BAKU SAYS YEREVAN NOT KEEN TO RESOLVE KARABAKH CONFLICT
Interfax News Agency
Aug 1 2008
Russia
The Armenian authorities are trying to use the Karabakh issue in order
to consolidate its positions before voters, said Novruz Mamedov,
who is charge of foreign relations at Azerbaijan’s presidential
administration.
"After the elections the Armenian authorities found themselves in a
very serious political, social, psychological crisis, and one of the
tasks they are faced with is to at least rehabilitate themselves in
the eyes of their voters. This is why they want to use this at the
talks on Karabakh," Mamedov told the ATV channel.
One such statement made by Armenians was that they wanted to continue
the peace process based on the agreements reached between the Azeri
and Armenian foreign ministers in Madrid last autumn, Mamedov said.
However, no documents or agreements were made at the end of those
talks, he said.
This is why whether the talks between two countries’ foreign ministers
held in Moscow on Friday will be successful will depend on how sincere
the Armenians are in their efforts to resolve the conflict, said the
official from the presidential administration.
Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandian and Azerbaijan’s Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov are meeting in Moscow on Friday to discuss
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
A diplomatic source in Moscow told Interfax that the meeting is being
held in the framework and at the proposal of the OSCE (Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Minsk Group.
The OSCE Minsk Group includes Russia, France and the United States.
Earlier, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan told a press conference
that peaceful ways of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have
not been exhausted. "I am certain that the problem can be settled
through talks," the president said.
Azerbaijan hopes that Armenia will demonstrate a constructive approach
at the current Moscow talks. "We would really like to see Armenia’s
concrete steps that would be the reflection of this rhetoric in the
reality," said Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Khazar Ibragim.