On January 20-26 a group of two Armenian and two Azerbaijani journalists made
a familiarization trip to Cyprus. The trip was made under “Armenian-Azerbaijani/Azerbaijani-Armenian
Information Center” project of Yerevan and Baku Press Clubs, supported
by OSI Network Media Program and implied a visit to both the southern and the
northern parts of the island. The purpose of the trip was to learn about the
process of the Cyprus problem resolution, the political situation and the media
of Cyprus Republic and the unrecognized (rather, recognized only by Turkey)
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Considering the fact that in December 2002 the European Council passed a decision
on the accession of Cyprus Republic to European Union, that on February 16 this
year presidential elections will be held in Cyprus Republic and February 28
is the deadline for the parties to sign the plan of Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General,
on the reunification of the island, the journalists during the numerous meetings
have received a bulk of information, which is of interest in the context of
developments in the South Caucasus region and in Armenian-Azerbaijani relations,
in particular.
The group of journalists comprised the President of Yerevan Press Club Boris
Navasardian, the Chairman of the Board of Gyurmi “Asparez” Journalists’
Club Levon Barseghian, the section Editor of “Echo” daily Khatija
Ismailova and the Expert of “Turan” news agency Hasan Kuliev. Significant
assistance to the arrangement of the trip was provided by the Press and Information
Office of the Government of Cyprus Republic, while the visit to the northern
part of the island was assisted by the Press and Information Office of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and Defense of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
