TODAY.AZ / Politics

MP: Major powers should force Armenia for substantive negotiations on Karabakh conflict

25 October 2017 [16:50] - TODAY.AZ

By Azernews


By Rashid Shirinov

The major powers must put pressure on Yerevan in order to achieve substantive talks for resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.  

Azerbaijani MP Rovshan Rzayev, talking to Day.Az, noted that the OSCE Minsk Group remains the main platform for negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia to resolve the conflict, and therefore, international mediators should be more active in the promotion of the negotiation process.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. Until now, Armenia controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

 “The main reason for irresolution of the conflict for more than 20 years are the unwillingness of the Armenian side to substantive negotiations and Yerevan's attempts to preserve the status quo by any means,” the MP said.

Rzayev reminded that the Azerbaijani authorities, at various international venues and summits, repeatedly voiced the country's commitment to a peaceful way of solving the problem within the norms and principles of the international law.

“We have also repeatedly said that if a peaceful solution of the problem is exhausted, Azerbaijan has the right to use force. We have every ground for this, as for more than two decades the Azerbaijani territories are under occupation,” Rzayev noted.

Rzayev emphasized that Armenia should finally begin to implement the UN Security Council’s resolutions and documents of other international organizations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The withdrawal from the occupied Azerbaijani lands will be good for Armenia itself, as the aggressor country's society and economy faced many problems after the occupation of the neighboring country's lands,  according to the MP.

“The de-occupation of Azerbaijani territories will give Armenia an opportunity to get out of political isolation and join various regional projects, and thereby to put an end to the socio-economic problems,” Rzayev said, stressing that the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict poses a threat to the entire South Caucasus region.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/166153.html

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