BAKU TO REVISE RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA, US, FRANCE OVER UN RESOLUTION

Interfax News Agency
March 17 2008
Russia

Azerbaijan will revise its relations with the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairmen over their vote against a UN General Assembly resolution
on the situation in the occupied Azerbaijani territory that called for
the withdrawal of all Armenian troops, Azeri Deputy Foreign Minister
Araz Azimov said.

"Azerbaijan will revise and adjust its relations with the co- chairing
countries within the framework of the Minsk process," Azimov told
journalists on Saturday.

Azimov said that Azerbaijan was stunned that all the three countries
co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group voted against the resolution.

The resolution, which the UN General Assembly passed on Friday, was
supported by 39 countries, seven voted against it and 100 abstained.

The opponents of the resolution were Russia, the U.S., France, Armenia,
Angola, India, and Vanuatu.

"We are satisfied with the adoption of this resolution. This helped
clarify the situation. Azerbaijan is no longer going to move in
darkness. Everybody should realize that a conflict settlement
acceptable to Azerbaijan is possible only based on the territorial
integrity principle," Azimov said.

The passage of the resolution does not mean Azerbaijan intends to
change the format of the negotiations, and Baku will remain committed
to the OSCE Minsk Group’s mediation, Azimov said.

The resolution supports Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, demands the
withdrawal of all Armenian forces "from all the occupied territories
of the Republic of Azerbaijan," reaffirms "the inalienable right of
the population expelled from the occupied territories" to return to
their homes, and calls for establishing "normal, secure and equal
conditions of life for Armenian and Azerbaijani communities in the
Nagorno-Karabakh region."

The resolution also supports international mediation efforts to settle
the conflict, particularly those made by the OSCE Minsk Group, and
calls on other organizations and countries to facilitate a peaceful
settlement of the conflict.