Azerbaijani FM, OSCE mediators mull regional situation, Karabakh peace deal

By Azernews

By Vafa Ismayilova

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Stephane Visconti (France) and Andrew Schofer (US), Ambassador of Russia to Azerbaijan Mikhail Bocharnikov and Personal Representative of the OSCE CiO Andrzej Kasprzyk have discussed the regional situation and the implementation of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace deal, the Foreign Ministry has reported.

The meeting was held on December 12 within the framework of the co-chairmen's first visit to the region after the signing of the Tripartite Statement of 10 November.

Apart from meeting Jeyhun Bayramov, the co-chairs were also received by President Ilham Aliyev, who said that the OSCE Minsk Group that had been mediating the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, failed to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"It has been a long time since we met last time of last year. And a lot of things happened during this time, because pandemic which changed the world completely and also resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which changed the region. Now the new situation in the region is completely new. Azerbaijan resolved the conflict which lasted for almost 30 years, resolved by force and by political means. And I can only agree with what President Putin said, the president of the one of the co-chair countries, that Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is already in the history. I share this view. Unfortunately, the Minsk Group did not play any role in resolution of the conflict, though, the Minsk Group had a mandate to do it for 28 years. I participated in negotiations for the last 17 years. As I said, during the war, though there have been an activity of the Minsk Group, in elaborating ideas and trying to be creative, but there was no result. And this is a reality," Aliyev said.

 The OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France had been mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict since the signing of the volatile cease-fire agreement in 1994. The Minsk Group’s efforts resulted in no progress as Armenia refused to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of its troops, which was the main obstacle to the resolution of the conflict.

The November 10 peace agreement signed by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders ended the 30-year-old conflict between Baku and Yerevan over Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region that along with the seven adjacent regions came under the occupation of Armenian armed forces in the war in the 1990s.