Today, Azerbaijan is holding 120,000 people hostage in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan is first of all challenging the efforts of Armenia and the international community to establish real peace in the region. Armenian foreign minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated this at his joint press briefing with the visiting Belgian FM on Tuesday.

According to him, Armenia expects its international partners to show political will and take real steps to change Azerbaijan's warlike, inhumane, destructive behavior.

"We continue to state that Baku's actions are based on an open policy of [Armenian] ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"I told my [Belgian] colleague [today] that Azerbaijan violates the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh on a regular basis and targets Armenian positions on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan; this was announced also by the EU [monitoring] mission in Armenia.

"Azerbaijan continues to violate all provisions of the [trilateral] statement of November 9, 2020, including the obligation to return Armenian prisoners of war, Armenian civilians arrested by it, and efforts to find out the fate of the missing.

"Armenia is committed to achieving long-term peace in the region through negotiations," added Mirzoyan.

He emphasized that at his meeting with the Belgian FM, the parties discussed the aggravated crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, which was created as a result of Azerbaijan's illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor and which continues for more than 8 months.

"We discussed the irreversible consequences in Nagorno-Karabakh. We reflected on the targeted assessments by Belgium and other EU countries, as well as international partners. Despite this, as well as the decision of the International Court of Justice, Azerbaijan continues the blockade of the Lachin corridor," added the Armenian FM.

Furthermore, according to him, the high level of political dialogue between Armenia and Belgium countries was noted at the meeting, and the interlocutors reflected on the prospects of expanding bilateral partnership.

Also, willingness was expressed to intensify cooperation in economy, science, education, and high technology.

Mirzoyan welcomed the decision of the Belgian government to open an embassy in Yerevan, which will give a new boost to the dynamically developing relations between the two countries.

"We underscored cooperation also at the parliamentary level, taking into account the solidarity of the Belgian legislature on issues important to us.

"We discussed as well cooperation at the international level, Armenia-EU level. The range of interests here is also quite wide, starting from support for democratic reforms to economic development, as well as dialogue on security issues and the activities of the EU civilian [monitoring] mission in Armenia," Armenian FM emphasized.

Also, Ararat Mirzoyan thanked Belgium for participating in this mission.