AZG Armenian Daily #063, 09/04/2005

Neighbors

YELTSIN TAKES HIS REST IN AZERBAIJAN

First Russian President Promised Levon Ter-Petrosian ‘to Bring Turks
to Knees’

Regnum agency informed that Boris Yeltsin paid an unofficial visit to
Azerbaijan. He arrived with his wife and daughter. “I haven’t been in
Azerbaijan for along time. Heidar Aliyev had invited me then, while now
his son Ilham is inviting me. I want to see your country. Formerly,
I haven’t been in any other place in Azerbaijan except for Baku. I
want to talk with your president, prime minister. I want to see Baku
and its neighborhood. The visit will last 4 days.”

Yeltsin was in Baku in September of 1991 together with Norsultan
Nazarbayev, when Russia and Kazakhstan tried to be mediators in the
settlement of Nagorno Karabakh issue. Yeltsin and Nazarbayev arrived in
Yerevan from Baku through Stepanakert. Afterwards, they organized the
meeting of Levon Ter-Petrosian, Ayaz Mutalibov and the representatives
of Nagorno Karabakh in Zheleznovodsk. The Zheleznovodsk memorandum
that first of all envisaged ceasefire worked a few days only.

In response to the question about Nagorno Karabakh settlement, Yeltsin
said that the position of his country is well-known and one shouldn’t
expect anything new.

Azeri Shaghr daily wrote that the majority of the Azeris are against
Yeltsin’s visit to Baku. The daily explains this attitude with the
volume of Russian weapon sold to Armenia, when Yeltsin was at power,
as well as his promise “to bring the Turks to knees” given to Levon
Ter-Petrosian, first Armenia president.