BAKU STRESSES KARABAKH IS PART OF AZERBAIJAN

news.az
April 6 2010
Azerbaijan

Elkhan Polukhov The people of Karabakh have the right to
self-determination only as part of Azerbaijan, Foreign Ministry
spokesman Elkhan Polukhov has said.

The spokesman was responding today to remarks by Armenian Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian and President Serzh Sargsyan that the
Karabakh conflict could be settled if Baku recognized the right to
self-determination.

‘The Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of Nagorno Karabakh have
the right to self-determination within the framework of territorial
integrity and they will always be able to exercise this right,’
Polukhov said.

‘Mr Nalbandian, like Mr Sargsyan, probably knows that the updated
Madrid principles [for settlement of the conflict] set three points:
the non-use of force, respect for the territorial integrity and
sovereignty of states and the rights of people to self-determination.

‘The very formulation of the question of the right of peoples to
self-determination arises from respect for the territorial integrity
of independent states and can be defined only within the framework
of the territorial integrity of these countries. Otherwise, this
contradicts elementary logic,’ the spokesman said.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian told reporters earlier
today that ‘Armenia’s position on the Karabakh issue has not changed.

We have stated repeatedly, and the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
are also aware, that the main issue in the settlement of the Karabakh
conflict is the recognition of the right of the Karabakh people to
self-determination and its implementation.’

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview with German
weekly Der Spiegel that the Karabakh problem could be solved in hours,
if Azerbaijan recognized the independence of Karabakh.