BAKU NOTES PROGRESS IN KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

Interfax
Dec 2 2009
Russia

Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov has noted progress in talks
with Armenia on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"This year was noteworthy in terms of intensification of the schedule
of meetings between the Armenian and Azeri presidents," Mamedyarov
told the annual conference of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe’s foreign ministers in Athens.

The Armenian-Azeri conflict, which led the occupation of nearly 20%
of Azerbaijan’s territory and to an emergence of a million refugees
and forced migrants, is the main destabilizing factor in the region
and an obstacle for the South Caucasus’ integration with the European
and Euro- Atlantic space, he said

Armenian troops’ withdrawal from Azeri territory and the granting of
an autonomous status to Nagorny Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan will
lay a good foundation for normalizing Armenian-Azeri relations and
ease tensions in the region, Mamedyarov said.