On September 4, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and Héctor Marcos Timerman, the Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs held a press conference. Edward Nalbandian commented on the Safarov issue. In course of the press conference Nalbandian particularly stated “Edward Nalbandian: The incident has already had its very bad impact on the negotiations and on regional stability and security in general. But attempts to quit, fail the negotiations are not made by Armenia, but by Azerbaijan and one of the reasons of this deal is that Azerbaijan still continues those attempts. Azerbaijan is refusing all proposals made by the Co-Chairs. You are well-aware about our reaction after the statements made in L’Aquila, Muskoka, Deauville and Los Cabos and you well know about Azerbaijan’s reaction after those statements. You are well-aware about our reaction to the proposals made by the Co-chairs, the OSCE Chairmen-in-Office and the UN Secretary-General on the withdrawal of snipers, consolidation of cease-fire and creation of a mechanism to investigate cease-fire regime violations on the front line. Those proposals and others have been continuously rejected by Azerbaijan.”
Touching on the issue of the Turkish proposal to hold negotiations in Turkey, Nalbandian told this possibility being excluded for ever. “Turkey’s interference or attempts to mediate in issues of concern for the neighbouring countries have never brought any positive results, just the reverse. Regarding the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, it has been repeatedly said, and not only by Armenia, that Turkey cannot play any mediating role in this issue.”
