Author: Emil Lazarian

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER TOLD CRASHED AIRLINER TO CLIMB – INVESTIGATOR

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 11 2006

MOSCOW, May 11 (RIA Novosti) – Air traffic controllers ordered an
Armenian passenger plane to gain altitude before it crashed over the
Black Sea last week killing 113 people, an investigation committee
official said Thursday.

“It has been established that, due to poor weather, during landing
an air traffic controller told the crew to stop descending and
to make a right turn while simultaneously gaining altitude,” said
Aleksei Morozov, the head of the Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK)
department on investigation of plane crashes.

“The plane started to turn right and gain altitude, but then it began
to descend and crashed into the water,” Morozov said.

The Airbus A-320 operated by Armenia’s Armavia was flying from the
Armenian capital, Yerevan, to Adler airport, which services the
popular Russian resort of Sochi, when it crashed 6 kilometers off
the Russian coast early Wednesday morning last week.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI, ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS INVITED TO NATO SESSION

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
May 11 2006

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly President Pierre Lelouche has invited
Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders to a plenary session of the Assembly
due in Paris late in May.

President Ilham Aliyev has accepted the invitation and will visit the
French capital for the purpose, Radio Liberty reported. Lelouche said
NATO backs peace in the South Caucasus. The alliance therefore deems
it essential to hold meetings on the level of presidents to discuss
settlement of the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict.

“In Paris, we will look for ways of resolving the conflict, which
is very destructive. We need stability in the Caucasus. I have been
in trenches in Garabagh and know firsthand how hard it is for both
peoples. I am aware of the problems faced by refugees in Azerbaijan
and deplore their plight.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA DEPLOYS NEW BATCH OF PEACEKEEPERS TO KOSOVO

AP Worldstream
May 11, 2006

Armenia deployed 34 peacekeepers to join the U.N. mission in Kosovo
Thursday as part of a regular rotation, officials said.

It was the fifth rotation of Armenian peacekeepers to Kosovo, where
they have served since 2004 alongside a Greek battalion, Defense
Ministry spokesman Col. Seiran Shakhsuvarian said.

Some 17,000 NATO-led peacekeepers are deployed to Kosovo, which has
been administered by the U.N. and NATO since 1999 when a U.S.-led
air war put an end to attacks by Serb forces against the province’s
ethnic Albanian majority.

Armenia has also deployed nearly 50 troops to Iraq to serve as part
of the U.S.-led coalition.

OMBUDSMAN UNHAPPY WITH UN

Lragir.am
11 May 06

The election of Azerbaijan to the newly established UN Human Rights
Council will not affect the state of human rights in Armenia, said
Ombudsman Armen Harutiunyan May 11 to the reporter of Regnum.

Nevertheless, he said the election of Azerbaijan was not desirable.

“Azerbaijan’s election is not desirable because it establishes
asymmetrical relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan. I am not
satisfied with the state of human rights in Armenia but I am also
unlikely to think that in Azerbaijan it is better,” said Armen
Harutiunyan. According to him, the presence of Azerbaijan in the
council restricts Armenia’s opportunities. “There they will have more
opportunities than Armenia to defend their subjectivity,” said the
defender of human rights. He said that the outcome of the election to
the UN Human Rights Council confirms that there was a nonobjective
approach. Armen Harutiunyan states that every election involves a
political approach as well.

WHY THEY WERE NOT DISMISSED FROM THE PARTY

Lragir.am
11 May 06

The outflow of businessmen members of parliament from the Orinats
Yerkir Party has been one of the burning issues recently. The political
party has not given an official assessment yet. We have information
that it was known inside the party that these members of parliament
would quit, however, they did not attempt to dismiss them.

An Orinats Yerkir member of parliament told our reporter that the
political council did not make such a decision, despite the demand
of the political party, not to deal a blow to these members of
parliament. “Although the decay of morality in politics led to a
great tragedy, we did not take that step,” said the OYP representative.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION OF FRENCH PARLIAMENT TURNED DOWN DRAFT ON PENALTY FOR GENOCIDE DENIAL

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.05.2006 13:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Wednesday May 10, the Legislative Commission of
the French Parliament turned down the draft aiming at penalizing the
negation of the Armenian Genocide. This decision followed a request
of French President Jacques Chirac. The French deputies remain free
to take part in programmed work on May 18.

“We are afraid that certain deputies sacrifice the memory of the
victims of the Armenian genocide, yielding to the political and
economic pressures exerted by Turkey,” said Alexis Govciyan, chairman
of the Coordination Council of the ArmenianOrganizations of France
(CCAF).

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EDIFICE IN PLACE OF CINEMA HOUSE WILL NOT BE HIGHER THAN BUILDINGS IN REPUBLICAN SQUARE

Armenpress
May 11 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS: Chief architect of Yerevan, Samvel
Danielian, told a news conference today that ‘a multi-functional’
edifice that is going to be built in place of Cinema House near what
Yerevan residents call Vernisage will not be higher than buildings
in nearby Republican Square.

He said the first 4 or 5 floors of the building will be given to the
Cinema House and the rest will house offices. According to Danielian,
the design of the future building will be approved by the municipality
only after deciding how many floors it will have and where its parking
lot will be built.

Danielian said also another ‘multi-functional’ edifice will be erected
in place of Sevan hotel in downtown Yerevan, but he added the building
will have as many floors as the hotel had.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HRANT DINK AWARDED HENRI NANNEN PRIZE FOR PROMOTING PRESS FREEDOM

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.05.2006 12:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Hrant Dink, editor of the Armenian-language weekly
Agos published in Turkey, is awarded Henri Nannen Prize for promotion
of press freedom and courage. Gruner+Jahr German edition and Stern
Weekly sponsor the award. “He gives his vote to his people” was the
slogan. Hrant Dink is awarded the prize for “breaking the wall of
silence and fear in Turkey, behind which Turkish Armenians live.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN MP URGES SPEAKER TO RESIGN

Regnum, Moscow
11 May 06

11 May: “It will be correct, if Artur Bagdasaryan (speaker of the
Armenian parliament and leader of the Orinats Yerkir [Law-Governed
Country] Party) resigns, and the party leaves the [ruling] coalition,”
the secretary of the party’s parliamentary faction, Egine Bisharyan,
told journalists today.

She said that Bagdasaryan himself and party members also agree with
this position. At the same time, she pointed out that the party is
determined to fight and regardless of whether it will be represented
by 13, seven or three MPs in parliament, it will act clearly and in
a coordinated way.

Bisharyan said that the departure of businessmen MPs from the party
is a political action undertaken from “above”.

Five businessmen MPs have left the party over the past few days.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN SPEAKER UNDECIDED ON RESIGNATION – PAPER

Aykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
11 May 06

Excerpt from Naira Zograbyan’s report in Armenian newspaper Aykakan
Zhamanak on 11 May headlined “They are intensively destroying the
Law-Governed Country Party”.

On 9 May, parliament speaker Artur Bagdasaryan did not congratulate
the people of Armenia on the occasion of Victory Day, nor did he join
[President] Robert Kocharyan and members of the government when they
laid flowers at the monument to an unknown soldier in Victory Park.

We have the impression that Bagdasaryan dodged his duties as parliament
speaker.

Rumours circulated yesterday that Artur Bagdasaryan will tender his
resignation on 22 May during the four-day sitting of parliament
and the Law-Governed Country Party [LGCP] will leave the ruling
coalition. The LGCP neither confirmed nor denied these rumours. The
deputy chairman of the party, Mger Shakhgeldyan, only said that the
party’s official position will be made public soon. Meanwhile, some
influential members of the party have left it.

[Passage omitted: list of these members]

After that, only 10 MPs [from the party] remained instead of 21.

However, this is not all of the potential of the authorities for
punishing Bagdasaryan. After removing MPs who have their own businesses
from the LGCP, they will remove MPs from the party’s political board.

Let us recall that the overall operation for the destruction of
the LGCP is guided from the president’s residence, and Kocharyan is
immediately informed if any member of the party applies for leaving
it. But nobody knows about the actual reason for Bagdasaryan’s quick
destruction. There is panic within the party. What is Bagdasaryan
going to do? According to our information, he is in panic too and
cannot make a decision. Some ministers and officials that occupy high
posts and are members of the LGCP are persuading Bagdasaryan not
to tender his resignation. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation –
Dashnaktsutyun dodges comment on the situation. The leader of the
parliamentary faction of the [ruling] Republican Party of Armenia,
Galust Saakyan, does not think that Artur Bagdasaryan will tender
his resignation, but if he does, Saakyan will respect him more.

Anyway, domestic political developments are entering an interesting
phase.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress