Azerbaijan’s president hopes meeting with Armenian counterpart will clarify
Nagorno-Karabakh process

AP Worldstream
Sep 11, 2004

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev said Saturday that he hopes a meeting
next week with his Armenian counterpart will give indications of
whether the sides are making progress in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh
dispute.

Nagorno-Karabakh is an enclave in Azerbaijan that has been under
control of ethnic Armenian forces for more than a decade. A cease-fire
was signed in 1994 after Azerbaijani forces were driven out, but
the enclave’s final status has not been resolved and shooting still
breaks out sporadically along the “line of control” that separates
the enclave from the rest of Azerbaijan.

Talks under the auspices of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe have not made visible progress in recent years,
although hopes had risen in 2001 that a settlement was near.

Aliev and Armenian President Robert Kocharian are to meet on Wednesday
at a summit of leaders of former Soviet republics in Kazakhstan’s
capital Astana.

“The meeting in Astana may bring clarity as to what stage we’re at:
coming closer to an agreement or moving in opposite directions,”
Aliev told reporters.

As the Nagorno-Karabakh question drags on, Aliev increasingly has
suggested a resumption of fighting is possible.

“The people should be prepared for freeing the territory by the
military route,” Aliev said Saturday.