Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov called on OSCE member countries for wider discussion of the protracted conflicts in the organization's area, including Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, while addressing representatives of the 57 OSCE participating states in Vienna on May 14, OSCE website reported.

"Azerbaijan believes the potential for reaching peace on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict is not exhausted," he said.

Mammadyarov said that there was a need to "reinvigorate" the format of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group, urging "more substantive talks, not just talks for talks."

Outlining his country's support for the OSCE as a platform for addressing security threats and its historic success in forging consensus between diverse states, he urged states to use the ongoing Helsinki+40 process to strengthen the OSCE as an "action-oriented organization" in the run up to the 40th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act in 2015.

Mammadyarov said that the Organization's "comparative advantage lies in its comprehensive security concept" and stressed its role in enhancing security for countries not part of other security groupings.

Addressing the OSCE's work in Azerbaijan, Mammadyarov stated his country's intention to invite international monitoring teams to observe the upcoming presidential election, in line with OSCE commitments. He also reiterated Azerbaijan's desire to review the status of the OSCE presence in the country, suggesting that its work could be refocused on project coordination.

Mammadyarov was speaking at a special session of the OSCE Permanent Council. He previously addressed the Permanent Council in 2004.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but Armenia has not followed them to this day.

Peace negotiations are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles, also known as Basic Principles. The document envisions a return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; determining the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh; a corridor linking Armenia to the region; and the right of all internally displaced persons to return home.