Azernews.Az

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs brokering talks on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict violated their neutrality by voting against a recent UN resolution on the situation in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov says.
"The co-chairs' explaining the move by the willingness to be objective contradicts reality," he told a news conference Tuesday.
The resolution passed at the UN General Assembly in mid-March on Baku's initiative upheld Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and inviolability of its borders, and demanded full and unconditional pullout of the Armenian forces from the occupied land. It also asserted the inalienable right of the population evicted from the occupied territories to return home. The United States, Russia and France co-chairing the Minsk Group opposed the initiative, along with four other states, triggering public outcry in Azerbaijan.
Azimov reminded that Baku had recently forwarded an enquiry to the OSCE to clarify the procedure of appointing and recalling the Minsk Group co-chairmen, which aimed to issue a warning to the intermediaries.
"The co-chairs should draw conclusions from this message. We are content with the Minsk Group's activity, but the co-chairs' latest steps have caused disagreement. We believe that the Minsk Group's potential has not been used up, and the co-chairs have monopolized peace talks."
Azimov said ensuring Azerbaijan's territorial integrity was at the core of the package of proposals put forth by the mediators four years ago. Baku would have long pulled out of the negotiations if this had not been the case.
"Those proposals stated that Upper Garabagh remains within Azerbaijan, and that both Azerbaijanis and Armenians reserve the right to live there. Introducing any changes or concoctions to that formula is unacceptable. Azerbaijan will not concede a single patch of its land and will ensure its territorial integrity by all means," Azimov said.