AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT HINTS AT NAGORNO-KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
Rovshan Ismayilov

EurasiaNet, NY
Nov 29 2006

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has announced a negotiating
breakthrough in long-stalled talks to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. In comments broadcast November 29 by state television,
Aliyev said "we are approaching the final stage of negotiations." An
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry source indicated that Baku and Yerevan
had agreed on a way for Azerbaijani to regain territories currently
occupied by Armenian forces.

Aliyev met with his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharian on the
sidelines of the CIS summit in Minsk on November 28. [For additional
details see the Eurasia Insight archive]. During those talks, Aliyev
said that the two focused on "contentious issues" that have held up
a provisional peace settlement under the so-called Prague Process,
mediated by the OSCE’s Minsk Group. [For background see the Eurasia
Insight archive].

"On some of the issues on which we have previously disagreed, we now
have agreement," Aliyev said, without elaborating. Armenian officials
have not confirmed Aliyev’s depiction of the talks.

A source at the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry confirmed to EurasiaNet
late on November 29 that "the presidents reached agreement on some
very important issues." The withdrawal of Armenian forces from several
occupied Azerbaijani regions around Karabakh was one of the issues
on which Aliyev and Kocharian agreed in Minsk, the source added. "So
far it is just verbal understanding between the presidents. But trend
of the negotiations process is very positive, and the signing of any
initial document on the conflict resolution in the near future is
not excluded," the source said.

Earlier, some experts in Baku suggested that the recent closure of
the ANS TV channel, along with the eviction of an opposition party
and its newspaper from its erstwhile center-city headquarters in Baku,
might be connected to a potential Karabakh deal. [For background see
the Eurasia Insight archive].

In talking about the breakthrough, Aliyev said that Azerbaijan had
not altered its negotiating stance. "Azerbaijan’s position has not
changed," he said, adding that the country’s "territorial integrity
should be restored, and within that [arrangement], the people
who live in Nagorno-Karabakh should be given the maximum degree
of self-rule." He also said that "the position of international
organizations has changed in positive way" in recent months.

Editor’s Note: Rovshan Ismayilov is a freelance reporter based in Baku.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress