Pashinyan: no time and venue restrictions regarding possible meeting with Aliyev
YEREVAN, October 4. /ARKA/. During a joint press briefing in Lithuanian capital Vilnius today with Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said there were no time and venue restrictions regarding a possible meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
Earlier, Pashinyan said that he was ready to meet with Aliyev. On September 28, the President of Azerbaijan announced that he was not against a meeting with the Prime Minister of Armenia, if it were organized by the OSCE Minsk Group.
"I think we have no time and venue restrictions, since the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have the practice of organizing such meetings. The only restriction is that these meetings are held on the territory of third countries," Pashinyan said.
Pashinyan recalled that in recent months he several times welcomed the statements made by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on a peaceful and comprehensive settlement of the Karabakh conflict on the basis of the principles and elements put forward by the co-chairmanship.
"We are ready for such a meeting and this is not the first time we have stated that. I hope that under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship it will be possible to intensify efforts on the Karabakh settlement," he said.
The prime minister stressed that the Armenian prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees have not yet been returned to their homeland from Azerbaijan.
"The return of prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees will create a positive background for the delimitation and demarcation of the borders, reopening of regional communications, and starting negotiations on a comprehensive and political settlement of the Karabakh conflict," Pashinyan said.
On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijani armed forces, backed by Turkey and foreign mercenaries and terrorists, attacked Nagorno-Karabakh along the entire front line using rocket and artillery weapons, heavy armored vehicles, military aircraft and prohibited types of weapons such as cluster bombs and phosphorus weapons.
After 44 days of the war, on November 9, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a statement on the cessation of all hostilities. According to the document, the town of Shush, the districts of Agdam, Kelbajar and Lachin were handed over to Azerbaijan, with the exception of a 5-kilometer corridor connecting Karabakh with Armenia.
A Russian peacekeeping contingent was deployed along the contact line in Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor. -0-
