Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijani government has called on the new Armenian leadership to refrain from false statements.
"Such utterances heighten tensions and confuse the Armenian public," the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry spokesman Khazar Ibrahim told a news briefing on Monday.
The new Armenian president Serzh Sarkisian, who was recently sworn in after winning the February 19 election, has started repeating the previous government's mistakes, making erroneous and out-of-place statements on the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict. Sarkisian had claimed that Azerbaijan "should reconcile with having lost Garabagh" and that Yerevan would not back down from the principle of self-determination of nations in the course of peace talks.
The newly-appointed foreign minister Eduard Nalbandian's first visit since taking the post to Upper Garabagh and considering the occupied Azerbaijani region as a party in peace talks indicates his non-constructive stance.
"The new Armenian government, including the country's foreign minister, is sticking to stereotypes and repeating previously-made mistakes. They should understand that there are three states in the South Caucasus and there is no room for a fourth one," Ibrahim said.
The ministry spokesman said Armenia was more militarized than Azerbaijan given the volume of per capita Gross Domestic Product. "This shows that their policy of occupation and aggression shows no signs of abating."
In his first statement, the new Armenian minister brought up the issue of Azerbaijan's rising military budget and attempted to prove Baku's alleged non-constructive position.
President Ilham Aliyev said Friday that Azerbaijan's defense spending would reach $2 billion soon.
Ibrahim said that no country, and Armenia in particular, could meddle in Azerbaijan's internal affairs.
"If they indeed want to resolve the conflict in peace, they must pull their occupying forces out of the occupied Azerbaijani territories. Otherwise, diplomatic opportunities will further diminish," the spokesman warned.
Nalbandian succeeded Vardan Oskanian as foreign minister early in April. Nalbandian, who was recently introduced to the ministry's staff by President Sarkisian, previously served as the Armenian ambassador to France.
US co-chair of the Minsk Group Matthew Bryza has said Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian may hold a one-on-one meeting in the soonest time possible to table the Garabagh conflict.
Bryza did not spell out the precise timing of possible presidential talks, adding that arranging such a meeting "could be a matter of months".
The Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers, who will be in charge of setting the stage for Aliyev-Sarkisian talks, "may meet in a month or so", the co-chair said.
Bryza disagreed with statements that the activity of the Minsk Group, co-chaired by the U.S., Russia and France, was no longer effective.
"The group's work has tremendous value and is very useful," he said.