BAKU. Aug 25 (Interfax) - Baku is calling for substantive negotiations on the package proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs for the Karabakh peace process, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said.
"If Armenia sees nothing new in the statement made by OSCE Minsk Group U.S. Co-Chair Richard Hoagland regarding Karabakh settlement steps and declares their acceptance, substantive negotiations should begin to discuss details," Mammadyarov told the AzerTAc state-run news agency in an interview.
Hoagland told reporters at Foreign Press Center in Washington on August 23 about principal points of the Karabakh settlement plan.
Considering their complicated history, the conflicting sides should determine the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh on the basis of consent and a legally binding expression of will, Hoagland said.
The territory within the limits of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, which is not being controlled by Baku, should acquire a temporary status which will at least guarantee its security and self-government, he said. Lands surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh should be given over to Azerbaijan's control, Hoagland said.
According to the plan, the returned territories cannot be populated in disregard of Azerbaijan's sovereignty, he said.
There should be a corridor connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, and it should be broad enough for safe communication. However, it cannot include the entire Lachin district, the U.S. intermediary said.
A lasting settlement of the conflict should include recognition of the right of all displaced persons and refugees to return home, he said.
The settlement should also incorporate international security guarantees, including peacekeeping efforts, as there is no scenario in which peace can be provided without well-prepared actions which have the confidence of all sides, Hoagland said.
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said on Thursday that the plan presented by Hoagland reflected provisions of the five statements made by the co-chairs earlier but had "some inaccuracies and omissions."
"The position on conflict settlement is expressed not via separate commentaries, but via joint proposals and statements issued by the mediating countries. In his commentary Hoagland began naming the elements by mentioning a decision on Nagorno-Karabakh's final legal status via the expression of will having the mandatory legal force, including for Azerbaijan," Nalbandian said.
Baku is "avoiding the implementation of agreements previously reached both on the problem settlement process and confidence-building measures," he also said.
"The statement issued by the co-chair countries' foreign ministers in Hamburg again urged the implementation the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg. As was known, Armenia and Artsakh [unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh] repeatedly stated their willingness to implement them, while Azerbaijan refuses from the obligations it assumed," Nalbandian said.
"Armenia will consistently continue joint efforts with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries [Russia, the United States and France] for an exclusively peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict," he said.