Au unknown man entered the building of Azerbaijan State Oil Academy on April 30 at about 9.30 in the morning and shot everyone he met on his way from first to sixth floor. He shot dead 12 people and wounded 13. Then he killed himself. He was armed with Makarov pistol. Identification card of Ferda Asad Gadirov, 29, Georgian citizen, was found near him.

Rovshan Nasirli, a young Eurovision fan living in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, says he was summoned this week to the country's National Security Ministry -- to explain why he had voted for Armenia during this year's competition in May.

"They wanted an explanation for why I voted for Armenia. They said it was a matter of national security,” Nasirli said. “They were trying to put psychological pressure on me, saying things like, 'You have no sense of ethnic pride. How come you voted for Armenia?' They made me write out an explanation, and then they let me go."

A total of 43 Azeris voted for the Armenian duo Inga and Anush, and their song, "Jan-Jan."

Nasirli, like others, used his mobile phone to send a text message expressing his preference, little imagining his vote would eventually result in a summons from national security officials. (By contrast, 1,065 Armenians voted for the Azerbaijani team, apparently without consequence.)

October 10 (RIA Novosti) - The foreign ministers of Turkey and Armenia are expected to sign an agreement on diplomatic relations in Zurich on Saturday.

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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently told The Wall Street Journal that Turkey is ready to sign a pact on October 10 on reopening its border with Armenia and reestablishing relations, if Armenia does not insist on last-minute changes to the draft.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of support for Muslim ally Azerbaijan, following a bloody conflict over Nagorny Karabakh between the two ex-Soviet republics. Turkey has also demanded that Yerevan drop its campaign to have the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 internationally recognized as genocide.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters that the ceremony was delayed after “a last minute hitch” with the Armenians, touching off frenetic scenes in the northeastern Swiss city.

Over an hour-and-a-half after the scheduled ceremony, the Armenian foreign minister and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had still not arrived at the University where the signing is due to take place.

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An AFP reporter said a convoy with Clinton had turned around while traveling there from a luxury hotel where she had earlier held bilateral talks with the Turkish and Armenian ministers.

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A senior State Department official underlined that U.S. President Barack Obama had played a key role in encouraging both sides, as well as nearby Azerbaijan, to normalize ties and reduce the risk of conflict in the region.

The signing ceremony of the Armenian-Turkish protocols was held in a most tense atmosphere. After a long delay and consultations, RA and Turkish Foreign Ministers signed the Protocols 3 hours later than than it had been scheduled.

Ceremony participants refused to make the previously announced final statements that caused controversy.

A last-minute dispute delayed the signing ceremony in the Swiss city of Zurich for several hours. But after resolving their differences, the Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers signed the document Saturday night. Neither side issued a spoken statement, as originally planned.

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The agreement still must be approved by the two countries' parliaments, where it is likely to face opposition from nationalists.

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If ratified, the accord could have implications well beyond Turkey and Armenia. It may ease tensions in other parts of southeastern Europe and help with the establishment of oil pipelines to the West, officials said.

"It's a huge step. It's a historic breakthrough," said David Phillips, a scholar at American University who has worked on the dispute.

Will the winners of the next Nobel Peace Prize be the leaders of adversaries Turkey and Armenia?

It's not every day that two neighboring but not neighborly countries agree to overcome a century of deep hostility, especially states that sit at one of the world's most strategic – and volatile – crossroads

"The signing of the agreements should be considered the major geopolitical event of the 21st century," Huseyin Bagci, Vice President of the European Security Academy, told RIA Novosti.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed the signing of two protocols aimed at normalizing the relations between Armenia and Turkey, adding he hopes that both protocols will be swiftly ratified.

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"The secretary-general is confident that this development will also contribute to peace, security and stability in the South Caucasus."

Azerbaijan on Sunday slammed its ally Turkey for agreeing to normalise ties with Armenia and warned that the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border could cause instability in the volatile South Caucasus.

The Azerbaijani foreign ministry said Turkey should not have normalised ties without a deal over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

16.11.2009


A bomb was found near Armenia’s nuclear power plant, online paper Aysor reports, referring to Armenia’s Rescue Service.

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The spokesman of the Rescue Service said that combat engineers of Armenia’s Defense Ministry transported the bomb to separate area and neutralized it, Aysor adds.

The Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant (Armenian: Մեծամոր ատոմակայան), also known as Oktemberyan or Medzamor, was built during the 1970s, about thirty kilometres west of the Armenian capital of Yerevan in the city of Metsamor. The plant was constructed with two VVER-440 Model V230 nuclear reactors. The power plant produces about 40% of Armenia's electricity.

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The E.U. reportedly had classified the VVER 440 Model V230 light water-cooled reactors as the "oldest and least reliable" category of all the 66 Soviet reactors built in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union...

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Armenia is currently discussing the issue of constructing a new nuclear power plant of either 1,000 or 1,200 MW...