AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA TRADE CRITICISM

news.az
Feb 17 2010
Azerbaijan

Elkhan Polukhov Azerbaijan says it is still waiting for Armenia to
accept the updated version of the Madrid principles for a settlement
of the Karabakh conflict.

"Azerbaijan agreed on the updated version of the Madrid principles,
and it is now Armenia’s turn," Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman
Elkhan Polukhov told ANS yesterday.

"But instead of agreeing, Armenia, in the person of Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian, changes its mind hundreds of times a minute. In
other words, they are avoiding giving their official position any
way they can."

Polukhov was responding to comments about Azerbaijan, made by
the Armenian foreign minister during a meeting with the OSCE
chairman-in-office, Kanat Saudabayev, yesterday. Nalbandian said then
that Azerbaijan had refused to accept the principles throughout 2009
and questioned Baku’s sincerity in accepting the updated version of
the principles.

Polukhov said Nalbandian’s statement was vague and unfounded and
intended for a domestic audience.