Azerbaijani Press: Baku rejects Karabakh’s involvement in peace talks

[Armenian News note: the below is translated from the Azeri edition of APA]

Azerbaijan has rejected Armenia’s claims that breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh was listed as a full party to the conflict in some international documents.

“The Minsk group was set up by a decision of the OSCE Helsinki Ministerial Council in 1992 and Armenia and Azerbaijan were recognised as parties to the conflict, whereas Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian and Azeri communities were recognised as interested parties,” APA news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Hikmat Haciyev as saying on 22 May.

Haciyev was responding to his Armenian counterpart Tigran Balayan’s remarks that Karabakh is a full party to the conflict and its participation in the peace talks is necessary in order to find a solution to the conflict.

Haciyev went on to say that it was Armenia that seized Azerbaijani territories, including Nagorno-Karabakh.

“A party to the conflict is the Republic of Armenia, which bears responsibility under the international legal norms for the use of force against Azerbaijan and for the military occupation of Azerbaijani territories. Azerbaijan’s biggest concession is that it has been holding talks with Armenia, the aggressor state, for 25 years,” Haciyev said.

“The Republic of Armenia bears full responsibility for the continuing violations of international legal norms as it started and is continuing aggression against Azerbaijan, has occupied our country’s internationally recognised territories, has its armed forces present in the occupied territories, and is responsible for the expulsion of hundreds of thousands Azerbaijani nationals from the occupied territories,” he said.

Haciyev went on to say that the new Armenian leadership should withdraw Armenian troops from Azerbaijani territories, a step which would facilitate reaching a lasting peace.