BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 14
Trend:
Armenia undermines the work of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs with its war-mongering rhetoric, Assistant to Azerbaijan’s president, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev told EURACTIV, Trend reports.
Hajiyev regretted the lack of constructive actions by Yerevan to move forward the negotiations. “Armenia is backtracking on the negotiations process”, he said.
Hajiev said the only way was to resolve the conflict step-by-step, starting with the liberation of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, the withdrawal of Armenia’s troops and the return all displaced people.
He said the recent so-called “elections” held in Nagorno-Karabakh once again demonstrated that the illegal regime established in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is nothing but a criminal entity, a part of the mafia-sort fights among the political leadership in Armenia.
Hajiev also said it was a well-established tradition to exploit silver mines in Nagorno-Karabakh and illegally export the metal, while the money received was used to finance what he said were obscure activities of the political leadership of Armenia.
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, 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 the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.