France, Strasbourg, April 12 / Trend A.Maherramli/
The provocative steps made by Armenia can't forward the peaceful settlement of Nagorno-karabakh conflict, the chair of the Committee of Ministers of the CE and the minister of foreign affairs of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu said in a statement as a reply to the member of the Azerbaijani delegation Rafael Huseynov's question on the second day of PACE spring session.
Huseynov touched upon the issue of the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories by Armenia and the building of the airport on the occupied territories.
"Armenia, which has occupied the 20 percent of the Azerbaijani territories and has been controlling them during last 20 years instead of fulfilling commitments given to the Council of Europe, continues preventing the peaceful settlement of the conflict. The next strike on the negotiations and settling process was the building of the airport on occupied territories and Yerevan-Khankendi flight opening. As Armenia has no border with Nagorno Karabakh the flights would be made via Azerbaijani airspace. Armenia forces Azerbaijan to take adequate measures by this provocation. What measures can the committee of ministers take to prevent Armenia from taking these dangerous actions?" - the Azerbaijani deputy said.
Davutoglu mentioned in his answer, that the end should be put on these kind of provocative steps.
"As I mentioned before in my previous speeches, the current issue hasn't been discussed by the committee of ministers of the CE. If there is a necessity we will discuss it. The Minsk Group is engaged in the settlement of this conflict, but I'd like to underline as Turkish FM, that this kind of provocative actions can't forward the peaceful settlement of the conflict. We must put an end to these provocative actions to accelerate the negotiations between two presidents." - Davutoglu said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.