FM: Azerbaijan ready for substantive talks on Karabakh conflict
Trend Agency’s interview with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
Question: Since the St. Petersburg meeting of Presidents, Armenia runs away from meetings and pursues destructive policy. In Hamburg and Munich, Armenian Foreign Minister avoided participation in the meetings. What can be said about the current conflict settlement process?
Answer: Substantial discussions were held for settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during the St. Petersburg meeting of the Presidents, held at invitation and initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Early this year we had a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow. The OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairs visited the region and had the opinions of the parties.
As discussed at the St. Petersburg meeting, the steps to be taken to achieve progress in the conflict resolution and the plan to be implemented are very well known to everyone.
The presence of the armed forces of Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and the fact of military occupation are the main obstacles to the settlement of conflict.
Therefore, the fact of occupation should be ended. We can continue talks for ensuring sustainable peace in an entirely new environment – under the changed status quo that would emerge once the occupation ends.
Armenia is trying to maintain the current status quo and not to fulfill its obligations by avoiding the participation in meetings.
Meanwhile, Armenia continues a policy whereby it deliberately aggravates the situation and evades the essence of the state of affairs by putting forward technical issues.
Armenia no longer has room to maneuver to make up pretexts.
Q: Then what are the expectations from the Moscow meeting?
A: We hope the Moscow meeting will be a continuation of substantial negotiations held at the St. Petersburg presidential meeting. It is time to move from words to actions. Azerbaijan stands ready for substantial negotiations as we have repeatedly stated.
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