Author: Karakhanian Suren

ARMENIAN AND AZERI FMS TO MEET IN STRASBOURG

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.05.2006 15:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ May 18-19 Armenian and Azeri FMs will meet with OSCE
MG co-chairs in Strasbourg. In the words of Azeri FM Elmar Mammadyarov,
the co-chairs have new ideas on Karabakh settlement. “After discussions
at the meeting it will be clear whether talks between the Presidents
are necessary. There are some new, really interesting ideas that we
are working over, analyze, however some of these we cannot accept,”
he remarked. In his turn former acting President of Azerbaijan Yagub
Mammadov believe the meeting and attaining a specific practical peace
accord between Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliyev before the summer
depends on the decision that the Ministers will take first of all,
writes Ekho newspaper.

Zaman Online, Turkey
May 14 2006

French Company Trading with Turkey Warns France Against Genocide Bill

By Erkan Acar, Marseilles
Published: Sunday, May 14, 2006
zaman.com

Tension between Turkey and France is mounting over a bill to
criminalize denial of the Armenian genocide due for discussion in the
French Parliament on March 18.

French companies with commercial ties with Turkey are most concerned
over the escalation tensions between the two countries.

French companies are expending every effort to persuade French
parliamentarians to vote against the bill that they fear will cause
them to suffer immeasurable commercial losses from future embargoes
imposed by Turkey, as the bill is chiefly designed to win Armenian
votes.

The De Villepin administration received a strong warning over the
Armenian bill from Eurocopter, one of the world’s largest helicopter
manufacturers with French partners, as the company fears losing a
contract to supply attack helicopters to the Turkish military late
this summer.

Fabrice Breiger, chief executive of Eurocopter, pointed to the
temporary nature of the crises that will eventually be overcome by
ties of friendship between the two countries:

`I am not a politician; I am the manager of an international company.
But that does not necessarily mean that I am not familiar with news
articles; it also does not imply that company managers cannot form
ideas about what is going on outside. As European industrialists, we
conveyed the necessary messages to European countries.’

Turkey had planned to buy attack and exploration helicopters for its
fight against terrorism, as part of the ATAK Project launched in
1996.

The Project, expected to cost $1.5 billion, was delayed for five
years and the previous tender was cancelled during a Defense Industry
Executive Commission meeting in May 2004.

After the cancellation of the tender, studies began in search of a
new model that aimed at meeting the military’s needs in a shorter
time and make more cost effective use of Turkey’s domestic capacity.

For this purpose, a new tender invitation was released on 10 February
2005.

Several defense companies applied to participate in the tender that
closed in December 2005.

Those companies include: Eurocopter with the Tiger helicopter, the
Italian Agusta company with the A-129 Mangusta, Russia’s
Rosoboronexport with the MI-28 Havoc, and the South African Denel
Company with the CSH-2 Rooivalk helicopter.

REPUBLICANS ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR HOVIK ABRAHAMYAN

Lragir.am
12 May 06

Hrant Khachatryan, the leader of the Constitutional Right Union, said
in a news conference on May 12 that the attempt of breaking up the
faction of the Orinats Yerkir through businessmen, who proved
instrumental to this, may similarly be applied to Dashnaktsutiun and
the Republicans if the latter also try to play an individual game or
become more democratic. `At least over the past two years I have heard
separate members and influential members of Dashnaktsutiun and the
Republican Party say that the conditions of the clan for the
government parties are becoming increasingly severe,’ says Hrant
Khachatryan. He says a situation has occurred when owners of big
businesses, who are members of some political party, tend to look for
an exit.

The majority of owners of big businesses, who entered the government
with some political force, is in fact departing from their political
parties, their interests and name, and seeks to draw closer to the
president administration. I heard similar complaints from the
Republican Party, namely Hovik Abrahamyan. When we blame the
Republicans for this or that activity of Hovik Abrahamyan, they always
deny him. They say Hovik Abrahamyan is no more a Republican, it has
been a long time he is not with us,’ says Hrant Khachatryan. He
mentions that the existing reality reveals the imperfection of the
system:the government does not view political parties as a basis for
forming a systemof governance.

French businesses threatened by Turkish boycott (Les entreprises
francaises s’alarment des menaces de boycott de la Turquie)

Le Monde – France; May 12, 2006

The Franco-Turkish economic community has warned that, if the French
parliament adopts a bill on the Armenian genocide, scheduled for
reading on May 18, it may provoke a boycott of French goods in Turkey,
as well as a possible prohibition on French imports to the country and
the exclusion of French countries from Turkish calls for tender.

A list of more than 400 French brands for boycotting is already
circulating on the Internet as a protest against the bill. If it is
adopted, first in line could be the nuclear group Areva, which is a
candidate to build nuclear power stations in Turkey, and other
companies that deal with the government or armed forces. After that,
there could be a spontaneous boycott by the general public of French
consumer goods, such as the products of Danone or L’Oreal.

Original article by Guillaume Perrier
Abstracted from Le Monde

OFFERS FROM ARMENIAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION ARE NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY – AFFA
Author: Z.Safarov

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
May 11 2006

“Offers from Armenian Football Federation (AFF) on elimination
matches between the two national teams may not be taken seriously,
reportedly said Fuad Asadov, Secretary General of AFFA, commenting
the forthcoming meeting among Azeri, Armenian delegations and UEFA
for possible match on neutral field.

Asadov said also he is skeptic with AFF’s assurances on ensuring
security to Azeri national team in case they arrive in Yerevan.

Alongside, he suggested organizing a match in some third country
quite possible. “We have an example of Israeli team that often plays
outside their homeland”, – Secretary General said.

“MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE” FUND SESSION

A1+
[06:03 pm] 11 May, 2006

The trustees’ council session of the “Millennium Challenge” fund
Armenian program was convened today which was presided over by the
chairman of the council and RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan. The
representatives of the NGOs were also invited to the session;
among them Nazeli Vardanyan, chairman of the NGO “Armenian Forests,”
Jemma Hasratyan, head of the NGO “Women with university education,”
and Levon Barseghyan, chairman of the NGO “Asparez” journalists’ club.”

The key issue of the session was the information presented by head
of working group of the “Millennium Challenge” fund Armenian program,
chairman of the council and RA Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy
David Avetisyan.

The council also discussed and supported the results of technical
suggestions evaluation got as a result of a contest which was aimed
at choosing financial agent of the program. It was announced that
the prequalifying committee held an assessment in accordance with the
qualification criteria of the “Millennium Challenge” cooperation and
as a result of it three organizations were involved in the contest
list. One of them was disqualified because of its low points. The
prequalifying results of the other two organizations were approved
by the council. Later they will be presented to the “Millennium
Challenge” cooperation for approval. The winner will be made public
after revealing the financial suggestions of the above mentioned
organizations and their evaluation.

The participants of the session also referred to other organizational
issues.

ANOTHER 8 BODIES OF AIR CARSH VICTIMS DELIVERED TO YEREVAN

Yerevan, May 6. ArmInfo. Il-76 with 8 bodies of the killed in Airbus
A320 crash near Sochi and Yak42 with their relatives on board arrived
in Yerevan at 23:10 PM AND 23:20 PM Friday, Armenian Rescue Service
told ArmInfo. The last data say 51 bodies have been pulled out so far,
including 42 have been identified. Earlier 26 bodies were delivered
to Yerevan. 113 people were killed in total.

UK READY TO ASSIST SEARCH AT AIR CRASH LOCATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.05.2006 20:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The UK is ready to assist Russia in searching for
fragments of A-320 Armenian plane in the Black Sea, if asked for it,
a British MFA representative said. “We are always ready to assist
our Russian colleagues in situations like this.

However, no requests for assistance were received from the Russian
party yet,” the source said, reports RIA Novosti.

BODIES OF PLANE CRASH VICTIMS TRANSPORTED TO ARMENIA

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
5 May 06

The bodies of 26 passengers from the Armenian airliner that crashed
in the Black Sea have been transported to Yerevan on a special flight
from Sochi, Armenian Public TV reported on 5 May.

The bodies were taken from the airport to a forensic medical
examination morgue, the report said.

One more flight from Sochi is expected in Yerevan in the evening of
5 May, the report said.

KNOW GENOCIDE PARTICIPATES IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
RALLY TO END DARFUR GENOCIDE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Harout H. Semerdjian
May 4, 2006 617-489-1597
Web: E-mail: [email protected]

BOSTON, MA – On April 30, 2006 members and supporters of the newly
formed KNOW GENOCIDE coalition joined thousands of activists in our
nation’s capital in condemning the ongoing genocide in Darfur and
bringing the tragedy to the attention of the White House. The event
was sponsored by the Save Darfur coalition.

Since 2003, the western Sudanese region of Darfur has been subject
to a systematic campaign of massacres, starvation and dislocation
initiated by the Sudanese government and its Janjaweed militia, in
total defiance of international law. This ongoing catastrophe has
claimed the lives of 400,000 people while displacing another 2.5
million. Over 3 million people are currently suffering from hunger
while atrocities and starvation continues to claim countless lives.

“I hope that this weekend will have a strong impact on our politicians,
to act and act now,” said Mr. Jean Nganji of Rwanda Outlook, a member
group of KNOW GENOCIDE. Mr. Nganji, who lost much of his family and
friends in the Rwandan Genocide, has devoted much of his recent years
in raising public awareness about genocide. The issue of genocide
denial is very personal to Rwanda, as there is a current movement of
denial, negation and revision of what happened during the 1994 Rwandan
Genocide. “There are also sympathizers and professors who advised
the genocide regime and now continue to be part of this movement,”
continued Mr. Nganji. “We owe it to ourselves and humanity, in making
sure that history is not distorted to the benefit of those who want
to justify their crimes.”

Speakers at the Darfur rally included renowned Harvard scholar
Dr. Samantha Power, author of A Problem from Hell: America and the
Age of Genocide, and Mr. John Prendergast, Senior Adviser at the
International Crisis Group and author of seven books on Africa. Both
scholars were briefed on the efforts of KNOW GENOCIDE, who, in turn,
voiced their support of the coalition’s efforts.

Other coalition groups represented at the Darfur rally include members
of the Armenian Assembly of America, Jewish Community Relations
Council, Armenian National Committees of Massachusetts as well as
students from Georgetown and George Washington universities.

KNOW GENOCIDE urges its members and supporters to send an electronic
postcard to President Bush urging him to stop the genocide in Darfur
by visiting

KNOW GENOCIDE is a multi-ethnic, non-partisan coalition founded
to counter the ongoing denial of known cases of genocide, such
as the Darfur, Bosnian, Cambodian, Jewish, Rwandan, and Armenian
genocides. For more information please visit our website at

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