Azerbaijan would fail to push a pro-Azerbaijani resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh through the United Nations Security Council even after assuming its rotating presidency, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said on Friday.
Azerbaijan took over the one-month presidency on Monday, more than six months after becoming a two-year, nonpermanent member of the Security Council. Azerbaijani leaders reportedly said last October they will use the prestigious UN seat for attaining a solution to the Karabakh conflict desired by Baku. But they have drafted no resolution to that effect so far.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev did not speak of such plans on Thursday when he addressed an official reception in New York dedicated to the start of the Azerbaijani presidency of the Security Council. Aliyev referred instead to Karabakh resolutions adopted by the council in 1993-1994 and again accused the Armenian side of not complying with them.
Nalbandian was confident that the United States, Russia and France, the permanent Security Council members spearheading international efforts to end the conflict, would block an Azerbaijani-drafted resolution should it come before the key UN body. He said the three world powers share Yerevan’s view that the OSCE Minsk Group co-headed by them must remain the main mediating body.
“There have been statements issued by the presidents of the United States, Russia and France in L’Aquila, Muskoka and Deauville, and Armenia has stated that we are ready to opt for the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the basis of those [Minsk Group] peace proposals,” Nalbandian told reporters. “It is Azerbaijan that rejects them and I don’t think it is realistic to expect that some one-sided Azerbaijani initiative will find support at the Security Council.”
Nalbandian was speaking at a joint news conference held in Yerevan with Uruguay’s visiting Foreign Minister Luis Almagro. The latter said a Karabakh settlement must be primarily based on the principle of people’s self-determination championed by the Armenians.
“It is obvious to us that the solution to the problem lies in self-determination, rather than the use of military force,” Almagro said.
Azerbaijan took over the one-month presidency on Monday, more than six months after becoming a two-year, nonpermanent member of the Security Council. Azerbaijani leaders reportedly said last October they will use the prestigious UN seat for attaining a solution to the Karabakh conflict desired by Baku. But they have drafted no resolution to that effect so far.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev did not speak of such plans on Thursday when he addressed an official reception in New York dedicated to the start of the Azerbaijani presidency of the Security Council. Aliyev referred instead to Karabakh resolutions adopted by the council in 1993-1994 and again accused the Armenian side of not complying with them.
Nalbandian was confident that the United States, Russia and France, the permanent Security Council members spearheading international efforts to end the conflict, would block an Azerbaijani-drafted resolution should it come before the key UN body. He said the three world powers share Yerevan’s view that the OSCE Minsk Group co-headed by them must remain the main mediating body.
“There have been statements issued by the presidents of the United States, Russia and France in L’Aquila, Muskoka and Deauville, and Armenia has stated that we are ready to opt for the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the basis of those [Minsk Group] peace proposals,” Nalbandian told reporters. “It is Azerbaijan that rejects them and I don’t think it is realistic to expect that some one-sided Azerbaijani initiative will find support at the Security Council.”
Nalbandian was speaking at a joint news conference held in Yerevan with Uruguay’s visiting Foreign Minister Luis Almagro. The latter said a Karabakh settlement must be primarily based on the principle of people’s self-determination championed by the Armenians.
“It is obvious to us that the solution to the problem lies in self-determination, rather than the use of military force,” Almagro said.