EU ready to accept any Azeri-Armenian peace agreement, envoy

Trend news agency
29 Oct 04

Baku, 29 October: The European Union (EU) is ready to accept
any agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia that would resolve
the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, Trend has quoted the EU special
representative in the South Caucasus, Heikki Talvitie, as saying at
a news conference today at the end of his two-day visit to Azerbaijan
(27-29 October).

The EU is interested in the establishment of fair peace between the
two countries and is ready to help them achieve this, he said.

Talvitie added that the EU is interested in a bilateral dialogue
between the parties to the conflict and the settlement process within
the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. He also dismissed media reports
that the EU had prepared suggestions on the conflict.

“Our job is to render assistance to the conflicting parties,” the
envoy said.

The diplomat expressed his satisfaction with the visit to Azerbaijan
and the negotiations held with the authorities and opposition. He
said the talks had mainly focused on the EU’s New Neighbourhood policy.

In his meeting with the chairman of the Azerbaijani Central Electoral
Commission, Talvitie gave some recommendations on the forthcoming
municipal and parliamentary elections in the country. The EU
representative spoke highly about the intention of opposition parties
to stand in the municipal elections.

Touching on the court system in Azerbaijan, Talvitie said the work
of the judicial system should be developed in all the three regional
countries. He said it was necessary to make it independent. Attempts
are being made in Azerbaijan to reverse this process and these attempts
should be stopped, he said.

He also said a report would be prepared on the organization’s
cooperation with the South Caucasus countries, including Azerbaijan.

“It will be a constructive report and we will try to reflect everything
in an objective way,” Talvitie said.

While in Baku, Heikki Talvitie met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev,
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and ambassadors of EU member-states.