IRAN CALLS FOR NEGOTIATED SOLUTION TO KARABAKH CONFLICT

Fars News Agencyi
Aug 22 2007
Iran

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said
that Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be resolved through negotiations,
reminding that all the world issues could be settled down through
dialogue and on the basis of law and justice.

Speaking to reporters in a press conference in the Republic of
Azerbaijan on Wednesday, he stressed the need for the solution of
Karabakh issue through diplomatic means and negotiations, and said, "We
should strive to resolve conflicts and issues on the basis of mutual
respect and law in a bid to pave the way for friendship among nations."

Ahmadinejad said Iran wants progress, peace and tranquility for its
neighboring states, and reiterated the necessity for the two sides
to resolve the conflict in the framework of law to maintain peace
and friendship.

Referring to Iran-Azerbaijan ties, he said some forces, which do not
respect the rights of nations, oppose friendly ties between Tehran
and Baku.

"Those forces only seek their own benefit, trample on nations rights
under democracy, and do not value the rights of other nations,"
he said.

Pointing to the Palestinian nation as an example, the Iranian president
added, "People are driven out from their original lands by force,
by bloodshed. And those forces speak about democracy," he said.

The Iranian President said that those forces cause world nations
to face problems. He further called on such forces to change their
policy and respect the rights of other nations.

"Let’s finish all these crimes, we are inviting you to friendship and
security. Peace and tranquility should be restored in the world. The
nations are already awakening. We want peace, friendship and just
relations between nations. Iranian nation is moving in this direction,"
he said.

Ahmadinejad also viewed the two nations’ relations as cordial and
developing, and stated that the two countries are closely cooperating
in political, economical, cultural and international grounds.

Concerning his talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, he
said that negotiations focused on deepening relations between the
two countries.

"Talks focused on peace and tranquility in the region, improvement,
necessity of the development and improvement of both nations. We assume
that Azerbaijan’s peace, development and stability is Iran’s peace,
development and stability. Our friend Azerbaijan thinks the same. I
am sure that our cooperation will further improve," he added.

Ahmadinejad voiced his hope that the cooperation between the two
countries will assist in developing security in the region.

He said that political, economic and humanitarian relations between
Azerbaijan and Iran are at a high level. According to the President,
the two countries actively support each other within international
organizations.

In addition, the President of Iran voiced his confidence in the success
of talks held during his official visit to Azerbaijan with regards to
the development of bilateral cooperation in the energy and transport
sectors, as well as in allocating mutual investments.

The Iranian president said that both Azerbaijan and Iran possess
great potentials, stressing common interests of the countries.

"Azerbaijan has huge potentials in the spheres of education, energy,
tourism, agriculture and others. Iran, in turn, has great opportunities
in fields of education, technology, nuclear technology, oil and
gas. Iran succeeded in industry and became exporter in agricultural
sphere, gained experience in urbanization," he said.

"Both Azerbaijan and Iran’s potential and experience are obvious. We
are cooperating in the spheres of education, joint investment and
international issues.

"There is nothing to interfere with our growing ties and cooperation.

There are some forces that do not want our friendship, and try to
make us to be in bad relations. But they are wrong. Iranian and
Azeri nations are brothers. Our nations’ prospects are much clear
and lustrous, while our mutual relations develop," Ahmadinejad stated.

He also underlined that Iran-Azerbaijan relations must set an example
for other states.