Azernews.Az

Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov has said Azerbaijan "expects nothing new" from the upcoming visit to the region of the OSCE mediators brokering settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh.

The Minsk Group co-chairs, representing France, Russia and the United States, will begin their visit from the Armenian capital Yerevan next Monday, according to the Armenian foreign ministry.

"As before, Armenia will take advantage of the situation for its ends," Azimov told journalists on Thursday. "Instead of responding to Azerbaijan's constructive proposals, Armenia chooses a different way, uses the occupied Azerbaijani territories for its selfish aims, thus showing no interest in moving the [peace] process forward."

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war in the early 1990s. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including the Nagorno Karabakh region, has been under the occupation of Armenian armed forces since a fragile ceasefire was signed in 1994. Peace talks have brought few tangible results so far.

"Everything is clear," Azimov continued. "Armenia has invaded our territories and is trying to cover up its territorial claims by various political speculations. The co-chairs’ visit to the region due next week does not inspire hope."

The deputy minister said that though the situation clarified after the meeting of the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian presidents' held in June in Kazan, Russia, stagnation ensued. On the other hand, the French president's visit to Yerevan and Baku yielded no results, Azimov said.

According to Azimov, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will attend a meeting of the council of OSCE foreign ministers in Vilnius in early December, but he is not yet scheduled to meet with his Armenian counterpart there.