Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has said it is necessary to clean the negotiating table on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement off issues which can hamper peace and stability in the region.

In an interview with France 24 TV channel during his visit to France, Mammadyarov said the most problematic issue for the conflict resolution is the presence of Armenian troops in the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

"No one recognizes the so-called 'Nagorno-Karabakh Republic', including the Armenians themselves," he said.

Mammadyarov pointed out that the UN Security Council, a major body for international security, adopted four resolutions regarding the conflict and all of them clearly indicate that Nagorno-Karabakh is Azerbaijan's territory.

"Azerbaijan considers Armenians who are still living in Nagorno-Karabakh as citizens of Azerbaijan," Mammadyarov said.

He underlined that withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories can create conditions to open communications, return IDPs home and defuse the tension.

In Nagorno-Karabakh, adjacent regions and the regions bordering on Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh about 700,000 people were deprived of their places of residence and turned into IDPs as a result of occupation. They are temporarily settled in 62 cities and regions of Azerbaijan in more than 1,600 densely populated areas.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against the neighboring country. Since a lengthy war between the two South Caucasus countries that displaced over a million Azerbaijanis and ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The four UN Security Council resolutions, which urge Armenian pullout from the occupied territories, have not been implemented to this day.

Peace talks brokered by OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs representing the United States, Russia and France have been largely fruitless so far.

The negotiations are underway on the basis of the peace outline dubbed the Madrid Principles, also known as Basic Principles. The document envisions a return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; determining the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh; a corridor linking Armenia to the region; and the right of all internally displaced persons to return home.