Azerbaijan, Baku, June 23 / Trend S.Agayeva /
Baku's refusal from the military rhetoric will be possible only after deoccupation of the Azerbaijani lands by Armenians, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at the joint press conference with Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Shpindelegger.
Mammadyarov said perhaps, Armenia believes the solution to this conflict is possible without the use of force, but the force is applied, as the Azerbaijani territory is occupied.
"I believe if Armenia would relate to the process without the hysterical rhetoric and approach the issue seriously, the conflict will be resolved," Mammadyarov said.
First of all, the occupied territories should be released and the Armenian armed forces should be withdrawn from Azerbaijani lands, he said.
"Armenia said neither "yes" or "no" on the updated Madrid principles in St. Petersburg and this creates great difficulties for the continuation of peace talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," Mammadyarov said.
Mammadyarov said on the one hand, Armenia said that it is ready to continue work on the Madrid principles, on the other hand, does not agree on certain points in the updated document. "Armenia call the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as frozen, but we do not agree with this wording, while the clashes that lead to fatalities is observed on the frontline," Mammadyarov said.
At a meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan in January in Sochi, the OSCE Minsk Group presented the parties with an updated version of the Madrid document, which is the basis for negotiations.
Baku, adopting the Madrid principles, has not yet received information from the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen on Yerevan's position on the principles.
The Minsk Groups proposals officially submitted to the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan at the Madrid OSCE summit in November 2007 is base of today's talks. These proposals, also known as the "basic principles", are the result of a number of meetings the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers in 2004 in Prague called "Prague process".
The "basic principles" means the determination of the final status of the Nagorno-Karabakh by popular vote at the last stage of the peace process, following all other confidence-building measures, including renunciation of the use of force, the gradual withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied territories, return of displaced persons to their home and the resumption of trade and communication.
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