BAKU: Azerbaijan Not To Budge On Territorial Integrity – Presidentia

AZERBAIJAN NOT TO BUDGE ON TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY – PRESIDENTIAL OFFICIAL

news.az
Jan 22 2010
Azerbaijan

Novruz Mammadov Azerbaijan is committed to a Karabakh resolution that
keeps the territory as part of Armenia, presidential official Novruz
Mammadov said today.

The head of the international relations department at the Presidential
Administration was talking to journalists on the sidelines of the
Azerbaijan-Russia cultural forum.

"We want the Nagorno Karabakh conflict to be solved only within the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. President Ilham Aliyev also said
at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers recently that the conflict
will be solved within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. We
will not a single step back from this position," Mammadov said.

He said he had no information about the signing of a document at the
meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia in Sochi
next Monday.

Despite the best efforts of Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev previous
meetings with his mediation produced no result, Mammadov said.

"I think the Armenian leadership may now have the common sense to
create the right conditions for steps towards a solution to the
conflict."

Asked about the Armenian Constitutional Court’s ruling on the
protocols with Turkey, Mammdov said Turkey already understood that the
Azerbaijani president had been right about negotiations with Armenia.

"Turkey can see who it is dealing with. They are convinced that the
the Armenian leadership thinks it can make any demand and Turkey will
fulfill it."

Mammadov went on to praise relations between Azerbaijan and Russia.

"Cooperation is successfully developing in many spheres. This event
is called the Azerbaijan-Russia Humanitarian Forum. We think that we
have been together for around 200 years as part of Russia or the USSR.

Therefore, there is a background to our cooperation in the humanitarian
sphere. The leaders of our countries made a proposal to develop
cooperation more. It is a unique format."