UN postponed voting on occupied Azeri territories with Baku’s consent – official

Turan news agency
26 Nov 04

Baku, 26 November: The decision to postpone the voting on the draft
resolution on the situation in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories has
been adopted with Azerbaijan’s consent, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign
Minister Araz Azimov told reporters today, commenting on the results
of the discussions at the UN.

Azerbaijan had not set itself a task to have the draft resolution
adopted on the same day [24 November]. Our main goal was to draw the
attention of the international community to the “artificial” settlement
of Armenians in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories, Azimov said.

As for the voting at the UN, Azerbaijan can return to this issue
at any moment during the 59th session [of the UN General Assembly]
which will last until September 2005.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have supported Azerbaijan’s proposal
to send a mission to the occupied territories to check the facts of
settlement. Meanwhile, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said
at a meeting in Berlin that Yerevan understands Azerbaijan’s concern
and will take measures. The Armenian side also said it is ready to
resume the talks at the ministerial level.

Azimov said that Armenia’s pull-out from the occupied territories,
the return of the internally displaced people to their homes, the
resumption of communications, as well as Nagornyy Karabakh’s political
status were discussed during the talks in Prague.

Asked which of the occupied districts will be liberated first, Azimov
said that Azerbaijan wants the seven districts surrounding Nagornyy
Karabakh to be liberated. However, it is impossible to do this in
one day, and the issue can be resolved stage by stage, he said.

As for the return of the Azerbaijani population to Nagornyy Karabakh,
Baku insists that Azerbaijanis must be returned to Susa District
and other settlements where they used to live. Baku believes that
the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities [of Nagornyy Karabakh] can
live together under international monitors until Karabakh’s status
is resolved fully, Azimov said.

The Armenians of Nagornyy Karabakh are citizens of Azerbaijan and
Baku is ready to grant them autonomy. Baku is ready to negotiate with
the Armenian population of Nagornyy Karabakh, but to this end “the
foreign occupying army must pull out and the Armenians of Nagornyy
Karabakh must recognize that they are part of Azerbaijan”, he said.

The Armenian community may join the peace talks within the OSCE Minsk
Group, but they may do so in parity with the Azerbaijani community
of Nagornyy Karabakh, Azimov said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress