BAKU: No Need for Talks on NNK with all Political Orgs, believes YAP

TREND News Agency, Azerbaijan
April 5 2008

No Need for Talks on Nagorno-Karabakh with all Political
Organizations, believes YAP
05.04.08 10:52

Azerbaijan, Baku, 4 April / corr. TrendNews I. Alizade/ The ruling
party of Azerbaijan does not support the forum and adoption of a
unified document with the participation of all the political parties
on the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

`The position of all the political parties on Nagorno-Karabakh is
similar. There are also opportunities to bring this position in the
notice of society and international organizations. Therefore, there
is no need to hold a forum for participation of all the parties,’ Ali
Ahmadov, the executive secretary of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party,
said to media.

The oppositional Democratic Party of Azerbaijan believes there are
similar opinions on Nagorno-Karabakh in both government and
opposition, and dialogue should be held in this regard.

The Resolution on `Situation in Occupied Lands of Azerbaijan’ was
adopted by UN in March. The co-chair countries of OSCE Minsk group
voted against the document, which was strongly condemned by the
Azerbaijani government and opposition.

According to Ahmadov, as the parties have common interests and
positions on Nagorno-Karabakh, therefore, there is no need for
getting together to inform of the respective positions, once again.
`The positions of the parties on Nagorno-Karabakh coincide with the
national interests,’ he said.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful
negotiations.