ArmInfo. As it was said by Azerbaijani President unfortunately last year was a lost year with regard to the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
We can't see any particular movement with regard to the resolution of the conflict and on the contrary, we have seen counterproductive destructive policy by Armenia," Hikmet Hajiyev, Assistant to the President - Head of the Department for Foreign Policy Affairs of Azerbaijan's Presidential Administration said in an interview with euractiv.com website, APA reports.
According to him, Armenian side tried to change the format of the negotiation process.
"We have already established the format of the negotiation process. Armenia and Azerbaijan are conflict parties and OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs are mediators. Then the Armenian side at the very high level said that new territories are new wars, no inch of territory back and finally Armenian PM in Stepanakert said that Nagorno Garabagh is Armenia. It is pure annexation of the territory of sovereign state at the level of leadership of one country against another one. It is completely unacceptable. It was an element of not just undermining, destroying the entire negotiation process. We have communicated with a message to co-chair countries to international community Nagorno Garabagh is Azerbaijan and exclamation," Azerbaijani President's aide stated.
"We have taken positive note about the EU's principled and firmed position with regards to territorial integrity and sovereignty and inviolability of internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan. Particularly it has been reaffirmed in the partnership priorities document that has been signed between EU and Azerbaijan. And we also see a continuation of this policy, especially in the implementation of common foreign and security policy document of the EU that has been endorsed in the Parliament of the EU is a bounding principle that says that EU supports the territorial integrity of all Eastern partners. For us, it is critically important and we appreciate that position and we do think that with core fundamental principles deriving from the Helsinki Final Act and international law should be on non-selective manner to be applied to all conflicts and include the respect to all Eastern Partnership countries and we would like also to see further continuation of this policy and seeing also reflected in EU position in some other different forums as in OSCE, UN. Because territorial integrity is a must for every and each country," Hikmet Hajiyev stated.
It should be noted that summing up the results of the activities of Russian diplomacy in 2019 regarding the Karabakh issue, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation noted in particular: "There have been no noticeable changes in the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. There are shifts in the implementation of the" small steps "agreed by the foreign ministers of affairs at a meeting in Moscow in April 2019 to develop the agreements reached between the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia in Vienna in March 2019. The situation on the border and the contact line remains relatively calm. There is a hotline between Yerevan and Baku. A journalistic exchange has been carried out. Zaven Karapetyan and Ilvin Ibragimov, who were held captive, have been returned. Work on other prisoners is ongoing. The ICRC is connected to it. We believe that all this indicates the parties' intention to take concrete steps aimed at preparing the population for peace. "
At the same time, the Foreign Ministry stated that so far no progress has been made on matters of the essence of the settlement. The Russian Foreign Ministry recalled that this topic was discussed during the recent visits of Sergey Lavrov to Yerevan and Baku. "There is hope that a substantive conversation will resume between the parties in the foreseeable future. For our part, we will provide the necessary assistance together with the French and American co-chairs in the Minsk Group," the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized.