“In order to create opportunities of progress in the regulation of the NKR conflict the parties should agree to avoid steps, which may hinder the peaceful resolution process. And the parties should also avoid marring the essence of the negotiations, which was just now done by the minister of Azerbaijan,” during the OSCE ministers’ session in Athens, the Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandyan said in response to his Azerbaijani counterpart’s statement, “Armenia is occupying almost 30 percent of his country’s internationally recognized territory, displacing hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis and destroying their cultural heritage. We in Azerbaijan strongly believe that withdrawal of Armenian troops in a fixed time framework from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan will open a tremendous opportunity for the region, providing different environment of predictability, development and benefit for everyone and for the entire region. This is the core of the issue.” The Armenian Foreign Minister expressed gratitude to the international community for its unreserved support in the process of normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations. “Today I am glad to announce that Turkey and Armenia have made a significant step by signing the protocols on normalizing relations on October 10 in Zurich. The next step, which the two states should keep up is the ratification of the protocols. We hope that this important step will be taken and Armenia and Turkey will get to the realization of the agreed provisions. The unsubstantiated delays, including the attempts of linking this issue with the NKR conflict, may harm the prospects of the two processes,” said Nalbandyan. By thanking the international community including Switzerland, USA, Russia, France and other EU states for their support to the process Edward Nalbandyan underlined that all countries of the world expressed their support for the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations, except Azerbaijan. The latter is against the normalization of relations and this goes against the international community and the basic principles of the OSCE. “The five Heads of Delegation recalled the commitments in the November 2008 Moscow Declaration and the December 2008 Helsinki OSCE Ministerial Statement. They noted the positive dynamic in the talks, demonstrated through six meetings this year between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. They agreed that the increasing frequency of these meetings has significantly contributed to an enhanced dialogue between the parties and forward movement toward finalizing the Basic Principles for the Peaceful Settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, proposed in Madrid on November 29, 2007.” During the same session Elmar Mammadyarov stated, “Azerbaijan insists on the restoration of its control over Nagorno-Karabakh despite accepting peoples’ right to self-determination as one of the core principles for resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute. Providing self-governance for Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan will be a just and durable solution, and it can dramatically reduce tensions and challenges for peace and stability in the region.” The remark highlighted the conflicting parties’ differing public interpretations of the basic principles of a Karabakh settlement put forward by the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. The proposed agreement calls for the liberation of Azerbaijani territories surrounding Karabakh and a future referendum of self-determination in the Armenian-controlled territory. The Armenian Foreign Minister drew the attention of the OSCE-member countries’ foreign ministers to Azerbaijan’s violations of the international commitments to limit the use of arms, the frequent war-like declarations and violating the principle of not applying force or using the threat of force, which is one of the basic principles of international law. Still, both ministers noted that the parties have moved closer to hammering out a compromise peace accord. “I should admit that there are positive dynamics in the latest talks and both sides together with the Minsk Group Co-chairs agreed to intensify negotiations. We in Azerbaijan strongly believe that the removal of Armenian forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan will open up great opportunities for the region and a favorable environment will be created for the development. This is the essence of the issue,” said Mammadyarov. Let us mention that Nalbandyan didn’t respond to Mammadyarov when speaking of removing the troops from the occupied territories.
