AMERICANS ARE NOT INTERESTED IN THE OWNER OF COMMUNICATION

Lragir.am
03 May 06

Would the United States make investments in the communication sector
of Armenia, considering that the Greek Company OTE is going to sell
the shares of Armentel, and a Russian company might buy them? In a
May 2 news conference the reporters asked this question to U.S.

Ambassador John Evans. The ambassador answered that the United States
is interested in the quality of communication, not more.

He said the only wish to Armenia is to have an efficient,
well-operated, cost-effective and justified communication system.

John Evans said it is utterly important because development of the
Internet is hindered by high costs and a high cost-price.

TERRORIST ATTACK WAS NOT CONFIRMED

Lragir.am
03 May 06

Igor Zhukov, the head of the North Caucasian Bureau of Transport and
Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation stated that the version
of a terrorist attack on the Armenian A-320 plane, which crashed
when flying to Sochi from Yerevan in the morning of May 3 was not
confirmed. “There are several versions, it was either caused by a
mistake of the pilot, or a technical problem, or maybe the ground
services made some mistake,” announced Zhukov May 3 to news reporters.

The spokesman of the Southern Regional Agency of the Ministry of
Emergencies of Russia Oleg Grekov announced that by midday the rescuers
have already found 38 dead bodies. It is known that out of the 105
passengers 28 were citizens of Russia, there was a national of Georgia,
and a citizen of Ukraine. The rest were citizens of Armenia. By
preliminary information all the passengers died. The rescuers work in
the place of the crash but the weather is getting worse. The speed of
the wind is 10-11 mps, with fog and rain, there might be a storm. All
the small ships are to leave the place o the crash.

The press secretary of the Department of Civil Aviation Gayane Davtyan
said there is unconfirmed information that the black box of the plane
has been found. At midday on May 3 the families of the passengers of
the crashed plane left for Sochi.

THERE IS NOT AN OFFICIAL VERSION OF THE CRASH OF A-320

Lragir.am
03 May 06

Sources, standing close to aviation, say the A-320 plane of Armavia,
which crashed near the Russian city of Adler, could have some
technical problems.

These aircrafts are automatic, the plane can land without a pilot.

However, the airport must have modern equipment. The airport of Sochi
did not have such equipment. According to our source, the dispatcher
informed our pilots that the weather was bad. In such cases the
commander of the plane decides whether to land or not. The pilots
decided to return to Yerevan, but some time later the same dispatcher
informed that the weather was improving, and the landing was possible.

On the other hand, several months ago the same plane had problems in
Paris. The airlines announced that the plane had problems, and the
flight was delayed for several hours. Problems occurred with the same
plane in Amsterdam, and Armavia had to send another plane for the
passengers, and this plane returned to Armenia empty. The aircraft
was inherited from Siberia Airlines. The entrance of these planes
to Europe is allowed on one condition: they must undergo a complete
technical examination once a month. And such technical examination
is done in Europe only.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OVER 200 MASS MEDIA IN ARMENIA

Lragir.am
03 May 06

There are over 200 mass media in Armenia, announced Member of
Parliament Hranush Hakobyan during the celebration of the Day of
Freedom of Press at the Armenian office of the UN. According to
her, if in the early 90s there was only one TV channel and several
newspapers in Armenia, today the situation has changed fundamentally.

According to Hranush Hakobyan, there are problems related with freedom
of press in Armenia, but these are secondary against the achievements
in freedom of speech over these years. “Fifteen years is too little
time to reach a level of culture that Europe has,” announced Hranush
Hakobyan, adding that Europe rose to this height after struggle that
lasted for a century.

ARF SUPREME BODY OF ARMENIA ISSUES CONDOLENCES OVER PLANE CRASH

Yerkir
03.05.2006 15:03

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Armenian Revolutionary Federation Supreme Body of
Armenia offered its condolences to the family and relatives of the
victims killed in the crash of the Armenian airliner on Wednesday.

The message reads: “It was with a great pain that we learned of the
crash of the airliner flying from Yerevan to Sochi. We offer our
condolences to the family, relatives and friends of the victims.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKEY NOT TO OPEN SEMINARY AT CONSTANTINOPLE PATRIARCHATE

Yerkir
03.05.2006 11:41

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Turkey is not going to open the seminary of
the Constantinople Patriarchate again, stated Turkish FM Abdullah
Gul. “Licensing the seminary providing religious education runs
counter to the principle of secular order of the Turkish Republic
and its Constitution,” he said.

The statement was made at a meeting of NATO FMs in Sofia. Gul reminded
that Turkish authorities earlier proposed that Constantinople Patriarch
Bartholomew to pass it to Istanbul University, but the latter refused.

Gul also said there are no limitations of religious liberty of
national minorities in Turkey. The EU, whom Turkey works to join as
a full member, and the US constantly criticize Turkey for violating
religious liberties and rights of national minorities, RIA Novosti
reports referring to the Hurriett.

We note that the Orthodox seminary, situated in Halki Island in the
Sea of Marmara, was closed in January 1971 based on the law banning
religious schools in Turkey. It was many times suggested to convey
the seminary to one of Istanbul universities, however this idea
was not realized since then due to constant differences between the
Constantinople Patriarchate and the Turkish Government.

A DUTCH FINDS ARMENIAN ROOTS
By Hakob Tsulikian

AZG Armenian Daily
03/05/2006

On March 23, Netherlands Cinema of Amsterdam screened a new film
titled “The History of My Name” that tells about 51-year-old talented
entrepreneur and headmaster of Kijkduin primary school Alex Luiten,
The Armenian Mirror Spectator reports.

Alex was born and raised in Hague but currently lives in Terschelling
island in the north of Holland. At the age of 19 he finds out that
his father is an Armenian living in France, named Peltekian, who got
to France during the WW I from Turkish town of Dortyol where he was
born in 1912. Only at the age of 44 Alex changed his name Luiten for
Peltekian and got to studying his roots.

After his father’s death, documents in France reveal that he was the
son of a rich landowner and that part of his family found refuge in
Lebanon after the Genocide.

In the film directed by Dorothy Forman Alex tries to find answers from
residents of today’s Dortyol. The film was financed by the Dutch Fund
for cultural broadcasts.

5-7 PERCENT OF ARMENIA’S POPULATION USES INTERNET

AZG Armenian Daily
03/05/2006

The number of Internet users in Armenia is 5-7 among 100
people. According to the data of Housekeeping Survey, the index
for Internet users in Yerevan is 18%, 8% for other cities and 3 %
for villages. While speaking of Armenia and the region as a whole,
the word-combination “internet user” is very relative.

It’s impossible to figure out the number of people using the Internet
at workplace in state or private organizations or at home. A single
subscriber can connect to different providers, yet a family can use
the service of only one provider. Either way, the number of Internet
users among 3 million of Armenian population remains 150.000.

CHANGING THE PLACE OF MARKET IN SADAKHLO IS OFFERED

Lragir.am
03 May 06

Member of Parliament Victor Dallakyan thinks that the Azerbaijani
middleman living on the money they earn at the market of Sadakhlo
have turned this area into a threat against the national security of
Armenia. Victor Dallakyan says presently 12-13 thousand Armenians,
nearly as many Georgians and 150 thousand Azerbaijanis live at
the Georgian side of the Armenian-Georgian border. It means the
Azerbaijanis can block the border at any moment, and Armenia may
appear stuck in the Turk-Georgian pincers, concludes the member of
parliament. Victor Dallakyan reminds that he alarmed about a possible
development in 2000 but has received no response. “Who is now going
to account for the dissipation of government funds, the blockade of 12
Armenian villages of Sadakhlo and a new threat against our security,”
asks Victor Dallakyan, and suggests solutions: move the Sadakhlo
market to the Armenian village of Akpyurpi, which is only 5 km from the
Armenian border, and the shortest way to Tbilisi runs via this village.

PRESIDENT HELD AN EXTRAORDINARY CONSULTATION

Lragir.am
03 May 06

The A-320 plane of Armavia Airlines flying from Yerevan to Sochi
crashed in the morning of May 2. There were 113 people on board,
including 8 members of the crew and 105 passengers, six children.

Everyone in the plane died. By 8 o’clock in the morning of May 3 the
bodies of 16 passengers were found in the Black Sea. The rescuers
of the Russian Ministry of Emergencies carry on the search but their
work is much difficult because of bad weather. It is suggested that
bad weather was the cause of the crash. The communication with the
plane was lost at 2.25 AM, 6 minutes before the scheduled time of
landing at the airport of Sochi. Later it was found out that the
plane crashed 5 km from the coast, where parts of the plane were
found at a depth of 300 meters. The spokesperson of Armavia Edward
Aghajanov told the reporter of Regnum that the A-320 plane was in an
ideal technical state, and the crew was highly experienced.

First the crew decided to return to Yerevan for bad weather, but
the dispatcher of Sochi-Adler Airport informed that the weather was
improving. On approaching Adler Airport the weather again changed,
and the plane could not land, and soon disappeared from the screens
of radars. The Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia also confirmed
the excellent technical state of the plane. The District Attorney
of the region of Krasnodar, Russia, sued a criminal action under the
section of the Crime Code of the Russian Federation on violation of
the rules of maintenance and operation of aircrafts causing death of
people. There is not an official version of the crash yet, says Regnum.

In the morning of May 3 the president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan
held an extraordinary consultation on the crash of the A-320 plane of
Armenia Airlines, informs the news agency Regnum. The administration
of the Armenian President informed that the heads of law enforcement
agencies, ministries, and aviation participated in the consultation.

There will be an official statement after the consultation.

The Armenian leadership expressed their condolences to the families
of the victims.