October 6, 2008 - 18:17 AMT
Yerkramas: Baku again tries to drive a wedge between Cossacks and Armenians
Azerbaijan is again attempting to drive a wedge between Cossacks and Armenians, the editor-in-chief of Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of Russia, Tigran Tavadyan said when commenting on the interview Viktor Mereshkin, the head of Association of Cossacks of Azerbaijan, gave to Day.az internet portal.

"Mereshkin tried to revive the rumors spread by the Azeri and Turkish propagandists in 1990-ies about Armenians' claims to Russian territories, specifically the city of Armavir in Krasnodar region. Following the instructions of the Azeri special services, Mereshkin as if reminds of the unsuccessful attempt to set Armenian and Cossacks of Kuban at loggerheads in early 1990-ies, when anti-Armenian leaflets were circulated throughout the region," he said.

"However, fraternal relations between Cossacks and Armenians started during the Russian-Turkish wars and strengthened with time. The Cossacks take part in annual Armenian Genocide commemorating events, inauguration of a monument to Cossacks in Yerevan and, finally, the visit of Cossacks of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Transnistria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia to Yerevan and Stepanakert, where a trilateral agreement on cooperation was signed," Tavadyan concluded.