Azerbaijan - most interested party in soonest settlement of Karabakh conflict
By Trend
The most interested party in the soonest peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijanis, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend July 26.
Hajiyev was commenting on the statement of the Armenian prime minister and his wife about peace.
“As a side subjected to military aggression and occupation, the Azerbaijanis have been suffering from this war most of all for more than 25 years,” he said.
"In an interview with Echo of Moscow radio, Armenian prime minister, as well as his spouse said they want peace,” Hajiyev said. “If they really want peace, they must put an end to the war being waged by Armenia against Azerbaijan, withdraw the Armenian troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories and ensure the return of Azerbaijani internally displaced people to their houses.”
“The status quo based on the occupation should be changed and the very fact of military occupation should be eliminated,” he said. “This is the main issue: Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that in this case it is possible to establish a lasting peace and stability in the region. And this is precisely the essence and formula of the talks being conducted with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs."
“However, on the one hand, continuing the occupation, pursuing a policy of annexing the occupied Azerbaijani territories, not allowing hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people to return to their homes, and on the other talking about peace is an insincere approach and nothing but false propaganda, not based on reality,” he said.
"I hope that these peaceful intentions of new Armenian prime minister and his wife will be realized not in words but in deeds in the directions which we have mentioned," Hajiyev said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
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