Nalbandian Calls Attention to Baku’s ‘Bellicose’ Rhetoric

YEREVAN—Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, who is in Paris on a working visit, on Wednesday met with the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Igor Popov (Russia), James Warlick (United States), Pierre Andrieu (France), and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, the press service of Armenian Foreign Ministry reports.

The meeting continued discussion on opportunities for advancing peace in Artsakh.

Edward Nalbandian drew the mediators’ attention to Azerbaijan’s bellicose rhetoric that continues at the highest level, statements that distort the nature and content of the negotiations, and ceasefire violations and subversive raids on the border with Armenia and on the Line of Contact with Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The Azerbaijani authorities respond in a strange manner to the Co-Chairs’ calls for preparing the two societies for peace, publicizing a video of the subversive operation they carried out,” Nalbandian said.

The US Co-Chair James Warlick called the meeting with Armenia’s foreign minister “productive and positive.”

“Productive and positive talks today with FM Nalbandian in Paris. Armenia is open to opportunities for NKpeace,” Warlick wrote on twitter.

Warlick has backed the participation of Armenian athletes in an international athletic competition to be held later this year in Azerbaijan.

“We hope the participation of Armenian athletes in the upcoming Baku-2015 European Games can help build confidence and trust for peace in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Warlick wrote on Twitter.

On March 10 Armenia’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) said following a meeting of its Executive Committee that Armenian athletes will travel to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to compete in the first European Olympic Games.

President of the National Olympic Committee Gagik Tsarukyan said that apart from security guarantees provided by the IOC and the European Olympic Committee at the highest level, the issue of Armenian athletes’ participation in the Baku games had been resolved after detailed discussions.

The inaugural European Olympic Games, which will be held every four years, will be held in Baku from 12 to 28 June. Azerbaijan was the sole bidder to host the event, which is run under the auspices of the European Olympic Committee.