EU special representative for the crisis in the South Caucasus referred to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict

The European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar was interviewed by APA Agency.

"The objective is to help Armenia and Azerbaijan overcome the history of conflict. So, indeed, we have not had meetings in Brussels for some time. The understanding of President Charles Michel is that it will certainly be important to get the two leaders back to Brussels because it is not only about Brussels but there has not really been any meeting between leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan for quite a few months. And we believe that it is very important for them to meet on a regular basis and to really work on the substance of the outstanding issues, of which there are quite a few, and which will simply not be resolved without the leaders engaging and meeting in a substantive way as we have seen in Brussels. So, in that sense, President Michel is very much keen on having the leaders come to Brussels again. He met with the leaders in Munich a couple of weeks ago, I am here in Baku and I was in Yerevan last week to follow up on these meetings and now our open expectation will be that we can have the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders in Brussels in the very near future again," Klaar said.

Armenian and Artsakh Foreign Ministries commented on the disinformation Azerbaijan spread

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia referred to yesterday's statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, denying its claims.

"On March 7, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan spread another message with the aim of misleading the international community, as if on the same day, a convoy of military equipment of the RA Armed Forces accompanied by Russian peacekeepers passed the Stepanakert-Ghaibalishen-Lisagor road and that allegedly the same day the RA Armed Forces personnel transportation.

We officially claim that this information is completely false, does not have and cannot have any factual basis, and does not correspond to reality.

Artsakh Foreign Ministry also commented on the disinformation spread by the Azerbaijani side.

"In this regard, we consider it necessary to emphasize that the information disseminated by the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan does not correspond to reality and is another lie aimed at misleading the international community by the Azerbaijani side.

The authorities of Azerbaijan also spread such misinformation about the transfer of so-called mines from Armenia to Artsakh, but on February 22, the International Court of Justice rejected that falsehood at a high level," the statement of the ministry reads.

Aliyev expressed hope that Armenia will respond positively to Azerbaijan's comments on the proposals of the peace forum

Azerbaijan has submitted its observations on the proposals of the peace conference to Armenia and is waiting for a response from Armenia.  President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev announced this today, March 8, during a press conference after the meeting with President of Latvia Egils Levits.

 "Today, I presented the situation in the South Caucasus to the President of Latvia, especially regarding the process of normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.  We hope that Armenia will respond positively to our observations regarding the peace agreement proposal," said Aliyev.

Aliyev noted that some time ago they presented their proposal to Armenia, based on the norms and principles of international law.

 "Then we received comments from Armenia and sent our observations on them.  The process is ongoing," he said.

Azerbaijan is trying to give a religious tone to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem - Ararat Mirzoyan

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan delivered a speech at the 159th Session of the Council of the League of Arab States at the Ministerial level.

"In the context of the blockade of the Lachin corridor, I would like to underline that on 22 February this year, the International Court of Justice issued a legally binding provisional measure against Azerbaijan. In the mentioned order, the Court has found that there is an imminent risk of irreparable harm to Armenians’ rights and ordered Azerbaijan to take all necessary measures to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles, and cargo along the Lachin corridor in both directions.

Unfortunately, our neighboring Azerbaijan continuously manipulates Armenia-Azerbaijan relations and the Nagorno-Karabakh issue on various international platforms, especially those organizations where Armenia is not represented, such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Non-Aligned Movement, trying to give it a religious tone and using the delicate concept of Muslim solidarity. We expect that such attempts will be rejected and will not drag our friendly Arab countries into the field of religious discord. We should prevent any further attempt of giving a religious tone to the pure political and humanitarian disputes," he stated.

Other News

• Louis Bono paid tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex.

• The Embassy of Armenia in Georgia denies the news spread in the Georgian media that special squads from the Republic of Armenia are being brought to Georgia to disperse the protests in Tbilisi.

• Ararat Mirzoyan met with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Ṣafadī.