Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has stressed that addressing the rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh within a mechanism of internationally guaranteed dialogue and Azerbaijan’s withdrawal from occupied sovereign Armenian territories are key to a “comprehensive settlement and long-term stability in the region.”
He made the remarks at a trilateral meeting on May 3 with National Security Advisor to the U.S. President Jake Sullivan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in Washington.
According to Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, at the meeting held amid U.S.-hosted Mirzoyan-Bayramov talks that began on Monday “issues related to regional security and stability and the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan were discussed.”
It said that during the meeting Mirzoyan “noted that the continuous aggressive policy of Azerbaijan towards Nagorno-Karabakh and the occupation of the sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia do not contribute to the efforts aimed at establishing stability in the region.”
“Minister Mirzoyan stressed that Azerbaijan’s actions against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, hate speech expressed at the highest level and open threats of use of force testify to Azerbaijan’s intention and real threat to subject Nagorno-Karabakh to ethnic cleansing.
“It was emphasized that the withdrawal of the troops, the border delimitation between the two countries based on the Alma-Ata Declaration, as well as the addressing of the issues of rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh within the mechanism of internationally guaranteed dialogue are key to a comprehensive settlement and establishing long-term stability in the region,” the Armenian ministry said in a statement.
Earlier on Wednesday Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said that negotiations between Mirzoyan and Bayramov in Washington were scheduled to end on May 4.