Foreign

Home page

Foreign

Elmar Mammadyarov: Progress in the Nagorno Karabakh negotiations depends on how much Armenia wants to change the status quo

07 December 2011 11:14 (UTC +04:00)

Vilnius. Viktoria Dementyeva â€“ APA. â€œAzerbaijan plays a decisive role in the future of the South Caucasus, because our country is one the states making considerable contribution to the energy security of Europe. We are working on a lot of transregional projects and expect that the threats to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country will be assessed not only in terms of security of Azerbaijan and South Caucasus, but also in much broader scale â€“ in terms of Europeâ€™s security, stability and development,â€ Azerbaijanâ€™s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at the 18th Meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council, APAâ€™s correspondent reports from Vilnius.

Foreign Minister said Nagorno Karabakh conflict is a great threat to the development of the entire region.
â€œThe peace process is on a very important stage. Maintenance of the status quo is a serious threat to the security in the region. The co-chair countries several times underlined the inadmissibility of the status quo. The recent proposals concerning the update of the Madrid principles prepared by the three co-chair countries were presented to the sides and Azerbaijan expressed readiness to continue the dialogue to start working on the comprehensive agreement. Unfortunately, Armenia rejected these proposals. Progress in the negotiations depends on how much Armenia wants to change the status quo with the view of achieving lasting peace,â€ he said.

Elmar Mammadyarov said one of the major issues is the restoration of confidence between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
â€œ20 percent of Azerbaijanâ€™s territory has been occupied, over one million people have become refugees and internally displaced people. Direct contacts and meetings between the representatives of Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Nagorno Karabakh can change the atmosphere in this confrontation,â€ he said.

Foreign Minister said withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories will offer great opportunities for the development of the region.
â€œAzerbaijan is ready for necessary compromises basing on the principles of the international law. Next year 20 years will pass since the start of the negotiations on the resolution of Nagorno Karabakh conflict with mediation of OSCE Minsk Group. Unfortunately, no considerable progress has been made in the process. The Azerbaijani people still hope the Armenian people will realize the advantages of the resolution of the conflict. This will give an impetus to the cooperation and development in the region,â€ he said.