BAKU: Azerbaijan has refused to attend talks with Armenia, planned to be held in the United States this month citing Washington’s biased position, Western media reported on Thursday.
Baku and Yerevan have been at odds over a decades-long territorial dispute in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Baku reclaimed in September.
Internationally facilitated peace talks between the ex-Soviet republics have seen little progress but leaders of both the states have said a comprehensive peace agreement could be signed by the end of the year.
Baku says not possible to hold proposed meeting
Baku’s foreign ministry in a statement said that it is not possible to hold the proposed meeting at the level of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Washington on November 20.
It took the decision after Assistant Secretary of State James O’Brien made one-sided and biased remarks about Azerbaijan.
O’Brien during a hearing in the US House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday said that the US has cancelled a number of high-level visits while condemning Baku’s actions.
The Azerbaijani foreign ministry in the statement added such a unilateral approach by the United States could lead to the loss of the United States’ mediatory role.
Meanwhile Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday said that Yerevan’s political will to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan in the coming months remains unwavering.
It is pertinent to mention that French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are scheduled to join EU chief Charles Michel as mediators at these talks.
