Elmar Mammadyarov: United States propose to start work on a major agreement on Karabakh

The meeting of Secretary of State John Kerry with the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the framework of the NATO summit was fact-finding. Kerry wanted to know what America needs to do to advance the peace process, stated Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at today's press conference in Baku after talks with his Moldovan counterpart Natalia Gherman. "The U.S. Secretary of State  wants to study in depth the process of settlement of the conflict that the United States knew in what direction should work. What America needs to do first of all to settle the conflict as soon as possible? He voiced the idea that Azerbaijan and Armenia together with the co-launched started more substantive work on the project of the Great Peace Agreement. Of course, the Great Peace Agreement will be based on the Madrid principles," continued the Minister.

According to him, the position of Baku remains the same - the negotiations should not be conducted for the sake of negotiations. Mammadyarov noted, first of all the Armenian army should be withdrawn from the occupied territories.  "In the current situation the biggest problem is the military. On the frontline soldiers are dying and this is unacceptable."

The Armenian side says the withdrawal of snipers, raises questions about the incident. Azerbaijan says that the main issue - the return of the military to the barracks. Azerbaijan will never agree with the presence of the Armenian army in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan," said Mammadyarov. "Probably the American co-chair will make a visit to the region. We agreed to hold at the end of September, the UN General Assembly in New York, meeting at the level of Foreign Ministers," said Mammadyarov. -03B-