WHAT IS CULTURE FOR OUR POLITICAL ELITE?
Panorama.am
18:09 23/05/06
What is the reason to replace minister of culture and youth
affairs? Taking into consideration the known factors of internal
political processes, the answer is obvious from the first
look. However, the strange behavior of the government does not give
complete answer to that question.
Today Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan presented the newly appointed
Minister of Culture and Youth Affairs, stressing, “she does not
affiliate to any party…”
There comes a question whether the former minister Gevorg Gevorgyan
was a member of any party.
Even more questions arise when we hear the Prime Minister praising
the former minister. “A favorable atmosphere was created around the
former minister and there will not be considerable changes.” According
to the prime minister, the former minister supported him and could
make considerable achievement during his short term.
So, what was the reason to dismiss a person who was doing his job
well?

ROMANIA READY TO FACILITATE KOCHARIAN-ALIYEV MEETING
PanARMENIAN.Net
24.05.2006 14:02 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia Ilham Aliyev
and Robert Kocharian will presumably meet in Bucharest, Ambassador
of Romania to Azerbaijan Nikolae Ureke stated in Baku. According to
him, the meeting may be held within the framework of the Black Sea
Forum for Dialogue and Partnership to be held June 5 in Romania’s
capital. This meeting requires some preconditions, the diplomat said,
and Co-chairs should organize the necessary proposals.
“Romania is ready to facilitate the Presidents’ meeting,” the
Ambassador said adding that official Bucharest is going to put forward
some incentives on resolving frozen conflicts in the Black Sea region
preventing its economic development and posing threat to Romania’s
national security. “Among these are the conflicts in Transdnestria,
Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh,” he said, reported Trend.

ETHNIC TURKS DID NOT VOTE FOR THE ARMENIAN PARTICIPANT OF THE ‘EUROVISION’ SONG CONTEST
Krasnodar, May 23. ArmInfo. The votes of non-Turkish population of
Turkey were decisive in the voting on ‘Eurovision – 2006’, states
Russian Armenian ‘Yerkramas’ newspaper, referring to a reader from
Turkey, Armenian by origin.
The ‘Yerkramas’ reader assures that the ethnic Turks, having no
opportunity of voting for Turkey, merely neglected the voting. Thus,
the overwhelming majority of voters from Turkey were non-Turkish by
origin – Armenians (among them so-called ‘Hemishil’s – Armenians who
were persuaded to adopt Islam by force and Crypto-Armenians – Armenians
that are forcedly concealing their origin), Kurds, Greeks and Jews.
To be reminded by the results of ‘Eurovision-2006’ voting in Turkey
the Armenian singer got the second highest rating. This fact roused
amusement among the public taking into account the issue of recognition
of the Armenian Genocide.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CONNECTED FIRST OF ALL WITH IDEOLOGY: RUSSIAN HISTORIAN
Yerevan, May 23. ArmInfo. The attempts of a number of Turkish
historians to justify the Genocide of Armenians with the pro-Russian
sentiments of Armenians are absolutely baseless like the statements
that “the Armenians and Turks had normal relations before Russia’s
coming to the Caucasus.” Head of the 19th Century Section, State
Historical Museum, Victor Bezotosny told ArmInfo.
He stressed that for centuries the Turkish state government machine
repeatedly organized ethnic purges accompanied with pogroms of the
Christian nations in the Ottoman Empire: Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, and
Armenians. The history of Russian-Turkish wars shows that every time
after war Russia would undertook the protection of Christian peoples
in the Ottoman Empire, the historian said. After the Russian-Turkish
war of 1887-1878, Russia insisted on its military presence in Western
Armenia as a guarantor of security of western Armenians before the
Sultan would carry out reforms. West-European super powers headed
by great Britain were against these plans for the fear of the future
expansion of the Russian Empire. And Alexander II yielded to Europe
for the results of the Crimea war were fresh in the memory of the
Russian public.
Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey as well as the annihilation of
Jews in Germany under Hitler were connected with domestic political
matters and first of all with ideology, he said. He underlined that
historical documents leave no doubts that Genocide was committed
against the Armenian people in Ottoman Turkey.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT, NATO OFFICIAL DISCUSS TIES
Arminfo
23 May 06
Yerevan, 23 May: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and the special
representative of the NATO secretary-general for the South Caucasus,
Robert Simmons, today discussed prospects for developing relations
between Armenia and NATO.
Robert Kocharyan rated highly the implementation of a partnership
plan with NATO and noted that essential progress had been recorded in
the implementation of the programme’s provisions within a short time,
the presidential press service told Arminfo.
The importance of carrying out appropriate reforms in the
Armenian defence system and strengthening democracy were noted
in this context. Looking at relations with NATO in the context of
Armenia’s integration into Europe, the president also noted that an
interdepartmental commission had been set up in Armenia recently to
coordinate work with various European structures. The commission will
regularly report to the president on its work in various fields.
“Our goal is not to fall behind the schedule but move forward rapidly
and implement joint programmes,” Robert Kocharyan said.
At the request of his guest, the Armenian president briefed him on
the latest developments in the peaceful settlement of the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict.

U.S. MAY ALLOCATE $43 MILLION FOR RECONSTRUCTION OF MILITARY AIRDROMES IN AZERBAIJAN
PanARMENIAN.Net
24.05.2006 14:28 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Pentagon requested the U.S. Congress for $43
million for the reconstruction of four military airdromes in Azerbaijan
and organization of anti-missile defense and radio-electronic
intelligence, reported Express Baku-based newspaper citing sources
within the Pentagon.
According to some independent sources, some airdromes in Azerbaijan
have been already conveyed to the United States. Analysts say the
U.S. may use the airdromes in case of a military operation against
Iran.

DECODING OF THE BLACK BOXES OF THE CRASHED A-320 WILL MOST PROBABLY START TOMORROW
ArmRadio.am
24.05.2006 16:40
Press Secretary of the Chief Agency of RA Civil Aviation Gayane
Davtyan told “Radiolur” that tomorrow morning Armenian specialists
will leave for Moscow, where most probably Armenian, Russian and French
specialists will decode the black boxes of the crashed A-320 Airbus.
RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Russia Armen
Smbatyan said that in case of necessity the decoding of the black
boxes will continue in Paris.
According to Gayane Davtyan, in case the recorder boxes are not too
damaged, the first information about the records will be known in 2-3
days. However, according to the data of the Russian side, the black
boxes are damaged.

RECORD BOX DECODING TO TAKE 15 DAYS
PanARMENIAN.Net
24.05.2006 14:09 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ It will take the International Aviation Committee
some 15 days to decode two record boxes of A-320 jet that crashed
near Sochi May 3, Russia’s Intergovernmental Aviation Committee head
Rudolf Teymurazov said. Today the governmental committee will fix
the terms for the delivery of the record boxes to the International
Aviation Committee.
The expert also informed that the devices will be examined by the
IAC with the participation of foreign specialists who were engaged
in the search works, reported RIA Novosti.
According to the international rules, specialists of the French
Intelligence and Analysis Bureau take part in the investigation of
aviation incidents on behalf of France, the producer of the aircraft.
To remind, on the night of May 3 a Yerevan-Sochi flight of Armavia
national carrier crashed in the Black Sea 6 km away from Adler
airport killing all of 113 passengers, including 6 children and 8
crewmembers. Among them were 26 Russian citizens, one Ukrainian and
one Georgian citizen, while the rest were Armenian citizens.

NATO ENVOY PRAISES ARMENIA’S PROGRESS IN PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMME
Arminfo
22 May 06
Yerevan, 22 May: Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosyan
met the special representative of the NATO secretary-general for the
South Caucasus, Robert Simmons, today, a source in the press service
of the Armenian Foreign Ministry has said.
Summing up the outcome of working meetings of representatives of NATO
and members of inter-agency commissions for the implementation of the
Individual Partnership Action Plan [IPAP] programme on 18-19 May,
Simmons highly appreciated the implementation of the plan and said
that Armenia had made considerable progress in the implementation of
the provisions of the programme within a short time.
Kirakosyan said that cooperation with NATO and Armenia’s participation
in the IPAP programme and the Partnership for Peace programme are an
important element of the country’s security system.
He also stressed the importance of expanding political dialogue with
NATO, carrying out relevant reforms in the defence system and devising
a national security conception.
The sides also stressed the importance of informing the wider
public of NATO’s purposes and policies, especially of cooperation
between Armenia and NATO. The deputy foreign minister touched on the
settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict and the current status
of Armenian-Turkish relations.
[Passage omitted: Simmons took part in IPAP implementation commission
meeting]

“GRAND” INSURANCE COMPANY STARTED RECEPTION OF DOCUMENTS
ArmRadio.am
24.05.2006 15:00
Today the “Grand” insurance company has started reception of documents
for paying the insurance sums to the families of the victims of
the A-320 plane crash. Director of the Company Artak Antonyan told
“Radiolur” that documents of 30 people have been already submitted. The
reimbursement sum has not been determined so far, but the company
will pay up to US$20 000 for every victim.
Payment of the sums will start from June 18.
To note, planes of “Armavia” Company crashed in the Black Sea and
burnt at Brussels airport were also insured at “Grand” Company. Artak
Antonyan did not inform about the volume and terms of paying these
insurance sums.
For receiving the insurance sums, families of the air crash victims
can call 51-28-24 or 093 40 09 14 (cell).