Azerbaijan, Baku, 12 June / Trend corr S. Agayeva/ The Official Baku thinks that it is absurd to involve the Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh in the negotiation process on Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, at this stage.
" Azerbaijan is not going to involve Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh in negotiations because it is negotiating with Armenia, which undoubtedly is the instigator of the conflict and occupant of Azerbaijani territory. Should Armenia state to the world that it leaves the negotiations and won't interfere anymore, possibly the issue will be considered in the future," Novruz Mammadov, head of the Foreign Relations Department at the Azerbaijani Presidential Executive Administration, said to Trend on 12 June.
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan supported the full fledge participation of self-proclaimed ' Nagorno-Karabakh Republic' as a side to Nagorno-Karabakh negotiations.
"The sooner Nagorno-Karabakh is involved in negotiations, the better it will be. However, the time for that cannot be specified. Depended that on Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh would become a side to the negotiations in the near future. But that also depends on Azerbaijan's position," he said.
"Putting forward these types of issues, Armenia tries to delay the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, but these attempts are senseless," Mammadov said.
" Azerbaijan can agree to negotiate with the Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh, but only in case the definite issues regarding joint habitation of Nagorno-Karabakh's Azerbaijani and Armenian communities after striking a peace agreement are solved, which is unlikely to come soon," Mammadov added.
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.
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