A scheme of coordinated actions is needed for starting the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said on Saturday, APA reported.
The deputy minister noted that the settlement of any conflict begins with the convergence of the positions of the parties on some common frameworks. “With regard to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, such a framework exists and consists of the norms and principles of international law and UN Security Council resolutions.”
According to Azimov, the UN resolutions envisage a set of fundamental requirements, including the liberation of the Azerbaijani occupied territories and the provision of conditions for the return of the population.
“We very often hear from the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group that they are discussing the settlement with the parties. And sometimes they hint at the need to agree on principles. But I reiterate that there are principles and approaches,” he said.
The deputy minister stressed the need for a scheme of coordinated actions to start the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories.
“A scheme of actions can also be developed. I do not see this as a problem, the problem is different – the interests of the Armenian leadership and countries that support Armenia for continuation of the occupation of Azerbaijani territories,” 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 OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in December 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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