Comment by the MFA Spokesperson in response to the statements made by the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan following the Moscow meeting

18 April, 2019

Question: While referring to the meeting held in Moscow on April 15, Mammadyarov noted that a discussion was held on the basis of the program presented by Russia in 2016. What program was he referring to?

Answer: First of all, I would like to note that participating sides issued a joint statement on the outcomes of the meeting, thus indicating all the topics discussed. Issuing of joint statements is aimed at summarizing the wordings agreed between all the parties. Statements made beyond the agreed wordings and in contradiction to them, do not contribute to the strengthening of mutual trust, especially if they are fictitious and do not reflect the reality.Currently, negotiations are not held on any program. Moreover, the substantial part of the discussions is still in a stage of learning each other’s positions, explaining and clarifying them.

Question. Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan stated about the US proposal to hold a meeting in Washington in the near future. Would you confirm that information?

Answer: As you might know, each meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, following its confirmation, is accounted in a coordinated manner. Indeed, the possibility of holding a future meeting in one of the Co-Chairing countries is being considered, taking into account the geography of previous meetings.Since this issue still goes through the phase of discussions, one should refrain from the unilateral announcements and behavior of public negotiations. Moreover, prior announcement of a meeting to be held in one of the co-chair countries is a disrespect towards the participants of the process, but first of all to that very co-chair. The tendency to become a herald of non-agreed arrangements doesn’t contribute to the establishment of normal working environment based on mutual trust.

Print the page