U.S. NEUTRAL IN KARABAKH CONFLICT – OFFICIAL

Yerkir
21.04.2010 12:54
Yerevan

Yerevan (Yerkir) – The U.S. took a neutral position on the issue of
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and highly supports the OSCE Minsk Group’s
efforts, U.S. State Department Acting Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner
has said in an interview with the Azerbaijani service of the Voice
of America.

There is no cooling in the Azerbaijani-U.S. relations, Toner said. As
co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, the United States for a long period
has made every effort to rapidly resolve the protracted conflict
together with Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"The United States does not recognize the independence of
Nagorno-Karabakh. We are not at anyone’s side, we support the Minsk
Group and the peaceful settlement of the conflict," he said.

Toner also touched the issue of the Turkish-Armenian negotiations.

"We stand for the normalization of the Turkish-Armenian relations,
which corresponds to the interests of the region. At the same time,
we highly support the Minsk process. We would like to achieve a
peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and to work
with Azerbaijan and Armenia for this end," Toner added.