ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
April 13, 2007 Friday 02:29 PM EST

Foreign ministers to discuss Karabakh settlement on Apr 18

Foreign Ministers Vartan Oskanian and Elmar Mamedyarov will meet in
Belgrade on April 18 to discuss the Karabakh settlement, a source at
the Armenian Foreign Ministry’s press and information department told
Itar-Tass on Friday.

The Russian, French and U.S. cochairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group and
an envoy of the OSCE chairman-in-office will attend the meeting.

Armenia stands for the soonest peaceful settlement of the Karabakh
problem and the prevention of similar collisions and displacement of
people in the future, Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsian said on
Friday. In his opinion, “the Karabakh conflict cannot be resolved by
force.”

“The question of Azerbaijani refugees requires a very careful and
comprehensive analysis and can be resolved only in case of a positive
outcome of the settlement negotiations. That must be done to prevent
new clashes in the return of refugees,” he said at a meeting with UN
Envoy on Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons Walter Kalin.

Meanwhile, President Ilham Aliyev told the national government on
Friday that Azerbaijan will never grant independence to Karabakh.

“Karabakh will never join Armenia either,” he added.

The Armenian people already have their state – Armenia, Aliyev said.
“If anyone in Karabakh wants self-determination, they can move to
Armenia,” he said.

Aliyev disagreed with claims of the alleged plans to keep off Armenia
from regional projects. Armenia has isolated itself with claims to
neighbors and became “an economic and transport dead-end,” he said.

“If the Armenian administration offers a constructive attitude, the
Karabakh problem can be resolved,” Aliyev said.

He reaffirmed his “clear and invariable position: the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan must be restored; the occupied lands must be
freed unconditionally; and refugees must return home.”