AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTER UNVEILS SEVERAL DETAILS OF NEGOTIATIONS WITH HIS
ARMENIAN COUNTERPART

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8. ARMINFO. Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign
ministers discussed the prospects of liberation of the occupied regions
of Azerbaijan and restoration of transport and other communications
between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Sofia. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister
Elmar Mamedyarov made this statement dwelling on several details of
the negotiations at the 12th session of OSCE Council of Ministers,
the newspaper Echo reports referring to the press-service of the
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

The minister stated in his speech that “having occupied Karabakh
region and the districts nearing it, Armenia wants to strengthen the
results of its military aggression actively waging a settling policy
in the occupied Azerbaijani territories.” He called it a serious
violation of the International Humanitarian Law, in particular,
a full contradiction to the Geneva Convention of 1949. Mamedyarov
pointed out that Azerbaijan adheres to peaceful resolution of the
conflict on the basis of the International Law, UN Security Council
resolutions and OSCE documents. He said that Azerbaijan is ready to
normalize its relations with Armenia, but it requires the latter to
come out from the position of the principles of the International
Law and democracy and not from the position of the realities reached
by force and the ideology of territorial demands. Giving a positive
assessment to the meetings in Prague, Elmar Mamedyarov expressed
concern over the “illegal activity in the occupied territories,
which causes a real damage to the negotiation process,” and called
OSCE to make its contribution to the problem’s solution.

Within the framework of the session, Mamedyarov held also bilateral
meetings with EU Commissioner for Foreign Relations and Policy of
European Neighborhood, Director of OSCE Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights, Special Representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office for
Karabakh, as well as the heads of Turkish, Belgian, Austrian and
Greek delegations.