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              Kerry Urges Resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

   by Reuters

   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Wednesday for "an ultimate
   resolution" of the two-decade-old Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between
   Azerbaijan and Armenia during talks with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev
   at the State Department.

   Aliyev is in Washington for a two-day nuclear security summit hosted by
   President Barack Obama on Thursday and Friday.

   "We want to see an ultimate resolution of the frozen conflict of
   Nagorno-Karabakh that needs to be a negotiated settlement and something
   that has to be worked on over time," Kerry said during a brief photo
   opportunity with Aliyev.

   The conflict broke out in the dying years of the Soviet Union, but
   efforts to reach a permanent settlement have failed despite mediation
   led by France, Russia and the United States. Nagorno-Karabakh lies
   inside Azerbaijan but is controlled by ethnic Armenians.

   Aliyev thanked the United States for trying to end the conflict but
   said it could be resolved only through a U.N. Security Council
   resolution calling for the "immediate and unconditional withdrawal of
   Armenian troops" from Azerbaijan.

   "The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, all the conflicts in
   post-Soviet area and in the world, must be resolved based on
   territorial integrity of the countries," he said.

   Oil-producing Azerbaijan frequently threatens to take the mountainous
   Nagorno-Karabakh region back by force. Clashes around the region have
   fueled worries of a wider conflict breaking out in the South Caucasus,
   which is crossed by oil and gas pipelines.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-urges-resolution-nagorno-karaba
   kh-conflict/3261943.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-urges-resolution-nagorno-karabakh-conflict/3261943.html