Тофик Зульфугаров
Baku / 08.12.17 / Turan: It is too early to talk about progress in the Karabakh settlement issue, and there are no grounds for this, as well as anything new in the statement of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries.
The former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Tofig Zulfugarov told Turan about this, commenting on the results of the Mammadyarov-Nalbandian meeting and the statement of the Foreign Ministers of the United States, Russia and France that followed this meeting.
"In fact, there is an imitation of the negotiation process," he said.
At the same time, he called "ridiculous" the attempt of the co-chair countries to put the settlement issue on the shoulders of the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
"The Security Council's resolutions unequivocally demand the liberation of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and there is no mention of equal responsibility of the parties there. The great powers just do not want the implementation of the UN resolutions," Zulfugarov said.
As for appeals to implement decisions taken after the April 2016 battles, the former Minister called these battles a consequence, not a cause. The fighting resumed because there were no real negotiations on the settlement.
"While the main issue is not solved, why should they want all these small steps to ensure security? Maybe they just want to freeze the current situation, but Azerbaijan cannot do this," he said.
The ex-Minister believes that to make progress in the negotiations it is necessary to exert pressure on Armenia.
"As for compromises, first of all, Armenia is obliged to implement the resolutions of the UN Security Council. Only after this, when determining the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, Baku can make compromise steps. If this does not happen, there is no other way than war," Zulfugarov said. -03B-
Politics
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Armenia is not against the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group, but does not consider it appropriate to discuss this issue now. "In the context of peace, we consider it possible to make a decision on the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group. When peace is an established fact, the existence of such a format may raise questions," Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a press conference today. "The whole question is about the timing, we need to understand how effectively and correctly to turn such topics into a subject of discussion right now," the Armenian Prime Minister added.
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He expressed his willingness to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the border between the two countries. "A meeting with Ilham Aliyev could take place at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. I am open to such a format," Pashinyan said at a press conference today. According to Pashinyan, Armenia recently presented another proposal for a peace treaty to Azerbaijan.
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On August 31, Azerbaijan observes a "day of silence" before the Sunday’s early parliamentary elections for the unicameral Milli Majlis. All electoral campaigning is prohibited 24 hours before the voting. The early elections were initiated by the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party. This decision was motivated by the overlap of the scheduled elections in November with the global UN forum - the COP20 climate conference taking place in Baku.
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On August 30, at approximately 22:55, the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant in Metsamor was disconnected from the country's power grid, as reported by the Armenian Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure. The shutdown was caused by a lightning strike, which triggered the plant's safety systems to switch the station to a safe shutdown mode. Currently, the plant's staff is working on restarting the facility.
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