Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Iran is ready to become a mediator in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict if there is willingness of the conflict parties, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araghchi said at a press conference on July 9, Iranian news channel IRINN reported.

"The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be resolved through negotiations," he said.

According to Araghchi, the conflict parties are interested in resolving the conflict with the aid of the OSCE Minsk Group, but if Azerbaijan and Armenia want, Iran is also ready to assist in solving the problem.

Answering a question about the upcoming presidential elections in Azerbaijan, Araghchi said that their holding is Azerbaijan's internal affair.

He also expressed hope that the election will be conducted based on the desire of the Azerbaijani people and will be successful.

"Iran and Azerbaijan are two friendly countries which are bound by historical, political, economic and cultural ties," he added.

In June, Kazzem Jalali, an Iranian legislator and Head of the Parliament's Research Center, expressed Tehran's readiness to facilitate resolution of the long-standing Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. Jalali noted, however, that Tehran's involvement in the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement would be subject to a request and the approval of both sides.

The legislator said Iran has defended Azerbaijan's territorial integrity in all international organizations, including the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and will continue to support the neighboring country's integrity in the future.

Iran has on several occasions offered to mediate the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Recently, Iran's Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pak Ayeen said that Iran was ready to assist in the resolution of the conflict. He noted that Iran's good relations with Azerbaijan and Armenia allow it to help settle the conflict.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against the neighboring country. Since a lengthy war between the two South Caucasus countries that displaced over a million Azerbaijanis and ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on a pullout from the occupied territories.

Peace talks brokered by OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs representing the United States, Russia and France have been largely fruitless so far.

The negotiations are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles, also known as Basic Principles. The document envisions a return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; determining the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh; a corridor linking Armenia to the region; and the right of all internally displaced persons to return home.