Speakers of Azerbaijani, Armenian parliaments to meet again in mid-May

The speakers of the parliaments of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Sahiba Gafarova and Alen Simonyan, agreed to hold a meeting in mid-May through the mediation of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Report informs with reference to Simonyan’s recent interview with local TV.

Simonyan called the previous meeting of speakers, which took place on March 22 on the sidelines of the IPU meeting, “unprecedented.”

He explained that initially during the negotiations, the Azerbaijani side outlined “red lines”, indicating that the discussion should only be within the framework of the agenda of parliamentary diplomacy, to which the Armenian side gave its consent.

According to his assessment, the meeting took place in a fairly constructive atmosphere.

“We agreed that there is an atmosphere of mistrust between us. They don’t trust us, and we don’t trust them,” Simonyan noted.

At the same time, he said that Gafarova assured him that Azerbaijan was not preparing any provocations.

“It was decided to establish contacts at the parliamentary level and start communication. I noted that I would discuss this issue with the political team. She also stated that she would do the same,” stated the speaker of the Armenian parliament.