WASHINGTON–During a regular White House briefing Tuesday–presidential press secretary Ari Fleischer announced that President George W. Bush held telephone conversations with his Armenian and Azeri counterparts Robert Kocharian and Haydar Aliyev Tuesday.
"The president this morning spoke with President Aliyev of Azerbaijan and President Kocharian of Armenia. The conversations focused on their strong expressions of support for the war on terrorism–and President Bush welcomed their support. All three presidents reaffirmed their commitmen’s to peace and stability in the Caucasus region and to advancing efforts to reach a peaceful settlement with regard to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. President Bush underscored the importance of Congress taking final action to pass authority to waive restrictions on assistance imposed by Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act. Once that waiver is granted to the president by the Congress–which is now pending–that will allow the president to do more with Armenia–as well as Azerbaijan–to fight terrorism and to facilitate deeper cooperation in the region," announced Fleischer.