AIRBUS BLACK BOX RECOVERED
The Moscow Times, Russia
May 23 2006
Searchers on Monday recovered the cockpit voice recorder from an
Armenian passenger jet that crashed in the Black Sea nearly three
weeks ago, killing all 113 people aboard, Transportation Minister
Igor Levitin said.
Workers using a remote-controlled diving apparatus with a robotic
arm plucked the recorder from the sea floor nearly 500 meters beneath
the surface after removing a layer of silt up to half a meter thick
that had covered the black box and hidden it from searchers for days,
he said.
Levitin said at a news conference that authorities hope to soon
recover the flight data recorder, which they believe is under silt
just three to five meters away.
Officials hope the recorders will help determine the cause of the
May 3 crash of the Armavia Airbus A-320, which plunged into the sea
in heavy rain and poor visibility as it approached the airport on a
flight from the Armenian capital, Yerevan, to Sochi.
“I think that what happened would be revealed,” said Tatyana Anodina,
head of the Interstate Aviation Committee, the civil agency that
links Russia with 11 other former Soviet republics.
Anodina said the cockpit voice recorder was damaged by the crash and
may have suffered from the harsh conditions beneath the silt, but
expressed confidence that it would yield information “very important
to investigators” — a recording of the voices and other sounds in
the cockpit in the final minutes of the doomed flight.

TASHKENT BANK ENDS TRANSACTIONS WITH BREAKAWAY AZERI REGION AFTER NOTE – TV
Ceyhun Rzayev, Afat Telmanqizi, ANS
ANS TV, Baku
21 May 06
[Presenter] An Uzbek bank has presented Nagornyy Karabakh as an
independent state. Tashkent corrected its mistake following the
intervention by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry and it was possible
to end the presentation of Nagornyy Karabakh as an independent state
in documents.
[Correspondent, over video of scenes in Uzbekistan, Tagizada
speaking] A diplomatic scandal has emerged between Azerbaijan and
Uzbekistan. A bank in Tashkent which deals with money transfers to
CIS countries showed Nagornyy Karabakh as an independent state in all
its documents. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry had to interfere and
send a note to Tashkent.
The head of the press and information department of the ministry,
Tahir Tagizada, told ANS that Baku held talks with the appropriate
Uzbek authorities. Only after that the name of Nagornyy Karabakh was
removed from advertisement posters and its presentation as a separate
state was stopped.
The Uzbek side officially declared that it had ended all transactions
with Nagornyy Karabakh and any other occupied territories of
Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani embassy in Uzbekistan also sent a note
to the Uzbek Foreign Ministry.
The incident happened when Tural joint-stock commercial bank [as heard]
showed Nagornyy Karabakh as a separate republic on its advertisement
posters in Tashkent late April. The Azerbaijani embassy in Uzbekistan
held talks with staff of the bank to discuss the issue.
As a result of the talks, the staff said that they had made no direct
transactions with the occupied Azerbaijani territories. They said
that the bank made transfers [to Karabakh] through a Russian bank,
the name of which was not specified.

AZERBAIJAN PROTESTS AT FORMER RUSSIAN KARABAKH MEDIATOR’S REMARKS – TV
ANS TV, Baku
20 May 06
[Presenter] Vladimir Kazimirov, a former Russian co-chairman of the
OSCE Minsk Group who mostly sides with Armenians and who is known for
his pro-Armenian statements, has made a new statement, causing serious
dissatisfaction. Azerbaijan was so displeased with the statement
that the Russian charge d’affaires to Azerbaijan, Pyotr Burdykin,
was summoned to the Foreign Ministry.
[Correspondent over archive footage] Vladimir Kazimirov’s latest
statement represents a dangerous trend that could deal a serious blow
to both the peaceful settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict
and Russian-Azerbaijani relations, said Novruz Mammadov, head of the
foreign relations department of the Presidential Executive Staff.
Kazimirov threw into question UN principles on national rights and
the inviolability of borders, which were confirmed by the Helsinki
Agreement signed in 1948.
Kazimirov said, quote, these principles do not work today. But
[Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev believes in these principles as
dogmas, which is why he is in an impasse now. I do not even mention
that the war rhetoric undermines the basic moral premises of society
and adversely affects the psychology of the young generation, unquote.
[Passage omitted]
Mammadov believes that such statements, which could hamper the
settlement of the conflict, cannot coincide with the positions of
Russia and other co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group.
Pyotr Burdykin, head of Russia’s diplomatic mission in Azerbaijan,
today was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in connection with
Kazimirov’s statement. Baku expressed its dissatisfaction verbally
to Burdykin.
Tahir Tagizada, head of the ministry’s media and information
department, told ANS that Deputy Foreign Minister Xalaf Xalafov had
informed the Russian charge d’affaires of Azerbaijan’s dissatisfaction.
Tagizada said Burdykin had promised to relay Baku’s official position
to Moscow and inform the Azerbaijani side of measures to be taken in
connection with Kazimirov’s statement.

TOGETHER WITH IDEOLOGICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE OPPONENTS
Anna Israelian
Aravot.am
20 May 06
Specificities of the new-formed majority in the parliament according
to the RPA soviet member, RPA fraction deputy Armen Ashotian.
The RPA fraction leader Galust Sahakian has already declared publicly:
”The field of mutual agreements is enlarged and others, ”People’s
deputy”, ULP, will also get the existed levers. The ULP leader
Gurgen Arsenian reminded ”Regnum” yesterday that the ULP was for
Robert Kocharian’s pre-electoral project and they would continue
the collaboration. We also must remind that the ULP declared a “cold
war” to the coalition in the enlarged sitting of the city soviet on
22 of July, and Gurgen Arsenian promised that they would continue
in a strong way. And more, he declared the ARF as the ideological
opponent of the party, RPA as the administrative opponent, and partly
the OEP. In this case how Gurgen Arsenian explains the readiness
of collaborating with the ARF and RPA will be obvious after the
sitting of the party soviet. But before we reminded the RPA fraction
deputy Armen Ashotian the ULP these positions and were interested
how he considered collaboration with the party which declared them a
“cold war”. “Political processes have a logic, clash or coincidence
of interests, -Mr. Ashotian answered. – I think it is possible to
find points of coincidence of interests with your mentioned political
powers before parliamentary elections. It is wrong to exclude anything
in the policy. The joint activities of the RPA and ARF with the ULP,
‘People’s deputy” or new formed dep uty group, I think, will be by the
principle of synthesizing of interests. If the coalition was formed
by incompatible political powers, which signed an agreement round
general strategic superiorities and were working for three years,
then I don’t exclude that collaboration will take place among these
political powers though without that juridical formulation. I think
the NA work will be continued in ordinary way and there will be no
problem of decisive majority during voting as it will be solved on
the principle of political agreements and coincidence of interests.”
It is less possible but “People’s deputy” can threaten the agreements,
because its members don’t intend to collaborate with the coalition. We
should remind that though ”People’s deputy” group was voting
in decisive moments as the majority wanted, the head of the group
Karen Karapetian was criticizing the coalition. Let’s cite one of
such examples; Karen Karapetian declared in last February that the
coalition wasn’t only able to lead the processes in ordinary way
but it didn’t want; ”They have divided the authority by coalition
principle and now each of them want to increase the percent of
their authority by mutual accusations. It seems to me that these
powers have come to power to feel good with their parties”. The
RPA soviet member answered to this that the interpretations are the
same as it was in case of the ULP. ”I’m sure that the RPA and ARF
will find points of contacts round of which they can work even with
the deputies of extreme demonstrations”. And on this occasion he
added a factor, which will stimulate the desire of collaboration
of parliamentary powers. “Special elections aren’t desirable for
democratic development of the state. Though there were declarations,
which excluded that threat, this circumstance will make political
powers work together. The time and situation has been changed. And
it is natural that other approaches are also possible”.
The expression of “principle of summarizing the interests” highly
sounds but everything leads to the appointment of posts. Are they
enough in the circumstance when some persons who left the OEP still
continue to fill their posts?
But the most important thing is that whether their behavior doesn’t
become standard. The RPA council member Armen Ashotian answered; I
don’t think that we deepen the incompleteness of political field as
the political system can’t reach to completeness only by these events.”
–Boundary_(ID_syYwuvOpba3HUoziGeKbfw)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GIRL, FATHER TO RETURN TO LEBANON: 7-YEAR-OLD MARINEH IS EAGER TO SEE HER MOM, BUT SHE STILL CAN’T WALK
by Doug Hoagland, The Fresno Bee, Calif.
The Fresno Bee (California)
May 22, 2006 Monday
A 7-year-old girl from Lebanon who came to Fresno to get medical care
that might help her walk is going home still crippled.
Marineh Damirjian and her father were scheduled to fly to Beirut,
Lebanon, today after 5 1/2 months in the Valley.
Marineh got caught in a struggle between her parents and the U.S.
government over a visitor’s visa for her mother, who was unable to
join her husband and only child. Marineh’s father refused to make
decisions about her care without his wife in Fresno.
Local officials tried to help the family and had contacted the U.S.
Embassy in Beirut. The mother was scheduled to talk with embassy
officials Tuesday about a visitor’s visa. But with no guarantee she
would get it, and with the father’s and daughter’s visas running out
in early June, the father said they were leaving.
“Of course I am sad,” Marineh’s father, Hagop Damirjian, said in
Armenian. “We have to leave it in God’s hands. My conscience is
relaxed. Whatever God wants to do, let him do it.”
Marineh said in Armenian she was looking forward to sitting in her
mother’s lap again: “I am going to hug my mother.”
The girl and her parents are Armenians with Lebanese citizenship.
The Bee profiled Marineh two weeks ago.
She suffers from progressive muscle tightness in her legs and tendon
problems in her feet.
A spinal abnormality is likely the cause, and she must crawl, be
carried or use a wheelchair to get around.
Hagop Damirjian says doctors in Lebanon suggested seeking medical
treatment in the United States. American officials would give only
one of Marineh’s parents a visitor’s visa, which the parents decided
the father would use because he could more easily lift the child.
Hagop Damirjian says embassy officials didn’t explain why the parents
got only one visa. Some people use visitor’s visas to immigrate
illegally, but Damirjian, who has extended family and a job in Lebanon,
said he wasn’t trying to do that.
He brought Marineh to Fresno because his uncle, Manuel Damirjian,
lives here. Marineh might have had surgery on her spine, legs and
feet at Children’s Hospital Central California. One of her doctors,
Dr. Steven Ehrreich, wrote embassy officials that Marineh would
benefit psychologically if her mother came to Fresno.
Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, called embassy officials on
Marineh’s behalf.
Zakar Bedoyan of Fresno, a family friend, cried tears of frustration
as Marineh prepared to head home. “Just because of a little visa,
we can’t help her and get her on her feet,” Bedoyan said.
Hagop Damirjian said he was grateful for all that people did: “When
I came here, I didn’t have anybody, just my uncle. But I have all of
Fresno helping me, and they’re all my friends. I’ll never forget what
they do for me.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

U.S. AMBASSADOR DESIGNATE TO AZERBAIJAN RESPONDS TO SEN. BOXER’S CONCERNS ON DJULFA CEMETERY DESTRUCTION
Yerkir
22.05.2006 17:21
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – U.S. Ambassador Designate to Azerbaijan Anne Derse
responded to concerns raised by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) regarding
Azerbaijan’s destruction of the over millennia old Djulfa Armenian
cemetery in Nakhichevan, last week, but refrained from pledging any
concrete commitment to investigate the matter, reported the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA).
Submitting a written response to questions by Sen. Boxer relayed
during her May 12th Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation
hearing, Derse noted that the Department of State is “urging the
relevant Azerbaijani authorities to investigate the allegations of
desecration of cultural monuments in Nakhichevan and take appropriate
measures to prevent any desecration of cultural monuments. Armenia and
Azerbaijan are both members of UNESCO (and OSCE), and Azerbaijan has
raised these issues in those organizations. We have encouraged Armenia
and Azerbaijan to work with UNESCO to investigate this incident. If
I am confirmed, and if such issues arise during my tenure, I will
communicate our concerns to the Government of Azerbaijan and pursue
appropriate activities in support of U.S. interests.”
Sen. Boxer had specifically asked if the Ambassador Designate would
“visit the cemetery site and commit [herself] to investigating the
demolition of this unique cemetery.”
“We want to thank Senator Boxer for raising Azerbaijan’s desecration
of the Djulfa cemetery with Ambassador Designate Derse,” said ANCA
Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
“We were deeply troubled by the silence of the U.S. Embassy on this
issue during the tenure of her predecessor, Reno Harnish, and remain
hopeful that, despite her evasive response, Anne Derse will prove a
more vocal and effective advocate for the core American values of
tolerance and respect for cultural heritage. She can start off on
the right foot by personally visiting Djulfa during her first month
in office.”

“I KNOW THAT DESECRATION OF THE ARMENIAN CEMETERY IN NAKHICHEVAN RAISED VERY STRONG FEELINGS IN ARMENIA”
The exclusive interview of the OSCE Secretary General, Ambassador
Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, to Armenian Mediamax news agency, May
2006
Mediamax news agency
May 2006
– Armenia was among those CIS countries which criticized the OSCE in
a statement made in summer 2004 and today it seems the OSCE reform
has become a legitimate item on the agenda of the Organization.
– Like any organization, OSCE is in a constant process of adapting
to new realities. What you are referring to is the requirement of
certain countries within OSCE to make more substantial changes in
order to reflect their own perception that there are occasionally
double standards within OSCE.
Since decisions are taken in the OSCE on the basis of consensus,
any decision requires a large amount of compromising discussion in
order to be reached. We are right now going to that process. We hope
this process will be a very successful one.
But I do not think any final package will be reached before the next
Ministerial meeting to be held in Brussels this December. In between,
we are in active contacts with all countries, including Armenia,
which has been following this issue closely, and I think the Armenian
authorities understand that the OSCE Secretariat is doing its best
to address the existing concerns under the prevailing conditions.
– In July 2004, CIS member states declared that “there is a clear
misbalance between the three dimensions of security – Military and
political, Economic and environmental and Human. There is a clear
shift of priorities towards humanitarian problems, which noticeably
reduces the OSCE’s ability to oppose new challenges and threats”. Do
you agree that such misbalance indeed exists?
– Here in Armenia the work done by OSCE is remarkably balanced. In
a broader way, it is true that the OSCE occasionally is perceived
more through its Human dimension, but it is also a fact that a lot
of resourses of the OSCE come from the voluntary contributions of
participating states and that many of them place a large emphasis on
the Human dimension, providing resourses for that.
I would greatly encourage all those participating states who want more
spending on other dimensions to look at how they might contribute to
all the dimensions.
– It seems that the Economic and Environmental dimension of the OSCE
is coming to the forefront of discussions initiated 30 years ago in
Helsinki. What benefits can Armenia expect from the OSCE?
– We are going to have in Prague the Economic forum on May 21, which
has been solely prepared by meetings in Dushanbe and Baku. We will be
putting attention on issues which are directly relevant to the economic
prosperity of a country like Armenia. This is a clear indication that
the economic dimension is being taken very seriously, with particular
focus on issues which are relevant to the countries in the Caucasus.
– How is the cooperation between Armenia and the OSCE Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) developing? Do you
see any room for improvement?
– I think the relations between OSCE and Armenia are good and that
the Office for Democracy and Human Rights (ODHR) is part of that
relationship. We expect that ODHR will be invited to send long-term
and short-term election monitors to the upcoming elections in Armenian
in 2007 and 2008. We are making comments on the amendments to the
electoral law and we hope that this will be taken into account. But
what is most important would be for any decisions taken by the
parliament to be fully implemented in the forthcoming elections.
– In the context of the OSCE Human dimension the issues of Tolerance
and Non-Discrimination are at the forefront of the discussions.
Don’t you think that in this respect much more attention should be
paid to the situation in our region?
– I think you are touching on a very important point. It would be a
great complicating factor if existing political tensions would be given
a cultural dimension. I am well aware of the fact that desecration of
the Armenian cemetery in Nakhichevan has raised very strong feelings
in Armenia. The Armenian Catholicos expressed his deep sadness and
sorrow about this. We are going to work very hard for the solution
of the conflict itself in order to eliminate the root causes for this
possible cultural tension. We are all concerned about this.

AND THE WINNER IS MR.V.MAHDESIAN 21-05-2006
Ma y 21 2006
LARNACA LIMASSOL NICOSIA TOTAL PERCENTAGE
Dr.V.Atamian 162 124 524 810 47.4%
Mr.V.Mahdesian 183 140 576 899 52.6%
Blanks/Void 5 7 41 53
Total 350 271 1141 1762
OCTOBER 2005 BY-ELECTIONS RESULTS
LARNACA LIMASSOL NICOSIA TOTAL PERCENTAGE
Dr.V.Atamian 160 113 496 769 52%
Dr.A.Ashdjian 140 89 420 649 44%
Mr.P.Zartarian 6 13 41 60 4%
Blanks/Void 10 8 42 60
Total 316 223 999 1538

ARMENIAN AND AZERI PRESIDENTS MAY MEET IN BUCHAREST
PanARMENIAN.Net
22.05.2006 16:30 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The OSCE Minsk Group for the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict settlement proposed to hold a recurrent meeting of the
Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents in Bucharest, June 4-6 within
the framework of the “Black Sea for Partnership and Dialogue” summit,
Russian mediator Yuri Merzlyakov informed.
In a conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, RA President’s
Spokesman Victor Soghomonyan neither refuted nor confirmed the
information. In his words, it’s premature to speak of anything precise
until the end of the talks.
It should also be noted that Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
Grigory Karasin, French MFA Political Director Stanislas de Laboulaye
and U.S. Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian
Affairs Daniel Fried will arrive in the region with the mediators.

HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE MAINTAINS MILITARY AID PARITY BETWEEN ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN
PanARMENIAN.Net
22.05.2006 16:40 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Early reports from Capitol Hill sources indicate
that the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations today
approved by voice vote to maintain military assistance parity between
Armenia and Azerbaijan, despite the Bush Administration’s request
to break the parity agreement and provide 40% more in assistance to
Azerbaijan, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA.)
Sources on Capitol Hill reported that the key foreign aid panel also
allocated $62 million in U.S. aid for Armenia and $5 million for
Nagorno Karabakh for fiscal year (FY) 2007. The amount represents a
$12 million increase over President Bush’s FY 2007 budget request,
but is lower than last year’s appropriation of $75 million. The
Subcommittee also rejected efforts by Azerbaijan’s lobbyists to
weaken Section 907 restrictions on U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan,
due to its ongoing blockades of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.
Overall, the Subcommittee approved $21.3 billion in foreign aid
spending, an increase of $600 million over last year’s budget.
“We commend the members of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee
for contributing to the continued stability of the Caucasus by
maintaining parity in military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan and
fighting back attempts to further weaken Section 907,” stated Aram
Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “We also appreciate the
efforts of our friends to increase Armenia’s assistance above the
level proposed by the President and to provide $5 million in aid to
Nagorno Karabakh. We look forward to action by the Senate – and later
in conference committee – to bring assistance to Armenia to at least
last year’s figure of $75 million,” added Hamparian.