Azerbaijan, declaring a unilateral ceasefire, showed the world that it seeks a peaceful solution to the conflict, the FM said.

He added that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have essential duties. “If they wanted, this problem would be resolved in no time,” he noted.

In all terms, Turkey supports Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, Cavusoglu said, stressing that the Karabakh conflict – the problem of Azerbaijan’s occupied territories – should be resolved peacefully within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, as demanded in the resolutions of the UN and other international organizations.

According to Turkey’s foreign minister, such a negative approach from Armenia must not be rewarded by anyone.

“Our stance with regard to this matter is unchangeable. We want this conflict resolved peacefully and we will always stand by fraternal Azerbaijan,” Cavusoglu said.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SSR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.

A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.

The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.

Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.

Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.

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