EN
25 March 2004 - 17:47 AMT

OPENING ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER WILL MAKE KARABAKH PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT IMPOSSIBLE, AZERI LEADER SUPPOSES

If Turkey opens borders with Armenia, peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict will become impossible, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev told journalists yesterday, when commenting on the increasing pressure put upon Ankara by the European Union and other influential states in order to lift the blockade of the Armenian-Turkish border. In Aliyev’s words, an important linchpin of urging Armenia to solve the problem by peaceful means will be lost then. “It will lead to cessation of talks with all undesirable consequences,” he said. At that Aliyev said he was convinced that Turkey being a great state would not yield to the pressure, as “the Azeri-Turkish fraternity is above all.”