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NAGORNO KARABAKH SETTLEMENT 'STALLED'
AzerNews
Sept 27 2011
Azerbaijan
Negotiations on settling the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno
Karabakh are "stalled", Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz
Azimov has said.
Azimov said no steps forward have been taken to resolve the
long-standing dispute after the Kazan meeting of Azerbaijani and
Armenian presidents in late June mediated by the Russian leader.
"Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has recently met with the
[mediating] OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in New York, but I do not
believe that any progress will be achieved, as the co-chairs understand
that Armenia should change its position," Azimov told journalists
last Saturday.
"Certainly, co-chairs of the Minsk Group and representatives of other
international organizations will be aspiring to get something done,
but my personal observations suggest that the co-chairs are trying to
choose the easy way, as usual," he said. "I suppose that the co-chairs'
potential is limited."
During his meeting with the OSCE mediators, Minister Mammadyarov
noted that Armenia has backed down from the updated Madrid principles,
a peace outline proposed by the mediators, thus putting at risk the
negotiating process on Karabakh settlement.
"Substantial progress [in the peace process] can be achieved only
if the Armenian side accepts the official document submitted by
the [Minsk Group] co-chairing countries [United States, Russia and
France] to Azerbaijan and Armenia in December 2009," Mammadyarov said,
according to Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry.
The Minsk Group co-chairs initially proposed the Madrid Document in
the Spanish capital in November 2007. In Athens in December 2009,
the updated version of the document was submitted to the sides.
Azerbaijani officials, including President Ilham Aliyev, have
repeatedly said Baku accepts the renewed Madrid Document with some
exceptions.
Deputy Foreign Minister Azimov said that according to incoming data,
Armenia has imported a considerable amount of offensive weapons from
neighboring countries.
"These include rockets, anti-tank weapons, 78,000 AK rifles and other
weaponry," he said. "So, the question arises: is this country getting
ready for talks or war?"
Azimov said further that the Karabakh conflict should be considered
"not in separate, but in terms of the South Caucasus strategy".
"It is not just a local conflict between the Armenians and
Azerbaijanis, but a conflict that has been taken advantage of from
the viewpoint of politics, one that is manipulated well and controlled.
There are still aspirations to subdue the South Caucasus states. I
understand that these games are not over yet. From the viewpoint
of geopolitics, providing Azerbaijan's territorial integrity is a
significant issue for international security."
The Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 due to Armenia's territorial
claims. Azerbaijan and Armenia waged a brutal war which claimed some
30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. A ceasefire
accord was signed in 1994, but peace talks have been largely fruitless
so far.
http://www.azernews.az/en/Nation/36647-Nagorno_Karabakh_settlement_'stalled'
AzerNews
Sept 27 2011
Azerbaijan
Negotiations on settling the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno
Karabakh are "stalled", Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz
Azimov has said.
Azimov said no steps forward have been taken to resolve the
long-standing dispute after the Kazan meeting of Azerbaijani and
Armenian presidents in late June mediated by the Russian leader.
"Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has recently met with the
[mediating] OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in New York, but I do not
believe that any progress will be achieved, as the co-chairs understand
that Armenia should change its position," Azimov told journalists
last Saturday.
"Certainly, co-chairs of the Minsk Group and representatives of other
international organizations will be aspiring to get something done,
but my personal observations suggest that the co-chairs are trying to
choose the easy way, as usual," he said. "I suppose that the co-chairs'
potential is limited."
During his meeting with the OSCE mediators, Minister Mammadyarov
noted that Armenia has backed down from the updated Madrid principles,
a peace outline proposed by the mediators, thus putting at risk the
negotiating process on Karabakh settlement.
"Substantial progress [in the peace process] can be achieved only
if the Armenian side accepts the official document submitted by
the [Minsk Group] co-chairing countries [United States, Russia and
France] to Azerbaijan and Armenia in December 2009," Mammadyarov said,
according to Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry.
The Minsk Group co-chairs initially proposed the Madrid Document in
the Spanish capital in November 2007. In Athens in December 2009,
the updated version of the document was submitted to the sides.
Azerbaijani officials, including President Ilham Aliyev, have
repeatedly said Baku accepts the renewed Madrid Document with some
exceptions.
Deputy Foreign Minister Azimov said that according to incoming data,
Armenia has imported a considerable amount of offensive weapons from
neighboring countries.
"These include rockets, anti-tank weapons, 78,000 AK rifles and other
weaponry," he said. "So, the question arises: is this country getting
ready for talks or war?"
Azimov said further that the Karabakh conflict should be considered
"not in separate, but in terms of the South Caucasus strategy".
"It is not just a local conflict between the Armenians and
Azerbaijanis, but a conflict that has been taken advantage of from
the viewpoint of politics, one that is manipulated well and controlled.
There are still aspirations to subdue the South Caucasus states. I
understand that these games are not over yet. From the viewpoint
of geopolitics, providing Azerbaijan's territorial integrity is a
significant issue for international security."
The Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 due to Armenia's territorial
claims. Azerbaijan and Armenia waged a brutal war which claimed some
30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. A ceasefire
accord was signed in 1994, but peace talks have been largely fruitless
so far.
http://www.azernews.az/en/Nation/36647-Nagorno_Karabakh_settlement_'stalled'