Author: Kafian Jirair

ARMENIAN PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE EXCLUDES POSSIBILITY OF TERRORISM ACT

Panorama.am
13:39 10/05/06

According to our sources at the Armenian General Prosecutor’s Office,
two of the verdicts on May 3 Yerevan Sochi plane crash are excluded
at the outset of the investigation of the case – act of terrorism
and not sufficient fuel on the plane.

Investigation is initiated on the case headed by Hakob
Gharakhanyan. The investigation group is already in charge
of the recording between the plane personnel and Georgian air
controllers. Other documents are also available. More than dozens of
employees of air companies are interviewed.

OSKANYAN-MAMEDYAROV MEETING EXPECTED

ArmRadio.am
10.05.2006 13:11

Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov said that in the framework
of the events organized by the Council of Europe May 18-19 he will
meet the Foreign Minister of Armenia Vardan Oskanyan.

Azeri media reports that Mamedyarov noted that the opportunities for
the meeting of Presidents will be discussed during the meeting.

“So far it is no known for sure whether the Presidents will meet or
not, it is still early to speak about it, but it’s not excluded,”
he said.

From: [email protected]
Subject: Is amnesty of capital possible?

Is amnesty of capital possible?

Yerkir.am
May 05, 2006

One of the main peculiarities of the transition period is the
semi-legal accumulation of capital through shadow processes. It is not
possible to speak about proper accumulation and legal circulation of
capital in a context when massive privatization and decentralization
deals are made and the economic entities have an opportunity to act
under the inadequate supervision of undershaped and weak state
institutions.

What is amnesty?

The experience of many countries shows that the transition periods
have their logical ends when capital accumulated in this or that way
is finally legalized which ensures the further efficient use of such
capital. This is possible when the political elite of the country and
the society at large manage to have a process of capital amnesty. This
allows establishing an atmosphere of mutual trust between the state,
the society and the businesses which will finally become the
cornerstone of social accord in the country.

What does capital amnesty mean and how should it be achieved? Here it
is very important that the society on the one hand (represented by the
voters, the political parties and other institutions of civil society)
and the business community of the other hand realize the importance of
capital amnesty, i.e. disclosing the capital accumulated through
illegal means, mostly through tax evasion.

The main goal of capital amnesty is to mobilize additional resources
for the operation of the economic system especially through returning
financial and material resources transferred abroad. Of course, it is
very difficult to estimate the volume of such resources. However,
there is no doubt that we are speaking about significantly large
amounts that could be used to create a significant number of jobs in
the country.

Of course, it will sound naive to think that all illegally accumulated
financial resources transferred abroad could be returned. A
significant portion of such resources have `emigrated’ from the
country together with people who invested their money in real estate,
stocks, businesses. Some share of ` emigrated’ capital has been
returned in the form of `foreign’ investments. Such ` foreign’
investments are in reality Armenian investments coming from abroad
because in this way the investors can conceal the shadow or often even
criminal sources of their money on the one hand, and enjoy profit tax
privileges envisaged for foreign investments on the other.

So we can see that the so-called `foreign investments’, at least
partly, are a process of legalization and return of money illegally
accumulated in Armenia and transferred to foreign banks. In other
words, this is another way of capital amnesty that has been
institutionalized (through laws or various certification processes,
etc.).

It is very important for capital or tax amnesty that the secrecy of
any information made available to the state should be ensured. Such
information can be transferred by financial brokers. Guarantees should
be given that the tax or law enforcement agencies will not start
investigations to check the legality of the capital.

By Mher Ohanian

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
May 8 2006

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev awarded Best Governed Muslim
Country prize

[ 08 May 2006 18:25 ]

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev today received delegation led by
chief of Pakistani Senate Human Rights Permanent Committee, Senator
Seyid Mohammed Zafar.

The President’s press service told APA that Mr. Mohammed Zafar said
Pakistan’s key media outlet `Pakistan Observer’ awarded President
Aliyev Best Governed Muslim Country. The visitor said Mr,Aliyev has
been awarded this prize for his contributions to great achievements
in national development, modernization of country economy, state
management, education as well as development of human resources. The
President was presented with the Best Governed Muslim Country award.
The head of Azerbaijan expressed his gratitude for the award. He
underlined that Pakistan is one of closest allies of Azerbaijan, and
there exist high level relations between our countries.
Mr. Aliyev highly appreciated Pakistan’s full support for
Azerbaijan’s fair position regarding Armenia’s aggression against
Azerbaijan, Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict./APA/

PM forms group for aid to families of A320 crash victims
By Natalya Slavina

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 3, 2006 Wednesday

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov has formed a special government
commission for providing relief aid to the families of the victims of
last night’s crash of an A320 liner of the Armenian airlines Armavia.

Transport Minister Igor Levitin has been appointed to chair the
commission.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Each Day Reduces Chances to Find and Identify Victims

06.05.2006 15:37 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Operative Headquarters of the
Ministry of Extraordinary Situations (MES) does not
rule out that the Airbus merely crumbled away into
small pieces. This is evidenced by the fact that
within a long period of time MES representatives find
only small fragments, including passenger seats, in
the water. «The seats were in the fuselage and if it
was safe, they would not be scattered,» a MES expert
said. The Headquarters representative supposed that at
the depth of 680 meters, near the flight recorders
there are small parts as well. According to the MES,
some 10% of fragments of the airbus are lifted from
the Black Sea bottom.

Though French and Russian experts promised to look for
corpses of the victims until possible, experts hold
that at a great depth and under the pressure they very
quickly decompose and each day reduces the chances.

~SIt is not ruled out that the flight recorders will
stay on the bottom forever. The depth, where the A-320
fragments are found is a record one, thus I am not
ready to forecast the chances to lift the flight
recorders. We do not have experience of lifting planes
from that depth,~T the Russian Minister of Transport
Igor Levitin said, reports Gazeta.ru.

Several planes collapsed at approximately the same
place in 1972, 1976 and 2001. Their flight recorders
were never found.

–Boundary_(ID_SKbrbYZOskeLRO7ZUFmn9A)–

PM’S ‘GENOCIDE’ COMMENT SPARKS ROW WITH TURKEY

Ottawa Citizen
Saturday, May 06, 2006

OTTAWA — Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Canada as the country
plots an official response to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recent
acknowledgement of the 1915 Armenian genocide — one of the most
disputed and politically fraught events of the 20th century.

Harper’s three-paragraph statement April 19 to mark the “sombre
anniversary” — the first time that Canada has made such a statement
— barely caught the attention of most Canadians, but it ignited a
furor in Ankara that appears set to boil over.

An official at the Turkish Embassy in Ottawa told CanWest News
Service that Aydemir Erman has not been formally withdrawn from
Canada over the prime minister’s comments, but he has been “called
back” to Turkey to discuss with government officials what steps will
be taken to express displeasure with the remarks.

Those options include the formal withdrawal of Turkey’s top diplomat
in Canada, a threat Turkey has made with Canada and other countries
in the past.

“The ambassador is now travelling to Turkey because our authorities
have asked him to join them for consultations and, indeed, it is
related to what’s been happening here in the last week or so here in
Canada with the prime minister’s declaration,” said Yoney Tezel, a
counsellor with the embassy.

Ottawa’s official position that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in
a “genocide” adds Canada to a group of about 25 other countries,
including France, Russia, Poland and Argentina.

“For us, this is a serious matter,” Tezel said. “The Armenian claims
are a direct attack on our identity, on Turkey’s history. We feel
it’s unfair. That’s why when these claims find some recognition we
always consider that something negative.”

Harper’s statement, delivered on the 91st anniversary of the
bloodbath, noted that both the Senate and the House of Commons have
adopted motions acknowledging that a genocide took place.

“My party and I supported those resolutions and continue to recognize
them today,” he said.

On April 25, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement accusing
Harper of exhibiting a “gravely prejudiced attitude.”

“Such statements … are not only counter-productive to the
atmosphere of dialogue we wish to build between Turkey and Armenia,
but also adversely affect the relations between Turkey and Canada,”
the Turkish government said.

A Turkish newspaper, Hurriyet, reported after Harper’s statement that
Canadian companies would be barred from bidding on contracts related
to the construction of a major nuclear power plan.

Arif Babikian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee
of Canada, said Turkey has reacted similarly in the past.

“In 2002, when the Senate passed a resolution, they also threatened
and blackmailed Canada that they are going to cut the relationship
and boycott Canadian companies and nothing happened,” he said. “They
did the same thing in 2004 when the House of Commons passed a
resolution. Now they are using the same tactics.”

[email protected]

TURKISH CIVIL GROUPS SPEARHEAD FRENCH BOYCOTT CAMPAIGN

New Anatolian, Turkey
May 4 2006

A Turkish civil group began to boycott French products and services
in Turkey yesterday in a move to encourage rejection of a bill
prescribing prison terms and fines for people who question Armenian
genocide claims.

The boycott was launched ahead of the French Parliament gathering on
May 18 to debate the bill, which calls for prison terms of up to one
year and fines of up to 45,000 euros for deniers of the so-called
Armenian genocide.

With its slogan, “It’s time to move,” the group aims to
raise public awareness in Turkey through their Internet site
(). The campaign comes just ahead
of France’s critical decision, which, according to political analysts,
would undermine reconciliation efforts between Turks and Armenians,
the normalization of relations between the two countries and further
damage relations between Turkey and France.

According to the group, the ailing French economy was hurt even
more when the government was forced to withdraw the proposed labor
bill as a result of a month-long protest by French youth to block
the implementation of the bill. Underlining that a Turkish boycott
will further damage the French economy in its fragile condition,
the group also seeks to spark reaction and criticism by the French
public against the Armenian bill.

Apart from winning public support, the civil society group also
seeks to gain the support of the Turkish government and Parliament
for the boycott.

French goods and services and companies that are being targeted by the
boycott include, among others, Total, Elf, Carrefour, Gima, Dia Endi,
ChampionSA, Air France, BIC, Sheaffer, Danone, Evian, Tefal, Michelin,
Uniroyal, Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, AXA, Peugot, Lacoste, Givenchy,
L’Oreal, Studio Line, Lancome, Clarins, Bledina, Mellin, Majorette,
Biotherm, Christian Dior, Drakkar Noir, Fahrenheit, Alcatel, Lafarge,
Societe General Bank, Servier, Fournier, Guerbet, and Pierre Fabre.

Economic relations and cooperation between Turkey and France have
quickly reached a significant level, especially after Turkey’s
accession to the Customs Union. Turkey is France’s sixth-largest
export market, and sectoral performance analysts say that the French
has played an important role in development and growth of the Turkish
economy.

Armenian organizations in France announced last week that a bill
stipulating prison sentences for Armenian genocide deniers would
be brought for debate to the floor of the French Parliament by the
Socialist Party (PS). Later last week, the bill won the support of 100
government deputies, which increased the chances of the Parliament’s
approval of the bill.

The Armenian diaspora accuses the Ottoman Empire of deliberately
massacring up to 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1919. Turkey
stresses that these figures are inflated and says that far fewer
Armenians died, due to civil unrest under the conditions of World War
I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey also claims that
during the ethnic conflict, thousands of Turks were also killed by
Armenian militants.

Ankara rejects France’s ‘double standards’

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Namik Tan stated yesterday that
it is impossible for Turkey to accept France’s contradictory manner
and double standards towards Turkey, underlining that approval of the
Armenian bill would wreak irreversible damage in Turkish-French ties.

Tan called on French officials to show common sense regarding the
controversial Armenian issue, just as they have towards their own
history.

Other initiatives to block Armenian bill

Other members of the Turkish civil society have also launched a
campaign to convince French deputies that it would be an enormous
mistake to pass the Armenian bill.

Representatives of Turkish businessmen, scholars and parliamentarians
will visit Paris in the coming weeks to convey messages from the
Turks to their French counterparts.

Turkish diplomats told The New Anatolian that if the French Parliament
passes the bill it would be a much more serious decision against Turkey
than the Parliament’s recognition of the Armenian genocide claims in
2001. They said that Ankara is considering taking a tougher stance
than it did in 2001, and that among several other, tougher options,
it could withdraw the Turkish ambassador to France.

Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc sent a letter to his
French counterpart on Monday asking him not to take sides in the
controversial matter of the Armenian genocide. Underlining that
judging history should be left to historians, not Parliaments,
Arinc said that the French bill, which stipulates punishment for
those who deny the Armenian genocide claims, is both anti-freedom of
expression and anti-freedom of thought. He referred to the leading
role played by France in the implementation of basic human rights in
the international arena.

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet:

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 4, 2006
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

SYSTEM OF A DOWN PRESS FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION
DURING THREE-DAY WASHINGTON, DC ADVOCACY TOUR

— Serj Tankian and John Dolmayan Meet Speaker Hastert; Visit
with Members of Congress; Hold Media Interviews; Host Screening
of New Genocide Documentary; and Join Rally at Turkish Embassy

WASHINGTON, DC – Serj Tankian and John Dolmayan of the Grammy
Award-winning band System of a Down raised awareness, garnered
national press attention on the Armenian Genocide and pressed
legislators for action on legislation condemning this crime during
their three-day advocacy tour of the nation’s capital, reported the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

Among the highlights of the visit were the following:

* An unscheduled meeting with Speaker Dennis Hastert, during which
Serj reminded the Speaker about the band’s past attempts to arrange
a meeting to discuss the Armenian Genocide, briefed him about their
ongoing positive meetings with legislators, and pointed out that
the fate of Armenian Genocide legislation rested in the Speaker’s
hands. The Speaker noted that he hadn’t looked at the band’s
letter yet, but promised to read it.

* A series of strategy meetings with legislators on both the House
and Senate sides of the Capitol. Among those they met with
concerning the adoption of Armenian Genocide legislation were Chief
Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO);
Congressmen George Radanovich (R-CA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA), the
lead authors of Armenian Genocide legislation before the U.S.
House; Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), the Co-Chairman of the
Congressional Armenian Caucus, and; Representatives Thaddeus
McCotter (R-MI) and Devin Nunes (R-CA).

* The opportunity to meet dozens of legislators, including House
Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-CA), at the ANCA’s annual
Armenian Genocide observance on Capitol Hill on April 26th. This
remembrance, which drew 40 Senators and Representatives, featured
the presentation of the ANCA’s ‘Voice of Justice’ Award to System
of a Down. The band members were joined at this event by David
Alpay, the star of Atom Egoyan’s groundbreaking film on the
Armenian Genocide, “Ararat.”

* The first-ever screening, on April 25th, of excerpts from
“Screamers,” a powerful and innovative new film by Carla Garapedian
about the band’s efforts to secure justice for the Armenian
Genocide. The film, which was enthusiastically received by the
Capitol Hill audience, was followed by an extensive question and
answer session.

* A series of media interviews, including an April 25th hour-long
on-air discussion about the Armenian Genocide on DC-101’s “Elliot
in the Morning” show, Washington, DC’s leading morning radio
program.

* Stories about their advocacy tour appeared in influential
publications across Capitol Hill and around the country, including
the Los Angeles Times and the Gannett News Service. Congressional
Quarterly, the highly regarded weekly publication, ran a story
quoting Serj Tankian stressing that, “for the government to still
deny this historical truth is an absolute travesty.” The Hill, an
influential Congressional publication, quoted John Dolmayan as
saying that he would continue his work until Congress recognizes
the genocide: “Even a blade of grass can break through concrete,
and I’d rather be the grass than the concrete.”

* Serj and John both took part in an April 24th anti-denial rally
outside the Turkish Embassy organized by the ANCA and Armenian
Youth Federation. Prominent among the more than 1,000 participants
in the rally was Alecko Eskandarian, star forward of the DC United
soccer team.

=============================
Meeting with Speaker Hastert
=============================

The unplanned meeting with the Speaker came on the heels of more
than seven months of efforts by System of Down to schedule a
meeting with him to discuss Congressional recognition of the
Armenian Genocide. Last September, Serj and John traveled
personally to the Speaker’s district office in Batavia, Illinois,
along with hundreds of their fans, to deliver a letter requesting a
meeting about allowing a vote on Armenian Genocide legislation that
had recently been overwhelmingly approved by the House
International Relations Committee.

Despite these repeated efforts over the course of more than half a
year, the Speaker’s office has not scheduled a meeting with System,
nor has he responded positively to a series of meeting requests
from the leadership of the Armenian American community. During
this time period, however, Foreign Agent Registration Act filings
at the Justice Department reveal that the Speaker has met
personally with senior Turkish officials and their lobbyist Bob
Livingston, who is paid close to $2 million a year to oppose
American reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide.

Over 15,000 individual ANCA WebFaxes have been sent from across the
United States urging the Speaker to allow a vote on the Armenian
Genocide Resolution.

===================
System of a Down
===================

The members of System of a Down, Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian, John
Dolmayan and Shavo Odadjian, who are of Armenian descent, all
personally lost family members and family history to the Armenian
Genocide. “Because so much of my family history was lost in the
Armenian Genocide,” said Malakian, “my grandfather, who was very
young at the time, doesn’t know his true age. How many people can
say they don’t know how old they are?” Tankian, Dolmayan and
Odadjian all identify their grandparents’ memories as the only
links they have to their respective family heritages, as most of
their families were obliterated during the Armenian Genocide.

Having won a Grammy Award this year, debuted two #1 Billboard
albums in 2005, and having sold over 16 million records around the
world, System of A Down has a tremendous nationwide following and
loyal fan base, who have heeded their call to action on social
justice issues, including support of legislation recognizing the
Armenian Genocide. The band’s efforts have gained national press
attention in hundreds of articles appearing in the New York Times,
Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, MTV,
BBC, VH1, ABC, FOX, WB, and Rolling Stone.

#####

AZERI FOREIGN MINISTER UPBEAT ON US REMARKS ABOUT KARABAKH

Lider TV, Baku
1 May 06

[Presenter] The USA is ready to take all steps to resolve the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. This
statement has been made following President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to
the USA. Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov regards this as a success.

[Mammadyarov speaking in his office, captioned] The US president and
government are ready to take any measures necessary for the rapid
settlement of the conflict. This is a crucial statement. It means
that both the American president and the government are ready to do
their best to bring peace into the region.