Azernews.Az

BAKU – President Ilham Aliyev has said Azerbaijan’s conflict with Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh is the main threat to security and stability in the region.

Speaking after talks in Baku on Monday with President Dalia Grybauskaite of Lithuania, the OSCE chair, President Aliyev stressed that the long-standing conflict was high on the agenda of the discussions.

"The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia has been unresolved for many years," Aliyev said in a media statement. "The [mediating] OSCE Minsk Group has been active for nearly 20 years. But there has been no actual result so far."

Aliyev noted that an OSCE assessment mission visited the occupied Azerbaijani territories last fall and further issued a report based on its observations.

"The report clearly indicates that all the infrastructure in the occupied territories has been destroyed and there are facts of illegal settlements [of Armenians] there. Plenty of other evidence is also available concerning attempts to change the historical names of the regions, to redraw the borders and Armenia’s overall policy of occupation."

Aliyev reiterated that the Karabakh conflict must be settled in line with international law.

"We hope that Armenia will make a step forward, exercising a constructive approach to the Minsk Group’s proposals, and will begin to pull out of Azerbaijan’s occupied land. Afterwards, peace could be restored in the region."

Baku says the occupied districts must be freed and Azerbaijani refugees returned home, and only after that could the region’s status be determined within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, while Armenia insists that self-determination is the core principle for a settlement of the dispute. International mediators are seeking a solution based simultaneously on both principles.

President Grybauskaite said Lithuania supports a strictly peaceful settlement to the Karabakh conflict and is ready to assist in the peace process.

"Such conflicts bring a great loss to all countries," Grybauskaite said. "They have a dire impact on moral values, relations and the economy. And surmounting these challenges is a daunting task. For this to happen, you have to be patient, have an open-minded approach and, certainly, a peace-loving attitude.

"Lithuania is ready to assist you in solving the issue – both as a member of the OSCE and of the European Union, as well as in the bilateral format," Grybauskaite said.

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 brokered by US, Russian and French mediators through the OSCE Minsk Group have been largely fruitless so far.