By signing the statement of November 9, the President of Azerbaijan acknowledged the existence of Nagorno-Karabakh and this is an irreversible fact, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said in an interview with Armenpress.
The comments come after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated on May 27 that there is no Nagorno-Karabakh, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is resolved, and claimed there is no OSCE Minsk Group.
“We can show a valid document signed by the President of Azerbaijan, which states that there is Nagorno-Karabakh, it is the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020. By signing this document, the President of Azerbaijan acknowledged the existence of Nagorno-Karabakh, and this is an irreversible fact. We can show the official statements made by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, where they reaffirm their commitment as Co-Chairs. The United States and France have made such statements just this week,” the Foreign Minister said.
“The role of the OSCE MG Co-Chairs was also stressed by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and the President of the Russian Federation, in a joint statement adopted on April 19. At the OSCE Ministerial Council in Stockholm in December 2021, the Foreign Ministers of dozens of countries stressed the unique role of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” he continued.
Minister Mirzoyan stressed that the OSCE Minsk Group was created by the international community, not Azerbaijan. Therefore, he said, Azerbaijan cannot dissolve it or consider its mission completed.
“The same international community states today that the OSCE Minsk Group exists, as I mentioned, it states that there is a Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that needs to be resolved. This is enshrined in the above-mentioned statement of the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of the Russian Federation. The US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Armenia stated this quite recently, expressing the official position of the US. Moreover, in the same statement, it was emphasized that the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh status is on the agenda, the right of Artsakh Armenians to self-determination is in force,” he emphasized.
The Foreign Minister stressed that “Armenia has never had territorial claims on Azerbaijan.” “The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a matter of law and is perceived by the international community as such. And that is evident from the meeting in Brussels. We have registered that the page of the war is closed for us, but there is a problem that must be solved through political and diplomatic means,” he said.
Ilham Aliyev further stated that in Brussels an agreement had been reached on a corridor linking Azerbaijan to Nakhijevan through Meghri.
In response to that Minister Mirzoyen reiterated that the existence of any corridor in the territory of Armenia is excluded.
“This is not even debatable. Our discussions are exclusively about opening and unblocking of roads, transport and economic communications. As for the routes, we said that before clarifying the routes, we must first agree on the legal regulations for the passage of Azerbaijani citizens through our territory and the legal regulations for the passage of Armenian citizens and goods through Azerbaijan (including Nakhichevan). However, it is obvious that one branch of the railway will pass through Meghri, Ordubad, Julfa and Yeraskh. There is no agreement on roads at the moment,” Ararat Mirzoyan stated.
