Ilham Aliyev received OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today received the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Stephane Visconti of France, Igor Popov of Russia, Andrew Schofer of US, as well as Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.

They discussed the current state and prospects of negotiations on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and talked about the upcoming high-level meeting.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev then received a new US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Andrew Schofer.

The head of state wished Andrew Schofer success in his activities, saying the previous US co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group together with the other co-chairs spared no efforts towards the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. President Ilham Aliyev expressed his regret that the conflict has not yet been settled, saying the reason behind this is that Armenia is trying to keep the current status quo unchanged, does not withdraw its troops from the occupied lands and ignores the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

Saying the negotiations have currently been resumed, President Ilham Aliyev said that constructive efforts were made to find a fair solution to the conflict based on the norms of international law. He underlined Azerbaijan's interest in the soonest settlement of the dispute.

The US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Andrew Schofer extended greetings of the US President Donald Trump and the leadership of the State Department to the head of state. Andrew Schofer said that as President Ilham Aliyev pointed out the status quo is unacceptable. He said they will spare no efforts to contribute to the peaceful settlement of the conflict based on the international law.

President Ilham Aliyev thanked for the greetings of President Donald Trump and leadership of the State Department and asked Andrew Schofer to extend his greetings to the US President and the State Department leadership.