Author: Chmshkian Vicken

Georgian president arrives in Armenia “with love”

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
12 Mar 04

[Presenter over video of meeting] Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili has arrived in Armenia on an official visit for the first
time. Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan, the chairman of the
standing parliamentary commission for foreign relations, Armen
Rustamyan, and other officials met Saakashvili at the airport. Foreign
Minister Vardan Oskanyan said that our neighbour Georgia is one of the
regional countries with which we have no problems. The Georgian
president stressed the importance of relations with our country. He
noted that Armenia has a sufficiently kind and wise president who can
give serious advice during discussion of serious problems.

[Mikheil Saakashvili at airport, voice-over in Armenian] I do not
think of this as an official visit. I came to Armenia with love. Our
countries are historical neighbours. We cannot exist and develop
separately. Armenia and Georgia must act and cooperate jointly.

[Vardan Oskanyan] Following Mr Saakashvili’s recent visit to France,
where he made some proposals to start cooperation on integration
between the three countries in the Caucasus – I think that this is an
interesting proposal. But Azerbaijan has always hindered this. He also
visited Baku. We are very interested in Azerbaijan’s position
regarding this proposal.

The second interesting proposal made by Mr Saakashvili was to approach
settling conflicts through economic cooperation. He is preparing to
present such proposals to Abkhazia. We hope that it will be catching
for Azerbaijan too. We must settle conflicts by creating the most
favourable atmosphere through economic cooperation and cooperation in
other spheres. These two main issues are on the agenda. I hope that
there will be interesting talks between the two presidents.

NATO chief hopes officer’s killing not to threaten cooperation with Armenia

Mediamax news agency
10 Mar 04

YEREVAN

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has sent a letter to
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan in connection with the
killing of Armenian Lt Gurgen Markaryan by an Azerbaijani serviceman
in Budapest on 19 February.

The press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry quotes the NATO
secretary-general as saying in the letter that he was “deeply shocked
by the brutal killing of the Armenian officer” and asked to pass his
sympathy to his family, Mediamax reports.

“As you know, relevant Hungarian agencies are conducting a detailed
investigation into the incident and I am convinced that they will do
their best to find out all the circumstances of the killing and to
make sure that justice is administered. I myself will follow the
course of the investigation and the subsequent trial,” Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer said.

The NATO secretary-general expressed the hope that this crime would
not pose a threat to the development of cooperation between Armenia
and the alliance and said that NATO appreciated Armenia’s contribution
to the Partnership for Peace programme. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer added
that the further expansion of regional cooperation in the South
Caucasus is one of the key components of the programme.

On 23 February, the Armenian ambassador to NATO, Vigen Chitechyan,
forwarded Vardan Oskanyan’s letter to Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The
Armenian foreign minister says in the letter that the Azerbaijani
officer’s action “was somewhat expected because it was a logical
consequence of bellicose statements by the previous and new
Azerbaijani authorities”.

[Passage omitted: Known details of the Budapest incident]