AZERI LEADER ON KARABAKH CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN BRUSSELS

ITV
April 28 2009
Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani president has said that the Karabakh territorial
dispute between Armenia and his country can only be resolved within
the latter’s territorial integrity. Ilham Aliyev was speaking at a
joint news conference with European Commission President Jose Manuel
Barroso after their meeting in Brussels on 28 April, the Baku-based
Public TV channel reported.

It quoted Aliyev as saying that this was Azerbaijan’s unchanged and
categorical position.

Aliyev also said that Armenia and Turkey should make their own decision
regarding their relations and that Azerbaijan was not trying to hinder
development of relations between the two. Aliyev added that the most
important question was whether the resolution of the Karabakh conflict
was a separate issue from Turkey-Armenia rapprochement, Public TV said.

Barroso praised the ongoing peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia
and said they were expecting results from the planned 7 May meeting
between the two countries’ presidents, Public TV said. The EU backs
rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia which, however, does not
mean that it does not want the Karabakh conflict to be resolved,
Barroso said, according to the TV channel.