Azerbaijani Foreign Minister: "The format of negotiations on settlement of Karabakh conflict remains unchanged"

Baku. 25 December. REPORT.AZ/ "Firstly, I would like to mention that our country's position on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been repeatedly voiced on all international platforms. The conflict should be solved on the basis of territorial integrity and sovereignty within the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan, " Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told Report.

The minister noted that the legal framework of the settlement of conflict includes, first of all, the resolution of 1993 adopted by the UN Security Council, which is responsible for ensuring peace and security in the world, decisions and resolutions of many other international organizations, including the OSCE, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Non-Aligned Movement, GUAM, NATO, the European Parliament and other documents, as well as joint documents adopted in bilateral and multilateral formats: "Unfortunately, many years of negotiations on the settlement of the conflict have not yielded any results.

Recent developments in Armenia, as well as conversations between the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Armenian Prime Minister on the sidelines of the Dushanbe and St. Petersburg Summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the three meetings between me and my Armenian counterpart seem promising in terms of forwarding the negotiation process. The Joint Statement adopted during the OSCE Ministerial Meeting on December 6, by Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries and Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia, stresses the agreement to continue negotiations on a peaceful and fair settlement of the conflict. This means that the format of the negotiations remains unchanged. It also stresses the call for concrete steps for the implementation of the agreement reached in Dushanbe at the level of heads of the two countries and the preparation of the population of both countries for peace. Another important point is that the joint statement reflects the thought on holding intensive, result-oriented negotiations on the level of the Azerbaijani and Armenian leadership in the near future to promote a just and lasting solution to the conflict. I would like to state that this approach is fully supported by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

In general, I would like to note that after the elections in December this year Armenia's current leadership should demonstrate its political will to resolve the conflict and work towards achieving peace, stability and sustainable development in the region in line with good neighborhood philosophy”.