Azeri minister unfazed by French mediator’s remarks on Armenian resettlement
Assa-Irada
18 Feb 05
Baku, 17 February: The statement by the French co-chairman of the
OSCE Minsk Group (MG), Bernard Fassier, that the OSCE fact-finding
mission has discovered the organized settlement of Armenians only
in Lacin [Lachin] District has caused differing responses from the
Azerbaijani public.
[Azerbaijani] Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has told journalists
that the French co-chairman’s statement alone “cannot be considered
sufficient”. Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan will take further steps
on a basis of conclusions of experts from the countries included in the
OSCE mission. “First, we must study the report to be prepared by the
mission and then see which path Azerbaijan will choose.” Mammadyarov
went on to say that the report will be prepared by a group of experts
of Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Finland. “It is early to speak
about the conclusions in the document,” he said.
In his statement, Fassier said that unlike Lacin [Lachin] District,
Armenians were not settled in the districts around Karabakh
“purposefully”. According to the French co-chairman, the population
settled in the occupied districts is divided into three categories:
refugees from Azerbaijan, those hit by the earthquake that took
place in Spitak, Armenia, in 1988 and those who left Armenia due to
socio-economic hardship.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress