Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Teresa Ribeiro have discussed media freedom and the regional situation, the ministry has reported.

The parties discussed the work done in the sphere of media freedom in Azerbaijan during the meeting, the report added.

Bayramov stressed that Azerbaijan highly appreciates cooperation with the OSCE in all areas, including media freedom.

“The minister informed the opposite side about the situation in the region after the conflict, the steps taken to normalize relations between the two countries, as well as the work carried out by the Azerbaijani government in the liberated areas, the landmine danger the victims of which are also journalists, landmine clearance, and the role of media in building trust in the region,” the ministry said.

In turn, Ribeiro highlighted the rich program of her visit to Azerbaijan and thanked Bayramov for providing detailed information about the situation.

She stressed the importance of media freedom in confidence-building measures, emphasizing that it is also an important component of peace and security and that the OSCE can help Azerbaijan in this regard.

The need of maintaining communication between the parties was stressed at the meeting.

Azerbaijan joined the CSCE (named OSCE since January 1, 1995) on January 30, 1992. This was the first European organization for Azerbaijan to join.

Since February 1992, the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict has become the focus of OSCE in line with the principles of this organization.

As OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries Russia, the U.S. and France had been mediating a peaceful solution to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict since the signing of the volatile cease-fire agreement in 1994. The Minsk Group’s efforts resulted in no progress as Armenia refused to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of its troops from Azerbaijani territories, which was the main obstacle to the resolution of the conflict.

The trilateral ceasefire deal signed by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders on November 10, 2020, ended the three-decade conflict over Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region which along with the seven adjacent regions came under the occupation of Armenian armed forces in the war in the early 1990s.

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