AZERBAIJAN URGES MINSK GROUP TO PUT PRESSURE ON ARMENIA OVER KARABAKH

Interfax
May 21 2009
Russia

If Armenian occupation continues, the possibility that the Karabakh
conflict may be settled in a military way will grow in the future,
Azeri Defense Minister Safar Abiyev told Commander of the U.S. European
Command, Army General John Craddock.

While speaking about the regional military-political situation,
Abiyev said that Armenia’s continuing occupation was aggravating
tensions in the region, undermining the peaceful settlement without
the use of force, the Azeri Defense Ministry said in a statement
on Thursday. Europe and the countries, co-chairing the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group, must influence
Armenia more strongly, Abiyev was quoted as saying.

Military cooperation between the United States and Azerbaijan was
effective, Abiyev also said.

Craddock in turn said it was important to do away with the current
tensions in the region, and commended Azerbaijan’s contribution to the
international security system. He also praised the Azeri peacekeepers’
performance in Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan.