Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

The OSCE Minsk Group should take more efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish Prime Minister, made the remarks as part of a meeting of the PACE in Strasbourg on April 19.

Turkey, being a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, stands for the peaceful settlement of the long lasting Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, Davutoglu believes.

"The recent situation on the contact line of the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops has once again shown that the status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is unacceptable," he stressed.

Davutoglu also expressed concern over Armenia’s shelling of the territory of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan.

Military operations launched by Armenia on April 2, were stopped on April 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides and mediation of Russia. However, ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side started violating the ceasefire on the same day.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Over the entire period of its existence, the OSCE Minsk Group failed to move forward in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, although the interested parties had pinned great hopes on it. However, over the past two decades the hope for bringing the conflict to the final solution in fact disappeared as the group did take no efficient step or action to fulfill its mandate.

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

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