RA FOREIGN MINISTER AND MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIR COUNTRIES’ HIGH-RANKING
REPRESENTATIVES DISCUSS PRINCIPLES OF KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

YEREVAN, MAY 25, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. RA Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian received on May 25 OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair
countries’ representatives: Assistant Secretary for State Daniel
Fried, RF Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin and French Foreign
Ministry’s representative, Ambassador Pierre Morel. OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairmen Steven Mann (U.S.), Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Bernard
Fassier (France) and Andrzej Kasprczik, the Personal Representative of
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office on Nagorno Karabakh Issue participated in
the meeting. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA Foreign Ministry’s
Press and Information Department, the meeting participants, attaching
importance to the high level of the visit, discussed principles and
approaches of settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Paying
attention to yet not solved and not agreed issues, the sides exchanged
opinions concerning settlement prospects.

NKR FM POSITIVELY ESTIMATES CHERNOGORIA’S REFERENDUM OF INDEPENDENCE
AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY’S READINESS TO RECOGNIZE ITS RESULTS

STEPANAKERT, MAY 25, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. “The holding of
the referendum of independence in Chernogoria and the readiness of the
international community to recognize its results, on the whole, are a
positive fact. We are convinced that respect of the right of nation’s
self-determination expressed through a national referendum is basic in
the issue of settlement of such situations and a real implement for
establishment of political stability in the conflict region.” This was
said in the commentary of NKR Foreign Ministry in connection with the
Chernogoria independence referendum provided to Noyan Tapan from NKR
Foreign Ministry Information and Analytical Department. NKR foreign
political department considers it expedient to remind that the
violation of the right of Nagorno Karabakh people who voted for
independence on December 10 1991, in fact, became a basis for
Azerbaijan’s further military aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic, which caused many human victims and destructions. “The
further ingnoring of NKR people’s right of self-determination in the
process of settlement of Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict and reaching
such conditions that guarantee its political independence, economic
and military security will postpone the prospect of finding a mutually
acceptable solution and establishment of a firm peace and mutual
understanding in the region,” the NKR FM commentary read.

TURKEY SHOULD RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE, RUSSIAN SCIENTIST DECLARES

YEREVAN, MAY 25, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. “Turkey should
recognize the Genocide of 1915. The whole world knows about the events
of 1915 and characterizes them as a genocide,” Russian historian
doctor Viktor Bezotosni, Head of the Department of 19th Century’s
History of Russian State Museum, declared to the Regnum agency. He
considered it strange that “only one country denies and tries to
wrongly comment and to avoid this historic fact.” The Russian
scientist also emphasized that “there are both good and bad pages in
the history of each people.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BOTH COUNTRIES SHOULD PREPARE THEIR PUBLICS FOR PEACE AND NOT FOR WAR,
REPRESENTATIVES OF OSCE MG CO-CHAIR COUNTRIES DECLARE

YEREVAN, MAY 25, NOYAN TAPAN. “We, the representatives at the Deputy
Minister level of the Russian Federation, the United States, and
France, together with the Co-chairs and the Personal Representative of
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, have come together in this joint
diplomatic mission because of the need to promote a peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and because now it is time
for the sides to reach agreement on the basic principles of a
settlement,” the joint statement of the representatives of OSCE Minsk
Group Co-chair countries for press spread in the evening of May 25
read. “We were received by President Kocharian and met earlier with
Foreign Minister Oskanian. As we did yesterday in Baku, we have
discussed important aspects of a future settlement. We have worked to
create the conditions for a meeting of the two presidents in the near
future. We have stressed the belief of our nations and, more widely,
of the international community that the conflict can be resolved in no
way than a peaceful one. Both countries should, moreover, prepare
their publics for peace and not for war.” According to the document,
discussions, both in Yerevan and the day before in Baku, were
constructive. The representatives of OSCE Minsk Group Co-chair
Countries met the day before with President Aliyev and Foreign
Minister Mammadyarov. They will return to their capitals the next day
to brief their leaders. The Co-chairs will, as well, brief, the OSCE
and the international community. “A joint mission such as this one is
a special event. It must be taken as a sign of the seriousness with
which we approach the issue and, in particular, a belief that we are
at the point where a mutually beneficial agreement is achievable. What
happens now will be up to Armenia and Azerbaijan. We leave with hopes
and expectations of progress. We are pleased to be in Yerevan and wish
to express our gratitude to President Kocharian and the people of
Armenia for receiving us,” the statement read.

NO CEASE-FIRE REGIME VIOLATIONS FIXED DURING PLANNED MONITORING OF NKR
AND AZERBAIJANI ARMED FORCES’ CONTACT LINE

STEPANAKERT, MAY 24, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On May 23, in
accordance with the agreement achieved beforehand with the NKR
authorities, the OSCE Mission held a planned monitoring of the Nagorno
Karabakh and Azerbaijan armed forces’ contact-line to the north-east
of the settlement of Kuropatkino of the NKR Martouni region. From the
positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring mission was led by
Coordinator of the OSCE Office, Lieutenant Colonel Imre Palatinus
(Hungary) and Field Assistant of the OSCE PR C-i-O Irzhi Aberle
(Czechia). As Noyan Tapan was informed by the NKR Foreign Ministry’s
Information-Analytical Department, the monitoring passed in accordance
with the planned schedule; no violations of the cease-fire regime were
fixed. From the Karabakh party, representatives of the NKR Ministries
of Foreign Affairs and Defense accompanied the OSCE monitoring
mission.

GEORGE BUSH PROPOSES RICHARD HOAGLAND FOR POST OF U.S. AMBASSADOR TO
ARMENIA

YEREVAN, MAY 25, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. U.S. President George
Bush proposed Richard Hoagland who is the U.S. Ambassador to
Tajikistan at present, for the post of the Ambassador Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Armenia. Radio Liberty
informs about it. Hoagland is a Caucasus and Central Asia Specialist
and has worked for more than 20 years at the U.S. Department of
State. Before being appointed the Ambassador in Dushanbe, Hoagland was
the Caucasus and Central Asia Office Director of the Bureau for Europe
and Eurasia of the Department of State. During the years of the war
led by Russia in Afghanistan, he worked with forces opposing
Russians. After September 11, 2001, when Presidents George Bush and
Vladimir Putin decided to cooperate very closely in the anti-terrorism
struggle, Hoagland was instructed to organize regular Russian-American
consultations, and in a year, the group headed by him was involved in
the U.S.-Russia anti-terrorism working group.
Hoagland worked as a Speaker at the U.S. Embassy to Russia, occupied
different posts at the American Embassies to Uzbekistan and Pakistan.
Richard Hoagland’s candidature must be affirmed at the Senat. According
to some data, he will arrive in Yerevan in August. Hoagland will take
in Armenia the place of John Evans, who, by insistence of American
press, will not work any more at the Department of State. To recap,
last year Evans called genocide the one committed against Armenians in
Ottaman Turkey in 1915.

UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES GENERAL STAFF CHIEF ARRIVES IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, MAY 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The delegation headed by Colonel General
Sergey Kirichenko, the Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff of
Ukraine – the Armed Forces Commander General, arrived in Armenia on
May 24, on a two-days official visit. Colonel General Mikayel
Haroutiunian, the Chief of the RA Armed Forces Headquarters General –
the First Deputy Minister of Defence, met Sergey Kirichenko in the
“Erebuni” airport. In the interview to journalists, S.Kirichenko
expressed gratitude to his Armenian partners for the invitation,
mentioning that he attaches much importance to this visit. “This is a
visit of friednship for me, one addressed to development of bilateral
relations in the sphere of military cooperation of Ukraine and
Armenia,” he said and mentioned that though then I had met with
Mikayel Haroutiunian many times, but this is the first meeting in the
Armenian land. “We have numerous general themes for discussion, issues
related to reforms and bilateral cooperation,” S.Kirichenko
emphasized, adding that within the framework of the visit, they will
continue with M.Haroutiunian the discussion aimed to deepening
cooperation of the Armenian and Ukrainian Armed Forces started
before. “It will be beneficial for the two countries’ Armed Forces and
our republics,” the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff Chief
mentioned. As Noyan Tapan was informed by Colonel Seyran Shahsuvarian,
the RA Defence Minister’s Press Secretary, the delegation’s visits to
the Armenian Genocide memorial complex, Mine Clearing Philathropic
Center, Military Institute after RA Defence Minister Vazgen Sargsian
are envisaged. Karekin II Catholicos of All Armenians will also
receive guests at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

VLADIMIR KARAPETIAN: AZERBAIJAN ATTEMPTS TO PRESENT APPROACH NOT
CORRESPONDING TO NEGOTIATIONS CONTENTS TO SOCIETY

YEREVAN, MAY 25, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. “We are again
surprised that the Azerbaijani side makes an attempt to present such
an approach to the society that does not correspond to the contents of
the negotiations led at present,” Vladimir Karapetian, the RA Foreign
Ministry’s acting Press Secretary stated, interpreting last statements
of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov. According to
Azerbaijani mass media, Mamedyarov stated that the optimal variant of
the Karabakh conflict settlement is the stage one. He also mentioned
that it will be possible to discuss the Nagorno Karabakh status only
after refugees’ return. “We have mentioned many times that reaching
mutual agreement supposes, first of all, Azerbaijan’s recognition of
the Nagorno Karabakh people’s right to the self-determination what
will make possible discussion of issues on liquidation of the war
consequences,” Vladimir Karapetian emphasized.

TIGRAN TOROSIAN: IT’S TIME TO PUT NOT DISSENTING OPINIONS BUT
GENERALITIES IN BASIS OF ARMENIAN-UKRAINIAN RELATIONS

YEREVAN, MAY 25, NOYAN TAPAN. Not only the long-lasting friednship and
the Soviet past but also many problems which the two countries solve
today, particularly, issues of the being implemented reforms and
modernization of the Ar med Forces, tie Armenia and Ukraine. RA
National Assembly Deputy Speaker Tigran Torosian said about it on May
24, receiving the delegation headed by Colonel General Sergey
Kirichenko, the Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff of Ukraine.
Tigran Torosian attached importance to the visit of the delegation
headed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff’s Chief and
meetings in Armenia from the viewpoint of both bilateral and regional
relations. Of course, armies must interfere into the policy, but, as
the NA Deputy Speaker emphasized, parliaments’ and armies’ cooperation
is simply necessary. He mentioned that Armenia and Ukraine have
different viewpoints in some issues, but it’s the time to put not
dissenting opinions but generalities in the basis of the relations.
Particularly, Ukraine is going to join the NATO, Armenia chose another
way of deepening relations with the North Atlanting Alliance, but it
does not mean that there are no possibilities of cooperation in this
direction. Sergey Kirichenko mentioned some spheres of cooperation of
the two countries’ Armed Forces: military, military-technic, staff
re-training, joint military exercises, implementation of peace-keeping
missions. He attached importance to the Parliaments’ assistance in the
issue of the country’s defence and Armed Forces’ fighting ability. As
Noyan Tapan was informed by the NA Public Relations Department,
strengthening of peace and the great role of national armies in that
process were bilaterally attached importance to at the meeting as as
much efficient and strong the army is, as protected and strong the
peace is, as great the guarantee of preventing war and human tragedies
is. Mikayel Haroutiunian, the Chief of the RA Armed Forces
Headquarters General, Alexander Bozhko, the Ambassador of Ukraine to
Armenia and other officials participated in the meeting.

SERGEY KIRICHENKO: UKRAINE RESPECTS ARMENIA NOT LESS THAN OTHER
COUNTRIES OF REGION

YEREVAN, MAY 25, NOYAN TAPAN. Colonel General Sergey Kirichenko, the
Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff of Ukraine and Commander
General who is in Armenia on a two-days official visit, and Colonel
General Mikayel Haroutiunian, the Chief of the Armed Forces
Headquarters General of Armenia signed on May 24 a report concerning
results of the visit. As the Armenian Armed Forces Headquarters
General Chief mentioned, it has been the first similar visit of the
Ukrainian high-ranking serviceman since establishing diplomatic
relations between the two contries. According to him, the countries
are bilaterally interested in developing relations in the defence
sphere. International agreements, annual planning of bilateral
military cooperation and its implementation, joint participation of
Ukraine and Armenia in the “Partnership for Peace” program are a basis
for development of bilateral relations. The sides mentioned at the
meeting prospects of future cooperation, discussed issues of regional
and international cooperation, modernization of the Armed Forces,
participation of the Armenian and Ukrainian Armed Forces in
peace-keeping activities. Responding journalists’ issues, Sergey
Kirichenko disproved the information about Ukraine’s supplying
Azerbaijan with armour technics, military aircrafts and rockets. He
stated that Ukraine does not respect Armenia less than amy other
country of the region. The Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander also
disproved the possibility of placing in Georgia the Ukrainian armed
forces instead of the Russian military bases.