Foreign

Home page

Foreign

Azerbaijan's President: â€œThe change of the status quo is the first stipulation of the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflictâ€ - UPDATED

UPDATED '>

24 December 2012 17:03 (UTC +04:00)

Moscow. Farid Akbarov-APA. "I negatively assess this year's outcomes of the talks on the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict," said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in his interview to Rossiya 24 TV channel, APA’s Moscow correspondent reports.

He said inertness was observed in the process of negotiations.

"We see its reason in Armenia's attempts to maintain the status quo by all means. They do not want the conflict to be settled, because the settlement requires the withdrawal from the occupied territories. Not only Nagorno Karabakh, but also 7 regions, which were not never a part of the autnomous province, are under occupation. Armenians never lived in those regions. Azerbaijanis lived there, they were displaced from their native lands. Justifying the occupation of these territories, Armenia makes the situation much more complicated. Therefore, the change of the status quo is the first stipulation of the settlement of the conflict. I want to mention OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs' statement "the status quo is inadmissible". In order to change the status quo, first of all, the Azerbaijani territories must be released. I am sure there will be a new impetus in the process of negotiations, as soon as this process starts," he said.

President of Azerbaijan mentioned trilateral Mein Dorf declaration signed in Moscow, 2008: “As described in this document, the settlement of the conflict must be based on the orders and resolutions adopted by the international organizations. These resolutions and orders are sufficient. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories by Armenians. Moreover, there is also Helsinki Final Act. According to this act, the peoples' right to self-determination doesn’t mean the violation of territorial integrity. If you read this document attentively, you can see that the peoples’ right to self-determination is possible only within the territorial integrity. The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan has been recognized by the whole world. Nagorno Karabakh is a historical, political and integral part of Azerbaijan. The formula put forward by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs late in 2009 was approved by Azerbaijan and rejected by Armenia. Later, this formula was changed in the process of negotiations and the Armenian side speculates that Azerbaijan didn’t accept this proposal. Azerbaijan is interested in the settlement of the conflict most of all, because our territories are under occupation and our refugees can not return home.”

Azerbaijan's President said he hopes that the countries mediating in the solution to the conflict will be active.

"They often attempt to blame us for not being interested in the confidence building between the sides. They attempt to blame Azerbaijan for violating the ceasefire. Firstly, the ceasefire is violated by both sides. The main thing is that the mediators work more actively on the essence of the process of negotiations - release of the occupied Azerbaijani territories. It is difficult for me to say how long the process will last. I think the maintenance of the status quo is more dangerous for Armenia than for Azerbaijan. The balance of forces in the region shows that Azerbaijan has become stronger, 5-10 years later Armenia's situation will be harder. It will be difficult and to some extent dangerous to be at enmity with Azerbaijan and occupy our territories. If they want those in Nagorno Karabakh to continue living in peaceful and safe conditions, they must start withdrawing the occupying forces from our territories," he said.