ARMENIA READY FOR RELATIONS WITH TURKEY WITHOUT PRECONDITIONS
Arka News Agency, Armenia
June 26 2006
Yerevan, June 26. /ARKA/. Armenia is ready to establish diplomatic
relations with Turkey without any preconditions, RA Presidential
Spokesman Victor Soghomonyan told ARKA, commenting on an interview
give by the American Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Mathew Bryza
to the Liberty Radio.
Armenia has repeatedly stated this, Soghomonyan said. He pointed out
that, by stating that the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement will contribute
to the establishment of Armenian-Turkish relations, Bryza expressed
his point of view.
Still earlier, Matthew Bryza stated that Armenia and turkey were
ready for the establishment of normal relations. He pointed out that
the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict would contribute to
this process.

EU’S EFFORTS TO SETTLE NK CONFLICT MOTIVATED BY ITS AMBITION TO RID REGION OF RUSSIA’S DOMINANCE
Arka News Agency, Armenia
June 26 2006
YEREVAN, June 26. /ARKA/. European Union’s efforts to settle Karabakh
conflict are motivated by its ambition to rid the region of Russia’s
dominance, Russian political analyst Victor Nadein-Rayevski said
Saturday at a press conference in Yerevan.
He also said that OSCE Minsk Group’s and International Crisis
Group’s latest proposals prompt certain concern. In particular,
if peacekeeping forces are deployed in the troubled region,
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s borders, including border with Armenia,
will be blocked and European Union will oust Russian troops from the
region, the political analyst said.
In his opinion, Azerbaijani refugees return backed by peacekeeping
forces will produce irreparable effect here, just like in Kosovo,
where Serbs fled their homeland to survive genocide.
Nadein-Rayevski also pointed out that this way to settle the
conflict is very convenient to the EU also because it will secure
Baku-Tbilisi-Jeyhan oil pipeline. Instead, this way is extremely
disadvantageous to Karabakhi and Armenian people, he said wondering
why the problem of Azerbaijani refugees is surrounded by so fuss
while that of Armenians driven from their homes in Baku and other
Azerbaijani cities is fallen into neglect.

ARMENIAN FM TO VISIT GEORGIA
Arka News Agency, Armenia
June 26 2006
Yerevan, June 26. /ARKA/. RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan is to
be on a visit to Georgia on June 27-28, 2006.
The RA Foreign Minister is to hold meetings with Georgian President
Mikhail Sahakashvili, Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili and Speaker
of the Parliament Nino Burjanadze.
On June 28, at the Georgian foundation for strategic and international
studies, Minister Oskanyan is to make a report on regional foreign
policy affairs.

NKR PEOPLE’S OPINION MUST BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT IN CONFLICT SETTLEMENT
Arka News Agency, Armenia
June 26 2006
YEREVAN, June 26. /ARKA/. Karabakh people’s opinion must be taken
into account in Karabakh conflict settlement, Russian political
analyst Victor Nadein-Rayevski said Saturday at a press conference
held in Yerevan.
He is convinced that Karabakh people must decide its own fate and
pointed out that this is the essence of democracy.
Nadein-Rayevski finds it wrong to distance Karabakhi people from
the process of negotiation on the conflict settlement regardless of
whether the republic enjoys international recognition or not.
The political analyst thinks time is needed to comprehend what was
said above. He said the years of the republic’s de-facto independence
have played their role and Karabakh people’s and authorities’ worry
is completely.

RA NA SPEAKER DOESN’T THINK NEWLY ESTABLISHED POLITICAL PARTIES CAN OUTDO REPUBLICAN PARTY IN 2007 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
Arka News Agency, Armenia
June 26 2006
YEREVAN, June 26. /ARKA/. Tigran Torosyan, Armenian National
Assembly Speaker and Republican Party’s Vice Chairman, thinks newly
established political parties will be unable to outdo his party in
2007 parliamentary elections.
Asked by Golos Armenii newspaper about his view on new-created
parties Bargavach Armenia (Prosperous Armenia) and Union in the Name
of Armenia, Torosyan ruled out this probability.
Bargavach Hayastan hasn’t even convened its congress, Torosyan said
calling into question the party’s ability to obtain necessary public
support. He is convinced the party has no capacity needed for that
and will fail to accomplish in campaigning for parliamentary seats
unless resorts to violation of political game rules.
At the same time, he welcomed new parties thinking they will add
a fresh blood to Armenia’s political life, which has stalled for
recent time.
However, Torosyan pointed out some circumstances should be taken
into consideration.
“It these two parties, like many other parties, try to put emphasis
on such aspects as money and administrative measures, they will
jeopardize the whole Armenian multi-party system, not only themselves.

ARMENIAN FM’S STATEMENT ON MATTHEW BRYZA’S INTERVIEW
Today, Azerbaijan
June 26 2006
Armenian Foreign Ministry made a statement on recent interview by
Matthew Bryza to RFE/RL.
The statement reads:
Taking into account the statement that the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group presented to the OSCE Permanent Council, in Vienna, on June
22, and the interview that Matt Bryza, the new US co-chair gave soon
thereafter, where albeit partially, the principles of the settlement
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict were revealed for the first time,
and also taking into account the recent desperate calls by Azerbaijan
for a military solution and autonomy for Nagorno Karabakh, we would
like to make several observations.
The co-chairs have partially revealed the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
resolution principles; they have left out references to a corridor
linking Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia, and issues relating to Nagorno
Karabakh’s status until a referendum;
The co-chairs have, for the first time, affirmed that the people
of Nagorno Karabakh shall determine their own future status through
a referendum;
Those items over which the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
continue to disagree does not include a referendum; that concept has
been agreed to by the presidents; The area of disagreement between
the presidents has to do with the sequence in which the consequences
of the military conflict are removed;
In an attempt to resolve this remaining area of disagreement, a
proposal was made by the co-chairs after Rambouillet. This proposal
was accepted by Armenia in Bucharest. Azerbaijan rejected it.
Armenia finds that the basic principles, overall, on the table today
remain a serious basis for continuing negotiations; Armenia is prepared
to continue on that basis to continue to negotiate with Azerbaijan;
Armenia believes that Azerbaijan’s wavering on these principles is
a serious obstacle to progress in the negotiations. If this policy
continues, Armenia will insist that Azerbaijan conduct direct
negotiations with Nagorno Karabakh.
Finally, we would remind Azerbaijan once again that regardless of the
size of their military budget, they cannot force the people of Nagorno
Karabakh to renounce freedom and the right to self-determination.

THOUSANDS RALLY AGAINST DISCRIMINATION
BÝA, Turkey
June 26 2006
Organized by the leftist Freedom and Solidarity Party 6,000.rally
against discrimination. Party chairman Kozanoglu criticizes pending
Anti-Terror Law and urges: “Everyone, including those on the mountains,
should be granted the right to participate.”
BÝA (Istanbul) – The Freedom and Solidarity Party (ODP) has held a
“Let’s Defend Living Together” rally in Istanbul’s Kadikoy district to
voice reaction to increasing intolerance towards people of different
origin in the country and stress that cultural and social diversity
is a wealth for Turkey.
Approximately 6,000 people attended the meeting with party members
arriving from all parts of Turkey. Starting at the square in front of
the Haydarpasa Numune Hospital, thousands marched to the Kadikoy Port
Square shouting slogans “We are here, we defend living together”,
“Don’t be silent, shout, the people are brothers” and “There is no
freedom alone, either all of us or non of us”.
“We are here, we defend living together”.
Bulent Aydin and artist Zeynep Tanbay who presented the meeting reacted
to those saying “Either love it or leave it ” and telling those wearing
a turban “go to Arabia” by saying “we are going no where and we are
standing up in front of them because we defend living together. We
have not a single citizen to post anywhere else.
We defend not compulsory citizenship but voluntary citizenship”.
Agaoglu: “We multiplied through the democracy and freedom struggle”.
Addressing the crowd during the meeting, author Adalet Agaoglu said
“We have multiplied to this extent by showing solidarity on the path
to democracy and freedom. This success is the result of belief and
the truth is here in this square”.
Noting that the social diversity in Turkey was more colourful than
anywhere else in the world, Agaoglu added, “Difference and diversity
is good. This brings freedom and democracy together with it”.
Kozanoglu: Don’t keep on serving us the TMY.
ODP Chairman Hayri Kozanoglu said in his speech that “as the Kurd,
Turk, Laz, Circassian, Armenian we are different, we are together. We
cover our heads, we have open hair, we have short skits, we have ear
rings, we are different but we are all together. ODP members coming
from Hopa, Diyarbakir, Adana and Mersin… we are all different but
we are together”.
Stressing the need for more freedom and democracy in Turkey, Kozanoglu
said “We do not want a Turkey where they keep on reheating the
Anti-Terror Law and serving it to us”. He called for the government
to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem.
Kozanoglu said that everyone in Turkey including those on the mountains
should be given the chance to participate in social life and reacted
to children being involved in the Kurdish problem. “Leave them alone
so children can live their childhood” her said. He also defended that
everyone, including those who hold ranks, should be tried.
–Boundary_(ID_JJdgvAzDCEY+S4aM6UGnEw)–

KAREKIN PROTESTORS SLAP DOWN OLD WOMAN
BÝA, Turkey
June 26 2006
Group of protestors including rightwing lawyers stage protest against
visiting Armenian Patriarch Karekin and attack old woman on Heybeliada
(Khalki) island. Police detain one suspect but release Muammer
Kocadagli who is reported to have hit the victim.
BÝA (ISTANBUL) – Rightwing Jurists Union members lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz
and have staged an attack on an old during the visit of head of the
Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Karekin II to the Heybeliada
(Khalki) Island, 20 miles to the south of Ýstanbul on Marmara Sea.
Lawyer Kerincsiz and friends are a unique group of fierce nationalists
who fight against liberal reforms along Turkey’s EU membership
bid. They were responsible for the ban on the Ottoman Armenians
Conference in Istanbul after a complaint to a local administrative
court and as well as a series of criminal complaints against a number
of leading intellectuals including author Orhan Pamuk and journalist
Hrant Dink, Attempting to stage a protest against Karekin, the group
of nationalists attacked the unidentified woman in front of witnesses
when she verbally objected to their presence and said “don’t disturb
us, just go”.
Witnesses of the incident said the person in the group who hit the
woman on her face was Muammer Kocadagli who was briefly detained
and released after opening a protest placard near the Aya Triada
Monastry. Police on the scene detained one suspect and escorted the
woman to safety.
Police on the island had to barricade the roads from the Heybeliada
port to the Clergy school when the group attempted to march there.
Attorney Kerincsiz, who’s acts at court against Turkish intellectuals
and freedom of expression defendants have reached aggressive
proportions, told the police if they were not allowed to march, he
would go to the school using a horse coach. The police told him to
go to Buyukada where he could travel in a coach.
The first visit to Turkey by the head of the Armenian Apostolic
Church triggered protests by ultra-nationalist and Islamist Turkish
groups immediately after his arrival in Istanbul last Tuesday from
the Armenian capital, Yerevan.
At the airport Karekin II was greeted by dozens of protestors waving
Turkish flags and boasting a banner “We won’t let any Christian
clergyman into our homeland!” Police had to intervene and escorted
the cleric out of the terminal using another door after detaining
four protestors.
–Boundary_(ID_6H6Fglgxozhmyw5zkqJUGg )–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MAK RELEASES FIRST DATA FROM ARMAVIA FDR
By David Kaminski-Morrow in London
Flight International
June 26 2006
Preliminary analysis of the flight-data recorder (FDR) from the Armavia
Airbus A320 that crashed into the Black Sea in May has ruled out fuel
exhaustion and engine problems as contributing to the accident.
Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) has also disclosed that
“during the last minute, the flight passed to the director mode with
the autopilot switched off”. This is believed to indicate that the
autopilot had been disengaged, but the flight director was active on
the attitude director indicator displays.
MAK says the flight-data recorder contained 26h 20min of information
on eight flights conducted between 30 April and the crash on 3 May,
including the entire 1h 26min of the final flight.
MAK previously revealed that the cockpit-voice recorder contains
about 33min of audio information. This includes the beginning of the
incident and continues through the development of the situation on
board the twinjet.
The A320 had been attempting a second night-time approach to Sochi
airport in Russia after a service from Yerevan, Armenia.
Investigators studying the final flight have concluded that the
fuel on board was “sufficient for the safe completion of the flight”
and that the CFM International CFM56 powerplants “worked until the
moment of the aircraft’s impact with the surface of the water”. MAK
adds the aircraft was not destroyed in mid-air.
The Armavia A320 crashed after abandoning an initial approach to
Sochi airport’s runway 06. None of the 113 people on board survived.

YEREVAN DEPLORES U.S. DISCLOSURE OF PROPOSED KARABAKH DEAL
By Emil Danielyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
June 26 2006
Armenia criticized a senior U.S. official on Monday for disclosing
key details of the most recent framework agreement to end the
Nagorno-Karabakh which was put forward by the U.S., Russian and
French mediators.
In an interview with RFE/RL late last week, the U.S. Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State Matthew Bryza said the conflicting parties have been
discussing a gradual solution to the dispute that would culminate in a
referendum on Karabakh’s status. Bryza said the vote would determine
the disputed region’s status “at some point” in the future after the
liberation of Armenian-occupied lands in Azerbaijan proper.
President Robert Kocharian appears to have been taken aback by the
remarks. His press secretary, Viktor Soghomonian, claimed that Bryza
unveiled only “some elements of the document proposed to the parties
which do not reflect the whole essence of the draft [Karabakh]
agreement.”
“If similar revelations appear in the media in the future, Armenia
will publish all the documents discussed at the talks in the last
seven to eight years,” Soghomonian told the Russian news agency
Regnum. “Namely, the [1998] draft agreement based on the principle of
a `common state’, the document discussed in Key West [in April 2001]
and the draft agreement which was recently discussed in Bucharest. I
am sure everything will be crystal clear then.”
“Incidentally, all three draft agreements were rejected by Azerbaijan,”
Soghomonian said.
Bryza, who has just taken over as the new U.S. co-chair of the OSCE
Minsk Group, essentially confirmed Karabakh-related information
leaked by Armenian and Azerbaijani officials last year. It is
therefore not clear why official Yerevan was irked by the move,
especially considering the fact that the proposed referendum would
likely legitimize Armenian control over Karabakh.
Azerbaijan’s reaction to Bryza’s remarks was far more positive, with a
spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Baku saying over the weekend that
they “reflect the state of affairs” in the Karabakh peace process. The
Azerbaijani newspaper “Zerkalo” quoted the official, Tahir Tagizade,
as claiming at the same time that the referendum would be held not
only in Karabakh but also Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev insisted on Friday that he will
“never let Nagorno-Karabakh be separated from Azerbaijan” and that
“this cannot be a subject of negotiations.”
The referendum option clearly envisages the possibility of
international recognition Karabakh’s secession from Azerbaijan,
though. It is believed to have dominated two rounds of unsuccessful
negotiations held by Aliev and Kocharian in Bucharest and outside
Paris last February. The fiasco has all but dashed hopes for a speedy
resolution of the Karabakh conflict.
Bryza said he and the two other Minsk Group co-chairs have decided
to take “a bit of a pause throughout the summer” to see whether Aliev
and Kocharian have the political will to make “tough compromises.”
“The Minsk Group has decided that there’s no sense in us trying to
arrange another round of presidential meetings or trying to broker
an agreement, because we have taken the process as far as we can,
and all that’s left to do is for the presidents to make these tough
decisions,” he said.
“We just don’t know where the presidents are right now,” added the
U.S. official. “We’re encouraging them, we’re nudging them by taking
a step back. Nudging them to show that they have this political will.”