Turkey observes all steps to resolve Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
By Sara Rajabova
Ankara is trying to increase its efforts within the OSCE Minsk Group to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that has been lasting for over two decades.
Turkey as a member of the OSCE Minsk Group observes all the steps taken to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is a serious obstacle to peace, stability, prosperity and broad cooperation in the South Caucasus, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry told Trend on February 3.
The Ministry said Turkey supports the steps taken to settle it within the existing format of the Minsk Group.
“Aside from that, Turkey always raises the question related to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem in relations with other countries, both in the Minsk Group and other formats,” the ministry said.
“We will continue the efforts to maintain the relevance of this important problem on the international arena and to resolve the conflict soon,” said the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
As for the issue of bringing the number of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs from three to five, the Ministry said it has no information yet regarding this.
The Ministry’s remarks came as some politicians suggested increasing the number of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs by including Turkey and Germany into the list of co-chairing countries.
Azay Guliyev, Azerbaijani MP and Deputy Chairman of the OSCE PA’s committee on political affairs and security, earlier said he plans to raise the issue of increasing the number of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs from three countries - the U.S., Russia and France - to five, including Germany and Turkey.
Guliyev said he will raise the issue at the winter session of the OSCE PA, to be held in Vienna.
Over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, have been occupied by Armenian armed forces since a lengthy war between the two South Caucasus countries in the early 1990s. The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions calling for an Armenian pullout, but they have not been enforced to date.
Peace talks are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. However, the negotiations have been largely fruitless so far despite the efforts of the co-chair countries over 20 years.
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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
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