Alaverdyan: Meeting of Armenian and Azeri presidents not to produce results

The meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in Paris will not produce results. First Ombudsperson of Armenia, chairwoman of Against Legal Arbitrariness NGO Ms. Larisa Alaverdyan expressed this opinion during a talk with the correspondent of Aysor.am, when speaking about the planned summit of Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev.

“On the whole, such meetings are productive when there are some relations between the countries, but in case of Armenia and Azerbaijan, relations are still absent,” she said, adding that such meetings have taken place repeatedly, but they did not result in anything. “These meetings do not contribute to regional security. The sides usually discuss the Madrid Principles, which do not give any results for the negotiating process,” L. Alaverdyan noted, stressing that in reality the meetings only complicate the talks.

As for Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s statement in Uruguay about the sale of arms by Russia to Azerbaijan, Larisa Alaverdyan said that not only the people, but also authorities of Armenia are concerned over the fact that the strategic partner sells arms to Azerbaijan.

“It is a security issue that should be voiced. I connect it mainly with the statement of French Ambassador to Armenia Henri Reynaud to the effect that France may not sell arms and ammunition to Azerbaijan because it is a Co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group and must observe the provisions specified by the Charters of the UN and the ISCE,” she said.

As regards Russia, Larisa Alaverdyan said the fact that Russia is a mediator state of the OSCE Minsk Group as well as Armenia’s strategic partner has not been an obstacle for it and Russia continues to sell arms to Azerbaijan, which means it maintains neutrality in the negotiating process.

The first ombudsperson expressed an opinion that Russia should act in a civilized way and admit that it is a country participating in the negotiations over the Karabakh conflict settlement. “Russia not only violates the provisions of the negotiating process, but also does not behave as a strategic partner,” L. Alaverdyan said in conclusion.