On Results of Aliyev – Hollande Meeting

French President Francois Hollande considers the status quo in the Karabakh conflict not acceptable.

“We talked about this and noted that the existing status quo is unacceptable. There are risks, we were convinced of this in April of last year, when the incident occurred,” Hollande said at a joint news conference with Ilham Aliyev after the end of their meeting in Paris.

Hollande noted the need to resume negotiations on the Karabakh settlement.

“We want to resume negotiations. As co-chair of the Minsk Group, we want other co-chairs, the United States and Russia, to contribute to this process.

We believe that the parameters are known, and we can find a way to solve this protracted conflict,” Hollande said.

Aliyev, in his turn, expressed his satisfaction with Hollande's position on the Karabakh issue. According to him, at the first stage negotiations should be resumed. “Armenia should not evade negotiations. As President Hollande noted, the status quo is unacceptable.

Presidents of the Minsk Group countries - France, Russia and America have repeatedly stated that the status quo is unacceptable. We say the same thing, we want an early change in the status quo and the end of the conflict, so that peace is guaranteed in our region, and Azerbaijani settlers could return to their native lands,” Aliyev said.

In a speech before the press, Hollande also commented on the aggravation of relations between Turkey and a number of EU countries.

“We also have to contribute to the stabilization of relations between Europe and Turkey. As in all other issues, we should encourage dialogue,” Hollande said.

He also supported the start of negotiations between Azerbaijan and the European Union. “We want to achieve the set goals. Europe embarked on these negotiations within the framework of the Eastern Partnership, and France supports them from the very beginning,” Hollande said, expressing satisfaction with Aliyev's fruitful negotiations with representatives of the French business community. -06D-