Azernews.Az

Negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are suspended, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov told journalists on Thursday.

He added that meetings of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are periodically held on different levels. However, the negotiation process is not underway to address concrete issues in a certain time and on a daily basis.

He said the periodic visits of the co-chairs cannot remain fruitless.

"During every visit, having arrived in Azerbaijan, they learn about our position. Then heading to Armenia, the co-chairs hear something there too. Then they say that discussions will continue in international organizations, the UN and the OSCE, and because no progress is achieved on this issue, to fill the void they talk about confidence-building measures.

"Azerbaijan has put forward a number of initiatives, but Armenia refused to accept them," Azimov said.

Moreover, he stressed, some statements of the co-chairs do not comply with the situation in general.

"When Azerbaijan proposed a dialogue with the Azerbaijanis of Nagorno-Karabakh and their neighbours Armenians, the Armenian side rejected it. Therefore, I see speculations on the part of the Armenian side and the co-chairs," Azimov said.

He said "proposals corresponding to the realities" should be put forward and realized.

Overall, he added, sporadic visits by the mediators to the region "cannot be considered the negotiation process".

Meanwhile, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met with the Minsk Group co-chairs in New York to discuss the negotiation process over the long-standing conflict, Armenian news agency Mediamax reported.

Karabakh conflict settlement was also in focus at Nalbandian's meeting with U.S Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon.

Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have been at odds since fighting a bitter war in the early 1990s over the Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh, escalated after the extradition and subsequent pardoning of Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov -- who was transferred to his home country after being jailed for killing an Armenian officer while in a state of emotional distress in Hungary in 2004.

Ramil Safarov had been serving a life sentence pronounced by a Budapest court without the right to a parole for 30 years. On August 31, Hungary extradited Safarov to Azerbaijan, where he was pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev.