TREND News Agency, Azerbaijan
June 5 2007

Armenia Should Understand Statements of Heads of International
Organizations: Department Chief of Azerbaijan’s Presidential
Administration

Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend S.Ilhamgizi, E.Huseynov / The Head of
the Foreign Relations Department of the Executive Apparat of
Azerbaijan President, Novruz Mammadov, informed Trend on 5 July that
the statement of the Head of the OSCE Parliamentary, Goran Lenmarker,
that the agreement on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is ready to be signed
is based on common process of peaceful negotiations.

He stressed that the heads of the international organizations follow
the process of the peaceful negotiations between Azerbaijan and
Armenia and speeches of the Presidents and Co-chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group. Their statements deal with not one meeting, but whole
process of peaceful negotiations. `The separate statements during the
negotiations were that the sides are near to sign an agreement.
Despite that the recent meetings of the Presidents yielded no
results, the international organizations believe that next time an
agreement will be signed between the sides,’ Mammadov said.

The Department Chief said that the position of Azerbaijan in the
negotiations is clear – the conflict should be resolved gradually
within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan by providing high
status to Nagorno-Karabakh. According to Mammadov, the international
community is satisfied with this position.

`The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Terry Davis,
stressed that the lands of Azerbaijan have been occupied and Armenian
armed forces should release them. The report of Goran Lenmarker also
highlights the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh territory of Azerbaijan
and seven regions surrounding it. The President of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe, Rene Van Der Linden, also states
this fact. Now the international community accepts this fact. All
these are means of pressure on Armenia. Armenia should understand
it,’ Mammadov said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries appeared in
1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenia
has occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani lands including the
Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. Since
1992 to the present time, these territories have been under Armenian
occupation. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a cease-fire
agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France and USA) are holding
peaceful negotiations.