“Today the talks over the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh (NKR) conflict have been suspended since the Azerbaijani aggression in April against the Artsakh people inflicted a serious blow to the negotiation process,” Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said on Friday at the joint press conference with the Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotsias in Yerevan in response to the question regarding the Azerbaijani announcement that the talks are not conducted due to the Armenian side.

Armenia’s FM noted that the peace talks were pushed back after the April flare-up, as a result of this Armenia and Co-Chairing countries continue taking steps aimed at promoting the peace talks. The Venice and St. Petersburg summits were held during which agreements were reached.

“The international society, Armenia are speaking in one language and Azerbaijan is speaking in a different language. It is Azerbaijan that has refused to implement the agreements reached during those summits. When meetings are held, agreements are reached but failed to be fulfilled later, a question arises whether Azerbaijan is really ready to hold talks and to implement the agreements reached during them,” E. Nalbandian said underscoring that there is no alternative to the peaceful settlement of the conflict and this is the reason why the Co-Chairs are trying to take all the possible measures to promote the peace talks with Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Armenian FM noted that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs who have already visited Azerbaijan, are set to visit Armenia and NKR on 27 March.

“We must try to push forward that process [NKR peace talks], however first of all events like the ones that took place in April must be ruled out. Appropriate and more favourable conditions must be created for the negotiation process,” E. Nalbandian said.

Asked where an agreement has been reached with the Russian side over the arrangement of a meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, E. Nalbandian said: “In case such an initiative is offered, we will not keep it secret from the society. We talk openly about everything. It is Azerbaijan that presents events the way it wants every time. Currently there is only an arrangement over the regional visit of the Co-Chairs. Armenia never refuses to hold meetings either with misters or holding higher-level meetings. However, those meetings must be properly organized, the Azerbaijani side must be ready to hold talks and not to pretend that it is conducting negotiations but in reality using blackmails. It is not possible to run talks through blackmailing.”

In response to the question regarding the statement that unlike Baku, the Armenian side remains adhered to its commitments and always returns the bodies of the destroyed Azerbaijani saboteurs and whether these unilateral steps by the Armenian side are right, the minister replied: “We cannot descend to the level of Azerbaijan, a country where the saboteurs and murderers are declared national heroes. Armenia and Artsakh always uphold international conventions and the responsibilities emerged from them, one of which is returning the bodies of the dead. The thing refers not only to the conventions, the international law, but also to the fact that we simply need to remain human even when the adversary does not act like the one. This is the big difference between Armenia and Azerbaijan.”