Aliyev: Baku`s efforts advancing peace talks
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said progress
has been made in the ongoing talks with Armenia on settling the
Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict.
Addressing an Iftar ceremony held to recognize the holy month of Ramadan, President Aliyev said the advances in peace talks were due to the policies being pursued by Baku.
"I can say that our efforts are already producing first results in the negotiating process," Aliyev told the ceremony hosted by the Caucasus Clerical Office (CCO) chairman, Sheikhulislam Allahshukur Pashazada. "At all times, our position has been that the problem can be resolved only within Azerbaijan`s territorial integrity. The people in Upper Garabagh may live with a new status of high-level autonomy within the integral Azerbaijani state. These principles are being taken as the basis today, i.e. negotiations are underway based on these principles and any agreement may be reached strictly on this basis."
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a cease-fire in 1994, but Armenia continues to occupy Upper Garabagh and seven other Azerbaijani districts in defiance of international law. Despite numerous rounds of OSCE-brokered negotiations, peace talks have been fruitless so far and refugees remain stranded. Baku says the occupied districts must be freed and Azerbaijani refugees displaced during the armed conflict in the early 1990s returned home, and only after that could the status of Upper Garabagh be determined within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
The president further said Azerbaijan continues adhering to a phased resolution of the long-standing conflict.
"The proposals that are currently under discussion provide for this very stage-by-stage settlement. All the occupied districts will be freed consecutively and our countrymen will return to those districts. The entire infrastructure will be restored there and, further, in the following stage, the legal status of Upper Garabagh will be determined.
"We have always said that, certainly, Upper Garabagh should have a status, but we do not see this status outside Azerbaijan`s territory and the Azerbaijani government will never agree to this," Aliyev said.
The Iftar ceremony was attended by the President`s Chief-of-Staff, Ramiz Mehdiyev, Parliament Speaker Ogtay Asadov, foreign ambassadors accredited in Azerbaijan, parliament members, and representatives of various civil communities.
Addressing an Iftar ceremony held to recognize the holy month of Ramadan, President Aliyev said the advances in peace talks were due to the policies being pursued by Baku.
"I can say that our efforts are already producing first results in the negotiating process," Aliyev told the ceremony hosted by the Caucasus Clerical Office (CCO) chairman, Sheikhulislam Allahshukur Pashazada. "At all times, our position has been that the problem can be resolved only within Azerbaijan`s territorial integrity. The people in Upper Garabagh may live with a new status of high-level autonomy within the integral Azerbaijani state. These principles are being taken as the basis today, i.e. negotiations are underway based on these principles and any agreement may be reached strictly on this basis."
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a cease-fire in 1994, but Armenia continues to occupy Upper Garabagh and seven other Azerbaijani districts in defiance of international law. Despite numerous rounds of OSCE-brokered negotiations, peace talks have been fruitless so far and refugees remain stranded. Baku says the occupied districts must be freed and Azerbaijani refugees displaced during the armed conflict in the early 1990s returned home, and only after that could the status of Upper Garabagh be determined within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
The president further said Azerbaijan continues adhering to a phased resolution of the long-standing conflict.
"The proposals that are currently under discussion provide for this very stage-by-stage settlement. All the occupied districts will be freed consecutively and our countrymen will return to those districts. The entire infrastructure will be restored there and, further, in the following stage, the legal status of Upper Garabagh will be determined.
"We have always said that, certainly, Upper Garabagh should have a status, but we do not see this status outside Azerbaijan`s territory and the Azerbaijani government will never agree to this," Aliyev said.
The Iftar ceremony was attended by the President`s Chief-of-Staff, Ramiz Mehdiyev, Parliament Speaker Ogtay Asadov, foreign ambassadors accredited in Azerbaijan, parliament members, and representatives of various civil communities.
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