EDWARD NALBANDIAN: AZERBAIJAN ACCEPTS THE MADRID PRINCIPLES WITH CERTAIN RESERVATIONS
Anna Nazaryan
"Radiolur"
18.03.2010 16:39
The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Slovakia Edward Nalbandian and
Miroslav Lajcak held a meeting in Yerevan today. The two Ministers
signed an agreement on Air Communication and a Memorandum of
Understanding in the field of European integration.
"Azerbaijan has not been recognizing the Madrid Principles for a
long time and if at last Baku has decided to take the documents as
a basis for negotiations we can only welcome this fact," RA Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian said at the joint press conference with
his Slovak counterpart.
"However, Baku’s statements show that the Azerbaijani side accepts
the Madrid Principles with certain reservations. There are more
reservations than points acceptable to Baku, which mainly refer to
the elimination of conflict consequences," Minister Nalbandian added.
He also informed that the sides keep on making working proposals
on Madrid Principles. "Baku’s statements concerning the documents
are just a smoke screen," FM stated, stressing that Armenian side
continues to take Madrid Principles as basis for the peace process.
Nalbanidan also noted that his Paris meeting with OSCE Co-Chairs
was constructive.
The Slovak Foreign Minister said they support and welcome the signing
of the Armenian-Turkish protocols and they would like the two countries
to ratify the protocols as they are without linking them to other
issues and without any preconditions.
"Turkey is a candidate for EU membership, which gives a certain
status to that country. However, on the other hand, Turkey needs to
meet all requirements and commitments in order to succeed," he said.
As for the Karabakh issue, the European Union closely watches the
process and supports the Minsk Group and the negotiations held on the
basis of the Madrid Principles. He added that the European Union does
not intend to join the process, since it’s an issue addressed by the
Minsk Group.