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NATO SECRETARY GENERAL RASMUSSEN TO VISIT ARMENIA
Europe Online Magazine
http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/nato-secretary-general-rasmussen-to-visit-armenia_235928.html
Sept 5 2012
By our dpa-correspondent and Europe Online
Moscow (dpa) - NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen was to
visit the former Soviet republic of Armenia on Wednesday as part of
a regional trip to the Caucasus region.
He was scheduled to meet Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and the
country's foreign and defence ministers during the two-day visit,
NATO said.
NATO and Armenian officials were likely to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict - a dispute between Yerevan and Baku over a separatist ethnic
Armenian enclave inside neighbouring Azerbaijan, according to Armenian
media reports.
Another dispute involves Azerbaijan army officer Ramil Safarov, who
was convicted of the 2004 murder in Budapest of an Armenian officer
participating with him in a NATO training programme. Safarov was
sentenced to life imprisonment in 2006.
Officials in NATO member Hungary turned Safarov over to Azerbaijan
on August 31 to serve out the remainder of his sentence, but he was
pardoned on arrival in Baku.
Armenia has sharply criticized Safarov's extradition and pardon and
announced it will curtail most diplomatic relations with Hungary.
Elman Abdullayev, a spokesman in Azerbaijan's Foreign Affairs
Ministry, on Wednesday called on "all countries with Azerbaijan
embassies or consulates on their territory" to increase security,
to protect Baku's diplomats and government personnel from possible
retaliation by Armenian agents.
Armenia is a strategically important region lying along gas routes
from the energy-rich Caspian Sea region to Europe, and is a close
partner of Iran and Georgia.
It sees itself as increasingly threatened by its authoritarian,
oil-rich neighbour Azerbaijan, with which it fought a war in the
1990s. dpa sbk ar Author: Stefan Korshak
From: Baghdasarian
Europe Online Magazine
http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/nato-secretary-general-rasmussen-to-visit-armenia_235928.html
Sept 5 2012
By our dpa-correspondent and Europe Online
Moscow (dpa) - NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen was to
visit the former Soviet republic of Armenia on Wednesday as part of
a regional trip to the Caucasus region.
He was scheduled to meet Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and the
country's foreign and defence ministers during the two-day visit,
NATO said.
NATO and Armenian officials were likely to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict - a dispute between Yerevan and Baku over a separatist ethnic
Armenian enclave inside neighbouring Azerbaijan, according to Armenian
media reports.
Another dispute involves Azerbaijan army officer Ramil Safarov, who
was convicted of the 2004 murder in Budapest of an Armenian officer
participating with him in a NATO training programme. Safarov was
sentenced to life imprisonment in 2006.
Officials in NATO member Hungary turned Safarov over to Azerbaijan
on August 31 to serve out the remainder of his sentence, but he was
pardoned on arrival in Baku.
Armenia has sharply criticized Safarov's extradition and pardon and
announced it will curtail most diplomatic relations with Hungary.
Elman Abdullayev, a spokesman in Azerbaijan's Foreign Affairs
Ministry, on Wednesday called on "all countries with Azerbaijan
embassies or consulates on their territory" to increase security,
to protect Baku's diplomats and government personnel from possible
retaliation by Armenian agents.
Armenia is a strategically important region lying along gas routes
from the energy-rich Caspian Sea region to Europe, and is a close
partner of Iran and Georgia.
It sees itself as increasingly threatened by its authoritarian,
oil-rich neighbour Azerbaijan, with which it fought a war in the
1990s. dpa sbk ar Author: Stefan Korshak
From: Baghdasarian