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The Azerbaijani side keeps disrespecting the arrangements reached at high-level meetings, an Armenian deputy foreign minister said Thursday, commenting on the Azerbaijani response to the Armenian president’s statement following his meeting with Azeri counterpart in Geneva.

“Despite the reached agreement to reduce tensions, everything runs counter to that, which has turned into a matter of practice. The whole problem is that the Azerbaijan has pushed itself into a deadlock with its short-sighted steps. Baku is also blocking its way out of it with those actions,” Shavarsh Kocharyan told the reporters following today’s Cabinet meeting.

According to Mr. Kocharyan, Azerbaijan was outraged by a simple fact that was announced: any settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entails Artsakh cannot be a part of Azerbaijan.

“This provoked uproar in Azerbaijan. However, when Azerbaijan questions the Artsakh Republic’s independence, it pretends to have forgotten the fact that both Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan gained independence on the same ground in the Soviet period, in line with the latter’s Constitution. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, both of them had equal rights, moreover the independence referendum was held earlier in Artsakh than in Azerbaijan,” the official highlighted, adding with its short-sighted steps Azerbaijan is questioning its own independence. “If the territorial integrity is o sacred for Azerbaijan, why did it gain independence?”

The deputy foreign minister blamed Azerbaijan for hampering the peace talks, adding the Armenian side never avoided talks: just vice versa. However when the adversary imposes its wishes on us, we should not yield to them naturally.

The official also touched upon the prospects of the negotiations, highlighting the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ call for confidence-building measures to prompt the talks. He stated in order to build atmosphere of trust, Azerbaijan must implement the agreements reached on international platforms.

“Armenia has never breached and will never breach the agreements reached in the closed-door negotiations. We know who violates them – it is always Azerbaijan,” he said, adding Azerbaijan’s statements made at the negotiating table completely contradict its subsequent announcements.

Shavarsh Kocharyan also added the 2016 April war made the Minsk Group co-chairs to revise their approaches, as seen in their statements.