Azerbaijan Cites ‘Positive’ Talks On Disputed Region

Azerbaijan Cites ‘Positive’ Talks On Disputed Region
RFE/RL Armenia Report
Tuesday, 04 January 2005
Baku, 4 January 2005 (RFE/RL) — Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has said
efforts to resolve the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict over the disputed
Nagorno-Karabakh region are entering a new, positive, phase.
Aliyev made his remarks yesterday at a meeting of Azerbaijan’s Security
Council. He said Azerbaijani officials are using all means to ensure
negotiations with Armenia develop “positively.”
Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian exclave in Azerbaijan, has been de
facto independent since Armenian-backed forces won control over the
territory in 1994 following a six-year war.
Despite a cease-fire, Armenian-backed forces and Azerbaijani troops
continue to face off across a demilitarized zone, and shooting
occasionally erupts.
The two countries are involved in an international effort to reach a
peaceful settlement, sponsored by the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
(with additional AP reporting)