Baku Calls OSCE Structures Related to Former Minsk Process ‘Obsolete and Irrelevant"

FM Bayramov stated that since the last Ministerial Council meeting, Azerbaijan and Armenia completed delimitation and demarcation of some portion of their borders through direct bilateral dialogue.

Photo: Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry

OSCE structures related to the former Minsk process have become obsolete and irrelevant, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said at the 31st OSCE Ministerial Council in Malta.

“Retaining these structures on paper violates financial regulations of the Organization. Accordingly, this situation needs to be rectified within the budget process,” he noted, The Caspian Post reports.

“While OSCE is held hostage to malicious ambitions, significant strides have been taken on the ground in the Armenia-Azerbaijan context. Finally, peace has essentially been established with elimination of illegal military deployment and restoration of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. This has created substantially new conditions to pave the way for inter-state normalization,” FM Bayramov said.

He recalled that since the last Ministerial Council meeting, Azerbaijan and Armenia completed delimitation and demarcation of some portion of their borders through direct bilateral dialogue. “With its recent entry into force, the Regulation regarding the joint activities of the respective border commissions will guide efforts to carry out the next phases of the delimitation work. On a separate track, significant progress was also registered with respect to the text of the draft bilateral agreement.”

“These achievements vividly demonstrate that direct bilateral negotiations are the best and the only viable way for moving forward in the normalization process, which has been consistently advocated for by Azerbaijan,” the minister added.