Baku ready for OSCE Minsk Group-brokered talks with Yerevan on Karabakh - Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry
BAKU. May 10 (Interfax) - Baku is ready to continue negotiations with Yerevan aimed at settling the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh as soon as possible, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev told Interfax.
"Azerbaijan is ready to engage in substantive talks with Armenia in order to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with the OSCE Minsk Group's mediation and on the basis of the current agenda," Hajiyev said.
Hopefully, Armenia's new leadership will pursue a policy aimed at normalizing relations with the country's neighbors, he said.
"Azerbaijan still hopes that the new political leadership of Armenia will not repeat the mistakes committed by its predecessors, but will pursue a healthy diplomatic policy and seek to build civilized relations with neighboring countries. The settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will ensure peace and stability in the region, benefiting the citizens of Armenia, above all," Hajiyev said in response to new Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's comments about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"The ball is now in Armenia's court. There is no need to reinvent the bicycle," he said.
Instead of launching long-needed socio-economic reforms, Armenia's new prime minister prefers to engage in political campaigning by touching on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, Hajiyev said.
"We regret that he [Pashinyan] is issuing controversial statements regarding the negotiating process to resolve the conflict," he said.
Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenian community can exercise its right to self-determination within Azerbaijan's borders, Hajiyev said.
"It means that they will live side by side [with other communities] in conditions of peace, prosperity, and dignity for the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities within the framework of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan," he said.