Iran Visual News Corps
March 13 2009

Iran says ready to resolve Armenian-Azeri dispute

Updated: Friday, March 13, 2009
19:30GMT’3:30PM/EST

Washington, 13 March (IranVNC)’Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr
Mottaki said today that his country was prepared to help resolve a
longstanding dispute between neighboring Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Armenia remains formally at war with Azerbaijan over the
Nagorno-Karabakh territorial dispute. In the 1990s, ethnic Armenian
separatists, backed by Armenia, fought to throw off Azerbaijan’s
control over the mountainous region in southwestern Azerbaijan. The
conflict left an estimated 30,000 people dead, reports Reuters.

No peace accord has ever been signed, although a Russian-mediated
ceasefire has been in place since May 1994. Peace talks have been held
since.

Mottaki, who arrived in Yerevan on Thursday for a two-day official
visit, said during a joint press conference with Armenia’s Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian, that the conflict was brought up during
this week’s Economic Cooperation Organization [ECO] summit in Tehran,
where regional leaders stressed the need for a peaceful solution.

`I announce Iran’s readiness to help resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
dispute,’ Mottaki was quoted by the state-run broadcaster, IRIB News,
as saying.

Nagorno-Karabakh, which became a de facto independent republic, is
officially recognized as part of Azerbaijan, although Armenia backs
sovereignty for the territory, something Baku says it can never have.

Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov on Friday accused
Russia of supplying arms to Armenia, telling Reuters that he believed
Yerevan was planning to take back the territory. There was `no
miracle’ in sight to resolve the dispute, he added.

Sources: Reuters, IRIB News
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