Azeri vice speaker skeptical of NATO presence in occupied lands

Following the announcement, vice speaker Ziyafat Asgarov told Trend that the issue “as far as I know is not a subject of talks” between Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“On June 17, Foreign Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan and Vardan Oskanian of Armenia will continue to discuss ways of peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict, in France. There is a great possibility that the talks [between the ministers] would be a follow-up in the run up to the upcoming meeting of Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

It is well known that the presidents will discuss the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from seven occupied districts surrounding the upper part of Karabakh. Discussion on other issues is possible after a success of the meeting of presidents only,” Asgarov noted.

He added that the place and date of the upcoming meeting of presidents depends on the results of talks between foreign ministers of the sides of conflict.