AZERBAIJAN RULES OUT DIRECT CONTACTS WITH KARABAGH

[MosJan]

AZERBAIJAN RULES OUT DIRECT CONTACTS WITH KARABAGH

BAKU, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS: Azerbaijani foreign minister Vilayat Quliyev said direct contacts between Baku and Nagorno Karabagh to regulate the conflict were not possible at current stage of negotiation process.

Quliyev was quoted by the Baku-based Echo daily as saying that Baku does not regard Stepanakert as a conflicting side. The message of Azerbaijani foreign minister came as a response to Karabagh leader Arkady Ghukasian's announcement that Stepanakert leadership was ready to travel to Baku to negotiate with Azeri leadership over the settlement of the conflict.

Quliyev said that Azerbaijan was holding negotiations with Armenia, as "the conflict erupted as a result of the latter's territorial claims to Azerbaijan." Quliyev argued that the 100,000 strong Armenian community could not occupy one fifth of Azerbaijani lands. "It is clear that Armenia backs Nagorno Karabagh and that is why Azerbaijan is holding negotiations with it, but not with Karabagh," he said.

Quliyev did not rule out that Nagorno Karabagh side might join the negotiations given a tangible breakthrough in the negotiations was reached.

Azerbaijani minister also criticized an idea voiced by his Armenian counterpart Vartan Oskanian that a referendum on independence could be hold in Karabagh five years after the return of the Karabagh Azeri community. Quliyev described the idea as "baseless."