ARMENIA: CAUCASUS NEEDS IRAN FOR PEACE

press tv
Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:11:27 GMT

Arthur Baghdasaryan (L) and Saeed Jalili (R), Tehran, Nov 23 A senior
Armenian official has called for Iran’s active cooperation in any
collective effort to establish security in the Caucasus region.

It is vital that Iran plays an active role in all significant aspects
of the region’s development, including security, Secretary of the
Armenian National Security Council Arthur Baghdasaryan said in a
Sunday meeting with his Iranian counterpart Saeed Jalili.

Baghdasaryan’s comments come as the Caucasus region remains divided
on two issues: the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the
conflict between Russia and Georgia.

During the past decades, Iran has launched several efforts to build
bridges between countries of the region, especially its northerly
neighbors Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"Iran’s policy is to support stronger peace and security in the region
and prevent crisis," Jalili told the visiting Armenian official.

The meeting between the two officials came days after Armenia and
Azerbaijan signed a joint declaration calling for a peaceful resolution
of the Nagorno Karabakh dispute.

"…[Both sides] continue their work… to agree on a political
settlement to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict," said the declaration,
which was signed in Moscow on November 2.

Both Azerbaijan and Armenia claim the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh,
whi ch is populated by Armenians but is located within Azerbaijan.

Ethnic Armenian troops occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding
regions during a war in the early 1990s. Thousands lost their lives
in the clashes and nearly a million people on both sides were forced
to leave their homes.

The dispute continues to remain unsettled, despite a ceasefire the
two sides signed in 1994. Sporadic clashes often erupt between Azeri
and Armenian forces along the case fire line.