Foreign ministers Aliyev and Nalbandian in Paris earlier this week
YEREVAN—After an announcement by the presidents of the Minsk Group Co-chairing countries, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian reiterated official Yerevan’s assertion that Azerbaijan is to blame for the stalemate in the Karabakh peace talks.
In a written statement, Nalbandian aligned Yerevan with the presidents of the US, France and Russia, who on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to take constructive steps in resolving the conflict.
“Armenia is united with the co-chairing countries and is resolute to settle the issue exceptionally in a peaceful way,” said Nalbandian.
“Like Russia, the United States and France, we regret that that despite the calls of the Deauville statement of May 26, 2011, we failed to achieve progress at the Kazan summit of June 24, 2011 because of Azerbaijan’s non-constructive and maximalist position,” added Nalbandian.
“Committed to the agreements reached by the presidents of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan on January 23, 2012 in Sochi, Armenia will continue its efforts towards progress on the Principles of conflict settlement,” Nalbandian pledged.
“Like the co-chairing countries, we have urged on many occasions to respect the ceasefire agreement reached in 1994 and refrain from bellicose statements that incite tension. Unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan has always rejected and continues to reject the proposals of the co-chairing countries targeted at the reinforcement of the ceasefire regime, namely withdrawal of snipers from the line of contact, creation of mechanisms for investigation of ceasefire violations and border incidents. Azerbaijan last did it during the visit of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office a week ago. Azerbaijan not only turns down the proposals, but also grossly violates the ceasefire and continues to organize provocations,” explained Nalbandian.
“Unlike Azerbaijan, Armenia has declared on many occasions that it is ready to continue the negotiations on the basis of the statements of the leaders of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries adopted in L’Acquila, Muskoka, Deauville and Los Cabos to reach a final solution,” said the Foreign Minister.
