BAKU SAYS DIRECT DIALOGUE WITH YEREVAN REQUIRES 'SERIOUS PREPARATIONS, SERIOUS ISSUES'
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Sept 13 2013
By Sara Rajabova
Direct dialogue between Baku and Yerevan should not be "a goal in
itself", Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev
said during a working visit to Armenia, Armenian media reported on
September 13.
Mammadguliyev is attending informal dialog being held within the
Eastern Partnership.
"There was dialogue but now it is suspended. As for direct dialogue,
it all depends on how the preparations for it will be made. There
should be serious preparations, serious issues. It should not be a
meeting just for the sake of meeting. There should be discussions with
some decisions. It is up to the presidents," the deputy minister said.
For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in
conflict which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Peace talks,
mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group,
are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk
Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. However, the
negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.
A precarious ceasefire, reached after a lengthy war that displaced
over a million Azerbaijanis, has been in place between the two South
Caucasus countries since 1994. Since the hostilities, Armenian armed
forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally
recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven
surrounding districts.
The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian
withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been
enforced to this day.
http://www.azernews.az/azerbaijan/59500.html
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Sept 13 2013
By Sara Rajabova
Direct dialogue between Baku and Yerevan should not be "a goal in
itself", Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev
said during a working visit to Armenia, Armenian media reported on
September 13.
Mammadguliyev is attending informal dialog being held within the
Eastern Partnership.
"There was dialogue but now it is suspended. As for direct dialogue,
it all depends on how the preparations for it will be made. There
should be serious preparations, serious issues. It should not be a
meeting just for the sake of meeting. There should be discussions with
some decisions. It is up to the presidents," the deputy minister said.
For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in
conflict which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Peace talks,
mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group,
are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk
Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. However, the
negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.
A precarious ceasefire, reached after a lengthy war that displaced
over a million Azerbaijanis, has been in place between the two South
Caucasus countries since 1994. Since the hostilities, Armenian armed
forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally
recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven
surrounding districts.
The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian
withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been
enforced to this day.
http://www.azernews.az/azerbaijan/59500.html