Wednesday, June 22 2016 05:41

 Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, has responded to the statements by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian following the St. Petersburg summit of the Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian leaders. 

"Armenia is trying to strengthen the status quo instead of acting in accordance with the logic and essence of negotiations on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," Hajiyev told APA on June 22.  

In his words, the Armenian foreign minister allegedly continues making "non-constructive and contradictory statements."  "This runs contrary the statements repeatedly made by the presidents of OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries on the inadmissibility of the status  quo," the spokesman said.  Hajiyev stressed that Azerbaijan is committed to substantive negotiations on the settlement of the conflict [Nagorno-Karabakh] and welcomes the outcome of the constructive talks held between the presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia in St. Petersburg June 20.  

In the meantime, in his statement over the St. Petersbrug Summit, Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian said: "The meeting was quite useful and I can state with some caution that it was held in a constructive situation," Nalbandian said. In his words, the presidents have come to an understanding concerning a range of issues. "If an arrangement is made on the given issues, it will be possible to make a progress in the settlement process," he said.

The minister said the presidents agreed to expand the powers of the OSCE CiO Personal Representative's team.  Nalbandian recalled that in the period between the meetings in Vienna on May 16 and St. Petersburg on June20, Azerbaijan had been repeatedly making "statements that could hardly be called constructive." In this light, the minister expressed concern that Azerbaijan is conducting large-scale military exercise involving 25,000 troops, heavy artillery and armory, while the leaders were meeting in St.  Petersburg. "I do not think that it is a display of a constructive approach prior to such meeting," Minister Nalbandian said.

Presidents of  Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia met in Saint Petersburg on June 20 2016 at the behest of Vladimir Putin.  Reaching a settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was the subject of discussion at the meeting, which took place behind closed doors, according to the Kremlin press-office.  

Following the consultations, the presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan adopted a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to normalizing the situation on the line of contact and giving their approval to an increase in the number of OSCE observers working in the conflict zone. The joint statement also expresses the parties' commitment to putting in place the conditions required for steady progress in negotiations on a political settlement to the conflict.

The presidents made a point of their regular contacts on Karabakh and agree to continue them in such format as addition to the efforts by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs who were invited to the final stage of the meeting in St.  Petersburg.

Earlier in the day, President of Russia Vladimir Putin held separate meetings with the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders.   

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict broke out on February 28 1988 in the Azerbaijani Sumgait with massacre of Armenians as a peculiar response of Azerbaijanis to the peaceful demand of the Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous Region, part of the Azerbaijani SSR, to unite with the Armenian SSR. This resulted in other pogroms of Armenians in Baku, Kirovabad and other regions of Azerbaijan populated with Armenians. In 1991  Azerbaijan unleashed war against peaceful populations of Nagorno-Karabakh, expulsing ethnic Armenians from the territory of Azerbaijan. Dozens of thousands of peaceful residents on both parties were killed in the military actions, and hundreds of thousands were left homeless and have become refugees. In 1994 in Bishkek in  mediation of the OSCE MG, the NKR, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Protocol on Ceasefire that is observed more or less so far.  Since 1992 the OSCE Minsk Group represented by co-chairs from Russia, U.S. and France has been mediating in resolution of the conflict unleashed by Azerbaijan in 1988. At present the peace process is based on the Madrid Principles suggested by the OSCE MG in 2007 in Madrid and renovated in 2009.