DISASTER-HIT ARMENIAN CARRIER REPLACES DOOMED AIRBUS PLANES
Agence France Presse — English
May 18, 2006 Thursday 11:18 AM GMT
Armenian airline Armavia, which lost two of its Airbus planes in
accidents this month, took delivery of a replacement aircraft on
Thursday and was due to acquire another shortly, its press department
said.
One of Armavia’s doomed planes plunged into the Black Sea off Russia
for reasons that are still unclear, killing 113 people. The other
was destroyed in a fire at Brussels airport.
Thursday’s acquisition is a nearly new Airbus 319, manufactured in
2004, which has seen one year of service in the United States. It
arrived at Yerevan airport from Mexico, where it had been serviced,
the company said.
Armavia is due to take delivery of an Airbus 320 soon.
The remainder of its fleet consists of two other Airbus 319s, another
Airbus 320 and two Russian Yak 42s.

FIRST TRUCK CONVOY FROM GEORGIA HEADS FOR GYUMRI, ARMENIA
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 18, 2006 Thursday
The first truck convoy with military equipment from the Russian base
in Akhalkalaki, southern Georgia, is heading for the Russian base in
Gyumri, northwestern Armenia, an official of the Russian army group
in the Caucasus told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
The 10-truck convoy has already crossed the Georgian-Armenian border,
the official said.
“Georgian military accompanied the convoy,” the official said.
In late May, another motor convoy from Akhalkalaki will leave for
Gyumri. Aside from military assets it will redeploy some military
vehicles there.
In compliance with the Russian-Georgian bilateral agreements most
hardware and munitions will be withdrawn from Georgia this year.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKEY EXPECTS FRENCH PARLIAMENT NOT TO DISCUSS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL AGAIN
Anatolia news agency
18 May 06
Ankara, 18 May: Turkey expects that French draft law which proposes
that “any denial of Armenian genocide shall be considered a crime”
will not be brought again to French National Assembly during next
legislation term and hopes that its proposal on establishment of
a joint commission to investigate the incidents in 1915 will be
supported.
Turkish Foreign Ministry released on Thursday [15 May] a statement
after French National Assembly ended its session on the mentioned
draft law without bringing it to voting today.
The statement recalled that draft law caused several discussions
in France, noting that prominent French historians reacted to the
draft law in principle, so did French Foreign Minister (Philippe
Douste-Blazy) during discussions over the bill at French National
Assembly.
“Turkey expects that the international community including France will
support the proposal it made to Armenia last year regarding creation
of a joint commission comprised of Turkish and Armenian historians
to investigate historical facts regarding 1915 incidents in detail
and disclosure of the results of this research to the world public
opinion,” it added.

FRANCE TO CONSIDER PENALTIES FOR DENYING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
May 18, 2006 Thursday 10:16 AM EST
The French parliament was Thursday set to debate a bill which would
threaten a year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros for anyone who
“denies the existence of the genocide of Armenians in 1915.”
The bill put forward by the Socialists would complement a law passed
in 2001 which recognized the Turkish actions against Armenians in
1915 as genocide.
The bill could lead to new tension in the already problematical
relationship between Turkey and France.
Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened France with
economic sanctions if the law is passed.
According to circles close to French President Jacques Chirac, he has
appealed to the representatives to show responsibility: “The question
of the genocide of the Armenians is a delicate question and requires
balanced consideration and a sense of responsibility.”
Most Western historians term the Armenian killings genocide and say
that between 1 million and 1.5 million Armenians were killed or died
during the massacres.

ARMENIAN PAPER NAMES POSSIBLE CANDIDATES FOR POST OF SPEAKER
Aravot, Yerevan
18 May 06
Excerpt from Margarit Yesayan’s report by Armenian newspaper Aravot on
18 May headlined “Who will become speaker of parliament?” and subheaded
“Is Arshak Sadoyan an alternative to Tigran Torosyan?”
As a result of the re-arrangement of parliamentary forces, the vacant
seats of the Law Governed Country Party have already been distributed,
and they are waiting for Artur Bagdasaryan to officially tender his
resignation on 22 May.
According to reliable sources, the deputy speaker of parliament and
a member of the Republican Party of Armenia [RPA], Tigran Torosyan,
will be elected speaker of parliament. But people in the corridors
of the parliament predict that Tigran Torosyan’s candidacy will not
pass so easily because there are people in the RPA who do not want
to elect him.
If we take into account that the People’s Deputy faction and the United
Labour Party may adopt a decision to vote openly in this election and
that the opposition will not participate in it, a difficult situation
will actually come about.
But the problem is not limited only to Tigran Torosyan. According
to some rumours, the leader of the National Unity Party, Artashes
Gegamyan, and the leader of the National Democratic bloc, Arshak
Sadoyan, are also going to nominate their candidacies to this post.
Artashes Gegamyan denied this report yesterday and said that his bloc
will not take part in the election.
[Passage omitted: Gegamyan said he is not going to become a political
kamikaze]
As for Arshak Sadoyan, he has confirmed that he is going to nominate
his candidacy to the post of speaker. Mr Sadoyan is sure that an
alternative is very important in the current situation.

EUROVISION MILESTONE SET FOR THURSDAY TONIGHT
By Fred Bronson, Billboard.Com
VNU Entertainment News Wire
May 18, 2006, Thursday 11:34 AM Eastern Time
The Eurovision Song Contest reached a milestone last year when the
50th running of the Pan-European competition took place in Kiev,
Ukraine. Thursday night (May 18), the veteran song contest was to
reach another.
Since the first Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast in 1956, some
992 songs have fought for first place. That means the eighth tune to
be performed at tonight’s live contest in Athens will be the 1000th
Eurovision song.
That honor falls to Ireland’s representative, Brian Kennedy, who will
perform his own composition, “Every Song Is a Cry for Love.” It’s
appropriate that Ireland’s entry is the 1000th song to compete in
Eurovision, as Ireland has won the contest more times than any other
country — seven in all. The running order is selected by random draw,
so it’s the luck of the Irish that put them in eighth position.
This is the third year that the annual competition has held a
semi-final. With 37 countries entered, there are too many songs
to be performed in one three-hour telecast. The 10 highest-scoring
countries from the previous year are pre-qualified for the final,
to be broadcast on Saturday. The “big four” — Spain, Germany, France
and the United Kingdom — are also pre-qualified, as they contribute
the most to the budget of the TV show and the rest of Europe couldn’t
afford to stage the contest without funding from those four nations.
Here is the running order of Thursday night’s semi-final, to be
broadcast live at 7 p.m. GMT. The 10 countries with the highest number
of votes phoned in by viewers will advance to the final.
1. “Without Your Love,” Andre (Armenia) 2. “Let Me Cry,” Mariana Popova
(Bulgaria) 3. “Mr. Nobody,” Anzej Dezan (Slovenia) 4. “Sense Tu,” Jenny
(Andorra) 5. “Mum,” Polina Smolova (Belarus) 6. “Zjarr e Ftohte,”
Luiz Ejlli (Albania) 7. “Je T’Adore,” Kate Ryan (Belgium) 8. “Every
Song Is a Cry for Love,” Brian Kennedy (Ireland) 9. “Why Angels
Cry,” Annet Artani (Cyprus) 10. “The ‘Coco-Dance’,” Severine Ferrer
(Monaco) 11. “Ninanajna,” Elena Risteska (Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia) 12. “Follow My Heart,” Ich Troje featuring Real McCoy
(Poland) 13. “Never Let You Go,” Dima Bilan (Russia) 14. “Superstar,”
Sibel Tuzun (Turkey) 15. “Show Me Your Love,” Tina Karol (Ukraine)
16. “Hard Rock Hallelujah,” Lordi (Finland) 17. “Amambanda,” Treble
(The Netherlands) 18. “We Are the Winners,” LT United (Lithuania)
19. “Gonna Make You Dance,” Nonstop (Portugal) 20. “Invincible,” Carola
(Sweden) 21. “Through My Window,” Sandra (Estonia) 22. “Lejla,” Hari
Mata Hari (Bosnia & Herzegovina) 23. “Congratulations,” Silvia Night
(Iceland).

FRENCH LAWMAKERS POSTPONE SENSITIVE DEBATE ON ARMENIAN KILLINGS
AP Worldstream
May 18, 2006
French lawmakers bowed to pressure from Turkey and postponed debate
Thursday on a proposal that would make it a crime to deny that the
killings of Armenians during World War I constituted genocide.
The National Assembly put off indefinitely debate on a proposal by
the opposition Socialists that would recognize the killings of up to
1.5 million Armenians from 1915 to 1919 as genocide.
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, speaking earlier, told
lawmakers that the proposal would be seen as “an unfriendly gesture
by the vast majority of Turkish people.”
“We cannot accept this bill,” Douste-Blazy said. “It would have serious
political consequences, (and) weaken our influence not only in Turkey
itself _ but also beyond the region.”
As lawmakers appeared to hesitate about the debate, dozens of members
of Armenian groups yelled “The vote! The vote!” and pounded their
fists for five minutes from a balcony over the Assembly floor.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told French corporate
leaders in a private meeting recently that the bill would damage
bilateral ties.
Armenia accuses Turkey of massacring Armenians during World War I,
when Armenia was under the Ottoman Empire. Turkey says Armenians were
killed in civil unrest during the collapse of the empire.
Under the proposal, people who contest an Armenian genocide would risk
up to a year in prison and face fines of up to A45,000 (US$57,555).
Tension between Armenians and Turks in France increased last month,
when a memorial in the southeast city of Lyon commemorating Armenian
genocide was desecrated.
Turkey has made it government policy to fight genocide assertions
with diplomatic and economic sanctions if necessary. That stance has
come under pressure with Turkey’s campaign to join the European Union.
In 2001, Turkey, which has no diplomatic ties with Armenia, canceled
millions of dollars (euros) worth of defense deals with French
companies after a law recognizing the Armenian killings as genocide
was passed.
Turkey also sent a parliamentary delegation to Paris while Turkish
chambers of commerce sent letters to French counterparts warning of
a boycott.

MOSCOW STARTS SHIPPING MILITARY EQUIPMENT FROM GEORGIA TO RUSSIAN BASE IN ARMENIA
AP Worldstream
May 18, 2006
A convoy of trucks carrying military hardware set out for Armenia
on Thursday from a Russian base in Georgia, as Moscow continued its
pullout from this Caucasus Mountains nation under an agreement reached
last year.
Col. Vladimir Kuparadze, deputy commander of the Russian troops in
the southern Caucasus, said 10 trucks from Russia’s Akhalkalaki base,
accompanied by an armored personnel carrier and a Georgian military
police escort, had reached the Armenian border. They are due to
deliver the equipment to the Russian base in Gyumri.
The withdrawal agreement was a victory for Georgia’s pro-Western
President Mikhail Saakashvili’s campaign to reduce Russian influence.
Moscow began the pullout earlier this week, sending a train with
tanks and other arms to Russia. All heavy weapons and vehicles from
the Akhalkalaki base are to be withdrawn by Oct. 15, and personnel,
firearms and base property by the end of 2007. The other Russian
base left over from the Soviet era, in the Black Sea port of Batumi,
is to be closed by the end of 2008.
Russia’s transfer of military equipment to the Gyumri base has sparked
concern from Azerbaijan, Armenia’s neighbor and enemy.
Armenian forces have held parts of Azerbaijan since a war over the
disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave that ended with a shaky cease-fire
in 1994.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GENOCIDE ARMENIEN: UN “SABOTAGE SCANDALEUX” POUR LE CCAF RHôNE-ALPES
Agence France Presse
18 mai 2006 jeudi 5:44 PM GMT
Le president du Conseil de coordination des organisations armeniennes
de France (CCAF) Rhône-Alpes, Jules Mardirossian, a denonce jeudi
le “sabotage scandaleux” a l’Assemblee de la proposition de loi
PS reprimant la negation du genocide armenien, y voyant la main
de l’executif.
“C’est scandaleux, nous sommes outres. Il y a beaucoup de colère.
Tout cela relève du sabotage”, a declare a l’AFP M. Mardirossian,
qui est aussi le president de l’Association pour le memorial lyonnais
du genocide armenien.
“Tout a ete fait de manière artificielle. Le president de l’Assemblee
(Jean-Louis Debre) a fait des suspensions de seance, il a fait parler
des gens qui n’avaient rien a dire. Tout ca pour signifier a la fin
qu’on avait plus le temps de voter alors qu’il y avait une majorite
pour”, s’est-il insurge, affirmant avoir “ete informe que ca allait
se passer comme ca”.
Pour M. Mardirossian, “c’est la preuve que la democratie est en
panne. “C’est un revelateur terrible. L’executif a cede sous la
pression turque et a fait faire n’importe quoi a l’Assemblee. Meme
des deputes UMP etaient outres”.
Selon le president du CCAF Rhône-Alpes, presents a Paris en compagnie
d’une centaine de membres de la communaute armenienne de Lyon,
des actions “sont a prevoir”. Il a evoque la possible tenue d’une
manifestation a Lyon.
En mars et avril, la construction d’un memorial lyonnais du genocide
armenien avait fait grand bruit, incitant le PS a depose sa proposition
de loi: le 18 mars, une manifestation pro-turque avait donne lieu
a des slogans negationnistes. Un mois plus tard, avant meme d’etre
inaugure en presence de quelque 4.000 personnes, le monument avait
fait l’objet d’une profanation.
La proposition de loi socialiste visait a completer par un volet
penal la loi du 29 janvier 2001 par laquelle la France reconnaît le
genocide armenien.
Les Armeniens estiment que jusqu’a 1,5 million des leurs ont peri
dans un genocide orchestre par l’Empire ottoman entre 1915 et 1917.
Ankara affirme que des massacres ont ete commis de part et d’autre
et recuse les accusations de genocide.
En France, la communaute d’origine armenienne est estimee a 500.000
personnes, dont 80.000 dans la region de Lyon et autant a Marseille.
–Boundary_(ID_+CnLlp89zMYc0+nkP3+5jA) —
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH MP SUBMITS BILL ON FRENCH GENOCIDE OF ALGERIAN PEOPLE
Anatolia news agency
18 May 2006
Ankara, 18 May: Mahmut Kocak, a Justice and Development Party (AKP)
parliamentarian, has presented a draft law to Turkish parliamentary
Speaker’s office on Thursday [18 May] on genocide against Algerian
people.
The draft resolution proposes that the acts carried out by French
troops in Algeria shall be accepted as “genocide” and asks that 8
May shall be declared as “commemoration day of Algerian genocide”.
The draft law also proposes that any denial of “this genocide” shall
be considered as a crime.
The draft law describes the inhumane acts which France did in several
Algerian cities on 8 May 1945 as “genocide”.
The draft resolution asks for punishment of individuals who reject
“genocide” in Algeria, with imprisonment terms and fine.
Kocak told a news conference that reciprocity principle was valid
in international relations, stating that the draft resolution was
prepared to “retaliate” [against] French proposal.
He said Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika also had a request
in this direction.
Last week, Motherland Party (Anavatan) parliamentarian Ibrahim
Ozdogan prepared a draft law envisaging three years of imprisonment
for individuals who make claims of Armenian genocide.
The draft requests imprisonment terms up to three years for individuals
who allege (through article, picture or cartoon) that Turks committed
genocide against Armenians.
French parliament ended Thursday’s session on a draft law which
proposes “any denial of Armenian genocide to be considered a crime”
without bringing it to voting.
French parliament sources said that a possible voting on the draft
law would not be held until new legislation term began in October.