By empty (9/7/2001 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Candidates representing the Democratic Artsakh Union (ZhAM) that supports Arkadii Ghukasian, president of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, were elected to head local government bodies in at least 140 of the unrecognized enclave's 223 towns and villages in the 5 September elections, ZhAM Chairman Ashot Gulian told RFE/RL's on 6 September. ZhAM candidate Hamik Avanesian was elected mayor of Stepanakert with some 53 percent of the vote; his closest rival, Maksim Mirzoyan of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation--Dashnaktsutiun (HHD), polled 20 percent. The HHD won control of some 20 communities, mostly in the southern district of Hadrut, and endorsed independent candidates elected in a dozen other villages.

By empty (9/7/2001 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Members of the People's Party of Armenia (HZhK), Hanrapetutiun, and the National Accord Front (AHCh) said that the leaders of the three parties are holding talks on the text of a planned joint declaration calling for the resignation of President Robert Kocharian. Artashes Geghamian, one of the leaders of the AHCh and an outspoken critic of Kocharian, is believed to be pushing for a formal alliance between the three parties. Talks a year ago between Geghamian and HZhK Chairman Stepan Demirchian on forming an opposition alliance proved inconclusive.

By empty (9/6/2001 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The leaders of the opposition Musavat, Azerbaijan National Independence, and Azerbaijan Popular Front parties on 6 September cancelled a scheduled meeting with 11 members of the Karabakh NGO Helsinki Initiative-92 who arrived in Baku on 4 September. They were reportedly incensed by a statement made on his arrival in Baku by Karen Ohandjanian, the head of Helsinki Initiative-92, that Nagorno-Karabakh is an independent state. On 5 September, members of Azerbaijan's Organization for the Liberation of Karabakh staged a protest against the Armenians' presence in Baku outside the Azerbaijan NGO Helsinki Civil Assembly, which co-organized the Armenians' visit.