WEATHER CONDITIONS HAMPER LIFTING THE A-320 FLIGHT RECORDERS
Moscow, May 16. ArmInfo. Because of bad weather conditions the lifting
operation of A-320 blackbox flight recorders is temporarily stopped.
Russian sources report that the crosswind strengthened and ‘Navigator’
watercraft, from which the PT-1000 apparatus is controlled, started
drifting sideward. ITAR-TASS report that nothing has been yet found
by PT-1000.

OPPOSITIONIST POLITICIAN DOES NOT DRAW PARALLELS BETWEEN ARMENIAN SPEAKER AND GEORGIAN PRESIDENT
Yerevan, May 16. ArmInfo. “The speaker of the Armenian Parliament,
Arthur Baghdasaryan, and the symbol of the rose revolution Mikhail
Sahakashvili have similar height, however, I cannot speak of other
parameters,” Vazgen Manukyan, Chairman of National Democratic Union
opposition party, said at a press conference, Tuesday.
He said M. Sahakashvili differs from his forerunner Eduard Shevardnadze
only by “more successful management of the Central Committee,” but no
real progress has been observed in democratic processes. The upcoming
days will become a strength test for “Orinats Yerkir” party led by
the speaker as “it is one thing having 60,000 party men when in power,
and it is quite another thing when in the opposition.” As regards the
refusal of the ministers representing “OY” from fulfilling the party
Board’s demand to resign, V. Manukyan said “there are so many materials
compromising Education Minister Sergo Yeritsyan and other ministers
representing ‘OY’ that they have become easy governed.” Whereas,
“Athur Baghdasaryan is a young politicians who has not received
serious blows so far, the time will show if he will become stronger
under blows or he will fail,” V. Manukyan said.
On the whole, NDU leader thinks the party’s withdrawal will stop the
activity of the political coalition as when formed, the coalition
did not envisage a two- party format. He assured journalists that
the opposition should not welcome the speaker’s resignation like
“white-emigrants” should not have welcomed the settling of political
scores with Zinovyev and Bukharin under Stalin.

OWNER OF ARMAVIA EXPECTS THE FINAL RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION OF THE A-320 CRASH TO BE PUBLISHED IN 3 DAYS
Yerevan, May 16. ArmInfo.Mika Baghdasarov, owner of “ArmAvia” company,
denied the rumors of a supposed quarrel on the board of the crashed
A-320 airbus. He said that it was impossible to take weapons on the
board of the plane. Besides, no excitement was fixed in the record of
the pilot’s voice by the air traffic controller. And these factors
testify to the fact that stable and peaceful situation was on the
board of the plane. As for the harm that the air crash made to the
image of the company, Mr. Baghdasarov said that there have been many
cases of such tragedies in the history of aviation. He emphasized
that though an awful tragedy took place and many people died, the
life goes on and people need to live and work.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI EMBASSY CHALLENGES GARABAGH PART IN MOSCOW TOURISM SHOW
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 16 2006
The Azeri embassy in Moscow has sent a diplomatic note to the Russian
Foreign Ministry expressing protest at the invitation of an Upper
(Nagorno) Garabagh delegation to a tourism exhibition in Moscow on
May 11-14. There has been no reply from the ministry yet.
Earlier the embassy sent a protest note to the organizer of the show,
the Moscow City Tourism Committee, describing as a fake the exponents
presented as being of Armenian origin. The committee left the letter
unheeded.
On Saturday, the day of official opening, a group of young ethnic
Azeris living in Russia came to the exhibition venue draped in the
Azerbaijan national flags and encircled the exhibition pavilions in
protest. The young people said the exhibits described as Armenian
were actually Azerbaijani.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A-320 AIRPLANE COULD EASILY LAND FROM THE FIRST TURN
Yerevan, May 16. ArmInfo. The crashed A-320 airplane could easily
land in Sochi from the first turn, said on a award ceremony at the
Russian Security, Defense and Order Academy Mikhail Bagdasarov,
president of MIKA Limited company and owner of ArmAvia.
According to Bagdasarov, the weather conditions were surely bad,
but unable to impede the landing. He stressed that airbuses, unlike
old Soviet airplane, can land without problems in extreme weather
conditions. Commenting on the versions of the tragedy Bagdasarov
said that the only facts the Russian and Armenian authorities
officially stated are that the fuel of the airbus was sufficient,
the airplane functioned properly and that the skill of the pilots
cannot be doubted. He said that the authorities do not posses more
information and any version of the catastrophe is groundless yet. He
also denied that the crashed A-320 was repaired in Belgium. It was
under technical servicing in Budapest, Hungary.

MAMMADOV: NO AGREEMENT ON MEETING BETWEEN AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA PRESIDENTS IN PARIS
Author: E. Husseynov
Trend, Azerbaijan
May 16 2006
There has no been any agreement on the meeting between Azerbaijan`s
and Armenia`s Presidents to be held in Paris at the end of May, the
Chief of the President`s Apparatus Department of External Affairs
Novruz Mammadov exclusively told IAA “Trend”.
According to him the possibility of meeting between the two presidents
during the Spring Session of NATO Parliament Assembly in Paris is
just a fantasy of the journalists who suggested if Robert Kocharyan
and Ilham Aliyev participate in the forum journalist fantasy, a next
round of negotiations will be.
Moreover, Mr. N. Mammadov confirmed that President Ilham Aliyev willl
take part at the session at the end of May. “He is to take part and
delivery a speech to 450 representatives of NATO member-states during
the plenary session. The President is to tell about measures taken
towards Azerbaijan`s integration into Euro Atlantic structures”,
he told.

ERDOGAN REITERATES BOYCOTT THREATS TO FRANCE
Armenpress
May 16 2006
ANKARA, MAY 16, ARMENPRESS: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
threatened France with trade sanctions if it adopts a bill making it
illegal to deny that the 1915-17 massacre of Armenians in Turkey was
“genocide,” AFP said quoting from a Turkish newspaper.
“Patience has its limits. We do not have hatred (toward France) but
we will impose our sanctions,” the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet quoted
Turkey’s prime minister as saying at a summit of Muslim countries on
the Indonesian island of Bali. French lawmakers are due to consider
next week a bill from the opposition Socialists which would make
anyone denying the existence of the “Armenian genocide” liable to a
five-year jail term and a 45,000-euro ($57,000) fine.
French MPs should be “particularly sensitive” to the issue of possible
sanctions since France is the number one investor in Turkey, Erdogan
said. “There will possibly be problems.”

ARMENIAN MEN AND WOMEN CHESS PLAYERS FLYING TO ITALY FOR CHESS OLYMPIAD
Armenpress
May 16 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 16, ARMENPRESS: Armenian men and women chess players are
flying this week to Italy’s Turin which is hosting the 37-th Chess
Olympiad set to kick off on May 20. Armenia’s men team is headed by
Levon Aronian, ranked number three in the world.
Gagik Hovhanesian, the chief secretary of Armenian Chess Federation,
said the chess players are in good shape. He said the men who are
ranked third in the world will try to achieve as higher as possible
results. He said Armenia’s main rivals are Russians, Indians and
Ukrainians.

OSCE MINSK GROUP COCHAIRMEN TO VISIT YEREVAN LATER IN MAY
Armenpress
May 16 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 16, ARMENPRESS; Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian
said today the OSCE Minsk group cochairman-Yury Merzlyakov (Russia),
Bernard Fassier (France) and Steven Mann (USA) will be visiting
Yerevan on May 25-26.
Oskanian said the cochairman had already sent their new proposals
to the conflicting parties. He said the Azerbaijani reaction would
be clear after his anticipated meeting with Azeri foreign minister
Mamedyarov in Strasbourg later this week. Oskanian said proceeding
from the situation and the complexity of the Karabakh conflict it
was impossible to have the same approach towards any document.
“Any document that is put on the table contains both positive and
negative aspects which have to be elaborated in the course of talks,”
he told journalists. Oskanian said the presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan could meet next month or later given a successful outcome
of his meeting with Mamedyarov and Minsk group cochairmen’s visit to
the region.

OPERATION TO LIFT A-320 AIRBUS FLIGHT RECORDERS STARTED IN SOCHI
PanARMENIAN.Net
16.05.2006 12:49 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Vessel Navigator having a robot aboard arrived from
Sochi at the location, where A-320 airplane fell. By means of the
robot rescuers hope to lift airborne recorders of the liner from the
Black Sea bottom. They are at the depth of some 500 meters and they
will help determine the cause of the catastrophe. Several days may be
spent on search for the flight recorders – it depends on the weather.
Today the visibility is enough and the deep-water device will work
round the clock.
On the night of May 3 a Yerevan-Sochi plane of Armavia Armenian air
company crashed in the Black Sea 6 km away from Adler airport. All
113 passengers, including 6 children and 8 members of the crew, died
as a result. Among them were 26 Russian citizens, one Ukrainian and
one Georgian citizen, while the rest were Armenian citizens.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress