Russian president praises Armenian, Azeri leaders’ optimism
ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow
15 Sep 04
Astana, 15 September: Russian President Vladimir Putin believes it is
important to maintain the dialogue on the Nagornyy Karabakh problem
between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“No matter what you agree on today, personal meetings between leaders
is always a step forward,” Vladimir Putin said opening a trilateral
meeting of the Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents.
Vladimir Putin noted Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharyan’s enthusiasm
to continue the dialogue to resolve the Karabakh problem.
“I am pleased to note that despite the difficulty of the problem,
you are continuing the dialogue,” the Russian leader said. He stressed
that he considered “it is important that the dialogue and negotiations
at the highest level are being maintained”.
The Russian president expressed confidence that “the meeting will not
be worthless and will contribute to the settlement of the problem”. He
thanked the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan for their readiness
to hold today’s meeting. “We understand that expectations are high
and the problem is an extremely difficult one,” Putin said. “I am
pleased to note that you remain optimistic and have the desire to
resolve the problem.”
The Russian leader stressed that “today’s meeting was part of efforts
of the OSCE Minsk Group”. He stressed that today, before the trilateral
meeting, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan had held a one-to-one
meeting and before that a meeting with the co-chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group. “All the people involved in this process (the Karabakh
settlement) sincerely sympathize with you,” Putin said.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said he wanted “peace to come
to our region soon”. Ilham Aliyev thanked Vladimir Putin for his
involvement in the settlement of the Karabakh problem. “Thank you
for the involvement in this issue. As our neighbour and a co-chair
of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia plays a very important role in the
settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict,” he said. “I am
grateful to you for your participation and involvement,” he added.
In turn, Robert Kocharyan said that he had “interesting talks with
the Azerbaijani president”. Kocharyan said that it was his third
meeting with Ilham Aliyev. “We had three meetings, one of them
was a familiarization one, the second one was more detailed,” he
said. Kocharyan believes that “the work was more effective at the
ministerial level” when preparations were made for the presidents’
meeting.
From: Baghdasarian