Azerbaijan, Armenia hold key talks on Nagorno-Karabakh dispute
Agence France Presse — English
September 15, 2004 Wednesday 5:26 PM GMT
ASTANA Sept 15 — The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Wednesday
held talks in presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin that could
make or break the fragile peace process between the warring neighbours.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian and his Azeri counterpart Ilham
Aliyev held two-way talks before joining Putin to discuss the enclave
of Nagorno-Karabakh, over which they fought a five-year war in the
early 1990s.
“I am happy to see that you have not lost your optimism… and are
continuing the dialogue at the highest level,” Putin said as the talks
began, on the sidelines of a summit of former Soviet republics here.
Though a fragile ceasefire is in force in Nagorno-Karabakh, the two
sides are still officially in a state of war. Azerbaijan had threatened
to renew hostilities unless peace talks produce results soon.
“Hopes are very high, despite the complexity of the problem,” Putin
said, adding that “whatever the result, a meeting of three leaders
is always a step forwards.”
Aliyev thanked Russia for taking part in the summit talks.
“Our neighbour Russia, co-president of the Minsk Group, plays a key
part in the settlement,” he said. The Minsk Group, comprising France,
Russia and the United States, has been mediating between the two
states for the past decade.
Some 35,000 people were killed and about one million displaced by
the conflict, which erupted during the break up of the Soviet Union.
The war ended with Armenian forces in control of Nagorno-Karabakh,
but the enclave is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan’s
territory.