A DUTCH FINDS ARMENIAN ROOTS
By Hakob Tsulikian
AZG Armenian Daily
03/05/2006
On March 23, Netherlands Cinema of Amsterdam screened a new film
titled “The History of My Name” that tells about 51-year-old talented
entrepreneur and headmaster of Kijkduin primary school Alex Luiten,
The Armenian Mirror Spectator reports.
Alex was born and raised in Hague but currently lives in Terschelling
island in the north of Holland. At the age of 19 he finds out that
his father is an Armenian living in France, named Peltekian, who got
to France during the WW I from Turkish town of Dortyol where he was
born in 1912. Only at the age of 44 Alex changed his name Luiten for
Peltekian and got to studying his roots.
After his father’s death, documents in France reveal that he was the
son of a rich landowner and that part of his family found refuge in
Lebanon after the Genocide.
In the film directed by Dorothy Forman Alex tries to find answers from
residents of today’s Dortyol. The film was financed by the Dutch Fund
for cultural broadcasts.

5-7 PERCENT OF ARMENIA’S POPULATION USES INTERNET
AZG Armenian Daily
03/05/2006
The number of Internet users in Armenia is 5-7 among 100
people. According to the data of Housekeeping Survey, the index
for Internet users in Yerevan is 18%, 8% for other cities and 3 %
for villages. While speaking of Armenia and the region as a whole,
the word-combination “internet user” is very relative.
It’s impossible to figure out the number of people using the Internet
at workplace in state or private organizations or at home. A single
subscriber can connect to different providers, yet a family can use
the service of only one provider. Either way, the number of Internet
users among 3 million of Armenian population remains 150.000.

CHANGING THE PLACE OF MARKET IN SADAKHLO IS OFFERED
Lragir.am
03 May 06
Member of Parliament Victor Dallakyan thinks that the Azerbaijani
middleman living on the money they earn at the market of Sadakhlo
have turned this area into a threat against the national security of
Armenia. Victor Dallakyan says presently 12-13 thousand Armenians,
nearly as many Georgians and 150 thousand Azerbaijanis live at
the Georgian side of the Armenian-Georgian border. It means the
Azerbaijanis can block the border at any moment, and Armenia may
appear stuck in the Turk-Georgian pincers, concludes the member of
parliament. Victor Dallakyan reminds that he alarmed about a possible
development in 2000 but has received no response. “Who is now going
to account for the dissipation of government funds, the blockade of 12
Armenian villages of Sadakhlo and a new threat against our security,”
asks Victor Dallakyan, and suggests solutions: move the Sadakhlo
market to the Armenian village of Akpyurpi, which is only 5 km from the
Armenian border, and the shortest way to Tbilisi runs via this village.

PRESIDENT HELD AN EXTRAORDINARY CONSULTATION
Lragir.am
03 May 06
The A-320 plane of Armavia Airlines flying from Yerevan to Sochi
crashed in the morning of May 2. There were 113 people on board,
including 8 members of the crew and 105 passengers, six children.
Everyone in the plane died. By 8 o’clock in the morning of May 3 the
bodies of 16 passengers were found in the Black Sea. The rescuers
of the Russian Ministry of Emergencies carry on the search but their
work is much difficult because of bad weather. It is suggested that
bad weather was the cause of the crash. The communication with the
plane was lost at 2.25 AM, 6 minutes before the scheduled time of
landing at the airport of Sochi. Later it was found out that the
plane crashed 5 km from the coast, where parts of the plane were
found at a depth of 300 meters. The spokesperson of Armavia Edward
Aghajanov told the reporter of Regnum that the A-320 plane was in an
ideal technical state, and the crew was highly experienced.
First the crew decided to return to Yerevan for bad weather, but
the dispatcher of Sochi-Adler Airport informed that the weather was
improving. On approaching Adler Airport the weather again changed,
and the plane could not land, and soon disappeared from the screens
of radars. The Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia also confirmed
the excellent technical state of the plane. The District Attorney
of the region of Krasnodar, Russia, sued a criminal action under the
section of the Crime Code of the Russian Federation on violation of
the rules of maintenance and operation of aircrafts causing death of
people. There is not an official version of the crash yet, says Regnum.
In the morning of May 3 the president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan
held an extraordinary consultation on the crash of the A-320 plane of
Armenia Airlines, informs the news agency Regnum. The administration
of the Armenian President informed that the heads of law enforcement
agencies, ministries, and aviation participated in the consultation.
There will be an official statement after the consultation.
The Armenian leadership expressed their condolences to the families
of the victims.

SERGE SARGSYAN TO LEAVE FOR MOSCOW TO FIND OUT CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CRASH
Lragir.am
03 May 06
On May 3 President Robert Kocharyan held a consultation with the
prime minister, the ministers of defense and territorial management,
the Attorney General, the Police, the National Security Service and
the Department of Civil Aviation on the crash of the plane, flying
from Yerevan to Adler.
The head of the Department of Civil Aviation presented the details
of the crash.
The head of state instructed Serge Sargsyan, Defense Minister, Co-chair
of the Armenian-Russian Intergovernmental Committee, to leave for
Russia to study the causes and circumstances of the crash on the spot,
informs the Press Office of RA President.
An intergovernmental committee will be set up, headed by the minister
of territorial management to deal with transportation of the bodies
and funeral.
The Attorney General reported that an action was suited.
The heads of the relevant agencies were instructed to report regularly
on the results of the investigation to the head of state.

IRAN SENDS CONDOLENCES OVER ARMENIAN PLANE CRASH
IRNA website
3 May 06
Tehran, 3 May: Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi here
Wednesday [3 May] expressed condolences to the government, people
and families of victims of an Armenian plane crash in the Black Sea.
According to reports, an Armenian Airbus A-320 carrying 113 passengers
and crew crashed in the Black Sea near the south Russian seaside
resort of Sochi in heavy rain on Wednesday killing all on board.
The plane took off from the Armenian capital Yerevan and had been on
flying for about an hour when it crashed. Most of the casualties were
Armenian nationals.
A spokesman for the Russian Emergencies Ministry said rescue workers
had found baggages, life jackets, body parts, shattered plane parts
and patches of oil floating on the surface of the sea at the crash
site. At least 16 bodies had been found by 04:25 gmt.
Asefi expressed the Iranian government’s and nation’s deepest sympathy
with the Armenian people, government and bereaved relatives of victims.

RUSSIAN PROSECUTOR RULES OUT TERRORISM AS CAUSE OF ARMENIAN PLANE CRASH
RTR Russia TV, Moscow
3 May 06
Following the crash of Armenian airline Armavia’s A-320 airliner
earlier today, Russia TV said that “poor weather conditions” were
probably to blame.
“The crew twice asked for permission to carry out emergency landing
precisely because of poor weather conditions,” said the TV.
“The possibility of a terrorist act is being ruled out, said Russian
Deputy Prosecutor-general Nikolay Shepel. No-one in the disaster area
heard an explosion, nor had anyone seen an explosion in the sky. All
the debris is deep in the sea and only a large oil slick can be seen
on the sea surface. Had there been an explosion, the oil would have
had to catch fire,” said the TV, adding the search for black boxes
was underway.

REPORTS: BAD WEATHER TO BLAME FOR CRASH OF ARMENIAN PLANE, SAY RUSSIAN EMERGENCY OFFICIALS
AP Worldstream
May 03, 2006
The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said Wednesday that bad
weather was likely to blame for the crash of an Armenian passenger
airline off Russia’s Black Sea Coast that killed all 113 people on
board, news agencies reported.
The Airbus A-320, which belonged to the Armenian airline Armavia,
disappeared from radar screens just under 6 kilometers (3.7 miles)
from the shore and crashed after making a turn and heading toward
the Adler airport near the Russian resort of Sochi.

RUSSIAN EMERGENCY OFFICIALS SAY ALL 112 PASSENGERS ON CRASHED ARMENIAN AIRLINE ARE DEAD
AP Worldstream
May 03, 2006
An Armenian passenger jet crashed in bad weather early Wednesday off
the Black Sea coast shortly before it was to land in the Russian city
of Sochi, killing all 112 people aboard, emergency officials said.
The Airbus A-320, which belonged to the Armenian airline Armavia,
disappeared from radar screens just under 6 kilometers (3.7 miles)
from the shore and crashed after making a turn and heading toward the
Adler airport near Sochi, Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman
Viktor Beltsov said. Rescue officials in the ministry’s southern
regional branch said all 112 people aboard the plane, including five
children, were killed.

RUSSIAN, ARMENIAN LEADERS ANNOUNCE MOURNING OVER SOCHI CRASH
RIA news agency
3 May 06
Moscow, 3 May: Russia and Armenia will mourn on 5 May over the crash of
the A320 aircraft in the Black Sea which, according to early reports,
has claimed 113 lives.
According to the Kremlin press service, presidents Vladimir Putin
and Robert Kocharyan have made this decision.
“Early this morning Russian President Vladimir Putin called the
Armenian president by telephone in connection with the tragic disaster
of the Armenian air carrier’s aircraft in the Black Sea with numerous
human fatalities,” the press service said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress