BILL REPROACHING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL AS CRIMINAL FELONY SUBMITTED TO THE BELGIAN PARLIAMENT
ArmRadio.am
12.05.2006 12:35
Another resolution reproaching Armenian Genocide denial as criminal
felony was submitted to the Belgian Parliament.
Referring to the Turkish “Hurriet,” Istanbul based “Marmara” daily
informs that the bill has been worked out by the powerful “Movement
of Reforms” coalition party. Members of the part Fransua de Vivie
and Christine Dofrey suggest to consider Genocide denial a criminal
felony and offer that the Law on Holocaust applies also the 1915
Genocide carried out against Armenians by Young Turks.
The draft had been developed still two years ago. It was, however
recalled because of strong resistance.

ARMENIAN SPEAKER SUBMITS RESIGNATION, MP SAYS
Mediamax news agency, Yerevan
11 May 06
Yerevan, 11 May: The speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia,
Artur Bagdasaryan, has decided to resign, and his party Orinats Yerkir
(Law-Governed Country Party) will quit the ruling coalition.
Ovannes Markaryan, a member of the Orinats Yerkir parliamentary
faction, said this in a live appearance on Yerevan’s Shant TV channel,
Mediamax news agency reports. He said that the speaker’s decision
to resign and his party’s decision to quit the ruling coalition was
adopted tonight at an expanded session of Orinats Yerkir’s political
council and was unanimous.
Markaryan said that Artur Bagdasaryan will hold a news conference at
1400 [1000 gmt] tomorrow and officially declare his resignation and
Orinats Yerkir’s decision to quit the coalition.
Several MPs quit the Orinats Yerkir faction in the last few days,
Mediamax reports.
Orinats Yerkir is a member of the ruling coalition along with the
Republican Party of Armenia and the Dashnaktsutyun Party on the basis
of a memorandum signed after the 2003 parliamentary election.

ARMENIAN AND HELLENIC CAUCUS LEADERS JOIN TOGETHER IN OPPOSING MISSILE SALE TO TURKEY
ArmRadio.am
12.05.2006 10:46
The Co-Chairs of the Hellenic Caucus, Reps. Michael Bilirakis and
Carolyn Maloney, were joined today by Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Frank
Pallone and Armenian Genocide Resolution lead sponsor George Radanovich
in calling on Congressional leaders to reexamine a controversial $162
million U.S. missile sale to Turkey.
In letters addressed to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the
House Armed Services and International Relations Committees, the
four legislators voiced their “deep concern and opposition to the
application currently before your Committee for the foreignmilitary
sale to Turkey of 50 AGM 84K Joint Standoff Land Attack Missiles –
Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) and associated equipment and services.”
Noting that Turkey has enforced an illegal blockade against Armenia
for the last twelve years, provides support to Azerbaijan against
Nagorno Karabagh, and refuses to normalize relations with Armenia,
they stressed that, “there are no safeguards in place to ensure that
the transfer of these advanced new weapons to Turkey will not be
used to threaten Armenia.” Commenting on the presence of more than
40,000 Turkish military troops in the Turkish-occupied area of Cyprus,
the legislators argued that the sale would “exacerbate the already
existing military imbalance over Cyprus,” and “worsen the uneasy,
insecure and disadvantaged position of the Republic of Cyprus in terms
of its defense and weapons proliferation.” They closed the letter
by requesting a “thorough reexamination of all factors pertaining to
the sale” of the missiles to Turkey.

ALLEGATIONS OF WWI GENOCIDE IRK TURKEY
By Benjamin Harvey
Associated Press Writer
AP
Thursday May 11, 2006 10:31 PM
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) – Turkey has pulled out of a military exercise
in Canada and hinted at economic repercussions against France,
stepping up protests of accusations that Turks committed genocide
against Armenians during World War I.
Ankara this week briefly recalled ambassadors from NATO allies France
and Canada to protest the Canadian prime minister’s declaration last
month that the killings of Armenians constituted genocide, and a
French bill that would outlaw denying that Armenians were genocide
victims. The ambassadors returned Thursday after four days in Turkey.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Thursday that it was pulling out
of an Air Force training exercise in Canada, to which it had been
expected to send officers and several F-16 fighters.
“This decision is Turkey’s and we would not comment on why they have
made this decision,” said Pamela Greenwell, a spokeswoman for Canada’s
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Turkey is an important NATO ally and
we hope that they will be able to participate in future exercises.”
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday held a private
meeting in Ankara with representatives of large French firms with
investments in Turkey, where he warned of serious harm to relations
if the genocide measure was allowed to pass.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million Armenians died or were killed over
several years as part of a genocidal campaign to force them out of
eastern Turkey. Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians
died, but says the overall figure is inflated and that the deaths
occurred in the civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey is facing increasing pressure to fully acknowledge the killings,
particularly as it seeks membership in the European Union.
But many in Turkey feel that, by using the word genocide to describe
the killings, other countries put the Ottoman Turks in the same
category as Nazi Germans.
Turkey has made it government policy to fight genocide assertions with
diplomatic and economic sanctions if necessary. But it is unclear how
far Turks are willing to go, especially if that could mean harming
the bid to join the EU.
“Sometimes you talk, then you have to behave according to the way
you talk, and you get to a place you never wanted to go in the
first place,” Ilter Turan, a political scientist at Istanbul Bilgi
University, said of whether Turkey would carry through on all of
its threats.
Stephen Harper recently became the first Canadian prime minister to
publicly declare that the Armenian deaths constituted a genocide. He
was expressing his support from a House of Commons resolution in 2004
characterizing them as such.
Turkey sent a parliamentary delegation to Paris this week and Turkish
chambers of commerce sent letters to their counterparts in France
pleading for help and warning of a boycott.
If passed, the French bill, to be voted on May 18, would make it
a crime to deny that Turks committed genocide against Armenians. A
similar law forbids the denial of the Jewish Holocaust in World War II.
In 2001, Turkey, which has no diplomatic ties with Armenia, canceled
millions of dollars worth of defense deals with French companies
after lawmakers in France recognized the Armenian killings as genocide.
A Turkish court this year dropped charges against the country’s
best-known novelist, Orhan Pamuk, who went on trial for “insulting
Turkishness” after he said Turks have killed more than a million
Armenians and more than 30,000 Kurds. He could have faced up to three
years in prison.
The United States, which has a large Armenian diaspora community,
has not declared the killings a genocide.

“MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE” FUND SESSION
A1+
[06:03 pm] 11 May, 2006
The trustees’ council session of the “Millennium Challenge” fund
Armenian program was convened today which was presided over by the
chairman of the council and RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan. The
representatives of the NGOs were also invited to the session;
among them Nazeli Vardanyan, chairman of the NGO “Armenian Forests,”
Jemma Hasratyan, head of the NGO “Women with university education,”
and Levon Barseghyan, chairman of the NGO “Asparez” journalists’ club.”
The key issue of the session was the information presented by head
of working group of the “Millennium Challenge” fund Armenian program,
chairman of the council and RA Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy
David Avetisyan.
The council also discussed and supported the results of technical
suggestions evaluation got as a result of a contest which was aimed
at choosing financial agent of the program. It was announced that
the prequalifying committee held an assessment in accordance with the
qualification criteria of the “Millennium Challenge” cooperation and
as a result of it three organizations were involved in the contest
list. One of them was disqualified because of its low points. The
prequalifying results of the other two organizations were approved
by the council. Later they will be presented to the “Millennium
Challenge” cooperation for approval. The winner will be made public
after revealing the financial suggestions of the above mentioned
organizations and their evaluation.
The participants of the session also referred to other organizational
issues.

THE PLACE OF HOLDING MATCHES BETWEEN NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAMS OF ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN TO BE DETERMINED TODAY
ArmRadio.am
12.05.2006 10:30
At a special meeting in Nion, Switzerland, Heads of Football
Federations of Armenia and Azerbaijan will decide today the place
of holding qualification matches of the 2008 European Championship
between national teams of the two countries.
The Armenian delegation comprises President of the Football
Federation of Armenia Ruben Hayrapetyan, Executive Director Armen
Minasyan and Plenipotentiary Representative of RA President and
Government, President of the Public Radio and Television Council
Alexan Harutyunyan.

SOUTH KOREA STATES NECESSITY OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT RESOLUTION BASED ON STATES’ TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY
Author: R. Abdullayev
TREND Info, Azerbaijan
May 11 2006
Azerbaijan and Republic of Korea commit to resolutions of UN
Security Council and documents of OSCE Lisbon Summit, and stress the
necessity in peaceful resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based
on sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, reportedly said
Azer Gasymov, head of press service with President’s Administration,
commenting the mutual declaration of Azeri and Korean presidents.
The declaration states stability in Azerbaijan contributing to peace
and security throughout South Caucasus. In a view of social-economic
reforms in Azerbaijan, Baku and Seoul stress their interest in
mutually beneficial and prolonged cooperation in such spheres as trade,
investments, power engineering, industry, science, IT and transport.
With the purpose of this document, the sides outline their readiness
to progress close cooperation for enterprises and business circles
through simplification of mutual relationships.
As per the Clause 9 of the document, Azerbaijan and Republic of Korea
claim their concern in development of transport infrastructure, which,
in turn, will boot the trade.
The special significance is stated by Clause 10 of the document, which
states that pipelines Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum
and designed railroad Baku-Tbilisi-Ahalkalaki-Kars contribute to
progress of countries in the region.
Clause 13 says Azerbaijan Republic advocates peace on Korean
peninsula and supports the policy South Korean government implements
in South-East Asia.

SEZER SENDS CHIRAC LETTER ON SUBJECT OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL
Hurriyet, Turkey
May 11 2006
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer of the Turkish Republic has reportedly
sent a letter to President Jacques Chirac of France, stressing that
the friendship and cooperation between the two countries has gone on
for so long that any actions taken to ruin or disrupt it would be to
the advantage of neither country.
The letter takes the upcoming debates on May 18 in the French
Parliament on a bill which would propose prison time for people
publicly denying Armenian allegation of genocide as its reference
point. Sezer, in his letter, also stresses that the passage of the
controversial bill would deal a serious blow to freedom of expression
and thought, both aspects of life that he reminds Chirac are important
to the French way of life.
Meanwhile, with Ankara having called its Ambassador to France, Osman
Koruturk, back to the Turkish capital for “consultations,” Koruturk
reportedly met with the French Ambassador to Ankara, Paul Poudade,
yesterday. Koruturk reportedly told Poudade that “this subject is very
important to Turkey, do not underestimate the reaction of the Turkish
public” in reference to the potential passage of the genocide bill.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER TOLD CRASHED AIRLINER TO CLIMB – INVESTIGATOR
RIA Novosti, Russia
May 11 2006
MOSCOW, May 11 (RIA Novosti) – Air traffic controllers ordered an
Armenian passenger plane to gain altitude before it crashed over the
Black Sea last week killing 113 people, an investigation committee
official said Thursday.
“It has been established that, due to poor weather, during landing
an air traffic controller told the crew to stop descending and
to make a right turn while simultaneously gaining altitude,” said
Aleksei Morozov, the head of the Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK)
department on investigation of plane crashes.
“The plane started to turn right and gain altitude, but then it began
to descend and crashed into the water,” Morozov said.
The Airbus A-320 operated by Armenia’s Armavia was flying from the
Armenian capital, Yerevan, to Adler airport, which services the
popular Russian resort of Sochi, when it crashed 6 kilometers off
the Russian coast early Wednesday morning last week.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI, ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS INVITED TO NATO SESSION
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
May 11 2006
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly President Pierre Lelouche has invited
Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders to a plenary session of the Assembly
due in Paris late in May.
President Ilham Aliyev has accepted the invitation and will visit the
French capital for the purpose, Radio Liberty reported. Lelouche said
NATO backs peace in the South Caucasus. The alliance therefore deems
it essential to hold meetings on the level of presidents to discuss
settlement of the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict.
“In Paris, we will look for ways of resolving the conflict, which
is very destructive. We need stability in the Caucasus. I have been
in trenches in Garabagh and know firsthand how hard it is for both
peoples. I am aware of the problems faced by refugees in Azerbaijan
and deplore their plight.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress