Azeri minister says peacekeepers to be deployed in Karabakh

Day.az website, Baku
26 May 07

26 May: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on Friday [25
May] spoke about plans for the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh.

"The sooner Armenian leadership understands that there is no
alternative to a peaceful solution to the conflict within territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan, the sooner an agreement will be reached. The
sooner the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict is settled, the better it will
be for Armenia, Azerbaijan and the region as a whole," Mammadyarov
stressed.

"The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan cannot be called into
question. The withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan and possibilities for displaced persons’
return to their homes are being discussed at the current stage of the
negotiations," he said.

He added that all the seven districts around Nagornyy Karabakh that
are currently under [Armenian] occupation should be returned to
Azerbaijan and no-one can doubt it.

According to the minister, the parties have reached an agreement on
the deployment of a peacekeeping force in a security zone. At the same
time, it is not known yet what countries will take part in maintaining
peace in the region. "An opinion exists that the countries of the
region and the countries that co-chair the [OSCE] Minsk Group
[mediating in the talks] should not be represented in the peacekeeping
contingent," Mammadyarov said.

He went on to add that a "reasonable width" of the Lacin [district
connecting Nagornyy Karabakh with Armenia] corridor should be ensured
for the security of Azerbaijani citizens.

He said: "A reasonable width means the security guarantee issue. The
Lacin road goes through mountains and in this case security of the
population and cargo transportation should be guaranteed. Why did we
agree to [the presence of] the peacekeeping force? Because that is the
issue of security for Azerbaijani population which will return
there. In this case, when we are speaking about the implementation of
this process, military experts should calculate from what places the
road can be and cannot be subject to shooting."

The main thing is to escape a risk of the resumption of hostilities,
he said. Mammadyarov added that he would to the end keep to
diplomatic efforts in the Karabakh settlement. "However, everything
depends on these or other points," he said.