AZERBAIJANI, ARMENIAN LEADERS AGREE TO BILATERAL MEETING TO DISCUSS KARABAKH PROBLEM

The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune, France
Nov 23 2006

BAKU, Azerbaijan: The presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed
to hold a bilateral meeting aimed at resolving the simmering conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh, officials said Thursday.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous region in Azerbaijan that has been
under the control of Armenian and ethnic-Armenian Karabakh forces
since a 1994 cease-fire ended a six-year separatist war that killed
about 30,000 people and drove about 1 million from their homes.

The region’s final status remains unresolved, and years of talks
under the auspices of international mediators have brought few
visible results.

President Ilham Aliev’s press service said Thursday he has agreed to
meet with his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharian on the sidelines
of a Tuesday summit of ex-Soviet republics in Minsk, Belarus.

Earlier this week, Russian officials involved in mediating the conflict
said Kocharian had also agreed to meet.

Both leaders last held bilateral talks in June and the meeting failed
to produced a breakthrough.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress