Astana declaration was a serious warning to Azerbaijan: Armenian FM

By adopting a joint statement at the OSCE Summit in Astana, the Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani presidents and the US Secretary of State reiterated their commitment to achieve the settlement of the Karabakh conflict only through peaceful methods, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan has told Armenpress news agency.

"All the OSCE state leaders attending the summit emphasized the unacceptability of the use of force. And the Russian president too, underscored that in his speech. I think it was a serious warning to Azerbaijan," he said, adding that the co-chairing countries calls for directing all efforts towards coordinating the basic principles was a response to Baku's attempts to avoid the process.

"The Astana summit attaches major importance to the November 2, 2008 Moscow declaration adopted and the October 27, 2010 Astrakhan statement which underlines that the conflict settlement should be based on the norms and principles of international law, the United Nations Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and the L'Aquila and Muskoka statements."

FM Nalbandyan also spoke of the French prime minister's speech focusing on the integrity and inseparability of the proposals submitted.

"The same approach was reflected in the joint statement adopted by the co-chairing countries' delegations and the US Secretary of State at the OSCE Foreign Ministers' meeting in Almaty.

That evidently caused discontent in Azerbaijan while the Armenian side declared that it shared the viewpoint, " the Foreign Minister added.

In addition to the joint statement, Nalbandyan also spoke of the commemorative declaration which states that all efforts should be directed towards settling the existing conflicts through peaceful methods and negotiations, within the existing formats and in full respect of the norms and principles of international law, as enshrined in the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act.

In that connection he said that the international community's approaches fully coincided with Armenia's positions, which meant that the former too, seeks to achieve the peaceful settlement of the conflict in accordance with the above principles proposed by internationally mandated mediators.

Talking about Azerbaijan's destructive policy, FM Nalbandyan said that such attempts aimed to plot new adventures behind the veil of talks.

"For months in a row, 24 hours a day, the Azerbaijani authorities are talking about patience without realizing that the international community's patience is wearing thin, as it can no longer tolerates such destructive policy,".

As regards the Azerbaijani senior officials' recent attempts to distort the Astana joint statement, Armenian top diplomat said: " The Azerbaijani propaganda has fallen into the habit of clinging to its own smoke and mirror. Armenia, as before, will continue its efforts towards achieving the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, based on the mediators’ proposals."