Bagratyan: ANC gave head start to Armenian President before Kazan meetingJune 22, 2011 - 15:37 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - With its decreased rating, the Armenian National Congress (ANC) gave President Serzh Sargsyan a serious head start on the threshold of Kazan-hosted trilateral presidential meeting, according to an ANC member, former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan. “Due to political dialogue with ANC, Serzh Sargsyan can raise his voice, presenting the position of the whole country during the Karabakh talks,” Bagratyan told a news conference in Yerevan. “Inside ANC, there are ongoing disputes as to negotiations with authorities. Still, I’m certain of ANC victory which will prove that the Congress made right decisions,” he said. The Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia – Serzh Sargsyan, Ilham Aliyev and Dmitry Medvedev - are slated to meet on June 25 in the Russian city of Kazan, the next in a series of trilateral meetings on the Karabakh conflict settlement. There are certain expectations with respect to the meeting, taking into consideration the Deauville statement adopted by the leaders of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries, who said “the time has arrived for all the sides to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict to take a decisive step towards a peaceful settlement. Further delay [in the settlement] would only call into question the commitment of the sides to reach an agreement.” Top stories President of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. Achieving stable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains a priority of the OSCE, said Ian Borg. The Cabinet of Ministers decided on Thursday, November 9 to allocated AMD 120 million to arrange the gathering. Michael Roth believes sanctions must be put on the table after Baku‘s ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. Partner news | Armenia, U.S. customs authorities to boost assistance with new deal The government has approved an agreement with the U.S. government on mutual assistance between the customs authorities. EU calls on Azerbaijan to release all political prisoners The European Union calls on Azerbaijan to release all those imprisoned for exercising their fundamental rights. Armenia-Azerbaijan: Turkey wants deal after “positive developments” Turkey hopes “positive developments” in negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan will lead to an agreement. Police try to impede Armenian Church head’s access to war memorial Police tried to stop the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Karekin II, from visiting a war memorial. |