ARKA News Agency – 06/30/2004

ARKA News Agency
June 30 2004

Vardan Oskanian: present authorities of Turkey can and wish to hold
negotiations on establishment of mutual relations with Armenia

NKR Foreign Minister receives EU Special Representative in South
Caucasus

A bank with data of invalids is being founded in Nagorno-Karabakh
republic

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VARDAN OSKANIAN: PRESENT AUTHORITIES OF TURKEY CAN AND WISH TO HOLD
NEGOTIATIONS ON ESTABLISHMENT OF MUTUAL RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA

YEREVAN, June 30. /ARKA/. Present authorities of Turkey can and wish
to hold negotiations on establishment of mutual relations with
Armenia, RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian stated today. He said
that during his unscheduled meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Regep
Erdogan it was confirmed that Turkey wants to establish bilateral
relations with Armenia. At this, he said that despite of previous
authorities of Turkey, present one indeed strive for settlement of
the issue.
Armenia and Turkey still do not have diplomatic relations. Corner
stone in relations between the countries is the fact of Armenian
Genocide in Ottoman Empire in 1915. L.D. –0–

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NKR FOREIGN MINISTER RECEIVES EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE IN SOUTH
CAUCASUS

STEPANAKERT, June 30. /ARKA/. NKR Foreign Minister Ashot Gulian
received EU Special Representative in South Caucasus Heikki Talvitie,
NKR MFA told ARKA. During the meeting the parties discussed
perspectives of negotiating process of Karabakh settlement,
involvement of Karabakh in regional projects. Ashot Gulian spoke for
obligatory participation of Karabakh party in negotiations in case of
their recommencement and stressed that it comes from the logics of
negotiating process.
Gulian paid attention of Talvitie to the fact that since new
President of Azerbaijan Ilkham Aliev took the office, contacts
between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan stopped even at
non-government level and added that it does not contribute to
creation of atmosphere of trust and settlement of the problem.
Talvitie in his turn stressed the interest of EU in soonest
settlement of Karabakh conflict and establishment of stability in the
region. He said that EU plans to actively assist in settlement of the
conflict without replacing OSCE Minsk Group. L.D. –0–

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A BANK WITH DATA OF INVALIDS IS BEING FOUNDED IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH
REPUBLIC

STEPANAKERT, June 30. /ARKA/. In Nagorno-Karabakh a bank with data of
invalids is being founded, according to NKR Minister of Social
Welfare Lenston Gulyan. According to him, the bank aims at more
detailed studying of the problems of invalids. He noted that about 3
thsd. invalids are registered in NKR as of today. They receive
monthly state pension and make use of the privileges. Most of them
come across the social problems, as well as those connected with
housing facilities, employment, treatment, etc. `In the created
database each invalid will have his/her register list, which will
contain all data about the person, such as education, specialty,
occupation, marital status, and housing facilities that would help to
solve housing problems of invalids’, he said.A.H. –0–