Germany praises Paris meeting
By Sara Rajabova
The German ambassador has praised the Paris meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents, noting the importance of the dialogue between the two countries.
"We were very happy with the initiative of the French president to organize a meeting, but we shouldn't be too optimistic and expect great results from one meeting," German Ambassador to Armenia Rainer Morel said at a joint press conference with the British ambassador on October 29, Armenian media reported.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan held a meeting on October 27 with the participation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen to discuss the settlement process of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The two presidents held a face to face meeting, which followed by another joint meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.
Afterwards, a joint meeting was held attended by President Hollande, President Aliyev, President Sargsyan and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen.
"It is important that the dialogue between the leaders continues, and it's already for the third time that they met this year," Morel said.
He further noted that the two leaders "should try to engage in meaningful negotiations."
Morel said Germany supports the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group and believes that this is the only acceptable format for the continuation of negotiations.
British ambassador to Armenia Katherine Leach, in turn, welcomed the fact that the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan began to meet more often.
For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor.
Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its pullout from the neighboring country's territories.