Messenger, Georgia
July 16 2004

New French ambassador supports Azerbaijan

According to the Azeri newspaper 525 Gazeta, official Paris thinks
that the Karabakh problem should be solved through peaceful
negotiations. The president of Azerbaijan has received a letter from
the Ambassador of France to Azerbaijan Roland Blatman.
The ambassador stated that he will make every effort to make his
contribution to the economic and social development of Azerbaijan.
“At the same time I will do my best to achieve more progress in the
way of democratization in Azerbaijan,” stated Blatman and called on
Azerbaijan leadership to make their efforts to fulfill the
recommendations of the Council of Europe “more active.”
Blatman also said that France respects the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan and does not recognize the independence of
Nagorno-Karabakh. “France is rather satisfied with the fact that you
continue the dialogue with President of Armenia Robert Kocharian. At
the same time France, as co-chair of the Minsk Group of OSCE, is also
very satisfied with the successive meetings and constructive
negotiations and also with contacts of the ministers of foreign
affairs… We are entirely sure that the conflict should be settled
by peaceful negotiations,” concluded the ambassador.
For his part, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev expressed hope for
a resolution in the near future based on international law. “As a
result of the aggression of Armenia, 20 percent of our lands are
under occupation and one million of Azeri people live as refugees. We
recognize the territorial integrity of all states and expect the same
attitude toward Azerbaijan,” stated Aliev.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress