AZERI FM VISITS ATHENS
Baku, 2 December (AZERTAC). Azerbaijan`s Foreign Affairs Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has paid a two-day visit to Athens, the capital of Greece. The trip saw Mammadyarov have separate meetings with several European counterparts, including Armenia`s Edward Nalbandian, and also attend the 17th OSCE Ministerial Council.
The Mammadyarov-Nalbandian meeting took place in the presence of Russian and French foreign ministers Sergei Lavrov and Bernard Kouchner and US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg. The meeting focused on the current state of peace talks on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the participants also explored how to move forward on the question.
Mammadyarov also reaffirmed Azerbaijan`s stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue during his talk with Goran Lennmarker, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly`s Special Representative on the dispute.
“The fact Azerbaijan`s lands are still under occupation is a major barrier to the settlement of the conflict,” Mammadyarov told Lennmarker.
“It is extremely important that Armenia liberates our territories to mark initial progress in the settlement process,” he said.
Lennmarker echoed the Azeri FM`s words, saying it was necessary that the occupied Azerbaijani lands were freed and Azerbaijani IDPs returned to their homelands.
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly official also praised Azerbaijan`s development, saying the country enjoyed a leading role in the region.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was also a major topic of discussion during Mammadyarov`s meeting with Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoglu. The Turkish minister stressed the necessity of finding “a soonest possible solution” to the dispute, adding it was “extremely important in terms of ensuring peace and security in the region”.
Normalization of the Turkey-Armenia relations was also discussed, and Davutoglu said: “The protocols Turkey signed with Armenia can be ratified only after Azerbaijan`s occupied lands are freed.”
The Turkish FM also invited his Azeri counterpart to visit Ankara, and Mammadyarov said he would come in the second half of December.
Mammadyarov`s meeting with Latvian Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins focused on prospects for the bilateral relations. The two stressed the importance of boosting political, economic and humanitarian cooperation. They also discussed the Eastern Partnership Initiative, and Mammadyarov said Azerbaijan was adhered to its commitments to bring the living standards of its population to European ones.
In Athens Mammadyarov also had meetings with FMs Avigdor Liberman of Israel, Urmas Paet of Estonia and Miroslav Lajcak of Slovakia, and attended the 11th session of the Foreign Ministers Council of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development, GUAM.
Other news in this section
