‘Talks with Armenia suspended’- Azerbaijani FM stated in Moscow

“Talks with Armenia are currently suspended,” Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, Elmar Mammadyarov, stated when delivering a speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Academy, during his official visit to Russia.

In his words, the Armenian side has been avoiding negotiations. “We suggested to continue substantive talks, but the Armenian side didn’t get into it,” APA news agency quoted Foreign Minister Mammadyarov as saying.

Parliamentary elections in Armenia are scheduled for April 2. FM Mammadyarov said, Azerbaijan stood ready to continue negotiations after that date.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, Elmar Mammadyarov, was on official visit to the Russian Federation on March 6-7, during which he met with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov; Vice Premier, Dmitry Rogozin; Deputy Chair of the Federation Council, Ilyas Umakhanov.

As Russian Foreign Minister, SergeyLavrov, told journalists after the meeting with his Azerbaijani colleague, the sides were far from reaching agreement on the key issues. Though, in Lavrov’s words, they managed to arrive at a common understanding on certain issues. “Those are the humanitarian and security aspects, the issue of return of Nagrno-Karabakh surrounding areas under Azerbaijani control, an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh with due regard for the opinion of its residents, as well as coordination of the parameters for the international peacekeeping force there,” Russian RIA Novosti news agency reports.

Asthe Russian Foreign Minister pointed out, the sides came to an agreement on the majority of the aforesaid issues. “But we are still discussing two or three particular issues that are of key importance for the final package of solutions. To be honest, we are still far from seeing the situation where the conflicting parties will be coordinating their approaches to those aspects,” Lavrov stated.

Russia and Azerbaijan are expected to exchange a number of official visits this year, including the high-level ones.

“We think, there will be a visit at the prime minister’s level (RF Premier, Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Baku),” Elmar Mammadyarov stated after the meeting with Ilyas Umakhanov, Deputy Chair of the Federation Council, on Tuesday, March 7.

Our President’s (IlhamAliyev) visit to Moscow is also expected,” Interfax news agency quoted Mammadyarov as saying.