US mediator urges Azerbaijan to make concessions on Karabakh

Turan news agency
24 Apr 04

BAKU

The situation requires Azerbaijan to make concessions on a peaceful
settlement to the Karabakh conflict, the US co-chairman of the OSCE
Minsk Group, Steven Mann, said at a meeting with Azerbaijani Defence
Minister Safar Abiyev yesterday.

“If the settlement is delayed for many years, the situation of Armenia
and Azerbaijan will become serious. That’s why the sides should
establish a dialogue and maintain it,” Mann said.

In turn, Abiyev said that the use of double standards in this issue
was inadmissible. Armenia is an aggressor and must be punished. He
cited the examples of Yugoslavia and Iraq where military forces had
been applied. Why are similar things not being done with regard to
Armenia, although there is a relevant legal base for this, Abiyev
added.

Mann recalled that Armenia and Azerbaijan had made a commitment to
peacefully settle the Karabakh conflict. The US position on this issue
is that “the sides should make concessions to each other, which are
acceptable to both sides,” he said.

In turn, Abiyev said that “Azerbaijan will not make any concessions,”
the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry press service reported.