Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said Tuesday there were some new elements in the new Armenian leadership's position on the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict.
Mammadyarov said the novelties were revealed at a meeting of Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian in Russia on Friday, but he did not elaborate.
The two leaders met for the first time at the Konstantinovsky Palace outside St. Petersburg. The meeting was attended by the two countries' foreign ministers as well as the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group brokering the peace process. It was followed by a one-on-one meeting of the two heads of state. Baku described the presidential dialog as successful, saying the sides had decided to continue peace talks. Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian said the negotiating process continued and the fact that Presidents Aliyev and Sarkisian met for the first time "did not mean that the process was starting from a scratch". Mammadyarov said the co-chairs would visit the region soon to hold talks with Azerbaijani and Armenian officials. The mediators will work to bring the positions of the conflicting sides closer. The co-chairs are to comply the sides' positions based on existing proposals, the minister said.
"We are working on the Madrid proposals. There are some elements that we haven't agreed yet, but these are of principle. Time is needed now for work to be done."
The Minsk Group co-chairs from the United States, Russia and France submitted written proposals on the Garabagh settlement to the Azerbaijani and Armenian governments in the Spanish capital on November 28. The document is a set of basic principles for the peaceful settlement of the dispute within the so-called Prague process containing about 10 proposals.
The two countries' governments have yet to issue their feedback to that end.
Mammadyarov said Azerbaijan was seeking a speedy solution to the long-running dispute. "I have told my Armenian counterpart that they can't take this land and run away or build a fence there. Whether you want this or not, you have to pursue a policy of good neighborliness. And the broader this policy is, the more it will meet your national interests."
The minister said Azerbaijan was ready for compromise within its territorial integrity. This entails, first of all, adherence to the negotiated settlement, and secondly, granting the status of the highest autonomy to Upper Garabagh.
"I have repeatedly conveyed to Armenia that whichever model of autonomy exists in the world, let's work on it. We could use the [Russia's] Tatarstan option if you want," he said.
Upper Garabagh is an Azeri region occupied by Armenia since a 1994 cease-fire ended separatist hostilities that killed an estimated 30,000 people and ousted about a million Azeris out of their homes.
Mammadyarov reiterated Baku's intransigent stance, saying that prior to determining the region's status, Armenian occupying forces must be withdrawn from Azerbaijan's territories, the displaced persons returned home and communications restored.
The minister added that the conflict resolution could speed up the development of Upper Garabagh and make cooperation between Azerbaijan and Armenia possible.