MEETING OF PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES NOT SUBSTITUTE THE NEGOTIATIONS OF TWO PRESIDENTS, ANJEY KASPRSHIK

25.05.02--Azerbaijan-- At the frontier line of Azerbaijan and Armenian military forces COES monitoring group will hold several events soon. Anjey Kasprshik, personal representative of COES chairman, said it. According to him, during the summer fieldwork sign season many villagers will work not far from the frontier line and it's important to hold monitoring for providing security of their work. Speaking about solution ways of Garabag conflict, Mr. Kasprshik said that, though he was satisfied by the meeting of Azerbaijan and Armenia presidents' personal representatives in Prague, but it didn't substitute the format of meeting of presidents and the work of co-chairmen's. COES co-chairmen are doing preparations for the next negotiations of personal representatives according Paris agreement. Mediators would come to the region after preparing the diary and issues of discussions, said Anjey Kasprshik.

QARABAG CONFLICT SHOULD BE SETTLED IN CASE OF MUTUAL SATISFACTION, RUSSIAN CHAIRMAN SAYS

25.05.02--Baku--President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev received the delegation of Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia, headed by the Chairman of this Organization, Sergey Mironov. The head of Russian delegation updated on his meetings he held with parliamentarians, at the Slavonic University. Addressing the head of the Federation Council, President of Azerbaijan gave a positive assessment to his visit. Sergey Mironov expressed his gratitude for invitation, noting he was satisfied with the meetings where the Russian delegation was warmly greeted. It was noted that in the course of the visit the Russian delegation visited the Alley of Martyrs and revered memories of victims. Mr. Sergey Mironov stated that his proposal on a close-formatted meeting in Sankt Petersburg, of the heads of parliaments of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia under the presidency of the head of Federation Council, was backed by the Chairman of Milli Majlis. Heads of the Georgian and Armenian parliaments have earlier supported the idea, he added. Such meetings are planned to hold once a quarter in rotating manner in one of the capitals of the countries of Caucasus. The main objective of these meetings is to develop inter-parliamentary links and render assistance to the heads of countries in the process of resolution to the conflicts in the region. The principle position of Russia, according to Sergey Mironov, is that settlement of the Karabakh conflict is possible in case of mutual satisfaction of both sides. President Heydar Aliyev agreed with the opinion of Sergey Mironov, noted that the formal meetings are usually of demonstrative character and of less use. Touching upon the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno Karabakh conflict, President Heydar Aliyev said the conflict was extremely complicated because the Armenians had occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territories. The OSCE Minsk Group has been working for ten years on solution of the problem. No achievement was reached. Further, President Heydar Aliyev stated that the occupied territory of Azerbaijan must be liberated, the violated territorial integrity of the Country be restored. Speaker of Azerbaijan Parliament Murtuz Alaskarov, chief of President Secretariat Dilara Seyidzadeh, head of the foreign department of President Administration Novruz Mammadov, ambassador of Russia to Azerbaijan Nikolay Ryabov attended the reception.

IT'S NOT FAIR TO DEMAND SAME THING FROM AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA, VILAYAT QULIYEV

25.05.02--Baku--Vilayat Quliyev, the foreign minister of Azerbaijan Republic says Azerbaijan was a regional state. Besides, in the basis of the cooperation between Baku and Azerbaijan stands neighboring and regional cooperation. According to Mr. Quliyev, Azerbaijan doesn't have a great potential either in military or other sphere. Azerbaijan is a peaceful country. Neither now nor in the future Azerbaijan won't be the source of the danger. Talking about the US and Russian summit , Quliyev considers discussion of the Daqliq Qarabaq conflict by Bush and Putin was natural since two states were co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk group. Vilayat Quliyev said that it was unjust to put Armenia and Azerbaijan in equal part of the scale. Because Azerbaijan is the state who's territories was occupied, subjected to aggression thousand of citizens were killed. So it wasn't right to demand from Armenia and Azerbaijan the same thing. World community should exert a pressure on Armenia to settle this conflict said Vilayat Quliyev.

MEETING OF AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA PRESIDENTS POSSIBLE IN NEAR FUTURE

Source:Trend

24.05.02--Baku--Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia may meet within the frames of any international forum. It was declared by the deputy foreign minister and the personal representative of the President of the Azerbaijan Republic on regulation of Daglig Qarabaq conflict. For the first meeting of two presidents was planned to the end of May in Kishinev, Moldova during the CIS summit, said Araz Azimov after consulting with Rudolf Perinea, co-chairman of Minsk group. But as the summit was posted till October, official Baku decided showed an initiative to expedite the organization of leaders' meeting. It should noticed that, Mr. Azimov visited Washington to hold consulting on regulation of Qarabaq conflict with representatives of American administration and State Department on May 23.

QARABAG CONFLICT AND CASPIAN ISSUE TO DISCUSS IN US-RUSSIA SUMMIT

Source:AzerTac

20.05.02--Baki--The coming US-Russia summit agenda is supposed to include the issues of resolution to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and the Caspian energy projects, as well. Though, the White House press secretary, other top officials did not acknowledge the expected discussions of the issue of security and stability in the South Caucasus, they did not rule out it either: "As the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, the United States, Russia and France are much concerned and proceed finding a way out of the conflict. We, in fact, hope for more, for, there was reached a true achievement by the Bush Administration in 2001 spring meetings in Key West. We must surely go ahead". The US governmental dignitaries express a hope for Russia's participation in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan MEP project. Reiterating the US's support for transportation of the Caspian energy resources to the world markets, the White House officials said these resources were enough for all the pipelines. "In any case, we are keen on cooperation of the United States and Russian Federation in this field", they stated. It has to be noted that President Bush starts his a week-lasting trip on May 22.

"The ministers elaborated ways of addressing existing security and regional cooperation problems and emphasised the importance of resolution of conflicts in this region," Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said after the trilateral meeting.

Cem's talks with the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan were held on the sidelines of a NATO conference in Reykjavik, Iceland.

He said the three ministers considered their meeting a "useful step forward" and they agreed to hold further talks in the near future on the margins of an international meeting. He did not elaborate.

The two Caucasus countries have been locked in a conflict over the mainly ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is inside the borders of Azerbaijan.

"We think we need to continue to talk with each other on issues of common interest and with regard to the problems that face the region, the Caucasus, in general," Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian told a brief news conference.

The talks lie outside the framework of the so-called Minsk Group set up by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to try to address the Nagorno-Karabakh question. The Minsk Group is chaired jointly by the United States, Russia and France.

By Emil Danielyan

Visiting senior officials from the Council of Europe told President Robert Kocharian on Thursday that the continued stalemate over Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not in Amenia's interests and that it should therefore push hard for the conflict's settlement.

"We expressed the opinion that maintaining the status quo is not the right option and that the time doesn't work in favor of Armenia," Ambassador Pietro Ago, an Italian diplomat leading a monitoring mission from the Council's main decision-making body, said after talks with the Armenian leader. He said the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan should "actively search for a solution" to the conflict.

It was not clear whether the message from the organization's member governments signalled their dissatisfaction with Yerevan's position on the settlement of the bitter territorial dispute with Azerbaijan. Ago did not voice any direct criticism of the Armenian side at a news conference in Yerevan.

"The president responded that he is actively searching for a solution but that the time does not appear ripe for a solution fairly soon," Ago said. He also quoted Kocharian as complaining that Azerbaijan has consistently rejected all "confidence-building measures" suggested by the Armenians.

Armenia and the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic say Azerbaijan is to blame for the deadlock in the internationally sponsored peace process. They accuse Baku of scrapping far-reaching peace agreements reached by Kocharian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Heydar Aliev during their face-to-face talks last year.

Aliev and other Azerbaijani officials, however, deny that the two leaders agreed the key terms of a Karabakh peace deal at the time.

Reykjavik: Foreign Minister Ismail Cem on Wednesday [15 May] met foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan during the NATO foreign ministers meeting which has started in Reykjavik on Tuesday.

Speaking after the meeting, Cem said: "Foreign ministers of three countries, who attended NATO spring term meetings, convened on Wednesday with the initiative of Turkey and with the support of Azerbaijan and Armenia. This is the first meeting among the foreign ministers. The ministers discussed ways of discussing existing security and regional problems and cooperation. The ministers stressed the importance of solving problems in the region. In this respect, we consider this meeting as a beneficial step taken for future."

Pointing out that Turkey's political will would play a more influential role in solution of Caucasus question, and that Turkey worked with the United States in line with this political will, Cem said: "Turkey and Russia signed an action plan called Eurasia Action Plan. We also work with the European Union (EU). As the three ministers, we are also included in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. We believe that we can meet each other, exchange views, and make an additional contribution to [OSCE] Minsk [Group] process in this atmosphere. We also believe that we may bring a contribution to the solution of problems in our region."

Cem said they were hopeful that those efforts would have a positive contribution, stressing that, "during the meeting we discussed what can be done on the security issue. We took up the changes which occurred around us following 11 September attacks."

Cem said they decided to convene in the near future.

The Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers said the meeting was very beneficial, noting that they found the possibility to discuss security and problems of the region sincerely.

"We recognize that, as a neighboring state to both Armenia and Azerbaijan, that Iran has legitimate interest in being informed about the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process said Richard Boucher.

WASHINGTON, May 10 (AFP) - US and Iranian diplomats met Friday in Paris as the United States, France and Russia briefed Iran on work to resolve the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, the State Department said.

Spokesman Richard Boucher said representatives of the United States, France and Russia, the co-chairs of the so-called Minsk Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh, gave the Iranian diplomat "a briefing on the state of play" in peace efforts.

"We recognize that, as a neighboring state to both Armenia and Azerbaijan, that Iran has legitimate interest in being informed about the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, and that's what we did at this meeting," he told reporters.

"The basic message is we remain interested," Boucher said the Iranian was told. "We continue to work with the parties and talk with them about the possibilities of progress."

The three countries, which operate under the aegis of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), agreed to brief Iran on their work in April 2001 during a round of negotiations with the leaders of Armenian and Azerbaijan in Key West, Florida.

"This was merely the implementation of that public offer," Boucher said.

On Wednesday, the department announced that the meeting had been scheduled but said it signaled no change in US policy toward Iran.

"This meeting was arranged in the normal course of OSCE Minsk Group activity and does not represent any change in US policy toward Iran," Eliza Koch, a department spokeswoman, said Wednesday.

The United States and Iran, which President George W. Bush has labeled part of "an axis of evil" of countries sponsoring terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction, severed diplomatic relations 22 years ago after the Islamic Revolution.

Also Wednesday, Boucher denied a claim from an influential Iranian lawmaker that Iran and the United States have been engaged in secret bilateral talks.

He rejected a report by Iran's official IRNA news agency that quoted Mohsen Mirdami, the head of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, that secret talks had been going on between the two countries.

Boucher maintained that apart from casual or accidental meetings between diplomats, Washington had no bilateral contacts with Tehran and met only with Iranian officials in the context of international fora, such as the multilateral grouping that deals with Afghanistan.

"We have met with representatives of Iran in multilateral contexts to discuss these multilateral issues," he said. "We have not had direct or secret discussions to discuss the bilateral agenda that we have with Iran."

According to IRNA, Mirdami, a leading reformist, said that despite denials from the Iranian foreign ministry, talks with the United States had been held.

"Contrary to what the foreign minister said, we are informed that there have been some discussions with the Americans," he said.

"This is a sore point. If we are going to talk with the Americans, it must be in broad daylight and take into account all aspects and all points of view," Mirdami said, without revealing further details.

Iranian press reports have recently cited "secret talks" between Tehran and Washington taking place in either Cyprus or Ankara.

Tehran has repeatedly denied the reports, saying that any contacts had to do with Afghanistan and were not held in secret.

SHUSHINTSY BEMOAN THEIR LEADERS

Azerbaijanis who fled their Karabakh home in the early Nineties say their representatives have let them down.

By Zarema Velikhanova - correspondent with Echo newspaper in Baku

Ten years after they were driven from Shusha, the Nagorny Karabakh town's former Azerbaijani residents, or "Sushintsy", say life remains as hard and uncertain as it was during the build up to their forced exodus.

"There was chaos during those days," Kerim Kerimli, a well-known writer and journalist from Shusha said, referring to the prelude to the town's fall to Armenian forces in May 1992. "No one was in control of the situation and the Shushintsy were left to cope for themselves. No one organised an evacuation of the population. People fled wherever they could. Only after several months wandering through the country did they begin to gather together."

The Sushintsy - estimated to number around 25,000 - have been scattered across Azerbaijan in refugee camps and towns, but most, around 14-15,000 people, live in the capital Baku. This is partly because they lost their homes earlier than other Azerbaijani refugees and partly because the urbanised people of Shusha had good connections in the capital.

Life has been hard for the displaced Azerbaijanis and many are critical of the Shusha administration in exile for failing to ease their troubles.

"For example we have the right to receive loans at favourable rates in commercial banks," said Kerimli. "But no one gives them to us because they are afraid we will be unable to pay. But of course we have nothing valuable. Naturally those who can put up security, don't need credit. In this case it's the official structures that ought to be our guarantor. Our representatives ought to raise this issue with the government, but they do nothing."

Another problem facing the exiles is that if they register their place of residence, they lose their status as internally displaced persons and, therefore, their benefits. "My family, which consists of six people, lives in a two-room apartment, which the authorities gave to me," Kerimli explained. "But it is in terrible condition, I cannot do it up. I can't be sure that tomorrow I will be thrown out of here and to do up the apartment costs a lot of money."

Of course life in refugee camps - such as Mirzalar in western Azerbaijan - just 15 km from the front-line with the Armenians - is much harder than in Baku. According to officials from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, 114 families - about 528 people in all - from Shusha live in Mirzalar.

The main problem for the people in Mirzalar is a shortage of electricity, which they receive only at night and infrequently. What is especially distressing for the camp residents is that, sitting in the cold and the dark, they see how in the territories occupied by the Armenians not far away, lights burn night and day.

Mirzalar does not have a pharmacy, a telephone or even a school for children older than ten years of age. The exiles only receive a one-off benefit of "bread money" worth 25,000 manats (around five US dollars) a month, plus small pensions and payments for the children. Humanitarian aid arrives only once every three months and the head of the family has to go to the town of Agjabedi, 40 km away, to receive it.

The town of Shusha had a distinguished journalistic record - its eponymously named newspaper is more than a hundred years old. However, the title, which was published in Baku after the fall of the town, has not come out since January this year. When its editor, Kerim Kerimli, complained to Shushintsy representatives, which financed its publication, he says he was told that there was "no money".

Vagif Husseinov, an official in Susha administration in exile, dismissed the suggestion that his administration was neglecting its duties. "We care about our citizens," he said. "We work in all the regions where Shushintsy live. Not a single complaint has been left unattended. Our culture department is very active and puts on exhibitions and other cultural events. The tax office also regularly collects revenues for the regional budget from commercial businesses founded by Shushintsy."

For the majority of the Shusha refugees, however, efficient tax collection is hardly the priority as they enter their second decade of life in exile.

BAKU: Azerbaijan's Defense Minister Safar Abbiyev said on Tuesday at a meeting with his Turkish counterpart he was ready to seize the Armenian-controlled enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh by force if necessary.

"The occupied territories are being used to supply weapons to terrorist organisations, for training terrorists and for the production and transit of illegal drugs," Abbiyev said in the Azeri capital, Baku.

"Azerbaijan's armed forces are ready to destroy those centres and liberate its territories," he added.

Azerbaijan fought a bitter war with Armenia in the early 1990's over Karabakh. A ceasefire was agreed in 1994 but Baku still demands the return of territory it says is illegally occupied by Armenia.

Abbiyev made the remarks at a meeting with Turkish Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu, who is visiting Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, as part of a delegation of Turkish cabinet ministers.

Turkey, which has strong ethnic and political ties with Azerbaijan, "will support Baku on the question (of Karabakh), whatever decision it takes," Cakmakoglu told his Azeri counterpart.

Ankara is enforcing an economic embargo on its neighbour Armenia and says it will continue to do so until it cedes Karabakh to Azerbaijan.

Both Turkey and Azerbaijan claim that the enclave is being used as a base by the outlawed Kurdish separatist group, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

Also at their meeting, Abbiyev and Cakmakoglu discussed joint measures to create a "security corridor" to protect the planned Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline which will export Azeri crude oil to the Turkish Mediterranean.

Azeri president, Turkish deputy premier stress peaceful solution to Karabakh

Baku, 7 May: Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev and Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli met today for two hours. After the meeting, the talks continued in an expanded composition. Aliyev assessed the visit by the Turkish delegation as "a remarkable event in the development of friendly, brotherly relations between the two countries". He said that the tete-a-tete meeting had been held in a "friendly and sincere atmosphere" and that it mainly focused on the Karabakh issue. The president underlined that Azerbaijan had always enjoyed Turkey's support in this respect.

Aliyev said that the sides had analysed the situation and discussed possible ways for settling the conflict. Aliyev and Bahceli agreed that the problem can be resolved by peaceful means.

Expressing satisfaction with the results of the talks, Aliyev stated that there were no problems between Azerbaijan and Turkey and the sides intended to deepen cooperation.

Bahceli, in turn, stressed that Turkey attached great importance to stability in Azerbaijan and was ready to further render comprehensive assistance in this direction. He noted that until the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict was settled, Turkey would not establish any ties with Armenia.

Azeris ready to destroy Karabakh "terror centres" - defence minister

Baku, 7 May: Azerbaijani Defence Minister Safar Abiyev and Turkish National Defence Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu today discussed the expansion of military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey, the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and regional problems.

Speaking about the Karabakh problem, Abiyev noted that the Armenians were using the occupied territory for drug-smuggling and training of terrorist groups. Abiyev said that arms were being delivered from the territory under Armenians' control to PKK Kurdistan Workers' Party activists.

Azerbaijan wants a peaceful and unconditional liberation of its occupied territory. At the same time, the minister noted that the Azerbaijani army was ready to destroy the terrorist centres set up on the occupied territory and liberate its land.

The minister said that the documents signed during the Trabzon summit between the Georgian, Azerbaijani and Turkish presidents created conditions for the expansion of military cooperation in the region.

Amongst other thing, the implementation of the Baku-Ceyhan main export route and the Baku-Erzurum gas pipeline will require closer military cooperation between the countries, Abiyev said.

Cakmakoglu, in turn, noted the high level of education in Azerbaijan's armed forces. As for the PKK, "Azerbaijan has always supported Turkey" on this issue.

Speaking about the Karabakh problem, Cakmakoglu said that the Armenian problem was a problem of all Turks. "We know their treacherous traits well. In World War I they betrayed Turkey and now they describe their resettlement to safer places as genocide. Today they have occupied Azerbaijan's lands and we are against giving even an inch of land to the Armenians. Whatever resolution Azerbaijan adopts, we will support it," the Turkish minister said.

DAGLIG QARABAQ OBJECT OF NEGOTIATIONS IN MAY

04.05.02--Baku--Daglig Qarabaq (Nagorno Karabakh) conflict once again will be brought into to agenda when foreign ministers of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia will be meet in Reykjavik, Iceland. Generally , May could be named as month of Daglig Qarabakh negotiations. The above mentioned meeting will be held upon the initiative of Turkey. Though such initiative have been made long before Armenian side was refuting insistently. It should be noted that personal representatives of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia was also planning for May. During last months there have been observing some softening in the position of Armenia. For example, Serj Sarkisyan, defense minister of Armenia stated that his nation was believing in wisdom of Azeri president for solving the conflict. Besides , Presidents of United States of America and Russian Federation were also planning to discuss Daqliq Qarabakh while their upcoming meeting in Saint-Petersburg in May, 23. After the russian summit George Bush will meet with Jacques Shirak who is one of the co-chairmen of OSCE Minsk group. Samira Safaraliyeva

NO COMPREHENSIVE COLLABORATION UNTIL CONFLICTS SOLVED , SAYS FOREIGN MINISTER

01.05.02--Baku--Vilayat Guliyev, foreign minister of the Azerbaijan Republic say it was impossible to speak about the full and comprehensive collaboration among states without solution of conflicts in the Caucasus. According to him thoughts of him especially concerning to Armenia. Though official Armenia tries to show peaceful policy it's clear that, Armenia ignores all constructive proposals according the solution of Karabakh conflict said Foreign minister. In case Armenia won't give up his position Azerbaijan has the right to release it occupied territories, he added. But Vilayat Guliyev also stresses that solution of the conflict with non-peaceful ways should be very difficult since world community were against that. Besides it conflicts are very dangerous for international projects where Azerbaijan takes part and it's important to create security system in the region.