“Last year new tensions arose near the borders of Azerbaijan. A coordinated smear campaign was carried out against Azerbaijan under the pressure of several circles,” Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press statement on the outcomes of 2014.

According to the press statement, last year the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs continued meditating the negotiations on a peaceful resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

“Azerbaijan’s foreign policy priorities in 2014 were the elimination of the consequences of Armenia’s aggression against our country and the occupation of our territories, restoration of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and internationally recognized borders of our country, prevention of external threats to our country’s sovereignty and independence, development of bilateral and multilateral relations, expansion of economic and trade ties, provision of support for the development of energy and transport strategy, promotion of our material and cultural heritage and humanitarian diplomacy, protection of the Azerbaijani citizens’ rights abroad, and making contributions to Diaspora relations, international peace, security and sustainable development,” the ministry said.

The ministry`s statement also covers the issue of Kalbajar residents taken hostage by the Armenian side last year: “Contacts with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and other international organizations will continue for the release of our compatriots - Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, who were taken hostage by the Armenian side while visiting their parents` graves in their native lands.”

The statement says that despite the positive trends in the resolution of the conflict, Armenia’s non-constructive position remains unchanged.

“Armenia intensively violated ceasefire in order to undermine the negotiations, maintain the status quo and deliberately aggravate the situation, conducted large-scale military exercises in the occupied territories, fired on civilians along the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, continued provocative actions like changing the demographic composition and cultural heritage of the occupied territories,” the ministry underlined.

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