ARMENIAN FAILURE TO STUDY LATEST TALKS TO CAUSE ITS DEFEAT – AZERI OFFICIAL
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
June 12 2006
Baku, June 9, AssA-Irada
An Azerbaijani official has warned that Armenia will suffer a defeat
if it fails to properly assess the latest talks on settling the
long-standing conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh.
“Armenia should analyze the Rambouillet and Bucharest talks and make
conclusions, otherwise, it will lose,” said Deputy Foreign Minister
and the Azerbaijani President’s Upper Garabagh negotiator, Araz Azimov.
The latest rounds of talks between the two presidents in Rambouillet
and Bucharest turned out fruitless.
Azimov declined to make any specific projections but said the chances
for resolving the dispute in 2006 have not been exhausted and it is
only necessary to capitalize on them.
“Azerbaijan has waited this long and can still wait. But we have no
intention to back away from our position of principle. At the same
time, our stance is constructive. If we advance in the direction
we have proposed, I believe it is possible to achieve results,”
the deputy minister said.
He reiterated that Azerbaijan’s priorities entail liberation of the
occupied Azeri territories and the return of refugees and IDPs home,
and only after this could other issues be tabled.
Azimov emphasized that President Ilham Aliyev had made far-sighted
proposals during his meetings on various levels. “Ensuring Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity is key. If this fair condition of official Baku
is complied with, using international experience to solve the problem
is possible.”
Azimov warned that if Yerevan fails to relinquish its non-constructive
stance, this will not be in its favor. “Some countries have refused to
forge ties with Armenia altogether due to its occupation claims against
Azerbaijan. Half of Armenia’s population has left the country. Such
a stalemate could lead to escalating tensions,” he said.
As for the upcoming replacement of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group’s US
co-chairman, Steven Mann, the diplomat said this would not negatively
affect peace talks in any way. He added that the Azerbaijani government
had been content with the mediator’s activity.