“Delaying the solution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by peaceful means creates conditions for the worsening of the situation, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev stated receiving the delegation headed by the Chairman of the Sub-Committee NATO Partnership (PCNP) Rainer Stinner, Azerbaijani Trend News agency reports.

”Armenia should understand that Azerbaijan will not accept the occupation of its lands. An international legal framework exists to resolve this problem peacefully, and the four resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council are sufficient to address this issue," Abiyev said.

The Nagorno-Karabakh (armed) conflict broke out back in 1991, when, subsequent to the demand for self-determination of the Nagorno-Karabakh people, Azerbaijani authorities attempted to resolve the issue through ethnic cleansings, carried out by Soviet security forces (KGB special units) under the pretext of the implementation of the passport regime and by launching of large-scale military operations, which left thousands dead and caused considerable material damage. A cease-fire agreement was established in 1994. Negotiations on the settlement of the conflict are being conducted under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen (Russia, USA, France) and on the basis of their Madrid proposals, presented in November, 2007.

Azerbaijan has not yet implemented the 4 resolutions of the UN Security Council adopted in 1993, by continuing to provoke arms race in the region and openly violating one of the basic principles of the international law non-use of force or threat of force.