ABRAMYAN OFFERS CONDOLENCES TO FAMILIES OF A-320 PLANE VICTIMS

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 3, 2006 Wednesday 11:06 AM EST

The President of the Union of Armenians of Russia and the World
Armenian Congress, Ara Abramyan, has offered deep condolences to the
next-of-kin of those who died in the A-320 plane crash near Sochi,
southern Russia.

“There were Russian and Armenian citizens on board the plane. It is
a great tragedy for our people. We mourn over this loss,” Abramian
said in a statement.

The two countries’ presidents decided to announce May 5 as the day of
mourning in Russia and Armenia, which would embody solidarity between
our peoples and the readiness to lean on each other’s shoulder and
find consolation in each other in minutes of great distresses and loss,
the statement said.

Abramyan said the Sochi-based Union of Armenians set up a center for
helping relatives of the A-320 victims arriving in the city.

He assured that the two organizations he heads would contribute to
the relief aid fund for the families of the victims, if it was set up.

VETERAN TEST PILOT SUSPECTS HUMAN ERROR CAUSED A320 PLANE’S CRASH

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 3, 2006 Wednesday

Russia’s veteran test pilot, Magomed Tolboyev, has said he tends to
suspect the role of a human error as the chief factor that led to
last night’s crash of an Armenian airliner near the Russian Black
Sea resort city of Sochi.

Tolboyev, currently the president of the Aviatsia aviation corporation,
has said, the planes of this type have what he described as the “curved
image problem,” and the crew might have lost their bearings. At the
same time Tolboyev did not rule out mistakes by both crew and air
traffic controllers.

Interviewed live on the Ekho Moskvy radio station, Tolboyev said
that the plane’s equipment allowed for making a landing in extremely
bad weather.

Air engineer, expert in civil aviation and flight safety Alexei
Komarov, who edits the Aviatransportnoye Obozreniye review, said that
according to statistics, A320 was a very reliable plane. Of the more
than 2,500 liners of this type in operation around the world a mere
twelve have suffered crashes.

The governor of the Krasnodar Region, Alexander Tkachev, tends to
share the human factor version, although in his opinion it is a
preliminary one and requires further confirmation.

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry has blamed the Armenian
plane’s crash on bad weather. The Transport Ministry says this version
is most likely.

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has ruled out a terrorist
attack. Public Relations Officer Nataliya Vishnyakova has said with
reliance to the investigators’ early findings “a terrorist attack
should be ruled out, because there is no objective evidence pointing
to this.”

There where 113 passengers and crew on board the crashed plane.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry 26 of them had Russian
citizenship. There were some Georgian citizens on board, too. Also
on that plane was Armenia’s former interior minister, chief of the
KGB security service Major-General Usik Arutyunian.

According to the latest reports, the bodies of 46 victims have been
recovered and brought to Sochi. Two have been identified.

BOOK OF CONDOLENCES OPENED AT ARMENIA EMBASSY IN MOSCOW
By Tamara Frolkina

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 3, 2006 Wednesday

A book of condolences was opened at the Armenian Embassy in Moscow
over the air crash near Sochi.

“The book was opened on behalf of all Armenians living in Russia,”
President of the Armenians Union Ara Abramian told Itar-Tass on
Wednesday. “The Union of Russian Armenians is doing its best to help
the families of the crash victims,” Abramian emphasized.

“Relatives are accommodated at the Sochi hotel Moskva, the medical
and psychological aid and the food are provided for them,” he pointed
out. “They will stay in the hotel until all issues concerning the
air crash and its aftermath are settled,” Ara Abramian remarked.

“There are many Russians among those killed in the air crash, as a big
number of Armenians have dual citizenship. It is needed to wait for
the results of the expertise in order to find out what really happened,
as the airplane was said to be in the ideal state,” he indicated.

The A-320 airliner was carrying 113 people, including 26 Russian
citizens. According to the preliminary information, all people aboard
the plane were killed. Former interior minister and chairman of the
Armenian State Security Committee Maj-Gen. Usik Arutyunian is among
those killed. According to the latest reports, the bodies of 39 crash
victims, including one girl, were found.

RUSSIA’S ARMENIANS HELP FAMILIES OF A-320 CRASH VICTIMS
by Tamara Frolkina

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 3, 2006 Wednesday

The Union of Armenians of Russia is lending a helping hand to the
families of those who died in the A-320 plane crash near Sochi,
southern Russia, the Union’s President, Ara Abramyan, told Itar-Tass
on Wednesday.

“The relatives are accommodated at the Moskva hotel in Sochi. There
they will get necessary medical and psychological assistance and
free meals. They will stay there until all issues connected with the
catastrophe and its effects are settled,” he said.

“Among the victims there may be many Russian citizens, as most
Armenians on board of the plane had dual citizenship. It is necessary
to wait for the results of the inquiry into the causes of the crash.

The plane is said to have been in perfect condition,” Abramyan said.

There were 113 passengers on board the A-320, including 26 Russian
citizens.

There were no survivors. Among the victims was Armenia’s former
Interior Minister, chairman of the KGB security service, Major-General
Usik Arutyunyan.

According to the latest data, 39 bodies, including that of a small
girl, have been recovered on the site of the accident.

GREENWAY BOARD SEEKS ARMENIAN PARK DELAY
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | May 3, 2006

Boston Globe, MA
May 3 2006

Members of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy board
don’t have the authority to reject a proposal to build a memorial
park along the Greenway, but its chairman said yesterday it would
exert influence to delay or relocate the park.

“We have talked, on the conservancy board, about not having any
memorials or statues on the Greenway for at least five years,”
said Peter Meade, chairman of the conservancy’s 10-member board,
which includes Edwin Schlossberg, the husband of Caroline Kennedy
Schlossberg, granddaughter of Greenway namesake Rose Kennedy.

Yesterday the board was briefed for the first time on a proposal to
build a park that would memorialize the Armenian genocide along the
Greenway, a series of parks being created along the corridor of the old
Central Artery. A state law, passed in 2000, directed the Massachusetts
Turnpike Authority to study building an Armenian memorial.

The conservancy, which was set up to endow, maintain, and organize
events for the Greenway, has no direct authority over what is built
there; the turnpike authority controls that. But, asked whether the
board has a say in the matter, Meade said, “I think we do.”

Fred Yalouris, director of architecture for the Big Dig, said what
goes on that location is “not part of the conservancy’s area of
purview.” But he added, “Obviously, we will talk with them.”

Yalouris said the Armenian proposal “fit perfectly” on the space
available, next to a planned history museum. Asked whether it was of
concern to him that the proposal memorializes Armenians in particular
more than other immigrant groups, Yalouris said, “Yes it is, but it’s
what they proposed.”

“This is like a public park at no expense to the taxpayer,” he said.

The proposed Armenian park would be the sole memorial along the
Greenway. There is not even a plan for a bust or statue of Rose
Kennedy. Throughout Boston, there are numerous memorials to ethnic
groups and causes, such as the New England Holocaust Memorial, erected
near Faneuil Hall in 1995. But many people involved in Greenway design
during the last decade — from neighbors to members of the Mayor’s
Central Artery Completion Task Force — have said they wanted to
steer clear of statues or monuments to causes.

The memorial park’s supporters emphasize that it is intended as a
tribute to all immigrant groups, not just Armenians.

When Erkut Gomulu, president of the Turkish American Cultural Society
of New England, objected to the placement of an Armenian memorial
on the Greenway at yesterday’s board meeting, Meade said: “This is
exactly what we’re trying to avoid on the Greenway. There will be a
number of groups coming to say, ‘What about me?’ ‘What about us?’ ”

The memorial has also drawn critics because the Armenian Heritage
Tribute and Genocide Memorial Foundation, which proposed the park to
the Greenway board yesterday, has not gone through a public process,
as advocates of other projects have.

Instead, the Armenian group got its chance because of a 33-word
section of law passed in 2000 directing the turnpike authority to
study building “a monument to the Armenian Genocide 1915-1922.”

State Representative Peter J. Koutoujian, a Waltham Democrat who
is Armenian-American, supported the law, and has been involved in
planning for the memorial. “We had some legislation passed directing
the turnpike to look into the feasibility of siting a park,”
Koutoujian said.

The legislation did not specify a location, but the turnpike is
formally proposing the design on a Greenway parcel of a little under
a half acre between Cross Street and Surface Road near Faneuil Hall.

Neighborhood groups have reacted favorably to the design itself,
which would feature an elaborately designed sculpture, fountain and
reflecting pool, and a labyrinth of pavement and grass.

Turkish groups have long disagreed with Armenians over whether what
happened starting in 1915 constituted a genocide of 1.5 million
Armenians. Gomulu, the president of the Turkish American Cultural
Society of New England, unsuccessfully opposed the legislation that
paved the way for the current proposal.

“This amendment represents an intolerable degree of ethnically oriented
propaganda infiltrated to public spaces,” wrote Gomulu to one state
official when the 2000 law was being proposed.

James M. Kalustian, president of the board of directors of the Armenian
heritage foundation, said his group met privately with many public
officials, including Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, to inform them
about the proposal.

“The mayor was supportive in the meeting,” Kalustian said. “I don’t
know what his official stance is.”

Menino declined to comment yesterday.

AZERBAIJAN: ATTENTION TURNS TO GOVERNMENT-NGO RELATIONSHIP FOLLOWING ALIYEV’S RETURN FROM WASHINGTON
Rovshan Ismayilov

EurasiaNet, NY
May 3 2006

During his recent visit to the United States, President Ilham Aliyev
said his government would reach out to the non-governmental groups in
an attempt to hasten Azerbaijan’s democratization pace. For that pledge
to be put into practice, both the government and NGOs will have to
make adjustments in what to date has been an adversarial relationship.

Azerbaijani leaders have tended to view NGO activities warily out
of apparent suspicion that civil society initiatives are a cover
for an attempt to topple the government. Such suspicions were on
display during the parliamentary election campaign last November,
when officials took measures to hinder NGO participation in the
electoral process. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

NGO representatives continue to complain about government
restrictions. In particular, the government is keeping many groups in
legal limbo by not taking action to officially register them. “Civil
society groups, especially youth groups experience problems with
registration,” said Farda Asadov, the executive director of the
Open Society Institute-Assistance Foundation Azerbaijan. [OSI-AF is
affiliated with the New York-based Open Society Institute, which also
operates EurasiaNet].

Azerbaijani officials deny that the government is hampering NGO
activity. Hadi Rajabli, an MP from the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party and
chairman of parliament’s Social Policy Committee, maintained that the
government had corrected problems in the NGO registration process. “We
do have more than 2,000 organizations and their influence [in the
policy-making process] is confirmed by laws,” Rajabli said. “Some
organizations prepare draft laws and we discuss them in committees. But
their opinion is not necessarily the absolute truth, and it is up to
us whether we pay attention or not.”

Rashid Hajily, director of the Baku-based Media Rights Institute
(MRI), strongly disputes Rajabli’s claim about improvements in the
registration process. “The same registration difficulties exist now
as before,” Hajily said. “Authorities are very selective in the issue
of the state registration of NGOs. For example, since November 2002
we [MRI] have applied for registration more than 10 times and have
failed each time. The Ministry of Justice did not provide us with
logical reasons of their refusal.”

The registration issue will be one of the main benchmarks for
measuring Aliyev’s effort to improve government-NGO ties. Some
NGO activists remain cautious about Aliyev’s commitment. Over the
past year, the “general state of democracy in Azerbaijan has taken
a turn for the worst,” argued Hajimurad Sadaddinov, the director
of the Azerbaijan Foundation for Development of Democracy and the
Protection of Human Rights. At a May 1 appearance in New York,
sponsored by the International League for Human Rights, Sadaddinov
claimed that government manipulation prevented him from winning
during last November’s parliamentary elections. [For background see
the Eurasia Insight archive]. However, he held out hope that, in the
aftermath of his Washington visit, Aliyev will take steps to improve
the country’s civil society image. Specifically, Sadaddinov said he
expected the government to release individuals classified by human
rights groups as political prisoners.

Meanwhile, Asadov and other NGO representatives say that
non-governmental organizations can do a few things to build trust
and widen the channels of communication with the government. A top
priority for NGOs should be improving the transparency of their
operations. Given a shortage of funding in the domestic arena,
many NGOs rely heavily on foreign grants and donations. At the same
time, financial disclosure has been problematic. According to Azay
Guliyev, an MP and head of the National NGO Forum, the country’s
roughly 2,000 registered NGOs received a collective total of $2.1
million in foreign grants and donations. But Guliyev believes the
official figure drastically underestimates the real amount going to
NGOs. Part of the problem is connected with the registration issue,
as unregistered NGOs cannot issue officially recognized accounting
reports. But other NGOs, for a variety of reasons, are not as open
as they could be on the use outside funding.

Asadov said NGOs should also be more assertive in offering solutions
to existing policy dilemmas, as well as engage in coalition-building
to enhance their ability to influence policy debates. Unity would both
raise organizations’ public profiles and make NGOs more difficult for
the government to ignore. NGOs “fail to establish a dialogue with
the government in most cases due to the authorities’ reluctance to
communicate,” Asadov said.

Despite the difficulties, Asadov said there have been a few instances
of successful governmental-NGO cooperation, including the participation
of an NGO coalition in the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative
(EITI). “Now we have NGOs working together with the government in
the EITI commission, ensuring transparency of oil revenues,” Asadov
said. In general, he added, officials still seem reluctant to reach
out to NGO representatives.

A particular problem area concerns youth-oriented groups. Asadov said
many older, well-established NGO activists are reluctant to encourage
the development of a younger generation of civil society advocates.

“Due to limited funding, some organizations [NGOs] monopolize
particular spheres, preventing some youth groups from participating,”
Asadov said.

Government harassment has been a far larger obstacle to the development
of youth-oriented groups, NGO activists argue. Officials appear to
be especially suspicious of youth activists’ involvement in civil
society-related projects, in part due to the prominent roles played
by young people in Georgia’s Rose Revolution in 2003 and Ukraine’s
Orange Revolution in 2004. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive]. Underscoring that suspicion was the 2005 arrest of Ruslan
Bashirli, head of the Yeni Fikir youth group, on charges of conspiring
to carry out a coup attempt. Human Rights activists say Bashirli
is a political prisoner. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive]. Bashirli’s trial, which began in April, is closed to the
public. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Some youth initiatives have managed to overcome official suspicion.

For example, a Baku-based youth movement, Alumni Network, is pressing
ahead with a campaign, dubbed the Future Does Not Come on Its Own,
which strives to pressure the government into using profits from oil
and gas exports to promote education. In particular, the group wants
the government to fund 500 scholarships for deserving Azerbaijanis to
study at top-notch universities around the world. “We want Azerbaijan
to be a country of well-educated people, who will ensure the prosperity
[of the nation] when oil production declines,” said Emin Abdullayev,
an Alumni Network leader. The group has gone so far as to prepare a
draft presidential decree on the scholarship idea.

Another youth group, the American Alumni Association (AAA), has
gained prominence by promoting public debate on several issues,
including easing traffic congestion in Baku, education reform and
the allocation of oil and gas revenues for the public benefit. Ramin
Isayev, a Harvard University alumnus who currently works as a manager
of a foreign oil company in Baku, is working on a draft policy paper
concerning the utilization of energy revenue. The paper is based on
a March 18 public hearing, sponsored by the group.

“With the inflow of huge oil revenues, our country has an opportunity
to rapidly develop,” Isayev said. “However, if we do not manage oil
revenues and these opportunities in a wise manner, then we might miss
these opportunities and disappoint our current and future generations.”

“Since I am one of those few relatively more fortunate ones, who
made a successful journey from a refugee camp [He is refugee from
Armenia] to Harvard, I also feel great responsibility for making sure
that more and more people in our country are able to fulfill their
dreams – we may call this the American Dream, the Azerbaijani Dream
– the dream of a normal human being,” Isayev added. When finished,
the group hopes the policy paper can assist in a broad NGO push to
influence the government’s State Oil Fund strategy. [For background
see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Isayev, Abdullayev and other youth activists say they are driven
not by political concerns, but by a wish to ensure the long-term
prosperity of the nation. “I expect our policy paper be received
very enthusiastically by the government, since we make only economic
policy recommendations and we have no political agenda. This is a
wonderful opportunity for our creative government officials as well,
to build for the sake better future for all,” Isayev said.

Editor’s Note: Rovshan Ismayilov is a freelance journalist based in
Baku. Havilah Hoffman, a EurasiaNet editorial assistant in New York,
also contributed material to this report.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION ON ISSUES OF REMOVAL AND FUNERAL OF VICTIMS’ ASHES CREATED

Noyan Tapan
May 03 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 3, NOYAN TAPAN. On the occasion of the accident of the
aircraft implementing the Yerevan-Adler flight, RA President Robert
Kocharian convened a consultation today, with the participation of the
Prime Minister, the Ministers of Defence, Territorial Administration,
the Prosecutor General, Police, National Security Service, heads
of the Civil Aviation General Administration. According to the
information submitted to Noyan Tapan by the RA President’s Press
Service, the Chief of the Civil Aviation General Administration
presented to the RA President details connected with the aircraft
accident. By R.Kocharian’s instruction, Serge Sargsian, a Co-Chairman
of the Armenian-Russian Intergovernmental Commission, the Defence
Minister will leave for the Russian Federation to study reasons
and circumstances of the accident. It was decided to create an
intergovernmental commission headed by the Minister of Territorial
Administration which will be engaged in issues connected with removal
and funeral of vistims’ ashes. The RA Prosecutor General reported that
a criminal action was brought on the occasion of the case.

COMMITTEE ON ARMENIA NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY PROJECT DEVELOPMENT HAD A SESSION IN YEREVAN

Source: Novosti-Armenia, April 28, 2006
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
May 3, 2006 Wednesday

The 4th session of Interagency committee on Armenia National Security
Strategy project development too place today in Yerevan. Armenia
Defense Department Press-secretary Colonel Seyran Shakhsuvaryan
stated that the session was conducted under the chairmanship of
Armenia President Serzh Sarkisyan. The members of the 4th session
chose from 250 offers and included in the agenda the ones concerning
the following topics: Armenia outer security strategy, All-Armenian
integration strategy. After exchanging opinions, amendments have been
made and the offers accepted. The Committee secretariat is responsible
for editing the new topics.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY STANDS IN SILENCE TO RESPECT MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF PLANE ACCIDENT AND STOPS WORK

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 03 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 3, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. At the May 3 plenary
sitting RA National Assembly stood in silence to respect the memory of
the victims of the plane accident that happened the same day. At the
suggestion of Ardarutiun (Justice) faction Secretary Viktor Dallakian,
it was decided to stop the sitting. Meeting the request of National
Unity faction Head Artashes Geghamian the parliament decided to
form a working group consisting of representatives of all groups and
factions for the purpose of rendering assistance to the families of the
victims. As Hakob Hakobian, member of the National Deputy MP group,
MP elected from Echmiadzin, declared, according to preliminary data,
18 of the victims were from his electoral district. The MP will
give 1000 dollars from his private means to the family of each of
the victims. As Galust Sahakian, Head of the RPA faction, informed
journalists, according to his data, part of the passengers was leaving
for Sochi for the purpose of taking part in the conference organized
on the initiative of the Prometevs-Chimprom company’s owner Senik
Gevorgian. According to preliminary data, former Head of the Armenian
Civil Aviation Department Vyacheslav Yaralov, former Head of the
National Security Service Husik Haroutiunian and the son of the former
Head of the same service Karlos Petrosian were among the victims.

WITHDRAWAL OF AKHALKALAKI BASE STARTED

Prime News Agency, Georgia
May 3 2006

Tbilisi. May 03 (Prime-News) – The first file of trucks left the
Russian military base in Akhalkalaki on the Tuesday-Wednesday
overnight.

As Prime-News was told by the representatives of the regional
administration of Samtskhe-Javakheti, the file will arrive in the
Tsalka railway station to be re-leaded. The first lot of military
equipment is to leave Georgia by May 15th.

The decision to traffic the equipment in nights was not accidental
and it aims at prevention of possible provocations. However the local
residents staged a protest rally in Akhalkalaki on Wednesday.

The local residents of Armenian origin are largely employed in the
military base and they say that planned withdrawal of base leaves
them without earnings.