Karabakh conflict settlement to boost Armenia's independence - Azeri Foreign Ministry
BAKU. Feb 2 (Interfax) - A settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will open big economic prospects primarily for the population of Armenia, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said.
"As Prime Minister of Armenia, Mr. [Nikol] Pashinyan should be aware that a settlement of the conflict will lend impetus to the independence of Armenia and create new political situation and also open up big economic opportunities primarily for the population of Armenia," the ministry stated in response to Pashinyan's remarks during his visit to Germany.
The international resolutions and documents adopted in relation to the conflict, primarily the four UN Security Council resolutions, "require a full, immediate and unconditional withdrawal of troops by the Armenian invader from Azerbaijan's occupied territories," the statement said.
"First of all, we would like to remind that as the result of the conflict it is Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven areas abutting Azerbaijan that were occupied, and around a million of Azerbaijanis were subject to ethnic cleansing and forced to flee. All of the documents adopted in relation to a conflict settlement, and the proposals by the Minsk Group co-chairs of the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] are referring not to 'people' but the population of Armenian and Azerbaijani origin," the statement said.
It was reported that at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Friday the Armenian prime minister said that Azerbaijan's unwillingness to recognize Stepanakert as a party to the Karabakh conflict thwarted progress in the settlement talks.