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Elmar Mammadyarov: â€œTurkeyâ€™s proposals are on the tableâ€

02 October 2008 09:07 (UTC +04:00)

Bakuâ€“APA. â€œDuring our last meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in Moscow on August 1 we agreed to hold next meeting in New York.

Thus 63rd session of the UN General Assembly gave us a chance to meet again. Then following the events in Georgia, Turkey made proposal to establish Peace and Stability Platform in the Caucasus and we agreed to arrange a new meeting with the participation of Turkish, Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministersâ€, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told Voce of America, APA reports. The Foreign Minister called the meeting with the co-chairs as a next contact. â€œWe discussed some new points created after the Georgian events. We all, Armenian foreign minister, co-chairs and me decided that Karabakh conflict also threatened the regional security and we had to achieve any progress as soon as possible. We reached an agreement in New York to continue the discussions. For the next time the co-chairs will visit the region or the foreign ministers will meet in one of the capital cities. We decided to discuss the meeting issues in detail in a week or twoâ€.
The Minister said Azerbaijan positively reacted to the Turkeyâ€™s initiative. â€œTurkeyâ€™s proposals are on the table. We announced at the tripartite meeting unanimously that Turkey proposed very interesting and positive initiative and we will work on it and we will work on this platform to bring peace and stability to the region. Of course, we have to develop the discussionsâ€.
Asked how real the Caucasus stability initiative was, while the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia continued, Elmar Mammadyarov said:
â€œThis is an urgent question, but we should make efforts. Of course in order to achieve stability in the Caucasus we should pay special attention to Karabakh conflict. According to Azerbaijani side, seven of the occupied regions around Nagorno Karabakh should be first released, Armenian troops should be withdrawn and internally displaced persons should return to their places. After that new stage can be reached. All-round communication can start in the region and this can create new opportunities. In this respect, we should try to prove that this conflict indeed poses great threat to the regionâ€™s security and it should be solved soon. Of course Karabakh conflict is a deep one, it is difficult to solve it in a day or a week. Thatâ€™s why Azerbaijan offers to make this process by stages. We can achieve any improvement step-by-step. I believe that we can achieve it.â€
Asked whether there was coordination between Turkeyâ€™s recent initiatives and the activity of OSCE Minsk Group, Elmar Mammadyarov said Minsk Group co-chairs worked only on Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
â€œTurkeyâ€™s initiative should be viewed more broadly. This is the issue of regional platform. So, they approach the issues in much broader stage,â€ he said.