US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosts foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan on September 19

YEREVAN — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will host next week a fresh meeting of his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan announced on Thursday.

“In the next few days I will leave for Washington where I will meet with Secretary of State Blinken and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister [Jeyhun] Bayramov,” Mirzoyan told lawmakers in Yerevan.

“Especially after Azerbaijan’s aggression on September 13, I think that the international community sent a very clear message to Azerbaijan that the use of force or threatening to do so cannot be a way to solve issues,” Mirzoyan added, speaking at parliament.

Blinken already held trilateral talks with Bayramov and Mirzoyan in New York on September 19 in the wake of large-scale fighting on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border which killed at least 280 soldiers. The Armenian and Azerbaijani ministers met again in Geneva on October 2 and in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on October 14.

Mirzoyan announced their upcoming fresh talks three days after the leaders of the two South Caucasus countries met together with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi. The summit underscored Russia’s efforts to wrest back the initiative in the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiating process largely mediated by Western powers in recent months.

Mirzoyan said on Thursday that Armenia is willing to negotiate “on various platforms” amid “growing international attention” to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. He complained that Baku is sticking to “maximalist positions” on key issues.

“My impression is that Azerbaijan thinks it has had military successes and can now dictate terms to Armenia,” he said. “This definitely cannot be the case.”

Ned Price, the State Department spokesman, said earlier this week that Washington remains “committed to Armenian-Azerbaijan peace and negotiations between the two countries.”

“So we’ll continue to engage over the next months to facilitate discussions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, bilaterally, with partners, and through multilateral organizations as well,” Price told reporters.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sign Up for Our Newsletters

Get notified of the latest updates from MassisPost.

You May Also Like

Aurora and NEF Announce Recipients of 2016 Gratitude Scholarships

Amal Clooney Scholarship to be presented to a female student from Lebanon…

Armenia Takes Part in the Ancient Civilizations Forum

YEREVAN (Panorama.am) — Armenia is represented at the Ancient Civilizations Forum that…

Aliyev Again Demands Return of Azerbaijanis to Armenia

BAKU — Official Yerevan must clearly state when Azerbaijanis will be allowed…

Armenia at 25 Year: A Country at a Crossroads

Analysis by K.M. Greg Sarkissian President of the Zoryan Institute Vasgen Manukyan,…