At the meeting of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Russia, matters related to the situation in the South Caucasus region were discussed separately, and the importance of the implementation of the tripartite statements was noted and emphasized. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov stated this at a joint news conference Tuesday in Baku with his visiting Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
Bayramov added that after the Armenian side did not attend the meeting to be held in Moscow in December, the parties engaged in "online diplomacy."
According to him, the modality of the process was agreed on from the first day of the start of the work on the draft peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In his words, it was based on the fact that meetings of delegations were held on a regular basis, the aforesaid draft was being discussed, opinions were being exchanged, and as a result, the next version of the document was prepared, it was being sent to the other side, and then a meeting was being held again; two such meetings were held.
"Now the element related to face-to-face meetings is coming out of the agreed format. In order not to kill the process completely, the Azerbaijani side does not refuse to send comments. It is not the most efficient way. To say, there has been no progress in six months; there is some progress," Bayramov noted.
According to the Azerbaijani FM, the situation at the Lachin corridor was also discussed during his meeting with Lavrov.
According to him, "Armenia misleads the international community, creates confusion about the situation, and refuses constructive dialogue," while Azerbaijan "will do everything to avoid negative humanitarian consequences for the Armenian population living in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan." Moreover, "the legitimate demands of the representatives of the Azerbaijani civil society should be heard and fulfilled", he said.
In addition, the Azerbaijani FM expressed displeasure with Armenia's response to the holding of various events in Azerbaijani-occupied Shushi city of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"...When it’s about the territory belonging to the neighboring state—de jure and de facto. Disagreement between statements and actions. We hope that the inconsistency of words and actions will gradually disappear," Bayramov said.
The Azerbaijani FM expressed displeasure also with Armenia's rejection of Azerbaijan's demand to install a checkpoint at the Lachin corridor, and said he does not see any reasons why this should be rejected.
Furthermore, the Azerbaijani FM gave some details about another lawsuit against Armenia, which became known yesterday. According to him, the respective "evidence" was collected in November 2020. Bayramov claims that Baku has "evidence" about Armenia's guilt and ambitions towards Yerevan itself.
Moreover, Azerbaijan believes that the arbitration has absolutely nothing to do with the peace process.
"These are historical demands. The issue should be considered in the legal dimension. The peace agreement is how we look at the future," he said.
According to Bayramov, the future should be built on the basis of the recognition of each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty—and established by the two parties in Prague and Sochi.
