Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijan expects key decisions to be passed on its Nagorno (Upper) Karabakh conflict with Armenia during talks on the issue at the OSCE summit due in Astana December 1-2, officials said.

Novruz Mammadov, head of the Presidential Administration international relations department, said "a resolute position" on the Karabakh problem should be stated at the forthcoming summit in Kazakhstan.

The Karabakh conflict began in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims. Armenian armed forces occupy 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory, despite four UN resolutions on their unconditional pullout. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs - Russia, France and the U.S. - are brokering talks to resolve the dispute, but numerous rounds of negotiations have been fruitless so far.

Mammadov said that unfortunately, the OSCE, having vested mediation in the conflict settlement in the co-chairs of its Minsk Group, relies of them and refrains from stating a firm stance.

"This major organization should take substantial steps to fulfill the outlined tasks and ensure security in the South Caucasus, pass documents and increase pressure on Armenia."

According to Mammadov, the United States, as the OSCE’s reliable and powerful ally playing a crucial role in promoting world peace and security, should also put forward a tough stance on the issue.

Commenting on the reports saying that Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will not attend the Astana summit, Mammadov said he was expecting him to participate nonetheless.

"This is because missing a summit that is the second most important one next only to the [NATO] summit shaping the world’s geo-political picture could be a failure for the Armenian president and the country’s diplomacy. I believe the Armenian leader will have to attend the OSCE summit in Astana. Overall, all this stems from the Armenian leadership’s facing a predicament due to its adventurous, unfounded and non-constructive stance. It has indeed driven the country into a political and diplomatic deadlock, and can’t find a way out."

Azerbaijani Parliament Vice-Speaker Bahar Muradova has said Baku hopes for the adoption of "a very serious document" in the Kazakh capital.

"This could be at least a document on agreeing basic principles [of the conflict resolution]. But it is not possible to say what will happen there ahead of time. I do think though that there is every chance for the Astana summit passing such a decision. We would very much like for participating leaders to take steps on prompting Armenia to head toward peace. In my opinion, after that we can take on a negotiating process over a peace accord. But since no preliminary document has been adopted, time is dragging on and clauses of a peace accord cannot be discussed."

Heads of state and government from the OSCE’s 56 member states and 12 allied countries as well as the heads of 68 international organizations will attend the Astana summit.

OSCE summits have taken place since the organization’s inception in 1973. The latest such meeting was held in Istanbul in 1999.