Azernews.Az

The progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiations fully depends on Armenia's position to change status quo, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said addressing the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Vilnius on Wednesday.

"The status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is unacceptable, however, unfortunately no progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement is observed, despite the OSCE mediation will mark its 20th anniversary next year," Mammadyarov said.

Azerbaijan is a key player in the region, and threat to the country's territorial integrity will question the safety of the South Caucasus as a whole, he said.

"Existence of unresolved conflicts in the OSCE space, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, undermines the authority and confidence to the organization," Mammadyarov said.

He said good neighborly relations are guarantee of successful development of the entire region, and Azerbaijan is ready to make compromises within international norms to achieve peace and stability in South Caucasus.

"Opening of borders in the region would make possible the successful development and prosperity of the South Caucasus," he said.

The last proposal, namely "Updated Madrid principles" drafted by all three co-chair countries has been submitted to the sides, on which Azerbaijan has declared its readiness to continue further on negotiations including to starting and drafting the comprehensive peace agreement. Armenia rejected this proposal.

"Today our main challenge is rebuilding trust between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and to achieve it we have to make a lot of efforts. Having around a million refugees and IDPs and with almost 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories under Armenia's occupation it is not easy task. We believe that one of the steps in this direction could be establishing more direct contacts and arranging meetings between Azerbaijan and Armenians communities of Nagorno Karabakh region," he said.

"One can imagine what opportunities will be opened in the region as soon as Armenia starts gradual withdrawal of the Azerbaijani lands. Rehabilitation of the conflict affected territories, restoration of disrupted communications, opening economic business opportunities and investments, increase of trade and most importantly creating predictable and secure environment that for sure will lead to the win-win situation," he added.

Mammadyarov said further that Azerbaijan approaches the OSCE as the only "comprehensive and inclusive regional security arrangement" where it participates as a full-fledged member.

"We believe that this organization is uniquely suited to promote open dialogue among the participating states, settle conflicts on their territories and foster cooperation on security issues based on agreed principles, shared values and commitments," he said. "The organization should follow its core principle of indivisibility of security and avoid division into separate security communities. The security of each of the participating states is inseparably linked to that of all others. This is affirmative declaration of our security community."

The minister noted that while promoting the OSCE principles "vigorous actions" have to be taken for developing the organization’s capabilities in the areas of early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management, including fact-finding, rapporteur missions and OSCE police and peacekeeping operations, and conflict resolution.

He said that despite the fact that Azerbaijan has experienced enormous hardships in the first years of its independence, nowadays it is recognized as a reliable partner, for last several years is consistently demonstrating one of the highest economic growth indicators in the world and has transformed from the recipient to the security provider. Within the last five years Azerbaijan managed to triple its GDP and almost ten times increased its budget.

Mammadyarov said Azerbaijan is ready to share its positive experience and available expertise in different areas of security related cooperation within OSCE, including energy security, mine action, fighting terrorism, organized crime and drugs trafficking, and contributing to the security, stability and development in Afghanistan.

Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan, as a young democracy, remains fully committed to continue advancing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, ensuring the rule of law and promoting market reforms in the country.

"We firmly believe that these efforts would strengthen comprehensive development and further integration of Azerbaijan into the world family of democracies," he added.