AZERI DM SAYS HIS GOVERNMENT WANTS PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT

Armenpress
May 31 2006

BAKU, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS: Azerbaijani defense minister Safar Abiyev
said his government wanted a peaceful solution to the Karabakh
conflict. Abiyev was quoted by Trend news agency as saying that
possibilities for peaceful settlement of the conflict did not run
out yet.

“Now is the time to take up a principled and objective stance- to
recognize Armenia as aggressor, to demand that it respect international
laws and pull out its troops from occupied Azerbaijani territories,”
he was quoted by Trend as saying.

He said the people of Azerbaijan will never out up with occupation
of their land and will apply all ways to restore its territorial
integrity stipulated by international laws. Abiyev made the remarks
while addressing a CIS Defense Ministers Council meeting in Baku.

Armenia refused to send defense minister Serzh Sarkisian to Baku to
attend the meeting because Azeri authorities failed to guarantee
the security of the Armenian delegation. The Armenian ministry of
defense said in a statement it has been informed by the Moscow-based
Secretariat of the Council that the Azeri authorities have refused
to guarantee the security of the Armenian participants.