Azeri FM to meet OSCE mediators Friday
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will
meet OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs brokering settlement to the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh in Paris
on Friday, the minister said.
Further steps in resolving the dispute will be discussed at the meeting.
"If the co-chairs make new proposals in Paris, Azerbaijan is ready to discuss them," Mammadyarov said.
He emphasized that Baku has worked on the OSCE Madrid principles, which is an outline for a conflict settlement proposed by the mediators, for two years.
"I believe that the document presented in Athens entirely reflected the Azerbaijani side’s point of view and there is no need to submit updated Madrid principles to the co-chairs."
The Madrid Document, initially presented by the US, Russian and French mediators at the summit held in the Spanish capital in 2007, says the Garabagh conflict is to be settled in accordance with both territorial integrity and the right of nations to self-determination. Its provisions include "the return of the territories surrounding Upper Garabagh to Azerbaijani control" and a future determination of the legal status of Upper Garabagh "through a legally binding expression of will" and the right of "internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence."
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.*
Further steps in resolving the dispute will be discussed at the meeting.
"If the co-chairs make new proposals in Paris, Azerbaijan is ready to discuss them," Mammadyarov said.
He emphasized that Baku has worked on the OSCE Madrid principles, which is an outline for a conflict settlement proposed by the mediators, for two years.
"I believe that the document presented in Athens entirely reflected the Azerbaijani side’s point of view and there is no need to submit updated Madrid principles to the co-chairs."
The Madrid Document, initially presented by the US, Russian and French mediators at the summit held in the Spanish capital in 2007, says the Garabagh conflict is to be settled in accordance with both territorial integrity and the right of nations to self-determination. Its provisions include "the return of the territories surrounding Upper Garabagh to Azerbaijani control" and a future determination of the legal status of Upper Garabagh "through a legally binding expression of will" and the right of "internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence."
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.*
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