Author: Emil Lazarian

ARMENIAN VETERANS OF PATRIOTIC WAR WANT TO RESTORE PRIVILEGES THEY HAD
BEFORE

YEREVAN, MAY 8, NOYAN TAPAN. 7898 veterans of the Patriotic War live
in Armenia at present. About 2000 of them are invalids. Veterans get
8300 drams (about 18.4 U.S. dollars) pension and invalid veterans get
12-21 thousand drams. Besides, according to the RA law “On Patriotic
War Veterans”, all veterans get monthly payment of honor, 10000
drams. Veterans pay for flat, litter, radio and phone subscribing 50%
of payments. They have privileges of getting free medical assistance,
medicine, free applies for accomodation in a sanatorium as well as to
run freely once in a year in the territory of the CIS countries.

Instead of some privileges of 2004, veterans get assistance of 3000
drams, and invalid veterans get assistance of 4500 drams. But, as
Major General Rafik Karapetian, the Chairman of the Veterans’ Union of
Armenia mentioned in the interveiw to the Noyan Tapan correspondent,
veterans want to restore their privileges. The Union is going to
address to the RA President, Prime Minister,

National Assembly Speaker with this issue. According to R.Karapetian,
it is necessary to undertake means to improve the social-economic
state of veterans, “They are already old people: the youngest of them
is 82 years old,” he mentioned, adding that 1400 veterans died the
last year.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MSNBC
May 8 2006

Turkey recalls officials for talks

Turkey said on Monday it had recalled its ambassadors from France and
Canada “for consultations” in a diplomatic dispute over moves to
recognise Armenian claims of genocide during the first world war.

Ankara’s anger has been stirred by a decision of the French
parliament to debate a draft law later this month that would make
denial of the Armenian genocide claim a crime similar to denial of
the Holocaust. Stephen Harper, Canada’s prime minister, also recently
backed Armenia’s genocide claim. Both France and Canada have
substantial Armenian communities.

Namik Tan, a spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry, said the
ambassadors had been recalled to Ankara “for a short period for
consultations regarding recent developments over the baseless
Armenian genocide claims in France and Canada”.

The withdrawal of the envoys threatens to further sour relations
between Ankara and Paris, which are already strained because of
French resistance to Turkey’s ambition to join the European Union.

Armenia claims that up to 1.5m civilians were massacred by Ottoman
troops as the empire collapsed starting in 1915, and that the
massacres amounted to genocide because they were the result of
deliberate Ottoman policy. The Armenians were citizens of the empire
at the time.

Turkey denies the genocide claim. It says hundreds of thousands of
Armenians, as well as a similar number of Turkish Muslims, died in
partisan fighting, famine and forced removal. It also insists the
mass killings cannot be blamed on the republic of Turkey, which was
created in 1923.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
May 8 2006

Azeri Omb makes statement on 14th year of occupation of Shusha

Source: Trend
Author: S.Agayeva

08.05.2006

Azerbaijani Ombudsman Elmira Suleymanova made a statement on 8 May o
the 14th anniversary of the occupation of Shusha, Trend reports.

The document noted that the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and
maintenance of Nagorno-Karabakh in the exclusive jurisdiction of
Azerbaijan was numerously confirmed by UN, OSCE, CE and all
countries, while Armenia ignores the international rule of law and
opinion of the international community.

Despite 4 UN Security Council resolutions on unconditional withdrawal
of belligerent troops from the territory of Azerbaijan, Armenia
states its unwillingness to execute them, she underlined.

The Ombudsman underlined that as a result of occupation of Shusha
193 people were killed, 102 became disabled, while 27 industrial and
construction facilities, 103 culture objects, 249 historic monuments
and museums were destroyed.

Suleymanova voiced her hope that world community and international
organizations will support the completion of Armenian aggression
which continues many years, peaceable resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, repatriation of refugees and internally
displaced people (IDPs), rehabilitation of their rights, as well as
sanctions on Armenia.

The statement was sent to the UN Secretary General, UN High
Commissariat n Refugees, UNESCO, the Council of Europe, OSCE and
other instances.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Bloomberg
May 8 2006

Turkey Recalls Envoys to France, Canada Over Genocide Dispute

May 8 (Bloomberg) — Turkey recalled its envoys to France and Canada
because of disagreements with both countries over whether the
killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks last century constitute
genocide.

Turkey’s ambassador to Paris Osman Koruturk and ambassador to Ottawa
Aydemir Erman have returned to the capital Ankara for
“consultations” following “baseless claims of genocide of
Armenians,” Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Namik Tan said in an
e-mailed statement today.

“It is expected that our ambassadors will return to their duties
once the consultations are complete,” Tan said.

The EU has said Turkey’s bid to join the bloc may be hindered by the
claims of genocide against hundreds of thousands of Armenians during
the First World War. Turkey denies the charges, saying the deaths
were part of wider ethnic clashes as Armenians sided with Russia
during the war.

Turkey recalled its envoy to France prior to a debate by French
lawmakers on May 18 about a law that foresees a one-year jail term
and a 45,000-euro ($58,000) fine for persons who deny that genocide
took place. Turkey’s parliament is sending a delegation to France
tomorrow in order to convince their French counterparts not to pass
the bill, said Bulent Arinc, chief of the Turkish legislature,
according to the Hurriyet newspaper.

The French National Assembly in May 1998 formally recognized as
genocide the killing of Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire
between 1915 and 1917.

Turkey’s foreign ministry on April 25 accused Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper of exhibiting a “gravely prejudiced attitude” after
he said that his government continued to recognize motions adopted by
the Canadian senate and parliament acknowledging that the genocide
took place.

Turkey may bar French companies from bidding for a planned nuclear
power station and other projects if France approves the legislation,
Milliyet daily said on May 1, without saying where it got the
information.

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 8 2006

French experts to bring search devices to Black Sea crash site
14:19 | 08/ 05/ 2006

SOCHI, May 8 (RIA Novosti) – French specialists will arrive in Sochi
on Tuesday bringing equipment needed to search for the flight
recorders of an Armenian Airbus A-320 airliner that crashed off
Russia’s Black Sea coast last week, a Russian official said Monday.

Vladimir Derkunov, the head of the local search headquarters, said
the specialists would arrive late in the evening bringing equipment
capable of distinguishing the black boxes from the plane’s fuselage,
and flexible devices for extracting and lifting them.

Experts earlier said parts of the plane, which crashed killing all
113 people on board, had been discovered at a depth of 400-450 meters
(about 1,470 feet).

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Gulf Times, Qatar
May 8 2006

French expertise, equipment sought over Armenian crash
Published: Monday, 8 May, 2006, 10:01 AM Doha Time

MOSCOW: Russia will ask France for help in retrieving the black box
flight recorders of an Armenian aircraft that crashed in the Black
Sea earlier this month, a Russian minister said yesterday.
`The aeronautical safety committee of the (12-nation) Commonwealth of
Independent States will approach French specialists,’ said Russian
Transport Minister Igor Levitin.
All the passengers and crew aboard died when an Airbus A320 operated
by the Armenian airline Armavia plunged into the sea on Wednesday as
it tried to land at Sochi in bad weather on a flight from the
Armenian capital Yerevan.
`We have looked at the French experience at Sharm el-Sheikh,’ Levitin
told reporters after a meeting with Emergency Situations Minister
Sergei Shoigu.
In January 2004 after a Flash Airlines Boeing crashed off the
Egyptian resort, a Scorpio robot sent by France recovered the two
black boxes from a depth of more 1,000m.
`French colleagues have told us what equipment they used and French
companies have said they are ready to help us,’ Levitin said.
`We can suggest to France that it take part with us in the search
operation and the task of bringing to the surface aircraft parts and
bodies’ which have not been recovered, he said.
The plane probably either came down when heavy rain forced a loss of
speed, or was actually struck by lightning, according an aviation
specialist. Parts have been located at a depth of 680m.
The bodies of 32 of the dead passengers have been taken to Yerevan,
Armenian Civil Aviation confirmed.
Rescuers have so far only found 51 bodies and seven of these have not
yet been identified, Sergei Aristov, Russia’s deputy transport
minister, said. – AFP

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 8 2006

OSCE rapporteur says 2006 suitable for Garabagh accord

Baku, May 5, AssA-Irada

The visiting OSCE Parliamentary Assembly rapporteur on the
Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict, Goran
Lennmarker, has said there are great opportunities to solve the
long-standing dispute this year.
Lennmarker, who earlier held talks with Armenian officials, told
journalists in Baku after meeting Azeri officials on Friday that it
is possible to reach an accord producing good results for both
countries.
`We discussed technical aspects of a possible agreement both in
Yerevan and Baku,’ he said.
The rapporteur noted that his responsibilities included studying the
situation with the Garabagh settlement and he held talks on the issue
with the Azeri side. He added that regional integration was discussed
as well.*

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Gazette (Montreal)
May 8, 2006 Monday
Final Edition

Cast Your Vote

Yesterday’s question was: Do you think Stephen Harper was right to
acknowledge the 1915 Armenian genocide?

Yes: 97% of votes
No: 3%

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 8 2006

Garabagh mediator to discuss `new ideas’ in Baku

Baku, May 5, AssA-Irada

`Difficult issues like reaching a conflict settlement are within the
remit of the OSCE Minsk Group. Negotiations are still under way to
bring the positions of parties closer together, but there is still a
lot to be done,’ the French co-chairman of the mediating OSCE Minsk
Group, Bernard Fassier, told journalists upon arrival in Baku on
Friday.
The objective of the visit is to inform the parties to the conflict
of the results of the co-chairmen’s recent meeting in Moscow. Prior
to coming to Baku, Fassier visited Yerevan and met senior Armenian
officials.
In Baku, the diplomat will meet with President Ilham Aliyev and
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.
`I hope to discuss the new ideas which surfaced in the latest meeting
in Moscow and during the negotiations with the Armenian leadership.
But I can’t give you the details,’ he said.*

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SOCIAL-DEMOCRAT HNCHAKIAN PARTY’S CENTRAL BOARD SENDS MESSAGES OF
CONDOLENCE ON OCCASION OF ACCIDENT OF A-320 PLANE

BEIRUT, MAY 8, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Central Board of the
Social-Democrat Hnchakian Party sent messages of condolence to
Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, RA NA Speaker Artur
Baghdasarian and Prime Minister Andranik Margarian on the occasion of
the accident of the Armavia airline’s A-320 plane carrying out
Yerevan-Sochi flight. The messages provided to Noyan Tapan from the
party’s Central Board, in particular, read: “We were deeply depressed
to learn about the accident of the plane belonging to the Armavia
airline. This unexpected loss shocked the relatives of the victims and
all Armenians. The Social-Democrat Hnchakian Party’s Central Board
presents its deep condolences to you, to the families and relatives of
the victims wishing your people and homeland to have no such
catastrophes in the future”.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress