I think the Armenian side has already realized that there is no ground to ensure some interests by force.

Azerbaijan`s President Ilham Aliyev made the remarks during the meeting with the personnel of a military unit in Azerbaijan`s Terter district.

The head of state noted that all efforts are in vain. “The occupation must be ended just for the establishment of peace in the region,” said president.

Azerbaijani President stressed that army building is the priority of Azerbaijan`s policy. “It is natural, as the country is in a state of war and the war hasn`t ended yet. The ceasefire regime was established in 1994. Nevertheless, Armenia constantly grossly violates the ceasefire. When the international pressure on Armenia over the conflict increases, it even more violates the ceasefire and stages armed provocations,” said the president.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR 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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