Azerbaijani top diplomat rules out any communication with separatist leaders

Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has said that Azerbaijan would never communicate with the separatists leaders in Karabakh.

Bayramov made the remarks at a press conference dedicated to the results of 2022, APA reports.

The minister warned that significant pressure might be put on the ethnic Armenians of Karabakh who have appealed to Azerbaijan if their names are publicized. He underlined that there were such appeals, it’s not a secret.

The Azerbaijani side will never have relations with separatist Ruben Vardanyan. At the same time, "relations with the local population will be also established in the future, and we consider this normal," Bayramov stressed.

“Azerbaijani officials stated at a high level that the ethnic Armenians of Karabakh are entitled to live in Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijan is ready to ensure their rights,” he said.

The minister added that the construction of an alternative road to the Lachin corridor was a positive experience.

“This road passed through the territories where Armenians lived. During the construction of the road, the appeals of local Armenians were taken into account. During the construction of this road, the Armenians and the people building the road were communicating. As for the Sugovushan reservoir, discussions on volume of water required for irrigation, the production of electricity were held. However, a notorious man has been sent to the region and Azerbaijan is ready to stop such provocations,” the minister added.

The top diplomat emphasised that Azerbaijan stood for arrival of representatives of international organisations in Baku.

“Armenia stopped this. Azerbaijan stated that a special UN resolution reflects the humanitarian organisations’ activity on the territory of the countries. However, Armenia put forward the condition that these international organisations cannot be connected with Baku’s office, representatives of international organisations cannot arrive from the Azerbaijani territory. The UNESCO mission failed to arrive in Karabakh due to Armenia’s destructive approach. For some reason, UNESCO wants a consensus, and has not yet visited the region although in this case, it is not necessary,” Bayramov said.

The minister also stated that Armenia should return eight villages to Azerbaijan.

“Eight villages should be returned to Azerbaijan during the delimitation process with Armenia. Azerbaijanis lived in these villages, and these villages must be returned,” he added.

The minister stated that negotiations on delimitation are an important issue in discussions with Armenia.

“The borders between these countries were not established for 30 years, because during that period the Azerbaijani lands were under Armenia’s occupation. Only as a result of the 44-day second Karabakh war, Azerbaijan restored its territorial integrity and regained control over its borders,” he said.

The minister added that all legal documents will be considered by specialists, and the delimitation process will continue.

He stressed that an appeal was made to Armenia to stop provocations on non-delimited sections of the border, reminding the provocations on the border in September 2022.