Text of report by private and pro-government Azerbaijani TV station Lider on 26 March,

[Presenter] Official Baku has not stopped using services of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and no official position to this effect has been declared. Azerbaijan has simply sent a letter to the OSCE Secretariat to inquire about a procedure of recalling the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, both co-chair countries and individuals representing these countries. Such reports being circulated by Armenians that Azerbaijan has stopped using services of the OSCE Minsk Group are wide of the mark, Azimov said.

[Correspondent over archive video of Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs] Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov has said that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs were appointed at the Budapest Summit in 1994 and their functions were determined there. Azerbaijan is keen on finding out a procedure of changing the OSCE Minsk Group mediators as individuals.

The USA replaced Steven Mann with Matthew Bryza, end of quote. How should Azerbaijan react if one day Matthew Bryza makes a step dissatisfying Azerbaijan. If the three men make bellicose statements regarding Azerbaijan, defame Azerbaijan, and make attempts against the country's territorial integrity, that causes concern, end of quote.

Azimov says Azerbaijan does not want to change the format of the OSCE Minsk Group. The deputy minister described this [report] simply as a fabrication by Armenia and the mediators, adding that Azerbaijan wants discussions within this framework to be efficient.

In his turn, the head of the foreign relations department of the presidential administration, Novruz Mammadov, has said that this is not the first time that Armenians disseminate false reports and one should not be surprised at this. Nevertheless, Mammadov said that it was possible to discuss the activities of the co-chairs. In a comment on the issue, French co-chair Bernard Fassier said that he had never heard that Azerbaijan was planning to stop using services of the co-chairmen.