YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. Spokesperson of the President of Artsakh David Babayan assesses the meeting between the foreign minister of Armenia and Azerbaijan as satisfactory. He noted that the sides discussed and reached agreements over issues that years ago had been proposed by Artsakh, Babayan told ARMENPRESS.

“I assess the meeting satisfactory. We have always said that we highlight such meetings in terms of ensuring peace and stability in the region and continuation of the negotiation process. The agreements of this meeting were very interesting. Some of the ideas official Stepanakert raised for years. Nearly 11 years ago official Stepanakert presented a package to the Co-chairs as key acts for the preservation of stability. They were highly assessed by the Co-chairs, but Azerbaijan took no steps. And it’s very interesting and very good that now, this concrete idea has been included in the proposals of the Co-chairs”, Babayan said.

He noted that the package is about withdrawing the snipers, avoiding ceasefire violations on holidays, also some humanitarian acts. Particularly, it was proposed to refrain from ceasefire violations during the period of harvesting.

Referring to the agreement of allowing the relatives of detained persons from both sides to visit them, Babayan noted that Artsakh is ready, but only if Azerbaijan does the same.

“There are only 2 Azerbaijanis kept in detention in the territory of Artsakh. Both are terrorists and criminals. They are the members of the criminal group that penetrated into the territory of Artsakh years ago and killed people. But those people have the opportunity to contact with their relatives periodically via Skype or other means. And if Azerbaijan does not ban our compatriots to go and see their relatives, Artsakh is ready to allow. If it’s reciprocal, Artsakh is ready. We have nothing to be afraid of or hiding”, Babayan said.

The meeting of foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, Elmar Mammadyarov and Sergey Lavrov took place in Moscow on April 15. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stéphane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America, as well as Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office have joined the ongoing meeting later.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan