Azernews.Az

BAKU – A senior Azerbaijani official said Thursday that Baku was studying the report of the OSCE mission that monitored the situation in the Armenia-occupied territories of Azerbaijan last year, which was submitted earlier this week.

Presidential aide Ali Hasanov told journalists that the report cites sufficient evidence of the illegal settlements of Armenians in those territories, environment-related violations, the use of the occupied land for narcotics growing and drug trafficking, and illicit arms sales.

According to Hasanov, Baku is amply informed about these facts and is now reviewing how comprehensively and objectively they were reflected in the mission’s report. He added that relevant Azerbaijani government agencies would state their position on the OSCE mission’s feedback soon.

The fact-finding mission of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, who are brokering settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, studied the situation in the occupied territories surrounding Azerbaijan’s Nagorno Karabakh region last October with the assistance of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) experts. The co-chairs submitted their report to President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Tuesday.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a brutal war that ended with the signing of a fragile cease-fire in 1994. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory has been occupied by Armenian armed forces since then. Peace talks have largely accomplished no result so far.