Azernews.Az

The US secretary of state`s second visit to Azerbaijan in the past two years is an indicator of important and close cooperation as well as partnership between the two countries, a senior Azerbaijani official has said.

Novruz Mammadov, head of foreign relations at the Presidential Administration, was commenting on the outcomes of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton`s visit to Azerbaijan paid last Wednesday.

``Although Clinton`s visit was of a regional nature, it confirmed that the U.S. attaches special importance to its cooperation with Azerbaijan, that these relations are of strategic nature and the U.S. is satisfied with the efficient cooperation with Azerbaijan,`` Mammadov told Trend news agency.

Mammadov underscored that the talks held by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Secretary Clinton took longer than scheduled. The official part of the negotiations, as well as talks held during the luncheon afterwards, lasted over two hours.

``During these negotiations, a broad exchange of views was carried out on the current state of cooperation, its important aspects and future potential. Clinton said the U.S. attaches great importance to its cooperation with Azerbaijan,`` Mammadov said.

Regarding bilateral relations, Mammadov said a number of meetings and negotiations of specific importance have been held this year between Azerbaijan and the United States. The Azerbaijani president has taken an active part in each of the summits presided by the US president -- the summit on nuclear security in Seoul and the NATO summit in Chicago.

Mammadov said Azerbaijan`s overall activity as a member and chair of the UN Security Council in New York in May indicated its great authority not only in the region, but in the whole world, although Azerbaijan is a very small state.

``In addition, letters which President Aliyev received during this period from President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other US officials, indicating presence of a close and lasting partnership, and Clinton`s visit to Azerbaijan can be regarded as a logical continuation,`` Mammadov said.

He stressed that since Azerbaijan is situated in a very important region, the United States will significantly benefit from this cooperation, and when making important decisions Washington considers Baku`s participation logical.

``I really appreciate these negotiations and believe that our relations with the U.S. will continue. This visit will contribute to this process,`` Mammadov said.

He said that the core issue discussed during the negotiations was the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh.

``Each of the two sides voiced their position on this problem... Azerbaijan expects the U.S. to play an important role in the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict on the basis of fair and international legal norms. Of course, the Azerbaijani President noted with regret that although Baku`s steps within the negotiation process taken in past years have always been aimed at resolving the conflict peacefully and through negotiations, every time the Armenian side is engaged in delaying the negotiation process by crafting cunning plans and taking insidious steps,`` Mammadov said.

Mammadov said the U.S. president, as well as other leaders of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group`s co-chair countries -- Russia and France -- made statements based on these negotiations, took an important decision in L`Aquila, and one of the main provisions of their decision confirms that preserving the current status quo is unacceptable.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994. Armenian armed forces have since occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan`s internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno Karabakh, defying international calls and UN resolutions.

The presidents of Russia, the United States and France, in their statements, issued at the summits in L`Aquila, Italy in July 2009 and in Muskoka, Canada in June 2010, said that a conflict settlement must be based on a number of principles, including returning the Armenia-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno Karabakh to Azerbaijani control, an interim status for the Azerbaijani region providing guarantees of security and self-government, and a corridor linking Armenia with Nagorno Karabakh. The principles also include the right of the displaced persons to return home, and international guarantees of security, including peacekeeping operations.

``However, these statements are still ineffective and the Azerbaijani president expressed his regret over this,`` Mammadov said. ``Clinton held negotiations on this matter when she was in Armenia. Following the negotiations in Baku she will hold talks on this matter in Turkey as well. I have come to the conclusion that the U.S. wants to be more actively involved in this process. For this reason, carefully listening to the Azerbaijani president`s position, she [Clinton] stated the need to seek new approaches to resolve the conflict. It is difficult to say what these approaches will be, but if the steps taken so far have not yielded any result, it means that there should be new demands and approaches,`` Mammadov said.

He underscored that this approach is that the highest status could be granted to Nagorno Karabakh within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, but the current status quo must change.

``The co-chair of the United States in the OSCE Minsk Group, Robert Bradtke, also attended the meetings. I think that the secretary of state discussed this stance with him as well, and, probably, he will make a statement as to what the new approaches will be,`` Mammadov said.