ARMENIAN SERVICEMEN LEFT FOR BAKU

PanARMENIAN.Net - Despite the obstacles created by official Baku, the military leadership of Armenia decided to commission its representatives to the conference hoping that all the formalities with entry visas would be decided right in the airport of Baku, as they use to do with citizens of most of the CIS countries. There are no diplomatic relations between Yerevan and Baku and naturally there is no legal base defining the order of sanctioning of visits. And as there are no new rules, the old ones existing during the Soviet Union, are acting. According to them, no entry visa is necessary. During the last 10 years several Armenian delegations have visited Baku and no entry visa has been asked. The same was with journalists, public figures and officials from Azerbaijan visiting Yerevan. But this case is different because this is the first time when Armenian servicemen to whom the Azeris lost the war 10 years ago are visiting Baku. Maybe their behavior was meant for the local audience in order to convince them that the authorities do not welcome the arrival of Armenians. At the same time, long before the conference the appropriate services started to assure their Western partners in their readiness to guarantee the security of the servicemen representing Armenia. Ilgar Verdiyev, employee of the press-service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said recently that the competent authorities ''undertake to guarantee the security of the servicemen of all the countries taking part in NATO military maneuvers''. ''The Armenian servicemen have already participated in the NATO arrangements in Azerbaijan and their rights have never been infringed,'' Verdiyev stressed ruling out the possibility of any incident. Whether this statement is sincere, will be clear tomorrow when the law-enforcement bodies demonstrate their ability to withstand provocations planned by a radical group named ''Organization of Karabakh Liberation''.