Azerbaijani leader says Karabakh talks in 'final phase'

TEHERAN times
BAKU (AFP) -- Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that longstanding talks with Armenia over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region are in their
.final phase., suggesting significant progress in negotiations.

.The negotiating process has seen positive dynamics and I can say that it has already entered its final phase,. Aliyev said Saturday at a summit of Turkic-
speaking nations in Azerbaijan, state news agency Azertaj reported.

.The Nagorny Karabakh conflict can only be settled in accordance with the principle of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity .... The conflict is a great problem not only for Azerbaijan, but also for the whole region, and is a major barrier to regional development,. he added.

Aliyev's statement came amid a thaw in relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan's close ally Turkey, which agreed in August on a plan to establish diplomatic relations and re-open their shared border after decades of
hostility.

Analysts say the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation efforts have given a new impetus to peace talks over Karabakh.

International mediators have expressed hopes for a breakthrough when Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian meet on the sidelines of a Commonwealth of Independent States summit in the Moldovan capital Chisinau on October 8-9.

Armenian forces supporting ethnic Armenian separatists seized control of Nagorny Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s, in a war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives.

The two countries have cut direct economic and transport links and failed to negotiate a settlement on the region's status.

Armenian and Azerbaijani forces are spread across a ceasefire line in and around Nagorny Karabakh, often facing each other at close range, and shootings
are common.

G.C