Armenia, Azerbaijan discuss disputed region

Associated Press Worldstream
May 7, 2009 Thursday 10:35 AM GMT

The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in the Czech capital
Thursday to seek solutions to a two-decade territorial conflict between
their countries, officials said.

Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave inside Azerbaijan, has been under the
control of ethnic Armenian forces since a six-year conflict that killed
about 30,000 and displaced 1 million people before a truce was reached
in 1994.

Turkey closed the border in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan during its
conflict with Armenia over the region. Turkey backs Azerbaijan’s claims
to Nagorno-Karabakh, which has a high number of ethnic Armenian
residents but is located within Azerbaijan’s borders.

Presidents Serge Sarkisian of Armenia and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan
met at the residence of the U.S. ambassador as Washington and other
governments push for a solution.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recently encouraged
Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the dispute when she held separate
meetings with them in Washington.

The U.S. Embassy said in a statement the two presidents discussed the
issue as part of international mediation efforts led by the United
States, Russia and France.

Both presidents were in Prague to attend a summit Thursday at which the
European Union planned to offer aid and trade accords to six ex-Soviet
republics to ease Moscow’s hold over them.