BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 1
Trend:
Despite the fact that the OSCE Minsk Group regularly made statements on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, we’ve been witnessing that these statements didn’t yield any results for 30 years, Editor-in-Chief of the Azerbaijani Trend New Agency Rufiz Hafizoglu said, Trend reports.
Hafizoglu made the remark during his interview with CNN Turk TV channel.
“It is obvious that the OSCE Minsk Group is unable to resolve the problem,” Hafizoglu noted.
“Why it is not able, is another question. As it is known, the co-chairs of the Minsk Group are Russia, the US and France. All three countries have a strong Armenian lobby. For this reason, real steps of these countries towards the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem are impossible,” the editor-in-chief said.
The chief editor noted that Azerbaijan is fighting not on the territory of Armenia, but on its own lands, and the main goal is to liberate the Azerbaijani lands from the occupation.
“The root cause of the escalation is the Armenian government. Despite the establishment of the ceasefire regime, the Armenians regularly committed provocations against Azerbaijan. Armenia has placed in the region ethnic Armenians from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and even Egypt. At the same time, fertile ground has been created for the activities of the ASALA terrorist organization,” emphasized Hafizoglu.
Armenian Armed Forces launched a large-scale military attack on positions of Azerbaijani army on the front line, using large-caliber weapons, mortars and artillery on Sept. 27. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-offensive along the entire front. As a result of retaliation, Azerbaijani troops managed to liberate certain territories previously occupied by Armenia.
Moreover, the positions of the Armenian Armed Forces were destroyed in the direction of Azerbaijan's Agdere district and Murovdag, important heights were taken under control.
Military actions continued on Sept. 29-30.
According to a statement from Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry, the Armenian armed forces have suffered heavy losses along the entire front line from Sept. 27 through Sept. 30, including tanks, armored vehicles, artillery installations, rocket launch systems, as well as command and observation posts, air defense systems, etc.
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.
