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Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Azeri official says Karabakh settlement requires step-by-step approach

An official comments on the agreement reached at the meeting of the Russian, Azerbaijan's and Armenian leaders

© Anton Yakunin/ITAR-TASS

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Russian, Azeri, Armenian leaders agree to continue trilateral contacts

BAKU, June 22. /TASS/. An agreement on the stage-by-stage settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was reached at the St. Petersburg meeting of the presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia on this issue, Novruz Mamedov, deputy head of the Azerbaijani presidential administration who in charge of the foreign affairs department, told the local TV channels in an interview on Wednesday.

"That meeting focused on a stage-by-stage approach to the conflict settlement. That is, from now on, we should advance towards the conflict’s stage-by-stage settlement," Mamedov said. According to him, this means that "five districts of Azerbaijan should be liberated first, then - two more districts, then the corridor should be determined and after that - the Nagorno-Karabakh status."

"The corresponding agreement has been reached," the high-ranking official of the Azerbaijani presidential administration said.

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According to him, the agreement on adding six more persons to the monitoring team that was reached in St. Petersburg "will make it possible to step up control over the observance of the ceasefire regime on the troops’ contact line in the conflict zone."

Mamedov said that "from the viewpoint of its possibilities and positions Russia can play a stronger and more decisive role in a just settlement of the conflict within the international law framework."

The situation along the line of engagement in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone deteriorated dramatically overnight to April 2 when fierce clashes began. The parties to the conflict accused each other of violating the truce.

On June 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts Serzh Sargsyan and Ilkham Aliyev adopted a trilateral statement where they expressed commitment to the normalization the situation along the engagement line in Nagorno-Karabakh.

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Nagorno-Karabakh

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