BAKU, October 25. /TASS/. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has called on countries, which want cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, to exert influence on Armenia.
"We have only one condition: if countries that have been supporting Armenia for nearly 30 years and that have actually created conditions for it to occupy our lands want cessation of hostilities, they must exert pressure on Yerevan," he said at a meeting with senior officials of the defense ministry on Sunday. "The Armenian prime minister [Nikol Pashinyan] must come out with a statement that his country was going to leave the occupied territories. We have not heard such a statement so far. On the contrary, he is speaking about self-determination of nations and has actually killed the negotiating process."
He stressed that ceasefire "cannot be unconditional." "They will be deceiving up for another 30 years, with delegations keep on coming here and negotiating never ending. We sick and tired of that. The Azerbaijani people has run out of patience," Aliyev said, adding that Azerbaijan has been waiting for 30 years when promises to exert influence on Armenia are finally implemented. "Everything has turned out to be a lie," he said.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians. Fighting continues in the region despite two declared ceasefire agreements.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the United States.