Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 7
Trend:
It was agreed that intensive negotiations will be held on the basis of existing ideas and proposals after the presidential elections in Armenia and Azerbaijan, said Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev.
He also said that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs during the visit to the country.
“During the visit, concrete discussions were held with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the basis of the views put forward at the Krakow meeting. It was agreed that after the presidential elections in Armenia and Azerbaijan, intensive negotiations will be continued on the basis of existing opinions and proposals,” noted Hajiyev.
“As a country that has been subjected to aggression and occupation, Azerbaijan supports efforts to resolve the conflict as soon as possible through substantive and logical negotiations. As the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have repeatedly stated at the level of the heads of state, the status quo based on the occupation is unacceptable and can't be prolonged,” said the Azerbaijani official.
“The status quo must be changed. In order to change the status quo, the Armenian armed forces must be completely and unconditionally withdrawn from the territories of Azerbaijan, as required by UN Security Council Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884,” added Hajiyev.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.