Mammadyarov: If Russia engages in Karabakh issue with all  seriousness, the status quo will change

ArmInfo. "The April battles and the armed incident that took place at the Azerbaijani-Armenian border on December 29, 2016 once again demonstrated that the presence of Armenian troops in Nagorno Karabakh is the main source of tension  in the region", Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told APA. 

He recalled that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs have repeatedly  declared at the level of heads of state that the status quo is  unacceptable and unsustainable. "Azerbaijan highly appreciates  Russia's efforts to achieve a ceasefire during the Moscow meeting  held on April 5 last year at the level of chiefs of the General Staff  of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Armed Forces. However, the April  battles once again showed that Russia, as an OSCE Minsk Group  co-chairing country and a neighboring country, should intensify its  efforts for an early solution to the conflict. I'm fully confident  that if Russia engages in this issue with all seriousness, the status  quo will change, stability will be restored in the region and the  withdrawal of Armenian troops will be ensured", APA quotes  Mammadyarov as saying. 

Commenting on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's statement that  the Armenia- Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not an internal  affair of Azerbaijan Mammadyarov stated that the entire international  community recognizes and supports the territorial integrity and  sovereignty of Azerbaijan. "With regard to the peace process, the  negotiations, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, is an  international platform for the settlement of the Armenia- Azerbaijan  Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in line with the norms and principles of  international law. In connection with the settlement of the conflict,  international organizations have passed numerous decisions and  resolutions based on the norms and principles of international law",  the diplomat noted. 

Touching upon the issue of status of Nagorno Karabakh the Azerbaijani  Foreign Minister cited Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev who once  again clarified the issue of the status of Nagorno- Karabakh. "The  president stated that there can be no compromise on Azerbaijan's  territorial integrity, however, a compromise is possible on matters  of local self-government of Nagorno-Karabakh. If we agree,  Nagorno-Karabakh can become an autonomous republic in the future", he   stated.  

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a conference in Moscow  on January 17 that the conflict over Karabakh is no longer anything  abstract or domestic affair of Azerbaijan. The Russian minister  recalled that that there are several tools for the Karabakh conflict  settlement, first of all, the decisions taken at the UN Security  Council in the full swing of the conflict and demanded ceasefire.   "Since then the demand that the troops should be withdrawn from the  occupied territories, but within ruling out any military scenario and  within determining the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh has been  relevant," Lavrov said, adding that this is fixed in the numerous  decisions of the OSCE Minsk Group, as well as in the statements and  documents adopted and signed by the Presidents of Armenia and  Azerbaijan.