Today’s Zaman, Turkey
June 6 2009
Armenian, Azeri presidents meet in Russia
The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Russia on Thursday in
their latest bid for a breakthrough in their bitter dispute over the
Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan met his Azeri counterpart, Ä°lham
Aliyev, in talks brokered by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in the
tsarist-era Constantine Palace near St. Petersburg. Medvedev’s
spokeswoman, Natalya Timakova, said no breakthrough was made. "The
main thing is that Azerbaijan and Armenia are demonstrating their
readiness for dialogue," she said.
Later in the day, the three presidents met again for an evening boat
ride. Nagorno-Karabakh’s mostly ethnic Armenian population broke away
from Azerbaijan in a war in the early 1990s as the Soviet Union
collapsed. It now runs its own affairs, with support from Armenia.
Fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the area ended in 1994
when a cease-fire was signed. The two sides are still technically at
war because no peace treaty has been signed.
06 June 2009, Saturday
REUTERS ST. PETERSBURG