Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijan is making extensive preparations to liberate its territories from Armenian occupation, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev has said.

"In such a situation any country would be doing the same. No one can blame Azerbaijan in this respect," Abiyev said on Friday while hosting the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs brokering settlement to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, according to Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry.

Abiyev said Armenia must relinquish its policy of occupation, and only in this case could a peaceful solution be reached to the long-standing conflict.

The minister said that though the Minsk Group’s efforts have not yielded any tangible results so far, Baku "has not yet lost hopes bound with this mission".

According to him, the existing international regulations should be applied in dealing with conflicts like the Karabakh dispute. He cited a number of countries where such rules were enforced in recent past, saying that the same approach should be exercised with regard to Azerbaijan. However, Azerbaijan is not witnessing such an attitude, which is "bitterly disappointing", Abiyev said.

Minsk Group co-chairs Igor Popov of Russia, Bernard Fassier of France and Robert Bradtke of the United States, who have been on a visit to the region since Tuesday, have held meetings in Azerbaijan and Armenia with their presidents, ministers of foreign affairs and defense.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994. Armenian armed forces have since occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno Karabakh. Years of peace talks have brought few tangible results.