Turkish intelligence details rebel Kurd actions
Hurriyet, Istanbul
4 Jul 04
Text of report by Ozgur Cebe, “The PKK purchased weapons worth 1.7m
dollars in a year”, published by Turkish newspaper Hurriyet (Ankara
edition) on 4 July
Diyarbakir, DHA: The security units determined that close to 1,500
armed terrorists connected to the PKK/Kongra-Gel Kurdistan Workers’
Party/People’s Congress of Kurdistan crossed into Turkey in the form
of small groups and that the organization had purchased weapons worth
1.7m dollars in the past year.
The intelligence units determined that the PKK started to make
preparations at 17 camps in northern Iraq against probable military
intervention by Turkey and the United States. It was stated that the
organization had purchased weapons worth 1.7m dollars from Iraq, Iran
and Armenia within the past year after the intervention of the United
States against Iraq. Among these weapons there are RPG-7 missile
launchers, Kannas-brand assassination weapons, Kalashnikov rifles,
G-3, G-1 and M-16 long-barrelled infantry rifles, Bixi heavy machine
guns, hand grenades and land mines.
Also, according to the intelligence reports, in the past six months,
the PKK organization has sent to Turkey over 1,500 armed terrorists in
small groups from the camps in northern Iraq and Iran.
In the report, it was warned that the groups could initiate mainly
hit-and-run and land mining actions and it was stated that Murat
Karayilan and the Northern Iraqi Fehman Husayn were at the head of the
armed wing of the organization. Recently, information was received
that the organization has reduced its political training to a minimum
and has increased its military training to eight hours a day .
The security units determined that a significant number of the seized
weapons belonging to the terrorists were Russian-made. Of the
Kalashnikov rifles, 71.6 per cent were of Russian origin, 14.7 per
cent were of Chinese origin, 3.6 per cent were of Hungarian origin,
and 3.6 per cent were of Bulgarian origin. It was also discovered
that 45.2 per cent of the weapons, such as the Kannas assassination
weapons, Bixi heavy machine guns, Arbiki, G-3, G-1 and M-16 were of
also of Russian origin, 13.2 per cent were of British origin and 9.4
per cent were of US origin. It is stated that 85.3 per cent of the
missile launchers were of Russian origin, 5.4 per cent of Iraqi
origin, and 2.5 per cent of Chinese origin. Of the anti-tank and
anti-personnel mines, 60.6 per cent were of Italian origin, 28.3 per
cent were of Russian origin, and 6.2 per cent were of German
origin. Of the defence and attack-type hand grenades, it was stated
that 72 per cent were of Russian origin, 19.8 per cent of US origin
and 8.0 per cent of German origin.
From: Baghdasarian

Paper reports high turnout in Azeri march in Iran
Vatandas Hamrayliyi, Baku
4 Jul 04
Text of Mansura Sattarova report by Azerbaijani newspaper Vatandas
Hamrayliyi on 4 July headlined “Our tricolour was raised over Fort
Bazz” and subheaded “Despite serious resistance by the Persian police,
200,000 of our compatriots managed to get into the fort”
“The march to Fort Bazz has been staged for eight years, but never
before has there been so much pressure and resistance against the
participants. Moreover, there were attempts to reduce the number of
demonstrators by changing the timing of the march. Despite this, the
march to Fort Bazz was successful,” said Ali Nicat, head of the
analytical-information centre of the Southern Azerbaijan Department of
the Congress of Azerbaijanis of the World CAW . In all, more than
500,000 Azeris took part in the march, he said.
It started on the evening of 30 June and became a mass rally on 1
July, Nicat said. The Iranian government resorted to some measures,
including pressure and intimidation, to prevent the march, and the
fort was surrounded by the police and the special forces, he
said. There were about 40,000 policemen and servicemen around it. In
addition, one of the two roads to the fort was closed. “Buses were
stopped on the road and forced to turn back. There were six
checkpoints on the 10-kilometre road between the fort and the town of
?Kalheydar . There were over 20 checkpoints on the road between the
fort and Tabriz. Hotels near the fort – ?Azadliq and Babak – were also
closed and entry into the nearby village was banned. The government
tried everything possible to dissuade the people from attending the
march. They even staged military exercises around the fort and
announced that this was a military zone.”
The activists of the National Liberation Movement NLM , including
members of Shams-e Tabriz, were officially banned in advance from
joining the march and placed under house arrest on 1 and 2 July, Nicat
said. “The police asked the people on 1 July to leave the fort, but
nobody took notice of it. The police did not allow the 400,000 Azeris
inside and outside the fort to come together. Some 200,000 managed to
get into the castle, but the rest could not cross the police
barriers. In order to show their unity, the people inside and outside
the fort shouted the slogan ‘Unity’. There had been several clashes
between the police and Azeris by 3 July. More than 200 demonstrators
were arrested, including well-known intellectuals and activists of the
NLM – Ali Suleymani, Seyid Calil Huseyni, Mansur Mahammadi and Huseyn
Abid all names untraced . On 2 July, the police and people in plain
clothes attempted to destroy the tents around the fort. They beat up
some demonstrators and injured 60 women.”
There were more than 300 bonfires in the area. While slogans such as
“Long live United Azerbaijan”, “Russians, Persians and Armenians are
enemies of Turks”, “Death to the enemies of Azerbaijan” and “Karabakh
or death” were chanted, the people around the bonfires sang various
songs in their mother tongue. On the night of 2-3 July, at about 0000
2030 gmt on 2 July , they sang the national anthem of Azerbaijan and
raised the tricolour in and around the fort, Nicat said.
Although the 3 July was the last day of the march, some people were
arrested and faced police resistance yesterday. “A person named ?Lavai
went to the top of the fort and spoke about the life of Babak Azeri
national hero who fought the Arabs in the 8th century , his actions
and the significance of the march. The police arrested Lavai and 30
others.”
The police did not allow filming outside the fort and all cameras were
broken.
There are seven CAW members among those arrested. There is no official
information as to where the detainees are kept. Reports from some
sources suggest that most of them are in Tabriz and others in Ardabil.

A1 Plus | 17:09:23 | 29-06-2004 | Social |
WHEN WILL HOVHANNES VARYAN BE PUNISHED?
Wasn’t it possible to distinguish journalists from protestors?
“On June 10, 2004, the First Instance Court of Kentron and Norq-Marash
Communes sentenced 2 persons having committed violence to journalists during
April 5 rally to fine of 100.000 drams each. The trial turned into a farce.
We can’t call it otherwise since the preliminary investigation, the legal
proceedings, and the court verdict cause perplexity and discontent”, Yerevan
Press Club, Journalists’ Union of Armenia, “Internews” social organization
and Committee for Protection of Speech Freedom have made the statement.
According to the authors, they expected for disclosures and trials but
nothing was done to unmask the other masterminds of violence.
“Until now no steps were taken towards the policemen who did nothing against
the men beating journalists and breaking the cameras on April 5. The
policemen who beat journalists at April 13 night on Baghramyan Avenue weren’
t disclosed and punished, either. Even their actions weren’t criticized.
Instead the highest circles of Authorities announced it’s impossible to
distinguish journalists from protestors”, the statement says.
The organizations call upon Media and journalists to be more combined and
consistent when the matter is on professional solidarity, when the right to
freely gather and divulge information is violated.

The New Republic Online
An Armenian in America
by Aghavnie Yeghenian
Only at TNR Online
Post date: 07.03.04
[ In 1915, roughly 2 million Armenians lived in Turkey. By 1923, the
government had murdered one and a half million of them. In this article by
Armenian-American Aghavnie Yeghenian, published in 1921, the author asks why
America’s morals have not matched its might. Yeghenian questions the moral
fiber of a nation–“so beloved, so rich, free”–that did nothing to stop the
Armenian genocide despite full knowledge of its existence. Today, some
30,000 black Africans have been murdered in Sudan; once again, America has
failed to act. Will we do anything about the Sudanese genocide? Or will our
morals once again fail to match our might? –Eric Herschthal ]
June 29, 1921
How does it feel to be an Armenian in America?” asks a thoughtful friend. I
stare at him. Does he wish to change places with me just once? “Write it, if
you can’t tell me,” he urges. Yet even while I write these lines I wonder if
he will really read what promises to be so painful.
Being an Armenian–an Armenian anywhere–gives one strange feelings. My mind
is torn by the conflict of opposing emotions growing out of my racial
inheritance and my living experience. Fear struggles with courage; pain with
the will to endure; worry with optimism; depression with buoyancy; sorrow
with faith; despair with hope; overshadowing death with promising life.
The injection of my friend’s question into such a consciousness makes me
gather my life into a shifting scene in which we Armenians, bleeding,
wounded, murdered, outraged, drowning in the sea of barbarism, beaten by the
waves of civilized cruelty, call out to the multitudes dwelling on the shore
of security.
We cry the story of our life-long suffering, of our murdered manhood, our
outraged womanhood, our dying babies, our tortured mothers, our crucified
leaders. We cry in anguish and pain. We show our wounds. We call for help.
The crowd on the shore throw out some handfuls of pennies which fall leaden
into the waters. Our cry has not been understood.
Perhaps that band of strangers will be stirred by the story of our marvelous
history of heroism. We tell of our struggle for liberty through the ages, of
our martyrs who are countless, of the ever-undaunted courage of our men and
women, of our undying faith in the triumph of right, and our unfailing hope
of human goodness. Again we have failed to thrill the crowd upon the shore.
What has happened to the people who look out at the Armenian sea of
suffering? They are incomprehensibly unresponsive. They seem almost
motionless. We detect, however, a slight movement. It seems to spring from
an emotion like that described in a cartoon published in a well-known
American magazine, showing the gaunt figure of Armenia disturbing the peace
of a fat congressman, who, handkerchief to his eyes, exclaims, “Get out. You
are breaking my heart.” Yes, there almost seems to be a slight movement, a
turning of the back to avoid a harrowing picture.
The scene gives way in my mind to a question that stands out in letters of
living fire: Has the world a heart? Alas! this is Armenia’s eternal and
unanswered question. People who appear great and noble talk about the heart
of the world. Do they really believe in it? Are they sincere? Have virtue
and love of human valor died? Is there only the false and pretentious?
The suffering that comes from feeling that we live in a shallow and isolated
world is more tragic than the danger of impending death. For death we have
always met fearlessly, but it is life,–good, brave, real, serious
life,–which Armenia craves; and the time when she feels her wings most
broken is not when the Turk is out killing and plundering, but the time when
England is deceiving her and France is betraying her, and when America is
turning her back to avoid the painful picture. To be an Armenian in America
is to be bitterly disappointed. To this country, this America so beloved, so
rich, free, happy, it seems impossible to impart the sadness of an
Armenian’s life.
But why do I suffer? Haven’t I the privilege of living in America, a
privilege envied by others of my countrymen? Haven’t I all the opportunities
of an American? All this I have, freedom, position, opportunities, friends,
but the happy smile of an American I can neither achieve nor buy. I walk
about like one in a dream, my head heavy, my throat choked, my spirit
crushed. I go to church and the minister reads from the old prophet of
Israel, “How doth the City sit solitary that was full of people! She is
become like a widow, that was great among the nations! Is it nothing to you,
all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my
sorrow.” I do not comprehend the application of the words. I keep asking
myself, “Isn’t it of me that the minister speaks? Is there anyone else in
the congregation who has lost his country, even as did the prophet?” I
review the desolate cities of Armenia, its burned homes and ruined churches,
its solitary hills and deserted streets. The rest of the minister’s words
are lost to me. As I walk out I cry silently to the passing crowds, “Is it
nothing to you, O Americans, that I suffer, that my people are murdered,
that my country is destroyed, that the virgins of Armenia die in shame in
Turkish harems, that our children are starving, that our youth are still
falling in the field so sacred to you, the battlefield of liberty? Is it
nothing to you?”
I go to a concert, and the singer begins Mignon’s passionate love song for
her country, “Connais-tu le pays ou fleurit l’oranger–? C’est là, c’est là
que je voudrais vivre, aimer, aimer et mourir.” A desire to sob aloud seizes
my whole being. I want to run away from the audience sitting there politely
and smiling while they listen, they who cannot understand. I cry silently
once again, “Is it nothing to you who have a country that I have none?”
I go to the mountains and the memory of the green hills of Armenia takes me
back to its present valleys of tears. I leave the mountains and run away to
the beach in despair. The gay crowds marching up and down bring to me the
dark picture of columns of women and children marching up and down the
plains of Armenia in search of herbs for food. I attend a dinner party and
note the luxurious gowns and wasted food, and I am forced to think of the
rags in which the once wealthy and beautiful women of my land are now clad.
I pass through the streets where American children play, pretty, happy,
careless, and in my vision rise the rows of our orphanages with their pale,
solemn-faced babies. The bright side of every situation points out to me
with unmistakable clearness the other, the darker side, the Armenian side,
and so, confined in my Armenian being, I cannot step into the freedom of
America. I wait, still I wait for America to break my chains.
This is how it feels to be an Armenian in America.
Aghavnie Yeghenian

Kurdmedia.com
Kurdish rebels rearm, infiltrate Turkey from Iraq: report
04/07/2004 AFP
ANKARA, July 4 (AFP) – 15h15 – Turkish Kurd rebels hiding in northern Iraq
are rearming and 1,500 of them have crossed into Turkey to engage in
violence, CNN-Turk television said Sunday, citing an intelligence report.
According to the report, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), known
also as KONGRA-GEL, had purchased weapons worth 1.7 million dollars from
unknown sources in Iraq, Iran and Armenia in the past year and had
intensified military training for members in camps in northern Iraq,
CNN-Turk said on its web site.
The increased activity was thought to be a prepartion for a possibile
military operation against the group by Turkey or the United States, both of
whom view the PKK as a “terrorist” organization.
Ankara has repeatedly urged Washington to take action against PKK rebels in
neighboring northern Iraq since last October, when the two countries agreed
on an action plan, including military measures, against the PKK.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated the call during talks
with US President George W. Bush in Ankara last week.
The Turkish authorities estimate that about 5,000 PKK militants have taken
refuge in northern Iraq since 1999, when the group announced a unilateral
truce with the government following a call for peace by its jailed leader,
Abdullah Ocalan.
The rebels ended the ceasefire on June 1 this year.
CNN-Turk quoted the intelligence report as saying that 1,500 armed militants
had infiltrated Turkey in the past six months.
The PKK has been blamed for a recent series of deadly attacks on Turkish
security forces in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey, bordering northern Iraq,
including the mining of roads.
On July 2, oficials accused the group of carrying out a car bomb attack on a
convoy carrying the governor of Van province, which killed three people and
wounded 25 others.
The PKK waged a bloody 15-year campaign for self-rule in Turkey’s
predominantly Kurdish southeast between 1984 and 1999. The conflict has
claimed some 37,000 lives.
The southeast enjoyed relative calm during the ceasefire period and Ankara
improved the cultural rights of the Kurdish minority in a bid to boost
Turkey’s chances of being allowed to join the European Union.

A1 Plus | 21:38:05 | 30-06-2004 | Politics |
EDGAR ARAKELYAN SENTENCE REMAINS UNCHANGED
The Court of Appeal made a decision on Wednesday to leave unchanged
compliant filed by Edgar Arakelyan, 24, who had been sentenced by the
first instance court to a year and six months in jail for hitting a
policeman with an empty plastic bottle in self-defense while attacked
by the police at one of the opposition-staged rallies.
Many times during the court session the accused stressed he had been
reluctant to resort to self-defense after having been severely beaten
by the police.
Edgar tried to tell how he had been beaten in Prosecutor Office in an
attempt to extract false testimony from him.
The judge Suren Ghazaryan interrupted him saying his story was
irrelevant to the case and has no connection with his appeal.
Sahak Martirossyan, the policeman hit with the bottle, said he hadn’t
been hurt and urged the court to display clemency toward Edgar. But it
was in vain.
Prosecution side voiced alarm at the incident saying it can set a
precedent for future cases and putting special emphasis upon the fact
that not ordinary man but law enforcement officer was hit.

Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, CA 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918
Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]

PRESS RELEASE
Friday, July 02, 2004
Contact: Ardashes Kassakhian
818.500.1918
CITY OF PASADENA AND ANC DELEGATION TO BEGIN OFFICIAL ARMENIA VISIT
YEREVAN, ARMENIA – An official California delegation led by membersof
the Pasadena Armenian National Committee (ANC), Pasadena Mayor Bill
Bogaard, Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melikian began their official
visit to the Republic of Armenia. This is the first Pasadena City
delegation to visit the Republic of Armenia and will include a special
visit to Pasadena’s sister city of Vanadzor, Armenia. The Pasadena
delegation began their tour of Armenia onJuly 1st and will return on
July 5th.
Accompanying the Mayor and Police Chief are ANCA Pasadena ANC members
Suzanne Berberian, Sona Harytenian, Ara Sahakian. Mayor Bogaard is
servingout his second 4-year term as Pasadena’s first City-wide
elected mayor, after winning re-election with a vote of 85%. In 2003,
the Mayor was honored withthe Pasadena Armenian National Committee
Civic Leadership Award given to a public official who has worked
closely with the Armenian community and help build bridges between the
city’s diverse communities. Police Chief Melekian has been heading
the Pasadena police department since 1996. Prior to joining the City
of Pasadena, Chief Melekian served with the Santa Monica Police
Departmentfor 23 years. He was awarded the Medal of Valor in 1978 and
the Medal of Courage in 1980. He is of Armenian ancestry and this is
his first visit to the Republic of Armenia.
`We are very excited about this historic visit to Armenia and
particularly to Vanatzor,’ stated Pasadena ANC Chairman, Shahan
Stepanian. `This visit will serve to strengthen the ties between
Vanatzor and Pasadena and give our public officials a better
understanding of the rich Armenian culture and history.’ During the
four day visit, Mayor Bogaard and Chief Melikian are scheduled to meet
with the Mayor of Yerevan – Armenia’s capital, `Dzidzernagapert’ – the
Armenian Genocide Monument, the U.S. Embassy in Armenia, and
`Ecthmiadzin’ the Holy See of the Armenian Church – one of the oldest
Christian Churches in the world.
The focus of the delegation’s visit will be a visit to Pasadena’s
sister city, Vanadzor. Vanadzor was established as Pasadena’s fourth
sister cityin 1991. Previously known as Kirovakan, it is located in
the northwestern region of Armenia, about 80 miles north of Yerevan.
With a population of about 175,000, it is the third largest city in
Armenia. Known for its rich natural beauty and mineral springs,
Vanadzor is undergoing a rebirth and revitalization after it was
nearly destroyed in the 1988 earthquake that rocked Armenia.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and
most influential Armenian American grassroots political
organization. Working coordination with a network of offices,
chapters, and supporters throughoutthe United States and affiliated
organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the
concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of
issues.

Armenian premier favours ties with Turkey without pre-conditions
Hayots Ashkharh, Yerevan
3 Jul 04 p 1

Text of unattributed report by Armenian newspaper Hayots Ashkharh on 3
July headlined “Without pre-conditions”
“The Republican Party of Armenia has expressed its position saying
that Armenia and Turkey should regulate their relations without
pre-conditions and establish diplomatic relations,” Prime Minister
Andranik Markaryan said yesterday asked about his assessment of a
statement by Armen Rustamyan [a member of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation-Dashnaktsutyun] that the Dashnaks have certain reservations
about [Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan’s speech in the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE] concerning
Turkey.
According to Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan, unfortunately Turkey
has not yet replied to the suggestion to improve relations with
Armenia without such pre-conditions as the Armenian genocide and the
Karabakh issue. He pointed out: “We have adopted our position on the
Karabakh issue together with the president since 1998 and continue to
stick to that. Naturally, what he said in his address to PACE is
acceptable to us.”

Armenian pro-government MP urges opposition to return to parliament
Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
3 Jul 04

Text of Naira Zograbyan’s report by Armenian newspaper Haykakan
Zhamanak on 3 July headlined “The opposition is outlawed”
An interview with the leader of the National Assembly faction of the
Republican Party of Armenia, Galust Saakyan.
[Haykakan Zhamanak correspondent] Mr Saakyan, there are rumours that
the high echelons of the authorities have already adopted a decision
to regard the absence of the deputies of the Justice and National
Unity blocs as inappropriate and deprive them of deputy mandates.
[Galust Saakyan] No such decision has been adopted. Simply there is a
situation where the opposition has found itself outlawed, and there
are no legal grounds to consider their absence from the National
Assembly to be appropriate. Their return to the parliament will be
difficult, as a legal solution to the problem demands that they be
deprived of their deputy mandates. The opposition can return to the
parliament only as a result of a political agreement. I think it would
be right for the opposition not to miss the chance to return to the
parliament by means of a political agreement.
[Correspondent] Why is the coalition interested in returning the
opposition to the National Assembly?
[Saakyan] The opposition is obliged to return to the parliament, as
there are quite serious problems in the world, as well as within the
country, which are above party and personal interests. First of all,
it is the Karabakh issue, as it is no secret that certain problems
connected with the Karabakh issue may arise in foreign relations. This
is an issue that demands the unification of the opposition and
pro-government forces. But if the opposition sticks to its tough
position and does not return to the parliament, this opposition will
be finally regarded as incomplete and will be seen as a power-hungry
opposition force.
[Correspondent] But the leaders of the opposition say that their
position on the matter of returning to the parliament has not changed.
[Saakyan] In the future, we shall end up facing much more serious
challenges whose culmination is the Karabakh issue. For this reason,
it is necessary for political forces to unite their position on this
matter as was the case in 2001 when all the political forces signed
the known document on the Karabakh issue. And today when processes
around the Karabakh issue are intensifying, the fact that the
opposition is not returning to the parliament will be negatively
accepted by the world community as well. The opposition’s rating has
fallen and will come to nought if they dissociate themselves from the
Karabakh issue. For four months now, the opposition has been staging
rallies and no analytical material concerning the Karabakh issue has
been submitted to society. So, we cannot but think that the actions of
the opposition are directed by different external forces. For this
reason, I think the expected developments around the Karabakh issue
may prompt the opposition to return to the parliament and start its
natural work there.
[Correspondent] Mr Saakyan, if there are problems whose settlement
requires the unification of the whole political field, why do you not
regard their political boycott as appropriate?
[Saakyan] Political boycott is not regulated by the law. In the legal
field, they have no choice but to return to the parliament. In summer,
representatives of the Republican Party of Armenia will try to explain
to them the need to return to the parliament. If we agree, it will be
only a political agreement. There is no other option. But if the
opposition rejects a political agreement, then I shall be the first to
deprive them of their deputy mandates.
[Correspondent] If you do not reach agreement and the opposition does
not come to the parliament in September, is there any way that this
will create a political situation that can be settled only by means of
extraordinary parliamentary elections?
[Saakyan] If the opposition boycotts the autumn session as well and if
there is a new political situation whose final settlement are
extraordinary parliamentary elections, then for me, as a member of the
Republican Party, it may be a very appropriate moment. I am sure that
in the elections, the Republican Party will gain more votes than it
has today. But we should not think only about our own narrow party
interests. The Republican Party will try to persuade the opposition to
return to the parliament, at least we have put forward our
suggestion. The opposition should reply to this. If there is no
political agreement, then the law will step in.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri pressure group vows not to let Armenians attend NATO exercises
Ekho, Baku
3 Jul 04

Text of E. Alakbarov report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho on 3 July
headlined “‘No special attention is to be paid to the Armenians'” and
subheaded “The Karabakh Liberation Organization is to spare no efforts
to prevent the Armenian flag from being hoisted and the anthem from
being played in Azerbaijan in September”
As we have already reported, Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan
has said that seven Armenian officers will take part in the
Cooperative Best Effort-2004 exercises due in Baku in September 2004
within NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme. Meanwhile, talking
about the September exercises, the head of the Armenian delegation
which attended NATO’s planning conference in Baku, Col Murad
Isakhanyan, said that Armenia will take part in it as part of a
military element. The NATO leadership, he said, made an exception for
Armenia and did not impose restrictions on the number of its
representatives or on their ranks.
“In turn, Azerbaijan guarantees the security of our servicemen. The
Azerbaijani side assures us that even if only one representative comes
from Armenia, the Armenian flag will be hoisted and the anthem
played,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) has no intention
of giving up the struggle. KLO deputy chairman Samil Mehdi commented
on the Armenian officer’s utterances. “We have information that the
Armenians seriously intend to take part in NATO’s September
exercises,” he said. The Armenian side manages to derive benefit from
any situation, he said. “Yerevan manages to push forward its officers
who have the blood of Azerbaijani officers on their hands. The
Armenians also easily manage to provoke Azerbaijani society to
confrontation and as a result, Azerbaijan is being discredited in the
international arena,” he stressed.
“We always stick to our position. The KLO will take concrete steps if
the Armenian officers arrive in Baku in September,” he said.
Talking about the Armenian officer’s words that the Armenian flag will
be raised and the anthem played in Baku in September, he said that the
members of the organization will spare no efforts to prevent this from
happening.
“This is nasty, mendacious and vile Armenian swank,” the head of the
Azerbaijani Defence Ministry press service, Ramiz Malikov, said,
commenting on the Armenian officer’s words. “No special attention will
be paid to the Armenian officers,” he stressed.
He said that the Armenian officers are coming to Baku to “muddy the
waters”. He complained about the local media which exaggerates
reports about the Armenian officers’ arrival.