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YEREVAN. – Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian on Wednesday met with OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Igor Popov, Stéphane Visconti and Andrew Schofer, and Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, in Kraków, Poland,.

Nalbandian thanked the Co-Chairs for the initiative to organize a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, and stressed that, as always, the Armenian side participates in all meetings with a constructive mood, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

He emphasized that Armenia, along with the Co-Chair countries, will continue to seek ways for the implementation of agreements reached at the Vienna, St. Petersburg and Geneva Summits, as well as the proposals of the Co-Chairs aimed at creating necessary conditions for the advancement of the negotiation process, particularly those related to the reduction of tension in the conflict zone, strict adherence to the trilateral ceasefire agreements of 1994 and 1995, expansion of the monitoring capabilities of the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, and establishment of a mechanism for investigation of ceasefire violations.

The Foreign Minister of Armenia noted that if Azerbaijan abides by the calls of the Co-Chairs to strictly respect the ceasefire, implements previously reached agreements, constructively engages in the negotiations, and reiterates its adherence to the principles of the conflict resolution proposed by the Co-Chairs, it will be possible to pave the way for moving the peace process forward.

“Baku often claims that, allegedly, it is interested in changing the status quo; it is obvious that the implementation of the abovementioned measures is the practical way to achieve this,” stated Edward Nalbandian. “The Co-Chairs have stated for years that the principles and elements proposed by them for the stage-by-stage implementation of the package settlement have been elaborated as an integrated whole and the attempts to select one of them over others would make it impossible to achieve a solution. The sooner Baku realizes this, the sooner it will be possible to put the settlement process in the practical course.”

Also, the Foreign Minister of Armenia highlighted that Azerbaijani officials’ recent statements regarding the preservation of cultural heritage are at least bewildering, since it was Azerbaijan itself that for years has been consistently annihilating Armenian monuments and historic sites while at the same time refusing to allow international fact-finding missions to Jugha and other places in Azerbaijan.

At the initiative of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, the meeting of Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mammadyarov is slated for Thursday Kraków.

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