Baku, Azerbaijan, May 6
By Anakhanum Hidayatova – Trend:
Only effective international cooperation can really help solve conflicts, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said.
He made the remarks May 6 in Baku at a panel session within the framework of the 4th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue.
“In order to succeed in resolving conflicts, international players need to intensify their efforts,” he noted. “To this end, one needs to work more closely with the regions, rather than conduct an analysis of conflicts while being in New York. We need to establish close contacts with the conflict regions.”
He went on to add that various peacekeeping organizations, including the OSCE Minsk Group and other formats, are not always an effective tool for resolving conflicts.
“In particular, Russia, France and the US, which are the co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, mainly solve their own problems in pursuit of their interests,” Azimov said. “As a result, we remain in the triangle of their interests, while the conflict is not being resolved. Regional cooperation is good, of course, but it quite often creates new problems.”
He urged the mediators in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s settlement to more seriously engage in peacekeeping activities.
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.