Azerbaijan to continue Karabakh talks - FM
BAKU. Dec 30 (Interfax) - Azerbaijan will continue the Karabakh peace talks as long as a chance to peacefully settle this conflict remains, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said in an interview with the Azerbaijani media.
"No tangible progress was made at the talks promoting a settlement of this conflict this year, but it would be wrong to say that 'the talks are at an impasse'," Mammadyarov said.
"Multiple meetings and concrete initiatives put forward this year" indicate that the negotiations must go on, he said.
"We have always said that as long as the opportunity to peacefully settle the conflict via negotiations exists, we will be using it. Of course, the goal is to spur on the process by means of substantive talks on the essence of the problem," Mammadyarov said.
All documents prepared in the earlier period clarify the phased settlement of the conflict and the establishment of Karabakh's status in the subsequent period, he said.
"As for the questions of security and status, which Armenia keeps bringing up, I'd like to reaffirm that both issues should be regulated within the settlement process consistent with relevant decisions of the OSCE and the UN Security Council resolutions which, as you know, have no prescription period. What status can we be talking about without the return of the Azerbaijani population to Karabakh? Besides, both Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of the region deem the security issue to be important, and everyone knows that international peacekeeping mechanisms should be put to use," Mammadyarov said.
Azerbaijan is holding talks for the sake of fixing the violation of international law and restoring its sovereignty within the internationally recognized borders, he said.
"We are holding the negotiations in order to free the occupied Azerbaijani lands," Mammadyarov said.