Armenian servicemen yet to apply for visas for Baku NATO conference

Noyan Tapan news agency
18 Jun 04

Yerevan, 18 June: The Armenian servicemen will apply for entry visas to
Azerbaijan at its embassy in Tbilisi on 21 June, in order to leave for
Baku the next day, to take part in the [22 June] planning conference
of the NATO Cooperative Best Effort-2004 exercises, a spokesman for
the Armenian Defence Ministry, Seyran Shakhsuvaryan told a Noyan
Tapan correspondent.

Previously Mr Shakhsuvaryan said that the Armenian officers must apply
to the Azerbaijani embassy in Georgia on 16 June. He said that similar
information was obtained from the NATO leadership, which ensured the
visas for the Armenians.

Col Shakhsuvaryan could not answer the question of whether the
Armenian servicemen will succeed in getting to Baku this time. To
recap, the Armenian military delegation could not participate in the
previous conference.

The Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho, quoting the Azerbaijani embassy in
Georgia, wrote that two to three days are necessary to obtain visas,
but in exceptional cases it is possible to do it within one day.