July 13, 2011 - 18:38 AMT
Baku serious about starting immediate work on Karabakh peace treaty?

Azerbaijan calls on Armenia to start immediate work on Karabakh conflict settlement peace treaty, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister told Interfax.

Commenting on media reports suggesting Kazan-hosted presidential meeting was unsuccessful Elmar Mammadyarov begged to disagree, noting that the meeting allowed the parties to achieve certain progress.

According to Mammadyarov, Kazan meeting showed that several elements which should be in the peace treaty, have not been coordinated yet. “If in fact there is a good will, let’s work on negotiations without waiting for next stage of negotiations on basic principles,” the Minister stressed.

On July 8, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov handed over a personal message and proposals of RF President Dmitry Medvedev to Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev.

At June 24 meeting in Kazan, the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia failed to sign an agreement on basic principles of Karabakh conflict settlement. As Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian noted later, despite the OSCE MG co-chairs’ efforts, Azerbaijan was not ready to accept the final version of basic principles, presenting ten new amendments at the last moment.