President Aliyev on Results of St. Petersburg Summit

«The Azerbaijani state will never allow creation of the second Armenian state on its historical lands. It is not a subject of negotiation and has never been it. The question can find a solution in stages, and I am sure that we can resolve the issue in this way, said President Ilham Aliyev, speaking to a group of soldiers.

"After the April events, the Armenian leadership put forward a number of conditions for the continuation of negotiations. None of them, of course, could be accepted, since no one can put forward conditions before us. Negotiations are not a favor to us. The Armenian side is well aware of what awaits them if the talks are frozen or broken. So, naturally, the Azerbaijani side was involved in the negotiations, not accepting any conditions. The Vienna meeting was held on the initiative of the USA. I believe that this meeting had positive results. That is, the conditions put forward by the Armenian side were not accepted. In Vienna, the Azerbaijani side did not sign any document. Simply the co-chairing countries made a statement, and this was their statement.

A month later, already on the initiative of the Russian side, there was a meeting in St. Petersburg. We welcome this meeting. We go to these talks without accepting any conditions. Negotiations should be meaningful, substantive, and they should not be held just for appearances or imitation," Aliyev said.

In St. Petersburg, the sides also discussed the issue of increasing the number of the workers of the office of the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman. If today six people work in the office, their number can be increased by a maximum of 2-2.5 times. That is, we are not talking about a large mission. The mandate of the office does not change either. As for the Armenians’ offer to extend the incident investigation mechanism, I think there is no need for this. If the point of this is to freeze the conflict and take any additional action on the contact line, Azerbaijan, of course, will not do that.

This is possible if the negotiation process continues the positive dynamics and if we see concrete results and know when our lands will be liberated from the occupation. Then, of course, a variety of mechanisms can be developed and the matter can be discussed.

The Azerbaijani side and I personally have repeatedly said that we can resolve the conflict only through a gradual option, since otherwise it is impossible. Armenia has always tried to further complicate the situation and to break the negotiation process and the phased solution option. But we believe that it is the most appropriate way.

 As for the Nagorno-Karabakh's status, it is something for the future. Of course, a certain status can take place. E.g., the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic exists as a part of Azerbaijan and has a status of autonomy. Europe and other countries have a progressive experience and different statuses. However, the status should not violate the territorial integrity of our country," Aliyev said. -02D-