Azerbaijani president demands Armenians’ unconditional withdrawal from
Nagorno-Karabakh

AP Worldstream; May 27, 2006

President Ilham Aliev marked the national Day of the Republic holiday
by calling for Armenian forces to unconditionally withdraw from the
Nagorno-Karabakh enclave and seven neighboring districts.

“Let Azerbaijanis, our citizens, who have already suffered more than
10 years from the politics of ethnic cleansing, return to their native
hearths,” Aliev said in a speech Friday, which was released the
following day by the Azertac state news agency.

Aliev reiterated that Azerbaijan is committed to a peaceful solution
of the conflict over the enclave. “But on the other hand, if
negotiations remain without result, then what choice do we have?”

Nagorno-Karabakh is inside Azerbaijan but populated mostly by ethnic
Armenians who have run it since an uneasy 1994 cease-fire ended six
years of full-scale fighting. Sporadic border clashes have grown more
frequent since the breakdown of talks, and the lack of resolution has
hindered development throughout the strategic Caucasus region.

Government officials in Baku and the Armenian capital, Yerevan, both
confirmed Friday that Aliev and Armenian President Robert Kocharian
intend to meet soon in Romania for talks aimed at resolving a nearly
two-decade-old conflict.

The two Caucasus leaders are expected to attend a forum for Black Sea
countries scheduled for June 5 in the Romanian capital, Bucharest.

Talks between the two presidents in France in February ended in
failure, despite international mediators’ efforts to push the leaders
to resolve Nagorno-Karabakh’s status.