AZG Armenian Daily #167, 17/09/2005

Karabakh issue

MAMEDIAROV: WE ARE CLOSE TO A BREAKTHROUGH

In an interview to Associated Press in New York the Azerbaijani foreign
minister stated that in order to get Nagorno Karabakh conflict settled the
president of Armenia and Azerbaijan “must act as state figures but not as
politicians who go after national interests”. According to Mediamax agency,
minister Elmar Mamediarov said that the Kazan meeting prepared ground for
the negotiation process. “I would like to say that we are close to a
breakthrough but problems still persist”, he said.

On his part, Heikki Talvitie, EU Special Representative for the South
Caucasus, declared in Baku that “the Kazan meeting between Aliyev and
Kocharian allows to state that historic opportunity to resolve the Karabakh
conflict was created and it should be grasped”.