Armenia Avoids Negotiations - Mammadyarov

Modern relations between Azerbaijan and Russia have a character of strategic partnership, where the positions of the two countries coincide on most of the key issues. This is what the Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov wrote in an article in Nezavisimaya Gazeta published on the occasion of the 25^th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Russia.

“Our ties are based on mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation. Today, when many partnership relations with Russia are being tested for strength, the ties between our countries are intensively developing, covering all spheres,” Mammadyarov said.

The legal framework of relations between the two countries includes more than 200 interstate, intergovernmental and interregional agreements. Russia is one of the main trade partners of Azerbaijan.

“Our ties are further enriched through regional cooperation mechanisms in a trilateral format. In 2016 meetings were held at the level of Presidents and Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran. Cooperation in this format is of strategic importance for the development of trans-regional cooperation, including the implementation of the international transport corridor North-South,” Mammadyarov continued.

Humanitarian ties are being actively implemented. An important place in this context is occupied by the Russian language, the preservation and development of which in Azerbaijan is treated with the utmost care: there are over 335 secondary schools and 27 universities with education in Russian. Branches of the Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov and the Moscow State Medical University named after I.M. Sechenov work in Baku.

Touching upon the Karabakh conflict, Mammadyarov emphasizes that Azerbaijan ‘hopes for the manifestation by all responsible members of the world community of a principled position in restoring the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.’ “A special role here undoubtedly belongs to the Russian Federation as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair for the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and a country geographically and historically closely linked to the South Caucasus. The recent talks that took place in St. Petersburg between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on the initiative of the Russian President Vladimir Putin gave rise to certain hopes that the prolonged issue of the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan will find its positive solution. Unfortunately, since this meeting, Armenia in every possible way and under various pretexts has been trying to avoid continuing negotiations,” Mammadyarov summed up.    -06D--