Azeri intellectuals call for peaceful settlement of Karabakh conflict
Arminfo, Yerevan
29 Jun 07
Stepanakert, 29 June: "For the first time in 17 years an Azerbaijani
delegation crossed some psychological barrier and a real border between
the parties to the Karabakh conflict," the Azerbaijani ambassador to
Russia, Polad Bulbuloglu, has said in the Nagornyy Karabakh town of
Shushi.
Bulbuloglu led a delegation of Azerbaijani intellectuals visiting
Nagornyy Karabakh together with a delegation of Armenian intellectuals
headed by the Armenian ambassador to Russia, Armen Smbatyan.
Bulbuloglu said that in order to ensure the security of the Armenian
and Azerbaijani delegations, the sector of the border was cleared of
land mines by the conflicting parties overnight.
"The situation is getting intolerable because normal and civilized
nations – for example, in Europe – unite. There are almost no borders
left in Europe, and people with intellectual capabilities try to become
‘citizens of the world’, they try to catch up with the trends going on
in the world. I think that both the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples
are wise enough and have very deep cultures and deep historical roots
to find the strength and break the existing situation for a final
settlement of the Karabakh conflict peacefully, through talks and
certain compromises so that both the Armenians and Azerbaijanis can
live together," he said.
The Azerbaijani delegation visited a Muslim mosque in Shushi. They saw
that the mosque is being reconstructed with state money and that its
architectural shape has been preserved.
[Passage omitted: Bulbuloglu visited his parents’ house in Shushi,
praised Armenian ambassador Smbatyan for initiating the visit]
Speaking of the visit of the Azerbaijani intellectuals, Nagornyy
Karabakh president Arkadi Ghukasyan said: "We have no guarantees that
such meetings will become traditional since the differences are still
too deep and we are still to far from each other in our positions, but
most importantly, there is no atmosphere to create prerequisites for
it. I think that such visits are very important to all of us because
they remind us of an important thing: war is not able to settle any
issue. All the issues should be settled in talks. Our Azerbaijani
colleagues – those who are in Nagornyy Karabakh today – share this
opinion. If we fail to listen to each other, if we fail to create an
atmosphere of mutual trust, we will be far from the settlement process."
[Passage omitted: background]
From: Baghdasarian