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spheres on the principles of market economy and democracy. We fruitfully 
cooperate with all the international organizations and att ach a special signifi -
cance to the cooperation with NATO. 
I remember, in 1994, I signed the program “Partnership for Peace” with the 
NATO in Brussels.  A lot has been done since. And fi nally, we take part in the 
NATO Parliamentary Assembly as an observer. We wish to cooperate with it 
in future, too. 
It seems to me, the chairman of our parliament has told you that it would be 
bett er if Azerbaij an becomes an associate member of the Parliamentary Assem-
bly. Anyway, we will continue the cooperation with you in all the areas. 
I am very glad that you have information on the basic problem - the Ar-
menian-Azerbaij ani, the Nagorno-Karabakh confl ict which worries Azerbaij an 
very much. I suppose, you also know that Armenia as an aggressor has occu-
pied 20 percent of the Azerbaij ani territory. 
 I know that you have met today refugees, IDPs and personally saw their 
condition. But you should know that these are the people who live in rather 
good conditions because they are in Baku, and at least they live in buildings, 
though it is not acceptable. But the majority of them live in tents in critical con-
ditions. It is over nine years and continues up today. 
In 1994, we stopped this war. We wish to solve the problem peacefully. How-
ever, Armenia impedes the sett lement of the problem. You have noted that 
Armenia ignores the resolutions of international organizations connected with 
this issue, including those of the United Nations Organization. It, naturally sur-
prises all our citizens. Both you, and the Parliamentary assembly of the NATO 
are interested in this issue as well. 
The chairman of our parliament has informed me that our representative Zi-
yafet Askerov had delivered a speech connected with this question, presented 
detailed information in Bucharest. However, you do nothing either. Therefore, 
we wish very much all the international organizations, including you, to take 
more eff ective measures for the maintenance of peace, stability in this region. 
 We aspire for the peaceful sett lement of this question. We generally want 
peace and wish peace everywhere. We cooperate and we wish to cooperate 
with our neighboring states on the basis of friendly relations. But in the South-
ern Caucasus the Armenian-Azerbaij ani, the Nagorno-Karabakh confl ict, and 
the confl icts in Georgia, naturally, have extremely aggravated the situation in 
the region. And the Southern Caucasus, as you already know well, is one of the 
important regions of the world. 
I think your acquaintance with Azerbaij an and everything that you have seen 
and heard here, will help you for closer approach to the problems of Azerbai-
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jan in the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO. 
Rafael Estrella: Mr. President, you can be fully confi dent that it coincides 
with our present goals. Our goal is to increase att ention to this region. 
One of the main objectives worrying our Assembly is the problem of secu-
rity, and we work for it. Naturally, when we say security, we mean the security 
of the Southern Caucasus and the Central Asia. It is necessary to have a close 
cooperation with the countries in the region for the maintenance of this secu-
rity. Security in Georgia, especially in Azerbaij an, is very important for us. 
Having received a trustworthy information about the region, the members 
of our Assembly arrived at a conclusion, - you may be certain that the members 
of the Assembly are distinguished persons in their countries, - that any viola-
tion of the security in this region, infringement of security of this region can 
lead to infringement of security in the Eurasian space as a whole. 
Mr. President, I have to inform you that we conduct numerous conversations 
and discussions with the representatives of the Russian parliament. Though 
we do not agree on some problems, nevertheless, they already believe that we 
cannot hold discussions, without discussing the security of the Caucasus. It 
was necessary to create an opportunity for us to conduct similar talks with the 
representatives of Russia. That is, to involve the representatives of Russia in 
this question, naturally, the representatives of your region were also necessary. 
The representatives of your region, your country, have adequately carried out 
this duty. Therefore, in our conversations and discussions with the representa-
tives of Russia we could convince them that during our discussions the ques-
tions connected with the Southern Caucasus should be discussed at any cost. 
I should note that the seminar of NATO will take place in 2003 in Baku. Mr. 
President, I wish to ask you to personally patronize this seminar. I think that in 
this seminar members of your parliament can get closely acquainted with the 
questions on security and defense. We would like to get the relations with your 
parliament on the level of institutions, so that we could have direct contacts 
with them. 
Heydar Aliyev: Well, I agree with it. However, all these seminars, meetings 
and discussions would be very signifi cant for us, if they contribute to the sett le-
ment of the confl ict, to achieving peace in our region. We are ready to conduct 
all conversations, seminars henceforth. But we want to get real results.
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