Azerbaijan ready for comprehensive, substantive talks on Karabakh conflict

Azerbaijan is ready for comprehensive and substantive talks on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Hikmet Hajiyev, spokesman for Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry, told Trend on May 26th.

Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov is expected to meet with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in late May, he added.

"Armenia's foreign minister is again distorting the essence of the Vienna meeting [on May 16th]. The time is over for wordplays," said Hajiyev. "The proposals put forward as a result of the Vienna meeting are interrelated."

"The purpose of the ceasefire regime is to create grounds for the start of comprehensive and substantive talks," said the spokesperson. "The main part of the comprehensive political settlement to the conflict is changing the inadmissible and inconsistent status quo and withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani lands."

Hajiyev noted that if Armenia wants a ceasefire regime, it is necessary to put an end to the occupation of Azerbaijani lands and to the presence of Armenian troops on Azerbaijani territories, Trend informs.

"The basic principles of resolving the conflict have long been known. Armenia's foreign minister should make his people ready for peace and provide accurate information about the process of the conflict's settlement," he said. "Unfortunately, we see the opposite in reality."

Recall, on the night of April 2 all frontier positions of Azerbaijan were exposed to heavy fire from large-caliber weapons, mortars, grenade launchers and guns. In addition, Azerbaijani settlements near the front line, densely populated by civilians, were shelled.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20% of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US, are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.