Edward Nalbandyan and Elmar Mammadyarov.
Armenia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Edward Nalbandyan met with the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group in New York City on September 25. This is his second meeting with the Co-chairs in as many days.
In a statement by the MFA, Nalbandyan condemned the gross violations of the ceasefire regime by Azerbaijan, which claimed human losses. He said that “to divert attention from the outrageous human rights situation in Azerbaijan and the growing criticism of the international community towards this, Baku escalates the situation on the Line of Contact with Nagorno Karabakh and the border with Armenia with considerable unforeseen negative consequences. With this provocations Baku demonstrates its disregard both to the human life and to its own commitments.”
Upon the proposal of the Co-chairs and with their participation, Nalbandyan then met with the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov.
Referring to a statement issued by the Co-chairs on September 25, Nalbandyan said: “It is Azerbaijan that continuously rejects the proposals on confidence building measures and the initiatives aimed at the stabilization of the situation and therefore, it is obvious to whom the messages of the statement are addressed. But it leads to an impression that Baku deliberately doesn’t pay attention to what the international community calls upon through the mediator states.”
Minister Nalbandian attached importance to the reaffirmation by the Co-chairs of the proposal on the creation of an investigative mechanism on the ceasefire violations to which Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have expressed their agreement on numerous occasions. It would allow to determine with more certainty the side responsible for the ceasefire violations and incidents. “Azerbaijan refuses this, because it wants to have its hands free, and without scrutiny of international scrutiny to continue its provocations on the Line of Contact and borders.”
The Minister stated that “Baku refuses not only the initiatives of the Co-chairs on confidence building measures and rejects the proposals of the mediators on the conflict resolution, which have been made public in five statements of the Heads of the Minsk Group Co-chair countries, but also casts aside any reference to them, which once again was vividly demonstrated during the EU eastern Partnership summit in Riga.”
The Co-chairs expressed their deep concern about the rise of tension of the situation and stressed that the further escalation is unacceptable.
Upon arrival in New York on the evening of September 24, Foreign Minister Nalbandyan had a meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs Igor Popov, James Warlick and Pierre Andrieu. Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office also participated in that meeting.
