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During his working visit to New York, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan held a second meeting on September 25 with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Igor Popov of Russia, James Warlick of the United States, and Pierre Andrieu of France, Armenian Foreign Ministry said.

Edward Nalbandyan condemned as inadmissible the flagrant violations of the ceasefire by Azerbaijan using large-caliber artillery weapons, which resulted in human losses in recent days. He said:
“The escalation of the situation on the line of contact with the Artsakh armed forces and on the border with Armenia for the purpose of distracting attention from the disgraceful human rights situation in Azerbaijan and the international community’s criticism growing day by day is fraught with unforeseeable negative consequences. With those provocations Baku shows a dismissive attitude towards human lives and its own obligations”.

Then, at the suggestion of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs and with their participation, a meeting of E. Nalbandyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov took place. Touching upon the September 25 statement of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs, the foreign minister of Armenia said: “It is Azerbaijan that constantly rejects all the initiatives aimed at stabilizing the situation and trust building, and so it is clear who the message in the statement is addressed to. The impression is that Baku is deliberately unwilling to hear what the international community says through the mediators. It accuses everyone of everything, pretends that they want to reach a settlement, but in reality they do the opposite”.

Minister Nalbandyan stressed the importance of the fact that Co-chairs confirm the proposal, which was repeatedly accepted by Armenia and Artsakh – regarding the creation of incident investigation mechanisms. It will enable to determine with certainty the side responsible for ceasefire violations and incidents. “Azerbaijan refuses as it is reluctant to tie its hands and wants to continue its provocations on the line of contact and on the border, while remaining beyond control of the international community,” the Armenian foreign minister said.

“Baku not only rejects the Co-chairs’ initiatives towards trust building, but it also turns down the mediators’ proposals which are aimed at the problem’s resolution and were published in five statements of the heads of OSCE Minsk Group co-chair states. Baku even rejects any mention of them, which was once again evident at the Riga summit of the Eastern Partnership,” Nalbandyan stressed.

The co-chairs expressed deep concern over the escalation of the situation. They stressed the inadmissibility of further escalation.
The interlocutors discussed the schedule of the planned regional trip of the co-chairs and upcoming meetings.