Azeri official rules out territorial compromise with Armenia

MPA news agency, Baku
2 Feb 05

BAKU

Certain changes are observed in the process of settling the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister
Araz Azimov has told MPA.

He said Azerbaijan continues to adhere to a negotiated settlement to
the problem, to the restoration of contacts between Karabakh’s
Armenian and Azerbaijani communities and between Baku and
Yerevan. However, territorial compromises are ruled out. In other
words, it is impossible to resolve the problem by these kinds of
concessions.

As a member of European organizations, Azerbaijan has acquired some
European experience, Azimov said. At issue is not the transfer of
lands from one state to another, but their integration. Those
observing the situation in the region have to pay attention to two
factors. Several suggestions of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili
towards resolving the conflict with South Ossetia were voiced at a
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE] session and
some of them could facilitate solution to the Karabakh problem. The
latest PACE resolution pertaining to the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict,
Azimov said, attests to the fact that this European organization is
moving in the right direction.

“A solution to the Karabakh conflict represents special importance for
the region’s integration into Europe,” the Azerbaijani diplomat said.