Azernews.Az

Presidential Administration chief Ramiz Mehdiyev has said efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group made so far to resolve Azerbaijan’s Nagorno Karabakh conflict with Armenia "cannot be considered satisfactory".

Addressing a conference devoted to the 20th anniversary of Azerbaijan’s independence on Wednesday, Mehdiyev said the countries co-chairing the Minsk Group - the United States, Russia and France - have for many years failed to take any action to end Armenia's aggression and free the occupied Azerbaijani territories. The Azerbaijani people are growing convinced that Armenia’s policy of invading the neighboring country’s land "is defended internationally", President Ilham Aliyev’s top aide said. He urged the world community to step up effort and prompt Armenia to fulfill its international obligations.

The OSCE Minsk Group has been mediating peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia since the two countries signed a cease-fire in 1994 following a lengthy war. Efforts by the mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, has been under the occupation of Armenian armed forces since the war.

"The Minsk Group [co-chair] countries must know that the Azerbaijani people’s tolerance has limits and their patience has run out," Mehdiyev said. "It is clear from recent history of the 20th century that the international community has never recognized puppet states that were formed as a result of aggression and has struggled against them. Otherwise, what world order, what international security and peace protection mechanisms can one talk about?"

Though the separatist regime in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno Karabakh region declared so-called independence at the time of the Soviet collapse in 1991, it has not been recognized by the world community.

Mehdiyev added that the status quo in Karabakh settlement is currently the biggest threat to security in the region and creating a fair society there.