Elmar Mammadyarov has repeated that Armenia's withdrawal from the districts of Kelbajar and Lachin will be discussed with his Armenian counterpart.
He was speaking at a joint press conference in Baku today with Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado.
Mammadyarov said that the return of Kelbajar and Lachin districts was covered in the updated Madrid principles, put forward by the OSCE mediators as a basis for negotiations.
The two districts are especially sensitive as they lie between the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.
"The updated Madrid principles envision the return of Kelbajar and Lachin districts to Azerbaijan within five years. This was proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. During the talks when Kocharyan was president, Armenia suggested a 10-year term for the return of these two districts, while Azerbaijan insisted on one year. When Sargsyan came to power in Armenia, Yerevan’s new position was seven years, while Baku insisted on three years," Mammadyarov said.
"As a result, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs proposed a five-year term for the return of Kelbajar and Lachin districts to Azerbaijan’s administrative control. Azerbaijan accepts this proposal of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs."
Armenia's deputy foreign minister, Shavarsh Kocharyan, on Friday dismissed any talk of the return of the two districts unless Azerbaijan agreed to accept the results of a referendum on the status of Karabakh, another of the proposals in the updated Madrid principles
Mammadyarov was back on the offensive today about Armenia's position in the talks.
"We find it difficult to hold talks when Yerevan again raises decisions that have already been coordinated on these two districts. The return of Kelbajar and Lachin was discussed at the presidential meeting in St Petersburg, as Russia wishes to reach a breakthrough in this issue as soon as possible. This topic will be discussed in Almaty on 16-17 July," Mammadyarov said.
Asked about the peacekeepers who, under the OSCE proposals, are to be positioned in the Nagorno-Karbakh conflict area once troops have been withdrawn, Mammadyarov said that the peacekeepers would not be drawn from neighbouring countries or the Minsk Group co-chairing states, France, Russia and the USA.
"This decision was taken at the OSCE summit in Budapest," Mammadyarov said.
He was asked about the return of the body of an Azerbaijani soldier killed in a clash on the contact line separating Armenian and Azerbaijani troops on 18 June.
"I believe that we will be able to get the body back with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross," he said and expressed surprise that the Armenian side should have kept the body for so long.
1 news.az, Interfax-Azerbaijan
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