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Azerbaijani President: "Self-determination of peoples must not be in contradiction with the territorial integrity of the countries"

22 June 2013 00:59 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. “Azerbaijan wants to be close to Europe as much as possible. The closer we will be to Europe, the more we will have opportunities for development, democratic development. We are very grateful to the European institutions for their cooperation in this area. I believe that development in areas such as democratization and human rights help Azerbaijan in the exercise of its political reforms in accordance with the highest international standards. We definitely will continue to cooperate in these areas", - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in his statement at the press conference after a meeting with President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy.

President Ilham Aliyev said that during the meeting they discussed regional stability and security issues, resolution of conflict: "We appreciate the statement made by the Presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries. We are grateful to them that they retain the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the main part of the agenda and the use of such a prestigious forum, as the summit of the "Big Eight" to express their attitudes and concerns. We fully support their statements with regard to the implementation of all the necessary steps in order to achieve as soon as possible to resolve the conflict.

“Reference to the Helsinki Final Act is very important. The Helsinki Final Act principles clearly define on whish principles the conflict must be resolved. Self-determination of peoples must not be in contradiction with the territorial integrity of the countries. As for the Armenians, they determined their destiny and created Armenian state. Self-determination of the Armenian people for the second time on the territory of Azerbaijan is unacceptable. Azerbaijan is interested in soonest settlement of the conflict based on international law, including the implementation of four UN Security Council resolutions demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan", - the Head of State said.

Azerbaijani President said Azerbaijan is considered an important partner of the European institutions in the field of energy security: "After our last meeting in this area has been made very positive progress. Announcement TANAP project will create additional opportunities for the successful implementation of the project of the Southern Gas Corridor. We hope that the solutions to be adopted in the near future will create additional conditions for the implementation of this important energy project that will completely change the energy map of Europe. In this case, all parties benefit. Azerbaijan will determine for himself in Europe, long-term, predictable gas market. Europe for a long time will use an alternative source of gas supplies from Azerbaijan. The close partnership in this area, in particular the steps taken in creating the Southern Gas Corridor, are very important to the success of this project. "

The president said that Azerbaijan is increasingly playing a stabilizing role in the region: "We hope that in the coming years we will see many positive changes. I believe that the successful cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European Union will continue. As you said, it's a good relationship. We must work together to further improve these good relations and make them excellent."