Author: Tadevosian Garnik

EACH NATION’S BEST: ARMENIA

World Boxing New
July 1, 2008

By Derek Bonnett: Armenia is a former republic of the Soviet Union
located between the Black and Caspian Seas. The Kingdom of Armenia
was the first state to adopt Christianity back in the fourth century
and it holds great significance in Judeo-Christian theology as the
final resting place of Noah’s Ark after the flood.

The Republic of Armenia holds a far less significance in the history
of professional boxing. To be more exact, the nation has only boasted
two world champions and to find them you have to go way, way back
to…2004. That’s right; Vic Darchinyan and Arthur Abraham are the
only two Armenian born fighters to hold world titles. Their respective
accomplishments will be detailed later on.

While there are no other world champions to speak of, Armenia has had a
few other professional prizefighters worth mentioning. Ted Levin (Ted
L. Abajian) is the first recorded boxer to come from Armenia. Between
the years of 1917-1921, Levin was hailed as the bantamweight champion
of California, Arizona, and Mexico. However, Levin does not match
the usual criteria of the fighters mentioned in Each Nation’s Best
as he finished his career with an unassuming dossier of 13-20-13
(1). William Abelyan is a former contender in the featherweight
division whom posted notable wins over Orlando Salido, Guty Espadas
Jr., Jesus Salud, and Martin Honorio; however, he failed in his only
world title shot against Scott Harrison. Artyom Simonyan achieved
contender status after defeating the capable Fahsan 3K Battery in a
2004 title eliminator. However, Israel Vazquez and the late Agapito
Sanchez stopped him in the most important bouts of his career.

Armenia’s current crop of fighters is responsible for this nation’s
first noticeable impact on the sport of boxing and, in the coming
years, just might continue to establish a memorable history for sports
fans. The following boxers are four of Armenia’s best.

4). Khoren Gevor is a fringe middleweight contender with a professional
ledger of 29-3 (15). The orthodox fighter is best known for his defeat
to fellow Armenian Arthur Abraham in what could be considered the most
underrated KO of 2007. Gevor acquitted himself well enough against
the IBF middleweight champion, but was stopped in the eleventh round
in chilling fashion. Gevor’s previous two defeats came to the then
undefeated Lukas Konecny.

Outside of the Abraham fight, Gevor is largely inexperienced at
the world-class level. However, Gevor scored an eight round decision
victory over the respectable Sergey Tatevosyan when he was 21-4. Gevor
also handed five European prospects and contenders their first
defeats. A second world title attempt is possible for Gevor since he
holds the #7 spot in the eyes of the IBF and the #17 slot for the WBC.

Gevor, 29, has posted one victory in 2008, but needs to remain active
and begin testing himself against a higher caliber of opposition if
he is to make a serious impact on the Armenian boxing scene. He could
gain some valuable experience by sharing the ring with a veteran like
Howard Eastman.

3). Vanes "The Nightmare" Martirosyan is a very promising twenty-two
year old junior middleweight prospect. So far in his four-year
professional campaign, Vanes is 20-0 (13). He has a solid amateur
background and represented the United States, where he now resides,
in the 2004 Olympics as a welterweight. Top Rank has been taking
their time with Martirosyan bringing him up with steadily increasing
opposition.

The orthodox prospect’s best victory came against Michi Munoz, who
came into the bout with a record of 20-1 (13). The Nightmare proved be
just that for Munoz as he finished his man in the third round. Still,
the young prospect barely registers in the world rankings holding
a #32 spot by the WBC. Martirosyan’s ranking will likely rise after
his impressive decision victory over the seasoned Angel Hernandez on
June 26. Hernandez had fought Winky Wright, Kassim Ouma, and Wilfredo
Riviera earlier in his career.

Martirosyan needs to stay busy in 2008 and add to the three victories
he’s already posted this year. He took a big step up against Angel
Hernandez and fought with a small cut over his eye to win. Vanes
needs more late-round adventures against tough veterans with greater
experience. Former world title challenger Alfonso Mosquera could
provide Vanes with a stern test.

2). Vic "Raging Bull" Darchinyan is vastly more experienced in
comparison to the last two Armenian fighters and holds a record of
29-1-1 (23). Darchinyan held the IBF flyweight title for roughly a
two and a half year stint. However, he has gone 1-1-1 in his last
three contests. Like Gevor, the "Raging Bull" was victim to one of
the best KO’s in 2007 in which he lost his title to Nonito Donaire. In
his most recent effort, Darchinyan had to settle for a controversial
draw against Z Gorres.

Darchinyan, 32, may be on the slide, but he has amassed an impressive
dossier of victories. His much-revered power from the southpaw stance
has humbled the likes of Wandee Singwacha (2), Irene Pacheco, Diosdado
Gabi, Luis Maldonado, and Victor Burgos. He is still a knockout threat
to any man between 112 and 115 and he is currently ranked No.4 at
115 pounds by the IBF.

Darchinyan will be fighting for the second time in 2008 on August 2
in an attempt to claim the IBF super flyweight title from Dimitri
Kirilov, who also struggled in his most recent outing. A victory
against Kirilov will help re-establish Darchinyan among the lighter
weights, but he’ll be hard pressed to regain his former status as an
unbeaten flyweight champion.

1) "King" Arthur Abraham, 28, is the unbeaten IBF middleweight champion
of the world and only second to Kelly Pavlik in the division. He holds
a stalwart professional resume of 27-0 (22) and has seven defenses
of his championship. After his June 21 rematch KO of Edison Miranda
in the United States, Abraham seems to be on the verge of his first
super-fight

Abraham erased any questions about his controversial 2006 victory over
Edison Miranda with a crushing fourth round KO in their rematch. As
a champion Abraham has handled a variety of B level contenders with
relative ease and dispatched most of them inside of the distance. His
best victories as a professional are Kingsley Ikeke (KO5), Kofi Jantuah
(W12), Howard Eastman (W12), and Miranda (W12, KO4).

A showdown with Kelly Pavlik is among the hottest match-ups in the
sport, but it is not likely to happen soon. On the Abraham-Miranda
II undercard, old warhorse Raul Marquez defeated Giovanni Lorenzo in
a title eliminator and could be next for the champion. The Miranda
victory marked Abraham’s second in 2008.

It’s unclear whether or not Noah walked off of his ark into Armenia
with a pair of boxing world champions in tow, but the former Soviet
Nation is showing the beginnings of a proud history. For Armenian
boxing, the present is already far brighter than the past. The future
could be even brighter.

A DIFFIDENT WITNESS TO THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Sorcha Hamilton

The Irish Times
June 28, 2008 Saturday

HISTORY: WRITING ABOUT the Armenian genocide is a sure way to get into
trouble in Turkey. Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk received
death threats and was brought to court for his comments about the
murder of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in 1915.

Bestselling writer Elif Shafak was prosecuted by the Turkish government
for referring to the incident as genocide in her novel, The Bastard
of Istanbul. Newspaper editor Hrant Dink, who spent much of his
life campaigning against the government’s denial of the massacres,
was assassinated by a Turkish ultra-nationalist last year.

To this growing chorus of counter-narratives comes a striking memoir
by Fethiye Cetin. My Grandmother examines the real, human story behind
Turkey’s hidden past. It describes how Cetin, a human rights lawyer
who represented the murdered journalist Dink, uncovered a tragic
family secret.

For years Cetin knew nothing of her Muslim grandmother’s past – that
her real name was Heranus, not Seher, and that she was a Christian
Armenian torn from her mother’s arms during the infamous death marches
and adopted by a Turkish gendarme captain.

Cetin grew up in the small town of Maden. When her father died,
her family moved in with her grandparents. Cetin loved living in
this busy household where she could watch her aunts and uncles doing
their housework or spend hours at the big windows looking out over the
market. Her grandmother took pride in her cooking and the cleanliness
of her home, and was protective of her fatherless grandchildren.

Once, when the river flooded and Cetin and her brother and sister
were trapped in the cinema, her grandmother came to the rescue,
braving the high waters alone to bring her grandchildren home.

Cetin’s grandmother was a devout Muslim but the type of strong,
principled woman who dismissed the hoca religious leader when he
said it was a sin for children to play the mandolin. Instead, she
encouraged her granddaughter to play.

It was much later, after her grandfather died, that Cetin’s grandmother
began to speak about her past. Her family fell victim to the forced
deportations of 1915, when most of the men in her village were
slaughtered in public.

She remembers the bodies left on the side of the road during the
death marches and how her mother raced after her when she was plucked
from her arms by a man on horseback, who later took her into his
Muslim home.

It was only years afterwards, when she was married, that Cetin’s
grandmother discovered her parents had escaped to the US. While
she never got a chance to meet her family again before she died,
her granddaughter later visited them.

Cetin describes how she and her grandmother would talk for hours,
quickly changing the subject if anyone came into the room. There are
some unforgettable details in this memoir, such as the way Cetin’s
grandmother, while speaking about the past, smoothed her hand over her
skirt repeatedly "as if she were ironing her dress". Or the fact that
the sweet, braided breads that her grandmother would offer guests was
an Armenian tradition, almost like a secret code shared by neighbours
or others with similar pasts. Or how she would say, almost chanting:
"May those days go away and may they never return."

This is a remarkable book. It contains all the fascinating details of
a family history, with copies of photographs, letters and even one
of her grandmother’s recipes, while Cetin’s simple, unsentimental
style allows the story to speak for itself.

"May she forgive us," Cetin cried at her funeral, almost like a plea
on behalf of all Turkish Muslims to acknowledge their past. There
is no doubt that this story of hardship passed through generations
will have resonance among the estimated two million Turks who have
at least one grandparent of Armenian extraction.

Maureen Freely – who has also translated Orhan Pamuk – describes in
the introduction how Cetin wanted the book simply to bear witness to
the Armenian experience.

Cetin avoids the controversies over figures and the exact number of
dead or the politics of genocide recognition, which remain highly
divisive topics in Turkey. Instead, she seeks a more personal
truth. And perhaps it is only in stories like these – the tragic
secret passed from grandmother to granddaughter – that real histories
can begin to emerge.

TER-PETROSIAN CHALLENGES ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT TO FREE POLITICAL PRISONERS

Interfax News Agency
June 27 2008
Russia

Armenian opposition leader and former President Levon Ter-Petrosian
is ready to begin a dialogue with the authorities, if they release all
political prisoners, Levon Zurabian, a representative of the People’s
Movement, another opposition outfit, told a Friday press conference
in Yerevan.

"If the authorities release all political prisoners before July 4
Ter-Petrosian will invite the authorities to start a dialogue and
will produce a program of talks. Ter-Petrosian’s proposals will deal
with ways to overcome the deep political crisis," he said.

"With this offer we wish to ease the current tension in society.

The time has come to overcome tension and it should be seized,"
Zurabian said.

Zurabian added that an opposition rally attended by Ter-Petrosian
will be held in Armenia’s second-biggest city of Gyumri on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the city administration of Yerevan has denied permission
to the opposition to hold a rally in the city center on July 4 and
offered instead the Razdan or Dinamo stadiums as venues.

A NATO WEEK BEGINS IN ARMENIA

Defense And Security
June 23, 2008
Russia

A "NATO week" will begin in Armenia on June 23. Details of the planned
events will be presented on Monday at a briefing of Deputy Foreign
Minister Gegam Garibdzhanyan and executive director of the Atlantic
association of Armenia, Tevan Pogosyan. Armenian Defense Minister
Edvard Nalbandyan says that Armenia considers the continuation of
consultations with NATO in 26+1 format to be important.

TERRITORIAL TOURISM. DEVELOPING PERSPECTIVES

Panorama.am
14:06 24/06/2008

Today in Yerevan international two-day conference "The Best Practices
of Tourism, Informational and Communicational Technologies and
Business Services" is held to combine all the specialists of tourism
and informational technology. It is held with an assistance of US
government.

Participants of the conference are about to follow the offers and
advice of international experts and widen the cooperation. As Artak
Ghazaryan, assistant director of CAPS project, interviewed the spheres
of informational technology and tourism and high quality of delivering
services are of great importance for the country`s development. He
says that the measure will give a chance to discuss many problems
and make real projects for the territorial development. Many experts
from Georgia, USA, Eastern Europe, who have great experience in this
field, are taking part in it. The proceeding conference was held in
Montenegro and has already given results.

Ghazaryan hopes that this one will also be effective and allow
realizing joint projects in South Caucus. He notified that today
in this sphere of tourism the creation of joint projects and their
realizations as well as cooperation of tour-operators are in progress.

So the result of tour-operator`s cooperation is that tourists can
visit Armenia, Georgia and other countries. Ghazaryan is sure that
it will assist not only the development of territorial tourism,
but also the increase of tourist numbers.

The assistant director of the project reminded that the tourism
developing conception is already ready and the National project is in
process according to which Armenia will become the centre of resting
place. The national developing conception in the sphere of territorial
tourism is also in process of creation. According to A. GHazaryan this
project supposes progresses in Armenian economy and in cooperation
in the sphere of territorial tourism.

YASHAR JAFARLI: "THE UPCOMING MILITARY PARADE IS A DEMONSTRATION OF AZERBAIJAN’S MILITARY POTENTIAL NOT ONLY TO ARMENIA BUT TO ALL FORCES, INVOLVED INTO KARABAKH CONFLICT"

Today.Az
June 23 2008
Azerbaijan

Day.Az interview with Yashar Jafarli, chairman of the Azerbaijan
public association "Retired officers".

– A military parade on the 90th anniversary of the national armed
forces will be held in Azerbaijan this week. It has already been
announced that the unprecedented parade in the history of our country
will feature new technique of all kinds of armed forces. What is
it- a tribute to the jubilee event or demonstration of its power to
the enemy?

– This is a multi-mission event. Naturally, one of the tasks of this
event is a demonstration of power not only to its enemy but to the
entire region, the whole world. You see the conflict involves not only
two parties, regional countries, but also international organizations,
beginning from UN and up to the OSCE. Therefore, the head of state,
declaring possible resumption of hostilities with Armenia, in case
the potential of the peaceful resolution of the conflict is exhausted,
wants to prove that these words are not unfounded.

On the other hand, the parade also has other purposes. People
demand public control over the armed forces, demands report from
its government about the use of financial means, allocated for
defense. Naturally, the government must demonstrate the response to
these questions.

Furthermore, parade requirement definite readiness from the personal
staff of the armed forces and military technique. To march in rows
and columns requires readiness, Thus, it is also the training of
personal staff.

– Is the army well-equipped to impress the world and primarily Armenia?

– Certainly. We have more military facilities and it is better than
that of Armenia. You see, economic potential of a country plays a
decisive role and economically we are incomparably stronger than
our enemy and by all parameters we are the strongest state in the
region. This is also recognized by all international organizations
and even our enemies.

– Day.Az is holding a poll: "Can the military parade be held in
Azerbaijan until the occupied lands are not liberated?" in the
threshold of the parade. Readers are offered three options: 1.Yes,
because it raises military spirits of the population. 2. No, our
military potential should be demonstrated on the battle fields. 3. It
does not matter to me. The first two answers are almost on equally
popular among readers. And how you would answer this question?

– Of course, I support the first option. The parade is needed to
demonstrate our power to our enemies.

– Do you think this demonstration of power can influence the process
of Azerbaijani-Armenian negotiations on the resolution of Nagorno
Karabakh conflict?

– Yes, I am sure it will. Therefore, I support such actions, in our
conditions it is necessary.

– Do you think military parades of such a scale should be held
regularly, or at least more often than they are held in the past few
years, from jubilee to jubilee?

– Sure, they should become more frequent. Azerbaijan along with
the transitive period of its development is in a state of war with
Armenia. Our lands are still under occupation and until the situation
is preserved, it is necessary to hold large scale actions of such kind
at least once a year and military actions of local concern, dated to
holidays, can be held in different regions, including frontier area,
more frequently.

Worcester Telegram, MA
June 20 2008

Plans approved for Armenian park in Boston

BOSTON- The Armenian Heritage Foundation has won approval for a
controversial plan to develop a park on Boston’s Rose Fitzgerald
Kennedy Greenway.

The group said Friday that final design work and construction will
proceed now that the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority’s board has
granted approval to the eight-year-old proposal.

Mayor Thomas Menino and other civic leaders had opposed the proposal,
saying it would open the door for other groups with causes to develop
on the land, which is above Boston’s Big Dig. The original park design
included a memorial to mass killings of Armenians around the time of
World War I.

The Armenian Heritage Foundation said Friday that the park will
acknowledge Boston’s role as a key port of entry to immigrants and
celebrate the contributions of immigrants to American life. (AP)

DUTCH PARLIAMENTARIANS SUBMITTED QUESTIONS TO MFA ON VIOLATIONS OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN TURKEY

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.06.2008 15:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Federation of Armenian Organizations of the
Netherlands (FAON) was informed that Members of four factions in Dutch
Parliament, namely the Christian Union, the SGP (Political Reformed
Party), the VVD (Liberal Party) and the CDA (Christian Democrats),
have submitted written questions to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
and to the Secretary of State (Minister) for European Affairs about the
five month sentence of Turkish publisher Ragip Zarakolu for publishing
a book about the Armenian Genocide, the FAON told PanARMENIAN.Net.

The questions are as follows:

1. Have you been noticed that a Turkish publisher has been sentenced
to five months in prison for publishing a book about the Armenian
Genocide of 1915?

2. What is your opinion on this conviction, which is based on the
controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code?

3. The respective controversial Articles in the Turkish Penal Code
have been adapted quite recently under pressure of the EU to be
better able to guarantee the freedom of speech in Turkey, especially
in relation to the Armenian Genocide. Does this conviction mean that
these amendments have been just cosmetic? What can be concluded about
the scope and the meaning of Article 301 after this conviction?

4. What are the steps that the Minister intends to take bilaterally and
in the EU context to address the Turkish government on this sentence?

5. To what extent is this Turkish sentence in defiance of the Charter
of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and with the European
Convention on Human Rights?

6. What are the consequences of this conviction, according to the
Minister, for the EU accession negotiations with Turkey?

THE AVARS OF AZERBAIJAN ASK THE PRESIDENT OF DAGESTAN TO PROTECT THEM FROM AZERBAIJANIZATION

Kavkazskiy Uzel
Kavkaz.memo.ru website
June 18 2008
Moscow

"Physical and moral genocide"

The executive committee of the Avar National Council sent an open
letter to Dagestani President Mukhu Aliyev today. One of the activists
of the council, Magomed Guseynov, pointed out that the appeal puts
emphasis on the situation of Avars living in Azerbaijan. According
to Guseynov, the matter is about physical and moral genocide against
Avars.

In an interview with a Kavkazskiy Uzel correspondent, Guseynov
pointed out that the Avars in Azerbaijan – about 200,000 people –
are living mainly in their historical homeland – Zaqatala, Balakan
and Qax districts of Azerbaijan.

By the decision of the Trans-Caucasia bureau of the Central
Committee of the Soviet Communist Party (of Bolsheviks), this land
was handed over to Azerbaijan in 1922. This was followed by the forced
"Azerbaijanization of the Avars" – in Soviet Azerbaijan the teaching
of the Avar language was banned in institutions of general education,
programmes on television and radio were broadcast only in Azerbaijani,
the region was actively settled by Azerbaijanis, and during population
censuses and while applying for documents Avars were forced to identify
themselves as Azerbaijanis.

Perestroika and the Karabakh war became another factor of the region’s
de-Avarization as thousands of refugees from Nagornyy Karabakh poured
into the region, while mainly poorly-trained Avar conscripts were
sent to the Karabakh front.

Guseynov maintains that political, economic and other powers in
Zaqatala, Balakan and Qax districts are concentrated only in the
hands of Azerbaijanis, mainly from Naxcivan. Specifically, more than
95 per cent of officials in the district are Azerbaijanis, though
they comprise only 27 per cent of the population.

Anyone who has criticized and criticizes the current situation risks
his life, our correspondent’s interviewee said.

For example, a successful businessman and member of the Azerbaijani
parliament (Milli Maclis), Ali Antsukhskiy, a native of Zaqatala
District, who claimed to be the leader of the Avar people, was
assassinated in the centre of Baku in 1996. All in all, about 190
Avars were killed from 1991 to 1996, according to the deputy chairman
of the Avar National Council.

Quite a few Avars ended up behind bars. According to various
international public and rights organizations, their overall number
is approaching 300 today.

In his letter to the president of Dagestan, Guseynov also cites other
examples of ethnic discrimination and of the Azerbaijanization of the
region. He maintains that history is being falsified – textbooks say
that the territory of Zaqatala, Balakan and Qax districts has always
belonged to Azerbaijanis and describe historical Dagestani persons
as Azerbaijanis.

Besides that, according to Huseynov, the Avar names of villages and
areas are being translated into Azerbaijani. Specifically, the village
of Khetav-rosu (named after Avar Khetav) was renamed Gatovlar in 2008.

In the town of Balakan, the pedestal under a future monument to the
outstanding leader of mountain people – Amakhan Avarskiy – was blown
up. In its place, a monument to Azerbaijani Nariman Narimanov, who
initiated repression against the Avars, was put up.

In 2000, the head of Zaqatala District, Azerbaijani Rafayil Macidov,
issued an order on the demolition of the monument to the third imam
of Chechnya and Dagestan, Shamil. The resolution was not fulfilled
due to active resistance from the Avars, but the monument was blown
up in 2001.

In 2007, the leadership of the district removed three times a billboard
that was installed near the Avar village of Tangyt, saying: "Here lies
Khadzhi-Murat, the character of Lev Tolstoy’s novel Khadzhi-Murat." The
grave of the famous Avar naib [commander] was desecrated as well. The
oval photograph of Khadzhi-Murat was torn off the gravestone, and
now the gravestone has numerous traces left by a metal object.

The deputy chairman of the Avar national movement also says that Avars
cannot receive effective aid either in Dagestan or in Azerbaijan. In
the spring of 2007, Azerbaijan hosted an impressive delegation from
Dagestan which said after a meeting with the leadership of Azerbaijan
and Zaqatala District that there were no ethnic problems here.

In Baku, there is a permanent representative office of Dagestan in
Azerbaijan, but the staff of the representative office have repeatedly
accused its head, ethnic Azerbaijani Magomed Kurbanov, in the Dagestani
media of misappropriation of budget funds, abuse of power, failure
to perform his duties, Dagestanophobia and Azerbaijanophilia.

Levers of pressure on Baku

At the end of his letter, Guseynov asks the Dagestani president "to
put all possible pressure on the leadership of Azerbaijan and its
representatives – the heads of Balakan, Zaqatala and Qax districts
who organize the destruction of the entire non-Azerbaijani material
heritage and raze to the ground anything that may be reminiscent of
the presence of other ethnic groups here, first of all, Avar people
who are native residents of these three districts".

The deputy chairman of the Avar national movement said that Avars
from Azerbaijan itself have repeatedly sent such letters to the
republic’s [Dagestan’s] leadership, but the authorities have not yet
reacted to them, though they have real levers of pressure on Baku,
Guseynov thinks.

Among such levers, Guseynov names the large Azerbaijani diaspora
in Dagestan which is protected at the state level because they have
media in the Azerbaijani language, a chance to study in their native
language, etc. Moreover, the Samur River which collects 96 per cent
of its water in Dagestan and supplies drinking water to the whole
Azerbaijani capital could also be used as a lever of pressure on the
authorities in Azerbaijan, Guseynov thinks.

In reply to the request of our Kavkazskiy Uzel correspondent to comment
on Guseynov’s letter, top officials from relevant Dagestani ministries
said that they will do so only several weeks later when they personally
familiarize themselves with the appeal to the Dagestani president.

[Passage omitted: Dagestani President Mukhu Aliyev visited Azerbaijan
in 2007 and held talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev]

UNSETTLED NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT AGGRAVATES THREATS AND TENSIONS IN REGION: AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT

Trend News Agency
June 19 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 19 June /Trend News corr A. Ismayilova/ "Unsettled
Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict aggravates threats and
tensions in the region," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said while
addressing the Milli Majlis [Parliament] in connection with the 90th
anniversary of the Azerbaijani Parliament on 19 June.

Parliamentary representatives from over 40 countries are participating
in the ceremony.

"The conflict regards not only Azerbaijan and Armenia, but a threat
to security of the region and projects and is an obstacle for
cooperation," President Aliyev said.

Aliyev mentioned UN Security Council had passed four resolutions on
withdrawal of Armenian troops from occupied Azerbaijani territory.

President also stressed that international organizations such as
OSCE, Council of Europe, OIC and GUAM support Azerbaijan’s position
on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Aliyev voiced his disappointment
that the conflict still remains unsolved in spite of the support of
international community.

"For some reason international community indifferently treats
the issue. We support peaceful settlement of the conflict, but
international organizations must respect themselves and urge for
liberation of Azerbaijani territory. Only in this case there will be
peace in the region," he said.

President Aliyev informed foreign countries’ parliamentary
representatives of Azerbaijan’s position on the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. "Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan must be restored
and Armenian military forces must be withdrawn from the occupied
territory. Then measures must be taken to provide for co-existence of
Karabakh Armenians and Azerbaijanis who will return to their land. Thia
region will be granted the highest status of self-government," he said.

Speakers and Vice-Speakers of the parliaments of Turkey, Georgia,
Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Belarus, etc. are participating in the
Baku meeting. A range of cultural events will take place during the
celebration. The participants will go sight-seeing in Baku and visit
cultural and historical heritage of Azerbaijan.