Interfax, Russia
May 5 2009

Russia will play significant role in Karabakh settlement, Turkey’s ex-
foreign minister

BAKU May 5

Russia must play a greater role in the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Hikmet Cetin, Turkey’s former foreign
minister and NATO’s senior civilian representative in Afghanistan.

Russia is an important country in the region and it is an important
factor in the region, Cetin told reporters in Baku on Tuesday.

Therefore, Russia must necessarily join the Turkey-proposed Caucasus
Stability Pact, he said.

Cetin said he had been observing important rays of hope for settling
the Karabakh conflict in Russia’s policies. Azeri President Ilham
Aliyev’s latest visit to Moscow and his talks with Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev on the Karabakh problem were important, he also
said. Russia will hopefully make a significant contribution to the
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Cetin said.

This conflict can only be settled through dialogue between Azerbaijan
and Armenia with the participation of and support from the United
States, Russia, Turkey and international organizations, he said.

Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will hopefully make
important steps in Prague to settle the problem, he said. The U.S.,
NATO, Russia and Turkey’s greater role in this process will be useful,
Cetin said.