Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Baku has strongly criticized the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group, which is engaged in resolution of the long-standing Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Azerbaijan’s permanent mission to the OSCE issued a statement on the situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan at the 1070th meeting of the Permanent Council on October 8, the dailykarabakh website reported quoting the Azerbaijani embassy in Austria.

The mission reminded the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia, the existence of over one million Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs and the ineffectiveness of the Minsk process for over 20 years.

“The Minsk process, launched since 1992, so far yielded no result and the conflict remains unresolved until this moment. As the Minsk Group and its co-chairmen are unable by peaceful means to end this injustice inflicted upon Azerbaijani people, we more frequently observe attempts to freeze the conflict, rather than to resolve it,” the statement read.

The mission noted that Azerbaijan urges the mediating countries and Minsk Group members to persuade Armenia to take, at the very least, small steps to advance the negotiation process.

“Such an indifferent attitude demonstrated by the OSCE Minsk Group creates an impression that the OSCE is satisfied with the current status quo in the occupied territories and the major concern is to prevent any further outbreak of hostilities,” Azerbaijan’s mission said.

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, dubbed the Madrid Principles.

However, the negotiations have been largely fruitless so far despite the efforts of the co-chair countries for over 20 years.

The mission lambasted the OSCE for showing indifference toward Azerbaijan’s calls to pressure Armenia to take a constructive position in negotiation process.

“There has been hardly a single word of criticism towards Armenia for continued occupation of our territories for more than 20 years and for reluctance of Armenia to seriously address any issue related to the conflict resolution in Vienna,” the statement read.

The mission further noted that the Armenian president openly challenges the territorial integrity and internationally recognized sovereignty of Azerbaijan and through such actions, Armenia violates fundamental principles of the Helsinki Final Act and relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

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

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