Russian officials’ claims over Turkey’s role in the escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are baseless, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Baku on Tuesday.

“I’m not meant to respond to Russian officials. And I consider this type of claims baseless. Turkey’s position on this matter is well known,” Cavusoglu said noting that the ceasefire was violated by Armenia.

“Did we call up or meet with the Armenian leadership and tell them to attack fraternal Azerbaijan? A claim has to have some seriousness. When you look into who violated the ceasefire, you will know who stands behind it,” the FM added.

Cavusoglu said that expecting some positive approach or political solution from persons responsible for the emergence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict would be a great optimism.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.

A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.

The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.

Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.

Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.

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