Baku confined itself to separate statement on Karabakh at Eastern Partnership summit — FM

MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/. Azerbaijan originally insisted on including a formula to resolve its dispute with Armenia over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh into the final declaration of the Eastern Partnership summit in Riga but eventually confined itself to making a separate statement, Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov said on Monday.

"At the Eastern Partnership summit the Azerbaijani side insisted to the last moment on including into the declaration a formula for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," Mamedyarov said after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Monday.

"The declaration adopted in Riga highlights territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of all states, emphasises the role of all co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk group and the importance of the Minsk group in general, refers to earlier documents saying that the conflict should be resolved on the basis of norms and principles of international law," he said, noting that the same wording was contained in the declaration signed by the presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia at Meiendorf Castle outside Moscow in 2008.

Baku wanted the Eastern Partnership summit’s declaration to emphasise the role of four resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council, Mamedyarov said.

"However, our European partners told us this wording would be too detailed and then it would be necessary to give due consideration to other conflicts as well. But we insisted until the last minute and even said that we could refuse to join this resolution," he said, adding that the parties finally reached a compromise, which allowed Azerbaijan to make an additional statement to the declaration describing the situation with regard to the UN Security Council’s resolutions.