Azerbaijan Wants Turkey To Co-chair Minsk Group

Azerbaijan has demanded that Turkey be included in the process to resolve Baku’s ongoing conflict with Armenia.

In an interview with Haber Global TV on Monday, President occupied Ilham Aliyev commented on recent developments in the Upper Karabakh region, a recent humanitarian ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia and Turkey’s possible inclusion in the solution process between the two countries.

Aliyev argued that some members of the Minsk Group under the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were geographically too far away from the region and that the influence of the Armenian diaspora in the group’s co-chairs, namely Russia, the US, and France, was simply not fair, adding that decades-long talks had not born any fruit for Baku.

READ MORE: Azerbaijan: Armenia continues to attack civilian areas

Noting that Turkey was already a member of the Minsk Group and stood as an independent country capable of contributing to conflict-resolution across the region despite some Western countries’ reluctance to recognise this, he cited Ankara’s role in Syria and Libya as proof of his argument that Ankara could better contribute to resolving the issue if it became a co-chair of the Minsk Group.

Russia says no changes for Karabakh talks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that no changes were envisaged to the format for peace talks over Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijan proposed that its ally Turkey should be involved.

Lavrov was speaking to reporters in Moscow after talks with Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan.

READ MORE: Azerbaijan: Ganja city targeted from Armenia, not Karabakh

Aliyev calls Armenia ‘ fascist’ state

Aliyev asserted that the Armenian military violated Saturday’s humanitarian ceasefire in the occupied region of Upper Karabakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, and that the Azerbaijani army retaliated against these attacks.

The ceasefire in Moscow was adopted for sake of humanitarian concerns and did not offer a full resolution of the conflict, he said.

According to the Azerbaijani president, Armenian forces targeted civilian settlements as Ganja – one of Azerbaijan’s most-populous provinces – via a missile strike that left civilians dead or wounded.

Armenian attacks on civilians within Azerbaijan’s borders revealed Yerevan’s true colours, said Aliyev, accusing Armenia of being a state of terror and fascism.

Moreover, disinformation campaigns aimed at harming Azerbaijan’s global reputation are doomed to fail as today’s sophisticated communication technologies reflect what is going on in the region to the rest of the world, he added.

Stressing that the Azerbaijani army seeks to liberate its territories under occupation, Aliyev further noted that the conflict would come to an end if Armenian troops leave the occupied regions.

READ MORE: Azerbaijan, Armenia agree on ceasefire in Karabakh