BAKU (Reuters)–Azeri President Haydar Aliyev will not go to Luxembourg for a June 21-22 meeting that would have brought him face to face with the president of arch-enemy Armenia–a state newspaper said on Friday.
It did not say why Aliyev would not attend–but Azeri officials said earlier this week that doctors had advised the 76-year-old president–who underwent heart bypass surgery almost two months ago–to stay home.
The leaders of Armenia and Georgia have also been invited to the meeting at the initiative of the European Union.
Prime Minister Artur Rasizade will head the Azeri delegation–the newspaper said. He is expected to sign a cooperation agreement between Azerbaijan and the European Union–as well as meet the other Caucasus leaders.
"Despite the Azeri leader’s desire to go–doctors are insisting that he doesn’t go to Luxembourg," the head of the presidential administration’s foreign relations department–Novruz Mamedov–had said on Wednesday.
Azerbaijan also postponed a summit of Turkic-speaking governmen’s due to take place in Baku earlier this week.
