Azernews.Az

The deployment of Armenian troops in the occupied Azerbaijani territories remains the biggest obstacle to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev said in an interview on the Kuresel programme on Turkish TV channel '24', on June 6.

"Today the world community and especially co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group insist that the status quo must be changed," he said.

Abdullayev noted that there is no country or international organization in the world that would not support Azerbaijan's position in this conflict, however, everything remains on paper.

"It is encouraging that Armenia has expressed willingness to reach a conflict settlement on the basis of co-chairmen's proposals," he added.

According to him, if Armenia actually takes all six principles voiced by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and formed on the basis of the updated Madrid principles, this will give an opportunity to begin work on a comprehensive peace agreement.

"Six points proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group, are as follows: returning the occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan; providing Nagorno-Karabakh with an interim status and ensuring the guarantees of security and self-determination; ensuring the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return home; opening the corridor between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh; determining the legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh in the future on the basis of a legally binding will and international security guarantees including peacekeeping operations," he said.

Abdullayev added that Azerbaijan accepts all six principles as a basis for holding the negotiations.

"The Minsk Group must be more serious about its mission and exert pressure on Armenia," he said.

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.

Russia, France and the U.S. have long been working to broker a solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through the Minsk Group, but their efforts have been largely fruitless so far.

Peace talks 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.