KOSOVO TALKS TO STEP UP GEAR AFTER MONTENEGRO VOTE – RUSSIAN MP

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 22 2006

MOSCOW, May 22 (RIA Novosti) – Discussions over the status of Kosovo
will become more intense after Sunday’s referendum on the independence
of Montenegro, a senior member of the lower chamber of Russia’s
parliament said Monday.

The elections commission has said that 55.4% (with 55% required)
of votes were cast in favor of Montenegro seceding from its union
with Serbia, which on paper still includes the province of Kosovo,
even though it has been UN protectorate since 1999.

Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the State Duma’s international
affairs committee, said the discussions on Kosovo’s controversial
status – ethnic Albanians are pushing for independence from Belgrade
– would inevitably be taken to a new level, though he warned against
making any decision without taking into account the interests of the
minority Serbs.

If this were to happen, he said it would “set a far-reaching precedent
for other situations (northern Cyprus and the Basque country).”

Kosachev said the status of Kosovo, which NATO troops first entered
after Serbian forces were accused of committing atrocities against
ethnic Albanians, should be considered as part of a UN Security
Council resolution.

The MP said the division of Serbia and Montenegro was unlikely
to provoke negative consequences. “Serbia and Montenegro have
long co-existed de facto in the form of two states with a single
supranational foreign and defense policy,” he said.

Kosachev said Russians had to obtain visas to enter Serbia but could
enter Montenegro without visas, so the process to divide the two
states had obviously been prepared.

“I hope this [process] will take place without problems,” he said. “I
do not expect any new conflict situations to emerge.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said May 19 that talks Kosovo’s
status should be concluded by the end of the year, a view that is
shared by the other members of the six-nation Contact Group: the
United States, Britain, France, Germany and Italy.

Earlier, some Russian politicians expressed concern that independence
for Kosovo in what was once Yugoslavia would create a precedent for
recognizing breakaway regions in the former Soviet Union.

Moldova is dealing with a separatist regime in Transdnestr and Georgia
has two breakaway regions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Nagorny Karabakh, a largely ethnic Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan,
has long been a source of friction between the two Caucasus states.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER RESIGNS

Interfax, Russia
May 22 2006

YEREVAN. May 22 (Interfax) – Armenian parliamentary Speaker Artur
Bagdasarian has tendered his resignation.

Bagdasarian made the decision to resign and to quit his party following
disagreements with the president and two other parties in the ruling
coalition.

“We think democratic reform should be deepened further, the fight
against corruption stepped up and human rights defended more actively,”
Bagdasarian told the parliament on Monday.

“Recent opinion polls indicate that more than 70% of Armenian citizens
live in an atmosphere of fear, and we will fight against this,”
he said.

CE MINISTERIAL COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER WRITTEN QUESTION ON ARMENIA’S NEW OCCUPATION PLANS
Author: R.Abdullayev

TREND, Azerbaijan
May 22 2006

The Council of Europe Ministerial Committee will consider on 24 May a
written inquiry by an Azerbaijani parliamentary representative to the
PACE, MP Rafael Huseynov, on the level of permanent representatives.

The document titled “New plans of occupation by belligerent Armenia
posing serious threats to stability and development in the South
Caucasus” was included in the draft agenda of the 965th meeting of
the CE Ministerial Committee to be held in Strasbourg on 24 May.

The discussions rank as the third in the initial agenda of the
gathering.

The document underlines that by intensifying its hostilities
during recent days the Republic of Armenia, shown in Assembly
resolution (1416 (2005) as an occupying state conducting ethnic
cleansing against the Azerbaijanis, is putting forward its new
aggressive plans. Armenia has occupied 7 adjacent districts around
Nagorno-Karabakh and uses these territories as a buffer zone between
the other territories of Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh. However,
despite the existing cease-fire in recent days, the armed forces of
Armenia are continuously threatening hostilities on the front line
bordering the positions of Azerbaijan, which is located hundreds
of kilometres from Nagorno-Karabakh. These attacks, accompanied by
numerous human losses among the civilian population and the military
contingent of Azerbaijan, as well as with great material losses and
destruction inflicted on the country, openly demonstrate the purposes
of Armenia to occupy some other territories of Azerbaijan.

On the other hand, Armenia has escalated its efforts to pursue its
plots vis-a-vis Azerbaijan. Thus, the previously existing intentions of
Armenia to seize the Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan of Azerbaijan
are now openly being manifested. Armenia has set up appropriate
military and intelligent structures in this regard, a cease-fire regime
is repeatedly being violated in the front line areas almost on a daily
basis, groundless misinformation is being spread by them concerning
the alleged destruction of some old graves in Nakhchivan with the
intention to substantiate by false means their territorial claims and,
moreover, a new wave of ideological war has been launched by Yerevan.

Rafael Huseynov asked the Committee of Ministers “In the present
situation when Armenia, officially considered to be an occupier by the
Assembly, putting forward manifestly its new occupying intentions and
with this purpose in mind undertaking concrete steps, what discussions
can the Committee of Ministers conduct within its competences and
what effective measures can it take in order to stop the aggressor”.

ARMENIAN SPEAKER THANKS MPS AS HE TENDERS RESIGNATION

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
22 May 06

The deputy of the Armenian National Assembly, Artur Bagdasaryan,
tendered his resignation at a parliament session today. The deputy
speaker of parliament, Tigran Torosyan, read out the text of the
resignation letter.

Speaking at the session, Artur Bagdasaryan thanked the MPs for their
work and read out the names of 11 MPs who had left the Orinats Yerkir
[Law-Governed Country] party.

The chairmen of the parliamentary commissions on defence, national
security and internal affairs and public health, environment and
social issues, Mger Shakhgeldyan and Gagik Mkheyan, also resigned
from their positions.

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun reported that
Grayr Karapetyan has been elected the leader of the Dashnaktsutyun
faction. Grayr Karapetyan will replace Levon Lazarian who was
appointed as minister of education and science.

ARMENIAN AIRBUS FLIGHT RECORDER RECOVERED FROM BLACK SEA

RIA Novosti, Moscow
22 May 06

Sochi, 22 May: One of the flight recorders from the Armenian A-320
airliner which crashed near Sochi [on 3 May] has been raised from
the bed of the Black Sea, RIA-Novosti news agency has learned from a
spokesman for the Yuzhmorgeologiya scientific centre, whose experts
are involved in the search.

“One of the flight recorders from the crashed A-320 airliner has been
located and raised. Work to locate the second “black box” continues,”
the agency’s source said.

He said the “black box” was found last night. “Work then started on
analysing the information and raising it,” the spokesman said.

At present the recovered flight recorder is still on board ship,
the source said.

It was earlier reported that the “black boxes” were at a depth of
some 500 m.

[Passage omitted.]

RICHARD HOVANNISYAN’S “REPUBLIC” RELEASED IN ARMENIAN

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 22 2006

Yerevan–Professor Richard G. Hovannisian, chairholder in Modern
Armenian History at UCLA, was publicly honored today on the occasion
of the Armenian-language publication of the first volume of his
four-part epic, entitled “The Republic of Armenia: The First Year,
1918-1919.” The event was organized by the National Academy of
Sciences and the Writers’ Union of Armenia, with support from the
Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS). The
presentation brought together prominent specialists in Armenian
studies, leading scholars and intellectuals, political and public
figures, diplomats, and media representatives.

Held in the auditorium of the Writers’ Union of Armenia, the program
was opened by Academician Vladimir Barkhudarian, vice president of
the National Academy of Sciences. “There remain historical phenomena
which call for further, deeper research. One such experience is the
history of the first Republic of Armenia which, through four decades of
diligent dedication and groundbreaking work with a wealth of primary
sources, Academician Richard Hovannisian has fully and objectively
brought to light,” he said.

The next speaker was chairman Levon Ananian of the Writers’ Union. In
his words, “The Republic of Armenia” is a colossal oeuvre and thus
one of the greatest achievements in contemporary Armenian studies.

“It is noteworthy that the author of the book is a unique symbol of our
national pride. An incisive thinker and a scholar with professional
methodology, Hovannisian’s international standing and pre-eminence
in the field keep growing.”

Volume One of “The Republic of Armenia” was presented in detail by
Professor Ashot Melkonian, director of the Academy’s Institute of
History. He first underlined the historiographic value of the work.

According to Melkonian, in the 1960s and 1970s, when the historical
truth about the First Republic was concealed by political strictures,
this masterpiece by Richard Hovannisian was an underground imperative
for those in Soviet Armenia who were researching and studying the
topic. “The ultimate importance of this book is that the concept of
statehood forms its entire backbone,” he concluded.

In his turn, Professor Babken Harutiunian, chairholder in Armenian
History at Yerevan State University, commended “The Republic of
Armenia” in terms of its reliance on a broad spectrum of sources as
well as its application of the precept of continuity in historical
science. “Aside from presenting the historical record completely and
truthfully, each chapter and every line of the work are founded in a
supreme notion of patriotism.” It is not a coincidence, he continued,
that owing directly to the incessant efforts of Professor Hovannisian
a school of modern Armenian history has been developed in the diaspora.

Raffi Hovannisian, founding director of ACNIS and Armenia’s
first Minister of Foreign Affairs, congratulated his father on
the accomplishment of finally bringing the whole history of the
First Republic home to Armenia. “Comprehensively researched and
objectively presented, Richard Hovannisian’s authoritative account
both gives cause for moments of historic pride and achievement and
offers a record of losses and shortcomings which the new Armenia must
avoid repeating. It is a valuable lesson of liberty and legitimacy,
democracy and diplomacy, sovereignty and security, which must be
drawn today–in the name of the Republic of Armenia, past and present.”

Also noteworthy were artistic contributions by literary expert Svetlana
Khanumian and professor of theology Khoren Palian.

Finally, Richard Hovannisian took the floor and extended his
deep appreciation to the organizers of the event, the scholars,
intellectuals and everyone present, and acknowledged Vrezh Markosian,
director of the Tigran Mets Publishing House, for his high-caliber
production of the volume. Hovannisian shared vignettes from his
childhood, his student years, and his four-decade quest for “The
Republic of Armenia.” A well-rounded understanding of the history of
the First Republic, he said, will enable its modern-day heir to steer
clear of mistakes and never place false hope in paper guarantees for
security, which we have trusted on numerous historical occasions and
suffered setbacks as a result.

The capacity crowd of assembled leaders, intellectuals, and students
stood to express their appreciation of the work and its creator.

A STEP UP FROM THE CHAIN GANG: CRAFTS CREATED BY ARMENIAN INMATES PRISONERS PROUD OF HANDIWORK
Avet Demourian

Toronto Star, Canada
May 22 2006

YEREVAN, Armenia-Men in black turtlenecks bend over the workshop
tables, intently carving key chains, model ships, even an elaborate
walnut backgammon set.

These and other handicrafts will go for sale at the Prison Arts kiosk
at a weekend market in the centre of Yerevan, the capital. It’s part
of a new program to occupy the time of Armenia’s prison inmates.

The program is the brainchild of Justice Minister David Arutyunian
and the director of the ministry’s prison reform program, Nikolai
Arustamian. The inmate “is occupied, he creates and gets satisfaction
from this,” Arutyunian says. “For many, the financial aspect is
secondary.”

The prisoners weave wall hangings and craft watches, religious
medallions, slippers and leather cases for mobile phones and keys.

Each piece gets a label in Armenian and English identifying the
craftsman and describing what materials were used.

The label does not indicate the sentence being served by the artisan
or the crime – but the inmates eagerly volunteer that information.

“I’ve been `inside’ since I was 16,” says 34-year-old Fyodor
Matriashin, serving his sixth sentence for robbery. “I began making
wooden boxes when I first arrived, but I used to give them away. Now
I’m paid for them.”

Each of Armenia’s 13 prisons, home to some 3,000 inmates, had some
sort of manufacturing department when the country was part of the
Soviet Union, but production shut down and most of the equipment was
carted away after the federation broke apart at the end of 1991.

An advocacy group, the Assistance to the Prisoner Fund, started
prisoners making clothes and now is trying to revive the manufacture
of ceramics and bricks at Erebuni prison, a facility in Yerevan for
repeat offenders.

But it is the crafts workshops that seem to give prisoners the
greatest satisfaction.

“Just about everyone in the prison uses my cigarette holders,” says
Abel Pogosian, a 32-year-old serving his fifth sentence for assault.

“Now maybe someone on the outside will like them, too.”

NEW RIGHTS MEMBER PREDICTS IRAN-ARMENIA PIPELINE COULD HURT GEORGIA

The Messenger, Georgia
May 22 2006

Sakartvelos Respublika reports that a member of the parliamentary
opposition party New Rights Irakli Iashvili forecast that after the
exploitation of the Armenia-Iran gas pipeline, the gas tariff will
be further increased in Georgia.

The article writes that Iashvili stated at a session of the Sector
Economy and Economic Policy Committee that the construction of the
Armenia-Iran gas pipeline will be completed late this year, which
means that while negotiating with Russia, Georgia will lose a key
lever – its role as the key transit route for Armenian gas.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LESSONS OF EUROVISION, OR INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL IS THE BEST
Hakob Badalyan

Lragir.am
22 May 06

On May 20 almost the entire Armenia watched the final of Eurovision
Song Contest 2006, where Armenia was participating for the first time,
and Armenia was represented by Andre. The Greeks had really organized a
great show, pleasant to watch. I am sure that besides being enjoyable
and arousing joy and pride in Armenians for Andre’s performance and
points, Eurovision also taught lessons to many Armenians; for instance,
many people learned names of new European countries which they might
not have known before.

Generally, even the most delightful moments of life carry cognitive
elements along with pleasure, which are surely more important than
pleasure. Pleasure is transient, whereas a lesson is for all our life
and may even prove useful before and maybe also during other moments of
joy. In this sense, Eurovision 2006 is the first lesson to Armenia. The
point is not just participation. However, in this sense we also have
much to learn. The song that won would not be competitive even on
ALM TV. It is surprising that quite good songs, potential hits, took
lower positions, and many did not even appear in the first ten, maybe
because they do not have a Diaspora. But the victory of the Finnish
song also teaches much to those nations which are too sensitive on
their origin and tend to believe in archaeological sentiments on a
thousands of years old civilization more than the others. The Finnish
song was not exactly rock, and the band was not exactly a rock band,
it was imitation and irony rather.

And by voting for this song, the European youth displayed that songs
and the contest are simply entertainment. The victory of Finns is
the victory of the European youth rather than theirs, who voted for
lightness (though the title of the song is “Hard Rock”). The other
countries, which presented undoubtedly better songs, may say that
the Europeans are tasteless, and the victory of the Finnish band
was the defeat of taste. This argument may have an element of truth
but not more. The point is that musical taste is a relative notion,
and it cannot be put out for a contest, and whenever it is put out
for a contest, only for maximum enjoyment. The European youth decided
to entertain themselves at full this time, and in this case musical
imitation does not matter much.

Indeed it was high time that a country or a song win on Eurovision,
which is not going to become a tool for propaganda of patriotism;
it was high time that a country speak up which would not make its
victory a tool for internal and external goals.

There has been a lot of consideration that the winners of Eurovision
are determined by the current geopolitical situation or economic and
political tendencies. In fact, such a large-scale event cannot be
free from influence. However, it should not be denied either that
the voting youth simply decided to increase their influence, and
Eurovision 2006 could even be considered as the continuation of riots
of French young people protesting against political decisions, which
ignore public opinion. In this context, the public debates on Andre’s
song in Armenia were simply ingenuous and funny. Only the president
and the patriarch did not express their opinion on the song. Whereas
they should take it easy and not make a national matter out of a song,
although it is represented under the Armenian flag.

After all, the Lithuanian flag did not suffer when the band
representing this country sang a humorous song and received more
votes than Andre.

Yet the song contest in Athens taught another important lesson
to Armenia. Many in Armenia have probably noticed that the former
Yugoslavian countries, which had been slaughtering one another several
years ago, gave their votes to one another. It was interesting that
the Russian singer got the highest points from the Baltic States,
which have an extremely negative attitude to this country. And Turkey
gave a surprise to the Armenians in Armenia and all over the world,
giving 12 points to Armenia. Even in many countries with large Armenian
communities Andre did not get such high points. This can be considered
as the victory of the Turkish youth.

They simply let everyone know that they can be members of the friendly
and tolerant European family. Though outwardly, they showed that they
can use human values in treating people, notwithstanding historical
and political problems. Moreover, it should be noted that the Turks
did the same during Eurovision 2005 when they gave 12 points to the
Greek singer despite the historical and political problems between
Turkey and Greece, like between Turkey and Armenia.

One may say that there is politics behind all this, and the voting
results are simply coined to preach friendliness, to instill tolerance
in societies. Everything can be said, and everything can be explained
somehow. After all nothing else is left to do, when the Turks give
10 points to our singer, and the Turkish singer does not get a single
point in Armenia. Maybe we are fairer and we have a better taste.

In the fact, the problem is really political, and addresses the
outlook of countries and governments. In Turkey they surely dislike
Armenians like the Armenians dislike Turks. However, our neighbors
seek to teach their youth to live without hatred. Moreover, their
motive is purely national rather than moral or universal. They teach
that it is possible to achieve much more through love and diplomacy,
for such is the system of values of the 21st century, when love is
a political necessity rather than a compulsion. Probably, however,
it is pointless to go in for formalities, and perhaps it is more
reasonable to go to an international tribunal, as the president of
the Union of Armenians of Russia proposed. Especially that besides the
recognition of the Genocide we can claim to recognition of Formality,
accusing the Turks of a Formal vote for the Armenian singer.

BLACK BOX FROM CRASHED ARMENIAN AIRLINER RECOVERED

MosNews, Russia
May 22 2006

One of the two flight data recorders from the Armenian Airbus-320
passenger plane, which crashed into the Black Sea off Sochi on May
3, has been found Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said. The
black box recorded the conversation between the pilot and crew and
had been buried under 20-50 centimeters of silt, RIA Novosti news
agency quotes Levitin as saying.

He added that the search for the other box, which recorded flight
data and is thought to be lying 3-5 meters (10-16 feet) away from
the first one, would continue into the night.

Rescuers’ data showed that the A-320’s black boxes were at a depth of
496 meters (1,627 feet) and 5 meters (16 feet) apart from each other.

The operation started last Tuesday but was interrupted by a strong
side wind that made drift the ship which is operating the RT-1000
apparatus conducting the search for the flight recorders. Silt on
the seabed complicated the work, covering the video camera and the
searchlights. The team had to raise the apparatus several times for
cleaning. It takes 40 minutes for the apparatus to sink and as long
to come back to the surface.

Flight recorders used on aircraft of the Airbus-320 type withstand a
depth of up to 6,000 meters for 30 days, experts from the French air
crash investigation bureau said. They said that flight recorders’
radio beacons keep working during the 30-day period. One of the
flight recorders registers flight parameters, including the speed,
height and direction of the flight and the autopilot operation, each
second. The other records conversations in the cockpit. Each flight
recorder weighs 10 kilograms, including a seven-kilogram armored
casing, ITAR-TASS news agency reports.

A technical commission investigating the Sochi air crash, which is
led by the CIS Interstate Aviation Committee, has asked French experts
to help find A-320 flight recorders.

The black box has been sent to Moscow for the decoding of the final
minutes of the pilots’ conversation.

The airliner, operated by Armenia’s Armavia airlines, was flying from
the Armenian capital, Yerevan, when it crashed into the sea May 3 in
stormy weather six kilometers (3.7 miles) from Adler airport, which
services the popular Russian resort of Sochi. Of the 113 people who
were aboard the plane, 51 bodies have been found so far.