Azernews.Az

Friday March 29 2024

Baku says return of 7 occupied regions priority in Karabakh talks

21 December 2015 17:15 (UTC+04:00)
Baku says return of 7 occupied regions priority in Karabakh talks

Return of the seven regions of Azerbaijan adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh occupied by Armenia at the first stage remains a priority in the negotiations to resolve the conflict, Spokesman to Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev said in an interview with Trend.

Hajiyev said that the international community has long ago realized that namely phased settlement is the most appropriate way to solve the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Azerbaijan in the negotiation process adheres namely to this position, he said.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by U.S, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, more than 4,000 are reported missing and almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled. The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.

“The subject of discussions was the issue of the return of five or seven regions at the first stage,” said Hajiyev. “The return of internally displaced persons to the liberated territories is further provided. Since most of all internally displaced persons are residents of namely these areas, the definite part of the problem with internally displaced persons will be resolved.”

“Problems with the restoration of infrastructure in these districts, which was completely destroyed and devastated as the result of the occupation of these territories by Armenians, will be resolved at the next stage,” he said.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

Loading...
Latest See more