AZERI OFFICIAL SAYS CHANGE IN ARMENIA’S POSITION UNDERMINES KARABAKH TALKS

Trend news agency
12 Feb 07

Baku, 12 February: The meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian
foreign ministers in Moscow was a step back, Araz Azimov, deputy
foreign minister of Azerbaijan and president’s special representative
on the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, has said in an interview with
the BBC.

He said that he could not forecast the course of the negotiations
because Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan had taken a tough
stance. "Contrary to the negotiations which we have been holding for
the past two years, on several issues Oskanyan voiced a position which
throws us back. We rejected those statements. They were related to
the return of Azerbaijanis to Nagornyy Karabakh and to the use of the
road through Lacin [an Azerbaijani town on the shortest route between
Armenia and Nagornyy Karabakh]. I would like to tell Armenians that if
the negotiations fail to return to the course followed for the past
two years, then there may be no need to continue them and to expect
any results from this process. If Armenians want a result from the
talks on determining Nagornyy Karabakh’s status, they must realize
that the absence of a major portion of the population of this region
makes it impossible to determine its status," Azimov said.

The deputy minister said that from the very beginning there were two
communities living in the region. It became impossible to determine
the future of Nagornyy Karabakh after the Azerbaijani community was
forced to leave those territories.

On Armenia’s position regarding Lacin, he said that they flatly
dismiss the idea of using the road jointly with Azerbaijan.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group are currently preparing another
meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers,
Azimov said.