President Aliyev: OSCE MG must increase pressure on Armenia`s policy of occupation [UPDATE]

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as usual, is the focus of attention.

 “Although Armenia is doing its utmost to cease the negotiations and boycott them, it cannot and will not be able to achieve this,” President Aliyev said at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results of the first quarter of 2017 and future tasks.

“The co-chair countries of the Minsk Group have repeatedly emphasized unacceptability of the status quo,” said the head of state, adding that this, in fact, means that the occupation must be ended.

President Aliyev stressed that the Minsk Group must increase pressure on Armenia, its policy of occupation to force them to observe international law and end occupation.

“Our position on the talks remains unchanged, and there cannot be any changes. The principle of territorial integrity is not the subject of negotiations and Azerbaijan must restore its territorial integrity," he said. “In all my international contacts I emphasize that no country or organization should take a double standard approach to the problem. In some cases, we face these double standards. Sometimes greater attention is paid to conflicts in the post-Soviet era, or more specific phrases are used with respect to those conflicts.”

President Aliyev said the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be solved within Azerbaijan`s territorial integrity.

Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims to Azerbaijan. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, but they have not been enforced to this day.

While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.

The president went on to say that Armenia disgraced and exposed itself by conducting a so-called “referendum” in the Nagorno-Karabakh.

“I have said once and I reiterate that the more illegal “referendums” they conduct, the more it will be to our benefit because all our neighboring countries, Minsk Group co-chair countries, European Union and many countries have immediately condemned this “referendum”, they said that they do not recognize this “referendum” and recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan,” the president said.

“In fact, by conducting this so-called “referendum”, they once again encouraged all countries to repeat the truth. Of course, by denouncing this “referendum”, the entire international community reaffirmed its support for Azerbaijan`s territorial integrity and for the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in accordance with this principle,” President Aliyev added.