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CLINTON DISCUSSES ENERGY, SECURITY WITH ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN
Focus News
May 6 2009
Bulgaria
Washington. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met separately Tuesday
with her counterparts from Armenia and Azerbaijan for talks on energy
security and the disputed Nagorny-Karabakh region, AFP reports.Clinton
met with Armenia's Foreign Minister Edouard Nalbandian early Tuesday,
and held talks later in the day with Azerbaijan's lead diplomat
Elmar Mammadiarov.
"Azerbaijan has a very strategic location, one that is important
not only to their country, but really, regionally and globally,"
Clinton said as she greeted Mammadiarov at the State Department.
"And so they're in a position to take increasing responsibility and
leadership on these important matters."
The leaders of the two countries - Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian
and Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev - were to hold fresh talks at
a European summit this week in Prague, where the launch of an Eastern
Partnership project aimed to boost European Union ties with Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
Observers have expressed hopes that recent moves to normalize
relations between Armenia and Turkey would help speed up the Karabakh
peace process.Armenia and Turkey last month announced a "roadmap"
for talks that could lead to normalizing ties and the opening of
their border.Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic links with
Armenia over its efforts to have Ottoman-era killings of Armenians
recognized as genocide.Azerbaijan has urged Turkey not to move forward
in talks with Armenia unless Yerevan agrees to withdraw its troops
from Karabakh.Backed by Armenia, ethnic Armenian separatists seized
control of Nagorny-Karabakh in the early 1990s, in a war that killed
nearly 30,000 people and forced two million to flee their homes.A
ceasefire was signed between the two former Soviet republics in 1994
but the dispute remains unresolved.
Focus News
May 6 2009
Bulgaria
Washington. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met separately Tuesday
with her counterparts from Armenia and Azerbaijan for talks on energy
security and the disputed Nagorny-Karabakh region, AFP reports.Clinton
met with Armenia's Foreign Minister Edouard Nalbandian early Tuesday,
and held talks later in the day with Azerbaijan's lead diplomat
Elmar Mammadiarov.
"Azerbaijan has a very strategic location, one that is important
not only to their country, but really, regionally and globally,"
Clinton said as she greeted Mammadiarov at the State Department.
"And so they're in a position to take increasing responsibility and
leadership on these important matters."
The leaders of the two countries - Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian
and Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev - were to hold fresh talks at
a European summit this week in Prague, where the launch of an Eastern
Partnership project aimed to boost European Union ties with Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
Observers have expressed hopes that recent moves to normalize
relations between Armenia and Turkey would help speed up the Karabakh
peace process.Armenia and Turkey last month announced a "roadmap"
for talks that could lead to normalizing ties and the opening of
their border.Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic links with
Armenia over its efforts to have Ottoman-era killings of Armenians
recognized as genocide.Azerbaijan has urged Turkey not to move forward
in talks with Armenia unless Yerevan agrees to withdraw its troops
from Karabakh.Backed by Armenia, ethnic Armenian separatists seized
control of Nagorny-Karabakh in the early 1990s, in a war that killed
nearly 30,000 people and forced two million to flee their homes.A
ceasefire was signed between the two former Soviet republics in 1994
but the dispute remains unresolved.