Azerbaijan urges settlement for Karabakh conflict

Azerbaijan's foreign minister on Tuesday pushed for the need to resolve the lingering Upper Karabakh conflict with Armenia.

"We have to push the move forward. The current status quo is unacceptable for everyone. We have to look for solutions," Elmar Mammadyarov said in Azerbaijan's capital Baku.

He was speaking to reporters after a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

Primarily, it is necessary to address the problems of the region's status and security, Mammadyarov said.

Lavrov said the solution to the conflict is not simple, but possibilities to settle it exist.

"We understand there are opportunities to reach a compromise. It's not easy," Lavrov said.

Asked about Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's appeal to Moscow for not selling arms to Azerbaijan, Lavrov said Russia pursues "a balanced policy" in the region.

"We are developing this [technical and military] cooperation [with Azerbaijan] in an absolutely transparent manner, in full compliance with the norms of international law and with full consideration of the balance that has developed in this region and which is important for maintaining stability here," he said.

Upper Karabakh is the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan illegally occupied by Armenia through military aggression since 1991.

Four UN Security Council and two General Assembly resolutions, as well as decisions by many other international organizations, refer to this fact and demand withdrawal of the occupational Armenian forces from Upper Karabakh and seven other occupied regions of Azerbaijan.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk group -- co-chaired by France, Russia and the U.S. -- was formed to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but has not reached any results yet.