Azerbaijan’s chief says France can’t participate within the peace talks with Armenia after ‘insulting’ Baku.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has stated his nation doesn’t need France to participate in its peace talks with Armenia, calling off a four-way assembly with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council head Charles Michel in Brussels on December 7.
Aliyev stated on Friday that Macron had “attacked” and “insulted” Baku and mustn’t act as a go-between.
Combating between Armenia and Azerbaijan flared in September of their decades-old dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave – internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan, however largely managed by ethnic Armenians, with backing from Yerevan.
Both sides accused the opposite of triggering the newest bout of combating, wherein Armenia stated Azerbaijan had seized settlements inside its borders.
A ceasefire was agreed upon in late September and final month in Prague the 2 international locations agreed to permit a civilian European Union mission to be arrange on their border.
However talking on Friday, Aliyev accused Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of attempting to undercut the following stage of talks by insisting France should be a dealer.
“Macron … attacked Azerbaijan and accused us in what we haven’t finished,” Aliyev stated, talking in English at a convention with worldwide representatives in Baku.
He stated the French chief had adopted an “anti-Azerbaijan place” and was “insulting” Baku.
“It’s clear that beneath these circumstances, with this perspective, France can’t be a part of the peace course of between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”
‘Prague format’
Armenia’s international ministry stated it wished to take care of the “Prague format” of discussions, which concerned Macron and Michel.
A spokesperson stated Azerbaijan’s assertion that Yerevan was attempting to disrupt peace talks “has nothing to do with actuality”, the Interfax information company reported.
Macron has accused Russia of stoking tensions between Baku and Yerevan, and has additionally affirmed his help for Armenia’s sovereignty in telephone calls with Pashinyan.
Armenia additionally stated on Friday that Azerbaijan had not but responded to its newest proposals for a peace settlement, which it offered at a gathering between their international ministers in Washington, DC firstly of November.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on Friday that Moscow – which deployed 5,000 peacekeepers to the area in 2020 to handle a ceasefire after a six-week conflict – was prepared to assist dealer additional agreements, however that there was no concrete plan for the leaders to satisfy in Moscow.
Russia is a proper ally of Armenia but in addition seeks to take care of good relations with Baku, and resisted calls to deploy forces to assist Yerevan beneath a mutual defence pact after combating broke out in September.