ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
January 1, 2005 Saturday 11:49 AM Eastern Time

Azeri president calls 2004 turning point in Karabakh settlement

By Sevindzh Abdullayeva, Viktor Shulman

BAKU

President of Azerbaijan Ilkham Aliev said in his New Year address to
the nation on Saturday that 2004 had marked a turning point in the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

He noted that “progress has been made in the negotiating process, the
international public has started paying more attention to the problem
and the OSCE Minsk Group which acts as mediators in conflict
settlement has increased its activities.”

“I’ve repeated it many times that Azerbaijan will never make any
concessions in question of its territorial integrity and is not going
to discuss this subject,” Ilkham Aliev went on to say. He emphasized
that the talks should be conducted in compliance with international
law.

The next year’s priority tasks include the further strengthening of
the country’s economic potential, the creation of new jobs and the
solution of social problems, including the increase of salaries and
pensions.

Ilkham Aliev stressed that Azerbaijan would be able to solve many of
its problems when the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline begins operation
in 2005 and when the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum
pipeline is finished.