No Progress in Negotiations on Karabakh - Zulfugarov

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-