Azerbaijani president critical of OSCE Minsk Group

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has criticized the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for its role in trying to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict over the past 12 years. "I cannot give a positive assessment since the OSCE Minsk Group has not taken any really effective steps over this period," Aliyev told journalists on Wednesday. "The Minsk Group's current approach and its position on settling this conflict cannot play a positive role since the group has restricted itself to merely monitoring the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh," he said.