JEAN-LOUIS LAURENS ATTACHES IMPORTANCE TO SUCCESS OF DEMOCRATIC REFORMS IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 05 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The achievements over
the last 5 years that have passed since Armenia joined the Council
of Europe, as well as the prospects were discussed during the May
5 meeting of the RA National Assembly Speaker Artur Baghdasarian
with Director General of the Council of Europe (CE) Political
Affairs Jean-Louis Laurens. It was noted that it has been a period
of active work and cooperation, during which the guidelines on the
country’s route from the Council of Europe to the European Union have
been outlined. Artur Baghdasarian presented the process of honoring
Armenia’s commitments assimed in the European parliament, noting that
after making the amendments to the RA Constitution, legislative reforms
are underway in the judicial, local self-government and territorial
administration systems and the RA Electoral Code. Pointing out the
importance of successful democratic reforms in Armenia, Jean-Louis
Laurens underlined the necessity of the legisalative bases and
political will for holding free and fair national elections in the
country. In his opinion, the political course that Armenia adopted
five years ago was of great significance for the country’s progress in
integrating into the large European family and adopting its system of
values. According to the RA National Assembly PR Department, Special
Representative of the CE Secretary General to Armenia Boyana Urumova
was present at the meeting.

ACCORDING TO EVU DEPUTY CHAIRMAN, KARABAKH PROBLEM SOLUTION SHOULD NOT ENDANGER SECURITY OF ARTSAKH PEOPLE

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 05 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Erkrapah Volunteers
Union (EVU) only had the task of solving the problem of security
of the Artsakh people. This problem has been solved today, it has
just not been stipulated diplomatically. EVU Deputy Chairman Myasnik
Malkhasian stated this during the May 5 meeting at the National Press
Club. According to him, the solution of the Karabakh problem should
not endanger the security of the people of Artsakh.

In his words, the liberated territories that have formed a
security zone for Artsakh today represent such guarantees. No
part of the territory of Armenia should be made a discussion
subject at negoatiations, first of all, the problem of Artsakh’s
self-determonation should be solved and Artsakh should have a border
with Armenia. “These are the principles, within the framework of which
we will be satisfied with the problem’s solution,” he stated. “The
Erkrapah was created with the aim of liberating territories, and we
have accomplished that task. We liberated so many regions as to prevent
the capital and other settlements of Artsakh from being shelled,”
another deputy chairman of the union Ara Ketikian said. According to
him, the Erkrapah uttered its weighty word with the Armenian army on
the battlefield. “In 1994, considering peace as the highest value,
we made not a compromise but a unilateral concession, preventing
the further advance of our military units to Gandzak and other
territories,” Ketikian said. As regards the return of territories,
this issue, in his words, is under the jurisdiction of the country’s
highest authorities.

Ketikian said that the Erkrapah also said its word after 1994 – by
promoting the strengthening of the Armenian army and working among
the youth. “We are not guaranteed against resumption of war and should
be prepared for it any moment.

Everybody has already understood that it is number one
guarantee.” Myasnik Malkhasian said that the time has shown that the
Erkrapah should not get involved in political processes. He noted that
the EVU has remained true to Sparapet Vazgen Sargsian’s behest that
Erkrapah must act as a lightning-conductor. At the same time, he said
the EVU members are citizens and may participate in parliamentary
elections. The union expects its members to win in majoritarian
elections. According to the speaker, some unpredictable developments
may take place in the upcoming parliamentary elections. He noted
that various political forces will balance the field, so electoral
commissions will be deprived of great opprtunities to falsify.

DOCUMENTARIES OF TURKISH, IRANIAN AND RUSSIAN FILM MAKERS TO BE DEMONSTRATED IN YEREVAN

Noyan Tapan
May 05 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. Within the framework of the documentary
film program “Film Makers Without Borders”, the Golden Apricot cinema
development fund and Art-film will show 3 Turkish documentaries, 2
Russian and 3 Iranian ones at the cinema hall of the National Picture
Gallery on May 7. All eight documentaries have been demonstrated at
various international film festivals and won awards. Art Director of
the Golden Apricot international film festival Susanna Harutyunian told
NT correspondent that the same program enviasages demonstration of 7
Armenian documentaries in Turkey in May. The works of Armenian film
directors will be shown once again in Turkey, this time during the
1000 and One Documentaries film festival to be held in the period
of September 29 to October 5, 2006. It is envisaged to organize
discussions and meetings with film directors of various countries
during the festival. The Armenian documentaries will be also
demonstrated at the Kinoshock international festival in the Russian
city of Anapa in October. According to S. Harutyunian, Iranians also
had the opportunity to watch these Armenian documentaries in February
of this year.

TWO ARMENIAN PLANES BURN DOWN AT BELGIAN COMPANY’S BASE

Noyan Tapan
May 05 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. Early May 5, four planes, which had
been sent to Brussels for technical examination, including an A-320
plane of the Armavia airline and an A-320 of Armenian International
Airways, burnt down at the base of the Sabina Technic company
(Belgium). Spokeswoman for the RA Civil Aviation Main Department
Gayane Davtian told NT correspondent that there were no victims.

EXPERT COMPANIES APPOINTED BY REINSURERS OF ARMAVIA’S GRAND INSURANCE COMPANY TO INVESTIGATE CAUSES OF A-320 CRASH

Noyan Tapan
May 05 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The famous Aircliams expert organization
and Beaumon&Son legal expert organization are investigating the causes
of the Armenian airline Armavia’s A-320 plane crash near the Russian
city of Sochi on May 3. NT correspondent was informed about it from the
Grand insurance company (Armenia) that insured Armavia. According to
the company, the plane, its crew and passengers have been insured in
order prescribed by the Armenian legislation by the Grand insurance
company, which has reinsured the risks assumed by it with 14 large
London reinsurance companies. The amount of compensations to be
paid to relatives of the passengers killed in the crash will be
determined based on the official conclusion to be made by Airclaims
and Beaumont&Son, which have been appointed by these reinsurance
companies. Grand reminds that under the Warsaw Convention of 1929,
the amount of compensation for life insurance cases in international
air transportation is limited to 20 thousand US dollars.

ARMENTEL PROLONGS TERM OF FREE TELEPHONE CALLS TO SOCHI UNTIL MAY 7

Noyan Tapan
May 05 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The term of free telephone calls from the
Armenian fixed telephone network to the hot line in Sochi was prolonged
until May 7. Noyan Tapan was informed about it from ArmenTel’s press
service. The phone numbers of the hot lines are:
00-7-86-22-44-00-88
00-7-86-22-44-12-32.

RUSSIA JOINS ARMENIA IN MOURNING

BBC NEWS:
europe/4975648.stm
2006/05/05 07:09:46 GMT

Armenia and Russia have begun public mourning for 113 people feared
killed when an airliner crashed into the Black Sea near the Russian
city of Sochi.

Most of the dead were Armenians on a flight from Yerevan, and the
small Caucasus republic is holding two days of mourning while Russia
will hold one.

Moscow has appealed for foreign help to retrieve the Armenian Airbus
A320’s flight recorders.

Signals suggest they have been located at a depth of 680m (2,200ft).

The important thing is to be able to bury the victims so that there
is a place where you can go to cry Arman Davtian brother of victim

The search for bodies is continuing, with 50 retrieved as of Friday
morning. Of these, 41 have been identified – 31 of them Armenians
and 10 Russians.

The 105 passengers included 26 Russian nationals, and six children
were also aboard.

While the cause of the crash is not known, officials say bad weather
at the time may have brought it down as it tried to make a second
landing attempt.

It reportedly hit the sea at an angle of 60 degrees, 6km from the
coast near Adler airport, just outside Sochi.

DNA tests

Flags are flying at half-mast in Armenia and Russia and public
entertainment events have been cancelled as a mark of respect for
the dead.

TV channels in Russia have changed their schedules to drop
entertainment programmes on Friday, Itar-Tass news agency reports.

Russia is preparing to fly the first identified bodies to Yerevan,
the Armenian capital, on Friday on a transport plane while a passenger
plane will take back bereaved relatives.

DNA samples have been taken from relatives who did not find their loved
ones’ remains, in the hope of identification at a later stage, Russian
Transport Minister Igor Levitin was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass.

“The tests will be done by Russian experts at a request by the Armenian
side,” he added.

Correspondents reported scenes of anguish in Sochi and Yerevan.

“The victims’ bodies are unrecognisable, horribly disfigured –
a mother wouldn’t know her own son,” one young man looking for his
brother-in-law’s body told AFP news agency in Yerevan.

Another young man, Arman Davtian, had just returned from Sochi where
the remains of his brother had been identified.

“I hope that all the other families can recover the bodies,” he said.

“The important thing is to be able to bury the victims so that there
is a place where you can go to cry.”

CLOUDS AND BIRDS DOWNED AIRBUS
by Sergey Mashkin

378
May 05, 2006

Investigation

Recovery work continued yesterday at the Black Sea site of the crash
of the Airbus A-320 belonging to Armavia Airlines. The bodies of
several victims and fragments of the plane were recovered on the
water’s surface. Russian divers are unable to reach the flight
recorders, which are lying on the seabed at a depth of about 600
meters. Transportation Minister Igor Levitin said that Russia may
ask of the assistance of foreign specialists to recover them.

Later yesterday evening, the remains of 20 of the 112 persons who
perished on that flight were returned to Yerevan. Those were the people
whose relatives were able to identify them. The other bodies recovered
from the Black Sea will require identification by DNA testing. Blood
samples have already been taken from relatives for that purpose. It
is assumed that some of the victims will be buried today, which has
been declared a day of mourning in Russia and Armenia.

The causes of the crash remain unknown. Prosecutor’s Office
investigators listening to the recordings of the pilot’s conversations
with the dispatcher at the Adler airport have not reached a
conclusion. They noted that both the pilot and the dispatcher spoke
of the bad weather conditions at the airport.

The Adler dispatchers confirm that information.

“Landing conditions at our airport were much more difficult than at
nearby Anapa and Mineralnye Vody,” one dispatcher said. “The runway
is located in a mountainous area not far from the sea. There were low,
tattered clouds and constant wind off the sea. That is what the pilot
had to land the A-320 in.

Usually pilots circle the airport waiting for the clouds to lighten
up before entering them. Five or six rotations is considered the norm
for us.”

When the plane flew in Georgian territory on its way to Sochi, the
local dispatcher informed the pilot that the clouds at the airport
of destination were lower than 100 meters, which meant that landing
was prohibited. Therefore, Capt. Grigory Grigoryan decided to return
to Yerevan.

The pilot received a new weather forecast some time after turning
around.

“Now they’ve said 150 [m. cloud height] on 1500 [m. visibility]
at 2:00,” the pilot told the dispatcher as he headed back toward
Adler. However, by the time of the flight’s descent, the weather had
turned worse again and the cloud sunk to 100 m. The pilot nonetheless
approached for a landing at Adler at 2:05. Descending to 170-200 m.,
he saw that there was no break in the clouds.

The plane began to ascend again to circle the airport and wait for
a window in the clouds. It takes about eight minutes to make a full
circle around the Adler airport. At 2:15, the plane disappeared from
the screen of the airport’s locator. Specialists think that the crash
occurred a minute or two before that.

Pilots who have landed Airbus A-320 models at Adler say that, at
the moment of the landing and crash, the plane was being pilot by a
person, not the computer. The A-320 is capable of automatic takeoff
and landing, but the Adler airport is not equipped with navigational
equipment to orient the plane’s computer. Therefore the pilot has
to land by a light beacon located beyond the runway. The plane’s
automatic direction finder indicates the direction of the beacon,
but with very low accuracy, so the pilot has to visually his course.

This is done at the moment the plane emerges from the clouds.

Besides the weather and navigational difficulties at the Adler
airport, there was another problem. According to airport personnel,
migrating birds have occupied one of the two runways – the reserve
runway – there. “We didn’t chase them away for fear of bird flu,”
an airport employee said. “All the more since the air traffic is
low now.” It is possible that, at the moment of the A-32o’s landing,
weather conditions were better on the reserve runway.

Russian Transportation Minister Igor Levitin stated yesterday that
large fragments of the airplane with the flight recorders have been
located on the seafloor. “We have no experience raising objects
from that depth in that aquatic medium,” the minister said. “And
there is no equipment for it in the Black Sea region.” He aid that
it was possible that Russia would turn to specialists from other
countries. Representatives of the French and British embassies stated
that their countries were ready to help with the deep-sea work,
should they receive an official request. The Emergencies Ministry
continues to say that it will be able to handle the work itself.

NKR PRESIDENT GAVE CONDOLENCES

Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
05 May 2006

On May 3 NKR President Arkady Ghukassian expressed condolences to the
relatives and friends of the passengers of the A-320 plane flying from
Yerevan to Sochi, which crashed on May 3. “I give my condolences to
the relatives and friends of the victims of the crash of the plane,
flying from Yerevan to Sochi.

At this moment of sorrow I wish them all strength and
patience. Stepanakert, 3 May, 2006.” THE MESSAGE OF NA SPEAKER. NKR
Speaker Ashot Ghulian offered condolences to the families of the
crew and passengers of the plane flying from Yerevan to Sochi. “The
breaking news of the plane crash filled us with deep sorrow. I offer
condolences on behalf of the National Assembly and on my behalf to the
families and friends of the crew and passengers who died in the plane
crash. I wish all of us strength of mind and patience.” THE MESSAGE OF
THE GOVERNMENT. The press service of the NKR government informed that
Prime Minister Anoushavan Danielian addressed a condolatory message
on behalf of the government of NKR to the families and friends of the
crew and passengers of A-320, which crashed when flying from Yerevan
to Sochi. “We are shocked by the crash of the Yerevan-Sochi plane,
which caused the death of over one hundred people, giving us deep
sorrow. I express condolences on behalf of the NKR government and on
my behalf to the families of the crew and passengers of the plane,
and mourn for the victims.”

AZERBAIJAN: TRYING TO KEEP WASHINGTON AND TEHRAN HAPPY
Shahin Abbasov and Khadija Ismailova

Eurasianet
5/05/06

Iran is dangling the prospect of greater cooperation on Caspian Sea
energy issues in order to secure Azerbaijan’s neutrality in the ongoing
confrontation with the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with his Azerbaijani
counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, in Baku on May 4, ahead of an Economic
Cooperation Organization summit. According to the official IRNA news
agency, Ahmadinejad expressed a desire to increase bilateral energy
cooperation. Such a development could have profound regional economic
and political ramifications, given that Iranian-Azerbaijani tension has
served as a major obstacle to the development of Caspian Sea energy
resources. In 2001 and 2002, Iran resorted to gunboat diplomacy to
force Azerbaijani to halt development of the disputed Araz-Alov-Sharg
offshore oilfields [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Ahmadinejad did not offer specific ideas concerning possible
Azerbaijani-Iranian cooperation, although he expressed an interest in
having Iran serve as an export conduit for Azerbaijani oil and gas,
IRNA reported. The offer seemed clearly designed as an incentive for
Azerbaijan to remain on the sidelines of the international crisis
revolving around Iran’s nuclear ambitions. [For background see the
Eurasia Insight archive]. The US government, which is convinced Iran
intends to develop atomic weapons, has openly contemplated using force
to compel Iran to abandon its nuclear program. Iranian officials
insist the program is designed solely for peaceful purposes. At a
May 5 news conference in Baku, Ahmadinejad reiterated the Iranian
government’s intention to proceed with its nuclear program, while
criticizing the United States. The Azeri-Press Information Agency
quoted the Iranian leader as saying; “If nuclear weapons are bad,
why do they [Americans] have them? If they are good, then why can’t we
[Iranians] possess them?”

The Iranian nuclear issue figured prominently during Aliyev’s visit
to Washington in late April [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive]. Many political analysts in Baku believe US officials sought
Azerbaijani support for possible efforts to thwart Iran’s nuclear
ambitions. Aliyev publicly ruled out any involvement in such an
anti-Iranian coalition.

During his Baku visit, Ahmadinejad emphasized the benefits of
neutrality. IRNA reported Ahmadinejad as telling Aliyev that “national
resolve on the part of the two nations to develop cooperation would
neutralize the conspiracy of the enemy to sabotage Tehran-Baku
relations.”

Aliyev was generally tight-lipped about his discussions with
Ahmadinejad. The Azerbaijani president’s press service told journalists
only that Aliyev welcomed the Iranian proposal to explore closer
energy ties, while stressing “the importance of historical links”
between Azerbaijan and its southern neighbor. At an ECO-related news
conference, Aliyev indicated that he backed a negotiated solution to
the Iranian nuclear crisis. “All issues that are provoking concern
should be resolved peacefully, in the spirit of talks, to maintain
the fragile stability in our region” Aliyev said.

The Aliyev administration’s position is buttressed by widespread public
opposition among Azerbaijanis to US policy toward Iran. “All recent
surveys conducted in Azerbaijan show the raise of anti-American moods
in Azerbaijani society,” said Arif Yunusov, head of the Conflict
Prevention Department at the Baku-based Institute for Peace and
Democracy.

The ECO summit — bringing together representatives of 10 states
in the Caspian Basin, as well as Central and South Asia — examined
several regional issues, including Caspian Basin energy exports, and
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Aliyev expressed hope that ECO could
help break the existing stalemate in Karabakh peace talks. He also
asserted that Kazakhstani participation in the BTC pipeline was not
needed to fill the export route to capacity. Aliyev said Azerbaijan
would export upwards of 50 million tons of oil via BTC by 2008,
the APA news agency reported.

Editor’s Note: Shain Abbasov and Khadija Ismayilova are freelance
journalists based in Baku