Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Feb. 26, 2008
Baku Believes Latest Situation in Armenia Will Not Affect Settlement
of Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
26.02.08 12:12
Azerbaijan, Baku, 26 February / Trend News corr. I.Alizadeh / Baku
considers that the destabilization of the situation in Armenia after
the latest presidential elections will not affect the negotiation
process to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
?I believe that the opinion by the Armenian Foreign Minister in which
he stated that the process taking place in Armenia would have a
negative effect on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
was used as an argument to cause interest by the authorities and put
pressure on certain people,? Novruz Mammadov, the chief of the
International Relations Department at Executive Administration of
President, stated to Trend News.
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian stated to journalists on 25
February that the internal situation in Armenia may have a negative
effect on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Mammadov noted that the Central Election Commission of Armenia
announced that the victory of Serzh Sargsyan as a result of the
presidential elections and this decision will not be changed.
?Settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is possible only by
utilising international legal standards and within the framework of
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. There is no other way to
settle the conflict. If the Armenian State cares about the Armenian
population then the government will take constructive positions,?
Mammadov said.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988, due to the Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
Since 1992, the Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of
Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven
neighbouring districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a
ceasefire agreement which ended the active hostilities. The Co-Chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently
holding the peaceful negotiations.