AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
Nov 20 2009
Baku urges change in Yerevan’s stance at presidents’ meeting
20-11-2009 06:34:30
Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov has said Baku expects
a change in Yerevan’s non-constructive stance at the next round of
talks on the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict between Presidents
Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian due in Germany in the coming days.
Azimov told reporters on Thursday that, though Armenia says it is
ready for a peaceful solution of the long-standing dispute, its
position `shows its moving in the opposite direction.’
`If Armenia gives preference to violating Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity and separating a part of its land after the co-chairs’ [the
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs brokering the peace process] many-year-long
efforts, so many meetings and steps taken toward progress that hopes
are bound with, while ignoring again the principles and the options
offered, then Armenia adheres to an opposite position. So, a change
must occur in Armenia’s stance.’
According to Azimov, without this change any advances in the conflict
settlement are ruled out.
`Azerbaijan’s position is crystal clear. We want the problem to be
solved within territorial integrity. And this
stance of Azerbaijan is entirely supported by the international
community. It is based upon the norms and principles of international
law.’
Azimov noted that Azerbaijan `leaves room for compromise’ in its
position, adding that Baku `is standing in the middle of the bridge
and awaiting the opposing side to come there.’
`If the Armenian side is ready to discuss compromises within
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, we are ready for that too,’ Azimov
said.
The deputy minister pointed out that Yerevan has made a point of
returning the agreed issues to the negotiating table, but he did not
elaborate which issues have been agreed upon so far. He emphasized,
though, that, in any case, liberation of the Armenia-occupied
territories of Azerbaijan is one of the components of the conflict
resolution. `If occupation does not end, nothing will be possible.’
Azimov reiterated that Upper Garabagh and seven other Azerbaijani
districts under occupation are integral parts of Azerbaijan and this
is not a subject of discussion.
`Vacating the seven districts and returning Azerbaijanis [displaced
during the armed conflict in the early 1990s] to Upper Garabagh has
been a core in Azerbaijan’s position of principle since the very
beginning. Armenia has two choices: the conflict is not settled or,
following Azerbaijanis’ return to Upper Garabagh, the region’s status
is determined. There is no other choice.’
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the
signing of a cease-fire in 1994, but Armenia continues to occupy Upper
Garabagh and seven other Azerbaijani districts in defiance of
international law. Despite numerous rounds of OSCE-brokered
negotiations, peace talks have been fruitless so far and refugees
remain stranded. Baku says the occupied districts must be freed and
Azerbaijani refugees returned home, and only after that could the
status of Upper Garabagh be determined within the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan.*