Azerbaijani FM interviewed by Russian newspaper
Moscow, May 24 (AZERTAC). Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov, who was in Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, gave an interview to the Russian Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
Mammadyarov told of the state of the Russia-Azerbaijan relations, and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
When asked about shutting down the Gabala radar station and cancellation of the deal on the transit of the Azerbaijani oil via the Novorossiysk pipeline, Mammadyarov said that the level of Azerbaijan-Russia relation is high with 182 documents signed and 39 ones to be signed. According to him, the mentioned documents were terminated on the economic grounds.
"We respect our interests, our good neighborhood relations and understand what is happening in Russia. The same holds true for Moscow. This is called strategic partnership," the Minister said.
On the status of the OSCE in the territory of Azerbaijan, Mammadyarov underlined that Baku faces double standards with respect to OSCE`s work in the region even in evaluation of the internal situation in countries.
"For instance, the attempt of one of presidential contestants to shot the other one and hunger of the third one do not find their way in the official reports of the organization, and elections are characterized as transparent and democratic while processes in the other country are studied with microscope."
On the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Minister said, "Beginning from 2004, we held many meetings with my Armenian counterpart Vardan Oskanian in order to understand positions of Azerbaijan and Armenia, as if switching positions. This entered history books as the Prague process. There was understanding that the appalling element was the military factor - existence of Armenian armed forces in the territory of Azerbaijan, that is, we do not mentioned Karabakh understanding that there is the problem of status since the parliament terminated the status of the autonomous oblast of Karabakh. But before solving the status issue, and this is the matter of law, we need to remove all difficulties from the table. In this case, it is the presence of Armenian troops in the Azerbaijani lands where the Azerbaijani population does not live, existence of such an explosive element as refugees and displaced persons etc. What is the essence of Madrid principles being discussed? We get 7 regions around Nagorno-Karabakh with the fixed date, while Armenian side gets the temporary status of Karabakh aside from security warranties. In addition, there is also economic development, return of refugees, opening of communications, recovery of the normal and full living of people."
"We have to do it gradually with understanding of the fact that the status of Karabakh must be determined and this is first of all in the interests of Azerbaijan because it is in our territories - "grey zone"". We are ready to solve it with the Armenian side," he said.
According to the Minister, Azerbaijan suggests resuming reciprocal trips of people, which were organized several years ago with the assistance of Russia. Two such trips took place but then blocked by the Armenian side. The divide between our countries is increasing. Economy plays a great role in terms of resolution of various conflicts. "We do not want military hostilities," he said.
On the USA`s intention to withdraw troops from Afghanistan using route via the Caspian, Mammadyarov noted that multimodal transportation will be put in place from 2014. This means three routes: northern route - through Uzbekistan and Russia, the second - through Karachi, third - by plane to Baku and further through the railway or to Georgian ports in the Black sea or to Turkey after the launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which will happen this year. According to Mammadyarov, it is up to the NATO leadership as to which route to go for. The issue of the Caspian is under discussion. In his opinion, Caspian nations are discussing ban on presence of third countries on the shores of the Caspian. In accordance with the Azerbaijan`s legislation, the existence of the military base in the territory of Azerbaijan is ruled out.
Asked about impact of the military cooperation with Israel on relationship with Iran, Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan seeks to build its policy based on its own national interests. He noted that, some difficulties are there like with any neighbors but the sides try to find common ground. For example, Azerbaijani nationals have been recently released from custody in Tehran.
Other news in this section
