Chechen rebel leader accuses Russia of downing Armenian plane

Kavkaz-Tsentr news agency website
2 Jun 06

A video recording sent to the press service of the president of the
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev, says that the
Armenian passenger plane of the ArmAvia air company, which crashed
near Sochi on 3 May, was actually shot down by Russian air defence
systems.

Sadulayev said: “We have information that the Armenian plane was shot
down by the Russian authorities when the link with the plane was
lost. They thought that someone had hijacked the plane and that there
were mojahedin on board.”

Sadulayev stressed that this is information from the Chechen special
services that needs cross-checking.

The Chechen president believes that the technical capabilities of
Western countries that monitor air space, including the territory of
Russia, could be used to establish the real causes of the plane crash
that killed more than 100 people.

“I think that Western countries and Europe can help because they have
tracking systems and other capabilities,” Sadulayev said, noting that
this should be done to find out the truth and expose the crimes of the
Russian authorities.

According to the official theory, the plane crashed due to bad weather
conditions.

[Passage omitted: background to the crash]

Armenian president dampens expectation for meeting with Azerbaijani
counterpart

AP Worldstream; Jun 03, 2006

President Robert Kocharian on Saturday dampened expectations for a
meeting next week with his Azerbaijani counterpart, again accusing
Azerbaijan of being belligerent and insincere about peacefully
resolving the nearly two-decade conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Kocharian and Ilham Aliev are slated to meet on the sidelines of a
summit in Romania, possibly as early as Monday, for talks over the
disputed enclave, which is inside Azerbaijan but populated mostly by
ethnic Armenians, who have run it since an uneasy 1994 cease-fire
ended six years of full-scale fighting.

Talks held between the two leaders in France in February ended in
failure, despite international mediators’ involvement, and the lack of
resolution has hindered development throughout the strategic Caucasus
region.

Sporadic border clashes have grown more frequent.

“We are discussing a variation that, by my reckoning, allows a
long-term and peaceful resolution. But I have modest expectations for
this meeting,” Kocharian told reporters.

“The impression is forming that the Azerbaijani side is not fully
devoted to peaceful resolution of the conflict, which the militaristic
statements heard in Baku demonstrate,” he said.

Aliev’s spokesman, Novruz Mammadov, meanwhile accused Armenia of
stoking tensions on the eve of the meeting of the two presidents in
Romania and said Yerevan was not prepared for serious dialogue.

“On the one hand, (Kocharian) agreed to such a meeting, but on the
other, he is already anticipating no results. I think that Kocharian
wants to just protect himself,” Mammadov said.

“Azerbaijan isn’t conducting negotiations just for the sake of
conducting negotiations,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir
Tagizade. “We hope for concrete results. I’m not speaking of this
meeting exactly, but of the entire process in general.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian government ousting Greek telecom giant, favouring Russians –
paper

Aykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
3 Jun 06

Text of Vaagn Ovakimyan’s report by Armenian newspaper Aykakan
Zhamanak on 3 June headlined “OTE is in a mousetrap”

The pro-government press in Armenia recently disseminated reports on
the inevitable sale of ArmenTel to Russians. Of course, these reports
are based on Russian sources. It is interesting that this stir began
after a newspaper published an article regarding OTE which failed to
agree ArmenTel’s price with potential Russian buyers. This article
caused a stir in certain circles, which is strange enough. These
circles are saying that the future owner of ArmenTel will be a Russian
company.

It should be mentioned that Russia’s Sistema Telecom, which is part of
the Russian financial group Sistema, officially announced its
intention to buy ArmenTel in early April. Moreover, they mentioned a
possible price to be paid for ArmenTel – some 350m dollars, while OTE
announced through unofficial channels that the price its prefers is at
least 400m euros. That’s to say, the Russians intend to pay 150m
dollars less than the Greeks want. It is still not known whether the
Russians have grounds to insist on this price, why the buyer and the
seller failed to reach an agreement and why OTE is trying to find new
buyers. Two days ago, pro-government circles issued a report that
shed light on these developments. That’s to say representatives of the
British HSBC Bank are currently in Armenia to negotiate with possible
buyers and secure a profitable deal. They are trying to agree details
of the sale with the Armenian government, or to be more precise, to
find out the condition of the property. It turns out that the Armenian
government wants to amend Licence No 60 issued to ArmenTel if the
company is sold.

Incidentally, the government intends to end the company’s monopoly on
the Internet and IP telephony. In this case, the company’s price will
considerably fall. The government’s approach seems to be clear at
first sight. A new owner, a new licence. Moreover, the government’s
approach seems to be in favour of Armenian companies as this will
secure competition in the aforesaid spheres.

However, the matter is that the government is doing this not to create
competition, but to enable the Russians to buy ArmenTel for as little
money as possible. With or without a licence, Armenian companies have
no money to access the international market because this requires
dozens of millions of dollars.

Amendments to the licence will not lead to any changes in the IP
telephony sphere either. Despite ArmenTel’s monopoly on IP telephony,
there are numerous Armenian companies engaged in this sphere. Even if
all monopolies are taken away from ArmenTel, this company will
continue having a natural monopoly on Armenia’s telecommunications
system as no-one will set up a new “ArmenTel plus”. The establishment
of such a company is economically unfavourable as the country’s
telecommunications market is too small and limited.

In fact, the government’s demand aims to favour a possible Russian
buyer.

Having “an outpost” like Armenia, the Russian buyer has every reason
to make no compromise on the price to OTE. The latter cannot sell its
stake to anyone else as the consent of the Armenian government is
required for this. In these conditions, the only way out for the Greek
company is to abandon the idea of selling its stake. However, it might
turn out that making such a decision is not easy either, i.e. it is
not so difficult for the Armenian government to force a company to
take any step they like. Of course, the Armenians are relatively
polite in this regard as they are dealing with the Greeks. However,
when the Russophilia of the Armenian government is in question, their
politeness disappears.

Panorama.am

15:34 03/06/06

HUMANITY WILL NEVER BE HOMOGENOUS: VAHAN HOVHANNISYAN

Today NA Vice Speaker Vahan Hovhannisyan delivered a lecture at the
parliament on upbringing of an individual in a society. Students
enrolled in summer school civic education program organized by `New
Armenia’ non-profit organization attended the lecture.

V. Hovhannisyan rejected the theses that `one day nationalities will
disappear and the humanity will be homogenous.’ According to
Hovhannisyan, nothing like that will ever happen. `Nationality is not
only the major but the sole form of being,’ he said. The Vice Speaker
is sure that society is not a mechanical unity but organic which is
not possible to change. An Armenian living in France does not become
French, he just changes the passport, he says.

It is easier to establish a state than a nation in Hovhannisyan’s
words. The Armenian nation has devoted itself to family whereas the
major responsibility of the citizen is to serve the nation and people.
Hovhannisyan is sure that today’s youth can become such. /Panorama.am/

Panorama.am

15:54 03/06/06

MUTUAL CONCESSIONS ARE NOT ONLY CONCESSIONS….

Answering to the question of Panorama.am `when Nagorno Karabakh will
get out of the deadlock of negotiation process, especially under the
conditions when there are no big hopes connected with Aliev-Kocharyan
meeting to be held in Bucharest, NA Vice Speaker Vahan Hovhannisyan
said `the deadlock will end when Azerbaijan understands that when we
say mutual concessions we understand `mutual’ too and not only
`concessions’. That is, it will end when Azerbaijan will be ready for
concessions too against those offered by Armenia.’ /Panorama.am/

Panorama.am

19:31 03/06/06

CHARITABLE ACTION

The Charitable action on collection of the financial means for
rendering help to refugee children is organized by UN High
Commissioner for Refugee Branch Office in Armenia (UNHCR) with
information support of the Armenian PR Association (APRA). The Action
is being organized in celebration of June 20 – a World Refugee Day
-which is observed all over the world every year on initiative of UN
Secretary – General.

There are a number of other events and actions aimed at attracting
attention of Armenian public to the problems of the socially
vulnerable layers of society.

Postery, photographies and information messages, calling public to
take part in fund raising campaign are placed in the Internet (
through the and
forums). Number of commercial and international organizations have
already expressed their readiness to participate in the campaign All
the resources, gathered due to the action, will be directed to
financing of children’s vacation in Summer Camp
Tsitsernak./Panorama.am/

Embassy of The United States
Yerevan, Armenia
On June 3, U.S. Ambassador John M. Evans released an op-ed on Iran’s nuclear
program and the U.S. offer to join negotiations if Iran fulfills its
international obligations by suspending its enrichment-related and
reprocessing activities.

Iran’s Choice
For more than a year, the United States has worked to build an international
consensus that while Iran is entitled to peaceful nuclear power, it must not
be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. The United States has supported EU-3
negotiations with Iran and is now prepared to join them if Iran fulfills its
international obligations by suspending its enrichment-related and
reprocessing activities as requested by the IAEA Board of Governors and the
UN Security Council. This is a moment of opportunity and America has acted
to give diplomacy its very best opportunity to succeed.
Iran now faces a clear choice. The positive choice will lead to many
benefits and greater security for the Iranian people, the region and the
world. The negative choice is for Iran to continue on its current path,
which will lead only to great costs and increasing international isolation.
The positive, peaceful choice is a genuine commitment to suspend all
enrichment-related and reprocessing activities and return to full
cooperation with the IAEA. This choice would lead to negotiations that can
provide peaceful nuclear energy for the Iranian people and could include
progressively greater economic cooperation with the rest of the world.
Secretary Rice met on Thursday with her counterparts from France, UK,
Germany, EU, Russia and China in Vienna to finalize a package to encourage
Iran to make the right choice and suspend enrichment. This presents an
opportunity for Iran to clarify its intentions to the world. If Iran’s
intentions are peaceful, it will choose the path of negotiations with the
international community.
Our willingness to join the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program does not
mean that we are normalizing our relationship with Iran, because the nuclear
issue is not the only obstacle standing in the way of improved relations. We
have many fundamental differences with Iran’s regime. The Iranian government
is the lead state sponsor of terror, is involved in violence in Iraq, and is
undercutting the restoration of full sovereignty in Lebanon. The Iranian
regime denies basic human rights to its people and represses democracy
activists and reformers. These policies are out of step with the
international community and are barriers to a positive relationship between
the Iranian people and the people of the United States and the rest of the
world.
We hope that Iran will make a positive choice and return to nuclear
negotiations in good faith, so that the international community will have an
opportunity to raise this broad range of issues. President Bush wants a new
and positive relationship between the American people and the people of
Iran – a beneficial relationship of increased contacts in education,
cultural exchange, sports, travel, trade and investment.
If Iran chooses the path of negotiations, we are now ready to join with our
international partners in direct talks with Iran for the first time in more
than 25 years. This represents strong leadership for diplomacy by the United
States and removes Iran’s last excuse. Iran now has an opportunity to make a
serious, responsible choice in the best interests of its own people and the
community of nations.
As the United States works with the EU-3 and the rest of the international
community to encourage Iran to choose the right path, the U.S. government
calls on all countries to support this international effort towards peace.
Should Iran choose to continue its current activities and refuse to
participate in negotiations, Iran’s neighbors, the region, and the
international community will face a threat to their peace and stability.
John M. Evans
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia

ANP (DUTCH PRESS AGENCY)

1 June 2006

Christian Union wants to make the denial of genocide punishable

THE HAGUE (ANP) – The denial of genocide, such as the Holocaust, must be
punishable. To this end the Christian Union (ChristenUnie) party has
submitted a bill to the Parliament. Anyone who intentionally denies a
genocide or a crime against humanity in order to insult others or incite
hate shall be accountable as having committed a crime which can carry a
maximum sentence of one year imprisonment, according to the draft law.

The presenter of the bill, Dutch MP Mrs. Tineke Huizinga, wants to have this
provision included in the Dutch Penal Code as a clear signal that such
denials would not be tolerated. The law should also make it easier to combat
discrimination on Internet, said Huizinga Thursday during the introducing of
her bill.

For the victims of genocides and their surviving relatives the intentional
denials of the committed evil or distorting of the facts are ³indigestible².
Huizinga named as an example, next to the persecution of the Jews during the
Second World War, the extent and dimensions of the slavery in which The
Netherlands has played a ³disgraceful² role.

In addition, the parliament member recalled the Genocide of the Armenians in
1915 during the Ottoman Empire, which is still being denied by the present
day Turkey and the Turks elsewhere. Huizinga and other members of the
Parliament have recently been bombarded by E-mails forwarded especially by
the Turks who oppose the Christian Union bill.

Huizinga emphasised that the bill does not seek to restrict the freedom of
speech. According to her, the historical facts should always be open to
discussion. The denial, approval or justification of genocide should
therefore be punishable when it concerns a deliberate expression to insult
and discriminate people.

The Federation of Armenian Organisations in The Netherlands called the bill
a step forward and is happy that the Armenian Genocide has been explicitly
mentioned in the Explanatory Memorandum of the bill. A representative of the
organisation, Mrs. Inge Drost, thinks that the adoption of the bill should
make it possible to close Internet sites which engage in the denial of
Armenian Genocide, such as seemingly innocent site www.armenië.nl

In a reaction, the National Bureau for Combating Race Discrimination and the
Israel Information and Documentation Centre, likewise announced their
support of the bill. The draft law should go first to the Council of State
for advice, following which the Parliament can start the proceedings on the
bill.

Libération , France
vendredi 19 mai 2006

Alex, 10 ans et David, 7 ans (Lyon)

Persécution programmée en Azerbaïdjan

par Olivier BERTRAND
QUOTIDIEN : vendredi 19 mai 2006

à Lyon

Alex (10 ans) et David (7 ans) sont arrivés en novembre 2005 à Lyon.
Leur mère, Samira (34 ans), avait quitté l’Azerbaïdjan en 1999, en
raison de «persécutions» dues à ses origines arméniennes. Ils
rejoignent la Russie, puis l’Allemagne, où Samira dépose une demande
d’asile politique. Déboutés, ils repartent à Moscou, puis, fuyant
l’insécurité, arrivent en France, où Alex et David atterrissent à
l’école Victor-Hugo, sur les pentes de la Croix-Rousse. «Ils se sont
très vite intégrés, note un enseignant. Six mois après son arrivée,
Alex parle presque couramment français et se retrouve dans le premier
tiers de sa classe.» Leur mère a écrit au préfet pour demander
protection.

Il l’a renvoyée à l’accord Dublin II, qui dit qu’un dossier déposé
dans un pays de l’espace Schengen doit être traité jusqu’au bout par
celui-ci. L’Allemagne doit les «reprendre en charge», au besoin pour
les expulser. «On ne peut pas renvoyer en Azerbaïdjan des gens
d’origine arménienne, s’alarme une avocate spécialiste du droit des
étrangers. Les persécutions qu’ils subissent là-bas sont connues. La
commission de recours a rendu en France de nombreuses décisions en ce
sens.»

Vakhtang Darchinyan to fight Luis Maldonado of Mexico

ArmRadio.am
03.06.2006 12:35

IBF and IBO World Champion Vakhtang Darchinyan will fight Luis
Maldonado of Mexico to defend his IBF World Champion’s title. He noted
before the fight that he aspires to become an Absolute Champion. Since
those in his weight category avoid meeting him, Darchinyan is ready to
change his weight category.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress