Azernews.Az

Thursday March 28 2024

Expert: OSCE MG, Russia try to bring Azerbaijan, Armenia to big peace treaty

21 June 2017 17:55 (UTC+04:00)
Expert: OSCE MG, Russia try to bring Azerbaijan, Armenia to big peace treaty

By Rashid Shirinov

Russia is quite active as a mediator in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and Kremlin has no contradictions with other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Sergey Markov, Russian president’s confidant, told reporters in Baku on June 21.

Markov added that the essence of the Minsk Group mediators' work is to help Azerbaijan and Armenia to start substantive negotiations for the sake of result, rather than for the negotiations.

“In my opinion, these negotiations are based on the Kazan formula, which envisages the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan," the expert said.

He also noted that if the negotiations are not resumed at the end of the tourist season, it is possible to expect an aggravation of the situation on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.

“The OSCE Minsk Group tries to clarify the positions of Armenia and Azerbaijan today, bring both countries to the negotiating table and finally, bring the sides to reach a big peace treaty,” the expert said.

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 regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

The OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by Russia, the U.S. and France, is working to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. While the OSCE Minsk Group acts as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, it failed to make any move to achieve a breakthrough in the peace process so far.

He noted that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is important in the bilateral agenda of Azerbaijan and Russia.

Sergey Markov also said that Baku and Moscow continue to strengthen relations in various spheres beginning from military sphere and ending with tourism and agriculture.

"We are pleased with the development of tourism in Azerbaijan,” he said. “Tourists not only from Russia but also from Arab countries visit Azerbaijan to appreciate the brilliant tourist infrastructure created in the country."

Regarding the situation around the All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress, Markov said that both sides of the dispute show restraint, however, the solution to this issue is the consensus of Baku and Moscow.

“Taking into account high confidence between the Azerbaijani and Russian authorities, it can play a positive role in this process,” he said. “At the same time, the Russian side must show respect to the Azerbaijani side.”

---

Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

Loading...
Latest See more