NATO is interested in the resolution of conflicts in the South Caucasus region, NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia Robert Simmons said at the discussions held with the Azerbaijani, Georgian and Armenian public members at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch has described her latest meetings with members of the Armenian-American community as "useful." Yovanovitch made a similar tour a year ago, as her predecessors had done before. The diplomat's itinerary this year included Philadelphia, Detroit, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Although one year has passed since Turkey and Armenia took a major step and signed protocols in Zurich to improve relations, they have both failed to approve them. Despite the official stalemate, civil society contacts and projects have been active on both sides of the closed border between the two countries.

News.Az interviews Irina Ghaplanyan, a graduate student of politics and international studies at the University of Cambridge. How would you comment on the recent cultural mission of Azerbaijani and Armenian diplomats, Polad Bulbuloglu and Armen Smbatyan, to Baku and Yerevan?...

After participating in the 65th session of the U.N. General Assembly, RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian arrived in Boston, MA. He visited the Armenian Heritage Park. Next year, a memorial to Armenian Genocide victims is to be completed there.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has joined world leaders in congratulating Armenia on the 19th anniversary of its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. President Serzh Sarkisian's press office did not publicize the text of the letter he received from Gul nor report any of its details, and there was no word of it on Gul's website.

Hundreds of Armenians gathered at the 10th-century Holy Cross Church near Van, a city close to Turkey's border with Iran, for the first religious service there since the mass killings of Armenians in 1915. The event, at a site considered sacred by many Armenians, was seen as a symbolic gesture by Turkey to mend relations with Armenia.

A Canadian parliamentary delegation led by MP Harold Albrecht, Conservative and chairman of Canada - Armenia Friendship Group, Rob Oliphant, Liberal, and Tony Martin, New Democratic Party, paid an official visit to the Republic of Armenia from September 6 to 10, 2010.