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ANKARA: Azeri Leader Sets Term For Armenian Border Opening

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  • ANKARA: Azeri Leader Sets Term For Armenian Border Opening

    AZERI LEADER SETS TERM FOR ARMENIAN BORDER OPENING

    Hurriyet
    May 18 2010
    Turkey

    Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (R) and Turkish Prime Minister Recep
    Tayyip Erdogan speak during a joint press conference in Baku. AA photo

    Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Monday that his country would
    open all its borders with Armenia if the government in Yerevan accepts
    the revised Madrid criteria and starts to withdraw its forces from
    Azerbaijani territory.

    Speaking at a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister
    Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Aliyev said talks had been held for many years
    to arrive at a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between
    Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Anatolia news agency reported.

    The press conference followed a one-on-one meeting and talks between
    the Turkish and Azerbaijani delegations at Aliyev's presidential
    Zagulba Palace.

    Azerbaijan has been making efforts for a fair and peaceful solution
    in accordance with international law, Aliyev said, adding that his
    country approved the revised Madrid criteria on the matter with few
    minor exceptions and expects Armenia to act the same way.

    "Armenia should express its stance on the matter," Aliyev said,
    noting that the country would either display a positive stance,
    bringing the parties closer to a settlement, or it would respond
    negatively, destroying the negotiation process.

    At a Jan. 25 meeting in Sochi, Russia, with Russian President Dmitry
    Medvedev, Aliyev and Armenian President Serge Sarkisian reached verbal
    agreement on the wording of the preamble of the most recently revised
    version of the Madrid Principles, which constitute the outline of a
    more comprehensive Karabakh peace agreement.

    The original Madrid Principles were presented to the Armenian and
    Azerbaijani foreign ministers at the Organization for Security and
    Cooperation in Europe ministerial conference in Madrid in November
    2007. These were in turn a revised version of the Basic Principles
    unveiled by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen in early summer 2006
    and posted on the website of the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan.

    The principles included the phased withdrawal of Armenian troops from
    five Azerbaijani territories bordering Nagorno-Karabakh, with separate
    special arrangements for two additional districts of Azerbaijan -
    Kelbacar and Lachin - that separate Nagorno-Karabakh from the Republic
    of Armenia.

    The phased withdrawal would be followed by the demilitarization,
    demining and reconstruction of those territories; the deployment of
    an international peacekeeping force; the return to those Azerbaijani
    districts of members of the population who were forced to flee
    during hostilities in 1992-93; and, finally, at some unspecified
    future date, a referendum or popular vote on the final legal status
    of Nagorno-Karabakh.

    Aliyev said at the Monday press conference that his country would
    open its borders with Armenia and take peace and security measures
    in the region if Yerevan ends its occupation of Azerbaijani territory.

    Asked whether Azerbaijan would join the Nabucco project, Aliyev said
    Azerbaijani natural gas is a great source for pipelines in the region
    and added that his country could participate in such a project under
    the right conditions.
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