Armenia, Azerbaijan in talks on return of seven districts – presidential envoy
Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
20 May 05
[Presenter] The Armenian leadership, which has been gradually losing
its positions in the Nagornyy Karabakh settlement, has already
realized that it has to take a step towards peace. The [Azerbaijani]
president’s personal representative Araz Azimov has said that Yerevan
is ready to return seven districts. The major topic of discussions
is terms for carrying out this process.
[Correspondent over video of Azimov and archive footage of Karabakh]
Discussions have started between Azerbaijan and Armenia on the terms
for returning seven occupied districts around Nagornyy Karabakh,
Araz Azimov, the president’s personal representative for the Nagornyy
Karabakh settlement, said. He said that this was achieved following
the talks between [Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev and [Armenian
President] Robert Kocharyan in Warsaw [on 15 May]. Mr Azimov stressed
that at the two-hour head-to-head meeting of the presidents, the
settlement of the conflict was thoroughly discussed and Yerevan said
that it was ready to hold the most serious discussions.
[Azimov, talking to journalists] Armenia has never stated officially
that it will not return the lands. There have always been statements
that Armenia has never laid claim to the territory of another
country and so on. These statements also mean that the districts,
the lands will be returned. But terms and procedures are currently
under discussion.
[Correspondent] In exchange for the return of the seven districts,
Baku will provide international and national security guarantees to
Nagornyy Karabakh’s Armenian population, as well as guarantees for
the coexistence of Azerbaijanis and Armenians.
At the same time, the president’s envoy said that the time when
the districts are returned will mainly depend on the fulfilment of
military and technical terms.
[Azimov] Many things happened during the war. Maps of mine fields
have been lost or they might have never existed. It will take some
time to resolve all these issues, but I would suggest that they are
viewed purely as military-technical problems. I think this can take
months. I mean it is known how much time it takes to resolve technical
work, the military know this, the mine agency has to calculate this
and so on. These issues will be discussed at future stages.
[Correspondent] The Warsaw talks have fully clarified the positions of
the sides, Araz Azimov said. But there are still some disagreements,
he added. However, he said, this is also an important achievement
at the current stage. It was decided at the president’s meeting to
continue the negotiations at the level of [foreign] ministers, Azimov
said. He also noted that if need be, working groups could also join
in the dialogue.
The president’s representative said that the ministers’ meeting will
take place very soon but not until after a visit to the region by the
[OSCE Minsk Group] co-chairmen.