Azerbaijani FM urges OSCE to show stance on Khojaly airport - UPDATE

The OSCE Minsk Group does not show a proper principle stand over the issue of the opening of Khojaly airport, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov believes.

"The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs hold a diffident position on this issue. They should understand that if Armenia undertakes such an instigating step, it will lead to a crisis. Azerbaijan cannot forgive such an illegal act and will not be silent," Azimov told journalists on Wednesday.

Answering the question on Armenia's digression from the negotiation process in connection with upcoming elections in the country, Azimov stressed that they are held every four years, and this step of Armenia cannot be explained by elections.

"The Armenian leadership, in general, is not interested in resolving the conflict," he added.

Azerbaijan has banned the use of the airspace of Nagorno-Karabakh occupied by Armenia, as no one can guarantee a safe air corridor in the area, the head of the Azerbaijani Civil Aviation Administration, Arif Mammadov said earlier.

He said Armenia's steps directed towards the operation of the airport in Khankendi are attempts to violate international legal norms. This air space belongs to Azerbaijan, so its use by Armenia is impossible.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the European Civil Aviation Conference (ICAC) also support the position of Azerbaijan on this issue.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions regarding the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

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Ensuring Europe's security for the next 10 years falls to our country, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said at the fifth meeting of the GUAM Parliamentary Assembly in Baku today.

Azimov said that OSCE Minsk Group has not achieved significant progress in resolving the conflict. He expressed hope that Ukraine during its OSCE chairmanship in 2013 will always focus on the GUAM platform.

"Azerbaijan during its chairmanship in GUAM voiced a number of important initiatives and tried to expand the organisation's relations on the international arena," he said.

Being highly appreciative of the activity of the Secretariat, Azimov stressed that it initiated the regional projects and worked hard to develop international cooperation.

He said that it is extremely important to achieve concrete results in GUAM's activity.
"Conflicts occur in most member countries and resolving these conflicts must be a priority in the joint activity," he said.

He added that much must be done to increasing trade turnover, develop business relations and tourism. It is also important to find new areas of cooperation which have gaps, he added.

Baku is hosting the fifth meeting of the GUAM Parliamentary Assembly. The issues relating to previously conducted activities and prospects of further cooperation will be discussed at the meeting of GUAM PA.

The agenda also includes the integration of member states to Europe, cooperation within the EU programme Eastern Partnership, the role of parliaments in ensuring regional security, the energy potential of the regional countries and other issues.

GUAM was established by the post-Soviet countries in 1997 during the EU presidential summit in Strasbourg. In 1999, Uzbekistan joined the organisation, and left four years later. A decision was made to rename GUAM as an international organisation 'Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development - GUAM', at the body's first summit in Kiev in 2006.


/Trend/