“The Minsk Group simply did not intend to resolve this issue. We saw this again during the 44-day war because it was actually certain countries co-chairing the Minsk Group that raised the issue against us at the United Nations. There was ongoing war, we were restoring international law in our own lands and waging war for justice, so it was completely unfair to raise an issue of sanctions against us at the United Nations,” said President Ilham Aliyev in his interview with the Turkish Anadolu Agency.
“As for the current period, we barely see any activity of the Minsk Group. They usually came here during the negotiations, made proposals, set the agenda for meetings at the presidential level and suggested to us what issues could be discussed. Both sides discussed these issues on the basis of an agreement. But now, although almost a year has passed since the war ended, there are no proposals from them. They came to Azerbaijan once and I told them to make suggestions. We have resolved this issue, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been resolved and there is no administrative unit called “Nagorno-Karabakh. There is Karabakh zone, there is Eastern Zangazur. This being the case, the Minsk Group should come up with new proposals,” the head of state added.
“In other words, the issue, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, is over. What more can be done? In my opinion, there could be confidence-building measures, then the opening of roads, the opening of corridors, the support for the peace process, the improvement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, work on the signing of the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan that we are proposing,” the Azerbaijani President emphasized.
President Ilham Aliyev said: “As a matter of fact, I want to say again that the Minsk Group has not yet submitted any proposals to us since the end of the second Karabakh war. If there are no proposals, then it would be irrelevant to talk about the activities of the Minsk Group. In other words, a year has passed. What are your proposals? You are saying that the conflict must be resolved. Azerbaijan has resolved. Azerbaijan has done it on its own despite all the pressure. Therefore, a proposal is needed. What do they need to do? I have expressed my opinion. Everything else is their responsibility.”
Source: Azerbaijan State News Agency