Ayna, Azerbaijan
Nov 24 2006

AZERI, ARMENIAN DEFENCE MINISTERS REPORTEDLY MEET IN BELARUS

Excerpt from report by C.Sumainli in the Azerbaijani newspaper Ayna
on 24 November headlined "Defence ministers have met"

The Azerbaijani and Armenian defence ministers, Safar Abiyev and
Serzh Sarkisyan respectively, met after a session of the council of
the CIS [defence] ministers in Brest yesterday [23 November]. Ayna
has learnt from military sources that the meeting was held at Russian
Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov’s initiative.

[Passage omitted: Russian reports on the meeting]

The defence ministers spoke about their last meeting held at the
initiative of the personal representative of the OSCE
chairman-in-office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, late October [on the
Azerbaijani-Armenian border] and the situation on the front-line
after the said meeting. The ministers considered meetings of this
kind important and decided to meet in the future as well. According
to information available, despite Kasprzyk has proposed that the
ministers meet in January to continue the talks, the sides have still
not commented on this proposal.

The head of the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry press service, Ramiz
Malikov, has denied the meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian
defence ministers during the session of the council of the CIS
defence ministers in Belarus. Malikov told Radio Liberty that such a
meeting had not been planned beforehand and that the ministers did
not meet on 23 November.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress