Armenian legislators skip NATO seminar in Azerbaijan out of security fears

Associated Press Worldstream
November 25, 2004 Thursday

YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenian legislators said Thursday they would
not attend a NATO-organized seminar in neighboring Azerbaijan out of
fears for their safety.

The two ex-Soviet republics fought over the ethnic Armenian
Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in Azerbaijan in 1988-1994. Azerbaijan
does not recognize the territory’s de facto independence, won with
Armenia’s backing.

The conflict froze official relations and left the two peoples with
a strong sense of enmity.

NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly seminar in the Azerbaijani capital Baku
opened Thursday. Armenian deputies had decided not to attend because
their letter to the heads of the Azerbaijani parliament and NATO
Parliamentary Assembly with a request to guarantee security of the
Armenian deputies had been left unanswered, said Mger Shakhgeldian,
head of the Armenian parliament’s commission for defense matters.

Members of the radical Azerbaijani Organization for the Liberation
of Karabakh reportedly staged an anti-Armenian protest in Baku ahead
of the seminar.

In September, NATO canceled joint exercises with the involvement of
the two countries’ militaries because of Azerbaijan’s opposition to
Armenia’s participation.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress