Envoy: Continued Dispute over Karabakh Harmful to Region

A senior Iranian diplomat cautioned that continued dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Karabakh region will leave negative impacts on the region.

Speaking on Saturday, Tehran’s Envoy to Baku Mohsen Pakayeen said foreign powers are using the dispute as a tool to pursue their objectives in South Caucasus, and stressed that continuation of the conflict will harm regional countries.

Trans-regional powers do not seek solution to the Karabakh dispute, the Iranian diplomat added.

Meantime, Pakayeen stressed Tehran’s readiness to mediate between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Karabakh dispute.

Earlier this month, Baku’s Ambassador to Tehran Javanshir Akhoundov appreciated Iran for its readiness to help resolve territorial disputes among the regional nations, and said his country supports Iran’s mediation in the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“On the first days of my mission in Tehran, the Iranian side urged me (to inform my government) to hold a meeting to settle the Karabakh issue, I conveyed the proposal to Baku and my country announced that we are ready for talks but unfortunately the Armenian side didn’t accept (to attend in talks),” Akhoundov told FNA.

He appreciated Iran for its readiness to mediate in the Karabakh dispute, and said Tehran and Baku enjoy good bilateral ties and enjoy abundant commonalities.

“In today’s world, we cannot find any two countries like Iran and Azerbaijan which are so close to each other in cultural, religious, traditional, historical and even geographical fields,” Akhoundov said at the time.

In November 2010, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also voiced Tehran’s readiness to help resolve the territorial dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

“We believe that the Karabakh issue will be resolved through dialogue and the commitment of both sides to justice, and Tehran is ready to negotiate with them within this framework,” Ahmadinejad said in a joint press conference with his Azeri counterpart at the time.

Despite facing strong international pressure, the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders have failed to agree on the basic principles of ending the Karabakh conflict put forward by Russia, the United States, and France in 2011.

Armenia and Azerbaijan remain officially at war over Karabakh and the dispute is a major source of tension in the South Caucasus region wedged between Iran, Russia and Turkey.

No country – not even Armenia – officially recognizes Karabakh as an independent state.

The rebel region has been controlled by ethnic Armenians since it broke free of Baku’s control after a fierce war in the early 1990s that killed 30,000 people.