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TURKEY EXTENDS CONDOLENCES TO ARMENIA OVER ACCIDENT
New Anatolian, Turkey
May 4 2006
Ankara yesterday set aside its deep political differences with
neighboring Armenia to extend sympathy over the tragic death of
Armenian citizens in a jet crash.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul sent a message to his Armenian
counterpart Vartan Oskanian and expressed sincere condolences to
relatives of Armenian citizens killed in the crash, The New Anatolian
learned.
Turkey and Armenia do not have diplomatic relations and the two
countries are at odds over the Armenian claims of genocide. The
Armenian diaspora accuses the Ottoman Empire of deliberately massacring
up to 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1919. Turkey stresses
that these figures are inflated and says that far fewer Armenians
died, due to civil unrest under the conditions of World War I and
the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Ankara suspended its diplomatic
relations with Yerevan a decade ago due to Armenian occupation of
the Azeri territories of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Turkish sources confirmed to The New Anatolian yesterday that Gul's
message of condolence to Oskanian would be sent to Yerevan through
diplomatic channels. They didn't provide any more details.
Last year, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to
Armenian President Robert Kocharian suggesting putting an end to
the dispute over genocide claims through a joint study of Turkish
and Armenian scholars. But the Armenian president turned down the
suggestion, asking first that Ankara revive diplomatic relations and
discuss all issues of concern on an intergovernmental platform. At
that time, the messages were sent through the embassies of both
countries in neighboring Georgia.
Clash leaves 113 dead
A total of 113 people are dead after an Armenian-owned Airbus plunged
into the Black Sea in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
According to the report by RIA Novosti news agency, the A-320
passenger jet, which was flying from Yerevan to an airport servicing
the popular Russian resort of Sochi, disappeared from radar screens
at 2:15 a.m. local time (Tuesday, 10:15 p.m. GMT).
Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said that the most likely
cause of the crash was bad weather -- the Armavia Airlines plane
had reportedly been trying to make its second landing attempt in
heavy rain -- and an expert with Russia's Air Traffic Organization
concurred that poor visibility may have caused the accident.
"These were the actual weather conditions at the moment of the crash:
the lowest level of cloud lay at 100 meters, visibility was at four
kilometers, and it was raining heavily," the expert said.
Prosecutors ruled out the possibility of a terrorist attack and a
representative of the Interior Ministry in the southern Krasnodar
Territory said investigators were considering three possibilities.
"We are considering several versions: a mistake made by the pilot,
a technical malfunction or a mistake by air traffic controllers,"
Igor Zhukov of the North Caucasus transport police said.
However, Artyom Movsisyan, the head of Armenia's main civil aviation
department, ruled out the possibility of a technical error. He said
the A-320 had undergone a complete technical overhaul last month
and experts from Sabina Technics had given a positive report on its
technical condition shortly before takeoff.
Movsisyan said the plane had been filled with 10 metric tons of fuel
and a flight to Sochi lasting less than an hour needed only 3.5 tons.
New Anatolian, Turkey
May 4 2006
Ankara yesterday set aside its deep political differences with
neighboring Armenia to extend sympathy over the tragic death of
Armenian citizens in a jet crash.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul sent a message to his Armenian
counterpart Vartan Oskanian and expressed sincere condolences to
relatives of Armenian citizens killed in the crash, The New Anatolian
learned.
Turkey and Armenia do not have diplomatic relations and the two
countries are at odds over the Armenian claims of genocide. The
Armenian diaspora accuses the Ottoman Empire of deliberately massacring
up to 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1919. Turkey stresses
that these figures are inflated and says that far fewer Armenians
died, due to civil unrest under the conditions of World War I and
the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Ankara suspended its diplomatic
relations with Yerevan a decade ago due to Armenian occupation of
the Azeri territories of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Turkish sources confirmed to The New Anatolian yesterday that Gul's
message of condolence to Oskanian would be sent to Yerevan through
diplomatic channels. They didn't provide any more details.
Last year, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to
Armenian President Robert Kocharian suggesting putting an end to
the dispute over genocide claims through a joint study of Turkish
and Armenian scholars. But the Armenian president turned down the
suggestion, asking first that Ankara revive diplomatic relations and
discuss all issues of concern on an intergovernmental platform. At
that time, the messages were sent through the embassies of both
countries in neighboring Georgia.
Clash leaves 113 dead
A total of 113 people are dead after an Armenian-owned Airbus plunged
into the Black Sea in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
According to the report by RIA Novosti news agency, the A-320
passenger jet, which was flying from Yerevan to an airport servicing
the popular Russian resort of Sochi, disappeared from radar screens
at 2:15 a.m. local time (Tuesday, 10:15 p.m. GMT).
Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said that the most likely
cause of the crash was bad weather -- the Armavia Airlines plane
had reportedly been trying to make its second landing attempt in
heavy rain -- and an expert with Russia's Air Traffic Organization
concurred that poor visibility may have caused the accident.
"These were the actual weather conditions at the moment of the crash:
the lowest level of cloud lay at 100 meters, visibility was at four
kilometers, and it was raining heavily," the expert said.
Prosecutors ruled out the possibility of a terrorist attack and a
representative of the Interior Ministry in the southern Krasnodar
Territory said investigators were considering three possibilities.
"We are considering several versions: a mistake made by the pilot,
a technical malfunction or a mistake by air traffic controllers,"
Igor Zhukov of the North Caucasus transport police said.
However, Artyom Movsisyan, the head of Armenia's main civil aviation
department, ruled out the possibility of a technical error. He said
the A-320 had undergone a complete technical overhaul last month
and experts from Sabina Technics had given a positive report on its
technical condition shortly before takeoff.
Movsisyan said the plane had been filled with 10 metric tons of fuel
and a flight to Sochi lasting less than an hour needed only 3.5 tons.