US TOP DIPLOMAT SEES KARABAKH WAR RESUMPTION AS CATASTROPHE FOR REGION

ANS TV, Baku
14 Mar 06

US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
Daniel Fried has said that a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan
over Nagornyy Karabakh will be a catastrophe for the region and the
peoples there.

In a news conference in Baku on 14 March, Fried said that “the
Azerbaijani government is ready to find a constructive way out of
the situation. We will discuss this in Yerevan”.

Private TV station ANS quoted the visiting US co-chair of the OSCE
Minsk Group, Steven Mann, as saying that the war would not be decisive
now or in 20 years.

“The sides who want war should first ask what would Azerbaijan’s
strategic borders be if war starts? What will be the situation in the
energy sphere and the investment flow? I know the Azerbaijani people
very well and don’t believe that the Azerbaijani people would want
war again,” Mann said.

The TV quoted the Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO)as saying that
different opinion polls show that over 60 per cent of the population
want war for the resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

“Although they are trying to prepare the Azerbaijani people for a
capitulation, they will fail to achieve this,” ANS TV quoted the KLO
as saying.

In remarks to the TV, the head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry
information department, Tahir Tagizada, said that “Azerbaijan’s
position is resolute. If talks fail, war will be inevitable”.