WORKING GROUP TO DEFEND AZERBAIJANI ARMY OFFICER RAMIL SAFAROV SET UP IN MOSCOW
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
May 19 2006
The Azerbaijan Youth Parliament in Moscow has set up a working group
to raise public awareness on trial of Azerbaijani army officer Ramil
Safarov, who was jailed to life in prison by Budapest court.
Head of the working group Rufet Azizov told APA that the working
group members met with the lawyer for Safarov, got court documents,
analyzed the Hungarian legislation and investigated youth strategy
on this issue. The working group is going to appeal Hungary’s state
bodies, media and common people.
“Our strategy is to achieve in the Court of Appeal passing a fair
decision, holding of objective information campaign on this issue
and expose Armenians real nature,” Azizov said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI, ARMENIAN MINISTERS MULL GARABAGH IN STRASBOURG
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 19 2006
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met his Armenian
counterpart Vardan Oskanian in Strasbourg on Thursday to discuss the
Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict on the sidelines of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe session.
The two met first with the mediating OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen,
followed by the mediators’ separate meetings with each of the
ministers.
The discussions came ahead of the co-chairs’ next visit to the region,
scheduled for late May. Unlike before, deputy foreign ministers of
the three countries co-chairing the Minsk Group – Russia, France and
the United States – are also expected to arrive in Azerbaijan and
Armenia for talks. It is not known at this point which deputies are
expected on the visit.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH PROBLEM TO DISCUSS IN MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
Author: J.Shahverdiyev
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
May 19 2006
A round table on Nagorno-Karabakh problem will be held at the
initiative of information-analytical center with Moscow State
University, Trend reports quoting Farhad Mamedov, cofounder of
All-republican Youth movement “Forward”.
The similar round table on April 16 was devoted to problems in Dnestr
countries, Osetia and Abkhazia.
Mamedov said the discussion of Nagorno-Karabakh problem was scheduled
to May as a session. “However, we received information that the
problem will be discussed in summer at a round table”,- he said.

BLURRED VISION
By Petya Sabinova
Sofia News Agency, Bulgaria
May 19 2006
One look at a map of the Balkans, with the list of Eurovision
finalists in one hand, shows a big void right where Bulgaria is. For
the second year in a row the country fails to reach the longed finals
and this time we’re the only “losers” on the peninsula. It’s even
worse, because Armenia made it with their first ever entry in the
contest. All aspiring stars in Bulgaria should have watched the show
on Thursday and taken notes if they want a chance next year. For it
is evident that a wailing ballad only does it for countries that have
established a name for themselves – like Ireland. Not that our song
was bad, not at all, it just wasn’t right. What we need is something
like Lithuania (maybe with sexier guys), or Finland, well, perhaps
not so scary, but you get the point. We need to either go mainstream
like Armenia and Ukraine did, or surprise everyone with one hell of
an original show. So far our vision of the contest has been blurred by
either the local scandals marring it, or the tears of pain that Azis’
bawling brings. And unless someone in Bulgaria can produce an upbeat,
interesting song that teenagers would love to listen to over and over
again in the disco, then the third time won’t be good luck.

ARMENIAN LAW IN FRANCE DROPPED FOR NOW
By Ali Ihsan Aydin
Zaman, Turkey
May 19 2006
The legislative bill penalizing those who deny the so-called Armenian
genocide in France has been postponed indefinitely.
The motion discussed in yesterday’s morning session of the French
Parliament was dropped as the allotted time ran out.
Parliamentary Speaker Jean-Louis Debre had to twice pause the tense
session to reestablish order.
Deputies and Armenians supporting the motion accused Debre of extending
other discussions deliberately to drop the motion.
Armenians angered by the result caused a commotion in the parliament’s
audience gallery.
Foreign Minister Philippe Doust-Blazy, speaking on behalf of the
government, objected to the motion and appealed to French deputies
to not to inscribe history with laws.
The Socialist Party (PS), which made the legislative proposal, placed
the genocide bill as a second item on the agenda although it had the
right to arrange it anyway it wanted.
While talks on the first item on the agenda continued, some socialist
parliamentarians reacted saying talks were extended deliberately.
Since the proposal would automatically fail if it were not voted
at the first section where PS had the right to arrange the agenda,
parliamentarians wanted to start the genocide proposal sooner.
President of the parliament Jean-Louis Debre, upset with the protests,
reminded that it was not himself who formulated the agenda but the
socialists.
When the socialist parliamentarians rebelled again, tension increased
in the parliament.
Members of PS accused Debre of his attempts to fail the proposal
since Tuesday.
Members of UMP, who support the proposal, said, “Do not fall into
their trap, they want to deceive you”.
Upon the increase of the tension Debre gave two breaks.
Many parliamentarians, who wanted to discuss the first item on the
agenda, did not make their speech to proceed to the genocide proposal.
It took an hour to proceed to the proposal, but Debre ended the
section after a few talks because of the time constraint. Thus,
the proposal was dropped out of the agenda.
PS Group Leader Jean Marc Ayroult held the government and Debre
accountable for the cancellation of the bill.
Ayroult said UMP did its best to postpone the bill and accused UMD
of playing small tricks to reach its goal.
Armenian Originated French politician Patrik Deveciyan, who was angry
after the session, said the postponement of the bill is a result of
the lobby activities Turkey launched in all areas.
The Armenians who came to the parliament to watch the session created
chaos after the bill was postponed.
The crowd sang the French National Anthem and did not leave the
building.
PS Secretary-General Francois Hollande approached them requesting
them to remain calm.
The Armenians organized demonstrations near the parliament and
protested the decision.
The Turks, on the other hand, chained themselves and taped their
mouths. Some held banners in their hands saying “Do not restrict our
freedom,” and “Do not prevent the realities from being revealed.”
French Government Opposes Genocide Bill
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, representing the
government in the parliamentary session yesterday, said if the bill
is enacted the French Parliament will have interfered in history and
cited his opposition to the proposal.
The minister, who recalled the agreement on “leaving the history to
the historians” invoked in the parliamentary discussion regarding the
law of colonialism said, “The French Parliament is again attempting
to interfere in written history.”
The foreign minister said enactment of the bill will harm long-standing
Turkish-French affairs and the dialogue process between Turkey and
Armenia.
Douste-Blazy reminded that more than 300000 Turkish people lived
together with people of Armenian origins in France, and said the bill
will affect “human relations.”
From: Baghdasarian

AZERI DEFENSE MINISTER RECEIVES NATO COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
Author: E.Javadova
TREND, Azerbaijan
May 19 2006
Azerbaijani Defense Minister received on 19 May the commander-in-chief
of NATO’s Air Forces in Europe, General William Tom Hobbins, the
Ministry told Trend.
During the meeting Abiyev noted that Azerbaijan closely cooperates
with NATO and the United States. The cooperation with NATO
successfully continues in line with the Action Plan on Individual
Partnership. Concerning the existing military-political situation in
the South Caucasus region the minister said that the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict is the major reason impeding the rehabilitation of peace and
stability in the region. “Armenia with its destructive policy avoids
from peaceable talks and keeps under occupation 20% of Azerbaijani
territory,” he underlined.
In his turn, General Hobbins noted the successes in the cooperation
between NATO and Azerbaijan. The successful implementation of the
Action Plan of the Individual Partnership will bring close the country
with the bloc. He also noted that the visit targets familiarity with
the air forces of Azerbaijan. “I believe that the US-Azerbaijan
cooperation in the sphere of air forces is getting expanded,”
he underlined.
The gathering focused on exchange of opinion on future perspectives
of the US-Azerbaijan military cooperation between, integration in
to the European organizations, Azerbaijan’s activities under the
anti-terror coalition and different issues of mutual concern.

NKR PAVILION WORKED TILL END OF MOSCOW EXHIBITION
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 19 2006
As it has already been informed, a group of Azeris held a protest
rally at the exposition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic during
the International Tourist Exhibition titled “Tourism and Rest 2006”
conducted in the Moscow Exhibition Centre “Gostiniy Dvor” requiring
forbidding the NKR presentation.
While commenting on the incident at the DE FACTO Information-Analytics
Agency’s request, Director of the Karabakh agency for development
of tourism Sergey Shahverdyan stated it was a provocation. He said
about 15 young men dressed in shirts with inscriptions “Stop Armenian
Aggression” picketed the NKR pavilion raising the Azeri national
flags and chanting anti Armenian slogans.
Sergey Shahverdyan highly estimated the measures undertaken by the
exhibition’s organizers, having noted “they did not surrender to
intimidation and did not suspend the presentation”. He mentioned with
satisfaction that despite the Azeris’ demands the Karabakh pavilion
was not closed and worked till the end of the exhibition. According to
Sergey Shahverdyan, “the Azeris’ trick became a peculiar publicity of
the Karabakh exposition, as it drew more visitors”. On the outcomes
of the exhibition the NKR participants received the organizers’
diploma. Sergey Shahverdyan stated 40 countries and 80 regions
of Russia had participated in the exhibition and stressed the NKR
participation in such a representative exhibition was of extreme
importance. In his words, “not production, but the country is
advertised” at the exhibitions of the kind. Director of the Karabakh
agency for development of tourism added the Nagorno Karabakh would
take part in the Moscow International Tourist Exhibition in 2007.

RUSSIA REMOVES ARTILLERY SYSTEMS FROM AKHALKALAKI BASE
Civil Georgia, Georgia
May 19 2006
Four self-propelled howitzers 2C1 were withdrawn from the Akhalkalaki
military base on May 19 and moved to Tsalka, Kvemo Kartli region. From
Tsalka the Russian military equipment will be loaded on train and
taken to the Russian Federation via Azerbaijan on May 23, the Georgian
Defense Ministry reported.
This withdrawal is part of the base pullout process, which should be
completed in Akhalkalaki before December 31, 2007, according to the
March 31 Georgian-Russian agreement.
A convoy of ten trucks, loaded with military equipment, as well
as an armored vehicle departed from the Russian military base in
Akhalkalaki and headed towards the Russian military base in Gyumri,
Armenia, on May 18.

HOBBINS: I BELIEVE COOPERATION BETWEEN US AND AZERBAIJANI AIR FORCES WILL EXPAND
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
May 19 2006
Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister, Colonel-General Safar Abiyev today
received the delegation led by General Tom Hobbins, US Air Forces in
Europe commander.
The Ministry told APA that Mr.Abiyev said at the meeting that
Azerbaijan is cooperating with both Azerbaijan and NATO. The
cooperation with NATO is held in accordance with the Individual
Partnership Action Plan (IPAP). Touching on the military and
political situation in the South Caucasus, the Minister noted that
the Armenia-Azerbaijani conflict is main obstacle to the restoration
of peace and stability in the region.
“Armenia is pursuing a destructive policy by avoiding the peace talks
and keeping 20% of Azerbaijan’s territories under occupation,” the
Defence Minister stressed.
Mr.Hobbins satisfied with Azerbaijan’s achievement in partnership
with NATO stressing that successful implementation of the IPAP will
make Azerbaijan much closer to NATO.
“The objective of my visit is to closely familiarize with Azerbaijan’s
Air Forces. I believe the cooperation between US and Azerbaijani Air
Forces will expand,” Mr.Hobbins stressed.
US charge d’affairs ad interim in Azerbaijan Jason Hyland also
participated at the meeting.

14TH ANNIVERSARY OF OPENING OF LACHIN CORRIDOR CELEBRATED IN NK
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 19 2006
Festivities were held today in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic on the
occasion of the 14th Anniversary of the opening of the Lachin corridor.
The Lachin region administration, Karabakh MPs, the NKR Minister of
Defense Seyran Ohanyan, representatives of commanding staff of the
NKR Defense Army, as well as guests from Armenia participated in the
festival measures, DE FACTO own correspondent reports from Stepanakert.
The operation on the opening of the Lachin corridor was implemented
May 17-18, 1992. The voluntary units of the Self – Defense Forces
and groups of volunteers from Armenia took part in the operation. The
opening of the humanitarian corridor through Lachin enabled Karabakh
to establish a secure connection with Armenia and the world.