SEESAC DAILY SALW MEDIA MONITORING REPORT 26 July 2007 26 Jul 07 Armenian defence ministry denies buying weapons from Albania BBC Monitoring Service The Armenian Defence Ministry has categorically denied some foreign media reports about purchasing arms from Albania and the ban of Turkey to transfer these arms through its territory. The press secretary of the Defence Ministry, Col Seyran Shahsuvaryan, said that Armenia has not purchased arms from Albania. "We have bought nothing from Albania. This report is nothing but another 'hoax' of the Turkish-Azerbaijani propaganda machine," Shahsuvaryan said. According to some Azerbaijani, Russian and Turkish media outlets, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha made a statement about arms delivery to Armenia. "One of our ships with 60 containers, filled mainly with heavy artillery and ammunition, was at the Durres port. The ship left from Durres to Istanbul," he says, adding that the problematic relations between Turkey and Armenia resulted in the fact that the ship had to return, and the weapons were unloaded in the port of Durres. Meanwhile, the director of MEIKO company, which trades Pinari weapons, said that Albania has nothing to do with the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. "All the sale procedures are in order and correspond with the law. We are currently examining the possibility of using other routes," he said. The director of the company said that a representative of the Armenian Defence Ministry contacted his colleague in Albania and ordered a big batch of weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles of various calibers, from 75mm to 122mm. Afterwards, the MEIKO company, which had experience to this effect, was assigned to contact corresponding officials in Armenia and to sign a contract. The source also mentions that Armenia must pay for the delivery of the weapons.