Azerbaijani MP: There are legal and political grounds to provide Turkey with status of OSCE MG co-chair

"Providing Turkey with a status of OSCE Minsk Group co-chair would ensure an equitable balance of powers in the Nagorno Karabakh negotiations. To do this, there are legal and political grounds,” member of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis (Parliament) Zhala Aliyeva said.

“The fact that Turkey has stepped up it role in settling the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict meets Azerbaijan’s interests and will help move the negotiation process,” the MP said.

"Fifteen years of mediation by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries – the U.S., France and Russia - did not produce any visible progress in solving this problem. Although updated Madrid principles have some positive moments for Azerbaijan, the fact is that co-chair countries often take pro-Armenian actions using double standards in respect to our country,” the MP added.

"It is obvious that Russia and France maintain more than friendly relations with Armenia. The United States provides economic assistance to the aggressor country voicing various unconvincing and contradictory arguments. Finally, I will also notice the U.S. decision to leave Azerbaijan outside of the discussions over the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict held on sidelines of the in the recent Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. All this suggests that the U.S. will continue to exert pressure on Turkey to take actions contradicting Azerbaijan’s interests.”

The MP believes that the recent statement by Hillary Clinton that invitation for Azerbaijan to participate in the summit did not reach the destination because of problems in the postal service causes not surprise, but regret over the policies of the current U.S. administration.

"Apparently, it is necessary to translate the “Mailbox” story by Azerbaijani novelist Jalil Mammadguluzade into English for Clinton. At a time of extensive development of information systems and technology, Mrs. Clinton's argument is simply irrelevant,” Aliyeva said.

The MP says that forces that side with Armenia have stepped up efforts lately because they understand that Azerbaijan will never make concessions on its lands.

"It is clear for everyone that delaying resolution to the conflict resolution will not weaken Azerbaijan’s economic power as it never did before. Despite outside pressure and provocative statements within Turkey, the Turkish government will not restore relations with Yerevan until the Karabakh conflict is settled. Turkey will not give up its conditions, that is, Armenia’s withdrawal from the occupied Azerbaijani lands and end to Armenia’s "genocide" claims,” Aliyeva said.

According to the MP, there is still a limit of confidence in the peace talks taking place within the OSCE. "But Azerbaijan has capability to restore its territorial integrity through force. Our opponent knows this very well,” the parliamentarian noted.


/Day.Az/