Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

The OSCE Minsk Group, established to mediate between Baku and Yerevan to find a peaceful solution the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, maintains a double-standard position on the conflict and therefore cannot assess the situation objectively.

Ali Hasanov, Azerbaijani president’s aide for public and political affairs made the remark while addressing a presentation ceremony of the “Ceasfire” documentary film by Hungarian director Erika Bognár.

The film, which tells about the Nagorno-Karabakh realities and is the first joint work of Hungarian and Azerbaijani journalists, has caused serious resonance in Hungary after its presentation in December 2015.

Addressing the event, Ali Hasanov mentioned that the tragic events that occurred in the country in the period of 1992-1993 have not been objectively assessed.

“Only in 1993, after the national leader returned to power, [crimes] committed against the Azerbaijani people gained objective and legal assessment,” Hasanov said, adding that world countries were informed about these tragedies thanks to internal and external resources available to the state.

The bloody Nagorno-Karabakh war, which flared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor, left 700,000 civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the regions adjoining it, as well as the regions bordering with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh without homes.

Moreover, 250,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled from Armenia and became refugees due to Armenia's ethnic cleansing policy after the emergence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan.

Hasanov further emphasized that the work on bringing the realities of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to the world’s attention was carried out more intensively over the past five years.

He reminded that following a special program of the Azerbaijani president, the Presidential Administration, Foreign Ministry, State Committee for Work with Diaspora, as well as the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in the framework of the “Justice for Khojaly” campaign bring the truth about the crimes committed in Khojali in 1992 to the world’s attention.

Hasanov said President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly assessed the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh and its consequences at the international arena.

He further added that the OSCE Minsk Group, created with the direct participation of the UN, uses double standards towards the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“Because of this over, for over 24 years we cannot eliminate the consequences of the Nagorno-Karabakh tragedy, we cannot bring back the Azerbaijani citizens driven out from their native homes and achieve peace and reconciliation in the South Caucasus,” Hasanov added.

The OSCE Minsk Group, created for the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict could not find a way out of the situation so far.

The conflict evolved in 1988 after Armenia territorial claims to neighboring Azerbaijan, whose 20 percent of lands it occupied in an unneighborly way. The OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, but the statements promising a sincere contribution to the peaceful resolution of the conflict have become frequent, but declarative in essence.

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Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova

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