The Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mamediarov announced yesterday
that at the present the Azeri are waiting for a response from Yerevan
concerning the Karabagh peace settlement due to the fact that President
Robert Kocharyan had called for a time out in order for the “exchange
of both Foreign Ministries and an analysis on the meetings.” The
Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan also said that “all negotiations are
directed towards Armenia freeing the seven regions of Nagorno
Karabagh.” The Russian co-president of Minsk’s European Security and
Cooperation Congress Yuri Merzlakov said the following regarding
Mamediarov’s speech: “After the meeting of both presidents in Astana,
when the co-presidents were giving a report of the results, the
Armenian president was doing all the talking. It seemed as if the Azeri
president was just nodding his head. I don’t understand this. As you
can see, everyone can give their own interpretation.” As for the
“return of Karabagh’s seven regions”, Merzliakov recalled the agreement
made about not speaking publicly about the negotiations and added that
the announcement made by the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan only
reflects upon one of the key points of the negotiations when, in
reality, there are many others. Basically, the Russian co-president has
affirmed the fact that the issue concerning the return of the seven
territories has been discussed. The issue concerns the seven liberated
territories and not the regions as the Armenian political figures
state. So, this is the return of all seven regions. In response to
Elmar Mamediarov’s speech, the press secretary of the Foreign Ministry
of Armenia Hamlet Gasparyan has said that “whatever Azerbaijan
announces or desires to do, we have said and reaffirm that during all
negotiations, Armenia considers the Karabagh peace settlement as the
primary issue.”
As you can see, no side denies the fact that the issue concerning the
return of the seven regions has been one of the issues being discussed.