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AzerNews, Azerbaijan
July 25 2014
News efforts needed to settle Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
25 July 2014, 16:47 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova
The U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan said the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
needs renewed efforts to be resolved once and for all.
"Peace would bring substantial benefits to people across the region
and ensure Azerbaijan's prosperity into the future," Richard
Morningstar said at a farewell event on July, 24.
Morningstarsaid the United States would continue to work to resolve
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which emerged in 1988 over Armenia's
territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
"Obviously we and Azerbaijan sometimes look at these issues
differently. But as with any partner, continued dialogue is important.
We can have disagreements, but we need to keep talking," Morningstar,
who completes his diplomatic mission by the end of summer 2014, said.
He added that the U.S. needs to stand by Azerbaijan as it strives to
maintain its sovereignty and independence.
Morningstar further expressed regret about any kind of hostilities,
casualties and tragedies on the Armenia-Azerbaijan contact line.
He made the remark commenting on the recent incident that resulted in
taking hostage of three Azerbaijanis by Armenian armed forces in
occupied Kalbajar region.
Earlier, Armenian media reported that the Armenian forces, during an
operation in the occupied Kalbajar region's Shaplar village, killed an
Azerbaijani, Hasan Hasanov and detained two other Azerbaijanis -
Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov. Armenia violated the international
legal norms by taking hostage the Azerbaijani civilians as they didn't
violate any border law between Armenia and Azerbaijan. They were on
their own native Kalbajar region.
The families of the Azerbaijanis have officially appealed to the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Currently, the ICRC
is in talks with the parties on this matter.
"I know that co-chairs are very concerned about the conflict along the
line of contact and that just again goes to show how this terrible
conflict must be resolved," Morningstar said.
Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million
Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of
Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including
Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council's
four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this
day.
Long-standing efforts by U.S, Russian and French mediators have been
largely fruitless so far.
New envoy
While commenting on the date of arrival of a new U.S. ambassador to
Azerbaijan, Morningstar expressed hope about the rapid appointment of
the new ambassador.
"You know the Congress has been very slow on all kinds of
conformations," he added. "But it has nothing whatsoever to do with
Robert Cekuta or with Azerbaijan."
Recently, U.S. President Barack Obama has nominated Robert F. Cekuta
as the candidate to the post of a new ambassador to Azerbaijan.
"I will suggest the new ambassador to stick to the principles that we
have had for the last few years and recognize how important our
relationship is. There are many parts of that relationship all of
which have to pay attention to," Morningstar said.
He further said Azerbaijan has proved its sovereignty and independence
in many aspects.
Morningstar went on to note that Azerbaijan remained faithful to
laying Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, despite pressure from the
outside.
"This pipeline has become the cornerstone of Azerbaijan's economy. The
United States supported the pipeline, because this project has helped
to maintain the sovereignty and independence of Azerbaijan and
neighboring Georgia," he said.
Morningstar said Azerbaijan's loyalty to the Southern Gas Corridor
project is a courageous step.
"I hope that our bilateral economic cooperation will develop not only
in the energy sector but also in other spheres. I hope that bilateral
trade and investment will increase even more," Morningstar said.
From: A. Papazian
July 25 2014
News efforts needed to settle Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
25 July 2014, 16:47 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova
The U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan said the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
needs renewed efforts to be resolved once and for all.
"Peace would bring substantial benefits to people across the region
and ensure Azerbaijan's prosperity into the future," Richard
Morningstar said at a farewell event on July, 24.
Morningstarsaid the United States would continue to work to resolve
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which emerged in 1988 over Armenia's
territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
"Obviously we and Azerbaijan sometimes look at these issues
differently. But as with any partner, continued dialogue is important.
We can have disagreements, but we need to keep talking," Morningstar,
who completes his diplomatic mission by the end of summer 2014, said.
He added that the U.S. needs to stand by Azerbaijan as it strives to
maintain its sovereignty and independence.
Morningstar further expressed regret about any kind of hostilities,
casualties and tragedies on the Armenia-Azerbaijan contact line.
He made the remark commenting on the recent incident that resulted in
taking hostage of three Azerbaijanis by Armenian armed forces in
occupied Kalbajar region.
Earlier, Armenian media reported that the Armenian forces, during an
operation in the occupied Kalbajar region's Shaplar village, killed an
Azerbaijani, Hasan Hasanov and detained two other Azerbaijanis -
Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov. Armenia violated the international
legal norms by taking hostage the Azerbaijani civilians as they didn't
violate any border law between Armenia and Azerbaijan. They were on
their own native Kalbajar region.
The families of the Azerbaijanis have officially appealed to the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Currently, the ICRC
is in talks with the parties on this matter.
"I know that co-chairs are very concerned about the conflict along the
line of contact and that just again goes to show how this terrible
conflict must be resolved," Morningstar said.
Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million
Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of
Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including
Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council's
four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this
day.
Long-standing efforts by U.S, Russian and French mediators have been
largely fruitless so far.
New envoy
While commenting on the date of arrival of a new U.S. ambassador to
Azerbaijan, Morningstar expressed hope about the rapid appointment of
the new ambassador.
"You know the Congress has been very slow on all kinds of
conformations," he added. "But it has nothing whatsoever to do with
Robert Cekuta or with Azerbaijan."
Recently, U.S. President Barack Obama has nominated Robert F. Cekuta
as the candidate to the post of a new ambassador to Azerbaijan.
"I will suggest the new ambassador to stick to the principles that we
have had for the last few years and recognize how important our
relationship is. There are many parts of that relationship all of
which have to pay attention to," Morningstar said.
He further said Azerbaijan has proved its sovereignty and independence
in many aspects.
Morningstar went on to note that Azerbaijan remained faithful to
laying Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, despite pressure from the
outside.
"This pipeline has become the cornerstone of Azerbaijan's economy. The
United States supported the pipeline, because this project has helped
to maintain the sovereignty and independence of Azerbaijan and
neighboring Georgia," he said.
Morningstar said Azerbaijan's loyalty to the Southern Gas Corridor
project is a courageous step.
"I hope that our bilateral economic cooperation will develop not only
in the energy sector but also in other spheres. I hope that bilateral
trade and investment will increase even more," Morningstar said.
From: A. Papazian