Nalbandian: ‘Time and Time Again, the Representatives of Azerbaijan Abuse This Platform, Making Provocative Statements Instead of Addressing its Theme—The Cooperation Within the Eastern Partnership.’

CHISINAU, Moldova—On July 10, in Chisinau, Armenia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Edward Nalbandian participated in the informal meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Eastern Partnership countries, attended by the European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, and Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service Jean-Christophe Belliard.

At a press conference following the meeting, Nalbandian responded to the comments of the head of the Azerbaijani delegation on the Artsakh conflict.

At a press conference following the meeting, Nalbandian responded to the comments of the head of the Azerbaijani delegation on the Artsakh conflict. “Time and time again, the representatives of Azerbaijan abuse this platform, making provocative statements instead of addressing its theme—the cooperation within the Eastern Partnership. The security in our region continues to be challenged by the persistent threats of Azerbaijan to use force in the context of the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict. On April 2016 Azerbaijan unleashed a large scale aggression against Nagorno-Karabagh that was accompanied by grave violations of international humanitarian law, atrocities against civilian population, including children, women and elderly persons, mutilation of the bodies, Daesh-style beheadings,” Nalbandian said.

Nalbandian noted that Azerbaijani leadership once again resorted to the tactics of “notorious terrorist organizations” and as many times before, used its civilian population as a human shield for shelling Artsakh by heavy weaponry, including by TR-107 multiple rocket launcher systems.

“As long as Azerbaijan fails to implement its international commitments under 1994-1995 trilateral ceasefire agreements, refuses to implement the Vienna and St. Petersburg Summit commitments, especially on the creation of the mechanism for investigation of the ceasefire violations, that can become also a mechanism for prevention, the Azerbaijani leadership bears full responsibility for all consequences,” Nalbandian concluded.