MEDIATORS MEET ALIYEV

Baku Sun, Azerbaijan
June 1 2007

BAKU – International mediators Wednesday urged Armenia and Azerbaijan
to reach a compromise over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Envoys from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s
so-called Minsk Group of mediators, which include France, Russia and
the United States, held talks Wednesday with Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev. A statement said that the mediators had staged the
diplomatic mission "because of the need to promote a peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict."

The statement added that "now is the time for the sides to reach
agreement on the basic principles of a settlement."

Since then, violence has risen sharply, and the two countries’
presidents have traded increasingly bellicose statements. The lack of
final resolution over the enclave’s status has long tied up investment
in the strategic, oil-rich Caucasus region.