Azernews.Az

BAKU – Armenia’s non-constructive position at the OSCE summit may prompt Azerbaijan to seek a military solution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, an Azerbaijani presidential aide has said.

"If Armenia continues to adhere to this stance in the future, Azerbaijan will have to liberate its territories on its own," Ali Hasanov, the head of the Azerbaijan Presidential Administration socio-political department, told reporters Thursday.

The summit took place on Wednesday and Thursday for the first time in the past 11 years in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, which chairs the OSCE. Resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict was discussed at the summit. The presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia and the mediating countries’ senior officials adopted a joint statement saying "the time has come for more decisive efforts" to resolve the long-standing dispute. Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan were expected to hold talks on the sidelines of the OSCE summit, but the meeting did not take place.

Hasanov said extensive effort was made at the Astana summit to advance Karabakh settlement.

"Essentially, superpowers laid down their stance, stating that the countries involved should make concessions to each other to achieve a peaceful settlement of this conflict. But unfortunately, we did not witness that, and Armenia, backtracking from the already passed decisions and bringing forward its subjective reasoning, once again made an attempt to delay the process."

Hasanov expressed hope that following the Astana summit, the mediating OSCE Minsk Group will step up its efforts and make further attempts to reach a settlement of the Karabakh conflict. But it fails to do so, Azerbaijan will further pursue independent decision-making, he said.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict for two decades. OSCE-brokered peace talks kicked off after a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a shaky cease-fire in 1994. Armenian armed forces continue to occupy over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory. The Minsk Group, co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France, is brokering peace talks. Negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.