FMs of Azerbaijan, Armenia fail to meet in Stockholm due to latter's provocation

By Vafa Ismayilova

Baku has said that a Stockholm meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers failed to take place due to Armenian MPs' illegal visit to Karabakh.

"A few hours before the meeting scheduled for December 3, a provocation was committed by Armenia. Information was disclosed about Armenian MPs' illegal visit to the territory of Azerbaijan. Thus,  Azerbaijan didn’t consider it expedient to hold a meeting of the two countries' ministers  in Stockholm in response to this provocation," Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Leyla Abdullayeva said on December 4.

She recalled that Stockholm hosted the 28th meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Ministers of the OSCE countries, which was also attended by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov on December 2 - 3.

"Before the meeting, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs made a proposal to hold the next meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers in Stockholm. Azerbaijan is a supporter of the dialogue. At previous meetings in New York, Minsk and Paris, the Azerbaijani foreign minister brought to the attention of the opposite side Azerbaijan's position on the issues of normalizing relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the post-conflict period. However, on December 3, a few hours before the scheduled meeting, a provocation was committed by Armenia. Information was spread about illegal visits by Armenian deputies to Azerbaijani territories,” she said.

Abdullayeva stressed that despite steps taken by Azerbaijan to normalize ties betweewn the two countries, Armenia continues committing provocations.

"This position of Armenia undermines peace-building efforts in the region,"  the spokeswoman added.