Epress.am News from Armenia
Azerbaijan would like to change the status quo in the region, said Novruz Mammadov, chief of the foreign relations department of Azerbaijan’s presidential administration, reports News.az, citing 1news.az.
According to Mammadov, the international community, as well as the presidents of the Minsk Group co-chair states, also want the same. He said changes to the status quo in the first stage can begin with the “liberation of the seven occupied regions” around Nagorno-Karabakh.
“I hope Armenia will take the Deauville statement by the presidents of the Minsk Group co-chair countries seriously and will not protract the conflict settlement,” he said.
“We place great importance on the meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Kazan in June, with the mediation of the Russian president,” Mammadov said.
Recall, on May 26, during the G8 Summit in Deauville, France, the presidents of France, the US and Russia issued a statement on Nagorno-Karabakh in which they “call upon the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to demonstrate their political will by finalizing the Basic Principles during their upcoming summit in June.”
Further, the presidents of the three Minsk Group co-chair countries reiterated that “only a negotiated settlement can lead to peace, stability, and reconciliation, opening opportunities for regional development and cooperation.”
Armenian foreign affairs minister Edward Nalbandian then responded to the statement: “Armenia has given a clear answer to the latest version of the basic principles proposed by the three Co-Chairs as a basis for the negotiations of the settlement. If Azerbaijan gives an unequivocal agreement, then it will be possible to register progress in the process of the settlement. It is apparent to whom is addressed the message included in the statement in this regard, too.”
Azerbaijan’s foreign affairs ministry, in turn, said that following the co-chair countries’ statement, Armenia “has to begin removing its armed forces from Azerbaijan’s territories.”
The disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan after a bloody war in the 1990s and is populated mainly by ethnic Armenians. Today it exists as a de-facto independent state under an uneasy ceasefire, and OSCE-brokered efforts to resolve its status have so far been unsuccessful.