No alternative to OSCE Minsk Group in Karabakh peace talks – Azeri official

Trend news agency
28 Jun 05

Baku, 28 June, Trend correspondent E. Huseynov: Azerbaijan still
sees no alternative to the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group on
settling the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh,
Novruz Mammadov, the head of the foreign relations department of the
Azerbaijani presidential administration, has told Trend news agency
in an exclusive interview.

“Overall, we are dissatisfied with the Minks Group’s activities,
but the co-chairmen’s interest in the issue has increased recently.
Therefore, in spite of being dissatisfied with their activities,
we said that only the Minsk Group would deal with the issue,”
Mammadov said.

The Minsk Group is a legal body created within the OSCE to settle the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, he said. Asked about Azerbaijan’s efforts
to raise the issue in various international organizations, Mammadov
said the following: “All other activities are part of Azerbaijan’s
foreign policy. During all their meetings and visits, at international
forums and within Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani leadership and the
president are pursuing a policy to gain greater support for the
Azerbaijani position regarding the conflict settlement. Systematic
work is under way in this regard. One of the directions is work
with various bodies, including the Council of Europe, the European
Union and the United Nations. This is all very natural and the work
done with them and certain bodies created within the organizations
– for instance, the OSCE fact-finding mission on resolution of the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict – and, overall, decisions taken within the
international organizations have a positive impact on the strengthening
of Azerbaijan’s positions. But from the legal and political viewpoints,
the Minsk Group is dealing with the settlement of the conflict.”