“If Armenia changes its position, the Nagorno Karabakh conflict can be solved easily”, said Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov, APA reports. He said Azerbaijan wanted Armenia to think over indeed and to make necessary steps within own and region’s interests. Azimov said it was impossible to say what differences were at the meetings of Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in Prague and St Petersburg. “We are in the process, which is going slowly. The conflict and problems related to it are very complicated. But Azerbaijan has very clear and concrete position. Azerbaijan has great potential to defend its position to solve the conflict on the basis of international principles”, said Azimov.

The deputy minister said the effectiveness of the post-St Petersburg steps would depend on the development of the Armenia’s position first of all. “We are working on the concrete steps to solve the difficult points and to reach agreement on the basic principles for the solution of the problem. There are several important issues among them, which were proposed by the co-chairs. Azerbaijan agrees with those proposals. At the same time, we do not see compromise and readiness that we expect from Armenia”. Azimov noted that Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents were expected to meet next month, but exact date of the meeting had not been scheduled yet.

Answering the question “Do the presidents need to meet again if there is no progress in the last meeting?”, the deputy foreign minister said: “If there is a progress, you will know that. If it was easy to reach the progress we would do that. There are some difficulties. The parts can not reach the phase of agreement. There must be turning points in the negotiations”. The deputy minister said replace of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs was not on agenda. “The replace of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs is an issue based on probability. The Minsk Group co-chairs have to act on the basis of consensus. We are ready to work with the Minsk Group present co-chairs and composition.”