September 2003 elections to occur before the law would take effect. Abdykarimov said he believed the law would be passed prior to the 2004 elections to the Majilis. Foreign relations Abdykarimov awarded Eduard Khurshudian, the then retiring Armenian Ambassador to Kazakhstan, with a diploma on 20 July 2004 for his service as Ambassador from 1999 to 2004. Abdykarimov met with visiting Turkish Justice Minister Jemil Cicek on 15 October 2005. They decided to launch air traffic between Astana and Istanbul on 19 October. Abdykarimov received Abdul Yelakh Mukhammed Khadjar, Yemen's Ambassador to Kazakhstan, on 20 October 2005. Abdykarimov met Israeli Ambassador to Kazakhstan Michael Lotem on 8 August 2006 in the Ak-Orda Presidential Palace in Astana. Abdykarimov thanked Lotem for his nation's involvement in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia and the First Congress of the Leaders of the World and Traditional Religions in Astana. Abdykarimov met with Gerard Perrolet, France's Ambassador to Kazakhstan, on 3 July 2006 as finished his service, in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Journalists interviewed Perrolet after their meeting and he discussed France-Kazakhstan relations. Abdykarimov met with Kalman Mizsei, the Assistant to the UN Secretary and Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and CIS, in Ak Orda. They discussed a possible increase in United Nations Development Program funding for the Kazakh State. Mizsei thanked Abdykarimov for his government's contributions to regional security. Human rights Abdykarimov chaired an enlarged session of the Human Rights Commission under Nazarbayev in March 2004. Human rights experts, government officials, NGO officials, and legal experts participated. Abdykarimov said the commission worked on "tracing the tendencies," "show[ing] the dynamics, our legislative initiatives and our laws on protection of human and civil rights." The commission delivered a report to him on 24 March, which he submitted to Nazarbayev. Kazakhstan achieved great progress in human rights, says Prof. Mullerson Rein Mullerson, the former Regional Adviser to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for Central Asia and International Law Professor of the London King's College, met with Abdykarimov on 27 September 2005. They discussed politics and elections in Kazakhstan, ratification of the "Pact on Human Rights" and human rights protocols regarding appeals to the international community and abolition of capital punishment. Mullerson applauded Kazakhstan's process in improving its human rights record relative to the other members of the CIS. Israel He met with Moshe Kamkhy, Israel's ambassador to Uzbekistan, on