Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 30
By Elchin Mehdiyev – Trend:
Azerbaijani MP Zahid Oruj has proposed to create a new format for the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“My proposal may be resonant,” Oruj said at a plenary session of the Azerbaijani parliament on Oct. 30. “But the decision is up to the state and the society.”
The MP said that negotiations must be held directly between the leadership of Azerbaijan and Armenia without third parties, that is, the intervention of international circles should be neutralized.
"For this purpose, a commission can be created,” he added. “Later, the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of the Nagorno-Karabakh region can join these meetings."
The MP added that he is more confident in the results of such an approach than the OSCE Minsk Group.
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.