Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry on Thursday rejected an offer by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to mediate talks with Yerevan on the margins of an OSCE summit currently underway in Malta, Azerbaijani media reported.
Blinken reportedly suggested that, while in Malta, he would mediate a meeting between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov.
The media reports suggest that Azerbaijan categorically rejected Blinken’s offer, saying that “the Biden Administration, in general, is pursuing an unjust and biased policy toward Azerbaijan,” the APA news agency reported, citing a diplomatic source.
“For this reason, Azerbaijan does not want the U.S. to participate in the peace agenda at all and does not consider it appropriate,” the diplomatic source reportedly told APA.
Armenia’s foreign ministry said Thursday that Yerevan had agreed to meeting with Bayramov with Blinken’s mediation.
In Malta, Mirzoyan briefly spoke to Blinken, as well as other leaders, among them Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
