Author: Andres-Papazian

Business Spectator , Australia
Jan 23 2012

Turks march in Paris to against bill

Published 2:15 AM, 23 Jan 2012
AAP

Thousands of Turks from across Europe marched through Paris on
Saturday denouncing a bill that would make it a crime to deny that the
killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago was
genocide.

Turks young and old, waving their country’s red flag, or wrapped in
it, marched to the Senate, where the bill will be debated on Monday
after passage in December in the lower house.

They carried banners reading “No to Sarkozy Shame Law,” “History for
Historians, Politics for Politicians” or other slogans denouncing an
alleged bid by President Nicolas Sarkozy to “fish for votes” among
French Armenians before the two-round presidential elections in April
and May.

Critics claim the real aim of the bill is to ensure votes for
President Nicolas Sarkozy from French Armenians in the two-round
presidential elections in April and May. An estimated 500,000
Armenians live in France.

The measure would make it a crime to deny that mass killings of
Armenians in 1915 by Ottoman Turks constitute genocide. It sets a
punishment of up to one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros
($A56,793) for those who deny or “outrageously minimise” the killings
– putting such action on par with denial of the Holocaust.

France formally recognised the 1915 killings as genocide in 2001, but
provided no penalty for anyone refuting that.

Despite the passing of nearly 100 years since the killings, the issue
remains a deeply emotional one for Armenians who lost loved ones and
for Turks who see a challenge to their national honour.

An irate Turkey briefly recalled its ambassador to France and
suspended military, economic and political ties.

“Politicians who haven’t read an article on this say there was a
genocide,” said Beyhan Yildirim, 35, a demonstrator from Berlin. He
was among those bused into Paris from Germany and elsewhere for
Saturday’s march.

Scores of buses from France, Germany and elsewhere lined the streets
of southern Paris where the march began.

Armenians plan a demonstration near the Senate on Monday before the
debate and vote.

It was unclear whether the measure would get the easy ride it did in
the National Assembly, the lower but more powerful house.

The Senate is controlled by the rival Socialists who had earlier
backed the bill. However, the Senate Commission on Laws voted against
its passage last week, saying the measure risks violating
constitutional protections including freedom of speech. The question
is whether the Socialists will heed the recommendations if only
because the issue is becoming an electoral hot potato.

Compromising freedom of expression in France, considered the cradle of
human rights, has been a key argument of the Turkish government
against the measure.

It is unclear whether politicians in the National Assembly had an
inkling in advance that their vote giving the green light to the bill
would trigger a diplomatic dispute. There appeared to be less than 100
polticians present for the December 22 vote – out of 577.

From: A. Papazian

ALPINISME
4 alpinistes Arméniens s’attaquent au Demavend (5 671 m)

Une équipe de 4 alpinistes Arméniens tentera de gravir à partir du 24
janvier le sommet du Demavend (5 671 m), le plus haut sommet d’Iran.
Du 25 au 28 janvier se déroulent en Iran une compétition d’alpinisme
avec 200 alpinistes venus de 25 pays qui prendront également part à
l’ascension de Demavend. L’équipe d’alpinistes d’Arménie est composée
d’Antoine Ananian, Karékine Ounassian, Levon Movsissian et Hovhannés
Mardirossian.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 22 janvier 2012,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

Loi Contre la Négation du Génocide des Arméniens
Mobilisation Turque

Depuis le 22 décembre 2011, date à laquelle l’Assemblée nationale
française a adopté la proposition de loi de la députée Valérie Boyer
visant à pénaliser la négation de tous les génocides reconnus par la
loi, dont celui des Arméniens, une mobilisation sans précédent des
forces négationnistes turques ont investi la capitale française en
provenance de diverses régions de l’hexagone, de Belgique, du
Luxembourg, des Pays-Bas et d’Allemagne.

Samedi 21 janvier, annoncés entre 30 à 50 000 participants, ils
étaient environ 12 000 encadrés par un service d’ordre impressionnant
à redescendre le boulevard Saint-Jacques en direction du Sénat.
Présence discrète de policiers en civil et forces de police déployées
tout au long du parcours.

Ordre avait été donné par les organisateurs du rassemblement d’être
plus`lisse` que le 22 décembre. Mais il semble que certaines
associations turques n’en aient pas tenues vraiment compte,
brandissant des banderoles clairement négationnistes. Un océan de
drapeaux turcs côtoyaient le très peu de drapeaux français comme cela
avait pourtant été recommandé. Egalement quelques bannières azéries et
deux drapeaux bretons…

Parmi les slogans, souvent en langue turque, à relever :
`l’impérialisme n’empêchera pas le panturquisme` `Allah O’Akbar` et
`Sarkozy on va te niquer`, hurlés par des groupes de moindre
importance au sein du cortège, et le fameux signe des Loups Gris des
ultra nationalistes. Le thème algérien avait été remisé au tiroir aux
erreurs, laissant place à un amour inconsidéré pour le pays de Jaurès.

Quelques incidents entre kurdes et turcs sont venus troubler la marche
qui n’a que peu été couverte par les médias français, reprenant la
dépêche de l’AFP titrant avec exagération le chiffre de `plus de 15
000 manifestants`. Seuls, France 3 et BFMTV ont consacré, hier, une
minute à l’événement. En revanche plusieurs correspondants de la
presse et des télévisions turques recueillaient les témoignages des
manifestants et des curieux en marge du cortège. La presse turque,
quant à elle titre, selon le support, qu’il y avait entre 35 000 et 80
000 participants !

Des tracts ont été distribué aux passants dans lesquels ont peu lire :
` Depuis quand un groupe de `lobby` peut encenser le Parlement
français à salir l’histoire d’une autre nation au nom du peuple
français ?`

Depuis quand le fait de défendre sa patrie contre les forces
d’occupation impérialistes et ses collaborateurs locaux est devenu un
crime qui aboutit à l’accusation de génocide ?

Vous les citoyens français, est-ce que vous pourriez accepter que les
honorables résistants français de la deuxième guerre mondiale soient
considérés comme des assassins car résistant à l’impérialisme
Nazi……

Les dirigeants de l’Empire Ottoman ont forcé les collaborateurs locaux
à quitter le territoire où ils travaillaient comme serviteurs des
occupants, ils les ont déporté vers le Moyen Orient, une autre partie
de l’Empire Ottoman.` -Associations de Défenseurs des Idées Kémalistes
en France-

Un autre document copié à partir du site ermenisorunu.gen.tr/français
, reprend les thèses négationnistes officielles.

Outre le fait que la France n’a pas à légiférer sur le sujet, les
prétextes les plus souvent évoqués par certains des manifestants pour
justifier de leur opposition au projet de loi, repose sur l’effet
désastreux qu’il aurait sur les échanges économiques entre la France
et la Turquie. Et évidemment son aspect `électoraliste` et les
atteintes à la`liberté d’expression`.

Un jeune homme pour lequel la loi ne doit passer parce que ce n’est
pas un génocide, est Interrogé par un journaliste sur sa position. Il
lui demande `sur quoi vous basez-vous en affirmant qu’il n’ y aurait
pas eu de génocide à l’encontre les arméniens ? Et le jeune homme de
répondre : `J’ai lu les livres d’Histoire turcs`. Le journaliste
poursuit : `Vous n’avez rien lu d’autre sur le sujet ?`- `Si je
regarde sur internet`.

Lundi 23 janvier, une nouvelle concentration des organisations turques
devrait se tenir à proximité du Luxembourg.

Jean Eckian + photos

Ce manifestant, semble -t-il originaire de Lyon, signale au
journaliste de BFMTV qu’il n’y a aucun problème avec les arméniens
qu’il connaît dans son entourage.

dimanche 22 janvier 2012,
Jean Eckian ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

TURKEY: COURT PROTECTS JOURNALIST’S KILLERS

Targeted News Service
January 18, 2012 Wednesday 2:06 AM EST

Human Rights Watch issued the following news release:

A Turkish court’s verdict on January 17, 2012, that there was no
state involvement or organized plot behind the 2007 shooting of the
Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is a travesty of justice,
Human Rights Watch said today.

“The Istanbul court’s denial of the plot behind Hrant Dink’s murder
flies in the face of evidence,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey
researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Five years after the killing,
Turkey’s criminal justice system remains unwilling to probe state
collusion in political assassinations,”

Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 14 acquitted all 19 defendants accused
of being part of a criminal organization responsible for Dink’s murder
on January 19, 2007. The court concluded that the crime was not the
work of a criminal organization motivated by ideological aims and
that there was no deeper plot behind the murder.

The court sentenced Yasin Hayal to aggravated life imprisonment, up
to 40 years in prison, for planning and organizing Dink’s murder by
17-year-old Ogun Samast. The court also sentenced Ahmet Iskender and
Ersin Yolcu, as accessories to the murder, to 12 years and 6 months
imprisonment and Salih Hacisalioglu to 10 months for possession of
unlicensed ammunition.

Erhan Tuncel, who faced the same charges as Hayal, was acquitted
of any involvement and sentenced to 10 years and 6 months for an
entirely separate crime in September 2004: the bombing of a branch
of McDonald’s in Trabzon. Fifteen other defendants facing various
charges in connection with the case were acquitted.

Samast, tried separately in a juvenile court, was convicted in July
2011, and sentenced to almost 23 years in prison for shooting Dink dead
in the street in front of the Istanbul offices of the Agos newspaper,
of which he was the founding editor. All the defendants are from the
Pelitli district of Trabzon, in Turkey’s eastern Black Sea region.

“The court’s treatment of the murder as a straightforward crime
committed in isolation by a few young men belies the evidence of their
deep connections with the security forces,” Sinclair-Webb said. “It
ignored the systematic failure by the Istanbul and Trabzon police
and gendarmerie to take steps to try to prevent a murder they were
repeatedly informed would happen,”

The final statement of the prosecutor in the trial pointed to the
existence of a criminal network, with links to the ultranationalist
Ergenekon gang, among whose alleged members are state officials
and members of the security forces who are currently on trial for
plotting a coup. The prosecutor indicated that the evidence to prove
the Ergenekon gang connection had been destroyed. But the prosecutor’s
investigation failed to follow many leads or to push for the inquiry
to be broadened, Human Rights Watch said. The prosecutor, as well as
lawyers for the Dink family, said they will appeal.

Tuncel had worked as an informer for both the Trabzon police and
the gendarmerie. The Trabzon police and gendarmerie, and police in
Istanbul, were repeatedly alerted to a plot to kill Dink, but failed
to take measures to prevent it.

The prosecutor’s investigation failed to press for the prosecution
of state authorities who repeatedly withheld evidence during the
investigation and contaminated other evidence. Both the prosecutor and
the court in turn failed at every stage to use the authority of the
criminal justice system to secure the compliance of state authorities
in a criminal investigation and murder trial proceedings.

Dink, the founding editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian
newspaper Agos, was a courageous champion of open debate, dialogue,
and cooperation among all communities in Turkey, and was committed
to democratization and human rights. His killing was apparently
politically and ethnically motivated. He was identified by
his murderers as an Armenian who had been convicted in court for
“insulting Turkishness.”

Dink had been prosecuted for an article in which he discussed Armenian
identity. In July 2006, the General Penal Board of the Court of
Cassation, Turkey’s court of appeal, upheld a six-month suspended
sentence for that publication under Article 301 of the Turkish penal
code that criminalized “publicly insulting Turkishness.” Dink was
prosecuted again in September 2006, under the same provision, for
using the term “genocide” in a statement made to the Reuters news
agency to describe the massacres of Armenians in Anatolia at the end
of the Ottoman Empire.

In September 2010, the European Court of Human Rights delivered a
tough verdict against Turkey for failure to protect Dink’s life,
failure to investigate his murder, and failure to uphold his right
to freedom of expression.

“The government has a clear duty to implement the judgment of
the European Court, to cooperate fully to ensure that the full
circumstances of state collusion in Dink’s murder are thoroughly
investigated and that state officials are not protected,” said
Sinclair-Webb.

From: A. Papazian

MEDVEDEV TO DISCUSS KARABAKH WITH AZERI, ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS IN SOCHI ON JAN 23

Interfax
Jan 18 2012
Russia

The presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh
Sargsian, respectively, will be in Sochi on a working visit on
January 23 at the invitation of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev,
the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

Medvedev is due to hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of
Azerbaijan and Armenia, the press office said.

“On the same day, another tripartite summit will take place that will
focus on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process,” the Kremlin said.

From: A. Papazian

FIVE REASONS US MUST AVOID WAR WITH IRAN
by L. Bruce Laingen and John Limbert

The Christian Science Monitor
January 17, 2012 Tuesday

Do the drumbeaters calling for ‘war with Iran’ never learn from
history? It is tempting to dismiss their hot air as an attempt to
score political points, but its sheer volume is worrying. Two former
US hostages in Iran say Obama must ignore the war talk, and keep in
mind these five key points.

The Iranians are claiming they recently disabled an American drone
aircraft. If they did so, Americans should find out how, and apply
their techniques to deal with those closer to home who drone on about
the “Iranian threat,” beat the war drums by suggesting military strikes
and regime change, and risk dragging this country into a new military
calamity in the Middle East.

Do these droners and drumbeaters never learn from history? Would
they have the United States enter a new catastrophe just as we are
extricating ourselves – with great difficulty – from two bloody,
costly, and unproductive misadventures in Iran’s neighborhood?

To all appearances American drumbeaters are no smarter than Iraq’s
Saddam Hussein, who, in 1980, thought that a weakened and divided
Iran would fall easily to his better-armed and better-organized forces.

Instead his attack united Iranians – even those who detested the
prevailing holy fascism – behind defending the homeland. In that
sense, Hussein also helped the authorities in Tehran to suppress all
domestic dissent and consolidate power under the most authoritarian
and intolerant of ideologies.

Just because a war with Iran is foolish, however, does not mean it
will not happen. Several discredited former American officials such
as former ambassador to the UN John Bolton and former House Speaker
Newt Gingrich are essentially calling for one. While it is tempting to
dismiss the current rhetoric as hot air intended to score political
points, its sheer volume and frequency is worrying. Nine years ago,
in the case of Iraq, a similar flood of rhetoric, fear mongering,
and distortion overwhelmed good judgment, and led America on a course
that defied common sense. It could happen again, this time in a way
that could make Iraq look easy.

US officials – particularly the president – who have the difficult
task of dealing with Iran should ignore the recent cacophony of war
talk, and keep in mind the following:

· Iran is chiefly a threat to itself. Its diplomacy has been inept,
featuring charm offensives alternating with making gratuitous enemies.

It has few friends in its region, beyond tiny, Christian Armenia.

Unlike most of its neighbors, it is not Arab, Turkish, or Sunni Muslim,
and thus lacks a ready entree into regional affairs. Its support of
President Bashir al-Assad’s regime in Syria, while under­standable
from a strategic point of view, has won it few friends in the region.

· The priority of those in power in Tehran is their own political
survival. When that is at stake, they can become remarkably flexible
(or brutal). As a former Iranian official once put it, regarding the
Iran-Iraq war: They don’t care how many young people die in the Iraqi
swamps. But they are not going to commit political suicide.

· The Islamic Republic wants the US to over-react to its posturing.

Provoking us to do and say something stupid is the national sport.

Iranian bellicose statements about closing the Strait of Hormuz and
the recent officially sanctioned attack on the British Embassy are
signs of weakness, not strength. America and its allies should not
swallow the bait. The best response to Iranian bravado and claims of
this or that achievement is a collective yawn.

· The Iranians may or may not be working toward a nuclear weapon. We
should make a cold calculation, however, about just what such a
weapon will do for them. It certainly does not solve their economic
problems, nor does it silence opposition protesters in Tehran or
ethnic separatists in Baluchestan, Kordestan, or elsewhere. Nor does
a nuclear weapon help the Islamic Republic counter what it claims
is the main threat to its survival: a covert war of “soft overthrow”
waged by its traditional enemies in the West.

· America should not paint itself into a rhetorical corner. American
presidents have said that a nuclear-armed Iran is “unacceptable”. So,
presumably, is a nuclear-armed Pakistan, India, or North Korea. The
Berlin wall was also unacceptable. In all these cases, however,
Americans remained smart and did not become captive to their own
rhetoric.

For 30 years, America’s dealings with Iran have been difficult and
frustrating. Attempts to break the existing downward spiral of insults,
accusations, and threats have foundered on mistrust and sometimes
on just bad timing. When President Obama – at the beginning of his
administration – offered Iran engagement based on mutual respect
(something the Iranians have always claimed they wanted), Tehran
seemed unwilling or unable to respond.

In May 2010, when Iran seemed ready to accept the same nuclear fuel
deal it had rejected seven months earlier, the process of building
consensus for a UN Security Council sanctions resolution had become
irreversible.

Despite setbacks, the US should not give up on the effort to end
over three decades of futility with Iran. Otherwise Americans risk
stumbling into another armed conflict with unpredictable and disastrous
consequences. Americans should keep their heads on their shoulders and
apply the classic tools of statecraft: patience, firmness, persistence,
open-mindedness, and a readiness to listen.

Above all Americans must keep their poise, and ignore the droners –
even the loudest ones – who would stampede their country into yet
another Middle East fiasco.

L. Bruce Laingen was chief of mission and John Limbert was political
officer at the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979. Both were detained in
Iran for 14 months.

From: A. Papazian

IRAN, ARMENIA SIGN LITERARY COOPERATION AGREEMENT

Islamic Republic News Agency
Jan 17 2012
Iran

Tehran, 17 January: Iranian and Armenian literary institutes signed on
Tuesday [17 January] a cooperation agreement with the start of cultural
programmes in Yerevan as the World’s Cultural Capital for 2012. Havva
literary institute of Iran agreed with its Armenian counterpart to
introduce and market all copy righted books in the two countries. The
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
announced Yerevan as World’s Cultural Capital for the year 2012.

Hence, based on the agreement Iran and Armenia will do their best to
coordinate all their cultural activities, especially in the field of
printing industry.

From: A. Papazian

THE RUSSIAN MILITARY IS GETTING READY FOR THE US AND ISRAEL TO ATTACK IRAN

The Business Insider
January 17, 2012 Tuesday 7:55 PM EST

This post originally appeared at Eurasianet.

Russia will be holding a series of military exercises in the North
Caucasus, Armenia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia this fall, reportedly
in preparation for a possible U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran. The
exercises, called Kavkaz-2012, will be held in September and won’t be
tactical/operational but strategic (i.e. won’t involve large numbers
of troops). The exercises will, however, include officers from the
breakaway Georgian territories. The focus on surveillance, air defense
and logistics suggests that Russia is tailoring the exercise to prepare
for a U.S.-Israel-Iran war, says Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta:

As suggested by the head of the Center for Military Forecasting,
Colonel Anatoly Tsyganok, “Preparations for the Kavkaz-2012 exercises
seems to have begun already largely due to the increasing military
tensions in the Persian Gulf.” “In a possible war against Iran may be
drawn some former Soviet countries of South Caucasus. How, then, to
ensure the viability of Russian troops stationed abroad, for example,
in Armenia? Apparently, the General Staff will plan some proactive
measures, including learning to organize in critical logistic supply
of troops,” said the expert.

Supporting this theory is the participation of a “pipeline battalion,”
whose task is to deliver fuel to forces, in the exercise.

Whatever the reason for the exercise, Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs is objecting:

Russia is deliberately building up its military forces, strengthening
its military infrastructure and deploying offensive weapons in
Georgia’s occupied territories. In doing so, the Russian government
is seeking to instigate a permanent state of tension in Georgia and in
the Black Sea region as a whole.The international community should pay
due attention to the fact that Russia’s foreign policy has undergone no
change: the Russian government continues to adopt aggressive practices,
including the demonstration of military force and provocations.

Russia represents a source of destabilization and negative developments
in the international arena.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan is ratcheting up the bellicose rhetoric (even by
the high standards of the Caucasus) against Armenia, reports Bloomberg:

Azerbaijan is buying up modern weaponry to be able to regain control
of the breakaway Nagorno- Karabakh region quickly and with few losses
should peace talks with neighboring Armenia fail, President Ilham
Aliyev said.

Defense spending will rise 1.8 percent this year to $3.47 billion,
which Aliyev said tops Armenia’s entire state budget.

“It’s not a frozen conflict, and it’s not going to be one,” Aliyev
said today in remarks broadcast on state television channel AzTV.

Would war in Iran have any effect on the Nagorno-Karabakh situation?

The mind reels.

From: A. Papazian

ERHAN TUNCEL ACQUITTED OF MURDERING HRANT DINK, ARMENIAN JOURNALIST IN TURKEY

International Business Times News
January 17, 2012 Tuesday 10:50 PM EST

A court in Turkey has sentenced a man named Yasin Hayal to life in
prison in connection with the murder of prominent Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink. However, another suspect, Erhan Tuncel, was acquitted of
murder charges.

Moreover, the two aforementioned defendants, along with all 19
suspects, were cleared of charges that they belonged to a secret
terrorist organization.

Tuncel did receive 10 years in prison for an unrelated charge of
bombing a McDonald’s restaurant in 2004.

The murder trial brings to an end a five-year odyssey that brought back
terrible memories of Turkey’s troubled relations with its minorities,
particularly Armenians.

Dink, who was the editor of a weekly publication called Agos, was shot
dead in January 2007 in Istanbul by an ultra-right wing nationalist
in broad daylight outside his office. For years prior to his death,
he had been threatened by nationalists for “insulting Turkishness”
for writing articles critical of the country.

The actual hitman, Ogun Samast, was sentenced to nearly 23 years last
summer. But many more people are believed to be behind the conspiracy
to murder Dink.

Indeed, the murdered man’s supporters and others believed the
killing was a conspiracy by an underground nationalist right-wing
group called Ergenekon that seeks ultimately to topple the elected
civilian government of Turkey.

Tuncel reportedly confessed in the trial that Dink’s murder was the
work of Ergenekon.

Former top military officials accused of links to Ergenekon are
currently facing trial in an alleged plot to overthrow the government
of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Meanwhile, Dink’s supporters are outraged by the acquittals and by
the court’s determination that the defendants did not belong to any
terrorist group.

The Dink family’s lawyer, Fethiye Cetin, told reporters that the
state itself was directly responsible for his killing because they
did not adequately protect Dink from those who threatened to kill him.

“They made fun of us throughout the five-year trial process. We did
not know they saved the biggest joke to the very end,” she said.

“This ruling means a tradition was left untouched. The state tradition
of political murders. The tradition of state discriminating against
some of its citizens and turning them into enemies.”

A supporter of Dink, Garo Paylan, said in a statement: “The ruling
is the state’s decision. The ones who decided to take Hrant from us
five years ago — the security forces, gendarmerie, intelligence,
judiciary, media, government, opposition — will once again make a
decision in the courthouse. They will say that the murder is the job
of two or three hitmen. They will try to hide in their dark world. But
we know them. They don’t know a thing: This case will not end before
we say that it did.”

In addition, according to Turkish media, the trial has unearthed
secret links between the defendants and Turkish police officials.

Tuncel himself was unmasked as a police informant.

Amnesty International’s Turkey researcher, Andrew Gardner, told the
Guardian newspaper of Britain: “There has been evidence since the
time of the murder five years ago indicating that those on trial were
working as part of a network, that state officials were complicit in
the murder. This has been acknowledged by the Dink family lawyers,
defendants in the case, the prosecutor and a state administrative
investigation. Yet those individuals were not investigated effectively,
they were not prosecuted. The court concluded that there was no
organization behind the murder, moving still further from the weight
of evidence.”

Gardner added: “It is a damning indictment of justice in Turkey,
sending the message that those in positions of power will be protected
and human rights violations by state officials will go unpunished. The
investigation, the prosecution and the verdict were largely irrelevant
to achieving justice for Hrant Dink.”

From: A. Papazian

RUSSIAN, ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS DISCUSS PREPARATIONS FOR TRIPARTITE KARABAKH MEETING

Interfax
Jan 17 2012
Russia

The Russian and Armenian Foreign Ministers, Sergei Lavrov and Eduard
Nalbandian, respectively, have met in Moscow to discuss preparations
for the upcoming meeting of the Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijan
presidents.

The heads of state are going to hold talks regarding the
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process, the Russian Foreign Ministry
said on Tuesday.

Lavrov and his counterpart also discussed a number of pressing
bilateral issues.

From: A. Papazian