ARMENIA DRAGS OUT SOLUTION OF KARABKH PROBLEM, AZERI FOREIGN MINISTER SAID

PanARMENIAN.Net - 22.11.2000, MEDIAMAX, YEREVAN. The US, as one of mediators of the OSCE Minsk Group, has to make more active its efforts directed to the settlement of the Armenian-Azeri conflict.

"Trend" agency informs about this statement made by the Azeri foreign Minister Vilayet Guliyev at the meeting with the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ross Wilson.

The Azeri Foreign Minister stressed that the Armenian side is trying to drag out the process of reaching the peaceful settlement and to lay up the existing status quo. He expressed concern of Azerbaijan over the strengthening of the Armed Forces of Armenia. According to Guliyev, not only Azerbaijan but also the world community should be concerned over this fact.

The Azeri official underlined that Azerbaijan has moral and juridical right to liberate its territories, however, it prefers to do that through negotiations and can count on understanding by the world community of Azerbiajan's readiness to resolve the conflict by peaceful means. But it does not mean that negotiations may be dragged out permanently, Guliev said. -0--