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Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan has commented on the remarks of the Turkish forign minister regarding the statement of Sergey Lavrov, the Foreign Minister of Russia, made on October 14 in Yerevan.

As Foreign Ministry of Armenia reports, Mr. Kocharyan’s comments came in response to a request by News.am.

“The statement on the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh issue, adopted by the Presidents of the CSTO member-countries in Yerevan on October 14, expresses its support to the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg aimed at the prevention of escalation of situation in the conflict zone, stabilization of situation and creation of conditions for the advancement of peace process,” Kocharyan said, adding the exclusively peaceful settlement should be based on the three well-known principles of International Law - non use of force or threat of force, the territorial integrity of states and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples.

“The position of the Russian Federation on the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is expressed by the abovementioned statement, not through the distortion of Sergey Lavrov’s words by the Foreign Ministry of Turkey as presented in the Azerbaijani media: a qualification, which previously was ascribed to the Azerbaijani side for its misrepresentation of the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process,” Deputy Minister Kocharyan noted.

“With its obviously one-sided stance Turkey has no place in and should be kept away from the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process. The only positive impact Ankara could have on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement is the opening of the border with Armenia and ceasing of encouraging Azerbaijan’s provocative and destructive steps,” the statement concluded.