BAKU RAPS FRENCH MEDIATOR’S REMARKS

AzerNews Weekly
Nov 19 2008
Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani government has issued a terse response to the French
mediator`s recent statements on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno)
Garabagh conflict.

"There is no such notion as `the people of Upper Garabagh`, and the
separatist regime cannot join talks on the conflict," the Foreign
Ministry spokesman Khazar Ibrahim said while commenting on the OSCE
Minsk Group (MG) co-chair Bernard Fassier`s remarks citing "the people
of Upper Garabagh" and the self-proclaimed republic`s participation
in peace talks.

Ibrahim emphasized that the population of Upper Garabagh includes
both Azeris and Armenians, and representatives of both communities
are citizens of Azerbaijan.

"After the occupation ends, they will meet their day-to-day
needs. There is no `people of Upper Garabagh`. Such statements by an
MG co-chair are unacceptable."

Fassier had said during a visit to Yerevan that the regime in Upper
Garabagh "was not estranged" from peace talks and that "the people
of Upper Garabagh will say their piece in due time." He also said
that with the current course of developments, Upper Garabagh should
contribute to reaching a solution to the long-standing dispute.

Upper Garabagh is an Azeri region occupied by Armenia since a 1994
cease-fire ended separatist hostilities that killed an estimated 30,000
people and ousted about a million Azeris out of their homes. Years
of peace talks have brought little tangible result.

Ibrahim said Fassier`s statement runs counter to the declaration on
a political settlement of the dispute signed by the Azerbaijani,
Armenian and Russian presidents in Moscow on November 2. "In that
declaration, Azerbaijan and Armenia are indicated as [the only]
parties in negotiations on the conflict resolution. It contains no
clauses on Upper Garabagh`s joining talks."

The spokesman noted that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had
co-signed the document, and any statements by a representative of the
MG co-chair country defying those of another co-chairing country`s
leader were "inconceivable."