Azerbaijani presidential aide accuses Armenia of ‘hampering negotiation process with its statements’

Presidential Aide Hikmet Hajiyev has sharply criticized the statement of the Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakan, who recently said Yerevan “will not make territorial concessions to Azerbaijan on the Karabakh issue.” 

Hajiyev said that this statement hampers the negotiation process.

On April 21, the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan held an online meeting with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group for the first time, once again discussing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Nothing new was said, but the meeting was calm and the parties agreed not to aggravate the situation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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On the eve of this meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gave an interview in which he spoke out for the previous format of negotiations (without the participation of Karabakh as an independent party) and for a phased resolution of the conflict. He suggested starting with the liberation of the areas around Nagorno-Karabakh, which are now under the control of Armenia.

To this, Mnatsakanyan replied that these areas are necessary for the security of the Karabakh population.

“Such destructive statements from Yerevan inflict a serious blow to the negotiation process and violate the negotiations. It is also a manifestation of disrespect for the co-chairs,” Hajiyev said.