Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has told US State Department chief Anthony Blinken that Washington’s statements and actions towards Baku have seriously damaged the countries’ relations.
“During the telephone conversation, President Ilham Aliyev noted that recent statements and steps taken by the US against Azerbaijan have seriously damaged Azerbaijani-American relations,” TASS quoted the Presidential Chancellery as saying.
Aliyev stressed that Baku adequately responded to the statement of the US side on cancellation of bilateral meetings and high-level contacts and that “bilateral relations cannot be the same as before”.
Earlier, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien said that the United States will be able to normalise relations with Azerbaijan only if there is progress in peace talks between Baku and Yerevan.
Azerbaijan said that visits of US officials to the country are impossible.