AZERI FOREIGN MINISTER PRAISES PROGRESS IN KARABAKH TALKS IN 2006

Day.az, Azerbaijan
Dec 17 2006

Baku, 17 December: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
believes that the year 2006 was successful in the resolution of the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.

"On the whole, I can say that during two and a half years’ existence
of the Prague process, we have actually advanced greatly and agreed
many issues. On the whole, my assessment of 2006 is positive.

Actually, negotiations were productive, moreover, the OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairs also assess the process as productive," Mammadyarov
told journalists.

Commenting on the opinion that Azerbaijan and Armenia failed to use the
window of opportunities available in 2006 in the Karabakh settlement,
the Azerbaijani foreign minister said that it would be wrong to link
a solution to the conflict to a specific time frame.

The minister said that the negotiations would continue in 2007. At the
same time, Mammadyarov expressed his hope that Armenia was sincerely
disposed to resolve the conflict and that its request for a short break
to think of further steps in the Karabakh settlement was in no way
connected with the upcoming parliamentary election in Armenia in 2007.

"At present there remains only one serious issue and if we agree it,
it will actually mean a breakthrough. On the other hand, we would
like to believe that Armenia takes the talks seriously, that it is
actually disposed to accept the stage-by-stage settlement plan and
is not wasting its time from the political point of view. This is a
very important issue since elections are to take place in Armenia and
it appears there are other issues as well," the Azerbaijani foreign
minister said.