Azerbaijan ready for another meeting with Armenians – official

ANS TV, Baku
4 Aug 06

[Presenter] Baku has not received an official proposal on a new
meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers after
the meeting in France of the OSCE Minsk Group, which is mediating
a solution to the Karabakh conflict. If the co-chairs have such a
proposal, we can consider it, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has
said. A joint statement, issued at the end of the Paris meeting of the
co-chairs, called on the foreign ministers to meet in Prague in autumn
[2006]. Mammadyarov also commented on the plan to hold a referendum on
the status of Karabakh simultaneously with the withdrawal of Armenian
troops from the occupied Azerbaijani lands. The minister believes
that it is impossible.

[Mammadyarov, speaking to journalists] If the process continues within
the framework of any opinion poll or democratic process, Azerbaijanis
must return to Nagornyy Karabakh first. You yourselves heard that
the US co-chair also confirmed that if we wanted to see some progress
within the democratic framework, Azerbaijanis must return to Nagornyy
Karabakh first. Sometimes they talk about some Nagornyy Karabakh
people. What people is it? They are the same Armenians. Azerbaijanis
also lived there and they must return there first and live in normal
conditions, because you cannot send someone to a polling station at
gunpoint. The potential of negotiations has not run out. We are ready
for this. If the co-chairs propose a new meeting, Azerbaijan is ready
for it.
From: Baghdasarian