Azeri deputy foreign minister urges NATO’s involvement in Karabakh settlement
Trend news agency
26 Nov 04
Baku, 26 November, Trend correspondent S. Logmanoglu: “Azerbaijan
considers as expedient NATO’s involvement in the peaceful settlement of
the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict,” Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister
Araz Azimov told the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s 58th Rose-Roth
seminar in Baku on 26 November.
Despite the fact that the UN Security Council adopted several
resolutions on the unconditional withdrawal of Armenian armed
groups from Azerbaijan’s occupied territories, this issue has not
yet been resolved, Azimov said. That is why, NATO’s involvement in
the settlement of this conflict is considered to be expedient. The
position of “Azerbaijan’s northern neighbour” should also be taken
into account, he added.
Azimov drew the seminar participants’ attention to the fact that
10 years have passed since the adoption of the UN Security Council
resolutions on the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. He dismissed statements
that these resolutions were adopted long ago and have lost their
legal force. The UN Security Council adopted a resolution on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 1950, but it has not lost its legal
force until now, Azimov said. Saying that the [OSCE] Minsk Group is
not very active, Azimov spoke in favour of Turkey’s co-chairmanship
in the OSCE Minsk Group.
[Azerbaijan will opt for a military solution to the Karabakh conflict
if peace talks fail, Space TV quoted Azimov as saying in its 1300
gmt news bulletin on 26 November 2004.]