Author: Torosian Aram

PACE hearing on the Stability Pact for the South Caucasus

Strasbourg, 10.05.2006 – A parliamentary hearing on the Stability Pact
for the South Caucasus will take place on Friday 12 May in Brussels,
organised by the Political Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe
Parliamentary Assembly (PACE).

The hearing, which is open to the press, will focus on the prospects for
such a Pact – similar to the one for South-East Europe – with the
participation of representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as
well as high-level officials from the EU, World Bank and G8, as well as
members of the European Parliament.

Venue: Senate – 8 rue de la Loi (Room M) Brussels – Belgium – (from 9.30
am to 1.00 pm)

Adrian Severin (Romania, SOC) is preparing a report on the subject for
the Assembly.

Link to the full programme

Contact: Micaela Catalano, Head of PACE Communication Unit,
mobile: +33(0)6 08 56 40 65 ; [email protected] , tel. +33 (0)3 88 41 31
93.

Audition parlementaire de l’APCE sur le Pacte de stabilité pour le
Caucase du Sud

Strasbourg, 10.05.2006 – Une audition parlementaire sur le Pacte de
stabilité pour le Caucase du Sud aura lieu à Bruxelles le vendredi
12 mai, organisée par la Commission des questions politiques de
l’Assemblée parlementaire du Conseil de l’Europe (APCE).

L’audition, qui est ouverte à la presse, portera sur les perspectives
concernant un tel pacte, similaire à celui pour l’Europe du sud-est. Y
participeront des représentants de l’Arménie, de l’Azerbaïdjan et
de la Géorgie, ainsi que de hauts responsables de l’UE, de la Banque
mondiale et du G8, et des membres du Parlement européen.

Lieu : Sénat – 8 rue de la Loi, (salle M) Bruxelles – Belgique – (de 9
h 30 à 13 h 00)

Adrian Severin (Roumanie, SOC) prépare un rapport de l’Assemblée sur
ce sujet.

Lien vers le programme intégral

Contact : Micaela Catalano, Chef de l’Unité de Communication de
l’APCE,
portable:+ 33 (0)6 08 56 40 65 ; [email protected] , tél. +33 (0)3 88
41 31 93.

ED037b06

Agence France Presse — English
May 9, 2006 Tuesday 6:02 PM GMT

Armenian Cup final result

YEREVAN, May 9 2006

Result of Armenian Cup final here on Tuesday:

Mika Achtarak 1 Piunik Yerevan 0

Armenpress

PROMINENT ARMENIAN PILOT WARNS AGAINST HASTY THEORIES
BEHIND PLANE CRASH

YEREVAN, MAY 6, ARMENPRESS: A prominent Armenian
pilot and the chairman of the National Aviation
Association Dmitry Adbashian said all theories about
the likely cause of the Wednesday airliner’s crash off
the Black Sea in Russian resort of Sochi would remain
theories as long until the so-called black boxes are
recovered from the sea and deciphered.
Adbashian downplayed some Russian media
speculations that the black boxes may destroy in the
water due to some chemical reactions saying they can
remain intact for one month. “It is in the interest of
Armvaia to take the boxes out and save its reputation
if it wants to prove that the plane was in good
technical shape and that the crash was due to either
bad weather or human factor.”
Adbashian said bad weather, like a technical fault
might have caused a dramatic loss of speed that led to
the Airbus crashing into the Black Sea.
“One thing is clear that the crew did not report
any technical malfunction to the ground controllers,
which may mean that everything occurred in a flash and
that the pilots were unable to control the fall,
evidenced also by the fact that passengers did not
have life jackets on, which they have to put on when
an airliner has to land on water,” he said. He also
said the impact on water could have fragmented the
plane and passengers’ bodies. He said lighting could
have also been responsible for the tragedy.

YERKRAPAH’S DAY MARKED IN KAPAN

KAPAN, MAY 8, NOYAN TAPAN. On May 8, on the occasion of the
Yerkrapah’s (Defender of the Land) Day, members of the Kapan branch of
the Yerkrapah Volunteers’ Union laid flowers and wreaths to the
Baghaburj memorial complex in memory of their perished friends. Branch
Vice-Chairman Aramayis Haroutiunian said that the yerkrapahs should be
never forgotten and should be always in the center of attention. “If
necessary, it is just the yerkrapahs that will take arms and the
yerkrapahs’ mood and bravery should not be broken,” Aramayis
Haroutiunian emphasized in his interview to Noyan Tapan correspondent.

Armenian, Azeri presidents to meet over N Karabakh in June
By Tigran Liloyan

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 5, 2006 Friday

A meeting between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorny
Karabakh will be held in early June within the framework of a meeting
of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

However, the exact date and the place of the two presidents’ meeting
haven’t been defined yet, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan
said at a forum devoted to the 5th anniversary of Armenia’s membership
in the Council of Europe.

According to Oskanyan, “the Armenian and Azerbaijanian foreign
ministers will discuss issues of preparations of the presidents’
meeting at their meeting in Strasbourg in two weeks.”

“The further pace of the negotiation process,” Oskanyan said,
“mainly depends on the availability of political will on the part of
Azerbaijan’s authorities.” “Just before a meeting of the presidents
in Rambouillet Armenia had made certain steps, and we expect that
the Azerbaijanian side will undertake return steps which will make
it possible to move the process,” the minister said.

The Armenian foreign minister urged not to look for ” a political
hidden motive in the fact that the co-chairmen of the Minisk OSCE
Group for Nagorny Karabakh, representing Russia, France and the United
States, haven’t visited the region together of late.

According to Oskanyan, it was “caused by lack of coincidence of the
mediators’ schedules, in the next few days, a joint visit of the
co-chairmen to the region will be held.”

Taipei Times, Taiwan
May 6 2006

Russia, Armenians mourn crash victims, raise bodies

AP , SOCHI, RUSSIA
Saturday, May 06, 2006,Page 6

Advertising Forty-one of the 53 bodies pulled from the Black Sea after
an Armenian airliner crash have been identified, Russian Transport
Minister Igor Levitin said yesterday, as Russia and Armenia observed
a day of mourning for the 113 victims of the disaster. A special
diving vehicle was sent to the site of the crash, about 6km off the
southern Russian resort of Sochi, to try to pinpoint the remains of
the plane’s fuselage on the sea floor.

Levitin said authorities were searching both in Russia and abroad
for equipment to raise the fuselage, where some bodies are thought
to be trapped.

“I want to say, for us the most important thing now is raising the
bodies, because we understand that for the victims’ relatives not
raising the bodies or fragments would be an even bigger tragedy,”
Levitin told reporters.

He had said on Thursday that searchers had located a large part of the
plane’s fuselage that was emitting a radio signal believed to be from
a flight recorder, and he later said a signal from the plane’s other
“black box” had been detected.

VAHAGN MELIKYAN APPOINTED ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR TO UAE

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.05.2006 00:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ By RA President Robert Kocharian’s decree of May
4, 2006 Arshak Poladyan was removed from the post of the Armenian
Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, reported the RA leader’s press
office. By another decree Vahagn Melikyan will assume the office in
the UAE (residence in Abu Dhabi).

ARMENIA: AIR CRASH, FINI’S CONDOLENCES

Agenzia Giornalistica Italia, Italy
May 4 2006

(AGI) – Rome, May 4 – Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister,
Gianfranco Fini, today sent a message of condolence to Armenian
Foreign Minister, Vartan Oskanian, for the crash of the aeroplane of
the Armenian national airline, Armavia. “I was upset and pained to
learn of yesterday’s air crash. At this sad time I wish to show my
sympathy and that of the Italian government and solidarity with the
families of the victims of this tragic accident”, the message read.

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA VALDAS ADAMKUS IN PARLIAMENT

National Assembly of RA, Armenia
April 26 2006

On April 25 in the National Assembly the delegation headed by Valdas
Adamkus, President of the Republic of Lithuania being in Armenia on an
official visit, met Tigran Torosyan, NA Vice President, Chairpersons
of the Standing Committees, representatives of factions-grouping. The
meeting attended Davit Harutyunyan, Minister of Justice and the
ambassadors of two countries.

Welcoming the guests Tigran Torosyan, NA Vice President, expressed
conviction that the visit will boost the high level relationship
existing between two countries and thanked the Lithuanian Parliament
on the occasion of the adoption of the resolution on the recognition
of the Armenian Genocide. Both sides highlighted the cooperation
of the Baltic three republics and South Caucasus three republics
with 3+3 format, as well as the cooperation of the parliaments and
parliamentary groups of two countries, emphasized the necessity of
the activeness of bilateral relations. Mr. Torosyan touched upon the
importance of the Lithuanian experience for Armenia in the processes
of Euro integration, especially within the framework of the European
New Neighbourhood programme and highly estimated the experience of
Lithuania in the aspect of integration into Europe and cooperation
with international different formats. It was considered necessary to
activate the partnership in the sphere of economy.

Valdas Adamkus, President of the Republic of Lithuania, considering
excellent the present level of the relationship of two countries,
highlighted the development of the relations between the parliaments,
at the same time considering necessary the deepening of international
partnership, especially in the European structures. Soon a
parliamentary friendship group with Armenia will be established in the
Lithuanian Parliament. It was noted that as a new member country of
the European Union, Lithuania is interested in the policy pursued by EU
neighbour countries, the situation in the South Caucasus region. It was
noted that within the framework EU-New Neighbourhood the cooperation
would be of more practical nature. The activation of the partnership in
the spheres of economy, science, education and culture was highlighted.

At the end of the meeting Valdas Admakus, President of the Republic
of Lithuania, wrote down in the book of honourable guests.

DON’T BUY THOSE LOW QUALITY AND DANGEROUS TURKISH PRODUCTS

Panorama.am
13:29 26/04/06

The Public Organization “Defence of Consumers’ Rights” has conducted
just another monitoring. As it has been informed in the above mentioned
PO the examination has been carried out in an independent Expert Centre
(“Mava Group”). The Public Organization introduced 10 samples to the
centre 9 of which were Turkish and 1 was Iranian production.

“The labeling of all of the samples meet the requirements of the
normative documents, contain the information necessary for the consumer
yet all this is in a foreign language which is not available to the
consumers and contradicts the resolution passed by the RA Government
according to which each of the imported products has to be labeled
in Armenian,” the PO President Abgar Yeghoyan mentions. And as it
had been promised, today the organization produced the following
information about a number of products examined. Thus: “Chocolate
candy “Gofrech” Solen, Turkey – according to bacteriological indexes
doesn’t meet the requirements of the normative document.

Chocolate paste “Gikonella” SARAY, Turkey – according to
bacteriological indexes doesn’t meet the requirements of normative
document, the content of moldy fungi is higher than usual, the smell
and the taste are not typical.

Chocolate paste “Lusella” ERGUN, Turkey – according to bacteriological
indexes doesn’t meet the requirements of the normative document,
intestinal bacillus found out, the content of moldy and yeast fungi
is higher than usual.

Chocolate sweets “Tofita” KENT, Turkey – according to bacteriological
indexes don’t correspond to normative documents, intestinal bacillus
found out.

Cake “Orange Cake” SHIRIN ASAL, Iran – according to bacteriological
indexes doesn”t correspond to normative document, intestinal bacillus
found out.” No need of commentaries.