Azeri, Norwegian foreign ministers discuss Karabakh settlement

Assa-Irada, Baku
13 Oct 04

Baku, 13 October: The chairman of the Council of Europe Committee
of Ministers and Norwegian foreign minister, Jan Petersen, who is
on a visit to Baku, today met Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov,
Milli Maclis Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov and President Ilham Aliyev.

Elmar Mammadyarov told the Norwegian diplomat about the Nagornyy
Karabakh problem in detail and explained Azerbaijan’s position on
settling the conflict. The meeting also discussed the implementation
of Azerbaijan’s commitments to the Council of Europe and the fight
against international terrorism.

At a briefing after the meeting, Jan Petersen stated that the Council
of Europe is not in a position to solve the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict
and the organization can only broker a solution to this problem. In
the opinion of the European guest, Armenia and Azerbaijan should
reach agreement between themselves.

[Passage omitted: Petersen also met the speaker of the Azerbaijani
president]