IF NECESSARY, THE PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN MAY MEET WITH OPPOSITION LEADERS: NEW AZERBAIJAN PARTY’S OFFICIAL

TREND News Agency, Azerbaijan
June 7 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend I.Alizade / If necessary, the
President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, may meet with the opposition
leaders. However it is not excluded whether such a meeting will take
place to discuss the situations surrounding the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, said Deputy Secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party
(NAP), MP Siyavush Novruzov.

He stressed that the Government has always supported a dialogue with
the opposition parties and stands ready for it.

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel
Moratinos , met with the opposition leaders in Baku on the 5th of
June. He stressed that the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev,
will meet with the opposition leaders to discuss the situations
surrounding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Touching up on the discussions over the issues in the Parliament
of Azerbaijan, Novruzov said that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has
been discussed by the Parliament several times. He stressed that some
parliamentarians raise the question of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
and make speeches on this issue in the international organizations.

The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus appeared in
1988 due to the territorial claims of Armenia against Azerbaijan.

Armenia has occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani lands including the
Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven Districts of the country surrounding
it. Since 1992 to the present time, these territories have been
under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In 1994, Azerbaijan
and Armenia signed a cease-fire agreement, at which time the active
hostilities ended. The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia,
France and USA) hold peaceful negotiations.