Antony Blinken makes phone call to Ilham Aliyev

On November 27, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a phone call to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, the report informs.

During the telephone conversation, President Ilham Aliyev said that the latest statements and actions taken by the U.S. have seriously damaged Azerbaijan-U.S. relations.

The head of state noted that the remarks about our country made by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James O’Brien at the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Europe hearing on November 15, 2023, were biased, failed to reflect reality, and were rejected by Azerbaijan.

It was emphasized that the Azerbaijani side took note of the statement about canceling the senior-level engagements with Azerbaijan and “no chance of business as usual" and responded adequately.

President Ilham Aliyev reminded that Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on this matter on November 16 and that Azerbaijan had in turn canceled all senior-level visits from the U.S.

With the aim of normalization of relationship, Secretary Blinken has asked to allow the visit of the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James O’Brien in December to Azerbaijan. President Ilham Aliyev has agreed to this proposal on the condition that after this visit the unfounded ban on the visits of Azerbaijani high-level officials to the United States will be lifted. Secretary Blinken has accepted that.

Furthermore, it was stated that on November 21, Armenia sent its comments with regard to Azerbaijan’s proposals on the text of the peace treaty, which was submitted on September 11, 2023. Thus, Armenia has delayed its response for 70 days. 70-day-long delay demonstrates again that Armenia misuses the text of the peace treaty as a pretext for the prolongation negotiation process.

During the telephone conversation, the sides also exchanged views with respect to the upcoming meeting of the commissions on the delimitation of the state borders, which will take place on November 30 at the Azerbaijan-Armenia conditional border.