Baku says Armenia simulates peace process
By Nazrin Gadimova
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian has once again distorted the content and essence of the settlement process over the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
Hikmet Hajiyev, spokesperson for Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry made the remark while commenting on the interview that Nalbandian gave to Russian media on the eve of his visit to Moscow to discuss the key points of the conflict with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In his interview, the Armenian minister once again made a number of provocative statements on the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as tried to shift the responsibility for the lack of progress in the negotiation process onto Azerbaijan.
Hajiyev, commenting on the issue, said it seems like Nalbandian has no idea about what is being discussed in the negotiation process.
“The Armenian foreign minister, who states that Yerevan is allegedly committed to the conflict’s settlement with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, in fact, never finds the courage to refer to the updated Madrid principles, and it is no coincidence,” said the spokesperson.
Hajiyev is sure that one needs to remind Nalbandian that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have presented the updated Madrid principles consisting of six paragraphs.
He noted that the first paragraph of the updated Madrid principles, which is considered a "road map" for the staged settlement of the conflict, envisages the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories.
“Instead of making expressions and statements on minor technical issues, Armenia’s foreign minister should clarify the issue of withdrawal of his country’s armed forces from Azerbaijan’s occupied lands as required by the corresponding resolutions of the UN Security Council and Madrid principles,” said Hajiyev.
However, Armenia by keeping Azerbaijani lands under occupation, maintaining the status quo, carrying out illegal settlement, economic and other activities on the occupied territories, aims to continue the occupation of these territories by imitating the peace process, he added.
The spokesperson noted that in accordance with the updated Madrid principles, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs should demand Armenia to withdraw its forces from Azerbaijan’s occupied lands.
Only in this case, it is possible to achieve progress in the conflict’s settlement, Hajiyev concluded.
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict evolved in 1988 after Armenia territorial claims to neighboring Azerbaijan, whose 20 percent of lands it occupied in an unneighborly way.
The OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, proceeding talks based on the renewed Madrid principles. The statements promising a sincere contribution to the peaceful resolution of the conflict have become frequent, but declarative in essence. That, unfortunately, ruined confidence in success of the mediators representing the U.S., Russia and France.
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Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova
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