Azernews.Az

BAKU – Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Yesel visiting Baku on Wednesday met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Safar Abiyev and President Ilham Aliyev to discuss prospects of military cooperation between the two countries.

During Yesel’s meeting with President Aliyev, the parties stressed the successful development of bilateral relations in a slew of fields, including defense.

At the meeting with Minister Abiyev, the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh was in focus along with issues of military cooperation.

Abiyev informed his Ukrainian counterpart that efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group brokering the peace process have been fruitless so far.

"The resolutions of influential international organizations on Armenia's ceasing its policy of occupation [of a part of Azerbaijan’s territory] remain unfulfilled. In this situation Azerbaijan has no choice left but to take serious and necessary measures to liberate its territories. We are expanding our activity in this direction."

Azerbaijan and Armenia waged a brutal war in the early 1990s that claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. The hostilities, which flared up due to Armenia’s territorial claims, ended with the signing of a fragile cease-fire in 1994. Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory since then, despite UN resolutions on their unconditional pullout. Azerbaijani officials have repeatedly warned that the country’s occupied land will be freed at any cost.