Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Another year has passed without making any progress in the stalled peace talks over settlement of the long-standing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, tasked to mediate for peace in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as independent efforts of some countries to contribute to the settlement of the problem haven’t yielded any results.

In the meantime, Armenia still maintains the occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territories, which it captured after a bloody war in the early 1990s.

Disrupting the peace talks with all possible means, Yerevan attempts to buy time, and keep the status quo in place, which is not acceptable.

However, Azerbaijan is strongly committed to return its occupied lands and restore the territorial integrity of the country.

Thus, Azerbaijan`s position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will not see any change in 2016.

“Azerbaijan will continue its efforts to resolve the conflict without making fundamental changes,” said Ali Ahmadov, deputy prime minister and ruling New Azerbaijan Party’s deputy chairman and executive secretary.

Ahmadov told DailyKarabakh that Azerbaijan`s position on Nagorno-Karabakh is clear.

"The return of occupied lands, ensuring Azerbaijani citizens’ return to their homes is the only value for Azerbaijan and these values cannot change. Despite the fact that minor tactical changes can be made in the negotiation process, our principle position remains unchanged," he said.

The official stressed that the OSCE Minsk Group has failed to demonstrate productive work for justice, the return of the occupied lands.

The activity of the OSCE Minsk Group has long been a source of discontent. The mediation activity of the group’s three co-chairs hasn’t yielded results for over two decades.

The Azerbaijani officials have stated that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs do not use all possible instruments of the international law in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Ahmadov, however, said Azerbaijan will not give up its principles until the last moment by using the negotiation process.

He also voiced concern over the tension on the contact line of Armenian-Azerbaijani troops in recent years.

"Increased provocative attempts of Armenian soldiers on the front lines are connected with the strengthening of Azerbaijan’s National Army. The enemy is resorting to provocations to test the position of Azerbaijan. And each time the enemy receives an adequate response from the Azerbaijani army," Ahmadov said.

The Armenian armed forces have increased ceasefire violations resorting provocations on the contact line. Since early December, the Armenian military intensified the provocative moves on the frontline even more, however, forced to retreat after the strong response of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.

Regular violations of the ceasefire, armed attacks on civilians, show that Armenia is not interested in resolving the conflict through peaceful means.

Ahmadov noted that the increased tension on the front is also connected with the geopolitical situation.

"The processes taking place in the region as a whole has led to an escalation and other interested parties are trying to use these processes," he said.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. Armenia continues the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

The sides to the conflict currently hold talks based on the renewed Madrid principles, which envisage return of occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control, ensure the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence, future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh and etc. However, the peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group have been largely fruitless so far.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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