Community head: Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh believes in return to native lands

Azerbaijan, Baku, July 5 / Trend E. Tariverdiyeva /

The Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh believes that the community members will be able to return to their homes soon, the community head Bayram Safarov said today at a press conference after a meeting with the OSCE Minsk group co-chairmen.

"We believe that the significant statements of three presidents in Toronto and Hillary Clinton's visit to the region will lead to a just solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict", Safarov said.

The presidents of Russia, the United States and France, Dmitry Medvedev, Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy approved a joint statement within G-8 summit in Canada.

They called for the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to accelerate work on the basic principles of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to begin the development of draft peace agreementin later.

Safarov said that determination of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh is out of question till Azerbaijani community returns to Nagorno-Karabakh and occupied territories of Azerbaijan are released.

"Refugees' return to Nagorno-Karabakh was discussed at the negotiations with the co-chairmen", Safarov said.

He said that the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan can not be a topic of the talks.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the occupied territories.