Azerbaijan is ready to open border with Armenia if Yerevan returns five “occupied” territories adjacent to Karabakh, Azerbaijan MFA Spokesman Elkhan Polukhov told Turkish Zaman.

“It has been said in earlier statements from Azerbaijani officials that Azerbaijan is ready to open borders and restore dialogue with Armenia if the first stage of a plan to resolve the conflict is implemented,” he said.

Polukhov stated that Azerbaijan has firm stance in this issue and “shed a light” on the first stage, which implies return of the five “occupied” territories and clear scheduling of two cities’ return terms – Kelbajar and Lachin. After this trend of events, according to Polukhov, the return of refugees to their lands and further road and rail traffic between the two countries will launch. Currently, there are 1.5 million refugees in Azerbaijan. As for the peacekeeping forces to be deployed in the region (according to Madrid principles), the politician considers it too early to talk about it.

Commenting on the possible opening of Armenia-Turkey border, Polukhov stated the process goes against Azerbaijan’s national interests.