Edward Nalbandian: Azerbaijan's attempt to settle Karabakh conflict by force failed

Azerbaijan's attempt to settle the Karabakh conflict by force failed, Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian said on the Armenian Public Television adding that it was the major goal of Azerbaijan's aggression.

The minister said Baku did not achieve its minimum goals and will have to return to the negotiating table.  "Negotiations require certain conditions towards which the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are working now.  Both the world community and the mediators are speaking about 3 principles - non-use of force or threat of force, the peoples' right to self-determination, and territorial integrity. Meantime, Azerbaijan speaks about one principle only," Nalbandian said. He recalled that last week in Yerevan, the mediators were speaking of these very 3 principles again, but the Azerbaijani press saw only one of these principles. 

Nalbandian said it was a failure by Azerbaijan to ignore the five statements by the leaders of the co- chair United States, Russia and France (as a basis for the settlement of the issue), the hasty departure of the Azerbaijani foreign minister from EU Summit in Riga which resulted in a document that cited the above five statements, as well as Azerbaijan's unwillingness to create mechanisms of inquiring into the incidents on the frontline.  The minister said that Baku has repeatedly refused from almost achieved arrangements, like it was during the Kazan meeting. Facing a situation when it has nothing to say, Azerbaijan refused from meeting with the mediators, like it happened in Washington.  
"It is obvious who unleashed [the recent aggression]. No one of my colleagues whom I have talked to has any doubts about this," Nalbandian said. The minister said that the world community urged both the sides to stop fire, but there were also specific calls on Azerbaijan to stop aggression, which that country ignored and continues to ignore.