Yerevan claims Baku ‘distorting gist of talks’
Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian has claimed Azerbaijan
is distorting the gist of talks on settling the Upper (Nagorno)
Garabagh conflict.
According to the country’s Foreign Ministry, during a meeting with the co-chairs of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group in Paris on Tuesday, Nalbandian drew the attention of the mediators to Baku’s alleged continuous attempts to "distort" the negotiating process, alleging that these attempts are impeding peace talks.
Touching on the separatist "Upper Garabagh Republic’s" participation in negotiations, Nalbandian maintained that settling the long-standing dispute would be impossible without its involvement.
Commenting on the statement, Elkhan Polukhov, the spokesman for the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry, noted that the same document on the conflict resolution has been submitted by the intermediaries to both Baku and Yerevan, which rules out any inaccuracies.
"Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has made it crystal clear that the Azerbaijani side accepts the updated version of the Madrid principles [the peace outline submitted by the Minsk Group co-chairs], with some exceptions, and if Armenia accepts that document, they should state this clearly."
As for Nalbandian’s ruling out a Garabagh settlement without the Upper Garabagh regime’s involvement, Polukhov said Baku has repeatedly stated that the participation of both the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of the region in talks is not ruled out at the appropriate stage in the negotiating process. "However, this could be possible after initial steps have been taken."
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. Peace talks have been largely fruitless so far and refugees remain stranded. The OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France, is brokering peace talks, which are currently underway based on the Madrid principles, a peace outline on settling the conflict initially proposed by the OSCE mediators in the Spanish capital in November 2007. The updated version of the Madrid Document was submitted by the co-chairs to Azerbaijan and Armenia in Athens in November 2009 and is presently under discussion. Baku says the occupied districts must be freed and Azerbaijani refugees returned home, and only after that could the status of Upper Garabagh be determined within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.*
According to the country’s Foreign Ministry, during a meeting with the co-chairs of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group in Paris on Tuesday, Nalbandian drew the attention of the mediators to Baku’s alleged continuous attempts to "distort" the negotiating process, alleging that these attempts are impeding peace talks.
Touching on the separatist "Upper Garabagh Republic’s" participation in negotiations, Nalbandian maintained that settling the long-standing dispute would be impossible without its involvement.
Commenting on the statement, Elkhan Polukhov, the spokesman for the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry, noted that the same document on the conflict resolution has been submitted by the intermediaries to both Baku and Yerevan, which rules out any inaccuracies.
"Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has made it crystal clear that the Azerbaijani side accepts the updated version of the Madrid principles [the peace outline submitted by the Minsk Group co-chairs], with some exceptions, and if Armenia accepts that document, they should state this clearly."
As for Nalbandian’s ruling out a Garabagh settlement without the Upper Garabagh regime’s involvement, Polukhov said Baku has repeatedly stated that the participation of both the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of the region in talks is not ruled out at the appropriate stage in the negotiating process. "However, this could be possible after initial steps have been taken."
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. Peace talks have been largely fruitless so far and refugees remain stranded. The OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France, is brokering peace talks, which are currently underway based on the Madrid principles, a peace outline on settling the conflict initially proposed by the OSCE mediators in the Spanish capital in November 2007. The updated version of the Madrid Document was submitted by the co-chairs to Azerbaijan and Armenia in Athens in November 2009 and is presently under discussion. Baku says the occupied districts must be freed and Azerbaijani refugees returned home, and only after that could the status of Upper Garabagh be determined within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.*
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