Author: Tvankchian Parkev

Reasoning on A-320 Crash Causes Groundless, Armavia Says

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.06.2006 16:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Any reasoning on the causes of A-320 jet crash near
Sochi with a reference to anonymous sources is groundless, said the
press office of Armavia national carrier. It’s not correct to speak
of the reasons of the crash until the decoding of the flight recorders
is finished, the statement says.

"The International Aviation Committee should announce the official
results. While anonymous publications in media can just be paid in
order to exclude the Armenian national carrier from the marker,"
the statement says, reported Gazeta.ru.

To remind, Moscovsky Komsomolets newspaper reported that according
to an anonymous source in the investigating committee, the faults
of the crew have become the reason for the A-320 crash in the Black
Sea. The decoding of the flight recorders showed that the pilots
"have lost spatial orientation" in bad weather conditions. It was also
ascertained that the pilots had taken a too big list when making the
second turn by order of the flying control officer. These factors,
specialists say, led to the catastrophe.

On May 3 night Airbus-320 owned by Armavia national carrier crashed
in the Black Sea 6 km away from Adler airport killing all of 113
people aboard, including 6 children and 8 crewmembers. Among them
were 26 Russian citizens, one Ukrainian and one Georgian citizen,
while the rest were Armenian citizens.

TEXT OF DRAFT NKR CONSTITUTION DISTRIBUTED TO MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT

Lragir.am
15 June 06

NKR Speaker Ashot Ghulyan stated June 14 that the text of the draft
NKR constitution was distributed to the members of parliament. He
also announced that the parliament will discuss the constitution in
fall. In the meantime it will be put to a referendum. The Task Force
on Constitution was set up in 2000. Though it was already rather late,
no practical efforts were made over the past 6 years (at least the
public did not learn anything). In this context, the hastiness this
year seems strange.

It should be noted that the second and last term of President Arkady
Ghukasyan ends next year. It was said to be intended to empower Arkady
Ghukasyan to run a third time. However, judging by information that is
given, the bill provides for semi-presidential governance, and Arkady
Ghukasyan would hardly wish to be elected "semi-president." Besides
it should be noted that the head of the Task Force, Attorney General
Armen Zalinyan announced a year ago that the current borders of NKR
would be set down in the Constitution. It is unknown to the public
what other "attention-grabbing" provisions the Constitution contains,
because the draft of the constitution has not been published yet,
and it is not clear when it will be published.

MINISTRY OF CITY BUILDING TO SET NORMS OF COMMISSIONING BUILDINGS

Panorama.am
15:35 15/06/06

The Armenian Ministry of City Building plans to develop a number of
documents concerning seismic resistance of buildings as well as norms
on commissioning the buildings in the course of 2006, deputy minister
of city building Karen Gevorgyan told an international scientific
conference today.

Gevorgyan noted that Armenia adopted a document on norms of seismic
resistance in 1995. The document underwent several amendments since
new technologies have come about since that time. Particularly,
it requires that seismic insulators be used.

Armenia is one of the first countries to use seismic insulators,
the conference participants noted. Japan has used them long ago with
much success. 10 000 such buildings are built in Japan, using seismic
insulators. 8 buildings in different towns of Armenia are also equipped
with this new technology using the technology of Michael Melkumian,
head of Association on seismic resistance constructions.

AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA VOW TO CONTINUE TALKS
Aida Sultanova

Washington post
June 14 2006

BAKU, Azerbaijan – Azerbaijan and Armenia promised Wednesday to
continue talks over Nagorno-Karabakh despite two failed efforts this
year by the Caucasus nations’ presidents to resolve the status of
the disputed enclave.

The two countries’ foreign ministers, along with international
mediators, met in Paris for four hours of talks Tuesday, a week after
their presidents, Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan and Robert Kocharian of
Armenia, met in Romania on the sidelines of a Black Sea summit.

Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said in televised comments that
Tuesday’s meeting was "as always, tense and intensive. … In any
case, the process will continue. The next step will be determined in
the near future."

Russian and French mediators from the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe’s so-called Minsk group also attended Tuesday’s
meeting.

Nagorno-Karabakh is inside Azerbaijan but populated mostly by ethnic
Armenians, who have run it and seven contiguous districts since an
uneasy 1994 cease-fire ended six years of full-scale war. Sporadic
border clashes regularly break out.

CBA TO EXAMINE IMPACT OF RUBLE-DOLLAR EXCHANGE RATE FLUCTUATIONS ON AMOUNT OF REMITTANCES FROM RUSSIA

Noyan Tapan
Jun 14 2006

YEREVAN, JUNE 14, NOYAN TAPAN. The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) is
taking steps for examination of the impact of Russian ruble-US dollar
exhange rate fluctuations on the amount of remittances from Russia to
Armenia. IMF Resident Representative to Armenia James McHugh stated
this on June 14 during a seminar "The Role of IMF in Transitional
Economies" organized by the CBA.

He said that the Armenians currently working in Russia often exhange
their incomes in Russian roubles for dollars and then transfer these
amounts to Armenia. According to him, during surveys, those receiving
remittances from Russia usually do not provide correct information
about the amount of remittances.

It is noteworthy that according to experts, a large share of
remittances of over 1 bln USD that those Armenians received from abroad
in 2005 was from Russia. Remittances have a considerable impact on
Armenian dram – US dollar fluctuations.

J. McHugh noted that based on the data of an IMF’s analysis published
in late 2005, the exchange rate of the dram was undervalued in the
past few years, whereas today there is a tendency to value it higher.

SALEH RECEIVES CONGRATULATION FROM HIS ARMENIAN COUNTERPART

Yemen News Agency
June 12, 2006 Monday 12:08 AM EST

President Ali Abdullah Saleh received a congratulation cable from
his Armenian Counterpart Robert Kocharian on the occasion of the
Unification Day.

Saleh wished all the best to the Armenian leadership and people.

BUILDINGS IN ARMENIA NEED SEISMIC PROTECTION

Panorama.am
15:17 13/06/06

Eight buildings of Yerevan, Giumry and Stepanakert (NKR) are equipped
with a new system of seismic protection, Michael Melkumyan, chairman of
Association of seismic resistant constructions who is the author of the
technology, told a press conference today. In the words of the expert,
seismic insulators are made of stratiform rubber-metallic supports
which “absorb” the energy of underground shocks. This technology can
damp horizontal shocks and, to some extent, vertical shocks as well
since the rubber insulators can shrink up to 6 mm. At the moment a
program of three-dimensional seismic insulation is being developed,
costing $100 000.

According to M. Melkumyan, strengthening of seismic resistance of
buildings in Armenia is a priority problem. About 80% of buildings in
Yerevan will be endangered in a case of an earthquake, he said. About
70 seismic insulators are needed for consolidation of one building. In
the words of the author, this method is 2.5 times cheaper of
traditional methods of strengthening the buildings.

COMMEMORATION EVENT IN THE BLACK SEA

ArmRadio.am
14.06.2006 10:44

Commemoration event to mark 40 days after the death of 113 passengers
on board of the A-320 jet that crashed May 3 in the Black Sea,
a funeral service will be delivered in the Armenian Church of Adler.

Yesterday relatives of the victims arrived to the site of the disaster.

Service dedicated to 40 days of death of the A-320 crash victims was
served at St. Gevorg Church of Tbilisi.

SWISS FM: ARMENIAN CEMETERY DEMOLITION IN NACHICHEVAN SHOULD BE CONDEMNED

Yerkir
12.06.2006 14:57

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – “During my latest visit to Azerbaijan I stressed
the importance of maintenance of cultural heritage. We condemn the
demolition of the Armenian cemetery in Old Djulfa in Nakhichevan by
an order of the Azeri authorities,” Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline
Calmy-Rey stated at a news conference in Yerevan.

In her words, Switzerland has appealed to UNESCO on the issue and the
PACE Committee on Protection of Cultural Heritage will pay a visit
to the site in September.

“Armenia and Switzerland have a different history but our cultures
have much in common. The Armenian community of Switzerland carries
out a great deal of work to familiarize the Swiss with the Armenian
culture and traditions,” underscored Ms. Calmy-Rey.

From: Catholicosate of Cilicia <[email protected]>
Subject: Antelias: A musical evening on the occasion of Armenian School year

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

A MUSICAL EVENING ON THE OCCASION OF
“THE YEAR OF THE ARMENIAN SCHOOL”

On the occasion of “The Year of the Armenian School”, the Seminary of the
Catholicosate of Cilicia organized a musical evening in the “Siran
Manoukian” hall of Yeghishé Manoukian College on June 4. The event was
sponsored by His Holiness Aram I.

The choir of the Seminary, the “Shenorhali” Choir of the Catholicosate of
Cilicia and the “Gargatch” Choir of Hamazkayin participated in the
conference. The conductor of the last two choirs, Zakar Keshishian also
participated in the event, in addition to Sirvart Boyadjian on the piano.

The Seminary Choir kicked off the evening with performance of “Ov Der
Asdvadz” and “Aravod Lousaper”. “Orhnerk Yergrabahi” (lyrics by Souren
Mouradian, music by Robert Bedrossian) followed.

With the “Gargatch” Senior Choir Karig Pantourian’s “Nazank” and the
Lebanese song “Rousana” echoed in the hall. The choir’s senior group then
delivered “Alleluia” and “Ave Maria” by Mozart, as well as the
African-American “Koumdaya”.

The two groups of the choir then sang Jirayr Avedissian’s “Tebrotsin Zanke”
and Nansen Michaelian’s “Im Ousoutsitch”.

The last choir to perform during the evening was “Shnorhali”. The choir
performed Hratchya Hovhannisian’s “Hobina”, “Shorora yar” a collection of
folk songs, among which “Alakiaz yev kezi mernim” and “Katsek Desek”.

The three choirs joined voices at the end of the evening to sing Barouyr
Sevag’s “Yerevan, Erepouni” and Nahabed Rousinian’s “Cilicia”.

“How is it possible not to be filled with joy, how is it possible not to
become proud, how is it possible not to be touched in sight of this
beautiful scene that enchants our lives?” asked His Holiness after taking
the stage at the end of the recital.

Praising the organizers of the event and the members of the choirs, the
Pontiff said: “without our spiritual values and without our cultural
richness our life would become impoverished and it would wilt.” He added
that Zakar Keshishian is one of the best conductors of the Armenian
Diaspora.

Referring to the foreign minister of the Republic of Nagorno Karapagh,
Kevorki Bedrossian, who was present at the recital, the Catholicos said: “It
is true that we were not born in Karapagh, but Karapagh was born in us, has
remained in us and has been strengthened in us and the Diaspora today lives
and struggles with the spirit of Karapagh.”

The Pontiff then spoke about the Armenian community of Lebanon, pointing out
that “despite difficulties, the community has been able to remain active,
healthy and standing.”

##
View photos here: tm
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Theological
Seminary of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of the
Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.