Azerbaijan Business Center , Azerbaijan
March 10 2009
Azerbaijani FM: issue of country’s readiness for EU membership should
be solved together with EU’s readiness to accept Azerbaijan
Baku, Fineko/abc.az. In an interview for TV channel Euronews foreign
affairs minister Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan clarified some issues
relating to discussion of European prospects of his country.
Mammadyarov stated that the matter of prospects of Azerbaijan’s
membership in the European Union consists of two parts ` Azerbaijan’s
readiness to enter the EU and readiness of the EU to accept it.
`Both issues should be solved in complex,’ the FM considers.
`Despite participation in programs of European Neighborhood Policy
(ENP) and Eastern Partnership, Azerbaijan has not submitted formal
request for membership in the EU.
`And the most difficult for Azerbaijan issue of Nagorno Garabagh
conflict with Armenia should be settled on the basis of European
standards ` no one of the EU states is occupying any other country and
does not conduct there ethnic cleansing,’ Mammadayrov said.
Armenia is occupying 20% of Azerbaijani territory and evicted 1
million people from its territory and occupied districts of
Azerbaijan.