Armenian President Robert Kocharyan on Monday urged his government to boost measures to fend off the lethal bird flu which has claimed two lives in neighboring Turkey, veterinary authorities said.

Kocharyan asked the government to take "all possible preventive measures" including getting ready for the forthcoming spring bird migration from neighboring Turkey and other countries, said Grigory Bagiyan, chief of the veterinary inspectorate, quoted by the Interfax news agency.

Bagiyan also gave assurances that the situation in Armenia regarding bird flu is stable, and that no bird flu virus has been recorded in the country so far.

Armenia had already banned poultry and egg imports from Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Turkey and some Central Asian states.

Turkey has become the center of the latest outbreak of the bird flu virus, with the H5N1 strain diagnosed in 14 cases and its having claimed two lives.

Two children from the same family died in eastern Turkey last week after playing with sick chickens, becoming the first human fatalities outside eastern Asia.

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2006)