TREND, Azerbaijan
Feb 16 2007

AZERI SPOKESMAN BACKS REGIONAL ALLIANCE’S INITIATIVE ON FROZEN
CONFLICTS

Baku, 16 February: The initiative to raise the issue of frozen
conflicts with the UN is a joint initiative of the GUAM member states
[Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova] and stems from the
similarity of challenges and threats facing these states and from
their aspiration to address them together. Tahir Tagizada, head of
the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s press and information policy
department, told Trend news agency while commenting on the OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairmen’s recent statement in which they urged the
conflicting parties to give up the initiative within the UN General
Assembly.

He said that the initiative is the real reaction to the existing
challenges that face the states. "Azerbaijan does not intend to
change the format of the negotiations. But it should be remembered
that the UN is not a new forum for discussing the Karabakh conflict.
Suffice it to remember the four well-known UN Security Council
resolutions. Therefore, at a time when wide international discussions
are going on concerning the correlation of the principles of
international law and the extent of the priority of these principles,
we consider it especially important to continue constrictive efforts
to address specific aspects of the situation in the region, including
within the framework of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict between
Armenia and Azerbaijan. We think it necessary to continue working
actively with the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group in order to
explain to them the constructive contribution that the discussion of
this issue with the UN could make to the development of the
negotiating process. And we do not think that the steps taken by the
GUAM member states in the UN match this description," Tagizada said.