ARMAVIA AIRBUS MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING IN MINERALNIYE-VODI BECAUSE OF A WOMAN IN CHILDBIRTH
Yerevan, June 6. ArmInfo. A-319 Airbus of Armavia airline flying from
“Vnukovo” airport in Moscow to the town of Gyumri had to land in the
town of Mineralniye- Vodi, Armavia press-service told ArmInfo.
The source reports the airbus had to land because of the birth pangs
of a pregnant woman. After the airbus landed, the woman was taken to
the local hospital.
To note, the company announces Yerevan-Frankfurt flights each Wednesday
from June 17 to September 7. In addition, the airline offers new summer
tariffs for the tickets to Amsterdam, Paris, Athens and Frankfurt.

ROUNDTABLE ON NATIONAL PLAN OF ACTION TO COMBAT TRAFFICKING TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN
ArmRadio.am
06.06.2006 17:57
Roundtable on “National Strategy and National Plan of Action to Combat
Trafficking in Armenia” will be held on 8 June 2006 in Yerevan.
The event is organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan in close
co-operation with the Armenian Inter-Agency Commission with the US
State Department support.
The roundtable aims to discuss the implementation of the current
National Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings (NPA)
and the development of a new one. International experts–Hana Snajdrova
from the Czech Ministry of Interior and Liliana Sorrentino from the
OSCE Anti-Trafficking Assistance Unit will share their experience in
this field.
The event will be opened by Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin, Head
of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, Mr. Valery Mkrtoumian, Chairman of
the Inter-Agency Commission on Anti-Trafficking Issues and Head of
the International Organizations Department of the Armenian Foreign
Ministry and Ms. Blanka Hancilova, Democratization Officer at the
OSCE Office in Yerevan.

GEGHAM GHARIBJANYAN: VLADIMIR USTINOV WAS DISMISSED ALSO BECAUSE OF THE RECENT MURDERS ON ETHNIC BASIS IN RUSSIA
ArmRadio.am
06.06.2006 17:48
Deputy Foreign Minister, Coordinator of CIS countries Gegham
Gharibjanyan declared today that former Prosecutor General of Russia
Vladimir Ustinov was dismissed also because of the recent murders on
the ethnic basis in Russia.
“I think this is a fact evidencing that one of the first steps to
be undertaken by the newly appointed Prosecutor will be fighting
interethnic conflicts,” said Gegham Gharibjanyan. According to him,
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia has reacted correspondingly
to the recent events in Russia. He said, “We are concerned with the
issue and we have submitted it to the Spokesman of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Russia, who is in Armenia these days.
As CIS coordinator I will speak to the Deputy Foreign Minister of
Russia about the issue.”

PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN MET LEONIDAS CHRISANTHOPOULOS
ArmRadio.am
06.06.2006 18:10
President Robert Kocharyan received today Secretary General of
the Standing International Secretariat of the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation Organization Leonidas Chrisanthopoulos.
The interlocutors exchanged ideas about the developments in the Black
Sea region, particularly issues related to economy, security and
stability. They attached importance to developing such approaches,
which will strengthen the common aspiration for partnership.

CHRISTIAN UNION WANTS TO MAKE THE DENIAL OF GENOCIDE PUNISHABLE
Anp (Dutch Press Agency)
1 June 2006
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 “indigestible”. 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
“disgraceful” 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.
–Boundary_(ID_3WOmGgCmjqCgQBxXehac0w)–

IT IS DANGEROUS TO TURN KARABAKH REASON FOR CHANGE OF POWER
Lragir.am
06 June 06
Azerbaijan and Armenia have opposite stances on the settlement of the
Karabakh conflict, therefore it is pointless to anticipate anything
from the meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Albert
Bazeyan, the leader of the National Revival Party made this statement
on June 6. He does not think that these meetings and talks may lead
to dramatic events in Armenia.
“There are political forces and sets, who may suggest or would like
that the Armenian side were pushed to make important and unilateral
concessions which would serve as an opportunity to call people for a
riot. We have never had such illusions, and we think that the issue
of Karabakh is a national problem. We would not like our government,
no matter we accept them or not, to lead the talks to a failure to
enable us to use this to settle certain home political problems,”
says Albert Bazeyan. According to him, if there is a change of power
for which the Karabakh issue is an excuse, the new leadership will
appear in the same situation as the old one.

WHAT IS SERGE SARGSYAN’S BUSINESS?
Lragir.am
06 June 06
The leader of the National Revival Party Albert Bazeyan met news
reporters at the Pastark Club on June 6. By the end of the meeting
Bazeyan congratulated everyone on the Olympic gold of the Armenian
men’s chess team. The reporter of Lragir.am asked Albert Bazeyan if
he did not fear that this victory would add to the political dividends
of Serge Sargsyan, the president of the Chess Federation.
Albert Bazeyan first ironically quoted Serge Sargsyan that nothing
good happens in this country without him. But then he reminded that
everyone in this country should do their duty. “I think that politics,
political activities should be distinguished from success in sports,
social activities, and so on. And in our country everyone should do
their job. In other words, the prime responsibility of the minister of
defense is to enhance the country’s security, to settle the problems
of the army, and only then take care of a political or social image,”
says Albert Bazeyan.

ARMENIAN ATTORNEYS IN JAVAKHETI WERE REFUSED LICENSE
Lragir.am
06 June 06
AKHALKALAKI, JUNE 5, A-INFO. The people of Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda
have been unable to use the services of the local Armenian attorneys
since June 1, 2006.
The Association of Georgian Attorneys refused to grant licenses to the
Armenian lawyers of Javakheti because the latter do not speak Georgian.
This fact will complicate the state of the Armenians of Javakheti,
who will have to spend several times more money to hire a lawyer from
other regions of Georgia.

DRINKING WINE IS NOT A TRADITION IN ARMENIA
Lragir.am
06 June 06
Member of Parliament Manvel Ghazaryan, winemaker, Member of Parliament
Manuk Gasparyan and Avag Harutiunyan, the president of the Association
of Winemakers of Armenia, met on June 6 to discuss the state of
viticulture in Armenia and the level of support of the government to
winemakers. The latter was considered in the light of filling in the
gap in the Russian markets that occurred after banning the sale of
Georgian wines.
Manuk Gasparyan confessed that he drinks wine but is not fond of
drinking wine. However, as a person who understands economy he noticed
that the Russian economic system has been turned into politics, from
gas to mineral water. Hence, “it would be better if the government
helped the Armenian wine producers, at least indirectly,” because
they do not invade markets in a single day, “advertisement, marketing
are required.” “The Russian market is endless and, if we get orders,
viticulture will develop,” says Manuk Gasparyan.
Winemaker, Member of Parliament Manvel Ghazaryan states that there
have Armenian wines on the Russian market over the past 6-7 years,
the problem is to increase sales. Armenian wine cannot replace
Moldavian wine, cheap wine. The average price of our wines is 2-2.5
dollars and expensive wines cost 7-8 dollars. However, it is not a
matter of a day to fill in these gaps. Avag Harutiunyan, the chair of
the Association of Winemakers, said there are at least 10 countries
in the world, which can fill in the gap of the Russian market in
a day, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have become
more active. Moldavia is negotiating the return of its wine to the
Russian market. He declined to say why Armenia is not taking actions,
but he said that we have only three months to act. In the meantime,
the main market of the Armenian wines remains Armenia, where it is
not traditional to drink wine. “Due to our Russian orientation we are
used to drinking vodka,” says Manvel Ghazaryan. Manuk Gasparyan says
when the leadership plays basketball, everyone starts going in for
basketball, so let the leadership start drinking wine. “Soon water
will get more expensive and people will start drinking wine,” he added.

500 BOTTLES EXPORTED ANNUALLY FROM ARMENIA
Lragir.am
06 June 06
By the end of this year the law on wine will have been adopted. The
chair of the Association of Winemakers of Armenia Avag Harutiunyan
presented how the Armenian viticulture could benefit from it and how
satisfied the winemakers could be.
“We have presented a conceptual package. So far this branch has been
managed or guided by the Soviet standards, whereas Europe adopted
the law we have just introduced as long ago as 1909. For you to
understand what this is, let us try to realize the difference between
these two big policies. The personage of Celentano from a famous
film tells the place and time when the wine was produced. This is
a European approach. God created every area with its peculiarities,
and the wine of every area is different. The Soviet ideology says:
collective economy, collective vineyards, collective wine, and
everything is mixed up. Now we are trying to adopt the idea of wines
with geographical origin, i.e. the European approach. Common wine
will be produced in Armenia as well, which can be made of grapes
grown and bottled anywhere.”
“Today 500 thousand bottles are annually exported from Armenia.
We can export 5 million bottles without the quality affected. But
look what may happen above 5 million bottles. If the law is adopted,
in the production of common wines we may import wines and mix with
our wine; with a ratio standing at 49 to 51 it will be considered
Armenian wine. We can buy good wine from Argentina at 10 cents, Spain
for 20 cents, Italy for up to 40 cents, France for up to 50 cents,
Moldavia up to 60 cents, Georgia for 1 dollar, and mix with our wine.
Armenia may follow this path on the condition that corruption and
subjectivity are reduced to zero. “