3 WEEKS TO FIND BLACK BOXES AT BLACK SEA CRASH SITE
RIA Novosti, Russia
May 11 2006
SOCHI, May 11 (RIA Novosti) – Recovery teams have about three weeks to
locate and retrieve the flight data recorders of an Armenian airliner
that crashed last week killing 113 people, a Russian transportation
official said Thursday.
The black boxes are seen as the key to understanding why the Airbus
plunged into the Black Sea in stormy weather six kilometers (3.7 miles)
from the Russian coast early on the morning of May 3.
“We have a time limit, about 30 days from the moment of the crash,”
said Alexander Davydenko, who is coordinating the operation to locate
the black boxes.
He added that batteries of the black boxes, which are thought to be
a depth of 400-450 meters (1,300- 1,470 feet), would run down in 30
days. Earlier wreckage had been reported at 680 meters (2,230ft).
Vladimir Yerygin, who oversees technological support for the
operation to recover the recorders, said earlier that specialists from
Toulouse-based Airbus were planning to use advanced hydroacoustic
equipment to find the precise location of the black boxes and later
recover them using a deep-sea vehicle.
He said the main group of French experts, which left the port of Sochi
Wednesday morning, would set up a data-processing center on board one
ship, and another ship with the Kalmar deep-sea craft would continue
scanning the seabed for parts of the A-320.

ARMENIA KICKS OFF WITH FIRST REHEARSAL
esctoday.com, Netherlands
May 11 2006
At 9:30 local time, the arena opened its doors to the press as the
first participant, Andre from Armenia, rehearsed on stage.
Esctoday.com collected some opinions about Without your love, the
stage and the venue itself as well!
‘Armenian Sertab’
The “Armenian Sertab”, as some journalists referred to him during
Andre’s first rehearsal, brought four female dancers to Athens, as
well as a backing singer. While Andre is standing on a big box, his
four dancers are dancing around doing a “Houdini-alike chain act”,
as Peter Walsh from the Irish Sunday World referred to the performance.
It took Andre a few times to get his ear monitoring right and to get
used to the stage. At his second try, things went much better and he
got awarded a nice applause from the present fans and journalists.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PARISHIONERS RALLY BEHIND ACCUSED PRIEST
Hartford Courant
May 11 2006
By DON STACOM, And HILDA MUNOZ Courant Staff Writers NEW BRITAIN —
A small group of parishioners spent Wednesday trying to organize a
show of support Sunday for the Rev. Krikoris Keshishian, the longtime
priest at St. Stephen’s Apostolic Armenian Church who was charged
Tuesday with molesting a 12-year-old girl.
“Several parishioners on their own are calling the list of church
members, asking them if at all possible to come to church on Mother’s
Day as a show of solidarity for the priest,” said George Rustigian,
adviser to St. Stephen’s trustees.
Keshishian is scheduled to lead the services at 10 a.m. at the church
on Tremont Street.
Keshishian, 53, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. He was
driving to Massachusetts to meet with a priest who has been assigned by
the Armenian Prelacy in New York to investigate the incident,according
to a church leader.
Armenian church officials declined to say much about the case. Vazken
Ghougasian, first secretary at the Armenian Prelacy in New York, said
the church doesn’t know enough about the allegations to discuss them.
Rustigian said it would be premature for the St. Stephen’s board
to comment.
“We don’t really know the context of the charges,” Rustigian said.
“But I can say he is innocent until proven guilty. He is our pastor
and the spiritual leader in our community. Just as much as he needs
us, we need him. We’re the only congregation he has, he’s the only
pastor we have.”
Police said Keshishian inappropriately touched the girl while acting
in his official capacity. He is charged with fourth-degree sexual
assault and impairing the morals of a child by sexual contact, and
is scheduled to be arraigned on May 23. Fourth-degree sexual assault
is a felony punishable by one to five years in prison.
The charge stems from a single incident in May 2005, but there may
be more counts involving the same victim, said police Sgt. Michael
Baden. The girl reported the alleged abuse to relative, who then
called police, according to Baden.
One St. Stephen’s leaders said Keshishian is “very distraught, as is
his wife.” The man said Keshishian will remain as priest, but has been
directed by the church to have no unsupervised contact with children
until the case is resolved.
Lifelong church member Lila Winters said Wednesday that she and other
parishioners were “devastated” by the arrest.
“There is no way in hell he did something like this,” Winters said.
“He is warm and affectionate, but not inappropriate. He is the backbone
of our church. Something just doesn’t seem right about this.”
Winters and two other church members have said they believe the charge
stems from a day when Keshishian grabbed a girl after she fell – or as
she was falling – from a table. They say other children were nearby,
and that Keshishian only touched the girl while trying to help her.

TURKISH PM SENDS LETTER TO HARPER
Josh Pringle
580 CFRA Radio, Canada
May 11 2006
The Turkish Prime Minister has reportedly sent a letter to Prime
Minister Stephen Harper.
The Globe and Mail reports Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
asked Harper not to recognize the Armenian genocide.
Instead, he is asking Canada to support an academic inquiry into the
mass killings.
Harper became the first Canadian Prime Minister to declare that the
deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians during the First World
War amounted to genocide.

THE EUROPEAN UNION AND MINORITY PROBLEMS
Written by Walter R Hunziker
Newropeans Magazine, France
May 11 2006
The EU has few subjects that nobody in Brussels likes to talk about,
among which we find minority problems. Corsica and the Bask country may
serve as examples for many others that are less visible or audible…
Paris and Madrid don’t mind, or actually demand EU subsidies to
help the economic development of its regions. However, they would
oppose vehemently any questioning by the EU parliament concerning
the political situation of these minorities, which they consider to
be a purely national affair.
Where democratic representation is involved, there are no national
affairs that do not concern the EU. The EU is to be a coherent body,
all its members being part of the total living community, like a human
body which cannot have totally independent members, legs or hands.
Can it be a real national affair if those concerned do not consider
themselves part of that “National”community? In such cases a higher
supranational instance such as the EU is the logical place to deal
with the matter.
Switzerland, a confederation of some 25 cantons, had a minority
problem with the French-speaking minority inside the canton of Bern.
Like Corsica , they had an independence movement with bombings,
demonstrations, etc. After years of repression, the minority was
finally permitted to create its own canton of Jura, thus adding a new
canton to the Swiss confederation, a solution that satisfied everybody.
There is no reason not to give any of the concerned European minorities
a chance to create their own state community within the EU, if after
careful comprehensive socio-economic studies, the inhabitants of a
region democratically vote and approve such a change.
What are the motivations for secession? Why do national governments
want to prevent such regional political formations? Is it a question
of national pride, historic patriotism etc. France, e.g. because of
Napoleon being a French icon, might oppose a Corsican secession. Is
it matter of regional egotism, the rich not wanting to share with the
poor as may be the case in northern Italy and Spain’s Catalonia ? Or is
it a cultural entity fearing to lose its character, its language , its
religion, or on the contrary an oppressed minority demanding liberty?
The EU should develop clear criteria to deal with these situations
faced within its present borders, including Wallonia, Bretagne, Kosovo
and many more regions, before engaging new more complex problems in
new eastern EU candidate countries such as Turkey , which faces three
big minority problems:
1. The Armenian genocide, although a historic event, is still being
denied by the Turkish government and people. This problem must be
overcome by a clear revelation and acceptance of the truth, e.g.
as established by an international court procedure, before Turkey
can join the EU.
2. The Cypress problem concerning its Turkish and Greek
communities. The EU and UN reunification proposal , which was accepted
by the north and rejected by the south shows a deep psychological
barrier. The immediate economic and practical advantages of
reunification could not overcome an anxiety concerning the unknown
risks of joining a Turkish minority in Cypress with 62.7 mi. more
Turks living on the close-by mainland. Would they not use Cypress as
the entrance door to Europe? The proposal was too much of an academic
dream. A unified Cypress can only come after Turkey joins the EU.
3. The EU adhesion of Turkey as it is now would probably solve the
Cypress question, but a much greater problem would arise with the Kurd
minority on its eastern borders. With Constantinople as the capital
of the Eastern Roman Empire, Turkey displays a cultural historic role
in Europe. Kurdistan however is definitely not part of it. In Turkey,
there are some 15 mi. Kurds, in Iran 6.6 mi., in Irak 6 mi, in Syria
2 mi, in Germany 0.6 mi., in Armenia and Azerbaijan some 50 000,
and elsewhere another 1.1 mi. a total of 31.l mi. Kurds.
They aspire an independent state; there is no population of that size
on earth that has not its own state.
If Turkey would give independence to its 15 mi Kurds, this would
reduce its population to some 45 mi, this could be perhaps more
easily acceptable by the EU, and it might lead to the formation of
a new Kurdistan together with the Kurds from Iraq, Iran, Syria, etc.
and thus create a new stable buffer state to Iran.
Kurd population dispersed over Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Azerbaijan
and Armenia
Such geostrategic thoughts must be included in the debates on
the eastern extension of the EU, if we are not to fall into an
“IMPERIALISTIC TRAP”. The EU has no business in Kurdistan except to
help the Kurds to become independent, and possibly to have new good
friends in this oil-rich region. We must remind our parliament in
Brussels that the EU is not in need of more territory, it needs to
create more democratic, and efficient administrative structures, it
should develop closer and better relations with all its neighbours and
specially with those that are part of our cultural family, wherever
they are. In today’s world territorial closeness or distance means
less than cultural affinity.

COE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS SESSION’S AGENDA ANNOUNCED
Today, Azerbaijan
May 11 2006
Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and
Vardan Oskanyan will attend the 116th session of the Council of
Europe Committee of Foreign Ministers scheduled for 18 and 19 May
in Strasbourg.
Human rights and cooperation between the Council of Europe and the
European Union will be priority on the agenda. The Russian Federation
will take over the presidency of the Committee of Ministers from
Romania, for a period of six months.
At the invitation of Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis,
the Ministers will hold an informal meeting with Martti Ahtisaari,
the United Nations Special Envoy for the future status of Kosovo.
The Ministers will also discuss other major priorities resulting
from the Council of Europe’s Third Summit in Warsaw, namely: the
reinforcement of the Council’s action in support of democracy and
good governance, the development of intercultural dialogue and the
Organisations process of internal reform.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will present the priorities
for his presidency at the end of the session.
Within the session, Elmar Mammadyarov and Vardan Oskanyan will hold
next round of negotiating process for the settlement of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict in the framework of the Prague process.
The Ministers will exchange views on new opinions OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs presented to the conflicting sides in early May. It will be
determined after the meeting of the two Ministers whether there will
be a need for the meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents,
APA reports.
URL:

HERE COMES PETER COTTONTAIL, HOPPING DOWN THE INFORMATION TRAIL
By J. D. Biersdorfer
New York Times
May 11 2006
The term “rabbit ears” may bring to mind television in the B.C.
(before cable) era, but a brand-new electronic bunny adjusts its
own ears. Arriving this month from the French company Violet, the
Nabaztag Wi-Fi Smart Rabbit is a nine-inch talking pet that hops onto
your home network to read the news, weather, text messages and more.
It can even signal by moving its ears.
“The idea was to create a new generation of stuff completely
independent of the PC,” said Rafi Haladjian, a founder of
Violet. So why a bunny? “The best object is one that has nothing
to do with technology, and the rabbit seemed good,” Mr. Haladjian
said. Nabaztag – Armenian for rabbit – will be available next week
from for $150.
Nabaztag needs just a wireless network and a power outlet. Owners can
set up its actions at Other free Nabaztag services
include wake-up calls and alerts about e-mail messages. A subscription
($15 for three months) lets the bunny handle things like R.S.S. feeds.

A CULTURAL VANGUARD BRINGS PARIS TO THE ISRAELI SPRINGTIME
By Goel Pinto
Ha’aretz, Israel
May 11 2006
PARIS – During a visit to Israel six months ago, Olivier Poivre d’Arvor
decided to hold a French cultural season in Israel. The decision was
certainly not taken thoughtlessly. For the most part, the personal
ideology of someone who believes that culture mirrors everything in
life lies behind the idea to hold a “French spring” in Israel.
Poivre d’Arvor heads the French Association for Artistic Action
(AFAA), which has been operating for over 80 years to create cultural
cooperation between France and the rest of the world. The association’s
headquarters is located in the 7th Arondissement in Paris, between
the Austrian consulate and the military museum, Les Invalides. In the
entrance hangs a picture of the Eiffel Tower painted red, a one-time
gesture by the AFAA to mark the Year of China in France, in 2004.
Each year, France announces it will focus on a different country,
and during that year, the best of that country’s culture is presented
to the French audience. Last year was the Year of Brazil and next
year will be the Year of Armenia, during which a huge concert by the
world’s most famous Armenian, singer Charles Aznavour, will be held.
The Year of Israel took place eight years ago.
Poivre D’Arvor, a man with a dry sense of humor, sometimes – perhaps
deliberately – forgets his diplomatic role. The initiative for a
season of French culture, to kick off next week in Israel, he says,
was not conceived as a gesture of mutuality in the wake of the Year
of Israel in France.
“I still have not received the letter of invitation,” he says with
slight sarcasm.
A few months ago, Israel refused to sign the “Convention for the
Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions”
initiated by UNESCO, and its refusal was what led to the decision.
“We are not all the same,” and “do not all have the same culture,”
states the convention, which is based on a consensus that every
country has the right to promote its culture. It was signed by 148
countries, four abstained and two were opposed: the United States,
which felt that it was an activity directed against the American
culture dominating the world, and Israel, which followed suit.
“Today, everyone’s fantasy is to be American,” says Poivre d’Arvor.
“In another 20 years everyone will want to be Chinese, and in another
50 years we will all be citizens of Dubai or Brazil or India. The
UNESCO document states that differences exist. I don’t understand why
Israel was so quick to refuse to sign the document, since it of all
countries has to protect its very fragile culture, the Hebrew language,
which is spoken by so few people. The founders of the State of Israel
were dreamers, but in order to dream you need culture.
Enough with watching American television all day long,” he says,
raising his voice.
“Halas,” he adds, and for a moment it seems as though he is returning
to the late 1980s, when he served as the director of the French
Institute in Alexandria, Egypt and as his country’s cultural attache
at the embassy. “There is more than that to life. To open a book,
to take an interest in the cultures of others, and then one day the
Israelis will take an interest not only in the sounds of explosions,
but in culture as well.”
We will help the Palestinians
The French season in Israel, which has the charming name “Voila!” –
with a logo that emphasizes the letters “IL” to represent Israel –
will begin on May 16 with a pyrotechnics extravaganza, a performance
and fireworks display by the “F Group.” The group will light up the
skies of Tel Aviv with a cacophony of color, just as it did at the
Athens 2004 Olympics, the Winter Olympics in Torino and the Millenium
festivities on the Eiffel Tower. Poivre d’Arvor says that he chose
this show as the opening shot, because “anyone who has been in Tel Aviv
and does not see that you like craziness, is either stupid or blind.”
Aside from the opening evening, there will be, among other things,
the “Dialogues” fashion show by Christian Lacroix, in the Reading
power station building in Tel Aviv (May 17-June 15), and at the
Jerusalem Film Festival there will be a retrospective of the films
of Isabelle Huppert.
Surprisingly, the season of French culture will take place only in
Israel, and will not spill over to the Palestinian Authority areas.
“I respect Israel,” he says, “because it respects its culture and it
has the means to display important works of art, and cinematheques
in which to present films. In Palestine there are not even minimal
conditions. In the coming years we will help the Palestinians construct
such buildings, so that in the future we will be able to have a season
of French culture there.”
Poivre d’Arvor believes with all his heart that culture can change
situations, even a serious conflict such as that between Israel and
the Palestinians. “I am very familiar with the situation in the Middle
East, I come to Israel often, my partner is Israeli, and I don’t hear,
from any direction, that culture can change the situation between the
Israelis and the Palestinians. It sounds absurd to people, a statement
by Don Quixote on his donkey. But I believe in it. The Jews, like
the Muslims, are a nation with a glorious cultural past. Why are we
connected to the Jewish people? Because of its culture, not because
of the prime ministers, who are replaceable.”
Poivre d’Arvor believes that if Israel were to build a cultural
institution in other countries, it would gain sympathy. “You only
have to look around,” he says. “The British have the British Council,
the Germans have the Goethe Institute and the French have the French
Institute. The goal of all these groups is to connect to countries on
the cultural level. With a relatively modest budget, Israel should also
establish an Israeli cultural institution in countries it considers
important to gain international public opinion. Artists like Daniel
Barenboim contribute to the improvement of Israel’s image in a way
that no foreign ministry can. Nobody can accuse cultural figures of
defending government policy, and that can change everything.”
Poivre d’Arvor, 48, began his career as a journalist at Le Matin de
Paris and afterwards directed a theater group in Lyon. Over the past
20 years, he has served as a cultural attache at French missions in
Alexandria, Prague and London. He is a writer who has written many
novels, some with his brother Patrick, who is 11 years his senior
and one of the most famous journalists in France.
Inferiority complex
Poivre d’Arvor believes that the French connection to Israeli culture,
and vice versa, is no coincidence. “Which country welcomes Israeli
culture more than any other country?” he asks. “I know that the Jewish
community in France, and Israelis in general, have a great deal of
criticism about France’s attitude towards them, but the fact is that
not a day goes by when one opens a newspaper – Le Monde, La Figaro,
Liberation – and doesn’t find an article in it about a new Israeli
book that has been translated, or about an Israeli film.
France has many shortcomings, but in one area, culture, there is a
genuine consensus that culture must be supported. We believe that
the world does not consist only of numbers and economics, but also,
and mainly, of emotions and an exchange of opinions. We have also
been enriched by importing culture and artists. All the great French
artists of the last century were foreigners: Picasso, Chagall, Dali.”
However, even Poivre d’Arvor admits that French culture has declined
in recent years. “It’s true, and it’s a good thing,” he says.
“Culture that consistently remains on a high level becomes arrogant.
Today, nobody has any right to dominate the world. It is important
that we received some blows, that the French language is no longer
spoken and admired, that our cinema does not sweep the world off its
feet, and that our writers are not the greatest writers in the world.
When I read Israeli writers I have an inferiority complex. It was
hard to accept that, and in France there are doubts and questions
regarding this matter. We are trying to change it, not in order to
dominate the world again, but in order to better understand it.”

GARABAGH MEDIATOR EXPECTS NO BREAKTHROUGH AT MINISTERS’ MEETING
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 11 2006
Baku, May 10, AssA-Irada
The OSCE mediators brokering settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan
Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict will discuss new proposals with the
foreign ministers of the two countries in Strasbourg on May 18-19,
the Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuri Merzlyakov, said.
“We will learn the reaction of the two sides,” he told ANS TV
channel. Merzlyakov said the French mediator Bernard Fassier had
informed him of the outcomes of his recent visit to Azerbaijan and
Armenia. Fassier said the conflicting sides took the new proposals
seriously and expressed interest in them.
“Some of the proposals are new, while others were built up based on
the previous ones. I hope the parties will finally agree maximally
on the conflict resolution principles.
“However, I am not expecting much from the upcoming discussions, as
this will be a regular working meeting. But what I can say is that
official Baku and Yerevan are studying our proposals.”
Merzlyakov noted that if the proposals are not fully accepted by
either party, the intermediaries will wait for further suggestions
from the sides.
The Russian co-chair said a private meeting of the Azeri and Armenian
foreign ministers will be held in Strasbourg as well. “I think the
sides should discuss our new proposals on their own,” he added.
The parties failed to agree upon the issues of principle during the
latest talks held by Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharian in
Rambouillet, France in February, which was followed by mutual threats.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRODDING TURKEY
Alberni Valley Times (British Columbia)
May 11, 2006 Thursday
Final Edition
When Prime Minister Stephen Harper in April acknowledged the Armenian
genocide, his statement was an affirmation of history and an advance
in Canada’s commitment to human rights. It also damaged relations
with Turkey, a longtime friend and NATO ally the Turkish government
was so angry that it has recalled its ambassador.
In the first years of the 20th century, more than one million Armenians
died in an ethnic cleansing conducted by Turkey. It was the first
genocide of the 20th century, and the Armenians passionately have
sought international acknowledgment of that fact ever since.
The Turks have been equally passionate in their denial, claiming that
the number of deaths has been greatly exaggerated and that whatever
deaths there were resulted from civil war and strife rather than any
policy of ethnic cleansing.
Until recently, this was an argument that Turks seemed to be winning,
not because they are right there was an Armenian genocide but simply
because in the international scheme of things Turkey matters a great
deal more politically, economically and militarily than Armenia does.
The wind appears to be shifting, however. Mr. Harper chose to risk a
row with Ankara by recognizing the truth of the situation last month,
and sure enough, a diplomatic fight broke out. In France, a bill now
before the National Assembly would make denial of the Armenian genocide
a crime, in the same way as Holocaust denial is in many places.
Turkish diplomats are in Paris this week furiously fighting to prevent
the bill from becoming law. Turkey is hardly unique in its denial
of its 20th century history. Russia is reluctant to confess to the
Ukrainian Famine; Japan refuses to admit a long series of pre-war and
war-time crimes, including the 1937 Rape of Nanking; China refuses
to admit that under Mao Tse-tung as many as 30 million people may
have been murdered.
Mr. Harper is unlikely to bring up the Chinese slaughter China is way
more important than Turkey but even so, he may have done the Turks
a favour. Ankara is looking for a new future within the European Union.
To have such a future, it will need to acknowledge its past. Mr.
Harper may have helped Turkey to see the inevitability of that.