Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan's Defense Minister received OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and Personal Representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office on November 4.

Zakir Hasanov met Igor Popov of Russia, Jacques Faure of France, James Warlick of the U.S. and also Andrzej Kasprzyk.

They discussed the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the current situation in the contact line of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops.

Hasanov touched on the situation of the region, the occupation of Azerbaijan's lands by Armenia, and the problems of IDPs in the country.

He also spoke of international organizations' attempts for finding a solution for the dispute, calling it "unsuccessful work".

Hasanov draw the co-Chairs` attention to a recent statement by the commander of the Russian military base No102 in Armenia, stressing the necessity of giving an official response to it.

The Russian commander Andrey Ruzinskiy recently told the Armenian media that the military-political situation in the zone of responsibility of military base 102 is troubled and is characterized by a number of destabilizing factors associated with the possibility of an escalation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

According to him, in case of war the Russian military base may get involved in an armed conflict in accordance with the treaty obligations of the Russian Federation within the framework of the CSTO.

Russian Co-Chair Popov said the incident would be investigated, adding that he did not rule out its being a misunderstanding.

Hasanov also said that Azerbaijan supports the peaceful liberation of its occupied lands, and that Azerbaijani people would not accept the occupation and Azerbaijan had the right to liberate its lands.

He also highlighted the country`s efforts to bring its Armed Forces in line with modern standards.

First Deputy Defense Minister and Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces Colonel-General Nejmeddin Sadigov was also present at the meeting.

Earlier in the day, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

They discussed the current state of and prospects for talks to settle the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.