Azerbaijan, Baku, May 27 / Trend S. Agayeva /
Following the Deauville statement of the presidents of the OSCE MinskGroup co-chairing countries, Armenia must begin withdrawing its forcesfrom Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.
It is necessary to make this action to open up the opportunities forinternally displaced people to return to their houses, thecommunications to be restored in the region and more predictability to be created in the region, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Trend.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, U.S, President Barack Obama andFrench President Nicolas Sarkozy called on the Armenian andAzerbaijani leaders to demonstrate political will and to finalize thebasic principles during the upcoming Armenian-Azerbaijani summit in
June.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that in the adopted statementMedvedev, Obama and Sarkozy consider the status quo in the existingsituation on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as unacceptable. TheAzerbaijani side has also repeatedly stated about this.
"The presidents of three countries refer on the documents andprinciples. They have been repeatedly discussed . The necessity of withdrawing the Armenian forces from Azerbaijani territories is raised in all of them. Consequently, the Armenian side must understand that the world community does not accept the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said .
"Azerbaijan's position remains unchanged," the ministry said."Withdrawing the Armenian armed forces and returning the internallydisplaced people to their houses will allow us to move to the nextstep to create favorable conditions for the coexistence of Armenianand Azerbaijani communities of Nagorno-Karabakh."
The Foreign Ministry regrets that having a clear position of the international community regarding the withdrawal of Armenian forces from Azerbaijani territories, Armenia still delays the process and prevents the peaceful settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenianarmed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. Theco-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - arecurrently holding the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's fourresolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and theoccupied territories.