Armenian-Turkish border, Khor Virap, Ararat Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2004

Following on news that illegal immigrants from Armenia are being detained in Istanbul, PanArmenian.Net reports that those held have not yet been deported. Thousands of Armenians are believed to work in Turkey, but as a sign of how House Resolution 106 might affect Armenian-Turkish relations, the Associated Press reports that other measures are currently being considered.

As the border between Armenia and Turkey remains closed and that there are no official diplomatic relations between Yerevan and Ankara, proposed retaliatory measures will include prohibiting and frustrating those commercial links which do exist.

Turkey should not punish the U.S. administration over a resolution in the U.S. Congress that calls the World War I-era killings of Armenians a genocide, but instead should impose sanctions against Armenia for supporting the measure, a top Turkish official said Tuesday.

[…]

“Bush and his team should not be punished,” Egemen Bagis, a foreign policy adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on CNN-Turk television. “The reaction should be against Pelosi and her team.”

[…]

Bagis said Turkey should impose sanctions against Armenia because it supported the resolution.

“Turkey must impose sanctions against Armenia,” Bagis said. “Turkey has already done a list of what and when it will do, and the prime minister has already given necessary orders.”

The border between Turkey and Armenia is closed. But Turkey could cancel flights between Istanbul and Yerevan, as well as stopover flights to Armenia, and also prevent around 4,000 trucks from hauling goods to Armenia through neighboring Georgia.

Ironically, nationalists in Armenia and the Diaspora as well as Turkey will be the first to welcome such a move. This is yet another irony about the continuing discussion, debate and argument surrounding recognition of the Armenian Genocide. One supposes that not many Armenians will worry about the threat of “sanctions” although the possible effect on the economy is unclear.

After much speculation and earlier denials, RFE/RL reports that Armenia’s second mobile telecommunications network, VivaCell, has been sold to Russia’s main operator, Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), for $430 million in a takeover bid that should raise some questions about its timing just months before the 2008 presidential election early next year. The takeover is already raising concerns about Russia’s dominance and monopoly over key strategic areas of the Armenian economy.

The deal came after weeks of negotiations reportedly involving the governments of the two countries. According to reports in the Armenian press, the authorities in Yerevan have played a large role in convincing K-Telecom’s official owner, Lebanese tycoon Pierre Fattouch, to sell his rapidly expanding VivaCell network to MTS.

The Armenian government was similarly said to have been a driving force behind last year’s sale of the ArmenTel national telecom company, which operates the country’s second cellular network, to another Russian wireless firm, Vimpelcom. The $500 million acquisition came shortly after President Robert Kocharian’s visit to Moscow.

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Some great news for residents of Georgia and Armenia — flights between Yerevan and Tbilisi will soon be operating again. Instead of a 5-7 hour journey depending on your vehicle and your driver, it will now take 30-40 minutes in the air. Deduct the time spent in queues on the border and this is great news indeed. Georgia’s The Messenger has more.

By the end of December Armavia will conduct regular Tbilisi-Yerevan-Tbilisi flights. According to the news agency Novosti-Armenia the tickets price will be USD 50.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgia has not had direct flights to Armenia. According to the Armenian Civil Aviation press secretary Jasmen Vilian the resumption of flights is a result of business partnerships between Armenians and Georgians. It is said in Armenia that after Russia closed its air space to Georgia, Georgians may visit its northern neighbour via Armenia.

The Armenian side sent a statement about introducing the flights to Georgia to the Georgian Civil Aviation Administration in the summer. The flights should have started in May but the process was postponed to the end of the year.

During his interview with Rezonansi the head of the Georgian Civil Aviation Administration Giorgi Mzhavanadze said that Armenian’s interest in operating flights to Georgia was a result of large numbers of Armenians visiting Georgia’s resorts last year. After the rehabilitation of the Batumi international airport Armenians might begin direct flights from Yerevan-Batumi as well.

Incidently, there have been direct flights between Yerevan and Tbilisi since independence. For example, the World Food Programme (WFP) used to run a commercial service for NGOs and diplomatic missions. Then I remember one Georgian airline trying something, but stopping when the 2003 Rose Revolution happened.

Anyway, the full item is here.

Via iArarat, news that 24-year-old Armenian-American computer science student Christopher Soghoian has had a run-in with the FBI for highlighting an airline security flaw. Soghoian was responsible for creating a web site that generated fake boarding passes for Northwest Airlines.

BoingBoing reports that Soghoian stopped responding to instant messages after 3.50pm on 27 October when the FBI paid a visit to his home. The visit followed calls for Soghoian’s arrest by U.S. Congressman Edward Markey.

The Bush Administration must immediately act to investigate, apprehend those responsible, shut down the website, and warn airlines and aviation security officials to be on the look-out for fraudsters or terrorists trying to use fake boarding passes in an attempt to cheat their way through security and onto a plane,” Markey said in a statement. “There are enough loopholes at the backdoor of our passenger airplanes from not scanning cargo for bombs; we should not tolerate any new loopholes making it easier for terrorists to get into the front door of a plane.

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RFE/RL reports that controversy and many unanswered questions still surround the crash of an Armavia A-320 as it approached Sochi in May. As many people here suspected, the reason for the tragedy that resulted in 113 deaths has been given as pilot error by Russian investigators. However, while there are still many rumors circulating here that have been dismissed by the Government as well as the owner of Armavia, the authorities in Yerevan are also reportedly unhappy with the outcome of the investigation.

Citing their findings , Russia’s Transport Minister Igor Levitin said in July that the crew of the Armenian Airbus A-320 lost control of the plane as they made a second attempt to land at the Black Sea city of Sochi. This conclusion was endorsed by the Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee (ICA) of the Commonwealth of Independent States which also investigated the deadliest air disaster in Armenia’s history.

The Armenian government’s Civil Aviation Department essentially accepted this verdict at the time. At the same time, its director Artyom Movsisian said that although the “human factor” apparently played a role in the crash, Yerevan believes that there are still some key unanswered questions about its causes.

It emerged on Wednesday that Movsisian’s department has presented the ICA with a six-page document that questions some of the conclusions drawn by the Russian investigators. In particular, the Armenian side complained that the Russians failed to take note of Sochi airport’s alleged failure to “detect dangerous weather conditions” that are thought to have prevented the plane belonging to the national airline Armavia from landing safely on first attempt.

Armavia’s owner Mikhail Baghdasarian insists that the A-320 would have avoided the crash had it not received a last-minute order to veer away from the airport’s runway and make a second approach. Baghdasarov, who is a Russian citizen of Armenian descent, has rejected the ICA verdict and demanded an “independent inquiry.”

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For the first time since the collapse of the former Soviet Union an Azerbaijani airliner has landed at Armenia’s main Zvartnots Airport. In what was no doubt as much symbolic in the context of continuing attempts to resolve the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh than simply travel, the Azal Airlines TU–134 carried the three OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs charged with the task of mediating a solution.

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Aghavnadzor, Vayots Dzor Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Habitat for Humanity 2006

I came back from seeing my Mum off a few hours ago and just wanted to comment on the Square One restaurant that’s newly opened there. It takes a lot to impress me and not least because the eateries in Yerevan are generally tedious, uninspiring and boring. I also have to admit that I’ve never really been a fan of Square One’s restaurant on Yerevan’s Central Abovian Street although I admire the business accumen of — and the attention to quality of service from — the owners .

Stepan Panosian, 29, and Sam Samuelian, 28, are from Lebanon. But Stepan was raised and lived for 24 years in Cyprus. They met as students abroad and it seemed right that when both decided to repatriate they should set up a partnership in Armenia.

Sam moved here in 2001, continuing his studies for a MBA at the American University of Armenia. Stepan came here later, in February 2003.

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A year ago they opened their business venture together, Square One, a stylish restaurant that has become hugely popular with Yerevan’s young adults.

About 300-400 customers visit Square One every day attracted by its American and European menu, high-quality customer service, music and atmosphere.

Each customer spends about $4.50, say the restaurateurs, adding that hygiene and hospitality is their policy at all times.

Sam and Stepan admit that running a business in Armenia might be difficult at first, as one has to learn new written and unwritten laws, but after some time it gets easier.

“Bureaucracy is time consuming and makes your work less effective,” says Stepan. “Besides, people with Soviet-style education are mostly unprepared as a labor force, while representatives of the younger generation seem to be more ready to learn new things and change.”

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It’s the third day of my Mum’s visit to Armenia and British Airways still has no idea where her luggage is. There were about a dozen others on the same flight who are also without their bags, as well as those who came over on the the Air France flight that arrived a few hours earlier. Apparently this is all because of tighter anti-terrorist measures in Europe and less time available to check in bags. Regardless, we can only now wait to see whether anything turns up before my Mum leaves Armenia next week.

RFE/RL reported yesterday that Armavia has rejected Russian claims that the crash of one its planes earlier this year was due to pilot error. Almost everybody I’ve spoken to in Armenia about the findings of a special commission to investigate the crash also feel the same. They’re not convinced that the full story has come out.

Russia’s Transport Minister Igor Levitin said on Wednesday that the Airbus A-320 plunged into the Black Sea as it approached the Russian resort city of Sochi because of a “human factor,” effectively laying the blame on its crew. He said this is the conclusion drawn by a Russian-led inquiry into the worst air disaster in Armenia’s history.

A special commission formed by the Interstate Aviation Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States also took part in the inquiry. The Russian head of the body, Tatyana Anodina, endorsed its findings, saying that the A-320’s main pilot “did not ensure control of the plane as far as angle and altitude were concerned.”

Senior Armavia executives strongly disagreed with this, saying that other factors such as conflicting instructions reportedly given to the A-320 crew by Russian traffic controllers and stormy weather were also at play. Armavia’s Russian-Armenian owner, Mikhail Baghdasarian, insisted earlier that the plane would have safely landed at Sochi airport had it not received a last-minute order to veer away from the runway and make a second approach.

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When the Armenian Defense Minister was immediately despatched by President Kocharian to Sochi after the tragic crash of an Armavia A320 on 3 May that claimed 113 lives, no media reports questioned why. Indeed, while in other countries the Minister of Transport might concern themselves with the accident, it would usually be up to an independent enquiry to determine the cause of the accident, and not a state official with close business links to the main shareholder of the airline in question.

As a result, rumors in Yerevan as well as news reports and blogs on the Internet suggest that things might not be as they were initially reported. Whereas the official line has been that bad weather was the cause of the crash, many Armenians say that the crash was caused by gunfire in the aircraft.

“Everyone in Yerevan speak that sounds like shooting were heard before the plane fell,” states journalist of the Novoye Vremya Armenian newspaper Nora Kananova.

In her words, “Allegedly former Security Service chief Karlos Petrosyan got a call late at night from his son Aram, who was aboard A-320 airbus and shots were heard. It was the moment, when the plane fell into the sea…”

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By LoonyMoony

“Will you play music tonight?”, I asked as soon as we entered Our Village, a traditional Armenian restaurant in Yerevan. As far as I remembered they had live music every day. I was with my English and Scottish friends Chrisandra and Adrianne. They both teach Armenian dances and are here for dance training and would have been pleased to listen to Armenian folk music while eating Armenian food.

“No”, the waitor replied looking at me reproachingly, “we are not playing music today because it is a day of morning”.

“Ah, sorry, I forgot”, I said.

Well, it is not that I forgot. I kept remembering the horrible plane crash in Sochi all day. Chrisandra and Adrianne who arrived with a dancing group on the day of the tragedy were also upset about the tragedy as well. In fact, Chrisandra said when such tragedies happen you feel sad not only about the people whom it happened to, even though you don’t know them, but you also remember the people you lost.

I agree with her. I always have that feeling. I felt sad on that day. And the day after. And today.

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