Azerbaijan is ready to start working on a peace agreement within the framework of a specific time schedule, Azerbaijani foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov said March 13 at a meeting with the rapporteur of the Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Robert Walter, according the message of the foreign ministry.
The sides exchanged views on the negotiation process to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, conducted through the mediation of the co-chairs of OSCE Minsk Group.
Mammadyarov noted the inadmissibility of changing internationally recognized borders of the state and said that in order to resolve the conflict, Armenian armed forces must first withdraw from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
He said that Armenia continues to demonstrate a non-constructive position, carry out an aggressive policy and prevent the settlement of the conflict.
The sides exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest at the meeting.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council’s four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
Trend.az