Azeri leader, Turkish-American lobbyist discuss Karabakh

ANS TV, Baku
9 Jun 04

Presenter Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev touched on the Nagornyy
Karabakh problem during his meeting with a delegation led by the
president of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations, Ercument
Kilic, and indirectly asked his interlocutors to help express
Azerbaijan’s fair position in the world.

Correspondent over video of the reception President Ilham Aliyev
touched on the Nagornyy Karabakh problem at the meeting with
the president of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations,
Ercument Kilic. The president said that all steps taken to solve the
Nagornyy Karabakh have been fruitless and stressed the importance of
expressing Azerbaijan’s fair position in the world. Aliyev also said
that everybody, including the US public, should know that Azerbaijan is
the victim in this conflict. Our lands are under occupation, he said.

Aliyev However, this is a temporary situation. We want international
legal norms to be observed, Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity to
be restored and the Armenian occupying army to be withdrawn from
our lands.

Correspondent According to him, Section 907 to the Freedom Support
Act banning direct US government assistance to Azerbaijan has still
not been suspended. This shows once again that the Turks should close
ranks in solving important issues.

The president of the assembly, Ercument Kilic, who listed the
assembly’s services in the sphere of developing Turkish-American
relations over the 25 years of their work, explained the purpose of
their visit to Baku.

We play the role of a bridge for developing joint Turkish-American
cooperation in the USA. This bridge is healthy. But we want this
bridge to exist not only between Turkey and the USA, but also with
Azerbaijan, end quote. On behalf of the 300,000 Turks living in the
USA, Kilic promised to speed up their activities to create the right
idea of the essence of the Karabakh problem.

Parvana Sabirqizi, ANS.