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Press TV, Iran
July 2 2011
Iran urges regional solution to Karabakh
Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani has urged regional
countries to step up efforts to help resolve regional issues,
including the Karabakh dispute, without interference of foreign
powers.
`In our opinion, regional countries' determination and effort can
resolve the Karabakh dispute. We hope that regional efforts increase
so that [regional] conflicts are settled,' Larijani said in a Friday
meeting with Azeri Prime Minister Artur Rasizade, IRNA reported.
Larijani, at the head of a parliamentary delegation, is on a visit to
Baku to hold meetings with top Azeri officials.
The senior Iranian official pointed out that the mutual interests of
the two countries demand that regional issues be solved without any
foreign interference, reiterating that foreign powers seek their own
interests in regional conflicts.
He also said that Iran supports Azerbaijan's territorial integrity in
the Karabakh dispute.
Rasizade, for his part, thanked Iran's stance in the Karabakh dispute
and hoped that the issue would be solved.
Both Azerbaijan and Armenia claim the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh,
which is largely populated by Armenians but located in Azerbaijan.
Ethnic Armenian forces took control over 16 percent of Azerbaijan in
the early 1990s during a six-year war with the country that took place
from February 1988 to May 1994.
The conflict left an estimated 30,000 people dead and one million
displaced. The dispute still remains unsettled.
The Islamic Republic has on several occasions offered to intervene in
the dispute.
"We believe that the Karabakh issue will be resolved through dialogue
and the commitment of both sides to justice, and Tehran is ready to
negotiate with them within this framework," Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said in a joint press conference with his Azerbaijani
counterpart Ilham Aliyev in November, 2010.
AR/MGH/HRF
From: A. Papazian
July 2 2011
Iran urges regional solution to Karabakh
Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani has urged regional
countries to step up efforts to help resolve regional issues,
including the Karabakh dispute, without interference of foreign
powers.
`In our opinion, regional countries' determination and effort can
resolve the Karabakh dispute. We hope that regional efforts increase
so that [regional] conflicts are settled,' Larijani said in a Friday
meeting with Azeri Prime Minister Artur Rasizade, IRNA reported.
Larijani, at the head of a parliamentary delegation, is on a visit to
Baku to hold meetings with top Azeri officials.
The senior Iranian official pointed out that the mutual interests of
the two countries demand that regional issues be solved without any
foreign interference, reiterating that foreign powers seek their own
interests in regional conflicts.
He also said that Iran supports Azerbaijan's territorial integrity in
the Karabakh dispute.
Rasizade, for his part, thanked Iran's stance in the Karabakh dispute
and hoped that the issue would be solved.
Both Azerbaijan and Armenia claim the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh,
which is largely populated by Armenians but located in Azerbaijan.
Ethnic Armenian forces took control over 16 percent of Azerbaijan in
the early 1990s during a six-year war with the country that took place
from February 1988 to May 1994.
The conflict left an estimated 30,000 people dead and one million
displaced. The dispute still remains unsettled.
The Islamic Republic has on several occasions offered to intervene in
the dispute.
"We believe that the Karabakh issue will be resolved through dialogue
and the commitment of both sides to justice, and Tehran is ready to
negotiate with them within this framework," Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said in a joint press conference with his Azerbaijani
counterpart Ilham Aliyev in November, 2010.
AR/MGH/HRF
From: A. Papazian