BAKU CAN GRANT ANY STATUS TO KARABAKH WITHIN AZERBAIJAN – AZERI FM

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS General Newswire
June 27, 2006 Tuesday 6:42 PM MSK

Baku is prepared to grant any status to Nagorno-Karabakh on condition
that it remains part of Azerbaijan, Azeri Foreign Minster Elmar
Mammadyarov has said.

"I have said repeatedly what status it could have: it would be, in
particular, either identical to the status of the Naxcivan autonomous
republic [within Azerbaijan] or the status of Tatarstan within Russia,
and so on," Mammadyarov said.

"First of all, all issues will certainly be resolved within
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity recognized by the entire
international community," Mammadyarov said.

"Nagorno-Karabakh should have some status. The Milli Mejlis [the
Azeri parliament] once annulled the autonomous status of Nagorno-
Karabakh. Now, of course, we should sooner or later consider the
status issue," he said.

The possibility of another meeting between the Azeri and Armenian
presidents during the upcoming G8 summit in St. Petersburg could
be considered following OSCE Minsk Group U.S. Co-Chairman Matthew
Bryza’s visit to the region, he said.