Azerbaijan threatens to pull out of Armenia peace talks

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has warned that Baku could withdraw from foreign-backed peace talks with Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the state-run Azertaj news agency reported.

“Armenia in recent months has acted in a way aimed at breaking down the negotiating process. Azerbaijan must seriously consider the prospects of its participation in negotiations… We are considering different options,” Aliyev was quoted as saying Wednesday in an interview with Azerbaijani journalists during a trip this week to Istanbul.

“If Armenia continues pursuing its aggressive policy and if it continues the (peace) process only for the sake of appearances, then Azerbaijan will make serious changes in its attitude,” Aliyev said.

Nagorno-Karabakh is an enclave in Azerbaijan that has been occupied by Armenian forces since the end of a six-year conflict that left about 30,000 people dead and displaced 1 million prior to a 1994 truce. The territory’s unilateral independence is not recognized by the international community.

International mediation efforts brokered by the so-called Minsk group – made up of France, Russia and the United States – have failed to produce a settlement to the conflict.

The mediators have been pushing since 2007 for the two sides to agree to the so-called Madrid principles – a deal that would see Armenian forces withdraw from areas surrounding Karabakh, would deploy international peacekeepers to the region, would grant refugees the right to return and would lead to an eventual vote on the region’s status.

Source: Hurriyet
URL: www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=azerbaijan-threatens-to-pull-out-of-armenia-peace-talks-2010-06-10

Posted by admin June 2010

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