ALIYEV, SARGSYAN INTERESTED IN OCCUPIED LANDS’ RETURN TO AZERBAIJAN – BRYZA

Interfax
April 27 2009
Russia

Baku and Yerevan are interested in an agreement, which will return
all the lands occupied by Armenia to Azerbaijan, U.S. Co-chairman of
the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza told the Azeri news channel ANS.

The Azeri and Armenian presidents expressed a common opinion to that
effect, he said.

Thus, they will first have to coordinate settlement fundamentals,
Bryza said. The return of the occupied lands to Azerbaijan should be
on the agenda, but the sides should start with an agreement on terms
of the Armenian pullout, he said.

The status of Nagorno-Karabakh has always been the stumbling block,
Bryza said.

The status is the most complicated problem, whose resolution will
require courageous steps and efforts of both countries, he noted. Bryza
said in his opinion, Presidents Ilham Aliyev, Serzh Sargsyan, Barack
Obama, Dmitry Medvedev and Nicolas Sarkozy may contribute to this
cause and help resolve the problem.

The problem can be resolved, and the negotiations are headed in the
right direction, Bryza concluded.