• Newspapers

  • 168 Hours Weekly
  • Aravot newspaper
  • ArmeniaNow Weekly
  • ArmPress.com
  • Asbarez Daily
  • AZG Armenian Daily
  • Delovoy Express weekly
  • Golos Armenii
  • Hayastany Hanrapetutyun daily
  • Hetq Online
  • Iravunk newspaper
  • Novoe Vremia newspaper
  • Republica Armenia newspaper
  • Zhamanak Daily

• Recently Written

  • СТРАТЕГИЧЕСКИЕ ПАРТНЕРЫ ВО ВСЕХ ОТНОШЕНИЯХ
  • Քոչարյանի շանսը
  • «Մեկ կադր, մեկ րոպե»-ն` 21-րդ դարի կինոփառատոն
  • Если Турция обманет Армению, то она обманет себя
  • XXI век и армянский вопрос
  • WHAT IS KARS AGREEMENT?
  • What Happens Next?
  • Coalition Exit: Armenia’s hardline party pulls out of government over policy difference
  • ԹՈՒՐՔ ԴԻՎԱՆԱԳԵՏՆԵՐԸ ԳՈՐԾՈՒՄ ԵՆ ԹԻԿՈՒՆՔԻՑ
  • The choice is yours

• Search
• 
  
• 

In an interview with a Russian state-run TV company aired on Saturday evening, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Baku appreciated the importance of a land link between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-populated area that declared its independence from Baku in 1991, but again called for the withdrawal of “Armenian occupation force” from the territories surrounding the disputed area.

“Azerbaijan’s position on Nagorno-Karabakh reflects both the security of the people who live there now and will live there in the future, as well as issues of Nagorno-Karabakh’s local administration and restoration of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity,” Aliyev said in an interview with Vesti-RTR while on a visit to Moscow late last week.

“In this context a decision on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh can be postponed indefinitely,” he stressed.

The Azerbaijani leader, whose talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev focused also on the Nagorno-Karabakh problem and issues of broader regional security, reiterated, however, that there can be no unilateral decision on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh and that Azerbaijan “will never take part in processes that would imply a mechanism of Nagorno-Karabakh’s juridical separation from Azerbaijan.”

“It is necessary to remove the consequences of the conflict and achieve a withdrawal of Armenian occupation forces from the territory surrounding the administrative border of the former Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous republic. Stage by stage,” he said.

Voicing a hope that “the Armenian side will approach these issues with a constructive spirit”, Aliyev said: “We understand the importance of having a land link between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh for the Armenian side. In this case we see no problems. And issues connected with the Lachin corridor may be solved effectively so that there are no worries among the people who live in Nagorno-Karabakh today and among the Azerbaijani population that will return there after the settlement of the conflict.”

Russia’s Medvedev joined Aliyev and Armenian leader Serzh Sargsyan in signing a declaration in Moscow last November that called for efforts to find a negotiated settlement to the long-running conflict based on international law and excluding a military scenario – something that had acquired particular topicality in the volatile region following the Russian-Georgian war last August.

Aliyev later effectively disavowed his pledge as in his several public statements he suggested Baku had not given up its intentions of regaining control over Nagorno-Karabakh and considered all options, including a military one, for achieving this aim.

Meanwhile, President Sargsyan will pay what was announced as a working visit to Moscow later this week. A cluster of regional topics, including Nagorno-Karabakh and prospects of Armenian-Turkish relations are likely to feature prominently during Sargsyan’s talks with Medvedev.

By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Source: http://www.armenianow.com

Permanent link:  http://www.armpress.com/armenianow/2009/04/21/1475/

Comments