AZERI FOREIGN MINISTER BLAMES ARMENIA FOR REFUSING DIRECT TALKS

Turan news agency, Baku,
26 Sep 2006

New York, 26 September: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov has blamed Armenia for refusing direct talks on a Karabakh
settlement. Addressing the 61st session of the UN General Assembly
yesterday [25 September], he said that Armenia was displaying a
non-constructive position on the settlement of the conflict.

The parties to the conflict as well as the [OSCE Minsk Group]
mediators view a stage-by-stage solution as "the only possible way"
of resolving the conflict, Mammadyarov said.

"There are two major sticking points – finding an autonomous status
for the population of the occupied Nagornyy Karabakh region and
the withdrawal of the Armenian troops from Azerbaijan’s occupied
territories," he said.

"We believe that the issue of status cannot be resolved today. The
status can be defined as a result of a peaceful, democratic and lawful
process with the direct participation of both the Azerbaijani and
Armenian communities of Nagornyy Karabakh," the minister added.

Mammadyarov noted that the occupying forces must leave the Azerbaijani
territories and necessary conditions should be created for the return
of the Azerbaijani refugees to Nagornyy Karabakh and to the surrounding
districts of Azerbaijan.

"Such a course of events would provide the necessary conditions for
the next stage of the settlement. In the next stage, life in the
conflict zone and also inter-community relations will be restored,
social and economic development will be ensured and an autonomous
model will be found for the region within Azerbaijan. We demand
unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces from all the occupied
territories. This position is in line with the UN Security Council
Resolutions [on the Karabakh conflict] and an OSCE decision on the
restoration of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,"
Mammadyarov said.