PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address: Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel: (374 10) 517 163
Fax: (374 10) 517 301
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website:
June 29, 2006
Official English Transcript of the Press Conference by His Holiness
Karekin II Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians At the
Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople
Kumkapi, Istanbul, Turkey
25 June 2006
The moderator of the press conference was Ms. Luiz Bakar, spokesman for the
Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople. His Beatitude Archbishop Mesrob
Mutafian, Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople introduced His Holiness.
His Beatitude Mesrob Mutafian: Welcome, dear friends. His Holiness has
allocated one half hour from his itinerary for today to be with you. He is
here on a pontifical visit upon the joint invitation of the Greek Patriarch
and the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople. He will be with us until June
27. Prior to his visit, a number of strange news stories appeared in
various media and news outlets, which caused us amazement. The articles had
stated that the Armenian community and the Patriarchate were anxious with
this visit; however there was no such unease in the community. Up until
this point, the visit has been progressing as planned. The first two days
of the visit, the Catholicos was the guest of the Greek Patriarch, according
to their itinerary; thereafter we visited Armenian churches and the sites
and museums of Istanbul together. Since our time is limited, I request that
there be no repetitions of questions. You may now ask any questions which
you desire.
Question: Your Holiness, you are here as the guest of the Greek Patriarch.
He is making efforts directed at bringing the two Churches closer. What is
your opinion on this and what will be the steps you implement?
His Holiness Karekin II: We are visiting Constantinople upon the invitation
of the Armenian Patriarch and the Greek Ecumenical Patriarch. We have come
on a pontifical visit to the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople and a
fraternal visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. As part of our visit (with
the Ecumenical Patriarch), there were meetings between the clergy of our
Churches, where we discussed the theological and dogmatic issues about which
there has been ongoing dialogue for quite a long time; meetings have
occurred and will continue to take place. The purpose of our visit to the
Ecumenical Patriarch was the reinforcement and strengthening of the
brotherly ties between our sister Churches, as well as the continuation of
the existing collaboration between our Churches with a new spirit and new
warmth.
Question: During your meeting with the Governor of Istanbul, you stated
that you are pleased with the regular (airline) flights between Yerevan and
Istanbul, however similar steps must continue. What do mean by `steps’?
His Holiness Karekin II: We expressed our satisfaction that
Yerevan-Istanbul flights occur regularly. As you are aware, our country –
the Republic of Armenia – is inclined to improve relations with Turkey, and
we are certain that as a result (of those improved relations) we will find
solutions. We shall be able to concurrently search for and find solutions
to the issues that exist in the relationship between our two peoples, one
example being the issue of the Genocide, of which you are aware.
Question: As you just mentioned, the issue of the Genocide exists between
Turkey and Armenia. We, meaning the opinion of Turkish society, are not
limited by the Armenians of Armenia. We see three groups of Armenians:
Diaspora, Armenians of Turkey, and Armenia. What are your thoughts? During
these deliberations, whom must Turkey consider? And the Armenians, whom do
they consider – the Turkish government or…? As you know, this issue is
being discussed in certain Turkish intellectual circles. In different
universities, specifically the University of Bilgi, this issue has been
discussed during different symposia where the Armenian Patriarch Mutafian
was also present. Taking the aforementioned into consideration, I want to
ask two questions: Who must represent the Turkish and Armenian sides and
what steps must be taken? And the second question, how do you evaluate the
atmosphere of democratic debate in Turkey?
His Holiness Karekin II: We are one people; dispersed throughout the
world. However, we are a people that have statehood. And naturally, the
Republic of Turkey can discuss these issues and find solutions with the
Republic of Armenia. For 90 years, the issue of the Genocide has been
researched by the academics of the world, and manifold volumes have been
written. For our people, the Genocide is not a matter for research – it is
a reality of fact that happened, which must be recognized. That
(recognition) is naturally the desired option, but a negative position can
also be taken on this issue.
If academic conferences in Turkey are intended to present the actuality of
the Genocide to Turkish society, then it shall be possible to welcome them.
If they are politically motivated, to further the position of denial,
naturally that won’t have a positive influence on resolving this issue. We
are satisfied to see that in the life of Turkish society, within
democratization processes, people are speaking and reflecting on the issue
of the Genocide during the First World War to a certain extent.
Question: During his meeting with the governor of Istanbul, the Catholicos
stated, `A certain amount of progress is noticeable in Turkish society. If
necessary steps are taken, everything can be much better.’ These words were
translated by (Armenian Patriarch) Mutafian. What is lacking in the life of
Turkish society and what did you have in mind?
His Holiness Karekin II: During our conversation with the governor, we have
said that we are pleased, that in the life of ethnic and religious
minorities, as it relates to the Armenian Apostolic Church and the
Ecumenical Patriarchate, some concerns are receiving their positive
solutions. We can see that for many decades, it was impossible to renovate
the (headquarters of the) Patriarchate, and today we see it restored.
Permission has been granted, and churches are being repaired. However, we
noted that there are a certain number of other concerns, the resolution of
which would benefit the greater strengthening of community life. For
example, among these issues are property rights and organizational matters
for educational activities.
Question: The Catholicos stated that the two states must discuss the issue
of the Genocide. However in recent times, discussions were held in Turkey
when two Armenians of Turkey participated, among them Hrant Dink. The law
which was being debated in France, whereby the deniers of the Genocide would
be held criminally liable, was opposed by nine Turkish intellectuals who
sent a letter to France. They asserted that expressing a viewpoint about
the Genocide must not have consequences. This is one example of the fact
that Turkey and Armenia are not alone in debating this issue, and that there
are other states, which make decisions in their parliaments about the
Genocide. In this regard, the issue assumed an international character.
What is your opinion? Is it correct for other states to be drawn into this
matter?
His Holiness Karekin II: Genocide against any nation is not limited to the
life or borders of one people. Genocide does not recognize ethnicity.
Genocide envelopes all of mankind. And for that reason, when similar
actions are being committed in any corner of the world, states and nations
raise their voices in condemnation, to prevent similar incidents in the life
of mankind. Only in this manner will it be possible to keep mankind free
from similar tragedies.
Regarding the first part of the question, that should only Turkey and
Armenia be concerned with this issue, we wish to further clarify that the
Armenian people have statehood. But the issue concerns all Armenians.
Armenians dispersed throughout the world. Every single individual
Armenian. However the body that represents the rights of the nation, and
guarantees those rights, obviously, is the state.
Question: The Catholicos says that the issue of the Genocide for Armenian
society is not one that needs research, rather it is reality. Does this
position not obstruct the resolution of this issue, perhaps, since the
Turkish side continues to deny the Genocide? In other words, is it not
possible to study the Genocide?
His Holiness Karekin II: Obviously, if Turkey denies (the Genocide), it is
impossible to resolve this issue. If the facts are present, then what’s the
point in discussing the necessity to debate the facts? There must be the
will to record, confirm and accept the facts.
Question: What do you propose as a way of resolving this issue?
His Holiness Karekin II: We believe that as many states and countries have
done, Turkey also has the capability to conduct the corresponding studies,
and add its name to that list of many countries, by recognizing the Armenian
Genocide. Armenia has never held similar deliberations with any of the
other countries who have recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide.
Because the facts exist, they can be studied, and based upon those facts, a
decision and position can be made. This cannot be or be proposed to be an
issue which necessitates discussions.
Question: You say that to keep humanity free from the repetition of similar
sorrows, that they must be studied and accepted. But have you ever made a
statement regarding the events taking place in Iraq, which is very close to
both Turkey and Armenia? As you are aware, the intervention of the United
States of America is present there. What do you think about this, and what
are you doing about it?
His Holiness Karekin II: We as a Church, express our voice of indignation
on every occasion when a hand is raised against the greatest treasure of
God’s creation – human life.
Question: You visited the seminary on the Island of Halki. What are you
thoughts, since that seminary is not operating at present?
His Holiness Karekin II: I am pleased with the process of democratization
which is taking place today in the Republic of Turkey. And I am certain
that in time, all those issues will find their positive solutions.
Question: Did you like Istanbul?
His Holiness Karekin II: We have not had the opportunity to see Istanbul.
But in these past few days, we mentioned in our remarks that in Istanbul,
there are many valuable and beautiful buildings, churches, etc. However,
the most valuable, the most beautiful for me is our people, our community,
for whom we are conducting our Pontifical Visit. Having this as our primary
concern, naturally, we have allocated all of our time for the strengthening
of the spiritual life of our people and to the work of reinforcing their
faith. Nevertheless, I am certain that another opportunity will be created,
and we shall be able to have the necessary amount of time to see the sights
of Istanbul. For example, yesterday, we were able to visit the Dolmabahçe
palace museum and the Hagia Sophia, which greatly impressed us.
Question: There is a report that you desired to pray when at the Hagia
Sophia, but were prohibited from doing so.
His Holiness Karekin II: We are not aware of any such occurrence.
Question: From the first day of your visit, there have been protest
demonstrations. What do you think about this?
His Holiness Karekin II: The protest demonstrations in no way affected
neither our mood nor our mission. We would prefer that there be no place
for similar demonstrations in the relationship between our two peoples. We
are destined to live side by side as neighbors, and therefore it is
necessary to cultivate, educate and nurture appropriate relationships
between neighboring peoples. I am convinced that in my next trip, we won’t
see similar demonstrations or expressions. And even if there are protests
such as these, we must understand that we still have work to do, both of us
together, to exclude similar occurrences.
Question: During the Eurovision competition, Turkey gave 10 points to
Armenia. How do you evaluate this fact?
His Holiness Karekin II: We see nothing negative in this.
Question: Is this perhaps a step forward on the part of Turkey?
His Holiness Karekin II: Of course, it is a step, which must be positively
assessed. God willing, that this positive course leads us to the resolution
of the fundamental issue.
Question: Although your visit was not `official’ in nature, you were
received by the governor of Istanbul. An occurrence such has this has not
happened since 1961. What do you think about this? Do you asses this as a
positive step? Were there any other similar offers? If yes, then for what
reason did they not occur?
His Holiness Karekin II: We recognize our meeting with the governor as a
display of his appreciation for the Armenian community, and their important
contributions and service to the life of Turkish society. We have not had
nor do we have any objections to meeting with any state official, whether
the suggestion is made by our community or by any other entity. There was
the concept, at one time, to organize a meeting with the religious leader of
Turkey, but it became unfeasible to bring it to fruition. The reasons being
that the congestion of our itinerary for this trip did not provide the
opportunity.
We express our thanks for this meeting and for such an open discussion. We
wish you all the best.

YEREVAN PRESSING FOR TOUGHER ACTION AGAINST ANTI-ARMENIAN RACISM IN RUSSIA
By Emil Danielyan
Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
June 27 2006
Armenia’s leadership has indicated its discontent with the Russian
authorities’ failure to stop racially motivated attacks on non-Slavic
immigrants in Russia. Such attacks have claimed at least six Armenian
lives this year. Faced with domestic outcry against its reluctance to
publicly exert pressure on Moscow, official Yerevan is now pressing
for tougher Russian action against the xenophobic violence.
President Robert Kocharian and Prime Minister Andranik Markarian
showed the first signs of such pressure as they met with the Kremlin’s
visiting top representative to southern Russia, Dmitry Kozak, on
June 16. The official purpose of Kozak’s visit to Yerevan was to
discuss ways of boosting economic ties between Armenia and the Russian
regions making up the Southern Federal District. But statements from
official Armenian sources suggest that the continuing racist killings
dominated much of the discussions. The Armenian leaders clearly used
the opportunity to convey their concerns to a close and influential
associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kocharian, according to his office, condemned the “nationalist
murders” and urged Russian law-enforcement bodies, widely accused of
inactivity and even connivance, to act in a more “quick, steadfast,
and understandable” manner. Markarian was quoted by his press service
as demanding that Moscow take “serious steps to identify and bring
the guilty to justice as well as to avert more such incidents.”
It also emerged that a group of senior officials from the Armenian
Foreign Ministry will fly to Moscow on Thursday, June 29, to hold
special talks on the issue with their Russian counterparts. “I think
that from now on such discussions and exchanges of concerns will
be a continuous process,” Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Gegham
Gharibjanian said on June 15. He admitted that the authorities in
Yerevan have been “a bit late” in reacting to the problem.
Their reaction (quite strong and extraordinary, given the close
nature of the Russian-Armenian relationship) followed the murder of
yet another ethnic Armenian resident of Russia. Artur Sardarian, 19,
was stabbed to death, apparently by a group of neo-Nazi youths, on
a suburban Moscow train on May 25. Sardarian is reportedly the sixth
Armenian man killed in Russia because of his non-Slavic looks during
the first five months of this year. His violent death came just over
a month after the high-profile, fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Vigen
Abramiants on a Moscow subway platform. The Russian law-enforcement
authorities’ initial refusal to characterize it as a hate crime
enraged even the Kremlin-connected leaders of Russia’s large Armenian
community.
According to the Moscow-based anti-racism Sova Center, ethnic
hatred has already motivated 18 murders and 129 attacks in Russia on
dark-skinned immigrants from the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Africa
this year. Sova reported at least 28 such deaths last year. Sova and
other Russian human rights organizations lay much of the blame on the
Russian law-enforcement agencies’ notorious leniency towards skinhead
groups, which are believed to carry out such crimes. The skinheads,
numbering tens of thousands across the country, seem to operate in a
climate of near-impunity, with neo-Nazi and other extremist literature
widely available on Russian streets and especially on the Internet.
While condemning the racist violence, Kozak assured Kocharian and
Markarian that it is “not specifically directed against Armenians.”
He also claimed, “The Russian authorities are doing everything to
solve and rule out such crimes.”
Few in Armenia would agree with this assertion, however. A group
of Armenian civic groups that staged a small demonstration outside
the Russian Embassy on June 5 said in a joint petition that the
neo-Nazi elements guilty of the racist killings are operating “with
the sponsorship of some Russian state structures.” The protesters
also marched to the Foreign Ministry building in Yerevan to demand
that the Armenian government finally bring the Russians to task. “I
am convinced that if the Armenian authorities took a tougher line the
situation would not be so grave,” said Avetik Ishkhanian, chairman
of the Armenian Helsinki Committee and one of the protest organizers.
Leaders of local pro-Western opposition parties are even more outspoken
in condemning both Moscow and Yerevan. Hovannes Hovannisian of the
Liberal Progressive Party branded Kocharian’s regime as a “Russian
vassal” in a June 17 interview with the Haykakan Zhamanak daily. “What
is being done to Armenians in Russia is part of a state policy,”
he charged.
There is also mounting concern among Armenian pro-establishment circles
that have traditionally been oriented toward Russia. Vahan Hovannisian,
a leader of the governing Armenian Revolutionary Federation, observed
with shock on June 16 that Russia is now a far more dangerous place
for Armenians than Turkey. And the chairman of the Writers Union
of Armenia, Levon Ananian, decried what he described as a deadly
“hunt for Armenians” underway in Russia during a recent roundtable
discussion in Yerevan.
Such statements, coupled with the increasingly frequent criticism
of Russia in the Armenian press, cannot fail to contribute to the
ongoing erosion of the traditionally strong pro-Russian sentiment
in Armenia. Opinion polls conducted in recent years show a major
pro-Western shift in Armenian public opinion resulting, among other
things, from Moscow’s perceived hard bargaining in its controversial
economic dealings with Yerevan.
“Gone are the days when a Russian orientation was not even disputed in
this country,” Alexander Iskandarian, a political analyst and director
of the Yerevan-based Caucasus Media Institute, told the Hayots Ashkhar
daily. “There is more and more talk here of alternatives, alternative
ways of development and geopolitical orientations. And that is good.”
Kocharian apparently had this in mind when he told Kozak that the
racist attacks “do not stem from the interests of Russia and the
Russian people.”
(Hayots Ashkhar, June 21; Haykakan Zhamanak, June 17; Statements
by the press services of the Armenian president and prime minister,
June 16; RFE/RL Armenia Report, June 15)

RF DEPUTY FM AND DEPUTY US SECRETARY OF STATE DISCUSS SETTLEMENT OF REGIONAL CONFLICTS
ArmRadio.am
29.06.2006 13:10
In Moscow RF Deputy Foreign Minister Grigori Karasin and Deputy US
Secretary of State on Political Issues Nicolas Burns discussed issues
of resolution of conflicts on CIS territory.
During the meeting on June 28 the interlocutors dwelt on urgent
issues of Russian-American relations with an emphasis on CIS problems
including the regional conflicts, Press Service of RF MFA told
MEDIAMAX Agency.
The meeting of Foreign Ministers of the G8 will be held today in
Moscow.
Earlier Nicolas Burns had not ruled out that the Karabakh conflict
could become a topic of discussion at the summit meeting of Heads of
G8 countries to be held in Saint Petersburg in July.

WORKSHOP-PRESENTATION ON DISTRIBUTED ENERGY GENERATION TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN
ArmRadio.am
28.06.2006 17:29
In the context of the renewable energy development strategy in Armenia
a workshop-presentation on the distributed energy generation and issues
of technology transfer, introduced by STC Engineering LLC and ISI –
Integrated Solutions, Inc. will be held on June 29 in Yerevan.
The modern elaborations in the alternative energy field, in particular,
the examples of combined heat and power generation with use of the
Stirling engine and a solar dish collector system will be presented
to the professional society of Armenia. The mentioned companies will
present technology transfer opportunities and their plans for activity
program in Armenia as well. The participants will have an opportunity
to familiarize themselves with an example of a solar dish collector
specially imported from the USA for demonstration during the event.
The workshop-presentation is organized by the Public Council for
Renewable Energy and the Golden Pair Inc. in the framework of
technology transfer support program.

THE KAPAN SPORTSMEN COULDN’T RESIST THE PRESSURE EITHER
A1+
[03:36 pm] 29 June, 2006
Two more meetings were held in the 13th round of the Armenian Football
highest team championship.
“Gandzasar” met bronze winner “Bananats” in Kapan. The Kapan
sportsmen display excellent participation in this tournament and
they were expected to play seriously with their rivals this time
too. But the meeting ended with the overall 7:1 which is typical of
hokey meetings. 4 goals were scored by Aram Hakobyan from “Banants”
who has been the best bombardier of this championship.
“Kilikia” lost to “Mika” 1:2. The latter is in the second place
at present.
To note, prior to this meeting “Pyunik” beat “Ulyss” 3:1 and “Ararat”
tied with “Shirak” 1:1.

GEORGIAN, ARMENIAN MINISTERS COMMENT ON BAKU-KARS RAILWAY
Civil Georgia, Georgia
June 27 2006
Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili said after talks with
his visiting Armenian counterpart Vardan Oskanian on June 27 that
feasibility study of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project is currently
underway to find out whether the project is financially profitable
or not.
The Armenian side is against construction of this railway route
which will link Azerbaijan with Turkish city of Kars via Georgia,
as a railway between Kars and Gyumri, Armenia, already exists. But
currently the Kars-Gyumri railway is not operational because of the
trade blockade imposed on Armenia by Turkey and Azerbaijan.
“Armenia’s position over this issue is clear: Armenia is ready to let
Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan use this railway [passing via Armenia],
without Armenia’s participation,” Vardan Oskanian said at the press
conference after talks with his Georgian counterpart.
The U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee
supported on June 14 a proposal to ban the U.S. Export-Import Bank to
develop or promote any rail connections or railway-related connections
that traverse or connect Baku, Tbilisi and Kars and that specifically
exclude cities in Armenia.
“We are interested in diversification of our transit routes… if
this will be a commercially profitable project, the U.S. Congress
may allocate funds, if not, other sources of financing will appear,”
the Georgian Foreign Minister said.
Some experts in Georgia say that the project needs a very detailed
consideration because new railway route linking Azerbaijan with Turkey
might hit Georgian ports on the Black Sea as cargo can be redirected
on railway.

KAZIMIROV: FRAME AGREEMENT ON NK LACKS PEACE GUARANTEES
Regnum, Russia
June 27 2006
The “frame agreement” on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement
voiced by the U.S. does not guarantee non-resumption of hostilities
in Nagorno Karabakh, as the mere peacemakers’ dislocation here is not
enough, the OSCE Minsk group Russian Co-Chair in 1992-1996, Ambassador
Vladimir Kazimirov told REGNUM while commenting on the statements made
by the new U.S. Co-Chair for the conflict settlement Matthew Bryza.
“It is the key issue. Without not just rhetorical but substantial
guarantees provided by the conflict parties themselves and by
international organizations (perhaps, even the U. N. Security
Council) one will not manage to initiate the first stage, in which
the Azerbaijani party would like to see the liberation of a part of
the occupied territories and the return of forced migrants there.” To
start implementing measures planned in the first stage, one would need
to first rid of the threats of forceful revenge, to stop violating
the principles of the peaceful conflict settlement, non-application
of force and threatening by force, Kazimirov said.
“Only if all the parties, without exception, denounce irresponsible
and inadequate dreams of power can open the way for real changes in
the situation, for practical implementation of coordinated measures”,
Vladimir Kazimirov stated. He noted that “it is quite naïve to hope
to obtain something from peaceful steps first and then get ‘the rest’
by force – this is only the way to deceive yourself.”
Speaking on the Matthew Bryza’s extensive interview as a new
Co-Chair, the Russian diplomat noted it was an unusual and even too
pretentious interview. “It may seem that the conflict parties and
mediators have failed to reach accords on Karabakh and decided to
come to understanding on something and all of a sudden agreed to
abandon the confidentiality of the negotiation process. However,
another approach is applied sometimes: rules are invented exactly to
be violated,” Kazimirov observed. He also reminded that a few years
ago Baku, despite an agreement on the talks’ confidentiality, had
published the full texts of the three proposals made in 1997-1998
by the three Co-Chairs (Russia, the U. S. and France) to the three
conflict parties -Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Nagorno Karabakh. Then
Yerevan did the same. “It is a bit strange that such an interview
is actually the first step taken by the new U. S. Co-Chair. Couldn’t
he wait for the first visit to the conflict region? There were many
bold mediators on Nagorno Karabakh both here, in Russia, and in other
countries as well. However, where are their achievements?” Vladimir
Kazimirov wondered.
In his words, in case the parties and mediators really decided to
make public the essence of the “frame agreement,” it would be much
more reliable to read out the text of the project presented to the
two parties instead of a private interview with its retelling. “The
document’s original is always more convincing than its retelling.
Otherwise, this kind of breaking of micro-agreements between the
parties is worthy of regret. Especially if it has been done not by a
conflict party that can have different interests but a mediator who
must honor any agreements, including the procedural ones,” Vladimir
Kazimirov summed up.
–Boundary_(ID_ywL7iTW0SGkXPknXfn8wGg)–

HEYDAR ALIYEV FUND PARTICIPATED AT FIRST MEETING OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON PROTECTION OF NON-MATERIAL HERITAGE
Author: S.Aliyev
TREND, Azerbaijan
June 27 2006
On June 27, PM Mehriban Aliyeva, president of Heydar Aliyev Fund and
also good-will ambassador of UNESCO in Azerbaijan, participated at
the first meeting of the General Assembly of courtiers ratifying the
convention on protection of non-material heritage in Paris.
The director general of UNESCO Kaitira Matsura mentioned the important
role of Mehriban Aliyeva in the protection of music and non-material
cultural heritage of Azerbaijan. Besides, she noted that at present,
convention was ratified by 45 countries and 7 countries have joined
the convention.
In her speech, Aliyeva congratulated the participants on the occasion
of conviction’s entering into force. She noted that the genetic base
of all world nations is non-material heritage and peoples played
an important role in the formation of this factor. Therefore the
protection of non-material heritage is of great importance in the
modern .world. She presented information about the non-material
cultural heritage of Azerbaijan. Particularly she noted that mugam
(national Azeri music) has become one of the masterpieces and
non-material heritage of Azerbaijan.
Aliyeva presented to the attention of the participants that at the
moment there are conflicts, and wars in world which destroy cultural
heritage. In result of Armenian-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
Armenians have destroyed hundreds of architectural and cultural
monuments and cities in the occupied territory of Azerbaijan. Aliyeva
stressed that it needs to increase the attention of international
organizations and the world public towards this issue.

AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTRY ABOUT LATEST STATEMENT OF ARMENIA ON NK
Today, Azerbaijan
June 27 2006
With regard to continuing traditional attempts by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia to distort, purposefully
and deliberately, the reality of the process of negotiations aimed at
the settlement of the Armenia – Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan states.
APA reports quoting the Foreign Ministry press center. The statement
reads:
“Statement of the Armenian MFA dated June 26, 2006 is yet another
testament to the regretfully unchanging non-constructive position of
the Armenian side on the conflict resolution.
OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and, notably, the US Co-Chair Matthew Bryza
have indicated only the general outline of the individual principles of
stage-by-stage peaceful settlement, currently under discussion, which
can not be taken out of general context of the proposed document. This
creates prerequisites for lack of understanding or overlapping notions,
as well as for speculations such as the ones reflected in the statement
by the MFA of Armenia.
Definition of status is impossible under the conditions of continuing
occupation and ethnic cleansing and, accordingly, envisages liberation
of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and demilitarization of the
whole conflict zone, which, provided that appropriate international
security guarantees are in place, will create conditions for return of
the forcibly displaced population of Azerbaijan to their homes. This
is acknowledged by the Armenian leadership as well.
The Azerbaijan side once again re-affirms being prepared to grant
Nagorno Karabakh highest status of self-rule within the framework of
the internationally-recognized territorial integrity of the Republic
of Azerbaijan and based on the current Constitution of Azerbaijan.
Such an approach, based on the norms and principles of international
law and constitutional, is the only possibility to reach durable
solution.
With the aim of establishing inter-communal peace and harmony,
as well as creating objective conditions for defining the region’s
status, and also taking into consideration the perspective of the
region’s further development, Azerbaijan will be prepared to review,
in conformity with the precedents as existing in the international
practice, implementation of a complex of economic and other incentives
for the population of Nagorno Karabakh after the restoration of its
ethnic composition as of the pre-conflict period.
Position of Azerbaijan at the negotiations remains constructive and
meets interests of not only our multi-ethnic state, but also of the
international community as a whole. Any attempts to achieve changes
in the position through blackmail and threats, by using the tactic of
turning the occupied territories of our country into a hostage and the
element of bargaining, are doomed to failure. Territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan is not the subject of negotiations and will never be.
Along with that, the Ministry re-affirms Azerbaijan side’s adherence
to continuing talks to achieve lasting and fair peace in the region.
All blame and responsibility in case the peace process is undermined
will fall on the Armenian side,” the MFA states.
URL:

PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN RECEIVED RF INTERIOR MINISTER
ArmRadio.am
28.06.2006 17:48
President Robert Kocharyan received today RF Interior Minister Rashid
Nurghaliev. He arrived in Armenia to participate in the joint collegial
sitting of the law-enforcement structures of the two countries.
The President expressed appreciation for the effective cooperation
established between law-enforcement bodies of Armenia and Russia.
Briefly presenting the circle of the issues discussed at the sitting,
RF Interior Minister noted that these are very urgent and relate
to the crimes in the sphere of migration, as well as the economic
security of the two countries.
Rashid Nurghaliev said that the cooperation between the Ministry
of Interior Affairs of Russia and the Armenian Police is gradually
getting more and more practical, and this is evidenced by the conduct
of joined military exercises.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress