Baku says OSCE Minsk Group almost lost its significance
By Jamila Babayeva
The OSCE Minsk Group has almost lost its significance and Azerbaijani people don't trust it any more.
Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs Ali Hasanov made the remark at a commemoration ceremony on the 21st anniversary of occupation of Azerbaijan's Aghdam region by Armenia.
Hasanov underscored that throughout history, Azerbaijani people have been in trusting relationships with their neighbors. "The OSCE Minsk Group would be better to teach Armenia to trust, rather than Azerbaijan," he stressed.
The official expressed regret that Azerbaijan is once again holding the occupation anniversary of Aghdam region rather than its liberation anniversary adding that sooner or later, Aghdam and all occupied territories of Azerbaijan will be liberated from the Armenian occupation.
Hasanov further told journalists that the member states and co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group should abandon the policy of double standards.
He underscored that the OSCE Minsk Group, engaged in the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, should take notes from the latest speech of President Ilham Aliyev at the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Hasanov stressed that the OSCE Minsk Group should either resolve the problem, or step aside, paving the way for the conflicting parties to settle their problems by themselves.
"If the Armenian people want to live in prosperity, they should first get rid of the current regime and re-establish good relations with Azerbaijan. Otherwise, they will continue to live in poverty," he said.
Hasanov emphasized Azerbaijan will eventually liberate its territories occupied by Armenia.
Speaking about the Azerbaijani civilians taken hostage by the Armenian forces, Hasanov said Azerbaijan views them as heroes and they shouldn't be accused of violating laws under any circumstances.
Hasanov said that the Azerbaijanis (reportedly Shahbaz Guliyev, Dilgam Asgarov and Hasan Hasanov) were taken hostage by Armenians while visiting the graves of their relatives.There is no information about them so far.
Armenia violated the international legal norms by taking hostage the Azerbaijani civilians as they didn't violate any border law between Armenia and Azerbaijan. They were on their own native Kalbajar region.
Commenting on the related reports of the Armenian media, the deputy prime minister underscored that the Armenian side accused the captured Azerbaijanis of committing various crimes.
Hasanov said the Armenian media reported that Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov have repeatedly visited the occupied territories of Kalbajar region.
"At the time of their visit, a 17-year-old Armenian was killed there and Armenians, failing to solve the issue began to accuse Guliyev and Asgarov of committing the murder," he noted.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s.
The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.
Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the US and the OSCE Minsk Group are underway on the basis of a peaceful outline -called Madrid Principle -proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.