Azeri leader urges "phased" resolution of Karabakh conflict

The Azerbaijani president has spoken in favour of a "phased" resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Nagornyy Karabakh) conflict.


"The only possible option for resolving the conflict is a phased resolution," President Ilham Aliyev was quoted as saying at a cabinet meeting on 10 July.


The president added that the international mediators should exert pressure on Armenia to achieve this, APA news agency reported.


Baku and Yerevan are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, which, along with seven surrounding districts, came under the control of Armenian troops in the early 1990s. Dozens of Azerbaijani and Armenian soldiers were killed in the April 2016 flare-up, which has been the worst escalation since the sides signed a cease-fire deal in 1994.


Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are opposing a phased resolution which means Armenian troops' withdrawal from Azeri districts around Karabakh at the first stage and defining of the status of the breakaway region at a later stage.


Meanwhile, an official from the Azerbaijani presidential administration has said that the breakaway region will flourish if it returns under Azerbaijan's jurisdiction.


"The liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh from the Armenian occupation will bring prosperity and development to people living on that territory which is lying virtually empty now. The government of Azerbaijan, within the shortest time, will create all possible conditions for the region's accelerated development to make sure that it enjoys equal conditions with the country's other regions," Interfax-Azerbaijan quoted Fuad Axundov, a department head at the Azerbaijani presidential administration, as saying.


He went on to say as part of Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh would be able to preserve its flag.


"Nagorno-Karabakh, as an autonomous entity within Azerbaijan, will be able to have its own symbols, including flag," Akhundov said.

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