AZERI LEADER SAYS CAUCASUS SITUATION "CAUSES CONCERN"
Turan news agency
Sept 16 2008
Azerbaijan
The Azerbaijani president has said that the situation in the Caucasus
"causes concern" and that his country is ready to help improve it,
Turan news agency reported.
Azerbaijan is ready to make its contribution to normalizing the
situation in the Caucasus which "causes concern", Turan quoted Ilham
Aliyev, who was speaking at a meeting with Russian President Dmitriy
Medvedev in Moscow on 16 September. All issues should be resolved
through peaceful dialogue and on the basis of mutual respect,
Aliyev added.
In a separate report, Turan quoted Aliyev as saying that "Azerbaijan
banks on Russia’s active role in the settlement of the [Nagornyy]
Karabakh conflict. Despite all difficulties, we think that today there
are prerequisites for a settlement [of the conflict] which would
meet the interests of all countries and would be based on norms of
international law."
Speaking about relations between his country and Russia, Aliyev noted
that "mechanisms of effective cooperation should be sought and found",
Turan said. "We very highly assess the level of relations with Russia,
aspire to boost them, and will do everything on our part to achieve
this goal."