Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

BAKU: Azeri presidential aide says Karabakh talks in Astana might be

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • BAKU: Azeri presidential aide says Karabakh talks in Astana might be

    Azeri presidential aide says Karabakh talks in Astana might be "positive"

    Yeni Azarbaycan, Baku
    2 Sep 04

    Some political analysts believe that significant steps are going to be
    taken to settle the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict during the Azerbaijani,
    Russian and Armenian presidents' meeting set for mid-September
    in [Kazakh capital] Astana. The Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign
    ministers met in Prague several days ago and the sides are said to meet
    again in New York with the participation of Turkish Foreign Minister
    Abdullah Gul. The Azerbaijani foreign minister said after the meeting
    that he had strongly protested the latest activities of the Karabakh
    separatists during the meeting with his Armenian counterpart and said
    that these activities could negatively influence the peace talks in
    the future.

    Our interview with the head of the foreign relations department at the
    presidential administration, Novruz Mammadov, covers the major points
    in Baku's foreign policy relating to the Nagornyy Karabakh settlement.

    [Passage omitted: Mammadov says no changes in Azerbaijan's foreign
    policy]

    [Correspondent] Novruz muallim [mode of address], the Azerbaijani
    public has high hopes for the forthcoming Astana meeting of the
    presidents of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia. Some people even say
    that official Baku may reconsider continuing the talks if the meeting
    yields no results.

    [Mammadov] First, I do not think that Azerbaijan will come up with the
    initiative to withdraw from the talks if the Astana meeting fails to
    produce any serious results. But theoretically, this option is always
    there. Great hopes are indeed pinned on the Astana meeting. While
    analyzing the recent developments, we can see that the processes in
    this direction are intensifying. The Azerbaijani president will meet
    his French counterpart Jacques Chirac again shortly. Doubtless the
    Nagornyy Karabakh problem will be one of the issues topping the agenda
    of this meeting, too. I mean, while systematizing all these processes,
    one can conclude that the activities in this direction have intensified
    to a large extend. Against the background of these happenings, it is
    worth expecting positive results from the Astana meeting.

    [Correspondent] Can Moscow activity in this direction bring something
    new to the settlement on the whole?

    [Mammadov] I can assure you that Russia's position now is fairer
    than it used to be several years ago. We are sure that if the Russian
    Federation takes decisive steps to settle the conflict, we can achieve
    serious changes. I regret that Russia is not yet doing so. But we
    think that we will achieve some position changes in Astana.

    [Passage omitted: Mammadov says Turkey's involvement in the peace
    process might be fruitful; on Europe's stance on Karabakh]
Working...
X