Azernews.Az

By Jamila Babayeva

Azerbaijan will never reconcile itself to Armenia's occupation, and reserves the right to free its occupied lands.

Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov made the remark at a meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on February 4.

At the meeting, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs shared their impressions on the current situation at the contact line.

Hasanov pointed to the continuation of the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani lands, refugees and IDPs' problems, and international organizations' inefficient steps for settling the conflict.

He said Baku supports the peaceful settlement of the conflict.

Hasanov mentioned the aggravation of the situation on the frontline, and gave information on the shelling of Azerbaijani settlements and civilians by the enemy.

Colonel General Najmeddin Sadigov, First Deputy Minister of Defense and Chief of General Staff, also attended the meeting.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s.

The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the US and the OSCE Minsk Group are underway on the basis of a peaceful outline -called Madrid Principle -proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.