AZERI LEADER SAYS KARABAKH TALKS IN "DECISIVE STAGE"

Yeni Musavat
July 3 2009
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that talks with Armenia
on the Nagornyy Karabakh settlement have entered a decisive stage,
the opposition daily Yeni Musavat reported on 3 July.

"Good chances emerged to resolve the Karabakh conflict in the past as
well, but it was impossible to use these chances after tragic events
taking place in Armenia," Yeni Musavat quoted President Aliyev as
saying at a meeting with French ambassadors accredited to the CIS
member states on 1 July.

President Aliyev described as important France’s latest declaration of
increased efforts to resolve the conflict, Yeni Musavat said. Aliyev
was quoted as saying that Azerbaijan expected a constructive position
from Armenia and that lasting regional peace was possible only after
occupied Azerbaijani territories were vacated.

"It emerges that Armenia now holds in the talks a more non-constructive
position as compared against previous years and does not want to make
any concessions," Yeni Musavat said. "The West wants to ensure a speedy
solution to the conflict. However, talks are conducted through the
mediation of Russia, which says that it will not allow any solution
model ‘to be imposed’ on Armenia."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress