Hello,

I would like to welcome everyone attending this press conference which these days became daily.

I am pleased to welcome my counterpart, the Foreign Minister of Finland, who is in Armenia on an official visit. Here is another country with which we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

We attach great importance to the development of our relations with Finland and today we took the opportunity to discuss the ways of developing bilateral relations, and regional and international issues, as well as Armenia-European Union interaction.

We expressed satisfaction with the progress achieved in the development of Armenia-European Union relations. We presented each other the developments unrolling in Armenia and Finland.

We will have an opportunity to continue the negotiations in the second half of the day, as well.

Once again I am pleased to welcome Finish Minister of Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja in Armenia and I am passing the floor with great pleasure.

Question: The Azerbaijani authorities are trying to extort statements from politicians visiting Baku on the Karabakh issue, by stressing the principle of territorial integrity. How do you think what are the purpose of those attempts?

Edward Nalbandian: Unfortunately, it is truly so. Baku is always trying to blackmail the delegations visiting Baku in order to extort one-sided formulations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

It is clear that such an approach and playing into the hands of those Azeri attempts would not be useful for the peaceful settlement of Karabakh issue.

But one thing is obvious that the right to self-determination, the self-determination principle is not only a principle of international law but also, as defined in the UN Charter, is one of the most important purposes of the international community.

This principle is the basis for the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh issue, presented by the Co-Chairs together with other principles. Those principles find their reflection in the decisions and statements, which were adopted in the frames of the OSCE. Let me recall them - the statements adopted in the frames of the OSCE Ministerial meetings in Helsinki in December of 2008, in Athens in December of 2009, in Almaty in July of 2010, as well as during the OSCE summit in Astana in December of 2010 and in the framework of the OSCE Ministerial meeting in Vilnius held last year. The right to self-determination is clearly stressed in all those statements and the Co-Chairs repeatedly stated, at the highest level, as well, that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh should determine its fate, its future status.

Those attempts of Azerbaijan are not aimed at contributing to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, but misleading his society.

It definitely is not useful for the process of the settlement.

But we hope that the negotiations will be continued by the support of the international community and the Co-Chairs and the solution will be found based on the principles which were presented by the Co-Chairs - non-use of force or threat of force, the right to self-determination and territorial integrity.
Thank you.