Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry about latest statement of Armenia on Nagorno Karabakh

APA reports quoting the Foreign Ministry press center. The statement reads:

"Statement of the Armenian MFA dated June 26, 2006 is yet another testament to the regretfully unchanging non-constructive position of the Armenian side on the conflict resolution.

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and, notably, the US Co-Chair Matthew Bryza have indicated only the general outline of the individual principles of stage-by-stage peaceful settlement, currently under discussion, which can not be taken out of general context of the proposed document. This creates prerequisites for lack of understanding or overlapping notions, as well as for speculations such as the ones reflected in the statement by the MFA of Armenia.

Definition of status is impossible under the conditions of continuing occupation and ethnic cleansing and, accordingly, envisages liberation of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and demilitarization of the whole conflict zone, which, provided that appropriate international security guarantees are in place, will create conditions for return of the forcibly displaced population of Azerbaijan to their homes. This is acknowledged by the Armenian leadership as well.

The Azerbaijan side once again re-affirms being prepared to grant Nagorno Karabakh highest status of self-rule within the framework of the internationally-recognized territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan and based on the current Constitution of Azerbaijan. Such an approach, based on the norms and principles of international law and constitutional, is the only possibility to reach durable solution.

With the aim of establishing inter-communal peace and harmony, as well as creating objective conditions for defining the region's status, and also taking into consideration the perspective of the region's further development, Azerbaijan will be prepared to review, in conformity with the precedents as existing in the international practice, implementation of a complex of economic and other incentives for the population of Nagorno Karabakh after the restoration of its ethnic composition as of the pre-conflict period.

Position of Azerbaijan at the negotiations remains constructive and meets interests of not only our multi-ethnic state, but also of the international community as a whole. Any attempts to achieve changes in the position through blackmail and threats, by using the tactic of turning the occupied territories of our country into a hostage and the element of bargaining, are doomed to failure. Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is not the subject of negotiations and will never be.

Along with that, the Ministry re-affirms Azerbaijan side's adherence to continuing talks to achieve lasting and fair peace in the region. All blame and responsibility in case the peace process is undermined will fall on the Armenian side," the MFA states.