U.S. State Department: peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan is in the interests of all

YEREVAN, October 27. /ARKA/. Peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan is in the interests of both countries, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a press briefing on Thursday when asked what was hope for the Washington-backed peace process given that the meeting between Azerbaijan and Armenian leaders was supposed to take place in Brussels but was canceled for the second time.

"We continue to think that it (peace) is in the interests of the two parties, it is in the interests of the region, and it is in the interests of the broader world that those two parties reach a peace agreement, and we’ll continue to push it," Miller said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev refused to visit Spain's Granada for a planned meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on October 5-6 on the margins of the European Political Community summit, which was also to be attended by the leaders of EU, French and Germany.

According to the Azerbaijani side, Aliyev refused to travel to Granada because of "the destructive position of France, as well as the opposition of Paris and Berlin to the participation of the Turkish president in that meeting".

European Council President Charles Michel announced in Granada that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan would meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev later, before the end of October in Brussels.

On October 25, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar said that the meeting between Pashinyan and Aliyev scheduled for the end of October in Brussels will not take place, citing "lack of time" as the reason.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said it was obvious that "it is the Azerbaijani president that lacked time.’-0-