UN News Centre
Azerbaijan, Armenia express views on Nagorno-Karabakh at UN debate
27 September 2008
Top officials of Azerbaijan and Armenia have offered their views on
the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan at the General Assembly’s
annual high-level debate this week. Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister
today noted that earlier this year, the Assembly adopted a resolution
which reaffirmed the body’s `continued respect and support for the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan
within its internationally recognized borders.’
That document also `demanded withdrawal of Armenian forces from all
the occupied territories’ of his country, Elmar Mammadyarov said.
`The soonest resolution of the armed conflict in and around the
Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan remains a primary task for us,’
he said, with principles laid out in the resolution forming the basis
of negotiations with Armenia.
Addressing the General Debate on Thursday, Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan pointed out that that document was adopted with `only 39
States out of 146 voting `for’.’
He said that Armenia does not `insist on and actually [opposes] the
idea that each claim for self-determination should be through
secession. However, we witness that that outcome more often than not
becomes the solution for the conflicts.’
A solution to the issue must be supported by all parties involved,
Mr. Sargsyan said, stressing the importance of active negotiations
with Azerbaijan under the framework of the Minsk Group of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).