Video: Foreign Minister on Azerbaijan's Behavior

The Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan held a press briefing yesterday after the High-Level Conference dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership.

Here is the section concerning Azerbaijan's actions.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan used its veto power to block the adoption of three declarations and necessary documents after the principle of territorial integrity was not included in the documents.

Question: The first question is this: it has become clear that due to Azerbaijan's unique veto, the adoption of three declarations and necessary documents has failed because they wanted, as Mr. Mamedyarov openly revealed today, to include the principle of territorial integrity in the document as well. How do you assess Azerbaijan's action?

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan: You know, we all gathered to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership, and I actually think it was a rather successful event, a good summary of the actions of these ten years, as well as the cooperation. It provided an opportunity to outline what will come in the next phase. There were quite interesting and important discussions at the highest level, represented by six partner delegations of the Eastern Partnership. All challenges and approaches were discussed and evaluated. In this regard, I believe it was quite a successful process, a successful event.

We have our agenda working with the European Union on a bilateral level, and we have a rather serious and rich agenda. The Eastern Partnership has been and remains a very important platform where we supplement what we do at the bilateral level. In this regard, we are fundamentally satisfied with the results. Regarding the summary, the summary was provided by Ms. Mogherini, who expresses the positions of member states, while concerning Armenia, it expresses our positions.

Question: Mr. Mnatsakanyan, does this mean that a declaration was originally planned, a statement was adopted, and the reason was that Azerbaijan required the preservation of territorial integrity, or was Armenia opposed to any point?

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan: I will reiterate, we have a summary of our ten years of activities, which was expressed through Ms. Mogherini's statement. The rest was a process.

Question: Are you aware whether the European Union and Azerbaijan's formulations in their agreements related to Nagorno-Karabakh are comparable to the formulations in our agreement?

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan: Again, I will repeat that we have our agreement, which is the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, where various issues are expressed in considerable detail, including regional security issues, as well as a clause related to Nagorno-Karabakh. The European Union and Azerbaijan are negotiating with each other, whatever that may be. Naturally, we are not parties to the negotiations, and it seems to me that it is a rather important issue for the European Union how principled and consistent they are in their positions. In this regard, again, I will repeat that we have our contractual framework where the question of Nagorno-Karabakh has its expression. I hope and trust that the European Union has principles to maintain consistency.

Question: Mr. Mnatsakanyan, has Armenia made any specific reservations to the European Union regarding potential cooperation with Azerbaijan?

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan: Again, I will reiterate, we are a third party in these negotiations, and the question primarily concerns the consistency of the European Union.