OSCE liquidates Minsk Group

The OSCE Ministerial Council adopted a decision on the closure of the OSCE Minsk Process on 1 September, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.

The decision is based on the joint letter of appeal of Baku and Yerevan.

The OSCE Secretariat has been tasked with finalizing the administrative and technical issues arising from the closure of the related structures no later than December 1.

The activities of the OSCE Minsk Process, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on the conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference, and the High-Level Planning Group will be terminated.

The ministry noted that all decisions previously adopted within the OSCE framework in relation to the former Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict are invalid and not applicable.

"The adoption of the aforementioned decision is not only an indication of the acknowledgment at the international level of the reality that the Republic of Azerbaijan has restored its sovereign control and territorial integrity over its formerly occupied territories, thereby putting an end to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict," the statement reads.

A new stage on the path to Azerbaijan-Armenia peaceful settlement was the adoption of the Joint Declaration on August 8, signed by Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev, Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and U.S. President Donald Trump. On the same day, the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia addressed the OSCE with a joint statement on the liquidation of the Minsk Group.