YEREVAN (Combined Sources)–Armenia’s foreign ministry responded on Wednesday to allegations that Armenia is ready to give up regions it seized during the early 1990s in the war over Mountainous Karabagh.
Talking about the latest meeting between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan–the Azeri foreign minister claimed they discussed a timetable for an Armenian pullout. "We are discussing which district should be liberated and when," he said. "They [the Armenia’s] agree that all the districts should be returned."
Armenian foreign ministry spokesman Hamlet Gasparian denied those claims. "As for the Azerbaijani side’s statemen’s about the return of districts that are controlled by Armenian forces–they are absolutely contrary to the facts," he said.
Gasparian did say the Kocharian-Aliyev meeting is "step forward" in the resolution of the Mountainous Karabagh conflict. "The Armenian side finds positive the latest meeting in Warsaw between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan," he said in a statement.
Armenia has categorically ruled out the return of at least one of those districts which provides for the shortest overland connection between Armenia and Mountainous Karabagh Republic. The international mediators seem to support continued Armenian control of that region called the Lachin corridor.