Azerbaijan, Baku, 19 May / corr. Trend S. Agayeva/ Azerbaijan has refused to hold talks with the Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"Nagorno-Karabakh should independently take part in the talks on peaceful settlement of the conflict with Azerbaijan," Bako Saakyan, the president of the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Republic said to Vedomosti. "There is a key party in the conflict - an independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic- with the same priorities as in the case of other foreign states," Saakyan said.
"From the very beginning, the talks on settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were held with Armenia as an aggressor country, but not with those who are inhabited in Nagorno-Karabakh to serve as a screen," Khazar Ibrahim, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan said to Trend on 19 May.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since 1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.
According to Ibrahim, head of the Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh made some mistakes in his statements. "There is not any "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NGR)" concept; there is only Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh. At the moment, no talks can be held with the representatives of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic," he said.
According to spokesman of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, "NGR" is not functioning within the Azerbaijani law, this territory and other surrounding lands are under the Armenian occupation who directly takes part in all the illegal moves against Azerbaijan. These illegal moves by Armenia led to the fact that some people in Nagorno-Karabakh call themselves official representatives of some judicial institution, Ibrahim said.
Talks with the Armenian community can be held only in case Armenia liberates Azerbaijani territory, Azerbaijani community returns to its lands and all conditions are provided for the peaceful co-existence of both communities in Nagorno-Karabakh, the official representative of the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry said.
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