NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT MAIN PROBLEM FOR AZERBAIJAN -ALIYEV
by Andrei Sitov

ITAR-TASS News Agency
April 26, 2006 Wednesday 03:45 PM EST

Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev said the conflict with Armenia
in Nagorno-Karabakh was the main problem for his country.

Speaking at the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations during
his first official visit to the United States on Wednesday, Aliyev said
the current talks on Nagorno-Karabakh would “create opportunities for
just and lasting peace based on the principles of international law.”

“We hope that the United States, as a super power and a co-chairman
of the OSCE Minsk Group, will help to resolve the conflict,” he said.

He believes it should be a peaceful settlement achieved through
negotiations and based on international law.

“Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan has been recognised by the U.N.

and all countries of the world, except Armenia,” Aliyev said.

U.S. co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Steve Mann told Itar-Tass
that he would travel to Moscow next week for a new meeting with
his colleagues.

He appears to be quite optimistic and thinks that an effective basis
for a compromise has been found.

Mann believes it important to give up attempts to try to solve all
problems once and for all. Instead the opposite approach has been
chosen: moving gradually step by step and leaving some of the complex
issues to be addressed in the future.