ARMENIA NOT YET CONFIRMS ITS PARTICIPATION IN BAKU CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN COUNTRIES’ CULTURE MINISTERS, SAYS MINISTER

Trend
Nov 27 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 27 November /TrendNews corr. J.Babayeva/ Armenia has
not yet made a decision to participate in a conference of the Culture
Ministers of the European countries. The conference on Intercultural
dialogue as base of peaceful existence and stable development in Europe
and neighbor regions will take place in Baku on 2 and 3 December. The
Council of Europe (CE) and the Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture and
Tourism are organizers of the conference.

The CE has invited Armenia to the conference, whilst Armenia has not
yet expressed is position concerning this matter, Abulfaz Garayev,
the Azerbaijani Minister of Culture and Tourism, told journalists on
27 November.

A term to confirm participation of the Ministers of Culture has
expired. However, if Armenia wants to participate in the Baku
conference, Azerbaijan will create all necessary conditions for it,
Garayev said.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenia
has occupied more than 20% of the Azerbaijani territories.