BAKU AGAINST FURTHER PROCRASTINATION OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH TALKS

Interfax
May 18 2010
Russia

Azerbaijan will not allow Armenia to turn the Nagorno-Karabakh peace
talks into "an endless process", Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said.

The absence of an Armenian response to the Madrid principles for
the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, which were presented by the
international mediators six months ago, confirms Yerevan’s attempt to
play for time and to "turn the negotiations into an endless process,"
Aliyev said at a news conference after talks with Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Baku.

"Certainly, we cannot put up with it. Any negotiating process should
have a certain timeframe," the Azeri leader said.

Baku wants Yerevan to accept these principles, he said.

"In principle, the Azeri side has accepted this proposal with minor
exceptions. We expect the Armenian side to adopt a similar approach,"
he said.

Armenia "should give either a positive answer to the proposal
presented by Russia, the U.S. and France, which will help us come
closer to resolving the issue, or a negative response, disrupting
the negotiating process and possibly ushering in a new period between
Armenia and Azerbaijan," Aliyev said.

The Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks have continued for nearly 20 years,
but the Armenian authorities have always taken steps to disrupt them
at the most crucial moments, the Azeri president said.

"To our regret, we are witnessing the same picture today," he said.