First funerals held for Russian victims of plane crash
AP Worldstream; Aug 26, 2006
The first funerals were held Saturday for Russians killed when a
passenger jet crashed in Ukraine after encountering rough weather,
killing all 170 people registered aboard.
Meanwhile, the identified remains of 36 victims were being returned
to St. Petersburg, Russia, where most of the passengers lived, aboard
a cargo plane flight from Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Russian Emergency
Situations Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova said. More than 30
bodies had been returned to St. Petersburg for burial a day earlier.
In the Russian Black Sea resort city of Anapa, where the Pulkovo
Airlines Tu-154 had taken off on a flight to St. Petersburg,
friends and loved ones buried Natalya Kuznetsova. State-run Rossiya
television said the St. Petersburg resident had grown up in Anapa
and was vacationing with her husband and son before flying back home
alone to return to work while they continued their holiday.
At a village in the Krasnodar region, where Anapa is located,
a funeral was held for a 19-year-old man who had been returning to
St. Petersburg to start his second year at a university, the ITAR-Tass
news agency reported.
Dozens of relatives who had traveled to Ukraine to identify their
loved ones were returning to Russia on Saturday, authorities said.
The plane slammed into a field north of Donetsk after its crew sent
distress signals as a storm raged in the area.
Ukraine’s Emergency Ministry said that while emergency workers were
loading fragments of the shattered plane to clear the site, they
found two bodies including one of a small child.
The crash was the third major air disaster involving a Russian airline
or airport this year. An Airbus A-310 of the Russian airline S7
skidded off a runway and burst into flames on July 9 in the Siberian
city of Irkutsk, killing 124 people, and an A-320 of the Armenian
airline Armenia crashed into the Black Sea while trying to land in
the Russian resort city of Sochi in rough weather in May, killing
all 113 people aboard.

OSCE official denies critical Azeri media reports
Turan news agency
26 Aug 06
Baku, 26 August: “I work under an OSCE mandate and agreement reached
between the sides [Azerbaijan and Armenia]. I am not going to resign.
I may only resign if the sides officially say they do not want me
in this post. None of the sides has made a statement to this effect
so far,” Andrzej Kasprzyk, the personal representative of the OSCE
chairman-in-office, has said in a telephone interview with Turan. He
was commenting on recent Azerbaijani media reports critical of him.
Kasprzyk said he does not understand the causes of the scandal
surrounding him in the Azerbaijani media. He said he does not know
who is behind the scandal either.
Kasprzyk dismissed the critical media reports that he is engaged in
carpet trade.
“I cannot file a libel suit as I am a diplomat,” the envoy said. He
expressed regret that the Azerbaijani media quote unreliable sources.
Kasprzyk said he is now in Europe and plans to come to Baku in early
September.
Kasprzyk’s report on monitoring of fires along the Armenian-Azerbaijani
front line angered official Baku. First, representatives of the
Foreign Ministry and the Presidential Executive Staff, and then the
state-controlled media accused Kasprzyk of failing to see “the obvious
truth”, taking a pro-Armenian stance, etc.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri army sees 36 fatalities in eight months – paper
Zerkalo, Baku
26 Aug 06
Excerpt from report by the “Doktrina” Centre for Journalists’ Military
Studies in Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo on 26 August headlined
“Peacetime fatalities in the army” and subheaded “185 soldiers died
in 44 months”; subheadings as published:
There were over 36 fatalities in the Azerbaijani army in the first
eight months of 2006. The figure shows that the number of fatalities
increased in comparison with the same period last year when the army
lost 29 soldiers.
In total, at least 39 servicemen died in 2005 and 35 in 2004.
Thus, there is an upward trend in the death rate in the armed forces.
In the past four years, the most unfavourable was 2003 when 75
servicemen died for various reasons.
Fatalities in the personnel
Based on data confirmed by officials from power-wielding bodies in
various periods, we can say that out of 36 servicemen who died in the
past eight months, 35 served in the Defence Ministry’s units and one
in the State Border Service.
A total of 35 servicemen of the Defence Ministry, three of the State
Border Service and one of the [Interior Ministry’s] Internal Troops
died in 2005.
The number of fatalities among officers also increased in 2006.
Fatalities include eight officers in the rank from lieutenant to
colonel, one warrant officer and 27 privates and sergeants.
[Passage omitted: fatalities in 2005]
Monitoring of the country’s print and electronic media in the past
eight months shows that eight servicemen were killed in various
accidents, 10 were killed by Armenians, one in a landmine blast,
two in fires, five committed suicide, three were killed in avalanche,
six in bullying incidents and one by sunstroke.
[Passage omitted: reasons for fatalities in 2005]
The wounded
We will try clarify the situation with wounded soldiers. It has turned
out that 20 servicemen were wounded in different circumstances.
[Passage omitted: 44 soldiers were wounded in 2005]

Lab tests confirm no foot-and-mouth in Armenian district
Regnum, Moscow
25 Aug 06
25 August: The symptoms of the foot-and-mouth disease were found
in 10-15 cows in the pasture Artikskiye Dachi in Armenia’s Shirak
District on 22 August. At about 2330 [1830 gmt] on the same day, it
became known that the veterinary of the town of Artik confirmed this
information. The sick cattle were isolated and measures to prevent
the spread of the disease were taken.
However, Regnum learnt from the press service of the Rescue Service
under the Armenian Ministry of Territorial Administration that the
next day, 23 August, a report was received which said that according
to the results of laboratory tests, the disease discovered in the
cows in the Artikskiye Dachi had been diagnosed as stomatitis, which
is not infectious.

Armenian opposition leader says no peace deal without Karabakh’s involvement
Arminfo
25 Aug 06
Yerevan, 25 August: The approaches of the president of the Nagornyy
Karabakh republic [NKR], Arkadiy Gukasyan, to the resolution of
the Karabakh problem are fully harmonious with the approaches of
the Justice bloc, Stepan Demirchyan, leader of the opposition bloc,
told reporters today.
“We are confident that no agreement can be signed without the NKR
leadership’s participation,” he stressed. Asked if the NKR differed
from Armenia by a high level of development of democracy, Demirchyan
said: “Karabakh does not have the lawlessness that we encounter
in Armenia.”

CHARITY DENTAL SURGERY TO FUNCTION IN ORRAN
YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, NOYAN TAPAN. By donation of the “Children of
Armenia” charity fund, a charity dental surgery was founded at
the office of the Orran charity public organization. The solemn
opening ceremony will take place on August 30. As Susanna Manukian,
the Press Secretary of the organization informed the Noyan Tapan
correspondent, the surgery will serve children of needy families,
elderly people. Orran was founded in 2000 by Raffi and Armine
Hovannisians. In S.Manukian’s words, during its activities, Orran
helped, with charity and humane missions, more than 1500 families
and children, taking care of their food, clothes, psychological
assistance, education. 90 children and 150 elderly people are now
involved in the Orran programs.

STATE INSTITUTIONS OF SECONDARY EDUCATION TO BE FINANCED ACCORDING
TO PUPILS’ NUMBER
YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Government made a decision
at the August 24 sitting on implementing financing of RA state
institutions of secondary education according to pupils’ number. The
RA Minister of Finance and Economy was instructed, after adopting
the RA annual state budget jointly with the RA Minister of Education
and Science, to adopt coefficients of the formula of financing
according to the pupils’ number, arising of the current indexes,
using corresponding coefficients for schools of mountainous, high
mountainous settlements and alone schools of the same settlement
having up to 400 pupils. The order of re-distributions being made
in expenses of state institutions of secondary education was also
adopted by the same decision. The RA Minister of Education and
Science, RA Regional Governors (Yerevan Mayor) were allowed to
make re-distributions in expenses of state instutions of secondary
education being uder their sujection, corresponding to the order
adopted by the mentioned decision. As Noyan Tapan was informed by
the RA Government’s Information and Public Relations Department,
the decision will come into force from January 1, 2007.
From: Baghdasarian

OLEXANDER BOZHKO: “THOUGH THE UKRAINIAN COMMUNITY OF ARMENIA IS NOT
OF GREAT NUMBER, BUT IS ACTIVE”
YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The history of the Ukrainian community
of Armenia started at least from the middle of the 19th century when
a group of settlers who came from the region of Poltava founded
the village of Nikolayevka near Stepanavan. As Olexander Bozhko,
the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the
RA mentioned in the interveiw to the Noyan Tapan correspondent,
their huts have been kept there by now. It was also mentioned that
according to data of the 2001 census, 1633 ethnic Ukrainians lived in
Armenia, though, according to non-official data, their number makes
about 3000. The Ambassador stated that the “Ukraine” Ukrainians’
Federation of Armenia functions in Armenia. The federation founded
in 1995 has departments in the cities of Vanadzor, Gyumri, Hrazdan,
Ijevan and Sevan. The federation publishes the “Dnipro-Slavutich”
monthly in the Armenian and Ukrainian languages.
O.Bozhko stated that the community members have possibility to study
in Ukraine: the most gifted of them are sent annually to Ukraine to
get education.
“It’s pleasant for us that Ukrianians founded in Armenia the “Dnipro”
choir, “Verbichenka” song ensemble, children’s “Dzvinochek” choir
and “Malyatko” dance ensemble. Participants of those organizations
every year hold their holidays in Ukraine, particularly, in the
“Artek” camp,” the Ambassador said. The Ukrainians’ world forum, in
which representatives of the Ukrainian community of Armenia as well
participated, started in Kiev on August 18. In O.Bozhko’s words, the
“Ukrainian Song in World” artistic festival is being held within the
framework of the forum. The Ukrainian choir from Armenia participates
in the festival with its program. The Ambassador mentioned that this
choir, almost half of participants of which is ethnic Armenians,
performs songs both in Ukrainian and Armenian. As for the Armenian
community of Ukraine, in O.Bozhko’s words, about 30 thousand Armenians
lived in Ukraine in early 90s, and their number reaches 400-500
thousand at present. The Ambassador mentioned names of famous figures
of the Armenian origin, functioning in Ukraine: film director Roman
Balayan, Mher Mkhitarian, the Chairman of the “Poznyaki-Zhilstroy”
powerful construction corporation, Arsen Avagov, the Kharkov regional
administration head. He also emphasized that four Armenians were
deputies of the 4th convention of the Supreme Rada (parliament) of
Ukraine. O.Bozhko mentioned that the “Aragats” newspaper (enclosure
of the “Golos Ukraini” official newspaper of the Ukrainian Supreme
Rada) is published in Ukraine in the Armenian and Ukrainian languages,
the “Masyats Aghavni” periodical is published in Crimea, illustrated
“Haykakan Lraber” is published in Donbass. Besides, there are radio
and TV programs in Armenian. By financing of the state budget, Armenian
books are published in Ukraine, Sunday schools function, classes with
deep teaching of Armenian open. O.Bozhko stated that the Armenian
community very seriously arises the issue of creating the Armenian
University in Ukraine. “I consider it to be a very serious program, and
as of today, the Armenian community of Ukraine has all possibilities
for implementing it,” the Ambassador stated. In O.Bozhko’s words,
a new Armenian church is built in Ukraine every year. Today they
function in Kiev, Lugansk, Dnepropetrovsk, Simferopol, Odessa and Lviv.
“So, one may say for sure, that today Armenians are a noticeable part
of the Ukrainian society as well as Ukrainians of the Armenian one,
though their number is not big,” the Ambassador of Ukraine to the
RA said.

NKR authorities convey condolence on the occassion of poetess Silva
Kaputikyan’s death
ArmRadio.am
26.08.2006 14:55
NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan and Chairman of the National Assembly
Ashot Gulyan sent telegrams of condolence on the occasion of famous
poetess Silva Kaputikyan’s death.
Expressing compassion on behalf of NKR people and authorities to family
and friends of the poetess, NKR leaders stress, in particular that the
remembrance of the greatest friend of the Artsakhi people will stay in
the memory of the coming generations forever. “The generations will not
forget her invaluable contribution to the maintenance and development
of national values,” Arkadi Ghukasyan notes in his telegram.

Loveland Herald Reporter, CO
Aug. 25, 2006
Steps to a better world
Cross-country trek aims to focus attention on genocide in Darfur
By Alicia Beard
The Daily Reporter-Herald
After the Rwandan genocide in which thousands of Tutsis were killed
during a 1994 civil war, international leaders declared, “never
again.”
But, 12 years later, it is happening again, says Hasmig Tatiossian.
This time in Darfur, Africa.
Tatiossian and fellow Journey for Humanity marchers are walking from
Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness about genocide.
This week, the group is making stops in Front Range cities, including
a visit to Loveland Thursday.
Herself a descendent of a survivor of the 1915 Armenian genocide,
Tatiossian said she feels a personal duty to help end genocide.
“That historical memory has been inscribed upon our identity,” she
said. “We feel we have a responsibility to carry the torch of
awareness.”
The group, sponsored by the United Armenian Students, is joined
during the Colorado leg of the four-month journey by the Colorado
Coalition for Genocide Awareness and Action. Essie Garrett, the 1996
Olympic torchbearer for Colorado, is also taking part in this portion
of the march.
At each of the Colorado stops, the coalition has set up its exhibit,
“The Dead Weight of Complacency.”
The exhibit captures the common traits and history of genocide,
starting in the 1400s with the Spanish Inquisition and ending with
the present Darfur genocide in western Sudan.
There, three years of militia violence has caused the death of about
400,000 people and the displacement of 2.5 million others.
Roz Duman, coalition founder, said participating in the march
provided an opportunity to confront complacency and a lack of
education.
“Every year we say, ‘never again,’ and ‘What lessons have we learned
from the Holocaust?'” she said. “We felt we had to do something about
this.”
Along the way, participants are holding rallies and meeting with
lawmakers, Tatiossian said. By the time their millions of steps take
them to Washington in October, she said she hopes a movement takes
hold; that people begin to remember that we are all part of the human
race.
“Genocide is a crime against humanity, all humanity,” she said. “It’s
a crime that affects everyone.”