YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. The Foreign Ministry of France has commented on the announcement of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev on February 8 during the congress of the ruling party of Azerbaijan Yeni Azərbaycan, where he said that “pressures against Armenia will be continued in order we bring back our historical lands, Yerevan and Armenia in general”.

ARMENPRESS reports to the question what the position of France is on such announcements that not only contradict the principles of the OSCE Minsk Group, but are also threat to the existence of Armenia, the French Foreign Ministry responded, “France continues participating in the search of a negotiated solution to Karabakh conflict. We call on the conflicting sides to conscientiously work in this direction and particularly to refrain from any announcement or move that can lead to escalation of the situation”.

Earlier, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova had commented on the announcement of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, saying, “We watched the speech of the Azerbaijani president in Russia during the congress of the ruling party. We know very well that the relations of Azerbaijan with neighboring Armenia are extremely tense and such announcements obviously do not de-escalate the situation”.

English –translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan