Azerbaijan, Baku, 29 September / Trend corr. I.Alizade / Official Baku supports all initiatives on peaceable settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and its solution under the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. "We positively accept and assess initiatives of all countries, directed to peaceable settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and on the base of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity," Araz Azimov, Special Envoy of Azerbaijan for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Deputy Foreign Minister, told journalists on 29 September, commenting on mediatory initiatives of Iran.
The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988 due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding Districts. Since 1992, these territories have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armeni a signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia, France and USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.
"Iran is interested in peaceable settlement of the conflict and wants to possess opportunities to develop relations with neighbor countries at equal level. Surely, occupation of Azerbaijan's territories creates a lot of obstacles for it. It will be easy to eliminate problems in the region after the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Iran understands it," Azimov said.
Despite all mediatory initiatives, there are international formats and decisions to hold negotiations on the conflict settlement and they should be taken into consideration, he said. "There is a base of the conflict settlement and efforts continue on its base," the Deputy Minister said.
Turkey's role grows in the conflict settlement and official Baku supports this tendency, Azimov said. Turkey expresses its position in principle form as a member of the OSCE Minsk Group and its steps, which are taken to realize the position, should be assessed positively. "Turkey is one of the countries, which supports solution of the conflict on the base of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Turkey is a strategic partner of Azerbaijan and the country, which is interested in settlement of conflicts in the region, as well," he said.
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