On February 17 Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Igor Popov, James Warlick and Pierre Andrieu, and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.
During the meeting the parties continued the discussions on the process of peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict.
Minister Nalbandian drew the attention of the Co-Chairs to the fact that Baku showed obvious disrespect for the statements of the Co-Chairs of January 27 and the joint statement of the Co-Chairs and the OSCE Chairman-in-Office and continued the severe violations of the ceasefire regime and provocations, which led to unacceptable rhetoric, as noted by the Co-Chairs.
Referring to Baku’s statements about the willingness to undertake the development of a peace treaty, the Armenian Foreign Minister stressed that “in reality the Azerbaijani leadership pursues the aim of frustrating the results of the negotiations on the Basic Principles of settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.”
“Baku tries to use the Karabakh conflict, which remains unsolved at the fault of Azerbaijan, to justify the cruel human right violations inside the country and the persecution of opposition activists,” he said.
“When we reach agreement on the basic principles, and when Nagorno Karabakh approves it, it will be possible to start talks between Azerbaijan, Artsakh and Armenia to work out a comprehensive peace treaty,” Edward Nalbandian said.
Speaking about the Azerbaijani saboteurs convinced by the Artsakh court, Minister Nalbandian said “their crimes are fully documented and proven.” He reminded that among others the saboteurs are charged with kidnapping, torturing and killing a 17-year-old teenager.
