NKR PAVILION WORKED TILL END OF MOSCOW EXHIBITION

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 19 2006

As it has already been informed, a group of Azeris held a protest
rally at the exposition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic during
the International Tourist Exhibition titled “Tourism and Rest 2006”
conducted in the Moscow Exhibition Centre “Gostiniy Dvor” requiring
forbidding the NKR presentation.

While commenting on the incident at the DE FACTO Information-Analytics
Agency’s request, Director of the Karabakh agency for development
of tourism Sergey Shahverdyan stated it was a provocation. He said
about 15 young men dressed in shirts with inscriptions “Stop Armenian
Aggression” picketed the NKR pavilion raising the Azeri national
flags and chanting anti Armenian slogans.

Sergey Shahverdyan highly estimated the measures undertaken by the
exhibition’s organizers, having noted “they did not surrender to
intimidation and did not suspend the presentation”. He mentioned with
satisfaction that despite the Azeris’ demands the Karabakh pavilion
was not closed and worked till the end of the exhibition. According to
Sergey Shahverdyan, “the Azeris’ trick became a peculiar publicity of
the Karabakh exposition, as it drew more visitors”. On the outcomes
of the exhibition the NKR participants received the organizers’
diploma. Sergey Shahverdyan stated 40 countries and 80 regions
of Russia had participated in the exhibition and stressed the NKR
participation in such a representative exhibition was of extreme
importance. In his words, “not production, but the country is
advertised” at the exhibitions of the kind. Director of the Karabakh
agency for development of tourism added the Nagorno Karabakh would
take part in the Moscow International Tourist Exhibition in 2007.