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Azerbaijani Foreign Minister gives details of stage-by-stage solution to Nagorno Karabakh conflict

15 March 2010 11:39 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Lachin Sultanova â€“ APA. â€œWe are analyzing the Madrid proposals and thinking that the new version of Madrid principles proposed in Athens creates an opportunity to make next steps and to start working on a large agreementâ€, said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov.

The minister said there was diplomatic solution to any conflict. â€œThe Prague process is continued for six years and the presidents and foreign ministers held several meetings in the past two years and mediators made numerous visits to the region. The Madrid principles were proposed in anew version. Azerbaijan creates an opportunity to accept the document and it means that Azerbaijan has chosen the diplomatic solution to the conflict and we are moving on this way. Let Armenia to announce whether it will accept this version or not and after that we will know what steps we have to make. We are discussing various options at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and thinking about that what methods and ways of discussions we have to chooseâ€.

The minister reminded that the Prague process was started in 2004 and it is a stage-by-stage process and Madrid document describes all these stages. â€œAccording to the document, Armenia must withdraw its forces from five region and plus 13 villages of Lachin region in the first stage. Then all borders and communications are opened, a donor conference is held, territories and communications are restored, programs are started to be carried out, the issue of international observers is solved due to the security of internally displaced persons returned to their homeland because it is very important issue, then Armenian troops are withdrawn from Lachin and Kelbajar and all roads are opened. Return of Azerbaijani community to Karabakh will create an opportunity to pass into the last stage â€“ start of determination of Nagorno Karabakh status. The determination of Karabakh status is very important issue for Azerbaijan. Karabakh is an Azerbaijani land and it is not correct to pull out any territory of Azerbaijan from its administrative control. Of course, we are stating that all issues must be solved within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Regarding the self-0determination issue, it is a part of international law, but it doesnâ€™t mean that the territorial integrity can be violated in this case. We have stated for many times that there are different autonomies and status in the worldâ€¦For example, Tatars and Bashkirs are self-determined, but within the Russian Federationâ€¦

We are supporting the phase-by-phase process because we believe that all issues can not be solved within a day. If Armenia withdraws its troops from the occupied lands step-by-step, it will create large economic and security opportunities for the region. No one can take the lands away. It needs to establish right policy towards neighbors. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, I believe that it is most important and best process. We have to recall the issue of occupied territories and internally displaced persons from the negotiation table. It will be better to do it quicker. It will prevent the war rhetoric as well. The war rhetoric exists because there are problems of occupied territories and internally displaced personsâ€.