ARMENIA: AIR CRASH, FINI’S CONDOLENCES
Agenzia Giornalistica Italia, Italy
May 4 2006
(AGI) – Rome, May 4 – Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister,
Gianfranco Fini, today sent a message of condolence to Armenian
Foreign Minister, Vartan Oskanian, for the crash of the aeroplane of
the Armenian national airline, Armavia. “I was upset and pained to
learn of yesterday’s air crash. At this sad time I wish to show my
sympathy and that of the Italian government and solidarity with the
families of the victims of this tragic accident”, the message read.

ILHAM ALIYEV’S VISIT TO THE USA WITNESSES AZERBAIJAN BEING THE REGION’S LEADER – MP MUBARIZ GURBANLI
Author: J. Shakhverdiyev
TREND Info, Azerbaijan
May 4 2006
Azeri President’s visit to the USA opened a new page in mutual
relationships, reportedly said MP Mubariz Gurbanli, deputy executive
secretary, New Azerbaijan Party, commenting negative reaction of
local opposition to this visit.
Hew said Armenians and Azeri opposition are mostly worried about
Azerbaijan’s speedy progressing.
He said also Armenia, Armenian lobby around the globe and Azeri
opposition are simultaneously trying to blame Azeri Government.
Nevertheless, President’s visit to the USA witnesses Azerbaijan being
the region’s leader, MP said.

THE UKRAINE HAS NOT LOST INTEREST IN IRAN-ARMENIA GAS PIPELINE
Panorama.am
15:03 04/05/06
The Ukraine is interested in the construction of Iran-Armenia gas
pipeline, the Ukrainian Ambassador Alexander Bojko told a news
conference today in the National Press Club. According to him,
alternative sources of energy are important for the Ukraine.
“However, the Ukraine needs billions to participate in the project
and without the financial support of the European banks that is not
possible,” he said.
Speaking about higher tariffs on gas, A. Bojko noted that gas is a
serious matter both for Armenia and the Ukraine. According to him,
giving the 5th energy block of Hrazdan thermo power plant to Russia
was forced and the government should take the responsibility for
it.

ANOTHER A-320 AIRBUS ALMOST CRASHED IN DUBLIN
PanARMENIAN.Net
04.05.2006 20:18 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Another A-320 airbus almost crashed in Dublin. The
engine took fire at landing. The airport was temporarily closed
owing to the emergency situation. In spite of technical problems,
the pilots managed to land the airbus. After the landing the crew
and all passengers – 97 persons – were evacuated.
Firemen quickly extinguished the fire. The Dublin airport now functions
it its normal regime. The incident is investigated. We remind that
A-320 plane of Armavia air company flying from Yerevan to Sochi
crashed on the night of May 3, killing 113 persons.

ARMEIAN PRESIDENT TO VISIT THE UKRAINE IN FALL
Panorama.am
14:55 04/05/06
The visit of Vardan Oskanyan, Armenian Foreign Minister is planned for
June, 2006 to the Ukraine and the Armenian president is to visit the
same country in fall, Ukrainian Ambassador to Armenia Alexander Bojko
told a news conference today. According to the Ambassador, the recent
visit of NA Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan to the Ukraine was productive.
“Armenian-Ukrainian relations are actively developing on a political
level,” he said.
Speaking about the development of trade and economic relations between
the two countries, the ambassador stated that the trade turnover twice
increased in a year amounting to $110 mln. This is a good indicator
both for the Ukraine and Armenia, Bojko said.

ARMENIAN DAILY SAYS AZERI LEADER GOT “NEW STATUS” AFTER US VISIT
Aykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
2 May 06
Text of unattributed report by Armenian newspaper Aykakan Zhamanak
on 2 May headlined “New status”
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to the USA has made us
more nervous than expected. He went to Washington as an authoritarian
president from the South Caucasus but returned in the role of a
mediator in the settlement of the most urgent conflict between Iran
and the West.
Five days before Aliyev’s visit to the USA Iran’s Defence Minister
Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar was in Baku. In fact, he confirmed that he
had come to Baku to send messages to Washington via Aliyev. After
meeting Aliyev, George Bush declared that he had assured the
Azerbaijani president that he wanted to resolve the Iranian crisis
only by peaceful means. A statement like this from the US president is
strange because a week before meeting Aliyev he said that he treated
pessimistically an opportunity of a peaceful settlement to the
Iranian problem. Finally, who is Ilham Aliyev for the US president
to report about his intentions? The same US president did not take
into account the views of the French, Russian and German presidents
when attacking Iraq.
For this reason, this change in the American president’s mood may have
the following explanation: Aliyev has passed some Iranian messages
on to Bush which made Bush think that a peaceful settlement to the
conflict was still possible. This means that Bush has also sent
reply messages to Iran. That is to say, over this period of time the
Azerbaijani president will have permanent contacts with the leaders
of the USA, Iran and several European states. This process will lead
to a sharp increase in Azerbaijan’s and its leader’s rating in the
world. If Aliyev really manages to facilitate a peaceful settlement
to the conflict, the world community will be ready to offer him its
services and the Karabakh issue may be one of them.
[Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan and [Foreign Minister] Vardan
Oskanyan, who do not want to accept an opportunity to settle the
Karabakh conflict in the context of the Iranian issue, are playing
a cruel game with Armenia and Karabakh. The primary condition for
overcoming the problem is to understand that, but our authorities do
not understand. They are simply looking forward to swallowing 235m US
dollars promised by America [under the Millennium Challenge Programme].
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NO UNREGISTERED PASSENGERS FOUND ON THE CRASHED PLANE
Panorama.am
13:27 04/05/06
Gayane Davtyan, Press Secretary of the Armenian Civil Aviation
General Department Head refuted in an interview with Panorama.am
the information disseminated by Russian mass media that three of the
passengers of Yerevan-Sochi plane A-320, crashed on May 3, were not
found in the passenger list.
Referring to Regnum, Russian RTR TV station told today that three
passengers were found among the victims at the place of the crashed
plane whose names were not listed in the passenger list.
“Not that people or their surnames were missing but 1-2 mistakes
were found in the spelling of their surnames. For example, instead of
“Harutunyan” “Parutunyan” was written. It is about of such errors.
In any case CAGD Aviation Security Department has checked the
information – the names and surnames of passengers, and has found
out that there were only differences in the spellings of surnames
of several passengers. That is, the number of people listed and
actually on the plane was the same – 105. Nothing can be said about
the existence of 3 extra passengers,” CAGD Head Press Secretary says,
commenting on the information disseminated by the Russian mass media.
To our question if in fact the rescuers managed to find one of the
“black boxes”, Gayane Davtyan said, “No, at the moment (11.30 a.m.) no
“black box” has been found.”
According to Regnum, 17 bodies taken out from Black Sea, were
identified as of 10 a.m., May 4.

BUSH ADMINISTRATION PRESENTED CONDOLENCES TO FAMILIES OF A-320 VICTIMS
Panorama.am
12:53 04/05/06
US President George Bush’s Administration has presented its condolences
to families of A-320 crash victims. “We present our sincere condolences
to the people of Armenia and Russia, as well as to the families of
those, who died in the crash of Armavia flight heading from Yerevan to
the south of Russia,” the statement released in Washington says. Wires
with condolences to Armenia and Russia have been arriving from the
whole world.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TALKS ON RESTORING ABKHAZ SECTION OF GEORGIAN-RUSSIAN RAILWAY HELD IN MOSCOW
Apsnypress, Sukhumi
4 May 06
Sukhumi, 4 April: Negotiations continued today in Moscow over the
restoration of the Abkhazia section of the Transcaucasian Railway
[connecting Georgia and Russia]. Taking part are representatives of
Russia, Georgia, Abkhazia and Armenia.
The Abkhaz delegation consists of Andrey Turukin, representative of
the republic of Abkhazia to the government of the Russian Federation
on railway issues, Guram Gubaz, director-general of the Abkhaz railway
directorate, and his deputy, Daur Avidzba.
Georgia is represented by Irakli Ezugbaia, director-general of the
Georgian Railways Ltd and Iuri Chavchanidze, director of railway
infrastructure. The Armenian delegation is headed by the head of
Armenian Railways, Ararat Khrimyan.
The Russian delegation is led by Mikhail Akulov, the vice-president
of the joint stock company Russian Railways, who is also chairing
the meeting.
“At yesterday’s meeting we discussed general principles for the
creation of an international consortium, its name, form of ownership,
i.e. all organisational issues. No specific decisions have yet been
made,” Turukin told Apsnypress by telephone.
Today a protocol of a general organisational character is to be signed.
Turukin said that the document should reflect that the sides are in
agreement over the creation of a consortium. The consortium will
most likely be called the Caucasus Railway Consortium. “This will
probably be an open-type joint stock company, given the fact that it
will be necessary to attract investment and create shareholdings,”
Turukin said.
At the meeting, the consortium’s place of registration was also
discussed, though the sides have yet to reach consensus on this
issue. The Russian delegation proposed that it be organized in
Russia. “Then, some international body will be invited to prepare a
business plan. This should be an authoritative international body,”
he said.
The protocol, he said, will reflect these considerations.
“This is the first protocol. It will signed today by all the
sides. Abkhazia is a full participant in these talks, not merely an
adjunct party. We insisted that Abkhazia be represented as a fully
fledged participant,” Turukin said.
He added that the meeting is going forward in a very constructive
working atmosphere. “The sides comprehend the fact that this is
an important matter, that infrastructure must be restored. In the
future we will discuss the levels of equity and the principles of
dividing equity, and who will enter the consortium with what shares,”
Turukin said.

AZERI FOREIGN MINISTER UPBEAT ON US REMARKS ABOUT KARABAKH
Lider TV, Baku
1 May 06
[Presenter] The USA is ready to take all steps to resolve the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. This
statement has been made following President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to
the USA. Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov regards this as a success.
[Mammadyarov speaking in his office, captioned] The US president and
government are ready to take any measures necessary for the rapid
settlement of the conflict. This is a crucial statement. It means
that both the American president and the government are ready to do
their best to bring peace into the region.