Epress.am News from Armenia
Azerbaijan is not planning to change its position around the settlement of the NK issue, stated Ilyam Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan in an interview to a local TV.
“Our position is anchored in historical justice and international law. The conflict must be resolved within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and we will not allow establishment of a second Armenian state within Azerbaijan’s territory,” said Aliyev.
He also criticized the OSCE Minsk Group for “ambiguous statements and ineffective negotiations.”
“We expect another reaction [from the Minsk Group]. We expect clear statements. When Armenia’s Prime Minister says that Karabakh is Armenia, why doesn’t the Minsk Group respond, why doesn’t it state that it contradicts the essence of the negotiations and therefore makes them pointless?”
Aliyev also believes that the reaction of the mediators is not adequate against the efforts of the Armenian side “to change the format of negotiations.”
“They make abstract statements favoring both us and them. These times are over, we need clarity,” said Aliyev and added that if the mediators want a peaceful resolution, than they must speak about it.
In addition to criticizing the mediators, Ilyam Aliyev stated that no negotiations are held at the moment, the video conferences of the Foreign Ministers have no significance, they only are an imitation that the Minsk Group operates.
“I reiterate, we will not negotiate for the sake of negotiations, we need substantive negotiations, without changing the format. In that case, we will participate, otherwise there will be no need for negotiations,” stated Aliyev.