Author: Emil Lazarian

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS LEFT BAKU FULL OF HOPE AND EXPECTATIONS FOR PROGRESS
Tatul Hakobyan
“Radiolur”
25.05.2006 13:32
Last evening the statement of the mediators on Karabakh conflict
resolution was read at the Russian Embassy in Baku. According to the
statement, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the senior diplomats
from US, Russia and France left Baku full of hope and expectations
for progress. Today the international mediators held talks with RA
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan. Later they will be received also
by President Robert Kocharyan. Before departing the mediators will
issue a joint statement for the press.
In their statement issued in Baku yesterday the mediators underlined
that ” the time has come for both parties of the conflict to agree
upon the major principles of settlement.”
“The two countries should prepare their societies not for war but for
peace,” the statement says. The document notes that “the disputes in
Baku were constructive.”
Minsk Group Co-Chairs Steven Mann, Yuri Merzlyakov and Bernard Fassier,
as well as Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigori Karasin, US Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried and Director on Political
Issue of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Stanislas de Laboulaye
had a meeting with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev and Foreign
Minister Elmar Mamedyarov.
Issues related to the important aspects of future settlement were
discussed during the talks. Reference was made to the opportunities
for the meeting of Armenian and Azeri Presidents in the future. On
behalf of their countries and the international community, the
mediators assured that the conflict can be resolved solely in a
peaceful way. According to preliminary information, the recurrent
meeting of Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will take place June
5 in Bucharest.
The Co-Chairs and the senior diplomats characterized this joint
mission of theirs as an extraordinary event. The joint statement
issued in Baku says that this visit should be conceived as a proof
of the seriousness the mediators take the resolution of the Karabakh
conflict and especially of the conviction that the parties are in a
stage when a mutually beneficial agreement is achievable.
Yesterday, Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov criticized
the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.
“The statements of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on development of
new suggestions on resolution of the Karabakh conflict do not provide
grounds for optimism. With such statements the Co-Chairs are solely
willing to raise the importance of their activity in the public eye,”
Azeri Deputy Foreign Minister noted.
“No doubt, the Co-Chairs should justify their activity, therefore,
they periodically voice statements on new ideas,” Azimov said.

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION LEADER BLAMES EX-SPEAKER FOR HIDING TRUTH ABOUT RESIGNATION
Mediamax news agency
22 May 06
Yerevan, 22 May: The leader of the Orinats Yerkir Party, Artur
Bagdasaryan, who resigned from the post of the parliamentary speaker
today, and the leader of the National Unity Party, Artashes Gegamyan,
traded mutual accusations at the National Assembly session today.
Artashes Gegamyan in particular said that “the Armenian president and
the defence minister managed to pull down the Orinats Yerkir Party
within several days”.
“Artur Bagdasaryan is speaking about the atmosphere of fear reigning
in Armenia. Most likely, this atmosphere of fear is hindering him
to tell the whole truth that precisely Robert Kocharyan and Serzh
Sarkisyan forced him to resign from the post of speaker,” the leader
of the National Unity Party said.
In reply, Artur Bagdasaryan said that if the National Unity Party
had not left the opposition camp after the first round of the 2003
presidential elections, “a different political situation would have
emerged in the country”. Artur Bagdasaryan said that Artashes Gegamyan
had thus implemented “Serzh Sarkisyan’s order”.
The politicians’ quarrel lasted for quite a while after which they
decided to continue their dispute on the air of one of the Armenian
TV channels.
[Arminfo, Yerevan, in Russian 1733 gmt 22 May 06 quoted Serzh Sarkisyan
as saying that he was “absolutely uninterested in the quarrel between
Speaker Artur Bagdasaryan and the leader of the opposition National
Unity Party”.]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI OFFICIALS, OSCE MEDIATORS DISCUSS CURRENT STAGE OF KARABAKH TALKS
ANS TV, Baku
24 May 06
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs had a meeting at the Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry today. During the meeting, they discussed the current stage
of the talks on the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict and prospects for its
settlement. Details of the meeting have not been disclosed. After
their meetings in Baku, foreign diplomats will visit Armenia.
[Video showed Minsk Group co-chairs and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister
Grigoriy Karasin, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and
Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried, French Foreign Ministry political
director Stanislas de Laboulaye]
[At 0954 gmt on 24 May, Turan news agency quoted Karasin as saying
that the talks were “useful”, while others declined to comment.]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI LEADER, RUSSIAN, US, FRENCH OFFICIALS DISCUSS KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
Azartac news agency, Baku
24 May 06
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has met Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Grigoriy Karasin, US Assistant Secretary of State for European
and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried and French Foreign Ministry’s
Ambassador at Large Pierre Morel to discuss the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Azerbaijani state news
agency Azartac reported on 24 May.
The meeting was also attended by the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk
Group and the personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office
on the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, Andrzej Kasprzyk, Azartac said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SECOND FLIGHT RECORDER RECOVERED FROM PLANE CRASH THAT KILLED 113
Pravda, Russia
May 24 2006
The flight data recorder was lifted by a diving apparatus from a depth
of about 1,640 feet (500 meters) after it was separated from a thick
layer of silt, Transport Ministry spokeswoman Svetlana Kryshtanovskaya
said, according to the RIA-Novosti news agency.
The so-called “black box” was discovered within 16 meters (50 feet)
from the spot where workers found the plane’s cockpit voice recorder
Monday.
Russian TV channels showed footage of a yellow, remote-controlled
apparatus lifting the red recorder from the sea surface, the AP
reports.
Investigators hope the two recorders will help answer why the Armavia
Airbus A-320 plane plunged into the sea on May 3 amid heavy rain and
poor visibility. The flight had been en route to the southern Russian
sea resort Sochi from the Armenian capital, Yerevan. All passengers
and crew members on board were killed.
Prosecutors almost immediately dismissed the possibility that
terrorists had brought the plane down, and officials point to rough
weather or pilot error as the likely cause. Armavia officials have
suggested, however, that air traffic controllers were at least partly
to blame.
Top Armenian aviation officials will travel to Moscow Thursday for the
deciphering of the black boxes, a process that could also take place
in Paris with the involvement of Airbus, Armenia’s civil aviation
authority spokesman Gayane Davtian said.
Meanwhile, the victims’ relatives will receive compensation of
US$20,000 (~@15,550) each, the insurance company liable for the
payouts said Wednesday.

KOCHARIAN EXPRESSES GRATITUDE FOR ACTIONS TAKEN AFTER AIRBUS A320 CRASH
Interfax, Russia
May 24 2006
MOSCOW. May 24 (Interfax) – Armenian President Robert Kocharian has
expressed gratitude for the actions taken by Russia after the crash
of the Armavia Airbus A320 near Sochi in a telephone conversation
with President Vladimir Putin.
“The Armenian president expressed gratitude for Russia’s efficient
and full-scale involvement in the rescue operation after the crash and
congratulated the president for the successful completion of efforts
to recover the flight recorders,” the Kremlin said, adding that the
conversation was initiated by Kocharian.
Putin “expressed hope that the recovering of the black boxes, which
became possible as a result of the unique skills of experts, will
allow to uncover all the details of the crash,” the Kremlin said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSCE OFFICIAL WELCOMES ABKHAZ RAILWAY DEAL
Civil Georgia, Georgia
May 24 2006
Speaking at the OSCE Economic Forum, which concluded in Prague on
May 24, Special Envoy of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Pierre Chevalier
welcomed plans for a railroad project via breakaway Abkhazia, which
will connect Russia and Armenia via Georgia.
In early May the Georgian, Abkhaz, Russian, and Armenian sides signed
a protocol on establishing a consortium – the Black Sea Railways –
which will rehabilitate the Abkhaz railway.
“Everything must be done to entice parties to a conflict to find
complementary ways to overcome their differences… One possible
contribution in this respect is to lay emphasis on the economic and
social interests they have in common,” Pierre Chevalier said.
He also noted that projects proposed after an OSCE Needs
Assessment Study in breakaway South Ossetia included transportation
infrastructure. A donors’ conference will be held in Brussels on
14 June.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NICOLAE UREKI: “PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV INTENDS TO PARTICIPATE IN BUCHAREST”
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
May 24 2006
“President Ilham Aliyev intends to participate in The Black Sea Forum
for Dialogue and Partnership summit to be held in Bucharest on June
5”, ambassador of Romania to Azerbaijan Nicolae Ureki has told a
press conference.
The ambassador said that he expects participation of Georgia, Moldova,
Ukraine and Armenia presidents, Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece to be
represented in prime minister and Foreign minister Heads level.
Series of international, as well as officials of Norway, the US and
Israel have been invited. Political statement called “The Black Sea
Forum for Dialogue and Partnership” is expected to be adopted in the
measure. According to the diplomat, the project of the document was
presented to the Black Sea region countries, several meetings have
been held for agreeing the documents on the experts’ level. The
objective of the meeting is energy security, crises management,
protection of environment, holding of inter-cultural dialogue.
Nicolae Ureki said that issue on “frozen conflicts” will not be
discussed at the forum. The ambassador stated that there is not
alternative to Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization. Stressing
Azerbaijani-Armenian Presidents meeting is considered within Bucharest
summit, Nicolae Ureki said he hopes for finding way out of the Nagorno
Garabagh conflict which lasted long.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRIME MINISTER RETURNS FROM ALGERIA WITH ‘STRATEGIC COOPERATION’
By Mustafa Unal, Algeria
Zaman, Turkey
May 24 2006
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the first Turkish prime minister to visit Algeria
after an interval of 21 years, signed a “friendship and cooperation”
agreement with President Abdulaziz Buteflika yesterday.
This agreement, Algeria had previously signed with only Spain,
Portugal and Italy, shows the importance attached to Turkey, and their
relationship that will be based on a more strategic foundation with
this signature.
Erdogan and Buteflika, who met for three hours at Palace Muradiye in
the capital, sent messages of friendship.
Erdogan said the signatures are an investment in the fields of
politics, the military, economy, commerce, and culture between the
two brother countries.
During the sincere talks, Buteflika gave Erdogan the message, “We
consider ourselves as a part of the Ottomans and protect Ottoman
works here.”
Erdogan, reminding that Turkish Minister for Culture and Tourism
Atilla Koc also participated in the visit, emphasized that they would
do everything possible to ensure the restoration of Ottoman works in
the country.
“Let’s make the Mediterranean a peaceful basin again,” Buteflika
said, and stressed, they support Turkey on all issues, including the
Armenian issue.
In the talks, both countries reached a principle agreement in order
to make joint searches for oil, natural gas and metals.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN JET’S BLACK BOXES TO BE ANALYZED IN PARIS
Interfax, Russia
May 24 2006
YEREVAN. May 24 (Interfax) – The flight recorders from the Armenian
Airlines Airbus A320 which crashed off the Russian coast near Sochi
on May 3 will be analyzed in Paris, Armenian Civil Aviation Department
press secretary Gayane Davtian told Interfax on Wednesday.
“Both black boxes will be brought first to Moscow, where they will
probably be examined, and possibly a documentary act will be drawn up,
and then to Paris for decoding,” Davtian said.
“The final decision on decoding the black boxes in Paris has already
been taken,” she said.
Civil Aviation Department flight safety division chief Gagik Galstian
will go to Paris from Yerevan as well, she said.
The analysis of the black boxes might take “two or three days,”
she said.
“However, if the black boxes are damaged, decoding might take much
longer,” Davtian said.