Status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be changed

Status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be changed – Hajiyev

20:23 23 July 2018 Read: 3755

To achieve a political settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the occupation of Azerbaijani territories must be ended and the status quo must be changed, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev told a press conference on Monday, AzVision.az reports.

“At his last press conference, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan suggested that Azerbaijan should first announce its compromises on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. After this, Armenia will provide information on its compromises,” Hajiyev said.

Despite the fact of occupation, holding negotiations with Armenia for over 25 years is Azerbaijan's biggest compromise, stressed Hajiyev.

"If Armenia is interested in resolving the conflict, then it must put an end to the fact of occupation and implement the relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” he added.

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 OSCEMinsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in Dec.1994) 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, the 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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