‘RIDICULOUS’ TO THINK SIDES CAN RESOLVE KARABAKH THEMSELVES, SAYS BAKU
news.az
Dec 8 2011
Azerbaijan
A senior presidential official has dismissed comments that Armenian
and Azerbaijan should resolve the Karabakh conflict themselves.
The head of the foreign relations department at the Presidential
Administration, Novruz Mammadov, made the comments as he reviewed
work done in 2011 to solve the conflict.
The international community, particularly the heads of the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairing states, should change their position on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Mammadov said.
“We have witnessed all the processes of this conflict – the occupation
of Azerbaijani lands. Having witnessed this, the West says that
the sides should solve the problem themselves and the international
community will support them. And this sounds ridiculous in the system
of international relations. This cannot last long. They should take a
clear position, and get the Armenian troops withdrawn from the occupied
territories under the UN Security Council resolutions. If there is
international law, it must be applied. Then the co-chairs will know
what they need to do and take the necessary steps,” Mammadov said.
Speaking at the OSCE Ministerial Council earlier this week, ministers
from the Minsk Group co-chairing countries – France, Russia and the
USA – expressed regret that Azerbaijan and Armenia had been unable
to take the “decisive step” of finalizing the basic principles,
also known as the Madrid principles, for a settlement to the conflict.
Novruz Mammadov blamed Armenia for the failure to make progress.
“The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs understand very well that the talks
and steps taken have not produced the desired results. Talks were
initially held based on the Prague process and later based on Madrid
principles for over seven years. There were great hopes for significant
progress in the conflict resolution in June this year.
“However in the course of the talks, the international community,
the co-chairs themselves and even the Russian president, who also
attended the talks, once again witnessed that the Armenian side uses
various pretexts to delay the negotiating process. All proposals
made by Armenia are unacceptable in the international community,”
Mammadov claimed.
“As you know, the heads of state of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing
countries issued various statements this year. In accordance with
these statements, the Azerbaijani side adopted the Madrid principles
and demonstrated the will to solve the problem. Therefore, the Minsk
Group co-chairs also believe that it is high time to take serious
steps,” he continued.
“The co-chairs have made unfruitful visits to the region for over 20
years. Is there is a need for this group to continue to operate if
professional politicians from each state fail to join this process and
take productive steps? I believe that given the above, the co-chairs
should work to develop new and serious steps.”
Asked about Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian’s remarks that
Azerbaijan creates obstacles to monitoring in the region and that the
status quo should be maintained, Novruz Mammadov again blamed Armenia.
“It is commonplace for the Armenian side to make such remarks. They
often use similar tactics to delay the negotiating process. The
international community is also well aware that the Armenian side from
time to time spreads such false information to disrupt the process
to tackle the problem and puts forward unacceptable proposals.
“Despite Armenia’s statements aimed at conflict resolution, it does
not take any steps in that direction because they do not want to. If
the Armenian side believes that making such statements from time
to time is useful for it, it is wrong. Perhaps some members of the
Armenian government seek to stay in power through such methods. This
is a great tragedy for the Armenian people. What is most ridiculous
and absurd is that, aware of their tragedy, they remain committed to
this,” Mammadov said.