Azeri, Armenian leaders discuss pull-out from seven occupied districts – TV
Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
15 Sep 04
[Presenter] Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan held their third meeting on the settlement of the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict in the Kazakh capital Astana today.
Talks started at 1800 Baku time [1300 gmt] with the OSCE Minsk
Group’s three co-chairmen [from the USA, France and Russia] in
attendance. Following the talks that ended a short while ago,
the Russian co-chairman, Yuriy Merzlyakov, told “Son Xabar” [news
programme] that the meeting had discussed the liberation of seven
[Armenian-occupied] districts around Nagornyy Karabakh as well. Here
is more from Etibar Mammadov in Astana:
[Mammadov, on the telephone] Having started with the co-chairmen in
attendance, the meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents
later continued in the one-to-one format. Having cut the meeting short,
the co-chairmen exchanged views for 15-20 minutes.
Merzlyakov told ATV [Azad Azarbaycan TV] that during the meeting
the international mediators had proposed the issues discussed and
agreed in Prague [at a meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian
foreign ministers on 30 August] to be submitted for the presidents’
consideration. He said that one of the proposed ideas was related to
liberating the occupied districts around Nagornyy Karabakh, returning
refugees to this area and guaranteeing their security.
Mr Merzlyakov said that the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides could
discuss their own ideas at these talks as well. He added that following
the Astana talks, Baku and Yerevan would submit their ideas and
proposals to the co-chairmen and the OSCE Minsk Group’s activity would
be based on them. Mr Merzlyakov also said that these talks and the
ideas proposed to the presidents were based on Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity. But he added that many aspects emerged during the talks and
these aspects had to do with the conflict’s causes and consequences.
The presidents’ meeting lasted more than an hour. The Azerbaijani and
Armenian presidents then met their Russian counterpart. The meeting
was held behind closed doors. The settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh
problem, the situation in the South Caucasus and the latest events
in North Ossetia were discussed at the meeting.
Etibar Mammadov, for “Son Xabar” from Astana.
[Azerbaijani ANS TV reported in its 1600 gmt news bulletin that the
meeting with Putin was still continuing.]