On Monday evening (27 March) the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Azerbaijan again issued an invitation on Twitter addressed to "representatives of the Armenian public in Karabakh" for talks in Baku on "reintegration" and the "implementation of infrastructure projects".
The full invitation read:
"As a follow-up to the meeting held in Khojaly on March 1 and the invitation presented on March 13, the Office of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan proposes once again to hold a meeting in Baku in the first week of April for the purpose of reintegration of the representatives of the Armenian public of Karabakh as well as to discuss the implementation of instrastructure projects in Karabakh."
You can read more about the 1 March meeting here, and 13 March invitation here.
Invitation rejected by de facto Nagorno-Karabakh authorities, insisting on an "internationally established negotiation format"
Responding to the 27 March invitation, in a statement released on Tuesday (28 March) the de facto Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) authorities in Stepanakert accused Baku of trying "to impose their own political agenda through coercion".
As was the case in their 14 March response to Baku's 13 March invitation, which was also published on Twitter, Stepanakert reaffirmed their "readiness" to meet with Azerbaijani representatives in Khojaly, insisting on Russian peacekeeping mediation, to discuss "issues of ensuring the normal life activity of the people of Artsakh and the proper implementation by the parties of their obligations".
In the 28 March statement, de facto NKR authorities also said they were "open to discussing other issues" to find "mutually acceptable solutions to stabilise the situation and prevent further escalation of tension", but rejected the imposition of "ready-made solutions on the part of Azerbaijan".
The statement ended by reiterating the de facto NKR authorities' position that "the political issues of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict settlement must be discussed in an agreed and internationally established negotiation format, based on the equal rights of the parties and the existence of solid international guarantees for the implementation by the parties of their obligations."
source: commonspace.eu with agencies
photo: The Presidential Administration in Baku, Azerbaijan