Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
Sept 1 2004

JAPAN ALWAYS SUPPORTED FAIR POSITION OF AZERBAIJAN AND THIS POLICY
WILL REMAIN UNCHANGED
[September 01, 2004, 14:23:31]

On August 31, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elmar
Mammadyarov has met with the delegation headed by chairman of
Japan-Azerbaijan Inter-Parliamentary League of Friendship Mr. Akira
Amari.

As was informed to AzreTAj from the press center of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, minister Elmar Mammadyarov, warmly having
welcomed visitors, has emphasized the high level of development of
the Azerbaijani-Japanese relations, has noted, that he supports
strengthening of links between our countries and continuation of
mutually advantageous cooperation. He has especially emphasized
exclusive merits of our national leader Heydar Aliyev in establishment
of strong relations between the two countries.

Having noted, that as a result of aggression of Armenia against
Azerbaijan, 20 percent of the Country’s territories has been occupied,
and about one million of citizens, being ousted from the native lands,
became refugees and IDPs, the Minister informed visitors on last
meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan and Armenia
carried out in Prague.

Having stated to visitors the position of the Azerbaijan side, the
Minister has noted importance of settlement of the Nagorny Karabakh
conflict within the framework of territorial integrity and sovereignty
of our country and has expressed to the government of Japan gratitude
for support of the position of our state.

During the meeting, the Minister informed that last year Milli Majlis
has adopted a decision on opening of embassy of Azerbaijan in Japan,
having expressed confidence that up to the end of this year the said
question would be solved. Having noted, that between Azerbaijan and
Japan there is a wide economic potential, the Minister has expressed
hope for expansion of bilateral economic relations in this direction.

The Minister has expressed to the government of Japan gratitude
for the humanitarian help rendered to the Azerbaijan refugees both
at the state level, and within the framework of the international
organizations. Highly having estimated training of our young diplomats
in Japan, the Minister has expressed confidence of continuation of
this tradition.

Chairman of Japan-Azerbaijan Inter-Parliamentary League of Friendship
Mr. Akira Amari has emphasized, that his country gives great value to
development of connections with our Republic, has told, that trusts
in the further expansion of these connections and continuation of
mutual cooperation in many areas.

Having touched the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh conflict,
the visitor has noted, that the Japanese side supports territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan, having emphasized, that his country is ready
to peace settlement of the mentioned problem.

At the meeting, also discussed were some other questions, representing
mutual interest.

Azeri, Turkish and Armenian Foreign Ministers to Meet In Ankara

AssA-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 1 2004

A trilateral meeting of the Azerbaijani, Turkish and Armenian
foreign ministers will be held in Ankara this September, the Turkish
Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ahmet Unal Cevikoz has told journalists.
The ambassador said that the timing and agenda of the meeting have
not been determined yet. The ministers will exchange views on easing
the tension in the region, he added.

Azerbaijani foreign minister, Turkish ambassador to discuss foreign ministers’ meeting

Interfax
Sept 1 2004

BAKU. Sept 1 (Interfax) – Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov
told reporters on Wednesday he will meet with Turkish Ambassador to
Azerbaijan Unal Chevikoz to discuss the format of the trilateral
meeting between the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Armenia and
Turkey on the Karabakh issue.

“I have already talked to the Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan and
we have agreed to meet again to discuss the details of the trilateral
meeting,” he said.

“We will discuss the date of the trilateral meeting, which will take
place in New York,” Mamedyarov said.

“A lot will depend on the bilateral meeting of the presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan, which is to take place in Astana,” he said.

Turkey trying to organize Azeri-Armenian meeting in New York – envoy

Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
1 Sep 04

[Presenter] The Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan, Ahmet Unal Cevikoz,
met Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov today to discuss
the forthcoming meeting of the Turkish, Armenian and Azerbaijani
foreign ministers.

[Correspondent over video of the Turkish ambassador] Official Ankara
is making efforts to ensure that the Turkish, Armenian and Azerbaijani
foreign ministers hold a meeting in New York. Cevikoz said that he
had discussed this issue with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov, adding that all three sides were interested in the
meeting.

[Cevikoz in Turkish] The Turkish, Azerbaijani and Armenian sides
want to hold a meeting. We will do our best to bring the three sides
together.

[Correspondent] Although there is still no official agreement on
holding the meeting, the Turkish diplomat is confident that the
meeting will take place.

[Cevikoz] There is no problem. We are simply trying to organize a
meeting in this place, in New York, where all three ministers will
gather. It is important for us to set the date for the meeting. When
we set the date, we will organize the meeting.

[Correspondent] Cevikoz said that a number of issues would be resolved
in the trilateral meeting. He added that the Nagornyy Karabakh issue
would be the main subject at the meeting. The Turkish side will also
try to tackle problems in Turkish-Armenian relations.

Mahsati Sarifova and Vidadi Bayramov for “Son Xabar”.

Armenian foreign minister hails Karabakh talks in Prague as positive

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
1 Sep 04

[Presenter] The Armenian foreign minister has said that the major
goal of the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers is to lay
the foundation for the negotiations on a peaceful settlement to
the [Nagornyy] Karabakh conflict. Commenting on his Prague meeting
with the Azerbaijani foreign minister [on 30 August], the Armenian
foreign minister said that it was early to speak about sharing a
joint position on the Karabakh conflict. Oskanyan is confident that
the meetings of the two countries’ foreign ministers are fruitful and
they are conducive to increasing rapprochement between the parties
to the conflict.

[Oskanyan] My overall assessment of the meeting is positive. But this
should be within the context. We have said more than once that the
aim of these meetings at the level of ministers and co-chairs [of
the OSCE Minsk Group] is to lay the foundation for the negotiations
in order to continue discussions on this basis in the future. This
is our fourth meeting and at these meetings, we wanted to create a
basis for the principal issues, and on this basis, we will continue
our negotiations further and talk about more specific issues.

I cannot say that we have set up this basis. However, in the context
of establishing this foundation, I believe that this meeting was the
most important compared to the previous ones and think that we have
taken an important step towards this foundation.

Therefore, I assess this meeting as positive and consider that if
we continue the negotiations in this direction, we shall be able to
create that foundation, which will provide us with more opportunities
for a positive outcome in the future.

Azeris “have buried” their struggle for Karabakh – Armenian TV

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
31 Aug 04

[Presenter] Several Azerbaijani human rights and women’s organizations
defending the male members of the Karabakh Liberation Organization
[KLO, sentenced to prison for anti-Armenian rallies] have said that
with the Karabakh activists’ trial, the Azerbaijani court has buried
the struggle for Karabakh.

Some officials and mass media went as far as describing Ramil
Safarov who killed an Armenian officer during NATO exercises [in
Hungary in February] as a national hero, while at the same time an
Azeri court sentenced the [anti-Armenian] activists to five year’s
imprisonment for staging a protest at a NATO planning conference
[in Baku, in June]. A remark from [late Azerbaijani President]
Heydar Aliyev, who was elevated to a god-like status during his life
and posthumously, has even been brought up, when he reportedly said:
“Why are you constantly repeating: Karabakh, Karabakh? It is just a
land of stones and mountains.”

[Correspondent Aykaram Nahapetyan] The trial of the six Azerbaijani
KLO activists infuriated Azerbaijani society and political circles
alike. [Passage omitted: Azeri female human rights activists Novella
Cafaroglu, Saida Qocamanli and Leyla Yunus condemned the ruling.]

The Azerbaijani newspaper Novoye Vremya attacking [Azerbaijani
President] Ilham Aliyev, called him a pro-Armenian official. The
newspaper also suggested that the Azerbaijani government would not
fight for Nagornyy Karabakh, since Heydar Aliyev once said that
Azeris do not need Karabakh because Karabakh is a land of stones
and mountains.

Azeri MPs slam guilty verdict for anti-Armenian protesters

Turan news agency
1 Sep 04

Baku, 1 September: The autumn session of the Milli Maclis [Azerbaijani
parliament] started today. In the course of debates of issues on
the agenda, many MPs criticized the conviction of six activists of
the Karabakh Liberation Organization [KLO] who protested against the
arrival of Armenian officers in Baku.

Together with opposition MPs, pro-government deputies also slammed the
court verdict. MP Cahangir Huseynov said that not the KLO activists,
but employees of the prosecutor’s office and the court should be
punished.

MP Zeynab Xanlarova believes that those who “incited” the judge to
take the erroneous decision are guilty. Armenian blood runs in the
veins of those people, Xanlarova said.

MP Gular Ahmadova proposed that an appeal be adopted on behalf
of MPs asking to review the verdict on the KLO members. Only Musa
Musayev called on his colleagues not to make national heroes of the
KLO activists.

Summing up the debates, Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov said that he also
supported the KLO’s protest against the arrival of Armenians in
Baku. “However, this is a NATO requirement. And we should comply with
it if we count on NATO’s assistance in the resolution of the Karabakh
conflict,” the speaker said.

At the same time, he did not rule out that the investigation might have
“wrongly” assessed the actions of the KLO activists. But parliament
cannot interfere in the activities of another power branch, and
therefore, MPs can appeal to court individually.

Azeri, Armenian foreign ministers hold “sterile” meeting – paper

Ekspress, Baku
31 Aug 04

The Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers, Elmar Mammadyarov
and Vardan Oskanyan respectively, held another meeting in Prague
yesterday [30 August], as they discussed ways of settlement of
the Karabakh conflict with the participation of the OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairmen. Besides the ministers, the special envoys of the
Azerbaijani and Armenians presidents on the Karabakh conflict, Araz
Azimov and Tatul Margaryan respectively, also joined the talks. This
is Mammadyarov’s fourth meeting with his Armenian counterpart.

Two-hour meeting

The talks started at 1630 Baku time [1130 gmt] ended at 1830 [Baku
time, 1330 gmt]. The two-hour discussions held in a large group was
followed by a face-to-face dialogue of the ministers. In their press
statements following the talks, the ministers said that they had made
“some successful and objective decisions” on continuing the dialogue
“on the level of the existing realities”. But the parties did not
specify the nature of “the decisions” made “on the basis of the
principle of being constructive”.

“This is another series of the Prague process, which has assumed a
long-term nature. Specific issues were raised and views were exchanged
during the talks,” Oskanyan said.

He said the parties discussed “friendly” ways of settlement that are
based on mutual obligations. “We can continue the Prague process,”
he said.

Prague unlucky for Armenians

The main emphasis was laid on the next dialogue of the [two countries’]
presidents. “We want the heads of state to conduct a ‘dynamic dialogue’
along with the ministers,” Oskanyan said. He noted that he had received
the “directions and blessings” of the Armenian president before
visiting Prague, but it did not yield any fruits. “We hold discussions,
talks, but cannot eventually come to a specific decision. Prague
seems to be unlucky for us,” the Armenian minister complained.

Mammadyarov, for his part, said that the meeting had the nature of
mutual discussions. “We are pleased with the dialogue on this level.”,
he said. The main outcome of the meeting is that the parties have
agreed to continue the talks “in a positive spirit”. “We did not
discuss any specific proposals, we just expressed our opinion,”
the minister said.

What worries Azerbaijan is that during the talks the foreign ministries
of both countries take “their proposals” as a basis and aspire to
have the problem solved on their principles. Mammadyarov refused to
answer questions on the proposals by the Armenian side.

Issues pertaining to the recently escalating tension on the front-line,
as well as the Armenian military exercises in the occupied Karabakh
and the so-called municipal elections [there] were also discussed, as
Azerbaijan raised its objections to Yerevan on these three issues. “We
decided to treat these issues seriously and take into account their
impact on the negotiation process. I hope these cases will be put an
end to,” Mammadyarov said.

Status issue again

Oskanyan told an interview with the A-INFO news agency yesterday
evening that the foreign ministers got closer to the resolution of
the problem again in Prague, but the opinions differed on the status
of Nagornyy Karabakh. “The Azerbaijani side is again disrupting the
order of the discussions. Therefore, we again had to hold discussions
on identifying the format, getting acquainted with the positions of
the parties and finding a common position. That is it.”

The Armenian minister thinks that the latest Prague talks cannot be
regarded as “productive” judging by the results achieved. Nevertheless,
he noted that “there is a necessary potential” to continue the
dialogue.

Speaking of possible options for the settlement of the conflict,
Oskanyan said that it was important to reach agreement on the
status of Karabakh, while other issues should be resolved within its
framework. “I am ready to work with Mammadyarov on these conditions.”

Co- chairmen

There was no proposal from the [OSCE Minsk Group] co-chairmen. “We
did not see any such proposal. The co-chairmen just came and went
away again,” Oskanyan said.

He believes it is impossible to await “any potential” news from the
peace talks unless the co-chairmen present some “surprises” to the
parties to the conflict. Because the current discussions have the
aim of “coming to a dialogue”.

“Under these circumstances, I do not think that the co-chairmen could
draft something on paper on the basis of the bilateral talks of the
foreign ministers and the heads of state. There is no consensus of
this kind yet”, Oskanyan said.

The Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuriy Merzlyakov,
told Ekspress yesterday that the mediators gave a number of new
proposals and ideas during the meeting of the foreign ministers. “We
presented them with new proposals. Since these were open discussions,
the proposals were also disclosed and it was quite a business-like
meeting,” he said. [Passage omitted: Merzlyakov happy with the talks
and the schedule of next meetings.]

Conclusion

Thus, judging by the joint statement made by the Azerbaijani and
Armenian foreign ministers yesterday, the Prague process “allowed
them to exchange views on possible steps forward”.

In the statement, Armenia and Azerbaijan reiterated that “they are
interested in settling the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict and agree to
continuing this useful dialogue”. Both ministers said it was necessary
to continue the future talks “in the current course”.

It is hard to judge by these statements whether the Prague meeting
was fruitful. One may generally conclude from the above mentioned
diplomatic expressions that this meeting was sterile. In any case,
both parties stick to their own positions and neither talks of making
concessions so far. But on the other hand, the ministers meet behind
the closed doors and we do not know what they bargain over… [ellipses
as published]

Azeri Communists condemn imprisonment of anti-Armenian protesters

Turan news agency
1 Sep 04

Baku, 1 September: The bureau of the central committee of the Communist
Party of Azerbaijan [CPA] yesterday condemned prison sentences for
members of the Karabakh Liberation Organization [KLO] handed out by
the Nasimi district court [in Baku].

The bureau’s statement issued in this regard criticized the court
verdict and described it as “unjustifiably harsh and not matching
the committed offence”.

The bureau of the CPA’s central committee believes that laws must
be obeyed and any offence should be punished. However, the taken
decisions and passed verdicts should match the essence and gravity
of the offence.

[The court sentenced six activists of the Karabakh Liberation
Organization to imprisonment for terms ranging from three to five
years for protesting against the presence of two Armenian military
officers at a NATO conference in Baku.]

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

President’s visit to Germany will boost EU support for Azerbaijan – official

Lider TV, Baku
1 Sep 04

[Presenter] The process of supporting official Baku’s just position
on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagornyy
Karabakh will continue in Europe and [Azerbaijani] President Ilham
Aliyev’s visit to Germany will have its effect on this, the head
of the foreign relations department of the Azerbaijani presidential
administration, Novruz Mammadov, has said.

[Correspondent, over video of Aliyev’s visit to Germany] President
Aliyev’s official visit to Germany should be considered one of the
important events of the year, Mammadov says. The visit will positively
affect not only the development of relations between Azerbaijan and
Germany, but also Azerbaijan’s integration into the European Union
in general, he said. Germany’s position is taken into account in
all European countries and official Berlin shows a friendly attitude
towards Azerbaijan and will continue doing so, end of quote. Mammadov
said this tendency would make itself felt in the resolution of the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.

[Mammadov] The discussions and exchange of views will have a strong
effect on supporting Azerbaijan’s fair position on the resolution
of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. Germany is
one of the leading countries in the world and in Europe. Germany’s
position is taken into consideration everywhere.

[Correspondent] Mammadov said that President Aliyev’s official visit to
Germany will intensify the support for Azerbaijan’s just position in
individual countries and international organizations alike, a process
that started in Europe early this year.

Radik Ismayilov, Sabuhi Asadov for Lider TV