YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)– A forum attended by journalists from Armenia–Azerbaijan–Georgia and Nagorno Karabakh is scheduled to be held in Stepanakert between August 29 and September 1 within the framework of the program "In Support of Journalists of the Transcaucasus." Journalists from Azerbaijan will have an opportunity to visit Nagorno Karabakh for the first time in ten years. There–besides attending the forum–they will also meet with Karabakh’s leadership–the head of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church–Bishop Paregv Martirossian and the local population. The guests are expected to visit Shushi–Gandzasar–other regions of Karabakh.
Initially–it was planned to hold this forum in Baku. However–according to the Baku coordinator of the program Shahin Rzayev–in that case the forum would have to be controlled by Azeri special services–which would not be desirable for guests or for the organizers of the forum.
Last October–within the framework of the same program–Azeri journalists visited Armenia for the first time and held meetings with then Prime Minister Robert Kocharian and Karabakh’s President Arkady Ghoukassian.
The program "In Support of Journalists of the Transcaucasus" is being implemented with the assistance of the Helsinki Civil Assembly (Geneva) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland. The author of the program is a Swiss journalist of Armenian origin Vigen Chtrian. Chtrian still hopes to organize a meeting of journalists in Baku this year. This year’s schedule provides for holding a forum of journalists of the Transcaucasus and Yugoslavia in Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina).