AZERBAIJAN’S POLITICIANS DO NOT AGREE WITH OPINIONS ON APPROACH OF SIDES TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
April 18 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend I.Alizade / For several times,
Azerbaijan and Armenia were near to resolve Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
but at the end, carrying out these plans appeared as impossible,
the politician of Azerbaijan, Rasim Musabeyov, said commenting on
the statement of the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Vardan Oskanyan,
on approach of the conflicting sides to the settlement.

Musabeyov said that such opinions are voiced not only by the
Foreign Minister of Armenia. The Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan,
Elmar Mammadyarov, also stressed that the conflicting sides have
reached a unified agreement on five out of ten discussed items. It
is a result of the productive discussions held by the Ministers.

As regards to the meeting of the Foreign Ministers in Belgrade, the
experts say that it mainly aims to create a base for discussing
questions that can be agreed upon in the near future. The
Representative of the Political Council of the ruling new Azerbaijan
Party (NAP) and also Member of the Azerbaijani delegation to the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), MP Aydin
Mirzazade, said that the senior officials of Armenia have made such
statements for several times.

"Each time we could see that they are only deception of Armenia.

Therefore, it is clear how Oskanyan’s statement reflects the reality
and readiness of Armenia for the conflict settlement," he said.

Other politician Zardush Alizade considers that the sides are far
from the conflict settlement. According to him, Azerbaijan and Armenia
have various views towards the solution of the conflict. "If we take
the views of the sides into consideration, then settling the conflict
will be impossible. After resolving the conflict, it is possible to
regulate the relations between the sides. However, it is impossible
to reach an agreement on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan rejects the opportunity to present independence to
Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia – to return the occupied lands to
Azerbaijan. It is impossible to agree up on two questions contradicting
to each other," Alizade said.

Armenia has occupied 20 percent of the Azerbaijani territories –
Nagorno-Karabakh and its neighboring regions. These lands have been
laying under the occupation of Armenia since 1992. In 1994 Azerbaijan
and Armenia reached an agreement on ceasefire.