Author: Chakhmakhchian Vatche

NO TERROR LINK TO AIR CRASH
Daily Post (Liverpool)
June 20, 2006, Tuesday
Mersey Edition
THE Armenian airliner that crashed into the Black Sea last month
killing all 113 people aboard was intact, with its engines operating
normally and enough fuel to land prior to impact, a Russian investig
ating commission said today.
The Armavia Airbus A320 was also under manual control by its pilots
up to the moment of the May 3 pre-dawn catastrophe near the Russian
port of Sochi.
The commission, which analysed the plane’s “black box” flight
recorders, did not assign blame for the crash.
Prosecutors have dismissed the possibility that terrorists had brought
the plane down, and officials have pointed to rough weather or pilot
error as the likely cause.

OSCE MEDIA FREEDOM REPRESENTATIVE TO VISIT ARMENIA
ArmRadio.am
19.06.2006 13:48
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, will
visit Armenia from 19 to 21 June to collect first-hand information
on the media in the country.
The visit, which comes at the invitation of the Armenian Foreign
Ministry, will help assist the country in further promoting free and
pluralistic media in pursuance of its OSCE commitments.
The Representative will meet President Robert Kocharyan, the Chairman
of the National Assembly Tigran Torosyan, Deputy Foreign Minister
Armen Baibourtian, and Deputy Justice Minister Gevorg Kostanyan.
Miklos Haraszti will also have discussions with the President of the
Council of Public TV and Radio Company of Armenia, and the President
of the National Commission for Television and Radio, as well as
representatives of State and independent media, international and
non-governmental organizations.

Turkey and Armenia
The ties that divide
Jun 15th 2006 | KARS
> > From The Economist print edition
Locals dream of reopening the frontier between Turkey and Armenia
NAIF ALIBEYOGLU, mayor of Kars, a town bordering Armenia, has a
dream. He pictures a party of Turkish officials embracing their
Armenian counterparts in the middle of an ancient bridge over the river
that divides their countries. Reduced by war and neglect to a pair of
greyish stone stumps on opposite banks of the river, its condition is
an apt symbol for relations between the two countries. The bridge,
part of the historic site of Ani (see article), would in theory be
easy to reconstruct. Fixing the broader relationship between Turkey
and Armenia promises to be a great deal harder.
Turkey was among the first countries to recognise Armenia when it
emerged from the Soviet Union’s wreckage in 1991. But bitter arguments
over the fate of the Ottoman Armenians-did the mass killings of 1915
constitute genocide?-together with lingering border disputes have
stood in the way of formal ties. The estrangement deepened in 1993
when Turkey sealed its land frontier with Armenia (while still allowing
direct air travel). The Turks acted after Armenian forces had occupied
a chunk of Azerbaijan in a war over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Years of secret talks between Turkish and Armenian diplomats-the
latest of which were held in Vienna in March- have failed to ease
tensions. And this is despite vigorous backing for renewed ties from
both America and the European Union, which Turkey is seeking to join.
Mr Alibeyoglu, who is from Turkey’s ruling AK party, says the
people of Kars are paying the price. With average annual incomes of
only $823, Kars is among the country’s poorest and most neglected
provinces. Yet before the cold war Kars was among the young republic’s
most progressive places. It is vividly evoked in “Snow”, a novel by
Turkey’s most famous writer, Orhan Pamuk. Locals would attend the
theatre and ballet and dine on caviar and champagne. Such tastes were
inherited from former Russian occupiers, whose traces can still be
detected in the grandeur of its Tsarist-era architecture.
Mr Alibeyoglu, whose penchant for wine and naughty sculptures would
have gone unnoticed in those days, now sees a chance to reverse
his city’s decline, but only if Turkey unconditionally reopens its
borders. By doing this, Turkey would regain some moral high ground,
as well as securing access to strategic markets in Central Asia
and beyond. Kars could even become a regional hub in the Caucasus,
especially if a rail link to Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, were
restored. Trade volumes between the two countries, now averaging
a measly $100m a year, almost all of it conducted via Georgia,
should soar.
There is more. As many as 200,000 members of the Armenian diaspora
return to their homeland every year. Many would like to cross
the border into Turkey in order to visit Armenian archaeological
sites. The tourist trade could be worth millions of dollars. “They
would also meet Turks and realise they aren’t quite as evil as they
imagined,” adds Kaan Soyak, co-chairman of the Turkish-Armenian
Business Development Council.
But how to break the diplomatic deadlock? Mr Alibeyoglu’s answer is to
take matters into his own hands. In 2000 he drove to the Armenian town
of Gyumri, where he appeared on television with his fellow mayor and
appealed for peace. This autumn, Mr Alibeyoglu will host a festival
that features, for a second time, performers from Armenia, Georgia
and Azerbaijan. The Armenians will have to make a tortuous journey via
the Turkish cities of Trabzon and Istanbul. But the mayor hopes that,
one day soon, their journey will be much quicker.

ITALIAN-ARMENIAN SYMPOSIUM ON STONE QUARRYING AND PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES HELD IN YEREVAN
Noyan Tapan
Jun 15 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 15, NOYAN TAPAN. The political cooperation between
Armenia and Italy is currently at the highest level, while economic
relations still have a potential for development. In this sense,
the symposium “Stone Quarrying and Processing Technologies” is quite
promising. The Italian Ambassador to Armenia Marco Clemente expressed
this opinion in his speech of welcome at the symposium on June 15.
27 Armenian companies operating in such spheres as stone quarrying
and processing, transport, insrument making, as well as 11 Italian
companies engaged in stone quarrying and processing equipment
and instrument production, and implementation of educational and
design program took part in the symposium. The event was organized
by the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen of Armenia (UMBA)
and Olstone company (Italy) representing the interests of a number
of companies. The company’s technical manager Stephano Simone said
that the best Italian stone quarrying and processing companies have
been invited to participate in the symposium.
During the event, an agreement on cooperation was signed between
the UMBA and Olstone. UMBA Chairman Arsen Ghazarian notes that the
document creates preconditions for establishment of Armenian-Italian
joint ventures on operation of stone mines ans stone processing, for
introduction of new technologies and installation of conveyers in such
enterprises, as well as for training of Armenian enterprises’ employees
in Italy. According to him, the implementation of these measures will
increase Armenian exports. The Armenian travertine, tufa and felsite
are mainly used on the domestic market where an annual growth in
construction volumes made 20-30% in recent years. In the opinion of A.
Ghazarian, it is not ruled out that exports of Armenian construction
stone will exceed local consumption in the near future. He said that
construction stone is transported by railway to Georgian ports, then –
to Russia, Ukraine, the US, Germany, and France, in smaller amounts –
to other countries, particularly to Australia and South Africa.

KOCHARYAN SATISFIED WITH CURRENT LEVEL OF ARMENIAN-SWISS RELATIONS
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
June 13 2006
YEREVAN, June 13. /ARKA/. Armenian President Robert Kocharyan is
satisfied with the current level of the Armenian-Swiss relations. The
press service of the Armenian president reported that Kocharian
reported this during his meeting with Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline
Calmy-Rey.
Kocharian highly appreciated that assistance rendered by Switzerland
with the current reforms in Armenia, and pointed out the country’s
inclusion in the Agency for Development and Cooperation.
In its turn, the foreign ministry of Switzerland stated that the
country closely watches the processes in South Caucasus, showing
especial interest in the problems of stability, security and migration.
According to Switzerland, Armenia enjoys a big “capital of sympathy”
in this country, as well as thanks to the Swiss Armenians.
At the same time, both sides pointed out that the indicators of the
bilateral economic relations are rather inconsiderable. They emphasized
the need in a more systematized cooperation.
In this relation, they stressed the importance on the agreement on
exclusion of double taxation signed the day before, and on the economic
forum currently held in Zurich and the bilateral business contacts.
The President of Armenia and the Swiss Foreign Minister also
highly appreciated the two countries’ cooperation at international
organizations.

NATIONAL UNITY FACTION’S INITIATIVE TO CONVENE SPECIAL SESSION OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FAILS
Noyan Tapan
Jun 14 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 14, NOYAN TAPAN. The NA National Unity faction’s
initiative to convene a special session of the National Assembly
with the aim of setting up an ad hoc commission failed. The task
of the commission would be to examine losses incurred by the local
producers and population as a result of the unfounded appreciation of
the Armenian dram in 2005-2006. By the end of the signature collection
deadline – June 14, 1:20 pm, only 26 deputies joined the initiative,
whereas the signatures of at least 44 deputies are required in order
to convene a session. According to the faction member Aghasi Arshakian,
7 deputies from the National Unity faction, 8 from the Justice faction,
5 from the Orinats Yerkir Party, 3 independent deputies and 3 from
the People’s Deputy group joined the initiative.

LETTER TO THE KING OF RUSSIANS
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir.am
14 June 06
The Armenian society is writing a letter to Putin, the president of
Russia. Our intelligentsia announced this June 13 during a meeting at
the Writers Union. The list of participants allows judging about the
content of the letter, which is connected with the killings of Armenian
citizens in Russia. So, we may suppose that the letter is going to be
a little categorical, expressing a little concern, a little hard. In
other words, a little like a letter that intelligentsia may write to
the president of an inhospitable country.
The list of people who wrote the letter is prominent: Levon Ananyan,
the president of the Writers Union, Academician Vladimir Barkhudaryan,
Vladimir Aghayan, the Union of Armenians of Russia, Astghik Gevorgyan,
the president of the Union of Journalists, Garnik Ananyan, the dean
of the Department of Journalism of Yerevan State University.
After having read this list it is not difficult to imagine the content
of the letter. Putin cannot have received a tougher letter all through
his conscious life or scrutinized through the period of his life in
KGB. It is possible that the Armenian intelligentsia has announced
about the letter but has not published it to hide its toughness. Either
the letter is not ready yet or they want Putin to receive the letter
without knowing its content. The letter can be so hard and bold that
some trouble may befell to the mailman, preventing him from frightening
Putin. In the meantime, the mail carrier is going to be Seyran Avagyan
himself. Perhaps the cherished dream of the adviser to president
has come true, and he is already promoting small and medium-sized
businesses by his personal example, opening his own mail delivery
service. And judging by the choice of the mailman, we may reject the
thought that the Armenian intelligentsia is going to be hard on Putin.
The point is that Seyran Avagyan is the adviser to the president of
Armenia, and the representatives of the intelligentsia enumerated
above would not dare to risk the life of the adviser to the president
by placing in his hands a chilling letter addressed to Putin even
if a dozen of Armenians were killed at once. As for Seyran Avagyan,
he would not dare to deliver this letter, for it would be the first
and the last order of the mail delivery office, and the office would
“die” long before its registration.
On the other hand, the Armenian intelligentsia need not shock Putin
by a letter. The president of Russia will be shocked on hearing the
news that the Armenian intelligentsia decided to write him a letter.
It will be enough for Putin to call Armenia and find out if there had
been a change of power. Naturally, he will be immediately reassured.
They would not even allow Putin to call first. The top-level
Armenia-Russia phone calls are usually initiated by the Armenian
party. Only Robert Kocharyan must learn about the letter sooner
than Putin will receive it. Although in this sense too everything
is under control because the letter will be delivered by the adviser
to president. It is also possible that in Moscow they will deliver a
blank sheet of paper with the signatures of Armenian intelligentsia
to Putin. Let Vladimir Vladimirovich try to guess during the rest of
his office what the Armenian intelligentsia had meant to tell him.

RA FOREIGN MINISTER TO PARTICIPATE IN NORTH-ATLANTIC COUNCIL-ARMENIA SITTING
ArmRadio.am
13.06.2006 11:15
Today RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyanis leaving for Paris to have
a meeting with his Azeri counteropart Ilham Mammadyarov. The meeting
will feature the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chars.
June 14 Minister Oskanyan will leave for Brussels to participate in the
meeting of the North-Atlantic Council and Armenia in the 26+1 format
together with Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan. During the meeting
teh parties are expected to discuss the process of accomplishment
of NATO’s Individual Partnership Actions Plan (IPAP)with Armenia,
based on the results of midterm evaluation of the IPAP.
June 19 the Foreign Minister is scheduled to pay an official visit
to Kiev, where he will meet the President of Ukraine and the Foreign
Minister.
June 21 Minister Oskanyan will be in Geneva to participate in the
opening sitting of the UN Human Rights Council.
June 27-28 RA Foreign Minsiter will pay an official visit to Georgia.

BAKU PREFERS PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF THE KARABAKH CONFLICT
ArmRadio.am
13.06.2006 11:56
Baku prefers peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict. The Foreign
Minister of azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov declared this yesterday
during the meeting with members of the Foreign Ministry delegation
of the South-African Republic, Day.az reports.
Azeri Foreign Minister informed the guests about “occupation of 20
percent of Azerbaijani territory by Armed Forces of Armenia and th
ethnic cleansings here.” Elmar Mammadyarov emphasyzed the necessity
of withrdrawal of Armenian troops from the above-mentioned territories
and provision of conditions for the return of refugees.

ANCA CALLS ON SENATORS TO DEMAND FULL EXPLANATION OF EVANS FIRING
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Jun 12 2006
WASHINGTON, JUNE 12, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA) urged U.S. Senators to demand a
full and open explanation of the highly controversial firing of the
current U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, John Evans, before the Senate
moves to confirm a new envoy to Yerevan. In June 9th letters, ANCA
Chairman Ken Hachikian encouraged Senators to vigorously investigate
the reasons behind the Administration’s decision to recall the
Ambassador more than a year prior to the end of his normal term of
office. The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Fresno Bee
have reported that the State Department’s actions against Ambassador
Evans were due to his comments, made during February, 2005 speeches
to Armenian American audiences, accurately and openly describing the
Armenian Genocide as a clear instance of genocide. Despite more than
60 Members of Congress having called for an official explanation of
the Administration’s policies and actions on this matter, over the past
four months the White House and State Department have yet to offer any
meaningful explanation about the dismissal of this highly-regarded,
35-year veteran of the Foreign Service. Hachikian stressed, in his
letters, that, “The U.S. Senate cannot, in good conscience, approve the
nomination of a new ambassador to Armenia until the circumstances of
the current envoy’s highly controversial firing are fully, officially,
and openly explained to Congress and the American people. More broadly,
the Administration needs to honestly explain its policies and actions
concerning the Armenian Genocide. This is especially true given
that serious questions remain unanswered concerning the role that a
foreign nation – the Turkish Government – played in Ambassador Evans’
firing.” The ANCA letter closed with Hachikian urging Senators to delay
the final approval of the incoming ambassador until the Administration
clearly and openly explains its policies and actions in connection to
the firing of Ambassador Evans. Hachikian’s letters to the 18 members
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee addressed their special
oversight during the panel’s upcoming confirmation hearing for the
President’s nominees to serve as the next Ambassador to Armenia.