Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has confirmed a June meeting over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, saying “we expect another meeting to make a tangible progress to change the status quo.”

Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia are expected to hold meeting in June to mull the long-lasting Nagorno-Karabakh meeting. The sides first met on May 16 in Vienna following the latest escalation in the frontline with the instigation and provocation of Armenia.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have re-declared a ceasefire in Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region, halting the bloodiest hostilities in the region since the original ceasefire inked in 1994.

Mammadyarov, addressing the North Atlantic Council at NATO headquarters within the framework of Azerbaijan-NATO meeting on May 31, emphasized that the current status-quo based on the fact of occupation remains the main source of tension.

Reminding that all international community, including OSCE MG co-chairs accept the fact of unacceptability and unsustainability of the current status-quo, Mammadyarov stressed that in order to change the status-quo, the fact of occupation must be ceased and the armed forces of Armenia must be withdrawn from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

The internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan have been violated for more than 20 years with 20 percent of its territory under illegal military occupation by Armenia and more than 1 million Azerbaijani people have undergone bloody ethnic cleansing in the seized lands. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

The time has shown that an extended ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia won’t stick, as keeping the status quo is like standing by a volcano waiting for it to erupt. The Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh has erupted many times, making the status quo unsustainable and threatening the region with a large-scale war.

Baku has repeatedly stated the need to take action toward a peaceful and complete reconciliation, and just resolution of the conflict.

Mammadyarov also spoke about Armenia’s threats against Azerbaijan with “dirty bombs” and its non-fulfillment of commitments taken under the international conventions on non-proliferation of weapons of mass-destruction.

“Yerevan again pursues the deliberate policy of obstructing the negotiations process,” the minister warned.

Mammadyarov reminded that according to the UN Charter and Helsinki Final Act, Armenia committed itself to respect the territorial integrity, sovereignty and internationally recognized borders of other states, to refrain from the threat or use of force against them. "That’s what Azerbaijan expects from Armenia to follow and from international community to demand," he emphasized.

Former prime minister, member of parliament and other officials of Armenia have declared this April that Armenia has a nuclear weapon, so-called dirty bomb, mentioning that these bombs can be used against Azerbaijan.

Baku turned to corresponding international organizations to examine the statement and stop Armenian nuclear threat and blackmail.

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