IRANIAN PRESIDENT IN ARMENIA SEEKING TO BOOST TIES
By VOA News

Voice of America
Oct 22 2007

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has begun a two-day visit to
Armenia aimed at boosting economic and political ties between the
two neighboring countries.

The Iranian leader and Armenian President Robert Kocharian were to
sign a series of bilateral agreements on energy cooperation. While
in the capital, Yerevan, Mr. Ahmadinejad also is set to address the
Armenian parliament.

Ahead of the visit, Armenian officials told the Associated Press the
two governments may sign a deal on the construction of an oil pipeline
from Iran to Armenia.

Mr. Ahmadinejad, the target of international scorn for claiming the
Holocaust is a myth, also is slated to visit a memorial to victims
of the early 20th century massacres of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks.

Armenia accuses the Ottoman Turks of genocide in the slaughter of
1.5 million Armenians beginning in 1915 in a push to drive them from
eastern Turkey.

Turkey strongly rejects the genocide charge. It calls the death toll
exaggerated, and says a large number of people died in civil unrest
during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.