GARABAGH MEDIATORS ANGER AZERI GOV’T
AzerNews Weekly
Feb 25 2009
Azerbaijan
The Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry has responded to a recent statement of
the OSCE mediators brokering a settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan
Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict that voiced concern over the
documents submitted by the Azerbaijani representative to the United
Nations late in 2008.
The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group said in a statement last week
that, despite two reports circulated at the request of the Permanent
Representative of Azerbaijan to the UN on December 24 and 29, there
is no military solution to the Garabagh conflict.
The documents submitted by Baku stressed the importance of honoring
Azerbaijan`s territorial integrity and asserted the nation`s right
to defend itself.
Khazar Ibrahim, the spokesman for the Azerbaijani ministry, said
that while distributing the mentioned papers, Baku was guided by
the norms of international law and will continue to do so, recalling
that the November 2, 2008 Moscow Declaration of the two countries`
presidents affirmed these principles as a basis for resolving the
long-standing dispute.
Ibrahim emphasized that Azerbaijan has repeatedly pledged its support
for a peaceful resolution of the Garabagh conflict.
"As for a military solution, it is the Armenian side that has been
persistently trying to solve the problem by military means. Azerbaijani
territories have been occupied by the Armenian military, and
the ceasefire is being violated on the contact line [of the two
countries` troops] by the Armenian armed forces. It is the Armenian
side that the co-chairs` statement should be directed at. They must
be urged to aspire toward a peaceful resolution of the conflict and
to unequivocally pull their forces out of Azerbaijani land."
Armenia has praised the intermediaries` statement. Foreign Minister
Eduard Nalbandian said that the co-chairs had put forth a clear-cut
stance toward the two documents submitted to the UN by Azerbaijan.
"I think the Minsk Group co-chairs mean to say that the actions by
one of the negotiating parties are impeding the peace process by
creating difficulties," he claimed, in an apparent swipe at Azerbaijan.
Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan`s territory since
the early 1990s. Years of peace talks have brought few tangible
results. Azerbaijani officials have repeatedly warned against
Yerevan`s policy of aggression, saying the country`s land will be
freed at any cost.
The joint statement of the co-chairs – Bernard Fassier of France,
Yury Merzlyakov of Russia, and Matthew Bryza of the United States –
underscored the not using force "as a core element of any just and
lasting settlement of the conflict." They repeated that Presidents
Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian described their most recent meeting
in Zurich on January 28 as useful and constructive, despite the two
Azerbaijani reports circulated in the UN General Assembly one month
earlier. The Minsk Group co-chairs indicated that they "would not
allow the peace process to be subverted by legalistic or historical
discussions, though they will remain sensitive to historical concerns
expressed by the parties to the conflict."
Azerbaijan has sought to put the Garabagh conflict on the UN General
Assembly agenda several times, but the Minsk Group co-chairing
countries have not yet agreed to this.
The UN has already passed five resolutions on the unconditional
pullout of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani
territories. Nonetheless, Yerevan is sticking to its policy of
occupation and ignoring international law.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress