliyev: nothing new can be proposed on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue settlement

Regnum, Russia
May 6 2006

“All possible ways of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement have already
been considered,” President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev stated on May
5 in Baku, Trend News Agency informs.

According to Aliyev, “at present, the Co-Chairs are intensively
consulting each other and considering various conflict resolution
options. And it’s possible that some novelties will appear.”

“I don’t believe that any new proposal may be put forward to solve
the issue. Some of the proposals which are being discussed could
be adjusted. I do not rule that out. If that is the case, it could
facilitate resolving theissue,” Ilham Aliyev added.

According to the Azerbaijani President, his country’s position remains
unchanged. “We advocate application of international legal norms,
and a single standard should be used in this case,” Ilham Aliyev added.

Owner of Armenian airline criticizes controller

Interfax, Russia
May 6 2006

YEREVAN. May 6 (Interfax) – Cockpit voice recordings “prove” that the
captain of an Armenian airliner that crashed off the Russian Black
Sea coast on Wednesday “was acting in a perfect way, something that
cannot be said of the [ground] controller,” said the owner of the
company that owned the plane.

“No one has ever blamed the crew and the captain of the aircraft for
anything. It’s simply a lot of rubbish that irresponsible people are
saying,” Mikhail Bagdasarov told the Armenian web portal “Panorama.”

Controller may have contributed to Black Sea crash – airline
17:50 | 06/ 05/ 2006

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 6 2006

YEREVAN, May 6 (RIA Novosti) – An aircraft traffic controller on duty
when an Armenian plane crashed into the Black Sea killing 113 people
may have played a role in the tragedy, the owner of the airline in
the tragedy said Saturday.

Armavia Airlines head Mikhail Bagdasarov said a complete version of
a recorded conversation between the air traffic controller at the
Russian airport and the pilot of the Armenian plane showed that the
pilot had acted correctly.

Bagdasarov said that a recording between Airbus pilot Grigory Grigoryan
and traffic controller at Adler airport previously made public had
been incomplete.

“The complete version of the taped conversation shows that the pilot
of the A-320 jet was doing everything right, which cannot be said
about the air traffic controller,” Bagdasarov said in an interview
with Armenian Internet site Panorama.am.

He said the ground controller had sent told the pilot to make a second
circle before landing when the pilot was almost landing already.

“He had nearly 200 meters left to the runway when he was sent back
to make a second circle. And this was at a time when the air traffic
controller had no right to order but could only advise,” Bagdasarov
said.

However, he added he did not blame the air traffic controller.

“In such situations, you cannot say that the air traffic controller
made the mistake that caused the accident,” he said. “The controller
made mistakes which made the situation worse.”

He said there could be a combination of reasons that caused the crash
but cautioned against putting the whole blame on the pilot.

“He was an experienced, good pilot, one of the best,” Bagdasarov said.

The Airbus was flying from the Armenian capital, Yerevan, to Adler
airport, which services the popular Russian resort of Sochi, when it
crashed six kilometers off the Russian coast early Wednesday morning.

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said bad weather most likely
caused the tragedy.

In comments on rumors that the crew was incomplete, the Armavia owner
said the crew included both a navigator and flight engineer.

“How can a plane take off without a navigator?” he said. “There is just
a group of people who spend their time making up this sort of gossip.”

Armavia Airline set up on December 12, 1996 is Armenia’s national
airline company. On June 5, 2005, Bagdasarov, president of MIKA
Armenia Trading, became the owner of 100% of the company’s shares.

Armavia passenger traffic totaled 507,000 in 2005 against 380,000
in 2004.

Armenia’s civil aviation commission said it would hear comments from
air traffic controller of the Adler airport Saturday, spokeswoman
Gayane Davtyan said.

She denied rumors that the controller was being hidden for fear of
the victims’ families.

“Nobody is hiding the ground controller from anyone,” Davtyan said,
adding that he was working with commission experts on decoding the
recordings.

Five Years of Membership of Armenia to the Council of Europe

National Assembly of RA, Armenia
May 6 2006

On May 5 RA NA Artur Baghdasaryan received Jean-Louis Laurens, Director
General of Political Affairs of the General Secretariat of the Council
of Europe. Boyana Urumova, Special Representative of the General
Secretary of the Council of Europe in Armenia attended the meeting.

During the meeting the sides touched upon the achievements of five
years after the membership of Armenia to the Council of Europe and
prospects. It was noted that those years have been years of active
work and cooperation, during which the guidelines of the path from
the Council of Europe to the European Union have been outlined. RA
NA President Artur Baghdasaryan touched upon the process of the
fulfillment of the undertaken obligations of Armenia in the Council of
Europe, noting that after the constitutional amendments legislation
reforms are made in judicial, local self-government and territorial
management systems and Electoral Code.

Mr. Laurens, highlighting the success of democratic reforms in Armenia,
underscored the necessity of the existence of legislative bases and
political will for holding the general elections free and fair. In
Mr. Laurens’ opinion, five years ago the political course adopted
by Armenia in the aspect of getting integrated into European family
and the accepted value systems for the progress of Armenia is of
positive importance.

No more bodies found at A-320 crash site

Interfax, Russia
May 6 2006

SOCHI. May 6 (Interfax-South) – No more body parts have been found
at the site of the Armavia plane crash during the past 24 hours,
Sergei Aristov, vice-chairman of the commission investigating the
air disaster, told journalists on Saturday.

“Fifty-one bodies have been retrieved, as reported previously.

Forty-four bodies have been identified and 34 repatriated to Armenia,”
Aristov said.

The remains of seven passengers have yet to be identified.

An Armavia A-320 passenger liner crashed near Sochi while attempting
to land early on May 3. All passengers and crew aboard the plane were
killed in the disaster.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
May 6 2006

SPEECH BY PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV, CHAIRMAN OF THE 9TH ECO SUMMIT
[May 05, 2006, 22:00:59]

Dear friends, I express my deep gratitude for electing me as chairman
of the 9th Economic Cooperation Organization summit.

Dear presidents, dear heads of delegations, dear prime ministers.

Ladies and Gentlemen.

First of all, I avail myself of the opportunity to greet all of you
in Azerbaijan Republic and wish success and achieving concrete
results at today’s summit. I am grateful to President of the
Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmonov who presided at the 8th
Economic Cooperation Organization Summit. Moreover, I thank Mr.
Askhat Orazbay, who is completing his mission as ECO secretary
general, for his efforts towards development of the organization. I
offer my hearty congratulations to its new Secretary General Khurshid
Anwar on his election to the high office and best wishes for success
in his future activity.

At today’s summit, the work of the organization will be analyzed
and we shall share our views on the accomplishments achieved. I am
sure that at the same time there will be an effective dialogue on the
further prospects of the organization.

After Azerbaijan regained its independence we joined various
international organizations and initiatives. We became a member of
the Economic Cooperation Organization as well and attribute a great
importance to our activity in this organization. The member states of
the organization are bound together by historic and cultural ties.
Our shared history, customs and traditions make us even closer and
provide a good basis for successful activities. The role of the
Economic Cooperation Organization, at the same time, is also
increasing In terms of regional cooperation. As you know, economic
potential of the member countries is increasing and as a whole, it
comes as our region has possibly achieved the highest economic growth
rate. Economic capabilities of the member countries are widening and,
of course, open up new opportunities for both bilateral and
multilateral successful cooperation.

Azerbaijan attaches an extremely great importance to the issues of
regional cooperation. We are a participant as well as an organizer of
some international regional projects and would like to have more
concrete projects within the Economic Cooperation Organization too.
We have to discuss specific issues and take all necessary practical
steps.

The economic development of Azerbaijan is going on rapidly. Last
year, Azerbaijan posted economic growth of 26 percent. It is our
history’s highest figures, which, first of all, allows us to
realize all our plans associated with socio-economic issues. GDP
growth in Azerbaijan increased up to 40 percent in the fist quarter
of this year and in general, it is likely to remain around the same
level until the end of the year. On the one hand, opening of 380
thousand new jobs over the past two years and a half helps to
eradicate unemployment, on the other hand, it drastically reduces the
number of people living in poverty.

The increase in economic indices naturally boosts the country’s
capabilities. Favorable conditions are being created to strengthen
bilateral and multilateral relations. I am confident economic
projects connecting us will bring fruits in the future. Azerbaijan
and neighboring countries are doing much work to deliver Caspian oil
and gas resources to the world markets. After commissioning of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline linking the Caspian and
Mediterranean Seas, economic situation in the region as well as
security measures should be strengthened more. We consider regional
cooperation projects should serve all the objectives. They will have
a positive impact on strengthening economic ties, increasing economic
potential as well as on establishing peace and tranquility in the
region.

Besides, construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline to deliver
Azeri gas from to Turkey and then to European countries, which is of
great importance for both Azerbaijan and neighboring nations, is to
finish in a few of months.

Oil and gas pipelines connecting Azerbaijan with Turkey as well as
our successful cooperation with neighboring Islamic Republic of Iran
in the energy sector, implementation of gas and electricity projects
through exchange are of vital importance for ensuring the
cooperation. I can say that we maintain very good bilateral relations
with all the member states and highly appreciate this.

Strengthening transport infrastructure is extremely important for our
region and all our states. Azerbaijan plays and will continue playing
its role in opening transport corridors East-West and North-South.
These projects will make us closer as existence of the transport
infrastructure heightens our economic capabilities and provide new
wonderful conditions for economic cooperation. As all you know,
Azerbaijan is keen on the operation of the Europe-Caucasus-Asia
transport corridor and is a participant of the TRACECA program.
Besides, the railway linking Europe and Asia arouse a great interest
as well. Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is important not only for our
countries but also for the whole region. Should we manage to realize
this – I don’t doubt we will – there will be the shortest route to
connecting Europe and Asia. Undoubtedly, as a transit country
Azerbaijan should settle the issues of providing transport
infrastructure for friendly countries.

In short, there are all conditions for overall economic cooperation.
No doubt, peace and security in the region should be strengthened for
its further deepening. In its turn, Azerbaijan is actively involved
in such matters and will continue its activity in the future too. At
the same time, there are many issues that arouse concerns. First of
all, all the countries should take common approach to the issues of
fighting terrorism. The world should combine its efforts, as it will
be extremely difficult to achieve serious success on one’s own. We
should look at all terrorist organizations from the same viewpoint,
without any discrimination because we will be able to combat against
this evil only through combining our efforts.

Azerbaijan is the country, which also suffered from terrorism.
Armenian terrorist organizations committed over 30 acts of terrorism
against Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis killing over 2000 innocent
people. Today, the continuing Armenia’s aggression against
Azerbaijan, policy of ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis resulted
in displacing over a million of Azerbaijanis from their native lands
are the biggest drawback, and huge obstacle on the way of regional
cooperation development. We are striving for the peaceful resolution
of the matter, considering that the possibilities for this still
exist. Therefore, we need to realize all possibilities. At the same
time, patience of the people of Azerbaijan is not unlimited. We
believe that this issue – Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, can be settled
only in line with international law principles. Armenian occupation
forces should leave Azerbaijani lands, Azerbaijanis should return to
their lands. Justice must be restored this way. Territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan is recognized by all but Armenia. It is recognized by
the United Nations and of course, cannot be the subject of
negotiations. I want to avail myself of the opportunity to express my
deep gratitude to all the member countries for supporting
Azerbaijani’s stance.

Reduction of risks, successful economic cooperation, energy security
are the issues that will ensure the development of peace. We are
located in the extremely important but very sensitive region. There
are conflicts, menace and risks in it. I do not doubt that the
Economic Cooperation Organization will honorably fulfill the goal
facing it and our cooperation will be strengthened, our successful
interaction both in bilateral and multilateral format will have a
very positive impact on the whole region.

Dear friends and guests, I once more greet all of you here in
Azerbaijan and wish every success in the your work. Thank you.

Armenian airline to buy lease 3 Airbuses after crash, fire
14:45 | 06/ 05/ 2006

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 6 2006

YEREVAN, May 6 (RIA Novosti) – Armavia, Armenia’s national airline,
said Saturday it would lease three new Airbus planes after losing two –
one with 113 people on board – in three days earlier this week.

An Armavia-owned A-320 crashed into Black Sea in stormy weather
Wednesday with the loss of 105 passengers and eight crewmembers,
and another one was destroyed in a fire at Belgium’s Zaventem airport
early Friday.

The company said in a news release that the additions to its fleet
would only be “new aircraft.”

The release said the first A-319 produced in 2004 or 2005 would start
operating by May 15.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress