This is a Wrong Statement: Azerbaijan Responds to Putin's Remarks on Artsakh

Putin's statements imply that Armenia has not accepted the proposal to return five regions and to transfer the issues of Kelbajar (Karvachar) and Lachin (Kashatagh) as well as the status of Artsakh to the next phase, while Azerbaijan accepted this proposal; this is a wrong statement. This was said by former Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Tofig Zulfuqarov, commenting on the Russian President's remarks yesterday.

"This is a wrong statement. It was, in fact, the Azerbaijani side that did not accept this proposal. I say this with complete responsibility. Because when these proposals were put forward, I was the special representative of President Heydar Aliyev on these issues, and I know about these matters," Zulfuqarov stated.

According to him, Azerbaijan did not agree to these proposals, while Armenia's position was to return part of the territories in exchange for the independence of Artsakh. "Azerbaijan did not accept Armenia's this concept and proposal, based on which the return of the first 5 regions and then 2 more regions was envisioned. Later, Armenia announced that it would not return any territories, as de facto those territories have been joined to Armenia and do not require negotiations. Putin's statements are related to this position that Armenia put forward later," the Azerbaijani diplomat noted.

Referring to Putin's statement that the two regions, Kelbajar (Karvachar) and Lachin (Kashatagh), would effectively remain under the jurisdiction of Armenia, Zulfuqarov remarked, "Putin is speaking about temporary jurisdiction. He has used this term to give the issue more credibility from a legal perspective. The essence of the Russian President's statement is that Armenia is indeed to blame in these matters. On the other hand, for some reason, Putin does not mention that these proposals came from the three co-chairs of the Minsk Group. The co-chairs also expressed the same position. Even the leaders of the co-chairing countries of the Minsk Group made statements regarding this and said that this was their common position."

It should be noted that yesterday, during his speech at the Eastern Economic Forum plenary session, Putin made several statements regarding the Artsakh issue.