TAIL OF CRASHED A320 PLANE RECOVERED, UNDERGOES EXAMINATION
ITAR-TASS, Russia
03.05.2006, 17.48
KRASNODAR, May 3 (Itar-Tass) — Rescue teams have recovered the tail of
the crashed A320 passenger liner of the Armenian air carrier Armavia,
which fell into the sea while approaching Adler airport in Russia’s
south in the small hours of Wednesday.
Krasnodar Territory Prosecutor Sergei Yeryomin has said the recovered
tail of the plane is being examined.
The investigators have also collected all audio recordings of the crew’
s exchanges with the air traffic controllers on the ground.
“Experts have begun studying them,” he said.
As follows from preliminary information available at this point,
the air traffic controller told the captain of the plane approaching
the airport the weather in the area of Sochi-Adler was very bad and
the pilot made a decision to return to Armenia’s capital Yerevan.
However, a short while later an air traffic controller at Adler
said the weather had improved and there was a chance to make a safe
landing after all. The plane changed course again and headed for its
final decision.
Yeryomin has said more fragments of victims’ bodies have been found
and brought ashore for forensic examination and identification.

ARMENIA SAYS BAD WEATHER MOST LIKELY CAUSE OF PLANE CRASH
RIA Novosti, Russia
May 3 2006
YEREVAN, May 3 (RIA Novosti) – Bad weather conditions are the most
probable cause of an air crash over the Black Sea that left over
a hundred people dead early Wednesday, an Armenian civil aviation
official said.
“The airbus was in good technical condition. The pilots had high
professional skills, which is why we are considering only one version,”
said Artyom Movsisyan, head of the Main Civil Aviation Department.
A total of 113 passengers and crew died when an Armavia Airlines
A-320 flying from the capital of Armenia, Yerevan, came down about
six kilometers off Russia’s Black Sea coast en route to the airport
at Adler, which services the popular resort of Sochi.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DAY OF MOURNING CALLED BY TWO PRESIDENTS
Middle East North Africa Financial Network, Jordan
from United Press International UPI
May 3 2006
YEREVAN, Armenia, May 3 (UPI) — The presidents of Armenia and Russia
have declared Friday a day of mourning after the crash of an Armenian
airline in which 113 people of both nations died.
Armenia’s President Robert Kocharyan expressed his condolences
Wednesday morning to those who had lost loved ones and promised that
authorities would make every effort to discover the causes of the
accident, RIA Novosti reported.
Armenian Defense Minister Serzh Sargsyan will head an investigation
into the crash, the presidential press service announced.
The Armavia Airline A-320 Airbus crashed into the Black Sea early
Wednesday in stormy weather while approaching the southern Russian
resort town of Sochi.
All 105 passengers and eight crew members reportedly were killed.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said there were
at least 26 Russians on board, RIA Novosti reported.
The plane sank more than 1,300 feet below the surface, an official
with Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said. Thirteen ships from
the ministry were among 23 vessels working at the scene Wednesday
morning. As of late morning Wednesday, 25 bodies had been recovered.
Viktor Beltsov, an official with the ministry, said the cause of
the crash would only be known after the plane’s flight recorders
were recovered.

ALIYEV IN WASHINGTON (PART 2)
By Vladimir Socor
Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
May 3 2006
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s April 25-28 visit to Washington
— his first as chief of state since 2003 — was a long overdue event
for the president of a country allied to the United States and key
to energy supplies to the West.
On the White House lawn following their 45-minute meeting, U.S.
President George W. Bush twice named Azerbaijan and its president as
“our ally.” Citing Azerbaijan’s contributions to U.S.-led and NATO
operations in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan and its role in Caspian
energy deliveries, Bush also invoked a “need for the world to see a
modern Muslim country … that understands that democracy is the wave
of the future.” Aliyev in turn expressed confidence in the “strength
of our strategic partnership” and his country’s “high level of trust
in the United States.” With U.S.-supported multinational energy
projects now coming on stream in Azerbaijan, the country posted a
world-record GDP growth of 26% in 2005 and is set to at least match
that rate this year.
In an extensive briefing for the Council on Foreign Relations in New
York and an address to the conference of the U.S.-Azerbaijan Chamber
of Commerce in Washington, Aliyev focused on three main issues for his
country: energy transit (see EDM, May 1), the Karabakh conflict, and —
responding to persistent questions — Azerbaijan’s position regarding
possible U.S. strikes against Iran’s suspected nuclear installations.
Defining the Karabakh conflict as “the major problem facing
Azerbaijan,” Aliyev called for its resolution based on international
law and territorial integrity as non-negotiable principles. A
stage-by-stage resolution process would ultimately permit the opening
of transport communications and enable Armenia to join regional
development projects. Azerbaijan cannot accept Armenia into such
projects as long as Armenian forces occupy Azerbaijan’s territory.
Meanwhile, Section 907 of the U.S. Freedom Support Act adopted by
Congress in the context of the Armenia-Azerbaijan war in 1992 bars
direct assistance to Azerbaijan from the U.S. government. Section
907 hits the wrong target, Azerbaijan, ignoring the seizure and
ethnic cleansing of part of its territory by Armenian forces. The
Bush administration obtains annual congressional waivers of this
section since 2002, in recognition of Azerbaijan’s contributions to
the anti-terror coalition; but the section remains in force. In his
meetings with Congressional leaders, Aliyev urged repeal of this absurd
piece of legislation. The response on Capitol Hill was sympathetic, but
one of the key figures involved ruefully noted that to repeal section
907 it would first be necessary to “repeal politics in Washington.”
Media speculation about Azerbaijan’s possible role in U.S. operations
against Iran provided a constant distraction during the visit.
Presumably, Bush intended to ask for Azerbaijan’s support in some
form; and Aliyev’s meetings with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
and Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte fed further
speculation. Aliyev, however, repeatedly and unambiguously stated
that Azerbaijan would not become involved in any kind of military
operations against Iran, but favored a diplomatic solution ensuring
that Iran would not acquire nuclear weapons. He alluded to the risk
for Azerbaijan should Baku end up in the crossfire: “For us, this is
not a remote issue of the kind you see on TV and can switch off to
another channel.” Aliyev and his minister of foreign affairs, Elmar
Mammadyarov, also cited Iran’s role in providing transit and energy
supplies to Azerbaijan’s isolated exclave Nakhichevan; and referred
as well to a bilateral treaty stipulating that neither country shall
allow hostile actions from its territory against the other.
Aliyev’s demurral over Iran, however genuine, is not necessarily
the final word on the matter. It still allows for deniable support
to the United States in a crisis; and it certainly does not preclude
intelligence support, which is believed to be ongoing. International
economic sanctions against Iran, however, would confront Azerbaijan
with the dilemma of either cooperating with the sanctions or risking
Iranian retaliation that could at a minimum include a blockade of
Nakhichevan.
Concluding the presidents’ meeting on the final day of the visit,
Bush told the press that they merely “touched on” the issue of Iran
and that both favored a diplomatic solution. Bush did not mention a
possible military option on this occasion. For his part, Aliyev stated
that his country will continue standing “shoulder to shoulder” with
the United States in Iraq and is prepared to undertake “additional
steps” if necessary in Afghanistan.
(Federal News Service, April 26; ANS, ATV, Trend, Turan, April 25-29)

CRASHED PLANE LYING SOME 600 METERS UNDERWATER
Interfax Russia
May 3 2006
MOSCOW. May 3 (Interfax) – Rescue teams have found the location of an
Armenian A-320 plane that crashed into the Black Sea near the Russian
resort of Sochi early on Wednesday, Andrei Legoshin of the Russian
Emergency Situations Ministry told journalists in Moscow on Wednesday.
“The place where the plane crashed has been found. Updated reports
indicate that it is lying 500 to 600 meters underwater,” Legoshin said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PLANE CRASH UPDATE: 39 BODIES FOUND
Nidhi Sharma – All Headline News Contributor
All Headline News
May 3 2006
Moscow, Russia (AHN) – Thirty-nine bodies of passengers of the fateful
A-320 airliner have been found so far in the sea. Bad weather is
slowing recovery of the bodies of 113 people killed when a plane
flying from Armenia to southern Russia crashed into the Black Sea.
Information on the citizenship of the passengers is varied. As per
reports by BBC, it was carrying 85 Armenian citizens, 26 Russians,
one Georgian and one Ukrainian. Among those on board were eight crew
and five children.
However, the Chief Civil Aviation Board under the Armenian Government
claims that there were only Russians and Armenians on board.
There is no exact information on the reasons behind the tragedy. The
Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations asserts that “bad weather
conditions are the main version of the A-320 crash.”
The Airbus A-320 crashed at about 0215 local (2215 GMT) as it made
a second attempt to land at an airport near the Russian resort town
of Sochi.
It was initially refused permission to land because of the weather
conditions, according to airline officials.
Itar-Tass news agency reports that a technical commission was formed to
investigate the accident. Moreover, a commission of the Inter-State
Aviation Committee, headed by its Chairman Tatyana Anodina, flew
to Adler.
In connection with the catastrophe, the Krasnodar Territorial
Administration has formed a special commission. A “hotline”
was opened for the relatives of the airliner passengers. All the
necessary information can be obtained by dialing 8-622-444-00-88
or 8-622-44-12-32.
May 5 will be declared a day of mourning in Russia and Armenia.

RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT COMMISSION TO AID PLANE CRASH VICTIMS’ RELATIVES
Interfax, Russia
May 3 2006
MOSCOW. May 3 (Interfax) – Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov
has signed a directive on setting up an ad hoc government commission
to provide assistance to the families of the victims of an Armenian
A-320 plane crash and to handle the disaster’s aftermath, the Russian
government press service told journalists.
The commission will be led by Transportation Minister Igor Levitin.
The Armavia plane crashed into the sea on May 3 about six kilometers
from the Adler airport, which serves the Russian Black Sea resorts
in Sochi.

PROSECUTOR GENERAL DISMISSES TERRORIST ATTACK AS REASON FOR PLANE CRASH IN SOCHI
Interfax, Russia
May 3 2006
MOSCOW. May 3 (Interfax) – The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office
has fully dismissed the terrorist attack as a reason behind a crash
of an Armenian airlines plane near Sochi.
“Currently the only thing one may say is that the terrorist attack
version has fully been dismissed. There is no objective data to support
it,” spokesperson of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office Nataliya
Vishnyakova told journalists on Wednesday.

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRMAN TO VISIT YEREVAN AND BAKU
Author: E. Huseynov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
May 3 2006
The OSCE Minsk group co-chairman from France, Bernard Fasie will
visit Yerevan and Baku, Russian foreign ministry told Trend.
Decision to send Fasie into Nagorno-Karabakh region has been made at
the consultations of Minsk group co-chairmen at the Russian foreign
ministry on May 2-3 in Moscow.
American co-chairman, Steven Mann, Russian co-chairman, Yuri
Merzlyakov and personal representative of the acting OSCE chairman,
Andjey Kaspshik took part at the meeting together with Fasie.
Fasie will arrive to Yerevan on May 3 to negotiate with the Armenian
leadership, then he will arrive to Baku. Consultations with the
Azerbaijani leadership, most likely will be held on May 5 or 6.

GERMAN MP MEETS REPRESENTATIVES OF RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN MAJLIS
Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran
Tehran, May 3, 2006
The visiting chairman of German Parliament’s Foreign Policy Committee,
Ruprecht Polenz here Wednesday conferred with the MPs representing the
Iranian Armenians and Assyrians in Majlis on matters of mutual concern.
According to a report released by Majlis Media Department, at the
meeting the MP representing the Iranian Zoroastrian minority, Kourosh
Niknam, briefed Polenz on the activities of the MPs representing the
Iranian minorities in Majlis.
“As the chairman of German Parliament Foreign Policy Committee,
you are expected to enlighten members of the German parliament and
government as well as people.
“You are also expected to attempt to promote their knowledge on the
facts about the Iranian community,” he added.
Criticizing the West’s dual approach to the countries possessing
nuclear technology, he said, “We believe it is impossible to overcome
problems by pursuing unilateral policies in the international scene
and using the language of force rather than dialogue.
For his part, the MP representing the Iranian Assyrians in Majlis,
Younatan Botkilia, referred to articles 12 and 84 of the onstitution
and said that the representatives of Iranian religious minorities
are entitled to rights and duties equal to the Muslim MPs.
Regretting the human rights statements issued by the West against
Iran, he noted, “Religious minorities in Iran enjoy complete freedom,
while we are concerned about the unjust approach of the West towards
the Muslim minorities of the Western states.
Stressing that “Iran is credited for the initiative of dialogue among
civilizations and cultures, he said, “The false charge of rmongering
raised against a nation which has never been aggressive during its
history and has merely defended itself is unfair.” For his part, Polenz
hoped that the continuous exchange of visits between the politicians
and parliamentarians of the two states will help develop their mutual
understanding and help them get a better idea on each other.
Polenz heading a parliamentary delegation is visiting Iran to hold
two days of talks with Iranian officials.