Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Turkish official has highlighted the necessity of Ankara’s inclusion into the list of OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairing countries.

Mustafa Kabakci, a member of Turkish parliament the Grand National Assembly said on January 27 that it is necessary to include Turkey into the list of countries co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group, Trend reported.

Kabakci from the Justice and Development Party noted that Turkey’s inclusion into the list of the countries co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group can be a positive step in settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and will have significant impact on resolving process of the long-lasting conflict.

He said Turkey is a country that is aspiring to establish peace and stability in the South Caucasus.

Earlier, Azay Guliyev, Deputy Chairman of the OSCE PA’s Committee on Political Affairs and Security, said he plans to raise the issue of increasing the number of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs from three countries - the U.S, Russia and France - to five, including Germany and Turkey.

Guliyev said he will raise the issue at the winter session of the OSCE PA, to be held next month in Vienna.

Several experts say the Minsk Group aims to win the support of the German government in settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as the mediation function of the co-chairs is not efficient.

Turkey has always supported Azerbaijan’s position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Turkey cut diplomatic ties and closed its border with Armenia after the country invaded Azerbaijan's territories. Turkey has set Armenia's withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan as a precondition for establishing diplomatic relations with the country.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in the conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. However, the negotiations have been largely fruitless so far despite the efforts of the co-chair countries over 20 years.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its pullout from the neighboring country's territories.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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