“What happened recently made it clear that Armenia is trying every possible way to interfere with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs’ activities.”

Azerbaijan abides by the ceasefire regime and the current situation along the contact line is relatively silent, which is an important factor for accelerating the negotiations, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said on Monday.
 
“What happened recently made it clear that Armenia is trying every possible way to interfere with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs’ activities,” President Aliyev said at a meeting with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Stephane Visconti, Igor Popov, Richard Hoagland, and Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, in Baku.
 
"After your visit to Armenia and the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and just before your arrival in Azerbaijan, Armenia carried out another provocation against Azerbaijan at the contact line, which resulted in the death of one Azerbaijani soldier. The Azerbaijani army retaliated adequately as usual, and you know the result,” said the president.
 
“It’s no surprise to me because Armenia carries out such provocations on the eve of every significant event or your visits. We have witnessed this happen a couple of times—in 2014 and 2015—and now. They surely know that we will retaliate for any provocation done against our civilians or military servicemen,” he added.
 
Russian co-chair Igor Popov expressed gratitude to the Azerbaijani president for his opinions.
 
French Co-Chair Stephane Visconti, US Co-Chair Richard Hoagland and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk shared their views on the negotiation process.

News.Az