BAKU. Oct 19 (Interfax) - Negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh's status cannot be held without the Azeri community's opinion taken into account, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry press secretary Hikmet Hajiyev said.
"The status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan may be determined only through a consensus in the course of a negotiating process, taking into account the will of Nagorno-Karabakh's entire population, including the Azeri community, as is indicated in the OSCE Minsk Group documents," Hajiyev told journalists in commenting on the Armenian Foreign Ministry statement that "the determination of Nagorno-Karabakh's status based on the will expressed by the people of Nagorno-Karabakh is stipulated in statements by the OSCE Minsk Group's co-chairs."
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stressed in his recent interview with Russian media that "Azerbaijan's territorial integrity is not a subject for discussion and cannot be such, we will never agree to granting independence to Nagorno-Karabakh, and the Armenian side is perfectly aware of this. But a reasonable compromise is possible, namely, guarantees of security of the Nagorno-Karabakh population, its routine daily activities, self-government, various investment projects on the part of Azerbaijan, and peaceful co-existence between the two peoples, provided that the territories outside the Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region are liberated."
"The head of state said at the latest Cabinet meeting [on October 7] that Azerbaijan is being pressured to agree to Nagorno-Karabakh's independence. However, President Ilham Aliyev stated: 'Azerbaijan will never give its consent to this. Nagorno-Karabakh is our inseparable historic land, and we must restore our territorial integrity'. This is the Azerbaijani Republic's principled and resolute position aired by the head of state," he said.
Armenia must withdraw its troops from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan and think about taking opportunities to be provided by the conflict's resolution to overcome its serious political-economic, financial, and demographic crisis, Hajiyev said.