Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev chairing a Cabinet of Ministers meeting on Tuesday said international organizations passed very important decisions aimed at resolving the country's long-standing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Armenia last year, according to the president's official website.

"Among them, I want to highlight the final declaration of the Non-Aligned Movement summit," the President said.

President Aliyev said the Non-Aligned Movement includes most countries of the world, and Azerbaijan has joined the organization recently. However, the first summit Azerbaijan has participated in adopted a very serious resolution on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"It is based on justice and international law. It also indicates that the conflict must be resolved only within the territorial integrity of countries. I believe that it is our great political and diplomatic success. It further reinforces the resolutions adopted by other international organizations earlier," the President said.

According to him, a similar resolution was passed by the NATO summit last year and it also states that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict must be resolved on the basis of territorial integrity.

"The Non-Aligned Movement and NATO include most countries of the world, so the position of the international community is unequivocal. It is a fair position based on international law. We will not back down a step from this position," Aliyev stated.

The President said that at present, the negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are in a "frozen" state due to Armenia's unconstructive approach.

"But there are principles we will never retreat from. This issue must be resolved only within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The occupying forces must withdraw from all occupied lands. Of course, diplomatic and political aspects reinforce our position. Our position is unshakable both from legal and political standpoints," Aliyev said.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. The two countries fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Armenian armed forces have since occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory. Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on a pullout from Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven surrounding regions.

Peace talks on the resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, brokered by Russia, France and the U.S., the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, have been mostly fruitless so far.

However, Azerbaijan supports a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem and hopes that international organizations will step up their efforts in 2013 in this issue.

President Aliyev said further that the country's economic and military power is at the required level.

"We are building it up," he said. "I am sure that the forces in Armenia which approach the issue realistically are well aware that this conflict and competition with Azerbaijan do not promise them anything good. Conversely, they are gradually losing this fight. The developments unfolding in the international plane, within the framework of international organizations, and in the region are strengthening our position."

The President said that today, Azerbaijan is a strong economy, with a bright future ahead for the country, while Armenia's economy is in decline.

"I have repeatedly said this and want to repeat that the future of this country is in serious doubt. They have become victim of their own expansionist policy. As long as the conflict remains unresolved, they will go from bad to worse. We, in turn, must use every opportunity to squeeze out Armenia in the future. We have already isolated them from all projects. This policy will be continued. We will use every opportunity to achieve this. We can and, if necessary, will engage political, diplomatic, economic and military capabilities," Aliyev stated.

OSCE mediators called to step up efforts

Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs, Ali Hasanov, said at the cabinet meeting that he considers that in 2013 the mediators should submit more specific proposals on the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the invaders should be forced to withdraw from the occupied territories as soon as possible.

"We hope that the OSCE that is brokering the peace talks over the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and other international organizations will finally give up their unfair approach towards the issue," Hasanov said.

Besides, deputy executive secretary of the ruling Yeni (New) Azerbaijan Party, Mubariz Gurbanli, said on the party's website that YAP hopes for Ukraine's close involvement in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement during its OSCE chairmanship this year.

"We hope for Ukraine's active participation in resolving the conflicts in the region during the OSCE presidency," Gurbanli said.

He noted that Ukraine is Azerbaijan's strategic partner and close relations have been established between the two countries within GUAM, a regional group which also comprises Georgia and Moldova.

"Therefore, we hope that Ukraine as OSCE chair will pursue an active policy on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement," he said.

Ukraine took over the annual rotating OSCE chairmanship on January 1, 2013 from Ireland. In 2014 and 2015 the OSCE will be chaired by Switzerland and Serbia, respectively.

Gurbanli stressed that the co-chairing countries are not properly influencing invader Armenia.

"Azerbaijan at different levels including the OSCE clarifies its stance on the Armenian aggression and stresses Armenia's lack of interest in the peaceful settlement of the conflict," he said. "At the same time, we believe that the work of the Minsk Group is not satisfactory, as no progress is observed in the process of peaceful settlement of the conflict. Pressure must be exerted on Armenia to pull out of the occupied territories and to make progress in this process."

Gurbanli noted that Azerbaijan supports a rapid and fair settlement of the long-lasting conflict in accordance with international law and Azerbaijani society is discontent with the unresolved conflict and lack of the international community's efforts to resolve the problem.

So far, the OSCE Minsk Group has made several proposals over the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, but none of them have been agreed by the conflict sides. Currently, the negotiation process is almost stalled because of the non-constructive approach of Armenia. Moreover, despite international condemnation, Yerevan continues its provocative acts hampering peace talks and a hostile policy toward Azerbaijan.