Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Welcomes Sergey Lavrov’s Position

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry welcomed and accepted the statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov that the initiation of the procedure of recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh is just an offer of two Armenian deputies and official Yerevan is committed to the peace process, which excludes unilateral determination of the status of the region.

"Azerbaijan has always declared that it is ready to conduct substantive (subject) and productive talks, involving the release of the occupied Azerbaijani territories," said the official representative of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmet Hajiyev, expressing attitude towards Lavrov's statement.

At the same time, he stressed that from the constant violations of the ceasefire along the line of contact the civilian population of Azerbaijan suffers. As a result of Armenia's ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijani population on the other side of the contact line of troops under the control of Armenia, there are no civilians. "Prevention of violations of the ceasefire and the establishment of a mechanism to investigate incidents should be an integral part of the process of withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan," said Hajiyev.

The road map to resolve the conflict is known and Armenia is very well aware that under the settlement of the conflict the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is to be provided, Hajiyev said.

The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ashould bring the Armenian leadership to peace and negotiations on a constructive basis, summed up the Foreign Ministry spokesman. -06D-