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FIRST OFFICIAL AZERI-ARMENIAN TOUR IN 13 YRS
ABC News
June 29 2007
Share BAKU (Reuters) - Official delegations from Azerbaijan and
Armenia have toured each other's capitals for the first time since
the two countries met in 1994 to agree a ceasefire to a war that
killed thousands.
The predominantly Armenian populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh
broke away from Azerbaijan in the late 1980s, triggering a 1992-94
war between Armenian-backed separatists and the Azeri army that killed
more than 35,000 people.
Borders between Azerbaijan and Armenia are still closed and official
ties severed although the Azeri and Armenian president do meet on
foreign soil for talks from time to time.
"The emergence of a climate of confidence among the public of Armenia
and Azerbaijan will be a good contribution to the settlement of the
Karabakh conflict," Armenian president Robert Kocharyan said after
meeting the delegation in Yerevan on Thursday.
Azeri president Ilham Aliyev echoed similar sentiments later the
same day when the group, made up of scientists and cultural figures,
visited Baku.
Since 1994 a separatist army, backed by Armenian volunteers, has
controlled Nagorno-Karabakh whose 140,000 inhabitants have voted in
an internationally unrecognized referendum for independence.
Azeris and Armenians do discreetly travel between the two countries
via neighboring Georgia although both countries discourage it.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has
organized cross border trips for journalists from Azerbaijan and
Armenia and is trying to broker a permanent peace deal.
ABC News
June 29 2007
Share BAKU (Reuters) - Official delegations from Azerbaijan and
Armenia have toured each other's capitals for the first time since
the two countries met in 1994 to agree a ceasefire to a war that
killed thousands.
The predominantly Armenian populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh
broke away from Azerbaijan in the late 1980s, triggering a 1992-94
war between Armenian-backed separatists and the Azeri army that killed
more than 35,000 people.
Borders between Azerbaijan and Armenia are still closed and official
ties severed although the Azeri and Armenian president do meet on
foreign soil for talks from time to time.
"The emergence of a climate of confidence among the public of Armenia
and Azerbaijan will be a good contribution to the settlement of the
Karabakh conflict," Armenian president Robert Kocharyan said after
meeting the delegation in Yerevan on Thursday.
Azeri president Ilham Aliyev echoed similar sentiments later the
same day when the group, made up of scientists and cultural figures,
visited Baku.
Since 1994 a separatist army, backed by Armenian volunteers, has
controlled Nagorno-Karabakh whose 140,000 inhabitants have voted in
an internationally unrecognized referendum for independence.
Azeris and Armenians do discreetly travel between the two countries
via neighboring Georgia although both countries discourage it.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has
organized cross border trips for journalists from Azerbaijan and
Armenia and is trying to broker a permanent peace deal.