TREND Information, Azerbaijan
March 31 2006
‘Azadlig’ block to focuses on such issues as Karabakh, elections, oil & corruption
Source: ‘Trend’
Author: S.Ilhamgizi
31.03.2006
‘Azadlig’ [Freedom] block has made a decision to establish 4 more
commissions, Trend reports quoting Lala Shovkat Hajiyeva, a co-chair
of the block, also the leader of the National Unity Movement, as
saying at a news conference on Friday.
She said earlier they had decided to establish 6 commissions at
forming of the structure of ‘Azadlig’. On Friday the meeting of the
Council of Chairs has made a resolution
on establishment additional commissions on human rights, oil,
corruption and world Azerbaijanis.
The new commissions will deal with the situation of human rights in
the country, defense of their rights, monitoring of oil incomes,
studying of facts of corruption in the state bodies, work with world
Azerbaijanis, and Diaspora organizations. Thus, the number of the
commissions has reached 10.
Hajiyeva stressed that they would attach special attention to the
work of the commissions on Karabakh, elections and corruption.
The meeting has also appointed Taleh Ashrafov the secretary of the
Council of Chairs. The 2nd session of the Supreme board is scheduled
for 15 April, the conference on entrepreneurship – 21 April. Besides,
the zonal conference of the block will be held in Shaki on 1 April.

Armenia transferred important energy objects to Russia. Who will receive compensation?
Regnum, Russia
March 31 2006
Yerevan Haykakan Jamanak newspaper states, citing proved sources,
Russia and Armenia signed an agreement on transfer to Russian side of
5th power-generating unit of Hrazdan thermoelectric power plant and
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline. According to the newspaper, the power unit
of Hrazdan TPS will be transferred for $250 million; it enables to buy
Russian gas for decreased price during next 2.5 years. The newspaper
publishes no data concerning mechanisms and price of transfer to
Russia Iran-Armenia gas pipeline. At the same time, according to it,
Russian side may become owner of the pipeline. “Iran might block the
deal, but Iranian side will not do it, if Moscow does not hamper in
its nuclear program,” supposes the Armenian newspaper.
It writes, on the eve, a big feast took place at the Armenian Energy
Ministry, at which Gazprom top-level representatives were present.
Meanwhile, a REGNUM correspondent tried to receive comments of
Armenian Energy Minister’s Secretary, but in vain. It was stated at
the ministry, they might comment on the situation in the afternoon,
i.e. the energy institution needed, at the moment, 3h to decide the
complicated question, on which, talks have been conducted more then
one year.
It should be reminded; Russia has been supplying gas to Armenia
for $65 per 1000 m³ till present. But tomorrow, on April 1, delay,
granted to Armenian side by Gazprom, will finish, and form the day
gas price for Armenia will total, according to preliminary agreement,
$110 per 1000 m³. Earlier, top-level Armenian officials assured,
new gas price, raised by Russia, will not influence social level
of country’s citizens. However, for period, when parties continued
talks on future gas price, and possible compensation mechanisms,
ArmRosGazprom Company – exclusive gas supplier to Armenia – requested
Armenian Commission on Regulation Public Services to raise gas tariffs
for domestic consumer. From April 10, the tariff will total 90 drams
($0.20) per 1 m³ for population, consuming up to 10,000 m³ per month;
for enterprises (mainly of energy sphere), consuming over 10,000 m³,
the tariff for 1000 m³ will total $146.51. The tariffs for population
will increase by 52.5%, for enterprises – by 85.2%.
Hrazdan TPS addressed to the regulating body too, suggesting
recalculation of tariff for produced energy, in connection with
gas price increase. The TPS requested to fix price of 21.36 drams
($0.47) for 1 kwh, instead of former 11.37 drams, in connection with
gas tariffs’ increase. The new Hrazdan TPS’s tariff increases by 90%,
comparing with current one. In its turn, Armenian Electric Systems JSC,
which is rented by RAO UES daughter enterprise for 99 years, stated,
if the Commission decides to raise tariffs for produced energy, it
will be possible, the AES JSC will request it to change tariffs for
domestic consumers.
In such situation, Armenian citizens have only to wait and hope. If
information on transfer of the 5th power unit of Hrazdan TPS to Russian
side corresponds with reality, the question arises: who is going to
receive compensation for Russian gas prices – Armenian government
or citizens?
–Boundary_(ID_ncqLrPGCH5l4a7/hkYJfBA)- –

Expert: Russia is interested in preservation of peace in South Caucasus
Regnum, Russia
March 31 2006
Nagorno Karabakh problem is practically ignored by mass media
in Russia, stated President of the Russia-Armenia Society Viktor
Krivopuskov. “The number of publications about Nagorno Karabakh
conflict last year may be counted by one hand’s fingers. There is
nothing to say about Russian TV broadcasts in this connection. The
situation on internet-sites has changed recently for better. But they
do not change the whole situation,” said he.
The Russian politician believes, Russian state mass media,
following, probably, “political directions and notorious principle
of equidistance, and trying not to provoke Azerbaijan’s displeasure,
may not give matters their real names, and, that is why, do not
write anything.” “Because of that, big part of our political elite,
as well as the whole society, badly knows both present problems of
Karabakh and their real causes. A whole generation of Russians, and
it means politicians, grew up during last 15 years, who do not have
the information. I personally made repeatedly sure, our intelligentsia
believes only Azeris live in Karabakh, and Armenians are Moslems. It
does not know anything about centuries-old sincere brotherly friendship
of the Russian and Armenian peoples, about the great role, played by
the Armenian people of Nagorno Karabakh 200 years ago, to liberate
Armenia from centuries-old Persian and Ottoman yoke, and to join
Russia voluntarily,” stressed Viktor Krivopuskov.
He expressed hope that the Russian side participates in Karabakh
settlement not only as formal co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk group. “From
my point of view, Russia is interested, more than all other countries,
in preservation of peace in the complicated, both from international
and inter-confessional points of view, region of Caucasus,” stated
President of Russia-Armenia Society Viktor Krivopuskov.

ABOUT UNSUCCESSFUL PROVOCATION IN ANKARA
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
March 31 2006
A few days ago RA MOD Advisor Major-General Hayk Kotanjyan, who had
participated in a symposium for struggle against terrorism, returned
from Ankara. General Kotanjyan told about the work of the symposium,
in the opening of which Turkish President and Prime Minister had been
present, in an interview with RA MOD Press Service.
– What is your appraisal of the Ankara symposium?
– The symposium was organized well. It enlisted representatives of
state organizations and NGOs from over 30 countries of the world to
professional discussion of the counterterrorism~Rs urgent problems.
Alongside with distinguished analytics from a number of countries
Chairmen of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace,
President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, the U.S. Deputy State
Secretary of Defense Thomas O~RConnell, Chief of Turkish Armed Forces
General Staff Hilmi Ozkeok and others made their reports.
The symposium~Rs peculiarity was that so far representatives of the RA
and Turkish Armed Forces could participate together only in the
activities initiated under the aegis of NATO Partnership for Peace
Program. This time foreign specialists, including a representative of
Armenia, participated on an invitation of Chair of Turkish General
Staff. Taking into consideration lack of interstate relations between
Armenia and Turkey, the symposium makes an opportunity to immediately
follow the neighbor~Rs real activity in one of the most sensitive and
complicated spheres of international cooperation.
– What is your impression from visiting the Center for Struggle
against the World Terrorism initiated by the symposium?
– Turkey, the U.S., Great Britain, Bulgaria and Romania are the
international Center~Rs sponsors. A briefing on activity of the
training-analytical institution with participation of international
representatives of the countries ~V co-organizers was initiated for
me.
– Was the ASALA activity touched upon in a report made by Chief of
Turkish General Staff?
– Yes, it was. Translation of the text of the General Ozkeok~Rs report
into English was delivered to all the participants of the symposium.
A one-line quotation devoted to ASALA is literally the following: ~SA
lot of our diplomats were murdered by the ASALA terrorists~T.
– Did you feel special attitude from the Turkish specialists?
– My participation in the symposium~Rs work can be considered useful
from the viewpoint of objective observation over the development of
the situation. However, the attempts of certain circles to kick up a
row in connection with presence of the representative of RA Armed
Forces spoiled my business trip.
March 24, the second day of the forum~Rs work, after announcement of a
dinner break I was surrounded by journalists with TV cameras. It was
stated that, according to the publications in the Turkish press,
declaiming against mentioning ASALA in the report of the Chair of
Turkish General Staff I had allegedly made a demarche and
ostentatiously left the sitting hall. In this connection I was asked
to answer a number of questions. Responding to the situation,
officers, who were among the symposium~Rs organizers, approached me.
In their presence I stated the publication was false and the
situation should be clarified with the organizers of the symposium.
It should be noted, that suppression of the provocation, which
pursued political aims, was efficiently supported by representatives
of Turkish General Staff. During the dinner a representative of the
symposium~Rs hosts expressed regret for the fact of the misleading
information. In his words, the matter concerns a provocation
initiated by some groups among those against improving relations
between our countries. The representative of the General Staff also
stated the military leadership appreciated my self-possession and
would undertake steps on publication of the misleading information~Rs
denial.
In the present situation exposure of mendacity of agent provocateurs,
who has encroached on undermining of the Armenian state~Rs political
image, has become a top priority. Answering the questions of a
representative of press invited by Turkish servicemen: ~SWas there a
fact of a demarche against the report made by Chief of Turkish
General Staff?~T and ~SHow do you appraise the General Ozkeok~Rs
report?~T I gave the following answers based on neutral statement of
facts by a military officer: ~SPublic has been misled. In the course
of all the sittings of the symposium I was at my place, beside my
colleagues – Generals from Algiers and Croatia~T; ~Sthe General
Ozkeok~Rs report corresponded to the symposium~Rs agenda devoted to the
issue of counterterrorism from the professional viewpoint~T.
Next day a number of Turkish newspapers published the misleading
information~Rs denial. By the way, I have brought the above-mentioned
texts of the report and denial to Armenia.

Predicting earthquakes from space
RIA Novosti, Russia
March 31 2006
16:30 | 31/ 03/ 2006
MOSCOW. (Yury Zaitsev for RIA Novosti.) – A Russian strategic
nuclear-powered submarine is poised to launch an innovative, compact,
80-kg spacecraft from the Barents Sea in the second quarter of
this year.
The Compass 2 satellite is expected to help make the first step in
the practical forecasting of earthquakes from space.
The move comes as a result of extensive research into specific
phenomena in the Earth’s magnetosphere and ionosphere, often observed
prior to earthquakes, by the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism,
Ionosphere and Radio Waves Propagation (IZMIRAN) of the Russian
Academy of Sciences.
The first observations of ionosphere anomalies manifested days before
major earthquakes date back to the 1960s. At first, treated no more
seriously than UFOs, palm reading and astrology, the findings elbowed
their way into the scientific domain in 1979 as the institute launched
its Interkosmos 19 satellite. A recording analyzed after one major
earthquake showed a prolonged area (narrow in latitude and very broad
in longitude) of abnormal, low-frequency noise centered exactly above
the earthquake’s epicenter several hours before the first shock was
felt. Officially registered as a scientific discovery, the phenomenon
was later confirmed by findings from other satellites.
This area of research received a powerful push in December 1988 in
the wake of a devastating earthquake in Armenia. A pool of Soviet
scientific institutions developed a forecasting system that was to
be deployed first onboard the Mir orbiter and then across the orbit
within a network of unmanned spacecraft. After the Mir, Salyut 6,
and Salyut 7 completed the early stages of the plan, the program
was effectively buried with the demise of the Soviet Union, but went
forward at the end of the turbulent 1990s.
While other precursors of major earthquakes – the concentration of
radon, an inert gas, near the epicenter; the concentration of electrons
in the ionosphere above the epicenter; and the content of crust-emitted
metal-rich aerosols in the air, leading to an abnormally strong
electric field there – had been piling up for a long time, they were
always obtained as by-products of other research programs. Sufficient
statistical data array required a separate specialized satellite.
In 2001, the institute took the lead in the effort, committing to make
a satellite and inviting the Makeyev State Missile Center (Miass,
Urals) to convert the Shtil (SS-N-23 Skiff) military missile into a
launch vehicle for the project. Later, however, Makeyev also had to
develop the satellite under the effort codenamed Vulkan (Volcano)
in the Russian Space Agency’s 2001-2005 Federal Space Program.
The first international Complex Orbital Magneto-Plasma Autonomous
Small Satellite, or Compass, was orbited in December 2001 as a
by-load together with the Meteor 3M, a Russian weather satellite,
to provide insight into possible links between Earth’s crust and
magnetosphere behavior. This first field test of an earthquake forecast
assessment system largely failed because, while early findings were
very promising, the equipment developed jointly by Russia, Hungary,
Greece, Ukraine and Poland soon ceased to operate.
Certain progress was made, however, as the data of Compass’s launch
mate, Meteor 3M, were analyzed by special methods to obtain earthquake
precursors. On aggregate, 44 of 47 events registered between October
2002 and May 2003 agreed with data retrieved from land-based seismic
records. The generally positive result has led to the upcoming Compass
2 launch and is likely to lead to a follow-up Compass 3 effort. The
latter satellite is to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2006 to
test more modern and efficient monitoring systems.
The International Space Station has also been long helping collect
ionosphere information. Thanks to the ISS’s low orbit, some research
programs crucial for the future Vulkan disaster forecasting system
have been conducted here as part of a broader effort codenamed Uragan
(Hurricane).
On the ground, the Vulkan will include a network of geophysical
laboratories, a downlink station and an analysis center. The ground
facilities lack the scope and access to recordable events, which
explains the need for an orbital component to yield a global survey
of seismic activity with accurately timed warnings (one to five
days between a precursor and a possible earthquake). All in all,
two groups of small satellites are to be deployed at 400-500- and
900-1,000-km solar synchronous orbits.
When fully operational, the Vulkan’s ground and spaceborne components
will collect, process and analyze the disaster precursor data, thus
contributing to medium-, long- and short-term plans of emergency
management services in Russia and internationally.
Yury Zaitsev is an expert with the Space Research Institute at the
Russian Academy of Sciences.

Representatives of Gazprom continue negotiations in Armenia
Regnum, Russia
March 31 2006
On March 31, representatives of Gazprom and Armenia are to conduct
negotiation regarding Russian gas supply to Armenia. As a REGNUM
correspondent has been informed in press office of the Armenian Energy
Ministry, the negotiations will continue, and specific conditions of
contact will be announced after the end of the negotiations.
Also, the ministry declined to comment on the information of transferal
to the Russian side of the 5th power generating unit of Hrazdan power
plant and Iran-Armenia gas pipeline. The ministry stated that all
information will be presented after the end of the negotiations.
The time of delay granted to the Armenian side by Gazprom expires
on April 1. From that date, the gas will be supplied to Armenia for
$110 per 1,000 cubic meters. Probably, today the sides will agree on
a gas price to Armenia and mechanisms of softening the consequences
for the Armenian population and the country~Rs economy.

ISN, Switzerland
Internal Relations & Security Network
March 31 2006
Language rights issue fuels discord in Georgia
Georgia’s Armenian community says that discrimination is leading to
lost chances to achieve in the country. The government says that’s
not the case.
By Paul Rimple for Eurasianet (30/3/06)
Discontent is rising within Georgia’s Armenian community, the
country’s largest ethnic minority, driven by complaints concerning
the central government’s language policy, as well as perceptions of
discrimination. The building tension between ethnic Armenians and
Georgian government officials has been linked to recent rioting and
violence.
A 9 March altercation between ethnic Armenians and Svans in the Kvemo
Kartli village of Tsalka led to the death of 24-year-old Gevork
Gevorkian, an ethnic Armenian, and incited a mob to raid a local
administrative building. Two days later, in response to Gevorkian’s
death, several hundred protestors in Akhalkalaki, a predominantly
ethnic Armenian town in the neighboring region of Samtskhe-Javakheti,
stormed the local branch of Tbilisi State University, a court
building and the office of a Georgian Orthodox Church archbishop.
Responding to the violence, Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze on 13
March placed the blame on “serious forces, who [are] try[ing] to
trigger destabilization in this region,” the Civil Georgia web site
reported.
Some ethnic minorities in the region have a different interpretation.
“The murder of the Armenian [Gevork Gevorkian] wasn’t a political
act, it was criminal,” suggested Makhare Matsukov, an Akhalkalaki
business leader and ethnic Greek. “But politics created the situation
that exists in Tsalka and the situation here in Akhalkalaki.”
Local leaders say that protests are the only way they can get the
central government to listen to their complaints. There is talk of
boycotting local elections in October if no progress is made in
opening a dialogue with the central authorities in Tbilisi.
Frustration with what is perceived as the central government’s
disregard for Georgia’s Armenian minority prevails in both Tsalka and
Akhalkalaki, but the roots of the particular issues differ.
Once numbering 30,000, Tsalka’s Greek population is now about 1,500
and shrinking. A mass exodus occurred during the 1990s when thousands
of families relocated to Greece for work. As Greeks left, natural
disaster victims from the northern Georgian region of Svaneti and the
western Black Sea region of Achara began to move into vacant homes.
Squatters took over many abandoned houses; pillagers ransacked
others. As economic conditions in Tsalka worsened, and the town’s
crime rate increased, remaining villagers (12,000 Armenians, 1,500
Azeris and 1,500 Greeks) started to view their “guests” as a threat.
“Before the Svans arrived, there was never any trouble in Tsalka. Why
doesn’t the government do something to help? Is it because we aren’t
Georgian?” fumed Armen Darbinyan, an ethnic Armenian and chairman of
the Javakheti Citizens Forum, a non-governmental organization
sponsored by the European Center for Minority Issues.
Meanwhile, in Akhalkalaki, many say that the strained relationship
with Tbilisi (which locals call “Georgia”) began after the 2003 Rose
Revolution. After coming to power, President Mikheil Saakahsvili’s
administration overhauled the local political machinery, replacing
local officials with appointees from Tbilisi. First Deputy Governor
Armen Amirkhanyan said many local residents in this poverty-stricken
area believed the changes were driven by prejudice. Ethnic Armenians
make up 60 percent of the region, and “their rights must be
defended,” Amirkhanyan added.
The need to have a working knowledge of Georgian lies at the heart of
most complaints.
Georgian government statistics on election registration estimate the
number of ethnic Armenians in Akhalkalaki at 95.8 percent of the
town’s population of 10,000. (Local Armenians put the number at 98
percent.) Since the entire region of Samtskhe-Javakheti functions
primarily in Armenian, few Akhalkalaki residents speak Georgian. At
the same time, Russian is frequently spoken thanks to the presence of
a former Russian military base.
“We can’t get good jobs unless we speak Georgian, but how can you
learn Georgian so well when you’re 30 or 40 years old?” said a
resident of Ninotsminda, a nearby village not far from the Armenian
border. “If we can’t get work here, we will continue to move to
Russia for work, if we can get visas.” Unofficial estimates put the
number of Javakheti men who work seasonally in Russia at 80 percent.
Incentives offered by the Saakashvili government to promote Georgian
language instruction, as well as to promote the integration of
Armenians into the Georgian mainstream, have fallen flat, according
to Javakheti residents. “In 2004, Saakashvili came to Akhalkalaki and
promised to integrate 100 students into the university system in
Tbilisi and Kutaisi with stipends,” said Akhalkalaki Mayor Iricya
Nairi. “That’s great, we thought.” But Nairi claims local students
couldn’t pass the Georgian language university entry exams, which
were a result of the government’s education reforms.
Darbinyan says that he doesn’t understand how people are expected to
learn Georgian well enough to pass exams, when they have few chances
to learn it. Out of Akhalkalaki’s five secondary schools, only one
teaches courses in Georgian. Three teach in Armenian and one in
Russian.
Mayor Nairi cites the recent influx of Georgian students to the
Akhalkalaki branch of Tbilisi State University as further evidence
that the government does not want to treat ethnic Armenians equally.
After Georgian students were brought to Akhalkalaki to study for
free, Nairi charged, the number of Armenians studying at the local
university dropped to four. By contrast, he said, under former
president Eduard Shevardnadze 60 percent of the university’s 650
students were Armenian. “Why would they open a university here and
bring Georgians if they didn’t plan to change the demographics of our
region?” he wondered.
Deputy Education and Science Minister Bela Tsipuria, however, rejects
the contention. “The only reason Georgian students are studying in
Akhalkalaki is because the competition to study there is lower than
in Tbilisi or Kutaisi,” Tsipuria stated. Complaints about the
difficulty of Georgia’s new university entrance exams were not
limited to Javakheti, she added. “Young people today have to work
hard to compete in modern Georgia. This is an entirely new concept.”
Tsipuria argues that Javakheti’s problems have more to do with a lack
of educational opportunities than language – a problem not unique to
Samtskhe-Javakheti. President Saakashvili, she stressed, has promised
that hundreds of Armenian students will have the opportunity to
receive sufficient education to find work within the civil service.
The government is currently training teachers and introducing new
methodology, Tsipuria continued. “But people don’t understand these
things take time.”
First Deputy Governor Amirkhanyan believes that education reform must
be accomplished while taking the interests of national minorities
into account. “We must learn Georgian if we want to get ahead. It
would be easier on all levels, from civic positions to farmers who
commute to Tbilisi to sell their goods.”
The issue seems to spill over easily into other areas, as well. The
February dismissal of three ethnic Armenian judges for allegedly
having an insufficient knowledge of Georgian has generated
considerable resentment. “If you don’t know the state language, then
you must go!” commented Nairi.
Similarly, the archbishop’s office was targeted by locals who assume
that the Georgian Orthodox Church is attempting to exercise excessive
influence in the region. The office was rumored to contain a cache of
weapons. The cache never materialized.
Calls have gone out recently for Samtskhe-Javakheti to be made an
autonomous region, with broader self-governance rights, and for
Armenian to be named the region’s official language. Local leaders
and most activists, however, maintain that protests against perceived
cultural assimilation should not be interpreted as a separatist
drive. Said Javakheti Citizens Forum Chairman Darbinyan: “They call
us separatists because we’re asking for cultural autonomy, but we
want democracy and decentralization.”

COMMEMORATIVE SILVER COINS TO BE PUT INTO CIRCULATION IN ARMENIA
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 31 2006
YEREVAN, March 31. /ARKA/. On the occasion of the 1660th anniversary
of Armenian alphabet, the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) puts into
circulation commemorative silver coins dedicated to King Vram Shapukh
and Catholicos Sahak Partev. The CBA press service reports that the
face value of the coins is AMD 100. Each set has 500 coins.
The obverse of each side has the State Emblem of Armenia engraved on.
An inscription “Central Bank of Republic of Armenia 2005” is on the
edge of the coin.
The reverse sides of the coins have King Vramshapukh and Catholicos
Sahak Partev engraved on. The inscription “1600th anniversary of
Armenian Alphabet” is engraved on the edges of the coin.
The coins were minted in Czechia. P.T. -0–

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 31 2006
NKR DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: SUPPORT OF USA IN WORLD
RECOGNITION OF NKR IS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE
YEREVAN, March 31. /ARKA/. Support of the USA in world recognition of
the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is of great importance. According to
the NKR permanent representation in the USA, this was stated by the
NKR Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Masis Mailyan during his
meeting with the US Congressional Caucus Co-Chair Franck Pallone.
During his meeting with the Pallone Mailyan emphasized necessity of
transmitting from humanitarian to development programs in the NKR.
According to the press release, the NKR resident representative in
USA Vardan Barseghyan was present at the meeting as well.
On the same day Mailyan gave an interview to the Jane’s Foreign
Reports periodical. During the interview main stress was put on
security of the region.
Besides that Mailyan has met with the Co-Chairs of the
Armenia-American Political Action Committee (ARMENPAC) Ani Toti and
Edgar Hakobyan as well as Executive Director of this organization
Jason Capizzi. Representatives of ARMENPAC presented aims of the
organization and conducted work. Here Mailyan emphasized once more
the important role of the Armenian Diaspora in the fortification of
NKR state system.
Masis Mailyan arrived in USA on March 22 with a working visit.
S.P.–0–

NKR IMPORTANT PART OF REGIONAL SECURITY SYSTEM TODAY: NKR VICE FM
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 31 2006
YEREVAN, March 31. /ARKA/. Nagorno-Karabakh is important part of the
regional security system today, the Permanent Representation of the
NKR in the USA reported that NKR Vice Foreign Minister Masis Mailyan
stated this during the activity on the topic “The Karabakh Conflict:
View from Stepanakert”.
In his talk Mailyan represented the NKR authorities’ position regarding
the peaceful settlement to the conflict and pointed out factors of
the regional security and stability: strengthening of the ceasefire
agreement, inclusion of the NKR in international processes and its
international recognition.
The meeting was organized by the Center of Strategic and
International Researches on Tuesday. Participating in the activity
were representatives of the US Department of State and Pentagon,
foreign diplomats, NGOs, Azerbaijani reporters and experts, and also
representatives of the Armenian Diaspora.
On the same day Mailyan, together with the permanent representative of
the NKR in the USA Vardan Barseghyan, met with Vice Co-Chair of the
OSCE Minsk Group from the USA, Head of the Department of Caucasian
Countries Elizabeth Ruti. They discussed the current process of
settlement to the Karabakh conflict.
The NKR Vice Foreign Minister also met with members of the committee
of directors of the Americans of Artsakh organization. During the
meeting they discussed the organization’s program in the sphere of
democracy and governance, and also Artakh’s economic development.
Mailyan one more time stated that the NKR Foreign Ministry is ready
to contribute to the organization’s program.