Official Baku is not for deployment of foreign military bases in Azerbaijan, stated Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. The FM reminded that in compliance with Azerbaijan’s legislation, deployment of any foreign bases on the country territory is prohibited. E. Mammadyarov remarked that “deployment of bases is a rather complicated process,” as, e.g. the procedure of passing a decision like that by NATO countries provides for approval of parliaments of all countries of the Alliance. “Parliaments of each country might have their own viewpoints on the military bases,” Mammadyarov emphasized.
As for the stand over deployment of peacekeeping forces in the region, the Azeri FM said the matter is “first of all conditioned by the mandate of the peacekeeping forces.” “We have not started elaborating it. I.e. speaking of how it will be proposed, the parties should perceive that these forces will not present any of the OSCE Minsk Group participants and their adjacent states,” Mammadyarov stated. There is common understanding over the issue in Azerbaijan, in Armenia as well as among the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, he remarked. “If there is any peacekeeping in the South Caucasus, it will be done within the OSCE framework,” Mammadyarov summed up.
