Azerbaijan, Baku, May 12 / Trend M. Aliyev /
If Armenia does not approve updated Madrid principles, then Azerbaijan will work to use other options, the Center for Policy Innovations and Technologies chairman Mubariz Ahmedoglu told Trend.
"Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev showed what is the essence of the other variants by conducting a meeting at the Ministry of Defense dedicated to building of the army. New ideas were voiced in the speeches of both the president and defense minister. It became clear that Azerbaijan is able to destroy any target on the territory of Armenia," he 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 7 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 resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the occupied territories.
The potential for a peaceful solving of the problem is not exhausted. Processes around the settlement of the conflict meet the interests of Azerbaijan, he said.
"Armenian Foreign Minister Nalbaldian said that many questions in the updated Madrid principles were not discussed with Armenia. Thus, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen can accept these principles and without Armenia's consent. In this case one will not have to puzzle over the mechanism for implementing the principles. If the word given by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen is kept, serious steps will be taken", Ahmedoglu said.