Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Describes Nagorno-Karabakh Talks As 'Step Forward'

29 August 2005 -- Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said weekend talks between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh marked a step forward.

But Mammadyarov told reporters in Baku today that "it's still early to speak of serious progress."

Armenian President Robert Kocharian and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, discussed the conflict on 27 August following a CIS summit in Kazan.

Mammadyarov said the issues being discussed include the return of refugees and the restoration of roads and other contacts between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan, an Azerbaijani exclave separated from the country by Armenian territory.

(AP)

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