Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

There is no normal life in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be resolved, Belorussian President Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview with the "Izvestiya v Ukraine" newspaper.

"There is no normal life there [in the occupied territories]. I realized that this problem should be addressed," Lukashenko said in an interview.

According to him, this requires the political will of the presidents of the two countries and the OSCE Minsk Group can act as the guarantor in this issue.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against the neighboring country. Since a lengthy war between the two South Caucasus countries that displaced over a million Azerbaijanis and ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Peace talks brokered by Minsk Group co-chairs representing the United States, Russia and France have been largely fruitless so far.

The 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.