The Azerbaijani foreign minister has said that Armenia made proposals contradictory to the "concept" of Karabakh peace in recent talks in Kazan.
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov was present at the talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, mediated by the Russian president, which ended without agreement on 24 June.
He said in an exclusive interview with ANS PRESS that the Armenian side had made proposals contradictory to the concept of the peace process during the negotiations in Kazan.
This echoes criticism of Azerbaijan made by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian after the summit.
"The Azerbaijani side proposed about 10 amendments, and this was the reason that the meeting in Kazan saw no breakthrough," Nalbandian said.
Elmar Mammadyarov told ANS PRESS that six principles had been set out in the road map, or statement, that it had been hoped the presidents would adopt at the summit.
One of the principles is the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the districts adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh, Mammadyarov said.
“This principle has already collapsed too. Therefore, these discussions were of great importance to us. On the one hand, we continue talks for stability and peace in the region. It cannot be said that Armenia does not want the same. On the other hand, Yerevan has its own view of the process,” the Azerbaijani foreign minister said.
In earlier remarks about the Kazan summit, Elmar Mammadyarov said that the Armenian side had wanted too many concessions from Azerbaijan.
He said, however, that the presidents had agreed to continue talks and seek points of convergence of positions.
The six Basic Principles for a settlement, referred to by Elmar Mammadyarov, can be summed up as: the return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh providing guarantees for security and self-governance; a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh; the future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will; the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence; and international security guarantees that would include a peacekeeping operation.
Robert Bradtke, US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, the international body mediating a settlement to the Karabakh conflict, said before the Kazan talks that the Basic Principles were "a framework document of 14 paragraphs over five and a half pages which is a guide for the conflict parties about the way to hold talks to come to an agreement".
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