Trend, Azerbaijan
Oct 16 2009

Actions of Armenian side in negotiations in Chisinau cause
disappointment: Azerbaijani FM

Azerbaijan, Baku, 16 October / Trend News, E.Tariverdiyeva /

We can not talk about constructivism of the last meeting of the
Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Chisinau, Foreign Minister of
Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov told Trend News on Oct. 16.

According to the minister, the last meeting of Heads of States did not
give cause for optimism, because the Armenian side suddenly began to
discuss the issues that were agreed two to three years ago.

"We understand that there is a rule that unless everything is agreed,
it means nothing was agreed, but it is impossible to move if to go
back and start to discuss proposals or ideas that were agreed at least
two or three years ago. This is, of course, disappointing,"
Mammadyarov said.

Presidents of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Armenia Serzh Sargsyan held
met on Oct. 9 in Kishinev. This is was the seventh meeting of Heads of
States on the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Mammadyarov believes that such actions by the Armenian side are
connected with the latest events in the region – the Turkish-Armenian
rapprochement.

"Maybe the Armenian side considers that if the process developed in
this regard, it is possible to freeze other issues," said the Foreign
Minister of Azerbaijan.

According to the minister, the OSCE Minsk Group should come to the
region approximately in late October – early November. "They need to
interpret what they heard in Chisinau, to think how to support the
dynamics that was objectively observed and are the most important, to
find all the correct arguments in order to explain to Armenia that
they can not open the questions that have already been agreed.
Otherwise, it will be an endless process," said Mammadyarov.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are
currently holding the peace negotiations.