Azernews.Az

BAKU – An Azerbaijani official has said Armenia should "put forward its will" and state its position on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict at the forthcoming Russian-brokered talks of the two countries’ leaders.

Novruz Mammadov, the Presidential Administration official in charge of foreign relations, told the press Tuesday that there are "great expectations" from the Kazan meeting of Presidents Ilham Aliyev, Serzh Sargsyan and Dmitry Medvedev, due in the Russian city of Kazan on June 25.

"The international community and the co-chairs of the [mediating] OSCE Minsk Group are demanding a change in the status quo. And this change requires [Armenian] withdrawal from certain occupied [Azerbaijani] regions and a return of displaced persons to their homes."

The Karabakh conflict flared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia's territorial claims. Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno Karabakh, since the two countries signed a precarious cease-fire in 1994 following a lengthy war. Mediators from Russia, the United States and France have led negotiations on Karabakh settlement but little progress has been made so far.

Regarding the timeline for a referendum on the final status of Nagorno Karabakh, Mammadov said Armenia is dragging out talks by "casting this issue into spotlight from time to time".

"In fact, a referendum is the last issue in all these processes," he said.

The status of the Nagorno Karabakh region has been a stumbling block in peace talks. Baku says the occupied districts must be freed and Azerbaijani refugees returned home, and only after that could the status of Nagorno Karabakh be determined within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, while Armenia insists that self-determination is the core principle for a settlement of the dispute. The mediators are seeking a solution based simultaneously on both principles.

Mammadov said a document could be signed at the presidents’ meeting in Kazan. "It is possible that the presidents will sign a protocol or some other document. But I can’t say anything specific at this point."