DELEGATION OF NKR NGOs VISITS ISTANBUL

ARMINFO News Agency
October 3, 2005

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 3. ARMINFO. A delegation of NKR NGOs, which
has recently participated in the pilot project of the Consortium
in Istanbul under the aegis of International Alert international
organization, convened at the Resource Center of NGOs in Stepanakert.

Head of the delegation Irina Grigoryan told ARMINFO’s special
correspondent to Stepanakert that the project had been implemented for
already 6 months. Under the project, resource centers were established
in Yerevan, Baku and Stepanakert. The meeting in Istanbul gathered the
Boards of the Resource Centers to inform them of the work carried out,
to determine the strategy for the coming 9 months and the future 2
years. Irina Grigoryan says the work in Istanbul was in the following
directions: lobbying, influence of the public, equal representation
of the population of the conflicting parties in the project.

She says representatives of Nagorny Karabakh were lobbying peace and
peacemaking. However, Head of NKR delegation left the meeting hall
after a member of the Azerbaijani delegation proposed qualifying
the NKR delegation as ‘representatives of the Armenian community of
Nagorny Karabakh’ and to attract the ‘Azerbaijani community’ to the
project. Head of the NKR delegation returned to the meeting only when
the proposal was rejected. Irina Grigoryan says Head of the Public
Organization for Refugees of Nagorny Karabakh is preparing a project
on organization of psychological rehabilitation courses for refugees
and other measures on their public integration. Lobby interviews in
Istanbul touched upon the Karabakh conflict as well.