Azerbaijani foreign minister sees no prerequisites for meeting of Aliyev, Sargsyan on Karabakh
BAKU. Nov 7 (Interfax) - The situation which has developed within the Karabakh conflict settlement process does not currently allow for expecting the possibility of a meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said on Monday.
"Unfortunately, there has been passiveness in the conflict settlement. We had hoped for progress following a meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in St. Petersburg. But, regrettably, Armenia is not ready. They said themselves that they are not ready to change the status quo. This is why there are no prerequisites for a meeting of the presidents," Mammadyarov said at a joint press conference with his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni in Baku.
He said that a meeting of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia is planned in Hamburg in early December. "The Azerbaijani side has agreed to the meeting. We would like to reconstruct the atmosphere of St. Petersburg, but the Armenian side, the leadership of this side, is stalling the process," Mammadyarov said.
Gentiloni, in turn, said that Italy will focus on frozen conflicts in the former Soviet Union during its presidency in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. "We will focus on frozen conflicts: Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan. Italy can make a contribution to a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict," the Italian foreign minister said.