ARMENIANS’ VISIT NOT ELABORATED

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 17 2006

Baku, March 16, AssA-Irada
Three Armenian representatives joined an event of the European security
body in Baku on Thursday.

It is still unclear how the three employees of Armenia’s ministries of
foreign affairs and transport, as well as another government official,
succeeded in coming to Azerbaijan to attend the 14th economic forum
of the OSCE.

Commenting on the matter, Deputy Prime Minister Abid Sharifov said
the visit was paid through the OSCE, but declined to elaborate in
which Azeri embassy the Armenians had acquired their visas. “Do I
have to report to you?” he enquired in reply to journalists’ questions.

Sharifov noted that the Azeri government does not interfere with the
conduct of events on the level of OSCE. He said that although Azeris
and Armenians have attended the same conferences before, it would
be wrong to interpret this as cooperation with the aggressor nation,
which is out of the question.

“I repeat that the fact Armenians attended the same conference does not
mean cooperation. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan are OSCE member states.”

Frank Geerkens, head of the OSCE Chairmanship Unit, said Armenia’s
participation at the forum as an OSCE member is “natural”.

“Today’s event pursued economic goals. As for the Upper Garabagh
conflict, the OSCE representatives visited Armenia and Azerbaijan last
month. The organization is interested in the conflict settlement and
is making efforts to achieve this,” Geerkens said.

The head of the OSCE Office in Baku, Maurizio Pavesi, stated that the
permission to visit Baku was provided by the Azerbaijani government
proper and advised journalists to approach officials with this
question instead.

The hard-line Garabagh Liberation Organization (GLO) strongly condemned
Armenians’ attendance. Its members staged a protest, trying to disrupt
the discussions. But the police prevented the attempt, detaining four
of them.

In a statement, the organization said it considers the fact the
government did not prevent the visit as an insult to the memory of
those who died in battles for Garabagh and a severe blow dealt upon
the Azerbaijani people’s interests.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress