RECORD BOXES TO CLARIFY COMPLETE PICTURE OF CRASH
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.05.2006 20:30 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The complete picture of the crash will be clear only
after the record boxes discovered by the French and Russian specialists
at a depth of 680 meters are withdrawn, RA Security Council Secretary,
Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan stated. In his words, although the
International Civil Aviation Organization and French specialists
requested the leading states for assistance, the world practice hasn’t
recorded a case when an object was withdrawn from such a depth so far.
“At present we can say for certain that the plane left Yerevan in a
working order, flew to the responsibility zone of the Sochi control
service and made a request for landing. The flying control officer
said the weather was unfavorable and the plane turned around and
headed for Yerevan. Being rather far from Sochi and entering the
Georgian responsibility zone the pilot requested Sochi once again. On
receiving the answer that the weather improved and that the plane can
return the pilot started coming in the land. When the height made
some 300 meters the control officer and the meteorological service
said the weather worsened and the plane should do another circle
and then land on another landing ground. Immediately after this the
communication with the plane was lost and as it was found out later,
it crashed into the water,” Serge Sargsyan said.

OSKANIAN SAYS ARMENIAN AND AZERI LEADERS LIKELY TO MEET NEXT MONTH
Armenpress
May 05 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 5, ARMENPRESS: Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian
said today Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents are likely to have
another meeting early next month, but added there were no concrete
arrangements about the venue and the date of the possible meeting of
Robert Kocharian of Armenia and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of “Armenia and the Council
of Europe: Five Years of Membership” conference, kicked off today in
Yerevan, Oskanian said the anticipated meeting may suffer a setback
as the one earlier this year in the French castle of Rambouillet.
Oskanian said again that Armenia had done everything it could and now
the turn was for Azerbaijan to make its concessions in order to give
a fresh push to the process of peaceful talks.
“The problem now is to avoid a setback and we expect appropriate
moves from Azerbaijan,” he said, adding otherwise it would be very
difficult to move forward. Oskanian downplayed media allegations that
Aliyev’s recent visit to Washington has given an additional weight to
Azerbaijan’s positions. “We know that Aliyev was made understand in
Washington by very top US government officials that seeking a military
solution to the Karabakh conflict is not an option. We appreciate it,”
he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEW POST
A1+
[01:20 pm] 05 May, 2006
By the May 4 decree of Robert Kocharyan Arshak Poladyan has been
resigned from the post of the Armenian Ambassador extraordinary and
plenipotentiary to the United Arab Arabian Emirates (Abu Dhabi).
Vahagn Meliqyan has been appointed instead.
Let us remind you that two days ago by the decree of RA Prime Minister
Andranik Margaryan Vahagn Meliqyan had been resigned from the post
of hte head of the agency of “State Ceremonial Service” of the RA
Foreign Ministry.

“ARMAVIA” SUFFERED THE LEAST?
A1+
[02:35 pm] 05 May, 2006
There is an unwritten law in the aviation sphere: “Aviation laws are
written in blood”. After each crash the laws and rules concerning
the sphere are improved.
The crash of the airplane flying from Yerevan to Sochi will give
the specialists another occasion to think if everything was done to
maximally guarantee the security of the passengers.
But there is not a single aviation company in the world which will
confess that it did not do everything possible for maximum security. It
is noteworthy that if the aviation company is able to prove in
court that they did everything possible, but it was impossible to
prevent the crash, the company will be able to avoid making insurance
payments. Nevertheless, nothing of the kind has ever happened. One
of the reasons is that any judge is also a potential passenger.
Going back to the May 3 air crash, let us first speak about who
suffered most, naturally leaving aside human casualties which are
irreparable and immeasurable. It is noteworthy that the greatest
financial loss is inflicted to the re-insurance companies. In this case
these are British companies. The aviation company suffers the least as
they will be compensated according to the rules of airplane insurance,
although there is also a non-compensated sum: about 100 thousand USD.
Let us remind you that the airbus was bought in February 2004 by
leasing, for 25 million USD. And as it was insured, the insurance
companies must compensate the total sum of 25 million minus the
above mentioned 100 thousand USD which is the loss of the aviation
company. It should also be mentioned that the aviation company from
time to time makes payments to the insurance companies.
By the way, the insurance sums for the lives of the passengers are paid
again by the re-insurance companies. In this case, the 20 thousand
USD to each family is paid to by “Grand” insurance company, but by
the British organizations. This is why the company avoids speaking
about specific sums and dates as it can be a long process.
According to the specialists of the field, first the investigation of
the criminal case must be concluded, then the British specialists must
examine all the documents in order to assess the case as an “insurance
case”, after which they will make a decision about compensation. Only
after that will the process of compensation start which in itself will
be quite long, as there is not one re-insurance company but several.
“Financially this is not an insoluble question, but it is rather
difficult to solve from the organizational and administrative points of
view”, said on of the specialists of the field who refused to introduce
himself. “It has nothing to do with Armenia. The process lasts long in
the whole world”. Let us remind you that after the terrorist acts in
New York the insurance companies announced that the process can last up
to 20 years. As for the Armenian insurance companies, “Grand” in this
case, it has to do the most thankful business: to get the money and
to give it to people, forming positive image for the insurance field.
And still, the most important question is that why the sides
try to insist on the weather factor. Perhaps it is done to avoid
responsibility. If it turns out that the reason was not the weather
but carelessness, it will be necessary to find out whose carelessness
it was. If it turns out that the reason was technical malfunction of
the plane, the re-insurance companies can raise the insurance tariffs
as the aviation company was unable to provide necessary technical
criteria b previous tariffs. In the worst case a criminal case can
be initiated against the aviation company.
At present while the investigation process is under way and the
weather factor is the main hypothesis, we can state that the loss of
“Armavia” is mainly moral, plus the factor of damaged image with
partial financial losses proceeding from them.
P.S. There are several cases when the insurance companies can
refuse to pay. According to one of them the insurance company is not
responsible for the crash if the plane was overloaded with luggage
or with passengers. That’s why during the investigation process the
insurance companies will probably be extremely careful.

ARKADY GHUKASYAN BOTH CONTENT AND DISCONTENT FROM ALL ARMENIA FUND
Panorama.am
15:03 05/05/06
Most of the board members of All Armenia Fund say that the fund is
making big steps forward. According to Naira Melkumyan, Executive
Director of the Fund, the organization had 12 mln 700 thousand
drams in income last year which is 2.5 times more than in the year
2003. According to her, the figure indicates great trust from the
side of Diaspora and Armenia. Incomes from Armenia and Artsakh also
increased by 25 percent in 2005, Naira Melkumyan said shortly before
15th session of the Board of Directors. She thinks, however, that this
does not reflect the real Armenian potential which, according to her,
should be USD 20-25 mln.
The Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, Chairman of the Board of
Directors said that the fund is born with independence. It has high
fame within Armenia and within the Armenian community outside Armenia.
The board included three new members in its lines. The members
watched a film on the activities of the fund during 2005 picturing
the achievements of the fund.
“I am both content and discontent,” Nagorno Karabakh President Arkady
Ghukasyan said. He said that Diaspora is a very strong structure and
may be more involved in Karabakh. He also thinks that the fund should
reinforce its control mechanisms.
A. Ghukasyan made hardly any one-man suggestion, leaving the issue
with the board of directors.

MATERIALS ON CRASHED AIRLINER TO BE EXAMINED FIRST BEFORE THINKING ON FURTHER ACTIONS PM SAYS
Panorama.am
14:27 05/05/06
Armenian Prosecutor’s Office is in charge of 95 % of information
possessed by Georgian ground controllers.
However, Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan refused to make
early judgments. “Let’s wait a few days to come to right conclusions,”
he said. According to him the technical examination will unveil
everything.
Earlier reports say that the Defense Minister, Armenian-Russian
intergovernmental committee co-chairman, rescue service head
and several other officials are still in Sochi. Present are also
representatives of our prosecutor’s office who are there to investigate
the case.
According to Andranik Margaryan, Georgian side is willing to provide
the necessary information and have done so for about 95%. At this
moment, the prosecutor’s office needs to examine the materials before
taking any other steps, he said.
Both Russian and Georgian sides are effectively responding to our
needs, Andranik Margaryan said.
Interested is also the French side willing to prove that its airliner
was technically equipped.

ARA ABRAHAMYAN SAYS THEY ARE THE RUSSIAN PATRIOTS
Panorama.am
13:44 05/05/06
According to Armeina Union of Russia (AUR), 4 Armenian nationals were
murdered during the first quarter of 2006, AUR Chairman Ara Abrahamyan
told Echo Moscow today. According the him, the statistics shows that
this number is increasing year by year and said that “nothing has
been done to prevent that in the course of 10 years.”
“When Vigen Abramyants was murdered, I was personally talking to 500
young men talking them into not to go out,” Ara Abrahamyan said.
The Chairman noted that the Union is pursueing its own investigation
on the case of 17 year old Vigen Abramyants. He said the law entitled
them to do so.
According to Ara Abrahamyan, when 16-17 year old becomes a mudered,
this is a social problem. The more we think on that and take actions,
the less criminal acts will be committed. It seems that they are better
organized than we. Those who cover such actions are only seemingly
“patriots”. We are the patriots who name things as they are, Ara
Abrahamyan said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CONTEST FOR NATIONAL ANTHEM TO BE ANNOUNCED IN 20 DAYS
Panorama.am
18:07 04/05/06
By the decision of the Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan,
a contest committee is established for the selection of the text
and music of the national anthem of the Republic of Armenia, headed
by the Armenian Minister of Culture and Youth Affairs. A number of
prominent state and cultural figures are included in the committee.
According to government press services, the committee is assigned
to develop the standards for selection and the contest conditions
in 15-days time. It is also responsible to select the text and the
music in 2-months period.
The government decided today to set a prize of 700,000 dram for
the text and the music of the national anthem. 2 mln drams are
appropriated from the government reserve fund in order to ensure
information dissemination and other contest related issues, including
remuneration to the author of the anthem.
According to government press service, the decision was conditioned
by the changes made in the Armenian constitution.

ARMENIA, RUSSIA AND KARABAKH BEGIN PUBLIC MOURNING FOR CRASHED AIRLINER’S VICTIMS
Armenpress
May 05 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 5, ARMENPRESS: Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Russia
have begun today mourning for 113 people who are presumed killed when
the Armenian Airbus-320 airliner crashed into the Black Sea near the
Russian city of Sochi on May 3 morning.
The majority of passengers were Armenian citizens on a flight from
Yerevan to the Russian city.
Flags are flying at half-mast in Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Russia
with public entertainment and sport events cancelled as a mark of
respect for the dead. Russian Itar-Tass said TV channels have changed
their schedules to drop entertainment programs on Friday.
The remains of the first 26 identified victims of the crash were
brought to Yerevan today early morning and transported to the city’s
main morgue for formal procedures and later transported to where
their relatives said they want to bury them. many of them are from
Armenian remote regions. Russian emergency officials said they had
spotted the second radio beacon at the site where the Airbus A-320
airliner crashed. Rescuers have also detected a big fragment of the
plane’s fuselage.
Russian transport minister Igor Levitin said Thursday evening Russia
wants help from foreign countries in raising from the seabed the “black
box” flight recorders. Levitin said Russia’s Black Sea fleet lacks
equipment for retrieving the black boxes from such a depth. The search
for bodies is continuing, with 50 retrieved as of Friday morning. Of
these, 41 have been identified – 31 of them Armenian and 10 Russian
citizens, according to Itar-Tass.
DNA samples have been taken from relatives who did not find their
loved ones’ remains, in the hope of identification at a later stage,
Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin was quoted as saying by
Itar-Tass. “The tests will be done by Russian experts at a request
by the Armenian side,” he added.
Levitin also said a monument will be erected in Sochi in memory of
the 113 passengers. He said the mayor of Sochi that has a very big
Armenian community promised to select a site for the monument as soon
as possible. He said the governor of Krasnodar province, where Sochi
is has also promised to help.

NEW FRAGMENTS OF BODIES FOUND
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.05.2006 19:27 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A search group found two fragments of bodies
presumably belonging to crash victims in the water area of a resort
station in Adler, a source in the search headquarters reported. A
plane wreck was also found in the same area. The source said the
human remains were found 250-320 meter off the shore.
Presently a boat was sent to the site to get them out of the water
and convey to the shore, reported Interfax-South.