Armenian MPs denied entry to Azerbaijan for NATO seminar – agency

Mediamax news agency, Yerevan
25 Nov 04

Yerevan, 25 November: The Armenian deputies will not take part in the
NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s seminar which starts in Baku today, as
the Azerbaijani authorities did not provide the Armenian delegation
with security guarantees.

The chairman of the standing parliamentary commission on defence and
security, Mger Shakhgeldyan, who must have left for Baku with another
deputy Aleksan Karapetyan, said this in an interview with Mediamax.

Mediamax recalls that several days ago Armenian National Assembly
Speaker Artur Bagdasaryan sent a letter to his Azerbaijani counterpart,
Murtuz Alasgarov, and the leadership of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly
and expressed hope for providing the Armenian deputies with security
guarantees.

The non-admission of the Armenian military to Baku for taking part
in NATO-led exercises [in September 2004], as well as the recent
deportation of a Bulgarian citizen of Armenian origin from the
Azerbaijani capital have become the reason of this letter.

[Armenian MPs Mger Shakhgeldyan and Aleksan Karapetyan have arrived in
Baku to attend the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Rose-Roth seminar, the
Azerbaijani radio station ANS reported at 0600 gmt on 25 November 2004]