TREND News Agency, Azerbaijan
June 8 2007

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Considers Statements on Definition of
Nagorno-Karabakh’s Status at first Stage Unconstructive

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend S.Agayeva / Statements made by the
Armenian senior officials that the status of Nagorno-Karabakh should
be firstly defined during the negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict settlement are unconstructive and may bring harm to the
efforts of the parties involved, said the Foreign Minister of
Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov. `If the Armenian side again begins
proceeding from the previous position that firstly the status of
Nagorno-Karabakh should be defined, it will not correspond with the
discussions’ purpose,’ Mammadyarov said.

According to the Minister, the Armenian and Azerbaijanni sides and
Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group have repeatedly stated that firstly
the Armenian Armed Forces should be withdrawn from the occupied
Azerbaijani lands. In addition, it needs to bring a peacekeeping
contingent, rehabilitate the territory (Nagorno-Karabakh), restore
infrastructure, return internally displaced persons to their Native
Lands, and only after it, the status of Nagorno-Karabakh should be
considered.

Such statements of the Armenian senior officials are unconstructive
and may result in the cancellation of progress made during the talks
held up to now, the Minister said.