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Azerbaijan MFA: While OSCE is held hostage to malicious ambitions, significant strides have been taken on the ground

Jeyhun Bayramov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan

05 December 2024 19:58 (UTC +04:00)

"While OSCE is held hostage to malicious ambitions, significant strides have been taken on the ground in the Armenia-Azerbaijan context. Finally, peace has essentially been established with elimination of illegal military deployment and restoration of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. This has created substantially new conditions to pave the way for inter-state normalization," read the Statement by Jeyhun Bayramov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan at the 31st Meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council, APA reports.

"Since the last Ministerial Council meeting, Azerbaijan and Armenia completed delimitation and demarcation of some portion of their borders through direct bilateral dialogue. With its recent entry into force, the Regulation regarding the joint activities of the respective border commissions will guide efforts to carry out the next phases of the delimitation work. On a separate track, significant progress was also registered with respect to the text of the draft bilateral agreement.

These achievements vividly demonstrate that direct bilateral negotiations are the best and the only viable way for moving forward in the normalization process, which has been consistently advocated for by Azerbaijan.

Notwithstanding the progress, there are persistent challenges on the path of normalization. Its finalization depends on implementing in action Armenia’s declared commitment to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, including by removing territorial claims still embedded in its Constitution and other legislative acts.

Establishment of peace and good-neighborly relations cannot be sustainable and irreversible if recognition of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan continues to be questioned in Armenia’s Constitution, and implementation of the bilateral agreement by Armenia remains contingent on domestic legal or political scenarios," the statement noted.