The Messenger, Georgia
Feb 4 2005

Baku ready for dialogue with Armenia on Karabakh issue

According to the Azeri newspaper Zerkalo.Baku, Deputy Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov states that Baku is ready
to hold talks with Yerevan regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh issue only
after Armenian troops leave occupied areas of Azerbaijan.
The paper reports that evidence gathered by the Azerbaijani
government were presented at an official meeting of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. “We got acquainted with the materials and plan to
investigate them now, ” stated the Russian co-chairman of the OSCE
Minsk group Yuri Merzliakov. According to an agreement between the
OSCE mission and Baku, experts will visit all 7 occupied regions
around Nagorno-Karabakh.
Merzliakov said that the mission would be accompanied by no one from
the Azerbaijani side. According to co-chairman of the MG of OSCE
Bernard Fassie, the mission will work on the occupied territories for
more than a week. “Then experts will prepare a technical report and
present it to the co-chairmen,” he said.
Establishing settlements in the occupied Azeri territories is being
implemented by the direct participation of Armenia, the paper writes.
The Azerbaijani side presented documents that proved the settlement
of the occupied territories. Azimov said that about 23,000 Armenians
are living illegally on the occupied territories.
The documents also provide information regarding the use of occupied
territories for illegal trade of drugs and organized criminal
activities. Azimov also expressed his attitude toward the PACE
resolution regarding Nagorno-Karabakh.
The president of Azerbaijan also hosted the co-chairmen of the Minsk
Group and the mission that is studying issues of possible illegal
settlements in occupied Azeri territories. He said that the illegal
settlement of these territories by the Armenian side is a serious
obstacle for the achievement of long-term peace.