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Azerbaijani President: â€œFor the first stage, negotiations should be resumed as soon as possibleâ€

15 March 2017 01:29 (UTC +04:00)

“France, as the co-chair of the Minsk Group, makes efforts to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We highly appreciate these efforts”, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said this in a press statement on March 14 in Paris after the signing ceremony.

The Head of State specially noted the meeting with the President of Armenia that held at the end of 2014 at the initiative of F. Hollande at the Elysee Palace: “It was very constructive and positive meeting. Unfortunately, after this meeting, there was certain stagnation in the negotiation process. We want an early resolution of the issue on the basis of norms and principles of international law. Armenia has occupied Azerbaijan’s lands that recognized by the international community for many years. Occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and the adjacent seven regions. Out of these regions, the entire Azerbaijani population, hundreds of thousands of people, has been expelled. All infrastructure and buildings are destroyed there”.

Azerbaijani President emphasized that the OSCE fact-finding factions visited the occupied lands twice and reflected this in their reports: “The UN Security Council adopted in the context of the conflict four resolutions that openly state that the Armenian forces must be withdrawn immediately and unconditionally from the occupied lands. These resolutions were adopted in the early 1990s. Armenia, as it appears, is not inclined to implement these resolutions. Therefore, for the first stage, negotiations should be resumed as soon as possible. Armenia should not evade negotiations. As Mr. Hollande noted, the status quo is unacceptable. The presidents of the countries co-chairing the Minsk Group - France, Russia and America have repeatedly stated that the status quo is unacceptable. We say the same thing, we want an early change in the status quo and the end of the conflict, so that peace is guaranteed in our region, and Azerbaijani settlers could return to their native lands”.