NOVRUZ MAMEDOV: IF YEREVAN LEAVES THE NEGOTIATIONS, BAKU WILL FIND A
POSSIBILITY TO TALK TO THE ARMENIANS OF NAGORNY KARABAKH
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian <asbed@usc.edu>
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN

Arminfo 16 Sept.05

“If Yerevan leaves the negotiations, Baku will find a possibility to
talk to the Armenians of Nagorny Karabakh.” Head of the Foreign
Relations Department, Azerbaijani Presidential Executive Staff, Novruz
Mamedov told Trend, commenting on the statement by Armenian Foreign
Ministry Press Secretary Hamlet Gasparyan on Armenia’s unshakable
position on the Azerbaijani initiative to the UN “On the situation in
the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.”

Press Secretary Gasparyan is reported to state earlier that Armenia
will leave the negotiations for Karabakh conflict’s resolution and
Baku will have to negotiate with Stepanakert if Azerbaijan raises any
issue at the UN.

Mamedov thinks the above statement nothing but a diplomatic maneuver
showing the “deep concern of Armenia.” It means that the position of
Azerbaijan has considerably strengthened and that it is supported by
international organizations and separate states, Mamedov says. At the
same time, he thinks “it is not easy to deviate from the negotiations.
The lands are occupied and negotiations are in process. Armenia is in
a deadlock. If Armenia really intends to leave aside of the
negotiations, and if Yerevan officially states that it deviates from
the Karabakh issue, we shall find a possibility to deal with the
Armenians of Nagorny Karabakh,” Mamedov says.

To note, Azerbaijan made a relevant initiative to the UN at the
previous session of UN General Assembly. Then, the issue was postponed
by an agreement under which an OSCE fact-finding group visited the
territories under control of NKR.