AZERI FM SAYS ARMENIA READY TO GIVE BACK “OCCUPIED” REGIONS
Armenpress
BAKU, MAY 17, ARMENPRESS: Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar
Mamedyarov told ATV on Monday that Armenia was ready to give up seven
regions of Azerbaijan it occupied during an early 1990s war for the
Nagorno Karabagh.
“They have agreed to give up all the regions, but they are thinking
when” they should do this, Mamedyarov told the network in Warsaw, where
the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenian held talks Sunday. However,
an Armenian foreign ministry official in Yerevan was quoted by some
Armenian news media as saying that he had no information about such
a agreement.
Referring to Mamedyarov’s statement, foreign ministry spokesman Hamlet
Gasparian said, “we have no such information. I am highly doubtful
that it corresponds to the real situation.”
Meantime Turkish media reported that deputy Azeri foreign minister
Araz Azimov who was in Turkey ahead of the Warsaw Council of Europe
summit, informed Turkish officials about the pace of peaceful talks
with Armenia, which, according to Turkish media, came as a big surprise
to Ankara.
Turkish media quoted Azimov as saying that Armenia agreed to give
back five of the seven Armenian-controlled regions, making the
return contingent on lifting Azerbaijan’s blockade and normalization
of Yerevan-Baku relations. According to Turkish media, Azerbaijan
rejected Armenian proposals, insisting that all seven regions must
be handed back. This position was reportedly endorsed by Ankara.