Armenian side shies away from meeting with Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

No meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Nagorno-Karabakh is planned at the moment, Chairman of the Azerbaijani community Bayram Safarov told Trend on June 7.

Safarov, who is also the head of the Shusha Region Executive Power, said that a meeting is impossible while the current Armenian authorities are in power, adding that the Armenian side has always avoided meetings.

“Armenians are afraid of meeting with us. On the other hand, they are not up to it,” said Safarov. “There is a tense situation in Armenia, difficult social condition, poverty, more and more other problems and Armenians are leaving the country. Whom can they send to the meeting in such circumstances?” he asked.

The Armenian government is strongly against a meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Nagorno-Karabakh. The last such meeting was held eight years ago, in 2009. Since then, the initiative has stalled because of the reluctance of Armenian side.

Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan by laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.