Human rights situation in Azerbaijan ‘deteriorating’ ahead of election, says PACE.

YEREVAN (Combined Sources)--Azeri border guards opened fire on a village in Tavoush province Wednesday afternoon resulting in the death of an Armenian farmer, reported the Armenian Defense Ministry on Wednesday.

TAVOUSH, Armenia (ArmRadio)--Azerbaijani border guards Wednesday evening shot dead another resident of the Armenian border village of Chinar, reported the Armenian Defense Ministry on Thursday.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried told lawmakers on June 18 that U.S. foreign policy toward countries of the South Caucasus -- Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia -- is to help them achieve the same freedoms and democracies that their neighbors to the west enjoy.

There is no evidence that the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh committed "genocide” against Meskhetian Turks of Khojaly, Canadian military historian Patrick Wilson Gore said during the launch of his latest book "Tis Some Poor Fellow’s Skull: Post-Soviet Warfare in the Southern Caucasus" at the embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Ottawa, independent French journalist Jean Eckian told PanARMENIAN.Net.

The president of Nagorno Karaback Bako Sahakyan says enlargement of the security zone will be the only means for peace in case of aggression from Azerbaijan.

Four Armenian citizens are subjected to tortures in Azerbaijan, said colonel Arshak Karapetyan, deputy chief of the armed forces general staff of Armenia. Prisoner torture in Azerbaijan is an accepted practice in that country.

The meeting between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev will take place in Saint Petersburg on June 6. “We connect hopes with the meeting in the regard that it is the first meeting between the new President of Armenia and the Azerbaijani President," says the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Mr. Edward Nalbandian.

The foreign minister of Azerbaijan has asked the West to convince Armenia with Nagorno Karabakh settlement while Azerbaijan is the side that constantly refuses the proposals of OSCE and and tries to get rid of the Minsk group mediators while attempting to bring the issue to UN.

Armenian parliamentarians, while attending NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) to Serbia and Kosovo say Kosovo's independence should not monopolize the right to liberty and sovereignty referring to the case of the independence and the right of self-determination of Nagorno Karabakh's Republic, which has become a source of conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Germany offers Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova to establish privileged relationship with the European Union. An Eastern European Union may be formed by example of Mediterranean Union, MEP Ingo Friedrich said.

In the light of Azerbaijan's non-constructive position and war-like statements why should the future status of the Nagorno Karabakh region, populated by christian Armenians, be settled through negotiations, while the status of Kosovo is settled through the political will and objective recommendation of the international community ending the war and conflict in the Balkans.