YEREVAN—Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian harshly criticized Azerbaijan for its “destructive position and unwillingness to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” as he met with the US, Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group on Friday in Yerevan.
The Armenian foreign ministry said in a statement that the meeting was held in preparation of another meeting to be held between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in late October in Paris.
Nalbandian was said to have drawn the attention of the co-chairs to the fact that Azerbaijan has again raised tension along the border with Armenia and the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh ahead of the Paris meeting. He said Baku has made this a tradition.
According to Nalbandian, Azerbaijan on the one hand is trying to push the negotiations to another ground, while on the other hand trying to disrupt the processes mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group which is aimed at the harmonization of fundamental principles of the settlement, backed by statements made by the heads of the co-chairing countries.
Nalbandian reiterated Armenia’s readiness to continue joint efforts with the OSCE Minsk Group for an exclusively peaceful settlement of the Karabakh issue.