Azerbaijan, Baku, April 23 / Trend A. Taghiyeva /
The OSCE Minsk Group will either resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict peacefully or Azerbaijan will liberate its lands by a military way, Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Social and Political Department Chief Ali Hasanov said in an interview with Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyyet.
"The OSCE Minsk Group has been trying to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem for many years," Hasanov said.
While speaking about the Khojaly genocide, Hasanov stressed that although 20 years have passed since the crime committed by Armenia against the Azerbaijani people, many people ignore this tragedy.
"The Armenians razed this Azerbaijani town to the ground and killed more than 600 Azerbaijani Turks," Hasanov said.
Hasanov recommended those who support the so-called "Armenian genocide" to get acquainted with the situation created by the Armenians in Khojaly.
"Azerbaijan and Turkey have two problems connected with the genocide," he said. "The first problem is that the Armenians launch the agitation campaign every year on the eve of April 1915 events, which they call "Armenian genocide". Azerbaijan and Turkey face this problem every year. Another problem is the Khojaly genocide committed in 1992 against the Azerbaijanis.
"Some people think that if Turkey opens its arms to Armenia, the Armenians will abandon its claims in connection with the so-called "genocide", but this is not so," he said.
"Armenia's future is connected with Russia," he added.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent 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 the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.