Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.12
Trend:
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will create a group on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Apr.12.
He made the remarks during the meeting of OIC Foreign Ministers in Turkey's Istanbul city, TRT Haber TV channel reported.
OIC should make contribution to the settlement of this conflict, Cavusoglu said and called on the organization's member states to join the group.
He pointed out that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be resolved only within Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Touching upon the latest escalation of the situation on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies, the Turkish minister said that the clashes will continue as long as the Azerbaijani territories are under Armenian occupation.
On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries 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 districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Edited by SI