Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend S.Ilhamgizi / Elmar Mammadyarov, the Azerbaijani Foriegn Minister, stated that if we wish to prepare the nation for peace, mutual visits by the intelligentsia of Azerbaijan and Armenia should be encouraged.
The minister said that mutual visits by Azerbaijan and Armenia are not harmful, but fruitful. He considered the visit of representatives of the Azerbaijani intelligentsia to Nagorno-Karabakh to be quite normal. "If the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh are the citizens of Azerbaijan, then their visit to that region should be met as normal practice. This does not indicate inclusion of Nagorno-Karabakh to the talks as a party. As a minister I hold talks with the Armenian minister. Azerbaijanis visiting Nagorno-Karabakh is not a tragedy," the Foreign Minister assured.
Voicing his attitude towards the presidential elections in the so called ' Nagorno-Karabakh Republic', the minister noted that until the Azerbaijani community is repatriated to their native land, any elections held in that region will not be considered as legal.
Commenting on negotiations held with Armenia, the minister stressed that the co-chairs should analyze the results of a meeting of Presidents in St. Petersburg. Only then will it be possible to speak about taking further steps.