Yerevan, Baku cannot settle relations without considering rights of Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenians - Armenian FM

YEREVAN. July 21 (Interfax) - Yerevan and Baku will be unable to settle their relations without taking the rights of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh into consideration, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said.

"Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot settle their relations without taking the rights and security of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh into consideration. The humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is very difficult now, and we're close to a humanitarian disaster. There is a need for the international community's urgent assistance," the Armenian Foreign Ministry quoted Mirzoyan as saying in an interview with the Austrian publication Der Standard.

Armenia and Azerbaijan should avoid another round of hostility, he said.

"Too much blood has been spilled in the South Caucasus. Mutual recognition of each other's territorial integrity would be of key significance" for settling Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, Mirzoyan said.

"There is disappointment in Armenian society regarding the activity of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh and Moscow's response to Azerbaijan's invasion of Armenian territory," he said.

"We have appealed to the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization], and a monitoring mission led by the CSTO secretary general was dispatched. But we expected more. This is not a secret," Mirzoyan said.