Armenia’s time for conflict settlement ‘ran out’
The time Armenia sought from Azerbaijan for settling the Upper
(Nagorno) Garabagh conflict has run out, Novruz Mammadov, head of
the foreign relations department of the Azerbaijan Presidential
Administration, told the press Wednesday.
Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said earlier that
Armenia is seeking time from Baku for its withdrawal from a part of
Azerbaijan’s territory it occupies. He said Aghdam, Fuzuli,
Jabrayil, Zangilan and Gubadly regions must be liberated, and the
Lachin road, which connects Upper Garabagh with Armenia’s
territory, opened up. Armenia wants time for freeing Lachin and
Kalbajar, another strategic district, which was reflected in the
mediating OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs’ proposals, Azimov said.
"Armenia has sought time not only regarding these two regions but
regarding all issues of the conflict settlement," Mammadov
commented. "This time frame was about two weeks. But several months
have now passed, but there has been no specific reaction from
them."
Mammadov said the Minsk Group co-chairs are working in this respect
and communicating with the sides.
"The co-chairs said Armenia will disclose its stance in the near
future. The issues being raised are the best way to a conflict
resolution, and Armenia has to understand this well. This should
also be a message to the leaders of the co-chairing countries that
Azerbaijan agrees with the draft they have prepared, and it is
possible to achieve a solution of the issue by putting pressure on
Armenia in this regard."
Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a war over the mountainous region of
Upper Garabagh in the early 1990s. The war claimed some 30,000
lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. Armenia has been
occupying over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s
internationally-recognized territory since then. The liberation of
the seven Azerbaijani districts at the initial stage was reflected
in the OSCE Madrid principles, with Lachin and Kalbajar to be freed
under special conditions.
The two South Caucasus republics signed a precarious cease-fire in
1994, but peace talks, brokered by the US, Russian and French
mediators, have been largely fruitless so far.*