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Azerbaijan Should Force EU to Join Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Settlement Process: German Politician

Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict Materials 23 May 2008 15:58 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, 23 May /corr. Trend S.Agayeva / The key for settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is in hands of Russia, the USA and European Union. Using its energy attractiveness for the EU, Azerbaijan should force the European Union to join the process of conflict settlement, known German politician Iogann Rau reported to Trend .

"The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, should every day seriously and insistently speak about the possibility of military way of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict settlement. It will worry the European Union, which will have to seriously take care about energy security which it plans to ensure from the Azerbaijani energy resources of," said the member of the International Security Forum of Germany said.

The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988 due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding Districts. Since 1992, these territories have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France and USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.

According to Rau, currently the European Union is concerned about the oil and gas because the oil reserves are disappearing in many countries worldwide, and Azerbaijan is a global player for Europe in transit of energy resources. " Azerbaijan is 'an important gate' for the EU in the region with its gigantic oil and gas reserves, and beginning of military actions in the region is very dangerous for the EU," the politician said.

Using ideological and propagandistic methods, Azerbaijan, as a country sustaining occupation from Armenia who occupied 20% of Azerbaijani territories, should highlight possibility of beginning military actions and thus, achieve fair settlement of the conflict, the politician said.

Speaking about possibility of holding direct talks not with Armenia, but with Nagorno-Karabakh, Rau said that Azerbaijan should not take such a step. "It sill be negative for Baku. Azerbaijan should not hold talks with part of its own territories, because it means defeat," he said.

The correspondent can be contacted at :trend

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