OSCE Minsk Group is 'brain-dead': Turkey's parliament speaker

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's parliament speaker on Tuesday slammed the OSCE Minsk Group over ongoing Azerbaijan-Armenia crisis, saying that the group is "brain-dead".

"The OSCE Minsk Group, which has not been able to find a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue for 30 years, has been brain-dead," said Mustafa Sentop at the Azerbaijani parliament in the capital Baku.

The OSCE Minsk Group -- co-chaired by France, Russia, and the US -- was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but to no avail.

Armenia has "become a regional and a global problem", Sentop said, noting: "Deadlock in the Caucasus will continue as long as Armenia's occupation in Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas continues."

As part of his three-day official visit to hold talks on the ongoing Upper Karabakh conflict, Sentop also met with Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.

Sentop and Bayramov discussed the ongoing crisis between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and addressed Azerbaijan's operations to rescue its occupied lands.

- Upper Karabakh conflict

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.

Fresh clashes erupted on Sept. 27, and Armenia has since continued its attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces, even violating humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

Turkey has supported Baku's right to self-defense, and demanded a withdrawal of the occupying forces.