Azerbaijan, Baku, 28 February /corr. Trend E.Huseynli / Azerbaijani Community of Nagorno-Karabakh considers that the OSCE Minsk Group should increase its efforts in settling the Nagorno-Karabakh problem.
"Extending the conflict brings undesirable results for the region," said the Head of the Community, Nizami Bahmanov, on 28 February in Baku at the meeting with the delegation headed by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva.
The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988 due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding Districts. Since 1992, these territories have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France and USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.
Bahmanov said that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be settled only within Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. According to him, currently the occupied Azerbaijani territories have transformed into uncontrolled territories where illegal activities are carried out.
The OSCE Chairman-in-Office said that the Minsk Group makes all efforts for the peaceful settlement the conflict and its goal is to achieve sustainable peace. He added that from this point of view, great attention is being paid to the position of the Azerbaijani Community of Nagorno-Karabakh. According to Kanerva, the OSCE fully supports the negotiations process within the Prague process and highly assesses the efforts in this regard.