ARMENIANS SELL AZERBAIJANI CARPETS IN EUROPE

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug 9 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. S.Jaliloglu / Jeyran Bayramova, the
director of the Karabakh carpet weaving plant, stated on 9 August
that Armenians appropriated the designs of Azerbaijani carpets in
have been kept in 14 carpet weaving shops, situated in the Azerbaijani
territories occupied by the Armenian Armed Forces.

According to Bayramova, Armenians are weaving carpets similar
to Karabakh samples of ‘Khanlig’ and ‘Shasha’, ‘Nalbaki gul’, Ag
chichaklar’ and many others and are selling them in European countries,
and exhibiting them as ‘Karabakh carpets of Armenia’.

Bayramova added that the price for a carpet with the Karabakh design
is about ~@3,000.

After being occupied, 24 people are working in the Barda carpet
plant. Karabakh carpet shops were established in the 18th Century in
private houses. The Karabakh carpet plant uniting 500 people was opened
in 1939. Weaving of the Karabakh carpets began in the Agdam, Shusha,
Khankandi, Khojali, Jabrail and Lachin regions of Azerbaijan from 1956.

The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988
due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has
occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh
region and its seven surrounding Districts. Since 1992, these
territories have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time
the active hostilities ended. The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
(Russia, France and USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.